7.9 and 8.8 Earthquakes in Japan

4:00 PM Radiation level unchanged despite choppers dousing reactor: TEPCO (Kyodo)

sigh

Defense Minister said no more dumping water by helicopters. instead spray water from ground. crucial day for Japan.

Radiation at the Fukushima gate reported to be falling. 1472 μSv/h at 16:20, Mar. 16 (it was 1937 μSv/h on the previous report). This could simply be the effect of westerly winds.

Also, according to Bloomberg (5 mins ago), the Japanese government is disputing US NRC claims that the #4 spent fuel pool is losing water.

H&M has suspended operations at all 10 Kanto stores, moved staff to Kansai【東日本大震災】Ｈ＆Ｍ、関東の全１０店舗休止　スタッフら最大２０００人関西に避難 http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/news/110317/biz11031713360016-n1.htm

Kanto = Tokyo/Yokohama metro area
Kansai = Kyoto/Osaka metro area

three JETs are missing http://www.jlgc.org/pdfs/en/JET03161100-2.pdf

JETS?

english teachers in japan.

Low of -4C forecasted tonight in areas affected most by tsunami damage/evacuation camps.

Death toll: 5,718
Missing/Unaccounted: 8,606
Injured: 2,285

Yeah the cold/snow is gonna do for a lot of older ppl and children which is so worrying.

Australia urged citizens within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to evacuate. Their directive is in line with the United States, which is not allowing American troops to get within 50 miles of the plant.

It is, however, a break from the recommendation by the Japanese government, which has told people to evacuate to at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the reactors.

What it's like to experience an earthquake and a full-on bullet train emergency stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sakN2hSVxA

Non-scientists like me might find this interesting.
http://bravenewclimate.com/
It's from a pro-nuke perspective but seems pretty level headed and he explains stuff in a way even I can understand.

comedy 'wrong answer sound

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

lol ppl over here have already started clearing the supermarket sof iodine containing salt

Poor baby!

http://noticabos.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/oso-panda.jpg?w=414&h=435

Umm:
http://celebraterickysargulesh.tumblr.com/post/3906083717/guys-that-picture-of-the-scared-panda

Y YUO FAKE HAERT

robot article

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110317/sc_nm/us_quake_japan_robots

what is the point of that article? I'm sure if they had robots up to the task they would have been deployed.

Via Sullivan, a variety of responses to the whole 'no looting' idea -- worth a thorough read, including the links:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/03/why-no-looting-in-japan-ctd-1.html

so apparently Michael Bay was watching some footage of Japan with some friends of mine and they all sorta scratched their heads when he referred to the level of devestation and destruction as "unimaginable"

He probably meant that there weren't enough robots for him.

Meanwhile Roland Emmerich complains about the lack of people surfing on the incoming tsunami.

Most recent radiation survey. No seriously high rates, except I'd definitely get itchy feet if I was camping on the slopes of Mt. Hiyama (pts 4 & 21).

I don't suppose anyone can tell what the context of this o_O video is?

http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00195446.html

I'm assuming that whoever was in the car was alright given that we have the footage, but...

That's a fucking terrifying video. The driver lived.

Driver of the tsunami victims, "曲Gattara 差Shikakatta corner near the fishing port at Iioka, I saw the wall of the wave is the situation now. moments of the wave wall is crooked, but I saw at that time, I had to run it again. in the middle, the situation is that the car was involved in the wave. more waves, I floated the car anymore. floating, Narimashi to panic in that state anymore. The water level I think the maximum was up to nearly two meters. in the state (out), it comes out, I'll swept thought, I just have to wait a little, he said.
Male driver escaped from the car where the waves closed, it took refuge on a hill.

holy fuck at that video

x-post The reason Michael Bay called the footage "unimaginable" is that he can't imagine why anyone could watch it without a few filters slapped on, a better sound mix and more explosions. In slo mo.

disappointed in the disaster's lack of a love interest

First two irrational reactions to that last vid: 1) a rainbow! 2) put your wipers on!

Seriously, that's nuts. We live in amazing times when stuff like this can be captured from so many angles. Honestly, I can only imagine all the footage will make it easier to plan for the next time something like this happens. (Also further underscores why it was so stupid for that dude to carry a camera throughout "Cloverfield,' so people will know "the truth" or whatever - trust me, anonymous actor, you're not the only one with a camera!).

yeah but if everyone thought that way we would have less angles

FEWER

haha thx

so is there any news beyond 'the helicopters didnt do anything' as far as the pool @ 4 or the steam @ 3

TEPCo installed an electric power line to try to restart the electrical coolers in Reactor #2.

There was a presser around 00:05 local time so news will probably be slow for the next 5-6 hours.

Another: Chris Beam's analysis of why there's no lootin':

Police presence. Japan has an active and visible police force of nearly 300,000 officers across the country. Cops walk their beats and chat up local residents and shopkeepers. Police are posted at ubiquitous kobans, police boxes manned by one or two officers, and in cities there's almost always a koban within walking distance of another koban. A survey in 1992 found that 95 percent of residents knew where the nearest koban was, and 14 percent knew the name of an officer who worked there. Cops are paid well—the force attracts many college graduates—and can live in cheap government housing. They also care a lot about public relations: The Tokyo Metropolitan Police even has a mascot, Pipo-kun, whose name means "people + police." They're good at their jobs, too: The clearance rate for murder in 2010 was an unbelievable 98.2 percent, according to West—so unbelievable that some attribute it to underreporting.*

Organized crime. Police aren't the only ones on patrol since the earthquake hit. Members of the Yakuza, Japan's organized crime syndicate, have also been enforcing order. All three major crime groups—the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Sumiyoshi-kai, and the Inagawa-kai—have "compiled squads to patrol the streets of their turf and keep an eye out to make sure looting and robbery doesn't occur," writes Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, in an e-mail message. "The Sumiyoshi-kai claims to have shipped over 40 tons of [humanitarian aid] supplies nationwide and I believe that's a conservative estimate." One group has even opened its Tokyo offices to displaced Japanese and foreigners who were stranded after the first tremors disabled public transportation. "As one Sumiyoshi-kai boss put it to me over the phone," says Adelstein, " 'In times of crisis, there are not Yakuza and civilians or foreigners. There are only human beings and we should help each other.' " Even during times of peace, the Yakuza enforce order, says Adelstein. They make their money off extortion, prostitution, and drug trafficking. But they consider theft grounds for expulsion.

Nice cheery map!
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php?smp&lang=eng

it's a huge cultural thing. following the rules is just what you do.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1149/646592734_9c2b7678bf.jpg

Pipo-kun's name also comes from the toddler's word for police car (really "pii-po pii-po"), which in typical Nihongo fashion is onomatopoeic for the sound of a siren.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12769810

thats what im talkin bout

the only silver lining in the clouds here is that this is gonna seriously derail other nuke-power efforts (Israel already making similar noises as Germany, etc.) I'm sure France will cling to their reactors, but I doubt any new plants will be built in the US any time soon. Which is great.

how many natural disaster does germany have? for christ's sake.

That's not a silver lining. Less nukes mean more coal (and 100x more radiation in normal operation, from the fly ash). This has the potential be absolutely disastrous for those of us screaming hair-on-fire about greenhouse emissions. Gywnne Dyer, lefty columnist who knows as much about climate change consequences as any non-specialist, has something to say about this.

^^^

I mean, I'm seriously depressed about this. Here I was last week, optimistic that a consensus around conservation + baseload nuclear supplemented by renewable with storage, might be coalescing to help avoid the mid-century famines from drought. We let the Shakey's of the world veto nuclear, and we'll get coal. Lots of coal.

Well, you already announced your personal investment portfolio is long on nukes so I can imagine you're bumming on that, but the silver lining (and not that it's going over your or others' head(s)) is that Merkel is saying "We want Germany to go 100% renewable ASAP", not "*shrug*, back to coal i guess".