Northern Japan hit by 8.0 magnitude earthquake.

[shooraijin]

I was about to post that very site. Good to see you, Technomancer.

[Technomancer]

Thanks. Long time no see (or write anyways).

[Fish and Chips]

Remember guys, every nuclear plant is just a nuclear bomb waiting to go off! They take turns hitting its cold, metal casing with tiny hammers to generate power, praying godlessly that it won't explode.

In fact I bet they keep other defunct bombs down there, just to keep it company!

[Nate]

So...um...

I know I'm the only one who really cares about this...but...

I'm going to post it anyway... >.>;;

There's a twitter account called "tokusatsuhero" where a lot of the actors from Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman series have been posting (among others). And well...they said some awesome things and I wanted to share them (translations courtesy of a friendly anon):

"If we all work our hardest now, a brighter day awaits us. My fortunes are always correct! - Kamen Rider Raia/Miyuki Tezuka"

"Kenzaki! Where are you? Your strength is needed now! We need to fight together for the sake of the people! for the sake of the earth! - Kamen Rider Chalice/Hajime Aikawa"

"^ Hajime, you must protect the things that are around you and I will do the same for those around me, that is how we can work together. Even though we are separated the things we need to protect are the same, so we must keep on standing up to defend them! Good luck over there - Kamen Rider Blade/Kazuma Kenzaki"

"Three! Investigating using futuristic technology! Sen-chan here, hello…┏(＿◇＿; )┓~concentrate~. My arms have gone numb after standing on them for too long!☆ Hoji, Jasmine and Boss have also come here, so look out for them! - DekaGreen/Sen-chan"

"Please don't give up guys...! If you never give up, it will eventually work out for you! We Goseiger continued to fight on so long believing in those words. Us heroes will definitely protect this planet! Protecting the earth is an angel's duty! Skyick storm power, GoseiRed!"

"To all the children, I have a message from Godai(who is in another country at the moment) that he wanted me to pass on to you guys. The rain will eventually clear and become a clear sky*! Even now, on the other side of those clouds are the ever stretching blue skies! Please give it your all and never give up! - from Sakurako Sawatari"

*literally says 'Aozora ni naru!'/Kuuga ed theme.

"Children, please endure these tough times just a little bit longer. Please, keep it up. Just remember that us heroes will always be by your side. - Kotaro Minami"

"Everyone, please cheer up! Even though times are tough now, the day where we can all be happy again will come. The day the world can sparkle will definitely come*! My brother and I will do our best to fight for you all! - Go-on Silver"

*Kirikira sekai is Go-on Silver's post henshin line

"Everyone can become a hero, you just have to help and encourage the people around you. A smile is a powerful thing☆ Gogo Sentai Boukenger's BoukenYellow/Natsuki"

"Now is a very difficult and painful time for us all but in times of this severity it is important to put on a smile. Your smile will be able to help many people. Things may be bleak but let's all work hard with a smile together! - TurboRanger's Red Turbo/Riki Hono"

"Hey everyone, it's GoRed/Matoi Tatsumi! People's lives are the future of the earth! Let's work hard with our burning rescue spirit!! Firstly in this time of disaster and confusion you should what you can. If you do what you are able, what you can do calmly, anyone can be a hero! It's all about the fighting spirit! Fighting Spirit! - GoRed"

"Dear readers, have you been able to sleep at all? You must be scared and nervous huh? but you should know that no one is alone in this. Ryotaro, Yuuto, Momo and the rest of the guys are all fighting right now with all their might to protect this country. Don't forget that everyone will always have friends. To the adults, please help to comfort the children! Hana/Yuriko Shiratori"
(this is adult Hana, not Kohana!)

"Even during the most stormy of days, beyond the clouds, the sun is always shining brightly through a blue sky! Never give up! RED-RACER/Kyosuke.Jinnai"

"Every individual is capable of doing something, no matter how big or small that thing is. Therefore we should all try and do what we can. If we do that, it will certainly become something much greater than anyone of us individually. Even if you are alone, please give out your help, give your support, give your strength. Everyone's feelings are the same. The consciousness of everyone on the entire planet is unmistakably moving together now. Ryuranger Tenkasei Ryo/ Keiichi Wada"

[Scarecrow]

Sigh. There's so much wrong with your post I won't get into it because if I do I'll be condescending and rude. I'll just simply say you don't understand nuclear power, the fact you're even comparing Chernobyl to this proves it.

Sorry yes, I'm a noob. And the only reason I was comparing it was cause as I said, articles even yesterday kept going on about it. Not to mention the local newspapers had this as the major headlines, even today. All the radiation, power plant meltdown stuff. The only thing I really understand is radiation = bad and it creeps me out (I won't even stand in the same room as a microwave when it's on... over the top? Maybe but I feel better ). And I'm not an expert on nuclear power no... so forgive my ignorance and for reminding me why I usually don't pay attention to the news in the first place.

As for Japan going back into the stone age and the oil spills... Yes I realize it's not practical to shut down plants or to stop drilling oil but... In my little fantasy world and everything was my way, we'd be riding horse and buggies making things out of wood and steel rather than plastic and other non environmentally friendly material Hunt your own food, grow your own fruit, candles and lanterns... no pesticides and chemicals, no mass production of non-biodegradable waste... XD

(Oh, another thing, oil is visible, radiation is not... therefore, it seems more scary cause you don't know where it is and can have major effects if there are high enough levels of it... so that's probably why people freak out over radiation vs oil... I don't like either one personally but like I said this isn't my perfect little world )

[Yuki-Anne]

Nate, thank you so much for your SCIENCE.

This is the problem I'm seeing: people see "radiation" and "nuclear meltdown" (which is not, btw, a strictly scientific term, but people like using it because it sounds really scary) and think, "OMG CHERNOBYL RUN FOR THE HILLS." I think most people, especially my age, don't even know what happened specifically at Chernobyl.

Also, radiation =/= bad. You ever had an x-ray? Oh, and do you live on planet Earth? because you're exposed to radiation on a daily basis.

The levels measured anywhere outside the current 30km radius are currently less harmful to human health than a single cigarette.

Levels measured at the plant since the fire this morning are at life-threatening levels. However, the wind isn't going to carry life-threatening levels toward the population, because of the short half-life of those radiation particles (see Nate's post on page 3).

I read today about people in freaking America panicking and buying iodine. I live here, and I'm worried, but I'm not that scared, because I've been looking at actual SCIENCE since this started, and SCIENCE (btw, when I use SCIENCE in all caps it sounds like a man shouting, "SCIENCE!" with reverb. Also, he's black and white and has his finger pointed in the air. He may or may not follow this up with maniacal laughter) has given me little reason to fear for my health just yet.

The situation could still deteriorate, I acknowledge that. But even if that happens, there are relatively few people in appreciable danger. But I urge you guys to be educated so that when you hear people throwing words they don't understand around just because they are scary, you can give them proper education. They're in more danger from getting their blood pressure up over this.

[shooraijin]

The potassium iodine run here in sunny So Cal, thousands of miles and one very big ocean away, is embarrassing and unnecessary.

By the way, whenever I hear someone shout SCIENCE!, I think of Thomas Dolby. And then I realize I'm old.

[blkmage]

I feel perfectly safe since I wear a lead suit whenever I go outside. I'm protected from all sorts of radiation like radio waves, cell phone signals, 802.11g, wires, bananas, cathode ray tube TVs, the Sun, and incandescent light.

[Roy Mustang]

This is the problem I'm seeing: people see "radiation" and "nuclear meltdown" (which is not, btw, a strictly scientific term, but people like using it because it sounds really scary) and think, "OMG CHERNOBYL RUN FOR THE HILLS." I think most people, especially my age, don't even know what happened specifically at Chernobyl.

The sad thing is, fear is what sells newspapers and make people watch the news. They love to make it more scary then it really is, because they want you to tune in or buy the paper.


Think of this, the reactors that are giving them the most problems were built in the 70's and yet, there has been no deaths, no loss of reactor containment, and no release of long-lived radioactive material. This shows you that nuclear power can be used and be safe. All the news wants to do is give us the worst so they can sell the headlines.


If anything, this push more safely guidelines for nuclear power plants and maybe we will see pebble bed reactors down the road.

A good write up about even more safer nuclear power plants as this story.

How to make a nuclear reactor that can't have a meltdown

[blkmage]

Sorry yes, I'm a noob. And the only reason I was comparing it was cause as I said, articles even yesterday kept going on about it. Not to mention the local newspapers had this as the major headlines, even today. All the radiation, power plant meltdown stuff. The only thing I really understand is radiation = bad and it creeps me out (I won't even stand in the same room as a microwave when it's on... over the top? Maybe but I feel better ). And I'm not an expert on nuclear power no... so forgive my ignorance and for reminding me why I usually don't pay attention to the news in the first place.

As for Japan going back into the stone age and the oil spills... Yes I realize it's not practical to shut down plants or to stop drilling oil but... In my little fantasy world and everything was my way, we'd be riding horse and buggies making things out of wood and steel rather than plastic and other non environmentally friendly material Hunt your own food, grow your own fruit, candles and lanterns... no pesticides and chemicals, no mass production of non-biodegradable waste... XD

(Oh, another thing, oil is visible, radiation is not... therefore, it seems more scary cause you don't know where it is and can have major effects if there are high enough levels of it... so that's probably why people freak out over radiation vs oil... I don't like either one personally but like I said this isn't my perfect little world )

Okay, let's dissect this post.

The first problem is the assumption that radiation is bad. This is completely unfounded, considering your body is being bombarded by radiation from all sorts of things, like light, radio waves, the Sun, etc. This is a position that requires an amazing amount of ignorance of how physics works to continue holding.

Secondly, your ideal world clearly doesn't account for our planet's astounding ability to kill us. It's kind of ironic that the things you are decrying, like industrialization and engineering, are exactly those things that likely saved millions of lives. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 killed at least 20 times more people than this one and happened back before evil things like plastics were invented.

Thirdly, while radiation as the invisible killer is a plausible explanation for peoples' hysteria, it is still a completely unacceptable excuse for being uninformed.

Please, please, please actually read up on these things instead of continuing to make these sorts of assumptions.

[shooraijin]

I rather like this graph (by which I mean it puts things in perspective well):

http://bit.ly/efSEeB

[Nate]

I'm posting more and no one can stop me!

"You've all done well up until now! Things may be difficult even from now but only you can help the people who are around you. You have a power that even we cannot match! That is the finishing attack known as a smile! Even if it's hard now, someday you will be able to save people too! - Ultraman Agul/Hiroya Fujimiya"

"We will help protect the planet and everyone on it. So please rest easy. Fujimiya, it's time to get to business! GAIAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! - Ultraman Gaia/Gamu Takayama"

"I'm Jan! Everyone work hard! If you are in sad sad, the people around you will also be sad sad but if you are help help, others will help help too!! Cheer up! Combine your power and do good! - Gekired Jan Kandou"

"Is everyone ok? The earthquake was scary huh? But now is the time where we all need to combine our powers!! Don't be down, let's use our fantastic technique of a smile to bring smiles on others! GekiBlue - Retsu Fukami"

"To everyone: That was scary and frightening, wasn't it? We need to help each other in these times, make compromises, and do our best by combining our strength. Cheer up!! - GekiYellow/Ran"

"Fight!!! Everyone is here for you, so it's alright. Your feelings become support for others! 'One for all and all for one'. Let's go and try to work together with our neighbors and talk things over with as many people as we can! Our feelings are incredibly strong! GekiViolet/Gou Fukami"

"Osu! To all the boys, if any of you are crying, I hope that you can feel better! To the girls, I'd like to see your happy faces again! Your spirits will surely give the people around you courage! Don't give up and let's all do our best!! GekiChopper/Ken Hisatsu"

"Boys make sure you are kind to the girls! Girls take a look at your dad and mom and give them your best smile! Us adult's source of power is seeing the smiles and kindness of others! We are giving it our best efforts to protect everyone! Let's overcome these times together! KirinRanger Tenjisei Kazu"

"Never ever give up! Grab hold and protect the people who you love with your own two hands! Let me tell you this to start! You are all quite con~sid~era~tely strong! - Kamen Rider Zeronos/Yuuto Sakurai"

"The sun will always rise. The night will not last forever. Daybreak will come and the sun will once again rise! Knowing that we must hold our hopes high no matter the circumstances and press forward! I've got your back! Taiyou Sentai SunVulcan ﾟ+.(ﾉ｡･ω･)ﾉ*｡hyohyo~☆ﾟ･:*☆ VulPanther Asao Kobayashi"

"Just like Kuuga, you guys also have the power to be kind and protect other people. Due the current severity of the times, it's especially important to be considerate to each other. Be strong kids! Kaoru Ichijou"

"Hello everyone, this is Gingared, Ryouma! Everyone alright? It was scary huh? Us heroes are supporting you all who are working so hard. Alriiight, brother Hyuuga, Hayate, Gouki, Hikaru, Saya! Let's cheer everyone on so they can do their best! 'Ready everyone? Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Even when you in a crisis, never give up! If you do that surely and opportunity will arise! Right now we need to wipe away the minus power that is tearing into Japan! - Mirror Knight"

"Yo! This is Ultraman Zero! How is everyone doing? Right now is a tough time and you may all be dealing with a lot but don't ever accept losing to the pain! You guys are all allies of Ultimate Force Zero! We need to all do our best so we can protect our families and our precious children! This is our LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Do what we can. Each and everyone has that ability. "Even if the strength of a single person is small, if we all combine our strengths, there is no wall which we cannot climb. No matter how hard it is, someone will always hold out their hand to you. That's the world that we wanted to create. - Kamen Rider Zolda/Shuuichi Kitaoka"

"It's fine even if you don't listen to our words. I just want you to believe in yourselves, believe in the people around you, believe that there will always be a new morning. That is what I will believe in. - NinjaRed Sasuke"

"To the boys and girls of this disaster. I'm sure things are painful for you right now. If it is hard on you, you should know that crying is ok. You don't have to hold in your tears. However, you must keep your mind/spirit strong. If you show your strong self, surely that will help the people around you. I also have to keep strong. shu*~ -From Kamen Rider Hibiki"

*sfx for hibiki's signature wrist spin gesture

"Even now we are continuing the fight. The enemy is an even greater threat than Golgom or Crisis, the ferociousness of nature. Even so, we wont lose! Let's all fight together, we can't lose! - Kotaro Minami"

"Look up. Because when you look down, you'll just get uneasy and remember bad things. Don't worry, we'll protect you.

@Kamen Rider Kabuto's Tendou Souji, Mizushima Hiro. To all parents out there: It may be tough, but keep your kids brave. I'm supporting you"

"Can anyone hear me? It's Ryotaro Nogami. I'd like to hurry over and help but currently, Momo, our group and I are fighting in a different time, so we will probably be a bit late. So until then, I'll leave that time to you guys. Let's fight together! From Ryotaro Nogami/Takeru Sato"

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I rather like this graph (by which I mean it puts things in perspective well):

http://bit.ly/efSEeB

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the TWh is the deaths per part mean?

[mechana2015]

TeraWatt hours is a common method of measuring the output of a power source such as a power plant or a dam. The comparison is how many people are killed on average for each TWh (the right column) compared to what percentage of the worlds power supply each method is.

[TWWK]

I feel like I'm self-promoting here, but I thought y'all would be interested. Yuki-Anne wrote a post for my blog yesterday about the earthquake. It's a great read:

Yuki-Anne in Japan: Only Hope

[Scarecrow]

Okay, let's dissect this post.

The first problem is the assumption that radiation is bad. This is completely unfounded, considering your body is being bombarded by radiation from all sorts of things, like light, radio waves, the Sun, etc. This is a position that requires an amazing amount of ignorance of how physics works to continue holding.

Secondly, your ideal world clearly doesn't account for our planet's astounding ability to kill us. It's kind of ironic that the things you are decrying, like industrialization and engineering, are exactly those things that likely saved millions of lives. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 killed at least 20 times more people than this one and happened back before evil things like plastics were invented.

Thirdly, while radiation as the invisible killer is a plausible explanation for peoples' hysteria, it is still a completely unacceptable excuse for being uninformed.

Please, please, please actually read up on these things instead of continuing to make these sorts of assumptions.

Ok first... well start with second... I wasn't completely serious... (I tried to put smilies in there but I guess they went over your head) I want unicorns in my perfect world too. I'm not an advocate for unicorn breeding... Next... I'm not completely retarded. I'm very much aware of the fact we are bombarded by radiation. Ionizing radiation though... is bad for you... You can use it for good causes but... there is no "healthy" level of ionizing radiation. The more you can avoid, the better.

[Yuki-Anne]

Not to sound overly harsh, but as a personal request, please refrain from posting strong opinion fueled by ignorance at this time. It is not helpful.

EDIT: Nate, those Kamen Rider quotes are awesome.

[Nate]

EDIT: Nate, those Kamen Rider quotes are awesome.

HAJIME AND KENZAKI'S TWEETS TO EACH OTHER ARE NOW CANON.

[Yuki-Anne]

I think this is far more significant to you than it is to me. I really only know who Mizushima Hiro is. It's still awesome to read, though.

[TWWK]

A little breakdown of Christian organizations providing relief to Japan:
CRASH Japan and Other Christian Charitable Organizations

[Yuki-Anne]

Awesome.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

CRASH Japan do amazing work. I haven't been involved but my brother, myself and our mum went on a mission trip back in 2006 and worked with the church (Grace Community in Ome) that began the movement. Very cool.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Sorry yes, I'm a noob. And the only reason I was comparing it was cause as I said, articles even yesterday kept going on about it. Not to mention the local newspapers had this as the major headlines, even today. All the radiation, power plant meltdown stuff. The only thing I really understand is radiation = bad and it creeps me out (I won't even stand in the same room as a microwave when it's on... over the top? Maybe but I feel better ). And I'm not an expert on nuclear power no... so forgive my ignorance and for reminding me why I usually don't pay attention to the news in the first place.

As for Japan going back into the stone age and the oil spills... Yes I realize it's not practical to shut down plants or to stop drilling oil but... In my little fantasy world and everything was my way, we'd be riding horse and buggies making things out of wood and steel rather than plastic and other non environmentally friendly material Hunt your own food, grow your own fruit, candles and lanterns... no pesticides and chemicals, no mass production of non-biodegradable waste... XD

(Oh, another thing, oil is visible, radiation is not... therefore, it seems more scary cause you don't know where it is and can have major effects if there are high enough levels of it... so that's probably why people freak out over radiation vs oil... I don't like either one personally but like I said this isn't my perfect little world )

Alas---the headlines are DESIGNED to breed fear and spread disinformation.

The nuclear power plants in Japan are nothing like Chernobyl's.

I'm still watching TV Japan, still unable to translate a lot of it, but it appears that train services are slowly being restored, but there are still food and water shortages in the areas hardest hit.

The Japanese people seem to be coping. Send money to a relief organization like Catholic Relief Services, if you can. They among others are already on the ground there.

[Nate]

Another good organization that I don't believe I've seen anyone mention is Doctors Without Borders. In fact I believe they were the first organization over there providing aid in all this.

The only catch is you can't specifically donate to Japan, only the organization in general. But as I said before, even if your donation isn't used for Japan, it's used for good anyway, so don't let that stop you from donating.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Someone sent me this blog entry by an Apple employee living in Tokyo. Makes interesting reading:

How people responded.

[mechana2015]

That is a phenomenal response. Kudos to them.

[Straylight]

I've been following this pretty closely... They have just managed to connect a power cable to the stricken nuclear reactors

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12779512

This is pretty good news. They can finally get the built in systems up and running again, to cool the reactors. That's gotta be a lot better than dropping water from helicopters.

[Technomancer]

I've been following this pretty closely... They have just managed to connect a power cable to the stricken nuclear reactors

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12779512

This is pretty good news. They can finally get the built in systems up and running again, to cool the reactors. That's gotta be a lot better than dropping water from helicopters.

As long as the pumps weren't damaged in the exposion.

[Solid Ronin]

HAJIME AND KENZAKI'S TWEETS TO EACH OTHER ARE NOW CANON.

The following is my reaction when I first read said tweets.

[Sailor Kenshin]

TV Japan now seems to be adding back some regular programming (soap operas, documentaries, sports programs) although they are still mostly news-reporting.

Here's a web site that gives precise, non-panic-inducing, genuine info on the nuclear plants that were damaged:

Updated often!

We're continuing to pray!