Tuesday: Are you still vulnerable to media messaging?

Check out this graphic from xkcd.  It shows the amount of absorbed radiation that is/was produced from various sources.   FYI: the blue squares are measured in micro Sieverts (the Greek letter μ), the green ones in milli Sieverts.  Micro is much smaller than milli, which in turn is much smaller than a Sievert.   [...]

Monday: Cocaine

This is a very quick post before I dash off to (what’s left of) work: I finally saw Inside Job last night.  It’s a pretty good documentary, especially for anyone who’s intimidated by Michael Lewis’s book, The Big Short.  Lewis covered a lot of this information in his book so much of the material is [...]

Sunday: Lori, Noam, Libya and Paywalls

Lorenda Starfelt passed away last Tuesday.  She was 56.  Her death was announced by her husband Brad Mays yesterday on Correntewire where Lori posted under the name Basement Angel.  Long time readers of this blog will remember Brad and Lori as the filmmakers who documented the dispossessed of the 2008 primary elections.  I met them [...]

Saturday: A rush to war?

U.S. and Allies Strike Libya Barrage of Missiles Hits Air-Defense Targets TRIPOLI, Libya — American and European forces began a broad campaign of strikes against the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Saturday, unleashing warplanes and missiles in the first round of the largest international military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of [...]

Thursday: Watching the fear roll in

I can’t say I’m a fierce advocate of nuclear power – not by a long shot – I’m skeptical about our ability here in the US to adequately regulate the plants from the design phase through the operations.  And the worst case scenarios of what can happen when things go wrong scare me witless.  And [...]

Wednesday: Living in “interesting times”

Just a quick note to remind you (as if you needed any reminding) that there is more than one crisis in Japan.  The nuclear power plant emergency is a small part of the problems the country now faces. Here is a message from US ambassador Roos. The bigger problem involves thousands of displaced people whose [...]

Tuesday: Once again, Americans have made it all about US

I’m fairly disgusted by the reaction of Americans and yes, particularly Californians, to the events at the nuclear power plants in Japan. No, no, don’t even *try* to make excuses for your behavior. The events are serious but the idea that millions of Americans are imminently threatened with exceedingly high levels of non dispersed cancer [...]

Monday: Calm, cool, cameraman watches world washed away

If you haven’t seen this video of the tsunami from a guy who was standing a few feet from it, you should really check it out.  It’s rare that a force of nature of this magnitude is documented like this.  Tsunami scientists will find this footage invaluable. Follow the link here. In other news: PJ [...]

Sunday: Nukes in the News

Once again, our news media does not fail to disappoint.  It’s not enough to revel in the mass destruction caused by a supersized earthquake and mega tsunami.  No, now we must wait with breathless anticipation for the catastrophic Chernyobal style nuclear fuel meltdown that is *sure* to follow.  As plutoniumpage said cynically last night on [...]

Saturday: The Shareholders of Obama Corp

Sometimes, I wonder if the Obot contigent knew in advance that Obama was a corporate schmoozer and one of the Olympic MBA competition team whether they would have voted for him.  (See Willful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan for the full description) It seems to me that the self-described “creative class” isn’t as familiar with the [...]