Disaster

The media continues to run around flailing their arms over the Japanese reactor story. The name Chernobyl keeps coming up. There is really no comparison since that reactor was a lot different and didn’t have some of the safety features these do. It should also be said that Chernobyl is far from some wasteland today. It happens to be Europe’s largest wildlife refuge. Life is thriving there. Just as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are thriving cities in spite of the fact they were both nuked.

The reality of nuclear fallout is much different than the press and hysterics want us to believe. Astronauts get more radiation exposure than many of the people in Japan are getting, so do flight crews on airlines. There is certainly reason for concern that the problem will be resolved, but Japan is the most nuclear smart country on earth.

One thing’s for sure, the scare tactics of the American media right now is appalling. Especially when they talk about fallout reaching the states. It isn’t helpful that this administration has its share of crackpots including the head of the Energy Department. Like I said, go to better sources for your information. The press isn’t one of them.

An interesting map based in Hungary that shows incidents all over the world. Just what some superhero could use.

Meanwhile, you have to wonder, after this massive quake in Japan, if it won’t happen here in California in the near future. When Quake happen one place, they often reverberate elsewhere along the ring of fire. I see from this map that they are having quakes in Alaska now.

UPDATE: According to the disaster map, small quakes are hitting parts of California and New Zealand now.

CNN has led the reporting on the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and predictably, the media has pumped out endless reams of fear mongering propaganda designed to make you fear nuclear power. Everything from worries that the US will have to deal with fallout in a few days to reactors blowing up left and right.

The fact is, all the reactors have been handled without other safety measures having to be deployed. These are older reactors not built to withstand a quake of that size, yet they did. The tsunami did more damage than the quake. But it’s still being managed. Here are some good sources of information on the subject.

The press likes to stoke the emotions of their audience to sell papers and get ratings, which is why you generally have to take what they say with a grain of salt, or iodine as the case may be.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal speaks out against the media’s hysteria. Even Fox was in on the act.

Scary stuff in Japan, a country that sits on the ring of fire. Not only are there volcanoes in Japan, but there is a lot of seismic activity there. So much so that buildings have to be made to withstand major quakes like the one that just hit. But even that can’t save smaller buildings when a tsunami hits. Watch as it sweeps away buildings and cars like so much flotsam.

The fact is nature can smack down human cities with ease whenever it wants. All the scare talks in the world by climate hacks are immaterial in the face of what volcanoes and quakes do on a fairly regular basis around the world. We take so much for granted, but a serious event like this can take it all away. 88,000 people are feared missing with over 1,000 confirmed dead so far.

Look at this amazing video of the quake’s energy rippling across the planet.

Here’s another handy chart to show that the current oil spill rates pretty low on the biggest of all time. It’s still a big one, no argument there.

I’ve volunteered to build a new site for this company providing airlift support to the Haitian relief effort. I also offered to go and help at some point, but for now I will be building them a more robust site. Here is their current one.

If you want to help them in any way they have a donate ability on their site now.