[ms] · Est. May 2002
One durable person. One social graph. Many communities—and every way people speak, share, listen, write, gather and remember.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Some useful information on that video ... Nuclear reactor for Dummies Our thoughts and prayers to people suffering in Japan :(
[video=youtube;-bcrLiATLq0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-bcrLiATLq0[/video]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[URL]http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/24755/a_letter_from_sendai[/URL]
[B][quote]A letter from Sendai[/B]
Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=368"]worthy[/URL] of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.
During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.
It's utterly amazingly that where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."
Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.
We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.
There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.
Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.
And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.
They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.
Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.
Thank you again for your care and Love of me,
With Love in return, to you all,
Anne[/quote]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^ nice read. [url="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=494"]glimpse[/url] of hope in a dire situation.... love to hear it.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=Garrick;937984]^ nice read. [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=494"]glimpse[/URL] of hope in a dire situation.... love to hear it.[/QUOTE]
Yep. Americans could learn a few things from the Japanese.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Yes, what really I think shows the mindset here vs. there is all of the things we saw in New Orleans in Katrina. And that was a disaster people knew of in advance.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=Jenks;937987]Yep. Americans could learn a few things from the Japanese.[/QUOTE]the whole world could
thank you for sharing that!!
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=Jenks;937987]Yep. Americans could learn a few things from the Japanese.[/QUOTE] I think everyone could learn from this ! Thank you for the letter from Sendai
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Thank you for sharing that Jenks....very moving. I hope that if I am ever faced with such a trying time the people around me would be as kind and caring
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
I've been following this blog and recently it's been showing the everyday life in Japan ... certainly not the panic and exodus that Western news is reporting ...
[url]http://www.tokyotimes.org/[/url]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
This blog too, usually about marketing and trends, have been reporting life as usual ...
[URL]http://www.japantrends.com/[/URL]
The Japanese have always struck me as a resilient bunch, their solidarity cannot be beat ... it's a shame there is so much sensationalistic, opportunistic crap when these people are trying to hold it together and get on with it.
We are such a deplorable race.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^^ Hear Hear !!!
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[video=youtube;uct9Kzjw9XY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uct9Kzjw9XY[/video]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Why is it that animal stories seem to upset me more than human stories, or at least as much .:(
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE]They are the faceless 50, the unnamed operators who stayed behind. They have volunteered, or been assigned, to pump seawater on dangerously exposed nuclear fuel, already thought to be partly melting and spewing radioactive material, to prevent full meltdowns that could throw thousands of tons of radioactive dust high into the air and imperil millions of their compatriots. [/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/asia/16workers.html?_r=1[/url]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
because you have been dehumanized Didi. It is a part of the brainwashing that humans are expendable. I'm not saying it as a negative to you directly but most share your feeling because we have been raised that way.
We have grown up to expect humans dying horrible deaths because we hear it all the time on the news. But we don't expect dogs or lovable animals to die horrible deaths.
I find this Fukushima 50 story quite annoying because it took thousands of people to slow down Chernobyl.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[B]News Brief, 3/18/11, 10 AM EDT[/B]
[quote] Spraying of spent fuel pools at Units 3 and 4 is still underway. Visual inspection of Unit 4’s pool showed water in the pool, and so efforts have been temporarily focused upon Unit 3. While efforts at using helicopters to dump water onto the pools had been largely unsuccessful , army firetrucks used in putting out aircraft fires have been employed with some success. The elite Tokyo Hyper Rescue component of the Tokyo fire department has arrived on scene and is conducting missions of roughly two hours in length, during which they spray the pools for 7-8 minutes, wait for steam to dissipate, and spray again.
A cable has been laid from a TEPCO power line 1.5 km from the facility, which will be used to supply power to emergency cooling systems of the reactors at Units 1 and 2.
Backup diesel generators have been connected to cool the spent fuel pools at Units 5 and 6. As of 4 PM JST, temperatures in those pools have reached 65.5 and and 62 degrees Celsius.
Visual inspections have been conducted of both the central spent fuel pool, which contains 60% of the facility’s fuel, and the dry cask storage area. Water levels at the central pool have been described as “secured”, and the dry casks show “no signs of an abnormal situation”. More detailed checks of these areas are planned for the future.
A Japanese government agency has released the results of radiation measurements at dozens of monitoring posts. See the data here: [URL]http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/other/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/18/1303727_1716.pdf[/URL].
These measurements give doses in excess of background radiation, which is why some may appear low. High measurements at reading point 32 are thought to be the result of a controlled containment venting and a simultaneous fire which carried radioactive particles inland. Over the course of the incident, the general trend has been for weather patterns to sweep radioactive particles out to sea.
As a result of these radiation measurements and the ongoing work, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency upgraded the event to a 5 on the INES scale. This is the same level as the Three Mile Island accident, and two steps below Chernobyl.
Resources: ANS Nuclear Café’; World Nuclear News,; IAEA; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Note: We earlier reported the temperature of spent fuel pool 6 as 84 degrees C. This was a typographical error. We apologize for the mistake. [/quote]
[URL]http://mitnse.com[/URL]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=feather;938083][video=youtube;uct9Kzjw9XY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uct9Kzjw9XY[/video][/QUOTE]
UPDATE: CNN and the UK Telegraph have both reported that [URL="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/yblog_thelookout/ts_yblog_thelookout/storytext/dog-in-japan-stays-by-the-side-of-its-ailing-friend-in-the-rubble/40694210/SIG=12rpn4cad/*http://www.globalanimal.org/2011/03/15/japan-dog-refuses-to-abandon-injured-friend/32471/"]the dogs have been rescued[/URL] since the footage aired, and are both receiving veterinary care; the more seriously wounded dog is at a clinic in the city of Mito, while the protective spaniel-type dog is receiving care at a shelter in the same town.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Following video is used to explain the situation in Fukushima to the kids in japan ... it probably does a better job than most of the reports that had been carried by foreign press media
[video=youtube;5sakN2hSVxA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sakN2hSVxA[/video]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Just saw the bit about the dogs being rescued . :) Much better!! :)
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=runningman;938172]because you have been dehumanized Didi. It is a part of the brainwashing that humans are expendable. I'm not saying it as a negative to you directly but most share your feeling because we have been raised that way.
We have grown up to expect humans dying horrible deaths because we hear it all the time on the news. But we don't expect dogs or lovable animals to die horrible deaths.
I find this Fukushima 50 story quite annoying because it took thousands of people to slow down Chernobyl.[/QUOTE] Could you be more wrong !! ??? You may be like that , I assure you most of the people I know aren't !! Obviously a lot of the people here are not "dehumanised" either!! Actually I thought about it after I wrote that , I see animals , particularity dogs, as being dependent on humans to look after them and so often we let them down :( We put them in the most awful places :(
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
you're all so very informed. hoyl shit!
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
it's great to hear the dogs were rescued. would have been nicer to hear that they were still together getting care at the same place, although at least they were saved.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[url]http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/18/video-watch-as-japanese-motorists-car-is-engulfed-by-the-tsunami/#continued[/url]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE]Hours after the first shock waves hit, two of the largest crime groups went into action, opening their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, and shipping food, water, and blankets to the devastated areas in two-ton trucks and whatever vehicles they could get moving. The day after the earthquake the [I]Inagawa-kai[/I] (the third largest organized crime group in Japan which was founded in 1948) sent twenty-five four-ton trucks filled with paper diapers, instant ramen, batteries, flashlights, drinks, and the essentials of daily life to the Tohoku region. [LEFT][COLOR=#000000] Read more: [URL]http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-yakuza-mafia-aid-earthquake-tsunami-rescue-efforts-2011-3#ixzz1HFVhRped[/URL] [/COLOR][/LEFT] [/QUOTE]
:RockOn:
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^^^ That is truly amazing. Here they just got organised to loot !! :(
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
radiation levels outside the plant are 1600x normal levels 12 miles away from the plant
[URL="http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/United-Nations-radition-is-1600-times-higher-than-normal-at-power-plant-118448424.html"]http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/United-Nations-radition-is-1600-times-higher-than-normal-at-power-plant-118448424.html[/URL]
Buckle up world this isn't even close to over
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Apparently there is now radiation in their tap water and they are advising not to give to babies/small children. I really hope they find a way to stabilize and repair the damaged nuclear stations soon :(
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=DancingQueen;939887]Apparently there is now radiation in their tap water and they are advising not to give to babies/small children. I really hope they find a way to stabilize and repair the damaged nuclear stations soon :([/QUOTE]
this was one of my biggest fears. This probably means that the radiation is melting through the earth and melting down into the aquifers. Leukemia rates and many cancer rates are going to skyrocket over the next couple years in Japan.
[URL="http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110323/japan-fukushima-radiation-contamination-concerns-110323/20110323/?hub=WinnipegHome"]http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110323/japan-fukushima-radiation-contamination-concerns-110323/20110323/?hub=WinnipegHome[/URL]
You know they are lying about the numbers they are telling just enough truth to not hang. They say the safe levels for adults is 300 and conveniently the levels are 210. Babies and toddlers can only have the level at 100 becquerels/liter
They need to bury this God Damn thing before it is too late for Tokyo
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Man dives into tsunami to save his wife AND mother.
[QUOTE]For most of us regular folks, this is the sort of shit that would make us throw up our hands, swear loudly, and resign ourselves to a lifetime of hopeless misery. But Hideaki Akaiwa isn't a regular guy. He's a fucking insane badass, and he wasn't going to sit back and just let his wife die alone, freezing to death in a miserable water-filled tomb. He was going after her. No matter what.
How the fuck Hideaki Akaiwa got a hold of a wetsuit and a set of [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]SCUBA[/URL] gear is one of the great mysteries of the world. I'm roughly twenty hours into [I]Fallout 3[/I] and I'm lucky to come across a fucking vacuum cleaner in that godforsaken post-apocalyptic wasteland, yet this guy is in the middle of a real-life earth-shaking mecha-disaster and he's coming up with oxygen tanks, waterproof suits, and rebreather systems seemingly out of thin air. I guess when you're a truly unstoppable badass, you, by definition, don't let anything stand in your way. You make shit happen, all the time, no matter what.
Regardless of how he came across this equipment (borrowing, stealing, buying, beating up a Yakuza [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]SCUBA[/URL] diving demolitions expert, etc.) Hideaki threw on his underwater survival gear, rushed [I]into the goddamned tsunami[/I], and dove beneath the rushing waves, determined to rescue his wife or die trying. I'm not exactly sure whether or not the dude even knew how to operate [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]SCUBA[/URL] equipment, but according to one version of his story he met his wife while he was surfing (which is awesome, by the way), so it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to say that he already had a little experience [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]SCUBA[/URL] diving under a more controlled situation. Of course, even if this dude didn't know how to work the gear I'm certain that wouldn't have stopped him either – Hideaki wasn't going to let a pair of soul-crushing natural disasters deter him from doing awesome shit and saving his family. He dove down into the water, completely submerged in the freezing cold, pitch black rushing current on all sides, and started swimming through the underwater ruins of his former hometown.
Surrounded by incredible hazards on all sides, ranging from obscene currents capable of dislodging houses from their moorings, sharp twisted metal that could easily have punctured his oxygen line (at best) or impaled him (at worst), and with giant fucking cars careening through the water like toys, he pressed on. Past broken glass, past destroyed houses, past downed power lines arcing with electrical current, through undertow that could have dragged him out to sea never to be heard from again, he searched.
Hideaki maintained his composure and navigated his way through the submerged city, finally tracking down his old house. He quickly swam through to find his totally-freaked-out wife, alone and stranded on the upper level of their house, barely keeping her head above water. He grabbed her tight, and presumably sharing his rebreather with her, dragged her out of the wreckage to safety. She survived.
But Hideaki Akaiwa still wasn't done yet.
Now, I'm sure you're wondering what the fuck is more intense than commandeering a wet suit, face-punching a tsunami and dragging your wife of two decades out of the flooded wreckage of your home, but, no shit, it gets even better. You see, Hideaki's mother also lived in Ishinomaki, and she was still unaccounted for. I think you all know where this is going.
First, Hideaki searched around the evacuation shelters and other areas, looking for his mom among the ragtag groups of survivors who had been lucky enough to flee to higher ground. She might have escaped, and he needed to find her. Now. He ran through the city like some post-apocalyptic action hero, desperately trying to track her down, but when a couple of days went by without any sign of her, he knew what he had to do. The water had only receded a few inches by this point, the rescue teams weren't working quickly enough for his tastes, and Hideaki Akaiwa fucking once again took matters into his own hands – rushing back into the waterlogged city looking for his mom.
So, once again Hideaki navigated his way through the Atlantean city, picking his way through crumbling wreckage, splintered wood, and shredded metal to find his elderly mother. After another grueling trek, he tracked her down on the upper levels of a house – she'd been stranded there for four days, and would almost certainly have died without the timely aid of her son. He brought her to safety somehow as well, as you might expect at this point [/QUOTE][URL]http://badassoftheweek.com/akaiwa.html[/URL]
[QUOTE]Most people when faced with a disaster of the epic magnitude of the Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami waves last week, will immediately run for the hills. You know, high land…away from rushing turbulent and riddled with dangerous rubble waters.
Not Hideaki Akaiwa though.
No. [URL="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-[url="]This guy[/URL] realizes that he cannot find his wife, who he met two decades ago surfing a local bay. He freaks out, as any hysterical and desperate spouse would do at the thought that the love of their life was drowning in ten feet of oceanic water less than 24 hours after their world was actually rocked by an 8.9 earthquake that lasted for almost two minutes.
Many people would, at this point, collapse into a sobbing mass, knowing they had lost someone forever. Again, not Hideaki Akaiwa. Akaiwa instead managed to procure at least a wetsuit (some reports indicate he also [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/hideaki-akaiwa-japan-tsunami_n_837250.html"]used [/URL][URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]scuba[/URL] gear, though where he managed to get [URL="http://www.mercuryserver.com/forums/djdb.php?id=655"]scuba[/URL] gear in the middle of a national disaster should probably be included with the Pyramids and Hanging Gardens as a wonder of the world) and began swimming through his city of Ishinomaki, Japan looking for her.
Not being in Japan currently, nor ever experiencing the terror that is a tsunami, I can only trust the stories of what tsunami waves and resulting flooding are like. Frigidly cold water, undercurrents and riptides that threaten at any moment to catch you up and sweep you out to sea, and large objects like cars and houses rushing along at double-digit-mile-per-hour speeds.
Oh, and there’s also all the broken wreckage of society destroyed by the water laying like little landmines under each lapping waves. Akaiwa managed to find his way to his house, which was now submerged under almost 10 feet of water. Inside, he found his wife gasping for the last remaining remnants of air available in an upper level of the house. Together, they made their way back through the dangerous death-trap water to safety.
AND THEN HE WENT BACK FOR HIS MOTHER. [/QUOTE][URL]http://blogs.forbes.com/elisadoucette/2011/03/23/hideaki-akaiwa-jumps-headfirst-into-tsunami-water-to-save-family-and-neighbors/[/URL]
[IMG]http://badassoftheweek.com/akaiwa5.jpeg[/IMG]
Someone make an action figure out of this guy.
:shock::shock::shock::shock::twisted::twisted::twisted::RockOn::RockOn::Respect::Respect::Respect::Respect::Respect::bowdown2:bowdown2
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^ that is almost folklore shit! truly truly awesome. loved the dude's writing too. kept it really amusing and intriguing. nice share. :)
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[IMG]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/03/japan-earthquake-fixed-road.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/03/japan-earthquake-damaged-road.jpg[/IMG]Due to the extensive damage in Japan caused by the massive earthquake and resultant tsunami on March 11, many have questioned if the island nation can recover in a year, much less a few months. If the swiftness with which the Japanese can repair roads is any indication, we wouldn't bet against the country cleaning up this catastrophe in short order.
As a result of the quake, a 150-meter section of the Great Kanto Highway in Naka was absolutely obliterated, with massive chasms running right through the middle of the road. Work crews at the NEXCO road repair company sprang into action on March 17, working at a fevered pitch to help get their country on the road to recovery, literally. Amazingly, after only six days of labor, the road is silky smooth and ready for travel. Look at the the before and after photos above to see just how amazing this feat is.
Given the fact that road crews in the U.S. can spend three or more months repairing a single lane of concrete, only to leave the orange barrels on the road for another two weeks, we're blown away by this feat of engineering. Simply amazing.
[url]http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/24/japanese-repair-quake-ravaged-road-in-just-six-days/[/url]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
I assumed the top one was the before!! :shock: How did they do that ???
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Hmmm I actually assumed the top one is AFTER the repair, but that would seem too miraculous, like nothing happened :lol:
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369307/Japan-tsunami-earthquake-Road-repaired-SIX-days-destroyed.html"]This article shows the pictures as before and after the repairs[/URL] ...
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
This made it to the news here tonight. Hope some road builders in Australia were watching , we need lots of new roads :lol:
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
2 weeks later and most of the media has already moved on
[url]http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japan-earthquake-two-weeks-later/100034/[/url]
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^^^ Extremely intense some of those :(
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
[QUOTE=Huggie Smiles;940437]2 weeks later and most of the media has already moved on
[url]http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japan-earthquake-two-weeks-later/100034/[/url][/QUOTE]
thx man, these are really good photos, and horrifyingly sad.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
Note to UK Govt: Please call NEXCO road repair company, they could well offer a few tips to the guys who work on the roads in the UK. You know the ones that have been fucking about on the M1 for the last 4 years? Just a thought.
Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan
^^^ Great minds think alike !! :lol: