The T Is Not Silent

If you watch a Japanese news broadcast about the tsunami, every time you hear a word that ends in “ken,” they are talking about a prefecture. That’s kind of like a state or province.

Fukushima — where they are having the nuclear issue — is the Capitol of Fukushima Prefecture, number 7 on that map. For reference, Tokyo Prefecture is number 13. Thanks to Jill, we now know that if the reactor does blow the fallout will reach all the way to Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico: Update: there seems to be a lot of debate over this map. It’s true that I should have said fallout may reach, rather than will reach. As someone who lives in the yellow zone, it is still my duty to prepare myself and my family for the worst but hope for the best.

Speaking of which, I don’t know how anybody with any understanding of geology can look at the mountains just west of Vegas and possibly think Yucca Mountain is a good idea.

If you were to lay Japan down next to the East Coast of the United States, it would look something like this:

As you can see, Hokkaido is as far north as Maine, but Kyuushu is as far south as Florida. Okinawa extends quite a bit further south. The tsunami was by any standard a big deal.

Speaking of the United States, thanks to TYWKIWDI for pointing out this graphic:

For the record, that’s 12 events in the 80s, and 38 events in the 90s, 47 from 2000 to 2009, and an additional 3 events in 2010. I think I’ve said before that actuaries believe in global warming.

First hand accounts of the quake are starting to be heard. For those of you trying to contact someone in Japan to make sure they are safe, the State Department says “We understand also that some telephone landlines there are disrupted. We are recommending that people try contacting loved ones in Japan by email, text, SMS message, or social media.”

I posted this picture 4 years ago. It’s a sign warning people of tsunami risk. Of course, the current crop of Republicans thinks that tsunami warnings — and other weather warnings — are a waste of time. I’ve got news for you, that’s not going to play well in Iowa.

Susie Madrak had this up, and I think it’s a good sentiment:

In Closing: leave your laptop home; old fashioned boycott causes old fashioned bank run; Bill Maher; on oil; No Depositor Left Behind; long but interesting; and after all that I sure do need a good laugh.

6 thoughts on “The T Is Not Silent”

  1. Actually the sign is warning of discharge from a dam: “By reason of the dam discharge the water will increase. Pay attention please” (Around two kilometers up river from here there is a big dam) The dam’s stored water discharge could suddenly increase. Again, the discharge from the dam. The discharge time will be preceded by a siren….
    It is dangerous! Don’t go down into the dry riverbed, please.”

    “Pay attention to the siren and the speaker and move away from the river.”

    Frankly, I’m more concerned about the fallout.

  3. Does anyone know the original source for that fallout map? In general the containment structures at these facilities is far superior to those at Chernobyl, and the fuel isn’t intermixed with combustible carbon like it was there, so there wouldn’t be days of fire lofting radionuclides into the upper atmosphere. FYI 750 rads is a lethal dose, so that map depics 100 million deaths or so. I’m not thinking it’s credible.

  4. Now, can we put aside the silly notion that nuclear power is the future?
    There’s the distinct possibility that not one, not two or three, but SIX reactors are in danger of catastrophic meltdown.
    If this happens, this will be Japan’s worst nightmare on steroids, and not so damned good for western America, including Canada, either.
    Let’s put an end to the nuclear power lobby, once and for all, before it’s too late.
    Let’s face it Japan EXPECTS earthquakes and is probably set up for that eventuality better than anywhere else on Earth, and just look at what happened there.
    Enough, already.

  5. Damn it you do not “know” that if the reactor melts down you’ll see contamination clear into Colorado.

    In fact, if you Google the group that supposedly pushed out the radiation fallout map, Australian Radiation Services, you get their web page, with a big red text box at the top saying they didn’t create this piece of misinformation.

    It takes 10 seconds to research a piece of information you’re asserting to be the truth. If you want people to take your writing seriously, hold yourself up to a journalistic standard where you verify what you assert to be true.

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