Stalins Organ

He was going there anyway, so ascribing continued movement as something that has resulted from the UN resolution and attacks seems a bit odd. Reports today say he has failed to make significant inroads into the city - eg BBc Still of it are all over the news - who identified it as rebel?

I think saying the 60's was better in the USA than now is like saying 10 years ago was better in Egypt - in both cases "better" pretty much just means the public was ignorant of the corruption, venality, back room deals, duplicity, tec of the powers that be.

I've swum in that bay - it's not very deep - as in it's maybe 2-3m that far from shore. if you've seen the TV programme of the Orca coming up on the beach in Sth America to get seals (?) you wouldn't think it was too shallow!

There have been some major tsunami's (or things that might have been tsunamis) in the UK, such as the one in the Bristol estuary in 1607, and the North Sea is known to generate the occasional tsunami too. And there is enough seismic activity in the UK to make monitoring and addressing it worthwhile. One thing about tsunamis is their ability to affect at a distance, and their ability to be generated by events that do not require fault-lines - eg continental shelvs can have "landlsides" at their edges due to errosion, etc. And hte tsunami can then travel many hundreds of miles to cause destruction on land.

Generally I agree, however I read a report this morning (can't find it now ) the death toll at he reactors is at least 4 from fires and collapses, and the media are now pumping the "50 heroes" - the crew still trying to work around the reactors to evaluate teh damage, etc - as if they have all sworn to commit suicide if need be to do their jobs - it's all a bit bizarre/morbid - and I wish those individuals all the luck in the world!

APP...Eye in the Sky........yeah - that was a while ago - many girlfriends!! These days I mostly just buy music from artists performing at the blues club & other local venues - all sorts - lots of blues, rock, alt-country, a little jazz (although I have a special loathing for "discordant" jazz some other varieties are nice). Not a "pop" purchaser any more - last non-local CD I bought was Leonard Cohen at his concert

Basically with particle filters ('cos radiation resides in particles, not in "the air" per se (AFAIK)) and a geiger counter or some other equipment to measure the decay present in those particles. Plus probably some means of identifying the exact materials - particularly isotopes - I think that's how they used to identify how well the PRC & USSR were going with their nucelar bombs once upon a tim - by identifying the isotopes released by atmospheric tests.

I'm sure there are a few Private Dicks out there somewhere.......

Yeah - strange - usually you expect the media to concentrate on the bigger disaster:cool: (which might be in a little bad taste.....but I think some humour is needed in the world today!)

I don't think so - Gaddafi has firepower....but very limited numbers. KO some tanks, artillery and a/c and suddenly he's not got any advantage at all. And even with his firepower advantage his numbers of actual fightnig troops has to be a problem simply keeping combat-ready garrisons in newly retaken towns. And the 2nd biggest oil company is now funding the rebels......dunno what that means in terms of money....but it means some.

Since the rebels are now asking for help it would seem like a good time to supply it - as opposed to, say, what happened to the Marsh Arabs & Kurds in Iraq. Can "we" please get it right....just once...PLEASE??!!

something's happened?? Did it really take news that cleanup specialists are heading that way for you to figure it out? 4 f's sake......

Think you can swim fast enough?? apropos of nothing in particular, other than something completely different to the disasters of late

He always does say he forecast these things....right after the fact - see the thread JonS linked to.

News that iodide was being distributed is "old hat" now - there has certainly been leakage of radioactive materials - some of it deliberate to relieve pressure. that doesn't require a melt down. At least some of the places that recorded high levels are now back to normal. I've yet to see any evidence that the amount of radioactive material will cause anything like a disaster other than to the workers and residents nearby who copped it at short range.

There's some photos here that show light a/c among the cars, and a video here that shows the wave coming in, but no a/care obvious in it - there may be 1 or 2 in the background - it's hard to tell - but I haven't seen or heard anything other than the news reports.

Unless one or more of hte reactors does actually melt down, the amount of radioactive material released is pretty much insignificant unless you are directly in the path and close to it - if any makes the Americas it will be able to be detected only by the most sensitive systems - if at all. Of course if a reactor does melt down and breach containment it's another story. However this is also an exercise in risk management - backup cooling was provided by diesel engines ....but the engines themselves were taken out by the tsunami and apaprently there's no 3rd level backup - "rapid shutdown" takes power production down to about 6% of max...which is still a lot and has to go somewhere for a at least several days until it slowly runs down further. Perhaps the sea shore is not such a great place to put a reactor?? From here - blog on Nuclear Energy 101 particularly in relation to the Japanese reactors, their design considerations, what is going on inside the cor and why, etc. - a good woo-less read.

Don't have to imagine - there's been a couple of documentaries on them ...

I think we're supposed to act better than them - moral high ground or something.... Mind you the US caught hose ones who killed the 4 ppl - a speedy trial and execution for murder would seem a reasonable outcome there - let justice be seen to be done.

tell them it's training for a career with a potential average $1.5 million annual income. It is piece work tho....

Actually given a limited enough environment you can prove a negative - do I have any London underground tickets in my pocket at the moment? (do they use tickets?? dunno - pick anything else I don't have in my pocket!! ) Nope - and I can empty my pockets to prove it...postively! Now I don't know whether the situation here lends itself to that certainty or not, but in some cases it is worth bearing in mind.

Just hijacking the thread.... Antietam is referred to as the bloodiest day in America's history - with about 22,000 casualties but less than 4000 dead - is that the case?? It's not actually all that much on the historical scale of things - perhaps 80,000 at Borodino, at least 60,000 roman DEAD at Cannae (minimum....army was supposedly 80,000+, 10,000 survived, 10,000 captured). someone mentioned Waterloo - 50,000 casualties This page purports to list battles by death toll And this one by casualties in chronological order

He just celebrated his 110th birthday. Looking at the article it strikes me that one of hte reasons for the "popularity" of volunteering for war in the 1st half of the 20th century was that no-one actually knew a damned thing about what it actually involved - all teh young men, on all sides, were imbued with the idea that it would all be a bit of an adventure & a glorious lark. the flip side is that fewer people have that naivety these days!

An opportunity for employment by someone??

Who are the others? This story is about 1, and is a self-described fairy tale - I see nothing in at all about it making him better in the first place either. Certainly it is cheaper - but does it actually do this? I see nothing there that reflects your certainty.