Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 789

@Edano Ug. That is disgusting. The US media isn't much better. We have had our share of media blackouts. There were major labor disputes in Wisconsin that went on for a month. Hundreds of thousands of people jammed Madison to protest. The state capitol building was occupied peacefully for most of that month. US national news mostly didn't even report it. Our mainstream media is very controlled. Well it is owned by the same big corporate conglomerates that act against the people's interests here.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 11:54:10 AM

@edano. I have no problem anonymizing and repeating things for people as long as I can somewhat verify it to be true. It sounds like Japan needs an Anonymous project to get information safely out of the country.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 11:55:48 AM

@Nancy : i see a worldwide phenomenon in censoring information recently. they claim to protect national security against "terrorism". i am really concerned e.g. about the new hungarian constitution this week that totally controls media. it is a worlwide tendency.
by Edano 4/21/2011 12:01:11 PM

@Ralph Unger : america won, but lost its innocence in japan. the price was high.
by Edano 4/21/2011 12:04:15 PM

Type: Earthquake
10 hours ago
Magnitude: 6.0
DateTime: Thursday April 21 2011, 01:54:41 UTC
Region: off the east coast of Honshu, Japan
Depth: 7 km

there was a 6.0 and no damage at all ?
by Edano 4/21/2011 12:08:18 PM

@Edano It is a ham handed backlash against the internet. The only way to every really control information is to have a society like North Korea.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:10:51 PM

@Edano, this might have some info in it for dealing with internet and media clamp downs. I have not read the whole thing. The first part talks about self sufficiency in a civil unrest crisis. There may be some internet & communication information in it hamburger-anon.blogspot.com
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:14:17 PM

@edano, this is probably more useful right now. Lots of useful info here related to internet crack downs and doing things safely hamburger-anon.blogspot.com
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:18:03 PM

@Nancy : i know anonymous. they brought visa and mastercard server down in the wikileaks affaire. i sympathize with your belief in internet but i fear the plug is easier to pull than you think.
by Edano 4/21/2011 12:19:48 PM

@Edano It is a major issue to "pull the plug" on the internet. Everything is now tied to it and no real way to just take down part of it. Most business uses the internet, commerce runs on the internet. We had a city wide outage a few years ago and the city screeched to a hault. ATM machines didn't work. Stores could not process card transactions or contact corporate servers, bank branches could not process a request because their systems to the main bank were down. It was quite a thing to watch. BTW, Anon is not all hackers. There are a diverse group of people and many of them are trying to help with information and have been key in helping people in places like Egypt get around govt. crack downs. They did a major project in WI helping get information out and putting feet to fires that involved no hacking.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:26:11 PM

@edano. If you have any suggestions for good reliable sources for news in English or Japanese can you post those sites? NHK and Kyodo seem to be making it harder to get info.

[Thanks, @Nancy. Methinks a parallel sourcing channel would be to tap "unconventional" news sources vis-a-vis our "conventional" sources which are the established media outlets. If there is unconventional warfare, then there is also unconventional news sourcing -- we go beyond looking for the established media reports; we go to our sources which are the working bees in the nuclear industry, the grunts in Tepco, the clerks and junior engineers and even the janitors who clean the floors and sweep the desks, the nurses and orderlies at hospitals, the emphatic members of the academe, etc etc etc. Methinks this benevolent virtual animal unleashed by George_Gibb has by now earned a following and legions of lurkers who, at the right time and right atmospheric ambiance, will be able to come across with smoking guns. - Alblee]
by Nancy edited by alblee 4/21/2011 12:28:53 PM

@Nancy This is a very interesting, and useful, chart that details who owns the US media. Take a look at who is #1 among the top six media owners, a name that surfaced early during the unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster: www.freepress.net
by James Ward 4/21/2011 12:33:26 PM

@James Ward I am sure that is a large part of the US blackout. Someone mentioned some sort of "do not print" order that could have been given to the media. Reuters abrupt exit falls along those lines.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:35:59 PM

Chemist: I can clean Fukushima water faster. blogs.wsj.com
by Scilla 4/21/2011 12:40:32 PM

When the radiation was horrible they did nothing to enforce a zone. Now that they don't want people to know what is going on they enforce a perimeter. www3.nhk.or.jp
by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:41:04 PM

@Scilla I had an idea in my sleep last night. Turn the man made breakwater/bay into the world's biggest aquarium filter. Put up lines of porous bags of charcoal, zeolite and other absorbing substances that would lock up the radiation. Then they just have to treat the bags as radioactive waste as they replace them.

by Nancy 4/21/2011 12:43:17 PM

This is a good way to keep trak os what is going on in the Internet:Monitor the Web for interesting new content

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you'll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

monitoring a developing news story
keeping current on a competitor or industry
www.google.com.br Just choose the right words....
by Majjham Zazen 4/21/2011 1:07:52 PM

@James Ward : why don't we speak it out loud ? General Electric is by far the biggest media shareholder in the US. "2009 revenues: $157 billion. General Electric media-related holdings include television networks NBC and Telemundo, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, 26 television stations in the United States and cable networks MSNBC, Bravo and the Sci Fi Channel. GE also owns 80 percent of NBC Universal." while TEPCO / METI control the Japanese media. Tepco alone has an advertising budget of annual 20 billion yen.
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:10:44 PM

Behavior of Radioactive Materials from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Station obtained by Radiation Scan on the Expressways Do this have any utility ??? ccdb4fs.kek.jp
by Majjham Zazen 4/21/2011 1:16:14 PM

The Fukushima Disaster and Other Irreproducible Experiments intereting for radionuclid experts. americasforum.org
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:17:28 PM

@Nancy-Edano – thank you for this chat. I have been noticing that info is closing in – get the tast of cover up, both Japanese and foreign press talking about getting back to normal, and it it not that big a deal what happens in Fukushima. By making a Google alert conserning “Fukushima alert”, I am noticed about what is written online, but it may be a little too much to look through… So suggestions on some good reliable sources in English had been fine. :)
by Mona 4/21/2011 1:17:58 PM

@MAJJHAM -I just wrote that about Google alert, but I was sensured away - ...why?

[No, not censured, @Mona, just an involuntary delay in getting you cleared out of the stuck posting queue. Thanks. - Alblee]
by Mona edited by alblee 4/21/2011 1:18:09 PM

@Mona : we are really struggling against media blackout.
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:21:37 PM

@daniel_garcia_r

Daniel Garcia March 29, 2011
Absorbed dose rate measurements accross Europe (2011/03/29); courtessy of EU's EURDEP program (http://bit.ly/eHxHUk)
Absorbed dose rate measurements accross Europe ; courtessy of EU's EURDEP program eurdepweb.jrc.ec.europa.eu
by Majjham Zazen 4/21/2011 1:22:15 PM

@Edano Mainstream media has proven itself to be just a big joke. The real information happens online. People just need to tap into it in organized ways and make sure the condensed info makes it to everyone else.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 1:22:20 PM

NHK ticker: Prime Minister Naoto Kan says his government will take responsibility in compensating residents affected by the troubled nuclear power plant.　　　
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:23:49 PM

That was a relief! Thank you.

[Thanks for understanding, @Mona. We're all volunteers here, and we try our best, but sometimes, it's tough to be on two boards at the same time. - Alblee]
by Mona edited by alblee 4/21/2011 1:24:06 PM

I think we need to make a point to find these more informative stories and get them into the daily news links.

[Yes, @Nancy. Touch base with our personal contacts, and through them a wider network of sources. If there is a time when we need to reach out, this is it. We should make this scribbleblog smoking gun-friendly and whistleblowing friendly. - Alblee]
by Nancy edited by alblee 4/21/2011 1:25:03 PM

NHK ticker: Tokyo Electric Power Company says radioactive substances that leaked into the sea at the damaged Fukushima plant over 6 days from April 1st were measured at 4,700 terabecquerels. This is 20,000 times more than the annual allowable limit at the complex.
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:26:24 PM

@Nancy More on Reuters....just follow the links: Reuters - en.wikipedia.org ; The Thomson Corporation - en.wikipedia.org ; Thomson Reuters - en.wikipedia.org ; and finally, "GE Appoints Thomson Reuters Deputy Chairman Beattie to Board" - www.bloomberg.com where he is still a member of the GE board. So, long story short...Thomson acquires Reuters, and then GE appoints Thomson Reuters deputy chairman Beattie to the board. Small world, huh? Certainly explains a few things, doesn't it?
by James Ward 4/21/2011 1:26:26 PM

@James Ward : oh boy ......
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:27:33 PM

Retired nuclear engineer worried by lack of news from Japan americasforum.org
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:30:27 PM

@James Ward Wow, well now we know why the board was so abruptly yanked.
by Nancy 4/21/2011 1:30:53 PM

Well, to stay on topic (this is the news board after all) we can start by returning the Reuters guys a big favor: offer them space here to post the news or reason why their board got yanked.
by ALBLEE edited by alblee 4/21/2011 1:34:58 PM

We live in a 24 hour news cycle environment. Other than GoJ being ham-fisted, I don't see any great conspiracy of suppression. After a couple weeks of Japan, Libya took the stage -- more "photogenic". The populace at large has the attention span of a chipmunk on speed.
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:34:59 PM

Cannabis to decontaminate land Fukushima? Experiments on soils from Chernobyl demonstrate that growing marijuana can be purified to 80% radioactive areas tested. Recommended method: planting, harvesting and burned. americasforum.org
by Edano 4/21/2011 1:35:05 PM

You might also note that both Reuters and the BBC are members of the corporatist Chatham House: www.chathamhouse.org.uk some of you might know about its associations. Might explain why the BBC kept wheeling out a Chatham House "nuclear expert" (Malcolm Grimston) to assure the public that everything at Fukushima was fine, even when it was exploding.
by highlander 4/21/2011 1:35:14 PM

@Edano Hey man, it's so cool man, my swag glows!
by Jim Carver 4/21/2011 1:40:26 PM

Concerning Reuters, they seem to be one of the best non-Japan sites in terms of ongoing coverage, fairly quick to pick up on things.

[Right, @Markfm. I'll bet my sharkskin pajamas they've got lurkers here. Hiya, buddy! Keep our heads close to the ground, eh? - Alblee]
by Markfm edited by alblee 4/21/2011 1:40:43 PM

And the current MSNBC lead listing in US and World is "Last chance for residents around nuke plant?"
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:44:13 PM

@Markfm Yes we did ma'm, raised them puppies knee high to a scout.
by Jim Carver 4/21/2011 1:45:00 PM

@Markfm Actually, I disagree with your assessment. The 24-hour news cycle didn't exist until the major corporations began buying the media. The corporate owners of the media make the overall decisions about you're going to see and hear on a daily basis. They hire the people who will ensure that happens, and fire the people who try to do honest reporting. This allows the major corporations to build and shape public opinion on a variety of subjects. By the way, this has been going on for decades.
by James Ward 4/21/2011 1:46:06 PM

The Sellafield nuclear-waste plant in northwest England has discharged about 44 times more cesium-137, into the Irish Sea since 1952 than what has leaked from the Japanese plant this month. Still radiation doses half the recommended limit. Suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Fukushima isn’t a long-term health threat, scientists said.
www.bloomberg.com
in-irish-sea-point-to-safe-japan-sushi-scientists-say.html
by Mona 4/21/2011 1:46:54 PM

@James Ward Fair enough, agreeing to disagree is always a valid option when it comes to opinion. I call it as I see it, but appreciate different opinions.
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:47:55 PM

Kyodo, "News conferences on nuclear disaster to be combined" -- TEPCO and Japan's NSC press conferences to be combined starting Monday.
by Markfm 4/21/2011 1:48:38 PM