The Greater the Event, the Less we Hear ?

Silence is upon us.   Let us properly call that "selective silence".  


Why?  With the media frenzy that usually accompanies major events such as the nuclear disaster at Fukushima,  one might expect to see some expression of continued in the plight of Japan, but no.  The same strange abandonment of other man-made and natural disasters seems to disappear with with the same finesse from the media.  Is it too much to ask to be informed?  Radiation from Fukushima has already crossed North America, but officialdom, like the media, keeps it hushed.   Are we  "to glow before we know"  what is happening?  Is there a  "the greater the event, the less we hear"  edict hidden somewhere in government files?
Germany is  intelligently closing down ALL nuclear plants by 2020.  North America is strangely " silent"  about it  instead,  no such plans HERE.
  We don't have to wonder why. The invoking  of common sense itself would be an earth-shattering event that would have to be silenced.
Does wild game  in North America have to become "polluted and unfit for human consumption"  with Fukushima radiation   like the wild boars ARE ALREADY  today in Germany--from 900 miles away,  --the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago--before it becomes a "news story" again? 


The Haiti  earthquake disaster may as well have occurred  a hundred years ago;  the "live"  victims may be healed, but they still live in tent cities,  the city, reduced to rubble  is NOT yet rebuilt,  the aid  "disappearing" into the strangling, secret pockets  of the bureaucracy.  Has that story, too, been "worn out" by the media, no longer worth contaminating a news page or computer screen?
Strange silence is emerging over the  Iraq war,   --"winding down", is it?   Or is it in fact really just another very expensive military failure that will be glossed over,  the new government just as corrupt as Saddam himself, with all the facts hidden from the public?
Never mind that war, we have NEW ones. We line them up, one after the other. 

As the World Turns: Who Shall We Believe? The Greedy? The Media?

Let us see the Light

It never ceases to amaze  how stories and events  evolve  in unexpected ways, even 'nonchalantly'  with all  the conflicting, inaccurate, and missing  information that eventually comes to light.    At times,  it seems that lies,  partial truths, overcautious withholding of information, failure to  release important information entirely, or zealous control of information -- skews  and spins valuable information out of context and control,  both when given to the media,  and then again when passed on to the public by  media  that at times,  itself is even intentionally misled by venerable leaders, officials  and perhaps others with questionable motive.

After any huge disaster when desperate rescue efforts must be conducted to rescue the general population there is  understandably worry, confusion, fear, and hurried misunderstanding --caused by intent or not.  

By the very nature of such events,  the disruption or destruction of infrastructure and communications,  reports from different authorities and agencies  may not always coincide.  Decades ago, that used to be the case only  because it was problematic or impossible to communicate when transportation,   services and "land lines" were destroyed,  but modern society now has cell phones and portable satellite communications systems for news services. 
Why is more accurate information not available?
Is that glaring contradiction one of the main causes of  the  public  distrust of "officialdom" and the media? 

Within the media there  always remains  a responsibility to report responsibly and  avoid the creation  more fear and  panic, but it seems logical that with  a major nuclear story seemingly headed in the direction  of and even exceeding Three Mile Island  (even Chernobyl ? ) ,  a current  major event such as  Japan's ongoing  nuclear dilemma  should require information be directed  accurately to the public at all times.  
With ever more serious consequences developing,  the horrific catastrophe unfolding in Japan  quickly captured the attention of the whole world, and understandably so. The Japanese catastrophe has unfolded to be clearly an exceptional and dangerous historical event with very long-term implications. 
   Unbelievable damage caused by the quake and ensuing tsunami now has implications that remain virtually incalculable .
  Six operating nuclear power generating plants, one of them containing plutonium-enriched fuel,  suffered major damage,  including damage to critical  power systems that provided necessary cooling not only for the active reactors themselves, but for a huge water-pond storage system that stores thousands of  "spent" fuel rods  (or  did ?)--at least until recently.  For the uninformed, spent (used) fuel rods remain highly radioactive for years and must be stored carefully to avoid overheating and exposure to air, which can cause radioactive materials to be released into the air.
  At the nuclear plants, there have already been 3 major hydrogen explosions,  storage pond fires,  and failure to cool the melting reactor cores  in spite of last-ditch emergency flooding with sea water, water bombing using helicopters, fire trucks and water cannons.  Dangerously overheated reactor cores have been exposed,  dry,  partially melted.  A partial meltdown  or meltdown(s) have already occurred.
We already know there has been major releases of radioactive materials, but reports of the official "danger" and levels of radiation being  measured differ substantially.  With world Atomic Energy associations, why should there be any question?
Although already having evacuated more than 500,000 people and are advising staying more than 20km from the  nuclear hot-spot,  Japanese officials  have finally admitted it is far more serious than previously thought. 
 U.S. and  other nuclear experts were advising a range of more than 80 km and countries are advising their nationals to leave Japan. 
Why the big discrepancy? Why is it so difficult for officials everywhere to come clean, correlate data with one another, and admit the true nature of the problem immediately?  
Do owners and officials  of operating nuclear power plants not want to accept responsibility for bad design and failure?  Now that the disaster is unfolding, and they are    in charge of a dragon that escaping  their control, will  they now deny culpability, and  admit lack of capability to control the potential disaster in it's entirety?   
Who shall we believe?  The greedy, the frightened, or the media?  Perhaps we should take careful note that it is the greedy and powerful that build and operate these  potential disasters.
To be clear, we at Incoming Bytes shall  not point fingers at the Japanese as a nation.  Japan is far from alone in this phenomenon;  around the world,  nuclear plants have had leaks, accidents, and failures and will continue to do so because that is what they do.   They are mechanical systems;  it is not IF they will fail, but WHEN.  
The world must now face that reality and change course. 
When clean solar energy and wind energy is freely available, what has  compelled  humanity to ignore common sense and use  problematic, dangerous and dirty nuclear plants that produce dangerous, dirty waste products that must be stored forever?  The answer is simple. Greed.
 I offered a comment following the previous post: 

"Where big money is concerned, it seems there is little genuine concern for the results of their money-making schemes, no matter how much pollution or how many potential problems they may cause." 
 An immediate response from a very astute reader  summed it up perfectly:  

  "Selfish motives impact whole civilizations. And its time we wake up to defending our lives that are at the mercy of a handful". 

   As the world turns,  it is becoming more apparent that civilization in it's entirety may now be forced to  forever pay the  gargantuan and endless  economic and human costs of these disasters,  --and  only now at the very last moment in civilization,   try to discourage and disengage  a  foolish  energy policy that was followed only to satiate the endless greed of "a handful".   

So be it. We CAN do it.  We HAVE to do it.

Third Explosion: Japan Nuclear Crisis Worsens: Now What?

I  imagine everyone  following the crisis in Japan  is already quite aware that a third  hydrogen explosion occurred yesterday at one of several  nuclear reactors damaged by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake .  This tragedy is already in epic proportions; in strength of aftershocks,  in loss of buildings and infrastructure damage. IN terms of  human losses , the horrific death toll from the earthquake and the tsunami  has now been estimated to exceed 10,000, and there are potentially greater problems developing. 


Radiation levels are rapidly on the rise as seemingly futile attempts are made to cool the damaged reactors.  The reactor cores have been exposed with no cooling systems or backup power generation systems  in working order,  causing severe heating and potential meltdown. 
Sea water has been pumped into the reactors, in a desperate, last-ditch  attempt to cool the overheated cores to prevent the zirconium-encased uranium fuel rods from melting.  Pumping in sea-water creates  hydrogen, which when mixed with oxygen, causes powerful explosions.   
The inevitable has happened, the inability of the nuclear facility operators to vent the build-up of hydrogen and pressure resulted in the latest explosion.  Bottom line, radioactive particulate matter is being dispersed on the winds. 

 Ever heard of "Three Mile Island?"  Ever heard of "Chernobyl",  the worst nuclear accident in history? The Japanese crisis has already been likened to Three Mile Island and the worst is yet to come.   A storage pond is on fire, spewing radioactive  contaminated material into the air.  Even spent fuel rods are dangerous; containing plutonium, cesium, and strontium,  the fuel rods, although encased in zirconium, can ignite and burn, releasing radiation into the atmosphere.  Spent fuel rods are stored in deep water pools to keep them cooled down.  In Japan, the 4o' deep storage pools are located about ten stories up, on the rooftop of the reactors. 

Imagine that. Just how clever was that design?   That seems like it might be "a little problematic "  to put it lightly.  One such pool has lost cooling capacity and is already burning, spewing radioactive matter into the sky.

The World Meteorological Organization (W.M.O.), reports that for now, radiation is blowing away from Japan and eastward into the Pacific Ocean.   Should the winds turn westward, a very large area of Japan can be very adversely affected. Approximately  500,000 people have already been evacuated. 


How far does radioactive particulate matter  travel?  Being pumped high into the atmospheric winds, such materials can travel thousands of miles.   If winds are predominantly east,  clearly the west coast of North America will eventually be subjected to some degree of risk.  The question is only "how much" and "when".   If the winds turn westward, great areas of Japan may be contaminated.  Why is this so critical?
  For the uninformed, radioactive material does not simply "go away".   It is dangerous  particulate matter, and cannot be  diluted in the same manner a liquid spill can be.  Although radioactivity can be measured carefully, monitored, or  dispersed,  it should not be foolishly ignored.   It can be  blown away by dry winds or  washed back  into the soil, "out of sight, out of mind",   --- but it does not "go away".  Radiation can can enter the food chain, causing mutations,  cancers, and death.  
It will be with us for 200,000 years or longer.  
This disaster was inevitable.  How can we prevent such horrific tragedies from happening again that involve nuclear facilities?

It seems to me this tragedy is an extremely good reason for humanity to re-think the whole approach we take to the generation of energy.  The biggest nuclear generator around, the sun --is  a few million miles away--and the energy we get from it is free.  

Let's get with it, people,  we CAN do it;  solar energy IS the way to go.

At Incoming BYTES  we continue to offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the people of Japan for their lost family members and extreme difficulties in this tragedy.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Japan Disasters: Another Earthquake and Nuclear Plant Meltdowns?

Following  details of the historic and tragic results of the Japanese disaster has become far more complicated. 
 As if the first earthquake  and tsunami wasn't bad enough,  yet another earthquake has shaken Northwestern Japan.   
The total death toll from the March 11th/11  magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the fifth largest recorded in history , followed by a deadly tsunami,   remains unknown at this time.  Although over a thousand deaths are already known to have occurred, the potential loss of life is staggering, Over 10,000 people  are known to be missing from a single town alone.
To complicate things further, at 10:26 Sunday, Mar. 13,  --a new 6.2 magnitude earthquake has  occurred in Northeastern Japan , this time closer to Tokyo.  
In addition, and almost unbelievably,  damaged nuclear plants threaten to melt down   A partial meltdown of one reactor  may already be in progress, with more than serious consequences.  A vast area has been evacuated with almost 200,000 people moving out.  A total of three nuclear reactors were damaged when cooling systems and backup systems were disrupted by earthquake damage.  Is another Chernobyl disaster in the making, or has it already occurred?  It is unknown. 

Are more of these devastating earthquakes to come?  With more than 150 aftershocks recorded, it is likely, but this too,  is simply unknown. 
What is known is that the tragedy continues to unfold before the eyes of the rest of the world, with possibly the worst yet  to come.  Even  the earth  itself  was  moved on it's axis reportedly 10cm  (4") and the big island of Japan has been moved approximately 2 meters.   (~8 feet)   by the 8.9 magnitude quake.
What does such a major shift mean?  Is the whole Pacific "Ring of Fire" on the move?  Will the tectonic plates continue to move once they shift, or with pressure relieved, wait another 50 years? 
There are many questions without answers but one thing is for sure. 

Clearly  the astounding power of nature cannot and should not be underestimated.  

 Is the earth's crust  being affected by a super-moon effect that has not yet peaked?    Will the center of gravity of the earth itself change?  Will the magnetic fields on the earth be changed by this relative change?  Will the magnetic poles move, or even switch polarity?  
Only time will tell.   Meantime, hang onto your hats.  The earth is on the move. 

*At Incoming Bytes  we offer our most sincere condolences to the families of those lost in this horrific tragedy.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you.