Tsunami, 8.9 earthquake. Japan.

[Merciless]

update:

5700 dead

9500 missing

[vladekxbootes]

Japan didnt even ask for any $$ from us, they got a ****load set aside for catastrophic events

[pyrofyr]

Well the money didn't exactly go towards them but towards Red Cross from what I hear. I also 'heard' Japan refused the money, no source though, just hearsay.

[PhoenixRider]

Hear the door knock.
Open it up.
Guy starts talking about Japanese earthquake and Haitian earthquake.
I think he's here for donation.
Starts asking if it were possible that it was predicted in the bible.
Shows vague verse in the bible about earthquakes being a sign of the coming kingdom of god.
I shoo him away.
Oh Jehovah's Witnesses.

[pyrofyr]

I heard it was officially declared a 9.0 (make up your mind already seismologists).

[darksidehero]

Looks like the nuclear problem is getting worse and worse
Condolences to the families of workers trying to resolve it, 100% death rate for those who are exposed that long to the radiation at such a short distance

Seems like radiation is headed towards the US west coast via wind
Can't seem find the source on this though ._.

I don't think you understand how a nuclear power station works, the ***ushima plant is not too different from a giant pressure cooker, all that has happened in japan is that the cooling system has been disconnected, causing an explosion in the second containment (a pressure vessel), all this still has to go through a third containment which is pretty much just a bubble of the strongest steel you can get.
So, there will be no significant release of radioactivity anywhere. There will be some in the immediate area, but anyone outside a 30km (and 30km is a big stretch, more likely 10?) will receive no more radiation then you get from a long distance flight or a drink that is produced somewhere with high levels of radiation.

Also @pyrofyr I don't think that they would have trouble distinguishing between an 8.7 and a 9, 8.7 is 8 times as powerful as an 8 on the richter scale, and a 9 is 10 times more powerful.

[RavenBlade]

the official level of it was changed to 9

[Rook]

I don't think you understand how a nuclear power station works.

Third containment?

[bulmabriefs144]

Tokyo, Japan to LA, CA is just over 5000 mi. Simple geography. By that point, I imagine it would be dispersed by wind or diluted from traveling over water. Or just have broken down atomically. This is what we call a hysteria (Y2K anybody?)

http://www.curiousfig.com/?p=441

This is why I hate "scientists." So attached to what they've been taught, that they refuse independent thought. If radiation did NOT have some sort of limit to its range, what would keep it from spreading over the world? How is cold water mist different from a coolant plant Something clearly happens to it on its travels, and it does get diluted, or the first H-Bomb would have caused problems to people in the its test.

Still, I understand his passion. We should definitely think about taking down nuke power plants, for one plant might dissipate over thousands of miles if only through all the live and dead bodies it has to go through on the way to LA (kinda morbid, eh). But 10 or 12 might not.

[nanop44]

Think Chernobyl
radiation spread pretty far