Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Breaking News Wed. March 16, 2011

The terrible situation in Japan continues to unfold. There are repeated quakes and aftershocks, and the disaster at the nuclear plants changes by the hour. To keep current with the events, I can't recommend highly enough, the forums linked at the bottom of the page.
Thanks to my friend rj at Global Glass Onion for links and insight.


Japan
Here is a  good live English feed from NHK in Japan
NYTOpinionator: Japan’s Long Nuclear Disaster Film
USAToday: More nations advising citizens to leave Japan
CNN: Gotta Watch: Stories of survival
ZeroHedge: Visual Map Of Real-Time Japanese Radiation Levels (go to link and click on the map)
NewScientist: Nuclear crisis: Radioactive fuel dumps pose new threat
Temperatures have risen in three of the ponds, with one of them coming close to boiling point. That means the radioactive material trapped in the ponds could escape into the atmosphere, contaminating the region far more than the relatively small amount of radioactive material that has escaped so far.
BusinessInsider: The Japan Nuke Problem No One's Talking About

TheTelegraph:Japan earthquake: residents flee as quake fears spread
They'd been evacuated once already, pushed from pillar to post, and told that everything was fine. Now the truth was out, and they were fleeing, in their thousands.
RawStory: Where the winds blow: Experts ponder fallout risks
Time: Fire at Fourth Reactor: Is Worse Yet to Come in the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster?
Forbes: What’s Next For Japan: The Short and Long Term
CSMonitor: Meltdown 101: What are spent-fuel pools and why are they a threat?
Spent-fuel pools are shielded only by the buildings at Japan's Fukushimi I nuclear power plant, and three have now been damaged by explosions. Low-level radiation leaking from the pools could dramatically worsen if the water levels drop low enough for spent rods to burn.

Protests in the Middle East
BusinessInsider: LIVE: Saudi Soldier Shot Dead By Protester In Bahrain
BBC: Bahrain crackdown on protests in Manama's Pearl Square 
BusinessInsider: THIS IS THE VIDEO THAT COULD RE-SHAPE MIDEAST HISTORY
THIS IS THE VIDEO THAT COULD RE-SHAPE MIDEAST HISTORY
How long can America stay relatively silent when its ally Bahrain is beating and shooting protesters in the street? This is one of several videos going viral. WARNING GRAPHIC:
 
BBC: Bahrain king declares state of emergency after protests
BBC: Israel seizes Egypt-bound ship 'with weapons for Gaza'
Israeli commandos have intercepted an Egypt-bound ship Israel says was carrying arms for militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
BBC: Middle East unrest: Syrian protesters defy Damascus ban
BusinessInsider: BAHRAIN LIVE: Iran Launches Investigation Into Saudi Intervention
Tomdispatch: Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Pentagon and Murder in Bahrain 
NYT: Four New York Times Journalists Are Missing in Libya

Financial News
CNNMoney: Japan disaster more expensive than Katrina
BusinessInsider: WHAT! JPMorgan Is Testing $5 ATM Fees
JP Morgan has started testing $5 fees in Illinois and $4 fees in Texas for withdrawals at Chase ATMs by non-Chase customers, the WSJ reported.
NPR: Housing Starts Dive; Food Boosts Wholesale Prices
WSJ: Wholesale Prices Jump
CNNMoney: Millionaires on the rebound
What recession? The millionaire population jumped in the U.S. by 8% last year, fueled by the stock market recovery, according to an industry report on Wednesday.
StateLine: Wisconsin pension plan among most secure
RobertReich: Safety on the Cheap
Economist's View: "The Sad But True Story of Wages in America"
ipezone: Japan's Lean Mfg Becomes the World's Problem
NYT: House Passes Spending Bill, but Not Happily
TheAtlantic: America Should Be Aware of Its Own Decline
IEA warns high oil prices could hit growth 

Here's a special tidbit from rj at Global Glass Onion!
1. The 8 Cheapest Houses in America: "Today's dilemma: A sandwich or a house. They both cost $7." (Note: 5 of the 8 cheapest houses are in Michigan.)
2. Here are 32 homes in Detroit for $500 or less, including the one above for $1.

Peak oil and Energy News 
BusinessInsider: How To Live In A World With Declining Oil Production
Reuters: Oil rises 2 percent on Mideast
Economix: The Japanese Crisis and World Energy Prices
GlobalEconomicAnalysis: Germany to Shut Down Seven Pre-1980 Reactors; 23 U.S. Reactors Have GE Designs "More Susceptible to Failure in an Emergency" 
EarlyWarning: Saudi Oil production Increased in February 
DailyBail: Jim Rogers: "Saudi Arabia Has Been Lying About Their Oil Reserves For Decades"
Bloomberg: Japan May Need 200,000 Extra Barrels of Oil Daily, IEA Says

Environmental News
thanks to Mangrove at Hubbert Arms for this story.
Voltairenet: Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina

NewScientist: Japan quake shifts Antarctic glacier
NewDeal2.0: Top Lies from TEPCO. Sound like BP?
TreeHugger: Iowa Bill Would Send You To Jail For 10 Years For Exposing Animal Cruelty on Farms
TreeHugger: Nuclear Test Ban Organization Collects Radiation Data, But Isn't Allowed to Show You
Environment.com: Fire and Ice: Melting Glaciers Trigger Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanos
Geologists Say Global Warming Expected to Cause Many New Seismic Events

Food and Water
BusinessPundit: 10 Genetically Modified Foods


Police State, Big Brother, Surveillance
CNET: White House wants new copyright law crackdown
The White House today proposed sweeping revisions to U.S. copyright law, including making "illegal streaming" of audio or video a federal felony and allowing FBI agents to wiretap suspected infringers.

Science and Technology
NewScientist: The strange tale of the Lebanese space race
BusinessInsider: MILLION-DOLLAR IDEA: Glass That's Visible To Birds So They'll Stop Smashing Into Windows
RawStory: AT&T to cap users’ Internet access, impose fees for too much information
Telecommunications giant AT&T said this week that it will join Comcast and other providers in a controversial business model that limits the amount of information subscribers can access, and imposes penalties for overages.
WSJ: Novelists Hunt for Workplaces Without Wi-Fi
BBC: X-ray machine from 1896 compared to modern version
Scientists have dusted off X-ray equipment dating from shortly after the discovery of the rays in 1895, in order to put it through its paces.
Medical and Health
MotherJones: Is Your Drugstore Selling Your Private Information to Big Pharma?
ScienceDaily: Keys to Long Life? Not What You Might Expect

Wikileaks
EmptyWheel: DOD Gives Manning Caveman Gown, Says They’re Not Humiliating Him

Other News
MotherJones: GOP Candidate: Deport Latino Farmworkers, Replace With Inner-City Blacks
RawStory: Glenn Beck blasted for Japan quake comments
WASHINGTON – US celebrities and media Tuesday blasted right-wing radio host and television presenter Glenn Beck for calling the monster quake that rocked Japan last week a message from God.
RawStory: Whoops: Gingrich praises NAFTA for shipping out American jobs - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich found himself in a bit of a log-jam with his inner-conservative Monday night.
MotherJones: Birther Bill Author: What's a Long-Form Birth Certificate?

The Forums
TinfoilPalace: Japan PM: 'What the hell is going on' 
TinfoilPalace: The Fallout Thread
TheOilAge: Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants on TX Gulf Coast
TheOilAge: Nuclear Power Plant Crisis - Critical
Hubberts-Arms: Testing the boundaries - Russian bomber intercepted off Scotland
Hubberts-Arms: Japan exports must be tested: The irony of the chinese demanding safe products
SilentCountry: Is current slump the tipping point to take us all down?
SilentCountry: Thread: Japan Nuclear Plant Catastrophe

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