The earthquake coverage kept the news that Gaby Giffords is making an excellent recovery from the front page. She’s putting together short sentences, her memory seems intact, and there’s hope that she’ll attend the launch of Endeavor on April 19, which her husband is commanding.
Reader Interactions
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Cermet
@burnspbesq: Sorry if I hurt your feelings … because if the reactor goes, bad shit may kill many people. Also, when people give false or wrong information I need to STF up because … well because I hurt feelings.
Sorry but re-thugs like you can’t hide behind manners – people die due to stupidity and I will call it as I see it – and that is wrong by your belief system?
If I am wrong, please, prove it. Then I’ll get off my high horse/soap box and STF up. Till then, you can act hurt and I’m sure the world will worry about that.
Also, please do not quote me with your words -besides being a lie, it is the height of poor behavior but that is typical of repug-a-thugs … so why are you at this site?
Cermet
So Japan has a melt down on one reactor, and are worried another is melting down. Anyone ever who supports this insane power based on a sub’s reactor is stupid and a total asswipe – you can’t make these pieces of total shit safe; only corporate welfare even allows these pieces of total shit to be built. So you nuke supporters – STF up.
Those stirring words said, there is one totally safe nuke reactor design – the Canadian reactor – but with their dangerous health care system, we’d be even more fucked to get those things … .
Maude
What happened in Japan is a tragedy.
There’s no room for political rants about this.
PurpleGirl
I saw a small “article” (probably at Yahoo News) about Rep. Giffords a day or so ago. She does seem to be making very good progress and, as the the doctors say, every neurological case is individual as to damage and recovery. We can certainly be pleased that she is progressing so well. Here’s hoping she continues improving and that everything goes well with Commander Kelly’s next mission.
dslak
I’m sure the problems with the reactors in Japan is completely unrelated to one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history occurring nearby. So it’s perfectly reasonable to evaluate the safety of nuclear power in general from those circumstances.
cat48
Good for Gabby and I hope it continues!
@mistermix: Jon Chait will not like what the president said about Jon Huntsman at the Gridiron last night:
Cat Lady
Amazing. Gaby’s a miracle. Every day the news gobsmacks me either for the good or the bad. If these aren’t interesting times, I really don’t want to know what is.
Cermet
I agree totally Maude – your point? Mine is pointing out the truth and that in no way even touches on a political rant unless my joke about the loons robbing millions of people of their money and health care is somehow wrong? But if you think this statement in any way or manner minimizes the horrible tragedy in Japan you can … never mind, that would be a rant.
middlewest
So, repubs are going to submit a bill against brain surgery, right?
AhabTRuler
@Cermet: At the minimum, a partial meltdown has been confirmed in two reactors at one site (the second reactor is fueled with plutonium and uranium, rather than the latter alone), multiple cooling failures in as many as six reactors (including above), and the emergency has been extended to a third site.
Oh, and Japanese officials aren’t being terribly forthcoming.
Cermet
@middlewest: Be careful Middlewest, or Maude will get you with her biting wit…
cathyx
I think this tragedy in Japan is the perfect time to get political about nuclear energy. What better example of the dangers and negatives of nuclear energy than building nuclear reactors in an extreme hot spot of earthquakes.
MikeJ
@Maude: If you can’t learn lessons from tragedy you’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Mistakes like building nuke plants on fault lines. On in the path of hurricanes. Or in place tornadoes often hit.
It doesn’t seem like undue politicization to point that out.
Cermet
@AhabTRuler: TF! I didn’t know that – so, a nuclear explosion is now on the table – shit! I hope to god that isn’t correct and that isn’t a breeder reactor. That is not cool and what else can happen to those poor people? This is ridicules and there are people who want breeder reactors here, too. Idiots! I just hope that if it is a breeder, nothing happens. Shit, if this is true and it goes, we are looking at a catastrophe that would make Chernobyl look like a walk in the park! West coasters, get your rad suits and masks …
I am not a happy camper today – damn. So many poor people dead and now this. Double damn.
Omnes Omnibus
Boy, am I glad that mistermix posted a good news thread.
MikeJ
@Cermet: I don’t think an explosion is on the table. But of course with the amount of information they’re releasing you never know.
I don’t think most people actually know what a meltdown is. It’s a pity the media sucks so bad.
Jack
Boys and girls, nuclear reactors can NOT suffer a nuclear explosion.
Meltdown… you keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means.
I am a physicist, and I’m sick of seeing the panic over this because of the (deliberate) ignorance of the public.
Americans:
Joey Maloney
According to the IAEA the operator of the Onagawa nuclear power station, several hours north of the Fukushima plant, has reported elevated radiation levels. The earthquake damaged the plant’s turbines and caused a fire to break out there on Friday.
Cermet
@MikeJ: I hope you are correct but a breeder is the only reactor that can undergo a (limited) nuclear explosion if it melts down – that is a fact. I just hope to god it 1) isn’t a breeder or 2) does not melt down or 3) Does not explode.
Avoid saying that isn’t on the table – any breeder that melts down is not only on the table for a nuclear explosion but damn near as close as anyone can get to something being a nuclear bomb without the missile to go with it.
That is why breeders are so damn deadly (a core weighing hundreds of tons containing highly toxic and radioactive waste will be, if it explodes, vaporized and thrown high into the air) – please readup on those insane puppies and read the book “We almost lost Detroit – that too was a breeder. Damn, Damn, Damn.
NobodySpecial
He’s so precious. Almost like he works for an oil company.
piratedan
well there’s lots of stuff that humans do that is counter intuitive and building reactors on/near fault lines or on the ocean fronts is just kinda par for the course isn’t it? After all, we have skyscrapers on beachfronts in hurricane zones, housing developments in flood basins, ski resorts on volcanoes and the right to carry concealed semi-automatic weapons in urban areas where the biggest local “game” are the cockroaches (two or six legged). Maybe this crisis will lead to better planning and more foresight but I wouldn’t bet a huge amount of money on it.
Cermet
@Jack:You need to go back and read – a breeder has far higher uranium enrichment and has weapon grade plutonium mixed in and it damn well can support a nuclear explosion. You are confusing a regular reactor which can’t. The word melt down is a special word from the Bible related to an ancient unknown word that … so I REALIZE IT IS TOO COMPEX TO USE … sorry, but melt down means that some or all of the fuel element liquefy and some/all can collect together if the mess isn’t cooled. Do I pass the test heir prof? Please stop taking on a subject you don’t understand. Thanks.
cathyx
@piratedan: All of those examples are true that they make little sense, but none of them would cause a catastrophic collapse of it’s environment with eternal lasting impact as a nuclear reactor meltdown.
soonergrunt
Thank God for the internet. I got up this morning, thinking something was terribly amiss. I thought it was that I was missing out on concrete, definitive statements of fact made in an overemotional tone by an utterly clueless person.
Then I came here and got my fix and realized that wasn’t it. Some of my clocks are off by an hour.
Shadow's Mom
Thank you for the good news thread, Mistermix.
Very happy to learn that Rep. Giffords is recovering so well. In a world that has generated some new major horrific event, both natural and man-made, daily over the past couple of months, it is comforting to learn that good things still happen.
Too bad some of the children here haven’t taken the time to notice the succeeding thread in which their discussion of nuclear energy policy and other disaster-related issues would be more appropriate.
@soonergrunt: LOL
burnspbesq
@Cermet:
And no one cares.
Your ridiculous “I am the only one who knows anything, and anyone who disagrees with me is obviously a douchebag” attitude is diluting the effectiveness of your message. Just sayin.’
Omnes Omnibus
@soonergrunt: You should get on that clock situation ASAP. I truly can’t imagine why you wouldn’t have taken care of it last night. You should be ashamed of yourself. Good god.
soonergrunt
@cathyx: cough, Deepwater Horizon, cough…
Shadow's Mom
Why did the laugh out loud acronym that I edited into a posted comment (was at 24) dump my whole comment in moderation?
Oh, well, it’ll show up or not. @soonergrunt (23): hahahaha!
soonergrunt
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m sorry about the dishonor to Balloon-Juice and all. I’ll get dressed and get right on that.
piratedan
@cathyx: just sayin’ Cathy that if we can’t do right by the small “obvious” stuff that would seemingly be in our collective best interests, what would lend you to believe that we could get the “big stuff” right? Hell we got retired old people being convinced to be against national health care, go figure.
Cermet
@soonergrunt: Go to bed – your ignorance is showing.
piratedan
out here in AZ CD-8, we’re hopin’ that the unlikeliest outcome of all is on the horizon, a complete recovery. The speech and intelligent processing of information hurdles appeared to be the last two and one is down and now the most “unfair” part of her recovery is going to come, the discovery about what took place that day, who died, who lived and the emotional burden that will end up being intertwined with her recovery.
Cermet
@burnspbesq: First post didn’t make it so I’ll try again and I hope the other does not appear.
Sorry for hurting your feelings and I’ll stop giving out correct information to people who really want the truth. You of course, find this offensive and feel anyone who corrects false/incorrect information treats people like they are douchebags.
Please don’t use quotes on words you say in a manner that leads people to think I said that – that is miss leading.
That said, people are dying due to massive and false information on this subject and your feelings are really not important nor really, mine either – truth needs to be said and if I get a little offesive, sorry but those people are being killed by people who used falsehoods – that is sick and angers me.
PeakVT
@Cermet: Thanks for O/Ting the thread from the get-go. Jackass.
Roger Moore
@Jack:
They can’t get the kind of high order explosion you can get in a bomb, but it is possible to get lower order events. If there’s a catastrophic loss of cooling and the fuel actually melts, it can puddle in a more favorable configuration than the carefully controlled geometry of the reactor. In that case, it can exceed criticality and generate enough energy to “energetically disassemble”, or, in layman’s terms, explode. It’s not like Hiroshima, but it can do enough damage and spread enough radioactive debris to wreak serious havoc.
soonergrunt
@Cermet: Here’s a hanky. You ought to go back and read the comments in this thread and see how many people agree with you on that point.
And now that you’ve doubled down on the concrete, definitive statements of fact made in an overemotional tone by an utterly clueless person, I can only thank God again, because the day can only improve on the ‘reading silly, pointless, ignorant blather’ front. Considering that I have the Daily Oklahoman for a newspaper, that’s quite an achievement.
Good job.
Cermet
@NobodySpecial: No, I work on thermonuclear fusion and yes, I also support nuclear fission as I pointed out. And you do what for our future and have what great degree in the sciences so you are happy to mock people who care?
Also, I support oil and coal because I am a stupid amerikan who enjoys these fuels and the life style that goes with it – yes, I know what that makes me but I understand and I’m honest about it – and you?
That’s right, you can post and remain stupid … sorry: not for your comments but your refusal to bother to learn anything of value.
Cermet
@soonergrunt: Oh yes, facts only depend on who votes for them and supports them – thank god thugs like you and others don’t yet run this country. Sorry, but facts don’t depend on stupid people voting for my point of view. You are really one smart hammer in the box.
Cermet
@PeakVT: Find a “real” place that needs stupidity like yours. Do us a favor and try to learn instead of posting insults like a seven year old.
Robertdsc-iPhone
Isn’t today that stupid Palin “pull over & stop” event?
Omnes Omnibus
@Cermet: The reaction you are eliciting from other commenters stems mostly from the almost hysterical tone coming through in your comments in addition to a perceived suggestion that you are the only person who understands the nature of this situation. Many of us are not experts in this field and are reading as much as we can to try to get an understanding of the facts before making a judgment. Most of the information I am seeing indicates that this is a bad, but not catastrophic, situation. If this is incorrect and you want to inform people of that fact, you might want to consider linking to some information that supports that view.
Cermet
Lets see, I post about the worst news today because people need to learn the danger of breeders and reactors in general – I’m stating facts that you don’t like and this offends you; isn’t that how repug-a-thugs operate? People, try learning and yes, I don’t like stupidity – I and all people are ignorant on all types of subjects but to refuse knowledge and learn is the height of stupidity. Posting counter information when you get yours facts wrong is dumb but when we are dealing with life and death issues, that is immoral and I will not go easy on such people.
Sorry balloon juice people but this nuclear disaster in the making/occuring should not have happened and for decades we have been assured it wouldn’t – and people here often posted and said those same false words here as well.
Too many of you are like spoiled children who are afraid of the dark woods – ignorance is deadly and you had better face it – peak oil is not long off.
soonergrunt
@Cermet: ‘Fact’–you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Since you haven’t posted an actual ‘fact’ yet, I’m not thinking that people can vote on your ‘facts.’
Wanting to read or hear from people who actually know what the hell they’re talking about makes me a thug now. That’s like a whole new level of fucking stupid. If you don’t slow down, you’ll go to plaid any moment now.
@Cermet: I was apparently a little late with that last sentence.
PurpleGirl
@Robertdsc-iPhone: I believe so. The stupid burns.
Cermet
@Omnes Omnibus: Again, sorry but this is far worse than I ever thought and people need to know this – I did post a number of qualifiers and words of caution in my first few posts but in later posts I have had to deal with faleshoods and fools.
You are correct and I will tone it down.
I am sure the Wiki has a great section on nuclear fission breeder reactors, Pu fuel cycles and dangers. Also, google “We almost lost Detroit” (I did referance this in a previous post.)
Thanks
Cermet
@soonergrunt:Yes, I will happily link to all posts on the dangers of breeders because that is my job – goggle is rather easy and I gave some key words.
I have studied this subject for years and for me, it is run of the mill information and even as a child, read on this subject. You are correct about facts but I am using them – referencing and linking does not make a fact. True, it is support and I hope a few here try LEARNING something on their own for a change and research a subject themselves.
The issue is, only a low level, third level source writer can easily be linked too and that really proves zero if you want facts. So, I’m not sure how that issue can be addressed.
Also, I see you too tend to speak like a seven year old with insults – try improving your age like I have – my level is about an eleven year old but it seems to be necessary here..
soonergrunt
@Robertdsc-iPhone:
http://standupamericaus.com/road-to-ruin-…-just-stop-event
I’ll bet the I-40/I-35 interchange here in OKC will be even more of a clusterfuck than usual.
PeakVT
@Cermet: Find a place where your lack of netiquette is welcome.
Omnes Omnibus
@soonergrunt: Sounds like fun.
Comrade Mary
A little good news (although it’s HUGE good news for one man and his family):
soonergrunt
@Cermet: So, after seeing you contradicted by more than one person here who has posted calm, rational explanations of various events on this subject–explanations that mostly jibe with other things I’ve read or seen on relatively credible news sources from credentialed experts, and with the guy I know personally to be a PhD. nuclear engineer with experience designing and operating nuclear reactors and designing nuclear weapons, I’m supposed to ignore your over-the-top, hyper-emotional statements of black-letter fact contradicted by those same known experts, and ignore the fact that you don’t link to any support or even mention anything that might support your view, and just take your word for it that you “have studied this subject for years and for me, it is run of the mill information”.
The tell for me is that most of the people who are posting on this with authority are firstly, calm and reasonable in tone and statement, and secondly, very up-front about what they know and don’t know with respect to the facts of the incident case, and what is known and what is theory with respect to the industry and its technology.
Finally, you’re “you write like a seven-year-old! Neener-neener-neener!” thing doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot for your credibility either.
And those problems–those are your problems to address. It’s incumbent upon you to present yourself and your arguments rationally and clearly. When the homeless guy stands in an alley shouting incoherently about space aliens, nobody is going to believe him. And if the alien invasion really has taken place, that would be another tragedy, wouldn’t it?
Yutsano
@soonergrunt:
This is an arguable point. I for one welcome our new alien overlords. They can’t fuxxor things any worse than we have.
soonergrunt
@Omnes Omnibus: That interchange is completely over capacity in the first place, and (this being Oklahoma*) in a state of disrepair that has to be seen to be believed.
It’s now being almost completely rebuilt. A 12-mile stretch of I-40 is being replaced, part by part, and the interchange itself is being slowly rerouted and replaced.
So take the crappy original interchange, that only featured one lane in each direction for whatever you want to do in one of the busiest interstate junctions in the country, add in the construction-induced congestion, and now throw in the Palinites, who aren’t renowned as the brightest bulbs in the chandelier–and who are all charter members of the “elderly people driving their 1970s/80’s land yachts 15 mph below the speed limit” club anyway–and we could see a serious body count this afternoon.
*OK is the state where the State Senate sent 10 Senators to Florida on an expenses-paid ‘research’ trip during the Terri Schiavo thing. They raided the highway department budget to pay for it. When asked about why the roads in OK are so horrible compared to neighboring states, the Senate President, Glen Coffee replied “it’s the voters’ fault for not replacing us with people who care about the roads.”
The only reason we’re getting the I-40 work done is because it is ENTIRELY paid for by the feds, and this comes after every one of the downtown overpasses was rated in worse shape than the bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed a couple years ago.
soonergrunt
@Yutsano: Well, I’m still holding out hope that Jeff Goldblum can write a virus on his Macbook and deliver it with the help of Will Smith flying a spacecraft he’s never seen before that nobody could figure out for several decades. I’m checking now to find some crop dusters who could be available in a pinch. I’m sure the Air Force has a database on that, somewhere.
I wonder if there are any fighter pilots interested in running for President. We’re going to need one of those too.
Alternatively, we may just need special sunglasses.
henqiguai
@soonergrunt (#55):
Well remember, until the alien mother ships showed up with the requisite broadcast energy, the scout/fighter craft had no power. The controls wouldn’t respond with no power.
Yeah, as tired as I am of that movie, it’s still a perennial favorite in this household; Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum were hilarious.
soonergrunt
@henqiguai: Actually, the President’s speech before the final attack is pretty inspiring. Yeah, the movie’s pretty cheesy, but it’s light enough for the occasional mindless diversion.
Yutsano
@soonergrunt: That movie is pure camp…and my brother loves it. So every time it comes on it’s mandatory viewing. I’m beyond the sick of it point.
YellowJournalism
@soonergrunt: Or we can just play some Slim Whitman and watch alien heads explode in unison.
soonergrunt
@Yutsano: The other movie I referenced, “They live” is pretty awesome if you can find it. It’s campy as hell, and low budget, but there’s some social commentary in there that makes you stop and go “ohhhhhhh.”
It’s also the source of the highest testosterone line of dialog of all time: “I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m out of bubblegum.”
Yutsano
@soonergrunt: I think that was the movie that showed me that wrestlers shouldn’t act. Nothing I’ve seen since has changed that.
soonergrunt
@YellowJournalism: Oh, yeah, that’s an awesome movie.
“I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for them, and that ain’t bad.”
soonergrunt
@Yutsano: I didn’t say it was great. I understand that Kurt Russell wasn’t available for that movie. I’m not sure he would’ve improved it much on that front, but well…
Yutsano
@soonergrunt: They do green light some strange stuff down Hollywood way. I guess when it’s one of your major industries you do what you can to keep things humming and folks employed.
Shadow's Mom
@Yutsano: @soonergrunt:
Yes! Thanks for change of tenor in this GOOD NEWS thread. Negative commentary should move up one thread to the one titled Earthquake News.
BTW, Yutsano, has asiangrrlmn shared with you the outstanding duds we found for your coming nuptials. For those who tweet, remember #callmecolbert and #faketrioticwedding
More good news – for me anyway – I’ve finished my last paper for this quarter and can relax a bit until classes start again on 28th.
bago
After we “goggle it”, should we wait for you to fax in your credenzas?
jon
@piratedan: I’m also in AZ CD-8, and I’ve been awaiting this news for some time now. I just wasn’t hearing what the state of her intelligence was, and finally get some good news about it.
What I was hearing–that she could say words and recognized people–didn’t do much to put away my worry that she had been rendered unable to be a Congresswoman at the level I would want to vote for again. Details that sounded great–things like the ability to sing along to simple songs and to smile–were very great things indeed, but I’m glad to hear that she’s still very much there inside.
Maybe I’m a bit of a bastard for worrying about that other stuff. Maybe I’m pointedly ignoring the miracle. But she’s not just someone I respect and have voted for and who even attended the same high school as I did, but she’s also my Congresswoman and she’s got a lot of work to do. We don’t just want her back, we need her to come back.