deanb Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20045060-503543.html Yakuza are putting in a helping hand too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Well, what the article says is true. In theory, if you were in a gang/organization like the Yakuza, you only turn criminal on your rivals and... people that owe you money but to other folks, you treat them like human beings. Of course, there are folks in there that blatantly disregard the rules and tradition in place so yeah. Give them a bad name besides the fact that they are violent. Also, dean and to anybody. The San Andreas is due for two major earthquakes. One in the LA region near Palmdale and another in the SF Bay Area near Hayward along the locked Hayward fault. The main trunk of the SF portion of the San Andreas blew over back in 1906 so, it should be pretty quiet for many decades or even centuries to come but... it is locked into place. So folks in California, get ready to rumble at any time. For sure in any 20 years old lifetime. So be sure to pack enough stuff to eat and such for a week. 72 hours is just way too short as seen in Katrina and Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sindo Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Also, dean and to anybody. The San Andreas is due for two major earthquakes. One in the LA region near Palmdale and another in the SF Bay Area near Hayward along the locked Hayward fault. The main trunk of the SF portion of the San Andreas blew over back in 1906 so, it should be pretty quiet for many decades or even centuries to come but... it is locked into place. So folks in California, get ready to rumble at any time. For sure in any 20 years old lifetime. So be sure to pack enough stuff to eat and such for a week. 72 hours is just way too short as seen in Katrina and Japan. Where's a link for that? I saw it earlier, but can't find it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 http://www.shakeout.org/ Most likely not the link you saw but it will pretty much give you the same info. Bay Area got about 67% possibility for a 6.7 or higher in the next 30 years while So Cal has had any major ones coming from San Andreas for a very long time (150-300 years). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 What state do you live in Enervation? In Kansas we have great roads. Even the minor highways are kept in great shape. I don't think it has anything to do with work ethic (and I actually find that assertion vaguely racist), I think it has everything to do with how much money the government is willing to spend on it. lol you don't drive in Topeka, do you? Hell even Lawrence roads are crap in a lot of areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteer01 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Dean, this made me laugh out loud. And since I don't have XKCD, or any of my other webcomics, bookmarked on the work laptop I brought to the states with me, I'm glad you shared it, as I wouldn't have seen it for a while afterwards. As for the quakes. Man, very disturbing. A few hours ago it'd been 644 earthquakes since the big one on the 11th. Tokyo drinking water deemed unsafe for children, significant levels of radiation being found in areas outside the Japanese government's 30km radius, food crops being destroyed due to radiation, tsunami warnings continuing for many of the larger aftershocks off the coast, rolling blackouts that will likely last until next summer due to the number of power plants taken off line... I'm very glad have my family safely overseas right now, but there are multiple, serious, long term issues that tens of millions of people are dealing with over there right now, including the substantially elevated risk of very large earthquakes continuing to kill people and damage property. Scary times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Thailand just got hit by a 6.9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Hitting around the Pacific... might be related to the activity on the Pacific Rim, maybe? It could be possible that the quake in Japan shifted some other plates, causing earthquakes in other areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 Man, the North American (Northwest) Pacific coast is in no way prepared for anything like the March 11th earthquake. Looking at Japan having so many issues dealing with all the aftermath... and they're the most prepared for this sort of stuff (Beside nuclear stuff, no one can really prepare for it*). It really have been quite an eventful year when earthquakes are concerned. *Bless those workers at the nuclear plant. As far as I'm concerned, they are heroes to the highest degrees. --- Looking at the USGS earthquake map around Japan is depressing. So many aftershocks. That section of the plate is really moving, creating many earthquakes that for sure will rumble people... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 A tsunami warning has been issued in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Again? Must be the aftershocks working again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Yeah, a 6.5 or so. They're only expecting like a 18" one. Nothing too worrying since whatever can get trashed by it is already trashed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/30/198255/US-To-Send-Radiation-Hardened-Robots-To-Japan? US supplying radiation proof robots over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Sure. Let the Japanese get one step closer to build radiation proof Gundams. So... how do the nuclear thing going down in Japan effect your views on nuclear power...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kovach_ Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 I always thought it was dumb as hell. Solar/wind/hydro all the way. It's just the nature of us humans that we want to invest in stuff that will get us more money in less time, no matter how stupid. Fuck the nature, nukes give us cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Solar is not yet viable on any sort of widespread level like wind and hydro. My list is just wind and hydro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 I'm still pretty cool with it, but I may be a bit bias since I don't live in a country on the edge of three tectonic pates. edit: We are in a pretty strong place for tidal and wind power though. Solar is kind of out the picture though since the UK is pretty overcast most of the time. And if we want to talk power solutions, I'd head to the March of Technology thread or it's own thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Solar isn't a matter of sunlight really. It's not optimal in cloudy conditions but it's still better than in winter when the issue is limited daytime hours. Solar has many other problems to work out before it should (or even can) be used to actually power cities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Solar isn't a matter of sunlight really. It's not optimal in cloudy conditions but it's still better than in winter when the issue is limited daytime hours. Solar has many other problems to work out before it should (or even can) be used to actually power cities. I remember reading somewhere that solar panels actually have a very high cost of maintenance, and an even larger cost of replacement should one actually be damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Solar isn't a matter of sunlight really. It's not optimal in cloudy conditions but it's still better than in winter when the issue is limited daytime hours. Solar has many other problems to work out before it should (or even can) be used to actually power cities. I remember reading somewhere that solar panels actually have a very high cost of maintenance, and an even larger cost of replacement should one actually be damaged. The cost of maintenance and cost of replacement are almost the same thing in this case since they have so few parts. Maintenance is really just cleaning them unless it's damaged and then you'll have to replace either the entire section of panel (IIRC, depending on the tech, the number of PV panels within the panel can vary anywhere from 4-16 for a full size panel.) Depending on how and where it's mounted can also effect the cost. Either way the big problems are the materials needed definitely aren't environmentally friendly yet (and i'm talking your every day panel, not something advanced you read about on giz or engadget or another tech site) and they're not very efficient. Those two aspects are being worked on, and making them more durable goes along with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Solar isn't a matter of sunlight really. It's not optimal in cloudy conditions but it's still better than in winter when the issue is limited daytime hours. Solar has many other problems to work out before it should (or even can) be used to actually power cities. I remember reading somewhere that solar panels actually have a very high cost of maintenance, and an even larger cost of replacement should one actually be damaged. The cost of maintenance and cost of replacement are almost the same thing in this case since they have so few parts. Maintenance is really just cleaning them unless it's damaged and then you'll have to replace either the entire section of panel (IIRC, depending on the tech, the number of PV panels within the panel can vary anywhere from 4-16 for a full size panel.) Depending on how and where it's mounted can also effect the cost. Either way the big problems are the materials needed definitely aren't environmentally friendly yet (and i'm talking your every day panel, not something advanced you read about on giz or engadget or another tech site) and they're not very efficient. Those two aspects are being worked on, and making them more durable goes along with that. In a local aspect, I had a history teacher who actually had 4 solar panels installed on the roof of his house (though, for $4,000 a pop, so definitely not cheap). It paid off in the long run in that now he actually doesn't consume any power, and that he actually produces more power than he can use, so now the power company actually pays him to take some electricity off his hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 $4000 a pop, not counting installation (including the cost of materials for mounting and more money to figure out best placement and angle if they didn't do that themselves), and maintenance and wiring and the battery needed and converters, for something that will only last 20 years... Anyways, with just 4 panels he's likely not giving too much back to the power company (iirc it's only a few extra dollars a month) but on average it takes about ten years to make back your money on the local level. Anyways, that's only if you use modest power to begin with. This tech will be great for home use once the cost and size go down while efficiency goes up. As for right now it takes a lot of space, time, and a huge initial investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) So, I'm watching a NOVA documentary about this atm. Its pretty interesting. Many place has seawalls, some place has 30ft ones. Should beat 30ft tsunami, right? Nope. If you recall the fact that Japan is about 8 feet closer to North America, it also subsided the land a few feet too. So your 30ft wall is now 25ft. You're screwed. Well, interesting watch so far. Seeing footage I haven't seen before. Some that I have seen still strikes me, especially the one of the wide view of the shoreline as the waves comes in. I don't think I will ever forget that. -- So, it has some late fear mongering. The section of plate boundary off Tokyo, a city of MANY millions, is the one right under the one in Sendai. Bad times when that blows... then of course Cascadia. Edited March 31, 2011 by MaliciousH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12930915 This is like the worst we ever get. With what's happened recently I'd feel awkward to be the one reporting for this, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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