by frog
I’m sure all our thoughts are with the people in Japan at the moment. Let’s hope the already horrendous loss of life and destruction is not compounded by meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Published in THE ISSUES by frog on Sun, March 13th, 2011
Tags: general debate
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
I’m really dissapointed that our TV channels don’t deem this event very newsworthy.
Thoughts to Japan. I’ve lived through, and seen first hand what an earthquake or two can do, and a quake 8,000 time stronger (albeit a goodly distance away) is just unimaginable.
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/data-mining-how-companies-know-your-personal-information/
“…Three hours after I gave my name and e-mail address to Michael Fertik, the CEO of Reputation.com – he called me back and read my Social Security number to me.
“We had it a couple of hours ago,” he said.
“I was just too busy to call.”
In the past few months, I have been told many more-interesting facts about myself than my Social Security number.
I’ve gathered a bit of the vast amount of data that’s being collected both online and off by companies in stealth —
- taken from the websites I look at, the stuff I buy, my Facebook photos, my warranty cards, my customer-reward cards, the songs I listen to online, surveys I was guilted into filling out -
- and magazines I subscribe to..” (cont..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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did you know that the earthquake in japan threw the earth off its’ axis..?
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=japan+earthquake
i have about twenty stories/links on this topic..
i agree the television coverage..or lack of it..has been dire…
..in auckland we have had al jazeera on triangle/stratos..
..but the lack of morning/weekend news coverage etc…
..from our television duopoly..
..has had my lower jaw hitting the knee…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Well Phil – the new Spy laws were appalling and scuttled through the House virtually(har)unnoticed…..I was playing round with my Flatmate’s Dating Site (I don’t want a Date) – and it brought a Policewoman to my door to check me out!
And not in the classic boy/girl sense either.
Just glad my preferences are pretty mundane!
Awful invasion of Privacy.
People the Police ‘don’t know’ make them very uncomfortable indeed!
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PS; Then they get all smug as if people don’t change and they haven’t been busted
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Frog; I know I’m in trouble for calling a Hi-brow Politician ‘Guido’ – and worse trouble for calling him an earthworm(in German).
However I would like you to use your endless powers to find WHO is the owner of a new BMW motor-car (tinted windows) that was playing merry-go-round with me on SH1 last week – the numberplate?
Guido’s of course – and I don’t believe in co-incidence
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tv3 are at least doing a midday-bulletin..
you suck tvnz..!
6.0 clock 2nite will ‘do’..eh..?
there are so many of you…
..and you produce so little of any worth..
..eh…?
what your organisation really needs..
..is the top three layers of management just taken out/replaced…
…eh..?
‘cos boy..!..are you delivering us crap television..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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and radio new zealand at 11.00 am reported a second nuclear-reactor having major problems…
tv3 don’t seem to have caught up with this fact…yet..
they only mentioned the exploding/first one..
doh..!..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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so..tv3 managed a half hour show..
that was one decent clip from itn..followed by ads..followed by a couple of skype-links to kiwis who escaped..
(hint..!..i’t's too soon for the human interest/kiwi-angle..eh..
..it’s still unfolding…f.f.s..!)
then a round up of the key points..
..once again..no mention of the second reactor going pie-shaped..
..more ads
..and ending with a reassuring interview with a nuclear-expert..or two..
..who told us the exploding one should be ok..
..again..no mention of the second-reactor…
..useless bastards…eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Thank you all
Dr Joe
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The people of Oxford are opening their hearts so the people of Christchurch don’t have to opne their wallets. Sunday March 20th is a FREE day in the country, with lots of free actvities, including sausage sizzles, face painting, donkey rides, free entry to swimming pool, story times, brass band and so much more.
http://www.oxfordnewzealand.co.nz/Dayincountry.html
End of shameless promotion
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I have to agree with you there phil u.
The NZ TV coverage is crap! We have the worlds biggest nuclear plant with one reactor in melt-down, deaths, radiation poisoning, 300,000 people evacuated and a second reactor ready to release radioactive pressure into the atmosphere because it has lost its cooling system as well and will probably go into melt down… and NZ TV is showing heaps of adverts and pretty much sticking to regular programming. Where is the real reporting?
That kind of mentality is about the same as the Japanese prime minister saying that there was no damage to any reactors in the first place.
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Can someone enlighten us as to the likely cause of that explosion and what is now going to stop a meltdown of #1..let alone #3?
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http://thestandard.org.nz/meltdown-2/#comment-307653
“# (Corium) Relocation to the lower plenum. “In scenarios of small-break LOCAs, there is generally. a pool of water in the lower plenum of the vessel at the time of core relocation. Release of molten core materials into water always generates large amounts of steam. If the molten stream of core materials breaks up rapidly in water, there is also a possibility of a steam explosion. During relocation, any unoxidized zirconium in the molten material may also be oxidized by steam, and in the process hydrogen is produced. Recriticality also may be a concern if the control materials are left behind in the core and the relocated material breaks up in unborated water in the lower plenum.”[7]“(Wikipedia).
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But this one is going fine so far, rimu.
We often get lots of useful information over general debate threads. Unfortunately, we also get a few guys (and it is gender-specific) whose egos are bigger than their arguments (if they have any arguments at all).
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Value? I’ll give you value!
Earthquakes are very predictable, you just aren’t listening to the proper alternative sources. google Stan Deyo, also study CMEs (coronal mass ejections) such as the one a couple of days ago, huge.
- Lord Monckton, UK,
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365318/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-The-moment-mother-nature-engulfed-nation.html#ixzz1GVEpBzAI
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heeheehee dat Fly….
If they’d stop pounding the ocean floor for gold/oil etc the earthquake/ tsunami paradigm might lose Headlines.
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Fukushima Meltdown Update.
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-update.html
Officials say radiation may already have been released from the Fukushim 1 Nuclear Reactor incident. Japan’s US envoy on Saturday acknowledged there had been a “partial melt” of a fuel rod at the quake-hit plant.
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General debate is important. It is the only way(?) members can raise a topic for debate.
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/study-shows-drug-addicted-individuals-may-have-less-brain-matter/
“…You’re probably familiar with the famous 1980s commercial “This Is Your Brain On Drugs,” -
- in which a Partnership For Drug Free America compares your brain under the influence to a sizzling egg in a frying pan.
If a new study from the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven Natural Laboratory is any indication, the PSA-turned-pop culture phenomenon might not be too far from the truth.
Research released this week suggests that people addicted to certain types of drugs might actually have lower density in crucial parts of their brain.
PsyPost reports:
This and previous studies have shown that cocaine-addicted individuals, relative to non-addicted individuals, have lower gray matter density in frontal parts of the brain -
- which is important for paying attention and organizing one’s own behavior -
- and in the hippocampus – a brain region important for learning and memory.
But it doesn’t stop at cocaine.
The study revealed that persistent alcohol or cigarette consumption may have a similar effect, as PsyPost explains:
The longer cocaine, alcohol, and cigarettes were abused, the lower gray matter was found in the hippocampus and frontal regions of the brain…”
(cont..)
(just use the ‘erb..mon..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Another explosion at Fukushima reactor #3.
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and there is another 3 metre tsunami..
due to hit in minutes…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Greenpeace Response to Radioactivity Release from Fukushima Reactor
http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/news-and-events/media/releases/nuclear-power/greenpeace-response-to-radioac
“Greenpeace is concerned about the lack of facts and transparency about the total amount of radiation that has already been released, the exact state of cooling in all the reactors, and about whether the spent fuel ponds are secured – they contain large amounts of radiation and are located outside of the containment – any damage to them would release contamination directly to the atmosphere, We request that Japan’s government share this information with the public immediately.“
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Unit 3 at Fukushima Explodes
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/fuck-you-fukushima.html
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary says a hydrogen explosion has occurred at Unit 3 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The blast was similar to an earlier one at a different unit of the facility.
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@Todd 5:31 PM
Let’s just hope and (for those who are religious, I’m not) pray. Reactor 3 at Fukushima is a mixed uranium/plutonium reactor – reactor 1 was fueled solely with uranium.
Plutonium creates a far greater danger – not from its radioactivity but from the extreme toxicity to animal life of even tiny amounts of it (think arsenic, a few thousand times over). We just have to hope that no plutonium has been released from the No 3 reactor explosion.
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TV1 and TV3′s poor coverage could be because they (we) are broke. After 5 minutes or so we are back to people talking in Christchurch – very cheap product.
However, El Cheapo Triangle puts them all to shame. Same with the Egypt story. Its as if they were hoping they ignored it it would go away. they didn’t want too many people watching when the revolution was crushed.
Likewise, in Japan there is a nuclear meltdown going on, possibly 3 meltdowns, and they like us to know as little about these as possible. Its bad for business, especially the nuclear business.
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I’m not religious either Toad, but found myself having a little pray today. Here’s another pretty good article:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1103/S00149/post-nuclear-japan-pre-disaster-united-states.htm
Events have overwhelmed the highly professional Japanese bureaucracy. In a late Saturday night report by CNN, the chief cabinet minister said that he presumed that there was a nuclear meltdown in reactors one and two, with three on the way.
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On a more hopeful note…
http://challenge.ecomagination.com/home
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a native affairs poll have the greens on 3%
(poll number was 500…margin of error 3-4%..)
..and on the most effective maori mp ranking…
..metiria turei did not even rate..0%…
..w.t.f…!
can i suggest a rethink on tactics/practices to date…?
would that be out of order..?
(as a compare/contrast..hone harawira got 17% support…
..sharples was top with 22%..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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i mean..as the show questioner said..
‘you are the co-leader of a party…everyone knows who you are…
..why are you not rating at all…?..’
anyone know the answer to that..fairly important..you’d think…question..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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32% would vote for a hone harawira led party…
whoar..!
..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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why is phil goff being such an idiot…?
and saying he wouldn’t work with a hone harawira led party..?
most of the policy concerns expressed by harawira to date…
..are (meant to be) traditional/core labour values/policies…
w.t.f.is wrong with goff…?
and there was an astonishing editorial in the herald the other day..
..laying into harawira for..i don’t know what..
..but saying he didn’t deserve to be an mp..(!)..
..and should be thrown out…
..and all this in/with the heft of an editorial…
..(not a column from a foaming reactionary like garth george…but a (supposed) reasoned/considered/nuanced piece from the editorial team..
(and why don’t they put their name to them..?..those editorials..?)
the editorial was anything but considered..and was more hysterical in tone…
..i half expected them to use the term ‘uppity-maori’…
..it was a shocker of an editorial..
..it was both incoherent and incohate…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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And from one who is religious – pray scoundrels!
Yea you read me right
The earth belongs to the devil (how many examples do you want?)
I don’t think Honey will launch much of a
party – mainly cos he’s a blatant racist mofo’
But the appeal of a New Party – that sits to the left of Labour and, of course, the
(roll over darling) Greens
is pretty enticing
A platform of honesty in Government will do the job methinks
After all, the NZ electorate has bought (and paid for) bigger lies
than a tribe of Judas’
Hope you guys, think it through to the point where you recognize we are being massively ripped off
And I’m being nice about it – but not for too long…
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mark…care to tell us what ‘the devil’ looks like..?
is it an actual figure…or a state of mind…?
..and…um..!..which brand of religion do you prefer…?
..can i guess you aren’t an animist…?
..more yr hellfire and brimstone model..?
..are these the end-times..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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In 2002, the Green vote in Maori electorates ranged from 9 to 13%, significantly higher than among pakeha. When the Maori Party ran in 2005, it dropped to 2-3%. It is not that Maori don’t like our policies, but that many have a desire to support a kaupapa Maori party.
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so you’d think that many of them would switch to a hone-party…
..as he has been loud and proud about his affections for the greens..
..he wd seem to be the perfect mix…
..and then hone and greens can agree to negotiate as a bloc..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Phil; it is a bit late for me to accurately field all dem questions – and I reckon you might well know half the answers – so don’t set me up to be some kind of smart ass.
The Devil Phil – comes with a smile and a handshake – wins you by dint of identification….not that I recommend paranoia….but please take care of your influences.
Do you see earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan?
Do you see innocent children killed by “drones” in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq?
Does it stretch your imagination to see the same crimes committed here?
Ah well – it’s a personal thing ultimately – if you can’t see the animal killers, the bloodsuckers (and I know you can) – as abhorrent works of a counter-nature – there is quite possibly nothing I can show you – I will not lose sleep – acceptance of torpid values lies close to the Heart of our ‘civilization’
cheers and regards Te Mark!
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Mark, Philu, I prefer to think of the devil in the way that Karl Jung thinks of the devil as a false personality that is developed in the sub conscious and fragments into other false personalities resulting in neurosis and psychosis.
False personalities can best be incubated by one’s surroundings where they are fed a diet of false information, disinformation, superstition and contradictions; not to forget materialism that inflates the ego!!
I find this to be a fascinating subject because if we look around we will find that the world is being run by sociopathic nutters, take Gadaffi!!!!!!!Or Bush!!!!!!!!!Or Blair!!!!!!!Or Thatcher!!!!!!Or well you can all add to this: – - – - – - – - – - -
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as an aside, and an active green member and supporter
hone harawira’s views are as divisive as michael laws’ and help no one. The Greens stand to benefit most out of this division, and the quicker the Maori party goes down the pipe the better. They only serve to fuel a debate in new zealand that needs to be put to bed. confrontation helps no-one, least of all Maori.
can we please all move on
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There’s a thought!
Mikey and Hone in their own political party.
4 votes (they’ll bash their wives into compliance)
What men!
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Hiya Drak – I prefer not to think of the ‘devil’ – he/she leaves evidence everywhere, and is great at snagging the innocent.
As one J.H.Crist once said ” The truth will set you free!”
Indeed our challenge is to allow the truth a voice.
For if it is not heard, nor said, nor written
We always have Satan’s scrip to rely on…..eh?
Eh?
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/leaning-into-veganism-kathy-freston-on-why-eating-more-plant-based-foods-can-save-your-life-and-the-planet/
“….Freston’s new book makes 10 bold promises about ditching dairy and meat products.
You don’t have to have to quit cold turkey.
In Kathy Freston’s new book, Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World – she is careful to stress that moving toward a plant-based diet is key.
“It’s not about making a radical conversion.
It’s not about strict discipline,” she writes.
“It’s more about empowering you to take your health into your own hands in a practical and easy way.”
Freston believes that by gradually working toward a plant-based diet you can dramatically alter your health for the better -
- and figure out how to deal with those tricky social situations – while at the same time contributing to a greater good —
– a healthier environment, a more compassionate way of life, a defense of animals.
Through her own research and interviews with experts and vegan converts, the book makes 10 bold promises about ditching dairy and meat products:…” (cont..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/the-cost-of-overpaying-how-high-ceo-salaries-and-income-disparity-affect-our-wealth-health-and-happiness-interview/
“…Hidden beneath the visible price tag of the many accepted ways of life are hidden costs that most do not consider.
Sometimes they are societal costs that are harder to calculate.
But without accounting for these hidden costs – policymakers and societies frequently accept the status quo.
What if we did calculate the true price of everything?
That is the work of journalist and author Eduardo Porter.
In his new book, the Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do, Porter examines the costs of overpaying CEOs and professional athletes -
- as well as the price of happiness, work, revulsion and the future…” (cont..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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“Just as a target is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.” – Epictetus (I think).
No devils. No gods. I will have none of them but truth… and among the truths I embrace, the truth that I do not know some things.
BJ
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/power-concedes-nothing-without-a-demand%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0/
“…The liberal class is discovering what happens when you tolerate the intolerant.
Let hate speech pollute the airways.
Let corporations buy up your courts and state and federal legislative bodies.
Let the Christian religion be manipulated by charlatans to demonize Muslims, gays and intellectuals, discredit science and become a source of personal enrichment.
Let unions wither under corporate assault.
Let social services and public education be stripped of funding.
Let Wall Street loot the national treasury with impunity.
Let sleazy con artists use lies and deception to carry out unethical sting operations on tottering liberal institutions – and you roll out the welcome mat for fascism.
The liberal class has busied itself with the toothless pursuits of inclusiveness, multiculturalism, identity politics and tolerance—a word Martin Luther King never used—
- and forgotten about justice.
It naively sought to placate ideological and corporate forces bent on the destruction of the democratic state.
The liberal class, like the misguided democrats in the former Yugoslavia or the hapless aristocrats in the Weimar Republic – invited the wolf into the henhouse.
The liberal class forgot that, as Karl Popper wrote in “The Open Society and Its Enemies,”
“If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”
Workers in this country paid for their rights by suffering brutal beatings, mass expulsions from company housing and jobs, crippling strikes, targeted assassinations of union leaders and armed battles with hired gun thugs and state militias.
The Rockefellers, the Mellons, the Carnegies and the Morgans—the Koch Brothers Industries, Goldman Sachs and Wal-Mart of their day—never gave a damn about workers.
All they cared about was profit.
The eight-hour workday, the minimum wage, Social Security, pensions, job safety, paid vacations, retirement benefits and health insurance were achieved because hundreds of thousands of workers physically fought a system of capitalist exploitation.
They rallied around radicals such as “Mother” Jones, United Mine Workers’ President John L. Lewis and “Big” Bill Haywood and his Wobblies as well as the socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs.
Lewis said, “I have pleaded your case from the pulpit and from the public platform—not in the quavering tones of a feeble mendicant asking alms -
- but in the thundering voice of the captain of a mighty host – demanding the rights to which free men are entitled.”
Those who fought to achieve these rights endured tremendous suffering, pain and deprivation.
It is they who made possible our middle class – and opened up our democracy.
The elite hired goons and criminal militias to evict striking miners from company houses, infiltrate fledgling union organizations and murder suspected union leaders and sympathizers.
Federal marshals, state militias, sheriff’s deputies and at times Army troops, along with the courts and legislative bodies, were repeatedly used to crush and stymie worker revolts.
Striking sugar cane workers were gunned down in Thibodaux, La., in 1887.
Steel workers were shot to death in 1892 in Homestead, Pa.
Railroad workers in the Pullman strike of 1894 were murdered.
Coal miners at Ludlow, Colo., in 1914 and at Matewan, W.Va., in 1920 were massacred.
Our freedoms and rights were paid for with their courage and blood…” (cont..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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I upgraded lots of plugins. Has the crashing on firefox stopped?
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That last one is an EXCELLENT find Phil.
Thanks
BJ
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it quite stirs the blood…eh..?
makes me want to go out on the street and start yelling at scumbags…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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as of 30 seconds ago..
firefox is still crashing…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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frog,
Still crashing here as well, though not as frequently as in the past.
Firefox must be getting sick of all he error messages that get automatically sent.
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christchurch will not be getting the rugby world cup games..
the ‘daily telegraph’ in britain is reporting on a leaked engineers’ report..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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“hone harawira’s views are as divisive as michael laws’ and help no one.”
They seem quite different to me – Harawira is pro-Maori, not anti-Pakeha (despite the rubbish the media makes up about him). Laws is just anti-Maori, and anti quite a few other people as well, a classic ‘hater and wrecker’. Laws is a bullshit artist, Harawira says things that are true, but which many prefer to sweep under the carpet.
I’m sure there’s plenty I’d disagree with Harawira on, but I don’t see that he’s divisive or racist.
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This’ll stop ‘em moaning about climate change and over-fishing:
“NIWA is proposing to cut 17 science positions, including marine taxonomists, who classify species, molecular biologists and fisheries stock assessment scientists.”
“An environmental economist, a renewable energy scientist/engineer, a catchment water quality modeler, an atmospheric physicist, a marine ecologist, and a remote sensing scientist were also proposed among the lay-offs, along with 17 support staff. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4769395/NIWA-to-axe-34-jobs-union
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Do any of you crash-y folk have the Google Gears extension installed? If so, try:
Go to Tools > Add-ONs, select Gears and ‘Disable’ it
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no…don’t have ‘google-gears’…
still crashing..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Nope… only recent alteration of Firefox that could affect this is installation of “better privacy”
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I have not had a crash since about 2 hours ago.
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Nope no gears.
I do notice that the facebook component takes longer to load then the pages appear.
Maybe a conflict occurs if skipping through different posts and comments while the facebook component tries to load on each post.
Possibly the facebook components needs to fully load before the posts and comments appear.
Else I cant see any reason at all.
Maybe firefox can help, they must have plenty of error messages by now.
Site works fine on Google Chrome.
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I don’t want to yell at them on the street Phil, I left the USA knowing that this was happening there.
I don’t want to yell at them in Parliament either.
I want to, quietly and without fanfare, build a guillotine near to Parliament house. Then publish instructions for its use… explaining why we-the-people might wish to abridge (shorten) our government.
BJ
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Thanks Gerrit. The crashing started when I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress, and I put the Facebook comments on a couple of weeks before doing that. So it’s probably related to the upgrade. There’s probably some old cruft left over from the past that is gumming up the works.
I’m still unable to get my FF to crash so I’m taking pretty wild stabs in the dark ATM. Just upgrading all plugins, jQuery, etc
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As a side-effect of my upgrading mission, you now have a spell checker when typing comments!
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I’ve had a few crashes with firefox lately but this is not related to frogblog. I did recently have my facebook account hacked for the first time. I believe it was through one of the apps you can install there.
Clear history and all the cookies you don’t need through firefox preferences/privacy.
Spell checker, some of us can definitely use that.
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i did nto say that hone harawira was a racist, i said his views were divisive.
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so..alex/ineedawash…(did you forget which persona was ‘on’..?
..brilliant..!..)
“…as an aside, and an active green member and supporter
hone harawira’s views are as divisive as michael laws’ and help no one…”
well..he is trying to help those who are being screwd over/ignored by this govt..
..are you happy with what they are doing..?..this key/tory government…?
“..The Greens stand to benefit most out of this division ..”
care to explain yr ‘logic’ behind that ew..!..?
“…and the quicker the Maori party goes down the pipe the better…”
..are you just a racist..?
..i can’t think of any other reason you would not want maori to have political representation in the parliament..
..care to expand/explain on that one…?
..alex…?
..and yr ‘an active green member and supporter’…eh…?
..ew..!
i don’t want to be seen with you…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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given the latest polling for act..
out of every hundred people you see…
..one half of one person supports them…
..that means that to get a whole act supporter..
..you have to round up 200 people…
..that’s kinda ‘sad’…but cheering…eh…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Another Reactor Explosion/Meltdown
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/another-reactor-explosionmeltdown.html
Reports are that Unit 2 at Fukushima has exploded this morning at 6:14 AM Japan time. The New York Times reported today that the explosion appeared to be more severe than the previous detonations at the other reactors.
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“i did nto say that hone harawira was a racist, i said his views were divisive.”
I know – it was ‘Mark’ that called him racist.
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answertuesday-15-march-2011/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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I have been very depressed lately and not really very rational, I have said things that were deliberately provocative on several blogs, and like Phil said, I had consumed a bit much alcohol the other night.
I think I will cut back on the blog stuff until I feel a bit better about things.
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No probs Shunda
blogging while intoxicated is pretty good for a laugh huh! There’s lots to be unhappy about at the mo, your fellow bloggers are probably the least of your worries.
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and now a fourth reactor is on fire…
..and radiation is spewing from the complex…
..(shunda…an old man once said:…
‘there have been many many things to worry about in my life…
..most of them did not come to pass…’..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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That would be a pity, because I (usually) think your comments add something to the blog.
Better would be to cut back on the piss. You may think drowning your sorrows in alcohol makes you feel better when you are down, but as one who has been there, I can tell you it doesn’t work for more than a few hours and you’re likely to feel even more down the next day.
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go to the ‘erb mon..!
…find solace in the sweet arms of the goddess cannabia…
it will help ease your passage thru the vale of tears…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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and stay away from the demon-alcohol…
it is evil in a bottle….
..and you do know that cocaine/alcohol/cigarettes all cause a shrinkage of grey-matter in the front of your brain….?
..eh…?
http://whoar.co.nz/2011/study-shows-drug-addicted-individuals-may-have-less-brain-matter/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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A fourth reactor on fire… Where’s Godzilla when you need her?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_iodide
Does anyone know who to ask, how much stockpile of this chelating medication NZ holds? Winds are blowing from meltdown towards Tokyo now, could blow right thru’ the pacific.
As a non-nuclear powered or weaponed nation, I suspect we don’t hold much in the way of this stuff. I hope that those in charge in Tokyo are distributing it to the children already.
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It will spread towards the US rather than towards us Katie. Someone else has to answer to the question of what is stockpiled and where.
BJ
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I find it interesting (slightly) to note that while this is being touted as the most expensive disaster in history (hitting Japan which is one of the most developed nations on the planet) it is nowhere near the worst in terms of casualties.
Just noticing, that’s all.
BJ
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Hi Katie, the US has pretty much run out of private supplies and there is a lot of price hiking going on. The government will have some stock piles which I hope they will make available if any radiation travels that far, it probably will and will get to Canada and the US Thursday or Friday. You need a reasonably large dose so the natural remedies you can by will not give you enough if you happen to become exposed. They might help build up a resistance in your system however. It would be typical of our Government not to hold reserves of Potassium Iodide though.
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According to TEPCO, U.S. military personnel were involved in fighting the fire in Reactor Number 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. A Reuters item says TEPCO asked US military forces in Japan for help.
The fire was successfully extinguished.
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Mark; I agree but I don’t believe in the archetypal satan when after all evil is ignorance and human stupidity and that can culminate in the collective consciousness eg Germany in 1935.
When people blame the Satan for our misdeeds they fail to face up to the responsibilities; it’s a cop out plain and simple !!!!!!
So with all the natural and human disasters going on in the world today, I don’t think humankind can afford to expect a messiah to come out of the clouds to dig us out.
That’s superstition and a very dangerous one, that if taken on by enough people will surely bring the earth close to extinction!!!!!!
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Todd; exactly my sentiments where is Gaozilla !!!!!!
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HRC says Racism is A OK
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/hrc-says-racism-is-ok.html
Recently I made a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) concerning racist statements made by Michael Laws on RadioLive. Here is the HRC response…
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How’s the crashing going today?
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http://whoar.co.nz/2011/commentwhoarmaybe-it-is-time-to-roll-goff/
until now i had been of the opinion..that should goff continue his ‘more natural’ arc…that he would suffice as leader for labour until/through the election…
…but he now seems to have had a combination meltdown and brain freeze…
…and is displaying a political science ignorance/logic-snap surprising in one so long in politics…
…he appears to have bought into a divorce-squabble…(over asset-splitting/property-division)..between harawira and the maori party…
..w.t.f. for i fail to see…
..and has echoed clarkes’ mistakes ..by declaring that he will not countenance any coalition with a harawira-party….(!)
..this just has me totally gobsmacked….and is the screw-up of his political career…
..’cos you have to ask …’why..?’…
..despite minor tantys all around…harawira and the maori party are still on course for perhaps the most logical/rational political divorce ever…
…a harawira led party..focussing on a nationwide/multi-ethnic voting pool..’the disposessed’…and the maori party left to get on with it in the other maori seats…
..is political science logic so sweet it almost sings…
..and raises the chances/odds of a centre-left govt…in my ideal scenario…containing both the maori party…and the harawira party…
…and all of these political facts just emphasises the question:…’w.t.f. is goff thinking…?…’…
…why is he doing all he can to wreck any such deal…?
..and for me…that is the straw that breaks this camels’ back…
…roll the bastard…!
..and do it soon….!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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it didn’t crash when i posted a comment…
..and it didn’t crash when i tried to click on a comment..
..it wd seem to be fixed..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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(here is an experts’ take on what is unfolding at fukiyama….very scary..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2011/the-slow-motion-events-occurring-at-japans-or-ges-fukushima-reactor-cannot-be-sugar-coated-it-is-a-doomsday-scenario-unfolding/
“…Nuclear reactors are not the same as coal/oil/gas electricity plants.
Unlike conventional plants – they cannot be turned off.
So while brave workers were tending to Units 1, 2 and 3 reactors, attempting against all odds to keep the reactor from overheating, the fuel pool at Unit 4 was left untended;
- without makeup water to cool them – the fuel rods overheated.
Above 1800 oF, an exothermic reaction, a fire, took place with the zirconium cladding around the uranium pellets.
Zirconium burned, forming zirconium oxide and hydrogen gas, which then exploded and released radioactive cesium, a semi-volatile metal, to the atmosphere.
Near the plant, the radiation levels dangerously escalated to 400 milliseiverts/hour (or 40 rems/hour in U.S. parlance).
Considering background is on the order of 1 milliseivert per YEAR, this means a yearly background dose every 9 seconds.
Put plainly – workers at the Fukushima reactors are putting their lives in immediate jeopardy.
What is a fuel pool?
Each year a commercial reactor operates, approximately 30 tons of fuel are irradiated.
Every year or year and a half, this fuel is moved to a fuel pool for safe storage.
Under 20 feet of circulating and replenished water – the fuel is stored.
Water shields the radioactivity and cools the fuel – which still gives off heat.
If water is not resupplied, which apparently was the case at unit 4, the water levels decline, the fuel is uncovered and it overheats, leading to a hydrogen explosion.
How much cesium-137 is contained in a fuel pool?
The amount of cesium contained in the fuel pool is typically measured in curies or becquerels – but these assessments are meaningless unless you are a physicist.
An easier way to look at it is in relation to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II – where 100,000 Japanese where killed.
Cesium is a semi-volatile material that has been detected in the air downwind of the Fukushima reactors.
How many Hiroshima bombs worth of cesium-137 are contained in the fuel pool?
In work for the State of Nevada, we estimated that 10 tons of irradiated (what the industry calls “spent”) nuclear fuel was equivalent to 240 times the amount of cesium-137 released by the Hiroshima bomb.
Ten tons is the amount of irradiated fuel that would be contained in a shipping container or cask used to transport the fuel.
Why so much more cesium than the Hiroshima bomb?
Because an atomic explosion occurs in milliseconds – but a nuclear reactor operates continuously for years.
Many more fissions means much more fission products – including cesium
You do the math.
If Unit 4 operated for 35 years and produced 30 tons of irradiated fuel per year – and each ton is equivalent to 24 times the amount of cesium-137 produced by the Hiroshima bomb -
- then each fuel pool could contain on the order of 24,000 times the amount of cesium-137 produced by the Hiroshima bomb -
- if all the produced irradiated fuel remains in the fuel pool…” (cont..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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i spoke too soon…
..still crashing firefox…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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@katie 5:39 PM
Iodine-131, which potassium iodide is used to protect against, is unlikely to be an issue in New Zealand. There is very little air shared between the northern and southern hemispheres, and Iodine-131 has a half-life of only 8 days, so it will be mostly decayed to less dangerous elements by the time any released into the atmosphere gets here (or gets anywhere very far from Japan).
Caesium-137 is potentially much more of a concern outside the perimeter of the evacuation zone. It has a half-life of 30 years and is bio-accumulative.
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Phil – the calculations you cite conveniently forgot to allow for the decay of the caesium over time. What else are they getting wrong?
Trevor.
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trevor…i am no expert…
but are you trying to diminish the import of what is going on..?
is that ‘cos of an ideoogical-affection for nuke-power…?
this is posted on gd..
http://whoar.co.nz/2011/the-real-risks-to-americas-security%C2%A0/
you really need to read it…eh…?
..istead of fussing over yr quibbles…eh..?
..i mean..we should take you..over him…eh..?
..and your qualifications to pontificate on this are..?
“..then each fuel pool could contain on the order of 24,000 times the amount of cesium-137 produced by the Hiroshima bomb -..”
so..it’s only 12,000 times the amount of hiroshima..?
..oh..!..that’s ok then..!..eh..?
i mean..are you fucken serious…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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No Phil, I am just pointing out mistakes where I see them, particularly where the person making the “mistake” appears to have their own agenda. Are you saying that the caesium won’t decay while it is in the spent fuel storage ponds, or are you prepared to think for a moment about what you have cited?
Trevor.
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i mean..f.f.s…!
what xactly is ‘the agenda’…?
as i said…i wouldn’t have a fucken clue at what rate caesium decays..
..and i fail to see the relevance/import you are giving it..
..given the crisis to hand…
..a supporter of nuke-power…are you…?
..and your qualifications to pontificate on this are…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Phil – for someone who writes so much, you don’t appear to be good at reading.
Hint – see Toad’s post just above yours!
Trevor.
PS: My qualifications are actually pretty good.
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And Phil – the whole point of a secret agenda is to keep it secret. I do not know if this group have made an honest mistake or are deliberately inflating the dangers of nuclear power. They are comparing the fuel rods with Hiroshima, which suggests to me that they have an agenda of some form, as much of the human damage caused by Hiroshima had nothing to do with the caesium. I can also think of at least one group not known for being saviours of the environment that has run subtle advertising campaigns and would benefit from a move away from nuclear power.
Trevor.
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trevor..
can you just answer the simple question…
are you pro-nuke-power..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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So when did “enforce a no-fly zone” become “lets fuck over Libya with cruise missiles and bombing raids”.
Perhaps I’m being naive, but I visualised AWACS sitting up high, and fighter jets that came in to down anything that flew, or anything that shot at a peacekeeping jet.
Which is somewhat different to what is happening.
Cant see this improving middle east relations. Can’t see the Arab League suggesting this kind of thing again. The medicine is much worse than the disease. Clusterfuck.
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“So when did “enforce a no-fly zone” become “lets fuck over Libya with cruise missiles and bombing raids”.”
My thoughts exactly. I got a bit surprised by the US and NATO going far beyond what the UN mandated.
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Rimu
When it became clear that the rebels would be and could be defeated on the ground alone.
Not that I know the reasons but I will speculate that the oil folks decided to cut Qaddafi loose and when that wasn’t sufficient to be rid of him they needed something more.
BJ
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But BJ, there is no mandate for the rebels to win, only to stop them being masacred from the skies…
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dbuckley
The public face of this process is false I think. I have no notion what is real there, but I sense that the truth is not in either the media or the UN or the mouth movements of most of the leaders and talking heads who are discussing it.
Qaddafi is not to be permitted to stop the rebellion with his army OR his air power.
That rebellion will as a result, succeed in becoming legitimate, possibly dividing Libya with results I cannot guess.
Why is THIS essentially internal dispute subjected to such great attention? I don’t know exactly what is happening but I really expect that when the truth emerges it will make us all want to throw up.
respectfully
BJ
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Oh, I may have been wrong:
The wording in resolution 1973 made it explicitly clear that the participating states would had the mandate to go further than to simply enforce a no fly zone if it was deemed necessary to prevent civilian casualties. The text reads:
(4.) Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council.
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Agree bj, this is a worrying and unpredictable situation. A no-fly zone may seem like a good thing and coming from a desire to help the people there against their dictator. But given the West’s terrible record in the Middle East, about the only thing we can be sure of is that they act in their own interests exclusively. Any congruence with the aspirations of the Libyan population will be accidental.
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If the UN/NATO/USA were concerned about civilian lives then there would have been interventions in all sorts of places that there have been none. Yemin is an obvious and current example, but how many of you have even heard of the Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since WW2?
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My understanding is that Gadaffi essentially said he would not respect the no-fly rule, so the allied forces acted to take out his air strike capability as efficiently as they could, i.e. with the lowest loses to themselves and the civilian population – before he could use it again. Hence the ground attacks on his air strike capability. Some civilian casualties would be inevitable – Gadaffi would see to that – but inaction would also lead to civilian casualties.
Trevor.
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Phil – done properly and where there is no palatable, realistic alternative, I accept the need for nuclear power. New Zealand, Australia and even USA don’t need it. Japan needs more than renewables can supply so their choices are nuclear, coal, oil or gas – and the latter are running out fast. With a choice between coal and nuclear, I prefer nuclear, but it has to be done right. We have seen again what can happen when it isn’t done right. We have also seen what happens when hydro dams aren’t done right, when oil exploration isn’t done right, when coal mining isn’t done right and when gas pipelines aren’t done right.
Eventually we will have the technology and resources to supply Japan using renewables, but they need power in this half of this century too.
Trevor.
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