Author's posts

Mar 15 2011

Prime Time

Let me start with a reminder that as of tomorrow I’m suspending Prime Time and am instead live blogging the television coverage of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.  If you enjoy and will miss Prime Time I certainly encourage anyone to pick up the franchise and continue it.  As I mention I’m not particular about the format, mine is simple but time consuming (about 2 hours, most wasted finding quotes).

Those interested might co-ordinate in comments as there is no need for 16 one day and none the next.  I publish at 7:30ish so that you have time to read it.

Tonight on broadcast there’s nothing much interesting unless the Season Finale and aftermath of The Bachelor floats your boat.  A fair number of premiers.

We seem to be paying some of our employees an awful lot of money.

The good part, William, is that, no matter whether our clients make money or lose money, Duke & Duke get the commissions.

Later-

I believe we paid $35,000. But if I remember correctly, we valued it for the insurance company at $50,000. You see, Mortimer? William has already made us $15,000.

Dave hosts Charles Barkley and Cold War Kids.  Jon and Stephen in repeats from 3/1 and 3/3.  Alton does Devil’s Food Cake.  Conan in repeats from 1/10 (for the Tournament).

We took a perfectly useless psychopath like Valentine, and turned him into a successful executive. And during the same time, we turned an honest, hard-working man into a violently, deranged, would-be killer!

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Mar 14 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

With 49 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Japan reels as second blast rocks nuclear plant

by Hiroshi Hiyama, AFP

1 hr 41 mins ago

SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – A new explosion at a stricken nuclear power plant hit Japan Monday as it raced to avert a reactor meltdown after a quake-tsunami disaster that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.

Searchers found 2,000 bodies just in the northeastern region of Miyagi, while millions were left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food. Hundreds of thousands more were homeless after the tsunami drowned whole towns.

Panic selling saw stocks close more than six percent lower on the Tokyo bourse on fears for the world’s third-biggest economy, as power shortages prompted rolling blackouts and factory shutdowns in quake-hit areas.

Mar 14 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 47 Stories.

From Yahoo News Business

1 Tokyo stocks hammered, BoJ unleashes record funds

by David Watkins, AFP

25 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese stocks tumbled Monday and the central bank pumped a record amount of cash in a bid to soothe money markets shaken by Japan’s biggest ever earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a nuclear emergency.

Nuclear plant operator TEPCO dived almost 24 percent on fears of a meltdown at one of its reactors while producers such as Sony and Toyota tumbled as power shortages prompted blackouts and factories remained closed, hurting production.

The Bank of Japan said it would pump a record 15 trillion yen ($184 billion) to help stabilise the short term-money market, making good on its pledge Sunday that it would unleash “massive” funds following the quake.

Mar 14 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for March 13, 2011-

DocuDharma

Mar 14 2011

Prime Time

New episode of The Amazing Race.  Animation domination (except for Family Guy).  Nature on Bee Colony Collapse, Mark Twain.  All times Daylight Savings (which Zap2it hasn’t quite caught up with yet).

Also a reminder that starting Tuesday Prime Time is suspended for NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament live blogging.

Impressive. Most impressive. Obi-Wan has taught you well. You have controlled your fear. Now, release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me.

You are beaten. It is useless to resist. Don’t let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did.

Later-

Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.

Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Mar 13 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

With 52 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Japan battles nuclear emergency after deadly quake

by Kelly Macnamara, AFP

1 hr 7 mins ago

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AFP) – Japan battled a feared meltdown of two reactors at a quake-hit nuclear plant Sunday, as the full horror began emerging of the disaster on the ravaged northeast coast where more than 10,000 were feared dead.

An explosion at the ageing Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant blew apart the building housing one of its reactors Saturday, a day after the biggest quake ever recorded in Japan unleashed a monster tsunami.

The atomic emergency escalated Sunday as crews struggled to prevent overheating at a second reactor where the cooling system has also failed, and the government warned that it too could be hit with a blast.

Mar 13 2011

The Next Deepwater Horizon

Remember all those safe, clean, cheap nuclear energy ads from the 50s, 60s and 70s?

Here’s one from Westinghouse circa 2007 ——>

Connecticut has 2 active units, Millstone 3 happens to be a Westinghouse reactor.  It’s licensed to operate until 2045.

Makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Partial Meltdowns Presumed at Crippled Reactors

By HIROKO TABUCHI and MATTHEW L. WALD, The New York Times

Published: March 13, 2011

TOKYO – Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors.

…

On Saturday, Japanese officials took the extraordinary step of flooding the crippled No. 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 170 miles north of Tokyo, with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown. That came after an explosion caused by hydrogen that tore the outer wall and roof off the building housing the reactor, although the steel containment of the reactor remained in place.

Then on Sunday, cooling failed at a second reactor – No. 3 – and core melting was presumed at both, said the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. An explosion could also rock the No. 3 reactor, Mr. Edano warned, because of a buildup of hydrogen within the reactor.

…

Officials also said they would release steam and inject water into a third reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after temperatures rose and water levels fell around the fuel rods.

Cooling had failed at three reactors at a nuclear complex nearby, Fukushima Daini, although he said conditions there were considered less dire for now.

Crisis Underscores Fears About Safety of Nuclear Energy

By NORIMITSU ONISHI, HENRY FOUNTAIN and TOM ZELLER Jr., The New York Times

Published: March 12, 2011

Critics of nuclear energy have long questioned the viability of nuclear power in earthquake-prone regions like Japan. Reactors have been designed with such concerns in mind, but preliminary assessments of the Fukushima Daiichi accidents suggested that too little attention was paid to the threat of tsunami. It appeared that the reactors withstood the powerful earthquake, but the ocean waves damaged generators and backup systems, harming the ability to cool the reactors.

It was not until Sunday that the increasingly dangerous nature of the problems at Daiichi became clear. But even on Saturday, with Reactor No. 1 there having suffered a radiation leak and an explosion, James M. Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the nuclear industry would be shaken. While Japan may try to point to the safety of its newer facilities, concerns may run too deep, he said. Decades ago, after the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island accidents, Mr. Acton said, the nuclear industry tried to argue that newer reactors incorporated much better safety features. “That made very little difference to the public,” he said.

…

Over the years, Japanese plant operators, along with friendly government officials, have sometimes hidden episodes at plants from a public increasingly uneasy with nuclear power.

In 2007, an earthquake in northwestern Japan caused a fire and minor radiation leaks at the world’s largest nuclear plant, in Kashiwazaki City. An ensuing investigation found that the operator – Tokyo Electric – had unknowingly built the facility directly on top of an active seismic fault. A series of fires inside the plant after the earthquake deepened the public’s fear. But Tokyo Electric said it upgraded the facility to withstand stronger tremors and reopened in 2009.

Last year, another reactor with a troubled history was allowed to reopen, 14 years after a fire shut it down. The operator of that plant, the Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, located along the coast about 220 miles west of Tokyo, tried to cover up the extent of the fire by releasing altered video after the accident in 1995.

Mar 13 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for March 12, 2011-

DocuDharma

Mar 13 2011

Prime Time

Rascal Flatts if you like that sort of thing.  Austin City Limits has Bettye LaVette and Pinetop Perkins.

White Heaven is for decent, good, God-fearing Christians who just happen to, well, hate everyone and everything relating to black people. That means no Muhammad Ali, no hip-hop music and no fucking Jesse Jackson.

Turns out that God really doesn’t have that much of a problem with racism. He doesn’t even remember slavery, except in February. Personally, I hate black people Ruckus. That’s why I did everything I could to make their lives miserable. Crack? Me. AIDS? Me. Reaganomics? C’mon. I’m in the name.

Later-

Now let us pray. Lord, I have spent my whole life hatin’ you for makin’ me black. And now I see I must hate myself and all those like me, and cause them misery just like your savior Ronald Reagan did. And if any of my words don’t come directly from the almighty God himself, then may I be struck by lightnin’ right this very instant!

SNL has Zach Galifianakis and Jessie J.

Boondocks– The Passion of Reverend Ruckus.  The Venture Brothers– Hate Floats

The lightning bolt that saved Shabazz’s life seemed to have struck Uncle Ruckus on his tumor. Doctors would find no remaining signs of his cancer. Some called it a miracle… And maybe there are forces in this universe we don’t understand. But I still believe we make our own miracles.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Mar 12 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 49 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Blast at Japan nuke plant; 10,000 missing after quake

by Hiroshi Hiyama, AFP

1 hr 19 mins ago

SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – An explosion at a Japanese nuclear plant triggered fears of a meltdown Saturday after a massive earthquake and tsunami left more than 1,000 dead and at least 10,000 unaccounted for.

As workers doused the stricken reactor with sea water to try to avert catastrophe, Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the chaos unleashed by Friday’s 8.9 magnitude quake was an “unprecedented national disaster”.

The quake, one of the biggest ever recorded, unleashed a terrifying tsunami that engulfed towns and cities on Japan’s northeastern coast, destroying everything in its path.

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