An update from FDL:

http://my.firedoglake.com/scarecrow/2011/03/19/japan-nuke-watch-sat-nite-jst-power-to-site-radiation-in-food/

They have restarted a generator in unit 5 to run water to the ponds in 5&6. If so, then perhaps the connectors to the power lines are not so bad.

The best scenario at this point is still a long term dangerous situation.
I hope that the world will take a serious look at all the nuclear generation plants and the serious threat they pose.

One thing I'm focusing on less as the years roll by, is the us-against them dynamic behind all debate in America. I believe it's mainly artificially created to distract from the real dynamic of rich global bankers versus the world.
Instead I'm going to go further out there into the fringe areas where something new might be lurking that could put this whole energy problem in a new light. Here's some of the coolest stuff I've read:
When Wernher von Braun launched the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958, he was surprised at how much further it went into space. This phenomenon also came into play when he sent a Pioneer craft 37,000 miles past the moon. Other launches showed the same thing: Inexplicable extra energy.
The most exciting interpretation of all this is that the rotation of an object moving through space can lessen the effects of gravity. These rocket stages had parts that rotated rapidly to keep them stable in flight.
There have been a ton of sightings of UFOs and there's 3 ways to go on that: 1. The sightings are hoaxes. 2. The sightings are from off-earth, and 3. This phenomenon first noticed in 1958 and kept basically secret, has been explored and the secret to anti-gravity has been cracked. It certainly would explain the behavior of these huge hovering crafts sighted by the Governor of Arizona for example.
So I'm not going to waste my time arguing about nuclear power as it stands now. Anything that produces casks of deadly radioactive waste like we have by the ton at Trojan, is inherently flawed. People who advocate for safe nuclear power just sound moronic. Fusion would be a different matter but it would have to be cold.
Meanwhile, I think we have been spending billions in black ops money on weird energy systems, and we need the private sector to bring these out so we can make the call to the Middle East we'd all like to make: "Hello, is this Ahmed? We're canceling the next order. In fact, we're canceling all future orders." "But why? We'll give you a deal. Oil at 95 a barrel." "Sorry, we're past all that now." (CLICK.)

A barrel of laughs, Bill....

And cold fusion has to be somewhat hot, otherwise no energy, or more accurately little energy could be extracted. I suppose we could run it in a cryogenic environment but that would take energy...

Don't want to rain on an inventor's parade so have at it.

I actually talked to Carl Sagan one time about cold fusion. That's true. By cold, I meant as compared to say...the temperature of the sun where fusion also occurs.
By the way, I'm not an inventor - I just follow this stuff. I also have read some history and most advances have been preceded by ridicule. So that's fine. I feel like this isn't whimsical - if we don't come up with a new source of energy we are basically finished.
Have you noticed we're currently firing missiles at another oil-producing nation today? I may be stuck in a barrel of laughs, but think of what we've done over the years for a barrel of oil.

Bill: "One thing I'm focusing on less as the years roll by, is the us-against them dynamic behind all debate in America. I believe it's mainly artificially created to distract from the real dynamic of rich global bankers versus the world."

I've been saying this almost verbatim to my ultra-conservative relatives and friends. The blank stares tell me it's futile, but people need to see our issues are smokescreened by calculated and clichéd dialogue. It's the only way to get the public to happily bear the burden of private risk(an ever-growing burden at that).

This last week reminded us we also bear the environmental negligence of corporations. The world, not Tepco, will suffer. Soon the sophisticated media and lobby machine will make us forgive and forget this assault, and we'll sign up for another tour as human shield or guinea pig.

Weak joke on my part Bill..

Lesson: Don't mess with the master!

I've followed the concept about cold fusion since it first showed up. And I know that "cold" is relative, like we are some 400+ degrees above absolute zero. But that's a helluva lot colder than the sun, which is our model for fusion.

When I worked at Argonne, there was a sidebar experiment attempting to generate even a tiny, tiny indication of fusion using pinch effect. It didn't work.

I know about ridicule. While at Argonne, I was working with equipment which digitized the data from the detectors and presented it in graph (histogram) form. One day, I'm watching the bars grow in size (like watching grass grow...almost!) and it hit me. Attach a microphone to the rig and let's see what happens!

Ha ha ha!

Boy, I never lived that one down. So glad I didn't make an even bigger ass of myself and actually try it!
/s

That was 1957.

Well worth a read:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/risks-radiation-and-regulation/

Have you noticed we're currently firing missiles at another oil-producing nation today?

I haven't read that any have been fired yet, Bill - but they're online, and that's plenty ominous.

I supported going into Afghanistan after 9/11, but I thought Iraq was a dumba$$ idea.

Barry was supposed to get us out of there, and close Gitmo. Now he has us lined up for a third war, and he's off to Brazil. WTF?

And Brazilians were rioting; throwing molotovs at our embassy. I ran across a line that I thought was pretty good:

When told that there were Brazillions protesting him Barry asked, "How many is a Brazillion? I'm just getting used to Trillions!"

Bill McDonald:...So I'm not going to waste my time arguing about nuclear power as it stands now. Anything that produces casks of deadly radioactive waste like we have by the ton at Trojan, is inherently flawed....

How much else has been done on inherently flawed decisions?

http://www.novelguide.com/eastofeden/toptenquotes.html

"In human affairs of danger and delicacy successful conclusion is sharply
limited by hurry. So often, men trip by being in a rush. If one were properly
to perform a difficult and subtle act, he should first inspect the end to be
achieved and then, once he had accepted the end as desirable, he should forget it completely and concentrate solely on the means. By this method he would not be moved by false action by anxiety or hurry or fear. Very few people learn this."

Who in their right mind would have accepted this end as desirable?
They skipped that step and we and future generations will have to deal with the insanity.

I imagine they thought "future technology" would take care of the mess. They were in a hurry, right?

What gets me is how easily we ridicule farfetched ideas. That would make sense against a backdrop that was simple and easy to understand.
Instead we have a backdrop that is crazier than anything anyone of us could have imagined. I actually feel like a stuck-in-the-mud traditionalist wanting to believe there's just one universe. Meanwhile, there are scientists who believe they see microwave patterns that are bruises from other universes hitting this one. WTF?
I attended a lecture by Stephen Hawking and he shared the same sense of weariness at how crazy things are. With him it was wanting to resist string theory because it just sounded so out there. But he had to admit the gravity measurements don't add up. There seem to be forces working on us from outside our universe. Next thing you know you have 11 dimensions or is it 13 and other universes existing in other dimensions.
So when someone says, "That idea is crazy" I just want to shout, "So what? The whole damn thing is crazy!"

Here's a Telegraph news article trying to describe the latest theory of Stephen Hawking:

"By quantum lore, when a particle of light travels from A to B, it does not take one path but explores every one simultaneously, with the more direct routes being used more heavily.
This is called a sum over histories and Prof Hawking and Prof Hertog propose the same thing for the cosmos.
In this theory, the early universe can be described by a mathematical object called a wave function and, in a similar way to the light particle, the team proposed two years ago that this means that there was no unique origin to the cosmos: instead the wave function of the universe embraced a multitude of means to develop."

Did everybody get that?

Stick to humor Bill.

"By quantum lore, when a particle of light travels from A to B, it does not take one path but explores every one simultaneously, with the more direct routes being used more heavily.
This is called a sum over histories and Prof Hawking and Prof Hertog propose the same thing for the cosmos.
In this theory, the early universe can be described by a mathematical object called a wave function and, in a similar way to the light particle, the team proposed two years ago that this means that there was no unique origin to the cosmos: instead the wave function of the universe embraced a multitude of means to develop."

Ummm, not really sure what your getting at but I am taking my iodide in the form of kelp extract and very much appreciate the excellent coverage of this event by Bobjack.org.

Since the theory supposes the big bang started as an infinitesimally small point, that it can be expressed as a wave function is expected, or could be, anyway.

But then it collapsed and we are the result.

Maybe go back and collapse as a different probability? How about a higher love probability?

Can't wait for the universe to shrink back to that infinitesimally small point.

No, wait...!