science & technology
a fifth of the cesium fell on Japan, most of rest fell into Pacific
Update: Lost the link to the original article, but here’s another one – Japan nuke radiation higher than estimated Well, that’s a bit of a relief, isn’t it? But read the headline if you want to raise your blood pressure a few degrees: The Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much of a radioactive substance [...]
What to Do if Your Ereader Is Lost or Stolen
Bought my Kindle3 a few months ago. Quite satisfied, although I prefer playing with my iPad2. Still, here’s some useful advice in case you ever lose your Kindle. If you lose your Kindle ereader, you’re mostly on your own. Amazon claims it is unable to locate the device via GPS, nor will the company remote-wipe [...]
Radiation in Tokyo’s Setagaya-ku due to radium, unconnected with Fukushima
As I was grabbing some breakfast this morning, I caught the following bit of news about a radiation hot-spot in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. Turns out, this may have nothing to do with Fukushima (and of course everyone assumed it did), which is funny because that blows out of the water the assumption that there ain’t no [...]
Evernote, Touchanote
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Evernote recently. Going paperless. And I’m subscribed to the Elephant channel, so this popped up. This could be very useful for some people I know. Not me, I’m never that absent-minded. Now, if only I knew what NFC was… Maybe there’s a tag for that?
Slides for Wade Allison talk in Tokyo | Lenz Blog
This popped up in my reader, and I’ve just downloaded the slides and quickly scanned them with my ol’ eagle eye, and my objective, expert opinion is that, if you are at all affected by the Fukushima disaster, or know anyone who is, then you would be well advised to read this. My policy, based [...]
Wade Allison in Japan | Lenz Blog
Prof. Lenz blogs about Wade Allison’s press conference at Tokyo’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club recently. Readers should do their own homework, of course. I reproduce the comments here because it seems there is a lack of balance in the reporting on this matter, both in Japan and abroad. At 500 becquerels per kilogram, a person would [...]
UPDATE 3-Japan power firms’ LNG use at record | Reuters
Some facts and figures on Japan’s energy use since March ’11: 15% more LNG, 12% less power (mouse-tip to AtomicRod). TOKYO, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Japan’s 10 regional power firms used a record 4.81 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas in August to help offset a record low nuclear utilisation rate in the wake of [...]
Fuel Cell System Keeps On Going In Blackouts
This looks interesting. More interesting would be a fuel-cell power pack that renders the household (or whatever the unit is) completely independent from the grid, power blackout or no. Also a cheaper price. The present price is about the same as roofing your house with solar panels. Power generated by home fuel cell systems is [...]
2011/09/01 18:46 – INTERVIEW: Tepco Making Progress In Fukushima Crisis, But Hurdles Remain -President
Dow Jones Newswires interviews Tepco prez Nishizawa. A major problem is obtaining funds. I’m not sure what “smart grid” means. I hope “smart meters” doesn’t mean ones like these. TOKYO (Dow Jones)–Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) is making steady progress in its efforts to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and provide compensation to those [...]
Kenneth Williams, or from 1 year to 5 seconds in 50 years.
Kenneth Williams, An Audience With (Part 1 of 8). Kenneth Williams was best known as a comedic actor on radio and television in the 1950s and 60s. The man who made camp popular. Nostalgia hour. In the course of his 1-man show (which I’d never seen before; I mainly remember Kenneth Williams from radio shows [...]
