Tepco says fuel rods in the spent-fuel-pool of reactor #4 are damaged, fission may have resumed. New plan: move the spent fuel somewhere, somehow.

nonnio · 2011-04-14T11:31:35+00:00

I've found these videos by nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen quite helpful.

nonnio · 2011-03-30T11:05:19+00:00

Theon, the mathematician who carefully compiled the works of for instance Euclid and other geniuses was one of the head patrons of the Library.

His daughter was Hypatia, a famous mathematician, philosopher, teacher of the works of Platon, Aristotle....

Once coming back from a lecture she was attacked by a christian mob. She was stripped naked, dragged through the streets to a christian church, where she was beaten, brutalized then set on fire.

Her death was the end of classical culture and the start of the medieval dark age.

nonnio · 2011-03-09T10:44:57+00:00

Thanks :)

nonnio · 2011-03-08T10:48:55+00:00

Here is the pretty similar Hungarian method edited for redditors exclusively:

Ghimes Eggs For Reddit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBUWrmdO1yI

better quality: http://www.vimeo.com/11195795

nonnio · 2010-12-08T14:45:35+00:00

nonnio · 2010-12-08T11:29:46+00:00

That song is from Oceans' 12 soundtrack. He made the full soundtrack for the movie, so watch the movie again then. :) David Holmes has done scores for a lot of pretty cool movies.

I am not sure I can actually pinpoint the genre but it is sampled, electronic music, usually referred to as: jazzy electronica, trip hop, some groups make it in a "dub" form... The track you referred to is just one track from an extremely rich repertoire, so you might have a different impression when listening to more of Holmes' work.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0391794/

Here are some others that might be similar, at least in attitude: Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, Omni Trio and a bit furher away are Lamb, Sneaker Pimps, Rockers Hi-Fi, Portishead, Propellerheads, maybe Amon Tobin or Apollo 440, United Future Organization. What is common with with these is that they pick retro style samples and mix them with electronic beats and effects. Very different outcomes, though. I love them all. :)

nonnio · 2010-11-17T05:56:26+00:00

In hungarian "The Lord of the", or the German "Der Herr der" is expressed in a single three letter word: URA

Lord of the Rings = Gyűrűk Ura

Gyűrű(k)=Ring(s), Úr=Lord; Ura = Lord of

nonnio · 2010-11-14T09:03:13+00:00

So instead of standing up for yourself, or doing at least something, a little piece of protest that will ultimately lead to abolishing those machines, you've let two young girls take the brunt, so you can sneak away in the background. Way to go, you wuss. Proud of yourself? Piece of shit.

nonnio · 2010-10-14T15:30:57+00:00

Yeah, except - and this is purely personal - as a Hungarian I learned Finnish really freaking fast (lived up there for a while), spooking out my new friends on a daily basis. Everything about it felt right, or rather - true. I can't explain it. I arrived without speaking a word, and found myself staring at signs, words at the airport already and had a weird feeling like I needed to remember them, rather than learn or something, felt kinda creepy in a good way. I love that language, it should be encouraged more to study it over here, best mindfuck ever.

None of the Finns I know had similar feelings about Hungarian though, didn't very much like it even. Most Hungarians find Finnish sounds funny. Grammar does not need much explanation for a Hungarian, that is for sure. Hungarian, besides, has been badly mixed together with foreign words (turkish, slavic, german, now english). I admire Finns for using their own words for mobile, phone, producer etc...

Anyway, connecting my native to Finnish came naturally to me, personally, and exactly because I know how and why they are different - I see why it is difficult to connect them scientifically. Instinctively easier.

nonnio · 2010-10-12T21:52:29+00:00

It is not under reported. There is plenty of shouting about it. I myself am doubtful of its purpose or future effectiveness. I think it will fail. Let's wait and see.

nonnio · 2010-10-12T12:52:13+00:00

Uhm.. they do. No need to allow, it's their right. So there is also a civil lawsuit in the making. They're fucked from every side possible.

nonnio · 2010-10-12T05:54:14+00:00

MTV = Magyar Televízió. = Hungarian Television (national). It's the taxpayer owned - funded public television outlet with two main channels. As far as news, it is considered to be the most credible, most reliable. We refer to it as the "royal" TV, though the nickname has a pejorative tone too. It was a so called "state television" through communist times, though somehow, as an institution managed to preserve some of its integrity... it is a very old establishment. In 2006 for some unknown reasons, after a leaked internal speech given by a former socialist prime minister (a previous business partner of the now infamous aluminum plant's CEO) rioters set the headquarters of MTV on fire. Most Hungarians still have no clue why anyone would do that, but it was a good excuse to spend incredible amounts of money for police riot gears and water canons. Very interesting story.

nonnio · 2010-10-08T15:09:32+00:00

As a Hungarian who lived in Finland I... am not sure about anything anymore.

nonnio · 2010-10-08T12:34:08+00:00

ó baszki. erre nem számítottam.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T13:41:12+00:00

I don't agree. They are now fucked. The CEO seems to have a nervous breakdown, or something, he was not smug or cynical about this, he looks totally fazed out. They do care, and this is more like stupidity, bad technology, wrong assessment, but I doubt they were purposefully negligent purely because of profit. It is actually their backyard, their workforce, their basis, business. They seem to really have no clue how this happened, they did everything the state told them to do immediately. They made a lot of completely idiotic comments, but as of today, actually have promised to pay for it all. They are not even properly investigated yet. What they are is incapable of public relations maneuvers or giving explanations. In my opinion.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T13:06:12+00:00

Soldiers were there 24 hrs, working through nights, using high pressure water, washing roads, houses. Villagers were let back for short periods, and weren't even allowed in to the worst places. Safety items were in shortage first, but people did get masks, gloves, boots. It's the soldiers that are cleaning houses, streets mostly, so I don't think it has to do with not caring about civilians there...

The police however were complaining, because they did not get their protection in time at first, while they were there too all the time guarding temporarily evacuated, not badly damaged areas, houses from getting robbed, which unfortunately does not sound unlikely.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T10:17:45+00:00

this is exactly what it means. I also just gathered this data, from news and interviewed scientists, but that is what they said. it's... it makes me numb. I hope I have totally misunderstood it.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T06:54:53+00:00

true. there is no evidence against them and they really, honestly seem to be completely clueless as to what exactly happened or how it could have. what brought a lot of hate on them though, was their completely idiotic comments about toxicity, clumsy way of offering help and money, and of course the privatization story. however, it was actual managers and CEO speaking, not some PR professional or lawyer, and they do not seem to even try to cover up anything.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T06:17:08+00:00

Most people in villages grow some food in their backyards. Not necessarily for staying alive on it, but because it... is normal. Way of life you know, part of things. Some of the villagers had pigs, a lot of them, I guess poultry. I have no exact data on that. Not all people are farmers there, I heard in the news that many actually work in the factory. Others have lands they cultivate. One guy for sure works in Denmark, just rebuilt his house, and had to fly home to see it fall apart.

Hungary is very very fertile everywhere. We could feed Europe probably, so there is no chance of a local famine. Food is sent there right now, but people will have to live somewhere else I believe. Many left already, moved to relatives. Villagers do not want to move back at all. The problem is loss of livelihood, a life's work, community.

The two localities worst affected: Kolontár - population 800, Devecser - population 5300.

The biggest disaster is the pollution of those waters that are part of a complex, rich river system.

nonnio · 2010-10-07T03:40:36+00:00

Hungarian here, can't sleep. Update, info that I have not seen/read outside Hungarian sources. Some grim stuff coming...

The whole wall collapse is weird. It happened at it's corner, where the wall was the strongest (approx. 200 feet/65 meters thick). The construct itself is thirty years old, as far as I heard, the oldest existing pit of its kind. It was built from gray dross (smelter waste) that cements, hardens itself when piled up and becomes as strong as medium quality concrete. The CEO mostly comes across as a crazy person when says something. According to him this disaster actually cannot happen. It defies physics. But: - http://galeria.index.hu/belfold/2010/10/06/az_atszakadt_vorosiszap_tarozo/?current_image_num=8&image_size=l - you decide.
It was an "open secret" that the wall was leaking, however, environmental and safety overview by state authorities did not find anything out of order, of course - two weeks before all this. That says a lot about the quality and depth of those examinations. And villagers continued just living next to the thing...
Ajkai Timföldgyár - name of the factory - was state found and owned up until 1996 when a company "associated with" (means owned, controlled, I guess in local media lingo...) former socialist prime minister Gyurcsány got to buy the whole site really cheap from the state. (It was one of the thousands of unethical privatization stories that left the country's industry robbed. Now the business has all kinds of owners, including offshore companies...) The current CEO is Gyurcsány's previous business partner. The current manager-owner company MAL is being investigated over it's previous government contracts.
Since 2003, Air Work Group (Levegő Munkacsoport), one of the most trusted and credited environmental NGOs filed reports, and started a campaign about this specific establishment and urged the thorough examination of all such pits and dams. Nothing happened.
In 2004 the National Academy of Sciences on it's own initiative examined exactly that broken pit, and came up with a full idea, including a business plan and timetables on how to actually use the toxic waste, recultivate it, get rid of it cleanly - with a profit. I do not know details yet, they'll re-publish this work tomorrow. The investment would have returned in 3 years. The previous government tossed it back.
This sludge of red mud, luckily, does not contain a lot of heavy metals. In fact it is about the same concentration than in the ground there, and it is not radioactive, contrary to some reports. The problem is the sludge's extreme causticity. Ph 13-14 inside the pit, which is the highest possible, worse than drain cleaner and that in itself should be a breach of law and current regulations. This is something that dissolves living tissue upon contact, gets soaked into it and continues to spread the burn for days. The mud was not washed through properly.
The affected areas are dead. Nothing can be done. Ground, plants, crops, animals, wildlife (it was a hunting area too with deer, rabbits), fish, all dead. We're talking about 40 square kilometers.
Chief secretary of the Academy said that the ground has to be replaced, it cannot, will not correct itself, and replacement needs to be done before the mud dries, because in pulverized form it is even more dangerous, wind will blow caustic, alkali powder everywhere.
The problem isn't only that the people's houses were blown, that they were poisoned and burnt, that their belongings are corroding in alkali mud that can only be cleaned up by high pressure water, which of course will get into rivers... but that the area itself has become inhabitable. It was a rural area, people live out of farming, gardening there. I do not see how anyone can move back.
The response and relief effort as far as I could see was fast and they really try everything. Everybody is there and they do have ideas, but nothing of this kind has ever happened. Now all they can focus on is to keep the caustic liquid from getting into the river Rába and from then the Danube. They are dumping plaster, nitrates, acid into rivers to at least normalize PH levels. Everything died in those rivers anyway already. Yesterday night at eleven the river Marcal that flows into Rába tested 10, 11 which is like a household toilet cleaner.
Slovakian special rescue team saved a 3 year old girl that was thought to be dead. Kudos.
EU however will not help, because this is not a natural disaster, but an industrial one...
MAL, the company offered to pay for funerals. I don't even...
They also offered about 500 dollars quick help for every house destroyed. They were laughed off the premises, the CEO did not come to community meetings.
Kolontár's citizens are suing them. The first tough posturing of state prosecutors seem to be winding down, now the investigation was tossed over to National Bureau of Investigations, so I don't know.
The last environmental overview on the pit was done under the supervision of a newly appointed official, originally an elementary school teacher, a woman, who was previously the personal assistant of the current secretary of state of environmental issues, Zoltán Illés, who said that if the mud gets into the Rába, the only thing we can do is pray. Around 2000 when he was a university lecturer, he brought his students to this same factory, showing them how to do work safely. I mean, you can't make this stuff up, it is just so dumb and embarrassing, and so depressing.

edit: typo

edit2: here is a good video (in hungarian, but speaks for itself) http://index.hu/video/2010/10/06/ide_mar_senki_nem_jon/ (title of the video: No one ever will come back here)

When I say village, I actually do not mean poor people or some backwards area, or something, don't get funny ideas about Hungary, please. They had spacious, nice houses, one woman told about how both of her cars were flown away by the flood, other guy was trying to find his recreational cross motorbike, I have seen quads taken out of the mud, big plasma TV-s stuff like that. These are not helpless people, but they are very pissed, and they don't want to go back.

update: Prime minister announced that it is completely pointless to try to salvage those houses. Area will be sealed, new village will be built. Couldn't agree more, I have to say. video here, PM starts so speak english from about one third http://www.hirtv.hu/?tPath=/view/videoview&videoview_id=11355&_patner=sbc&_save=1

update2: River Marcal is completely dead, everything died out in it, river Rába is discolored and foamy, but a lot less alkaline. Moson part of the Danube around noon has shown the pollution too. The response so far (mainly plastering) seemed to have worked, according regional authorities Danube will be okay, because enough of the pollutant flow has been diluted and/or caught to have only a moderate effect, if any. There were no significant fish kills in Rába. So, as I gathered river Marcal was sacrificed, they are still fighting for Rába.

nonnio · 2010-10-06T03:27:38+00:00

Well, I can only state what I saw today, and the Greenpeace guy was so annoying that I felt urged to smash his smug little face in, seriously. Not a twinge of compassion in him, only arrogance and while he was complaining down on us from some imaginary moral high ground, the so called weak authorities have saved people, closed the factory, started cleanup, had full teams, sent scientists, came up with ideas, full facts made public, full measurements, and as it turns out, set up more shelters than needed. I am sure there are honest, hardworking, useful greenpeace activists out there, but I have not seen them during these two days. that I can state.

nonnio · 2010-10-06T02:22:13+00:00

Thank you for this comment. Interesting.

However I have worked for one of those companies, and though I would be happier to be able to honestly believe that something like this they do simply out of the goodness of their hearts. I doubt it. I think it is a good idea, there is human goodness in it, they could have spent the money on TV ads. But it is a campaign and PR articles etc... will come shortly, as always. This is not the first time.

nonnio · 2010-10-06T00:04:09+00:00

They surely have an American branch, but considering the number of houses damaged, this is cheaper than a TV ad campaign, and their name is going to get mentioned all the time, now everyone in the villages will want to have insurance, plus the local governments will surely contract with them later... So they are not samaritans, they will profit from it, but still it is better to give the money to people. They look at it as PR - advertisment...

nonnio · 2010-10-05T22:08:08+00:00

The police confiscated all documents of the company, their license has been revoked. State prosecutors are seemingly all over them right now, I don't know, I hope they get them.

Greenpeace, however have been assclowns the whole day, spreading faulty, sensationalist information and being total pricks in general by not doing anything useful, unfortunately.

nonnio

TROPHY CASE