Thursday, August 29, 2013

Fukushima Leak Upgraded To Level 3 Severity

By MARI YAMAGUCHI 08/28/13 06:26 AM ET EDT AP
TOKYO — Japan's nuclear regulator on Wednesday upgraded the rating of a leak of radiation-contaminated water from a tank at its tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant to a "serious incident" on an international scale, and it castigated the plant operator for failing to catch the problem earlier.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority's latest criticism of Tokyo Electric Power Co. came a day after the operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant acknowledged that the 300-ton (300,000-liter, 80,000-gallon) leak probably began nearly a month and a half before it was discovered Aug. 19.
In a meeting with agency officials and experts Tuesday night, TEPCO said radioactivity near the leaky tank and exposure levels among patrolling staff started to increase in early July. There is no sign that anyone tried to find the source of that radioactivity before the leak was discovered.
On Wednesday, regulatory officials said TEPCO has repeatedly ignored their instructions to improve their patrolling procedures to reduce the risk of overlooking leakages. They said TEPCO lacked expertise and also underestimated potential impact of the leak because underground water is shallower around the tank than the company initially told regulators.
"Their instructions, written or verbal, have never been observed," Toyoshi Fuketa, a regulatory commissioner, said at the agency's weekly meeting Wednesday.
TEPCO acknowledged recently that only two workers were assigned to check all 1,000 storage tanks at the plant during their twice-daily, two-hour walk without carrying dosimeters, and their inspection results were not adequately recorded. TEPCO said it will increase patrolling staff to 50 from the current eight.
Earlier this week, Japan's industry minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said the government will take over cleanup efforts and allocate funding for long-term contaminated water management projects.
The nuclear authority originally gave a Level 1 preliminary rating – an "anomaly," to the tank leak. Last week the authority proposed raising that to Level 3 – a "serious incident" – and it made that change after consulting with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA's ratings are designed to inform the international community, and changing them does not affect efforts to clean up the leak by the government and TEPCO. The 2011 Fukushima disaster itself was rated the maximum of 7 on the scale, the same as the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
"What's important is not the number itself but to give a basic idea about the extent of the problem," authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka said at a news conference after the agency's meeting. "I've seen reports that this is a dire situation but that's not true."
Tanaka said there is a much larger ongoing problem at the plant: massive amounts of contaminated ground water reaching the sea. But that problem cannot even be rated under the IAEA's International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale because it is unknown exactly how much ground water is escaping, how contaminated it is and what effect it is having on the sea and marine products.
Tanaka said TEPCO's handling of the water leaks was slow, illogical and lacked risk management. TEPCO has yet to determine the cause of the latest leak.
"I'm baffled," he said. "It may take time to stabilize the plant but we must put it on a right track."
TEPCO has recovered some of the water that leaked from the tank but says some of it may have reached the sea through a rainwater gutter. It says most of the leakage is believed to have seeped into the soil, triggering fresh concern of further contamination of underground water downstream.
TEPCO has built hundreds of tanks to hold radioactive water, some of which is ground water that made its way to the plant, but hundreds more tons of contaminated water are believed to be entering the sea each day.
The plant suffered triple meltdowns after the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. TEPCO is putting tons of water into its reactors to cool them and is struggling to contain the resulting waste water.
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AP writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

via/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Light Capture

Here's the thing, I'm not a fan of sweltering heat or raging sun. When exposed to either for more than tiny intervals I get super cranky and all Sweaty Betty. Also, I have close to no melanin protecting my dermis since my Haplogroup crossed the land bridge from Ethiopia 20,000 years ago and diluted my recent ancestors of sun protection by mixing with the colorless locals (I participated in the National Geographic human origin study a few years back, so I am totally NOT making that up!) . Anyway, it is a sad fact of my life that I spend my daylight hours slipping into slivers of shade so that I don't broil in the sun. It is also true that I have The Magpie Gene and am drawn to reflective light like a moth to flame. Sooooo, I have decided to capture my enemy being beautiful. It's going to be harrowing (and hot) and I'll probably end up looking like some old beat-up Gucci handbag, but I am determined to  get something out of this cat and mouse game I play with the heat and sun.

Wait, have I gotten to the point of this story or not yet? Let me be clear; here is my 1st reflective light capture. At great personal discomfort, I swear to you that I will gather more.

Okay, Darlings, wish me luck, I'm driving straight into the sun on the 101 tomorrow. Bring it on.



When Your Friend Owns A Sushi Joint...

...he might see the fragments of you walking in some Saturday afternoon and invent a super fantastic sushi roll right on the spot just to put you back together again and help you place your weekday woes into a small box marked, 'Not A Fuck Is Given'. 

Ladies and gents, I present, 'The Shandra Roll' !

Photo;Shandra Beri 

 Photo;Shandra Beri 

Thanks Sang! 


Sunday, August 11, 2013

Margaritas For Breakfast

Totally appropriate when you wake up at 2pm...

 Photo;Shandra Beri
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  Photo;Shandra Beri
 Photo;Shandra Beri

Burning Man Was So Great This Year


We got lost a few times and actually never really did see the signs for Black Rock City, but as you can see we finally made it and met some really great people! Maybe they were totally immersed in the 'Playa Experience' and that's why there wasn't really a lot of conversation (it was difficult to understand, but it seemed like everyone was chanting, 'trains, trains...'), but we just did our best to blend in and not seem like newbs. Of course one of the first people we met was one of the infamous and photo lovin' 'Playa Girls'.

             Photo:Shandra Beri
             Photo:Shandra Beri
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                 Photo:Shandra Beri

Oh, I just love how those Burners really get into character!

                Photo:Shandra Beri

Of course now there are more than a few 'lurkers'. I guess it's not really harming anyone as long as they're in costume and keep their hands to themselves- even if they are only there for the boobs.


                 Photo:Shandra Beri

Have to admit, this guy did creep us out a bit...


                Photo:Shandra Beri
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                 Photo:Shandra Beri

Another boob guy...


                Photo:Shandra Beri

             Photo:Shandra Beri

Check out this little fella!


                             Photo:Shandra Beri

             Photo:Shandra Beri

Glad that grandpa is still getting out!

                                                  Photo:Shandra Beri
                                   Photo:Shandra Beri

Here is one of our 'friends'. Very likeable guy, but it did seem that he had a bit of an issue with proper body distance when interfacing. We had to keep backing up and it seemed his catch-phrase was, 'Delicious!'

            Photo:Shandra Beri

Another oldster getting into the spirit!

                Photo:Shandra Beri

The kids were all so lively and cute, but I think a lot of them were under the influence because there was definitely a hypnotic vibe about them.

                          Photo:Shandra Beri

Pretty blue eye!

             Photo:Shandra Beri

And last (but not least!) I'll leave you with another lovely Playa Girl. We had such a good time, but unfortunately had to leave before dusk since we were so behind schedule. I think next year we'll stay a bit longer and really get into the spirit! Good bye Burning Man!

                       Photo:Shandra Beri

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

It's The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine...



SANTA BARBARA, California, August 5, 2013 (ENS) – Warming oceans are causing marine species to change their breeding times and shift their habitats toward the poles much faster than land-based species, finds new research by scientists at 17 institutions across the world.
The researchers warn that these big shifts in the timing of major events could produce disruption to ocean food webs, affecting all sea life, as well as humans who depend on the sea for food.
fish
A net full of fish, Western Indian Ocean (Photo by Jose Cort courtesy NOAA Fisheries)

Findings of the three-year research project, conducted by a working group of University of California, Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, NCEAS, and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, are published in the current issue of the journal “Nature Climate Change.”
The report, “Global imprint of climate change on marine life,” will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, IPCC, Assessment Report due for publication in 2014. Based in Geneva, the UN-backed IPCC assesses scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information concerning climate change, its effects, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
“The effects of climate change on marine species have not been a major focus of past IPCC reports because no one had done the work to pull together all the disparate observations from around the world,” said NCEAS associate Carrie Kappel. “This study provides a solid basis for including marine impacts in the latest global accounting of how climate change is affecting our world.”
Unlike previous studies that relied on terrestrial data to estimate the impacts of climate change on oceans, this research team assembled a marine-only database of 1,735 changes in marine life from the global peer-reviewed literature. The studies have an average length of 40 years of observation.
The team found that 81 percent of changes across different populations and ocean basins were consistent with the expected impacts of climate change.
The study took in research from all the world’s oceans, with particular focus on the east and south coasts of Australia, both U.S. coastlines, the European Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
fish
Fish in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast U.S. shelf, 2004
(Photo by Andrew David, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC)

It included marine mammals, fish, seabirds, turtles, squid, plankton, molluscs, deep sea invertebrates and crustaceans, mangroves, seagrasses and deepwater algae and covered the polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical oceans.
The study offers a “very simple, but important message” says one of the lead authors, Professor Camille Parmesan, National Marine Aquarium Chair in Public Understanding of Oceans and Human Health at Plymouth University’s Marine Institute in the UK.
“This is the first comprehensive documentation of what is happening in our marine systems in relation to climate change,” said Parmesan. “What it reveals is that the changes that are occurring on land are being matched by the oceans. And far from being a buffer and displaying more minor changes, what we’re seeing is a far stronger response from the oceans.”
Parmesan has been active in IPCC since 1997, and in her capacity as a lead author, she shared in the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to IPCC. In addition to her work at Plymouth, she serves as a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at University of Texas at Austin.
“Here’s a totally different system with its own unique set of complexities and subtleties,” said Parmesan. “Yet the overall impacts of recent climate change remain the same: an overwhelming response of species shifting where and when they live in an attempt to track a shifting climate.”
copepod
Zooplankton, copepod with eggs (Photo by Matt Wilson/Jay Clark, NOAA NMFS AFSC)

Phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bony fish showed the largest shifts. The “front line” of some of these marine species is moving towards the poles at the average rate of 72 kilometers (45 miles) per decade, which is faster than the terrestrial average of six km (four miles) per decade, even though sea surface temperatures are warming three times slower than land temperatures.
The timing of nature’s springtime calendar in the oceans has advanced by more than four days, nearly twice the figure for its advancement on land, the research team learned.
The study found phytoplankton – which provide the basic food for all life in the seas – are now blooming an average of six days earlier in the season, compared with land plants. Baby fish appear to be hatching around 11 days earlier in the season.
“The results were quite a shock,” says co-author Professor John Pandolfi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and University of Queensland. “We found that changes in sea life attributable to a one degree increase in the Earth’s overall temperature appear much greater than those seen in life on land so far.”
The oceans are estimated to have absorbed 80 percent of the extra heat put into the Earth system by human use of fossil fuels, but have nevertheless warmed more slowly than the land owing to their huge mass, said Pandolfi. “This makes the very large changes in the behavior of sea life all the more surprising.”
“When you see changes as large as these, life generally has three options – migration, adaptation or extinction. In the case of migration and extinction, these can directly affect industries like fishing and tourism which depend on local sea life,” he said.
“On the other hand, as sea life moves around the planet and adapts to the changes, new opportunities may also open up – so it isn’t all bad news,”  Pandolfi said.
“The study tells us that the situation with life in the oceans is now very dynamic and fast-changing, and marine managers, fishers and others who depend on the seas for a living need to take account of that,” he said. “For example, we need to minimize the sorts of stresses we put on sea life to give it the best chance of re-establishing in new places and environments.”
Co-author Pippa Moore, lecturer in aquatic biology at Aberystwyth University in Wales, agrees, saying, “These results highlight the urgent need for governments around the globe to develop adaptive management plans to ensure the continued sustainability of the world’s oceans and the goods and services they provide to human society.”

Sunday, August 4, 2013

I Bitch A Lot About L.A.

Photo;Shandra Beri
 Photo;Shandra Beri
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 Photo;Shandra Beri
 Photo;Shandra Beri
 Photo;Shandra Beri
Photo;Shandra Beri 
Photo;Shandra Beri 

But all it ever takes is one decent day at the beach to give me enough amnesia to forget why I hate it so much.

(I have to stop going to the beach...)