ARTICLE 1
Japan foresaw possible Fukushima meltdown from day one: documents – Reuters – 9th March2012
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)’s President Toshio Nishizawa speaks to reporters after his meeting with Fukushima Prefecture Governor Yuhei Sato at the latter’s office in Fukushima, northern Japan March 9, 2012. Nishizawa visited the governor ahead of the one-year anniversary since the Fukushima Daiichi plant was wrecked by a quake and tsunami last March, triggering the world’s worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century and swamping the firm with huge clean-up, compensation and decommissioning costs. REUTERS/Yuriko NakaoEnlarge Photo
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government foresaw the possibility of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant hours after a huge tsunami smashed into it, according to cabinet minutes released on Friday, although it took officials more than a month to acknowledge it.
The earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.
“Cooling functions still in service are those run by batteries. They will last eight hours,” a summary of the first emergency cabinet meeting, four hours after the quake, quoted an unidentified participant as saying.
“If core temperatures in the reactors remain on the rise for more than eight hours, there is a possibility that meltdown may occur.”
A Trade Ministry official who acted as a government spokesman after the disaster struck was replaced after he mentioned the possibility of meltdown on March 12.
It was not until May that Tepco acknowledged that a meltdown of fuel rods appeared to have occurred, sparking criticism that the operator and officials were playing down the severity of the accident.
Tepco now believes that three of the six reactors at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, suffered fuel meltdown.
The minutes were released two days before the first anniversary of the disaster that left 19,000 dead or missing.
Other entries in minutes of emergency cabinet meetings show confusion and disagreement among top leaders as Japan faced its deepest crisis since World War Two.
“Who is the leader of the actual operation?” Yoshihiro Katayama, internal affairs minister at the time, told a March 15 meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response headquarters.
“I’ve got too many unintelligible demands and requests. No one is holding the reins.”
On March 14, then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke of a consensus among specialists that a 20-km evacuation zone around the plant was sufficient. He was challenged by Koichiro Gemba, national strategy minister at the time, who pointed out contradicting views.
Gemba, whose constituency is in Fukushima, told a different meeting: “This is war. We only win or lose. We are already losing in some battles. But the important thing is how we manage to limit our loss.”
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by; Ron Popeski)
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Trying to save face? Or retro-gressively qualifying Japanese expertise? The most disappointing thing was the lack of even the simplest robotics to handle these problems. I saw Robocop in th 1980s, then 3 decades later, the Japanese do not even have anything like ‘ED209’ to repair the damaged plant and avoid radiation. Instead its 1940s again with Kamikaze TEPCO workers, and old people sacrificed because they were old at that. Nothing changed since the first nukes in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in that case. Japs are a bunch of wankers who might as well didn’t progress since 1940s technologically. From the looks of it all the Japs did was play lapdog to the West and churn out lots of interesting cartoons. Japan is a media house, propaganda outfit, not a sovereign country.
From Robocop I - ED209 (1980s concept robot that was not built in time for Fukushima . . . )
ARTICLE 2
Hatsune Miku, Crypton Future Media’s Virtual Pop, Star Sells Out Shows In Tokyo – First Posted: 03/ 9/2012 3:30 am Updated: 03/ 9/2012 11:17 pm
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Instant fail y’know why? A flesh and blood person idol has a real aura and lifeforce one can feel. A person idol has possibilities, no matter how slight, like a relationship or even marriage and family that enrich the fan. A flesh and blood idol-person has DNA which can be BOUGHT and sold though probably needing their consent, to make clones of, or have children with fan (though in absentia of the original fan) that are FLESH and BLOOD.
This is a hologram and like the spirit which has 3 souls, a human has 7 more, how can this hologram compare? Aurora Borealis is living and exuded by intereaction between the Sun and Earth, this is but a machine, perhaps without AI, and who knows somehow spiritually ‘blackmarket’? Also a lucky fan with front row seat, could be called up in stage in a flesh and blood star’s case to physically be with the star interact aura-wise, feel sensuality/sexuality of that idol. How can a hologram compare? Even a pet animal has more reality. This show how dangerous hype is and how the ‘cyber’ world can bring spirits and humanity away from true reality. Do not be lulled by the illusion and return to your true bodies all you besotted, propagandized fans . . . with the correct spirit-trapping machines, the adoration of the souls of the fans could even be stolen. Now has the organiser given word or is there a law against soul stealing? The title : The World Is Mine should at least be used in a Gaia entity type character or personae rather than this ‘plugsuit’ AND Japanese character. Would the astral or ether be bemused or offended?
ARTICLE 3
Misogyny in comics – Superheroes need rescuing from sexism – by Ned Beauman – Monday 30 July 2007 14.09 BST guardian.co.uk
I really want to stand up for graphic storytelling, and I’ll be doing so in a series of blog posts starting today. But comics’ representation of women can make this very hard.
Menaced by outdated attitudes … the controversial cover of Marvel Comics’ Heroes for Hire
Sometimes, defending superhero comics’ right to a place in mainstream culture is like defending a sozzled, lecherous uncle’s right to a wedding invitation. I dearly love them, but I’m ashamed of them, too. This year, for instance, three tawdry incidents have left DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the “Big Two”, facing accusations of misogyny from even their most ardent fans.
First and worst was the case of “Mary Jane Watson: slutty housewife”, when Marvel released a statuette of Spiderman’s girlfriend bending over to pull his costume out of a laundry pail, showing off maximum cleavage and thong. Soon after came two issues of monthly comics with irredeemable front covers: Heroes For Hire #13 showed three busty superheroes menaced by an alien insect called the Brood, which many saw as a deliberate reference to the “tentacle rape” genre of Japanese manga comics; Justice League of America #10, meanwhile, showed Power Girl with breasts that were surreally oversized even by comics’ regrettable standards.
Superhero comics have always been plagued with sexism. Back in the 60s, the problem was marginalisation – just as every black superhero had to have “black” in his name, female superheroes were called something like Shrinking Violet or Invisible Girl, and certainly knew their place.
These days, there are lots more strong women in comics. But marginalisation has been replaced by objectification: female characters get stuck with implausible curves, skimpy costumes, and stripper poses. Then there’s Women in Refrigerators syndrome – the way male writers seem happy to make violence against women (often sexual violence) into a cheap plot device.
This year’s scandals have left a lot of fans wondering if real progress will ever be made. But, on the bright side, they’ve helped rally together a network of passionate feminist bloggers and critics who are sick of Marvel and DC behaving like teenage boys. Sites like When Fangirls Attack and Girls Read Comics and They’re Pissed have made the sexism debate impossible to ignore – and although Marvel refused to back down over Mary Jane or Heroes For Hire, the Power Girl backlash led DC to revise that cover, reducing her cup size from Inconceivable to merely Absurd.
Except, actually, that’s not really such a victory, is it? There’s still a very long way to go – and you might feel that, if you want to see female characters treated with any respect by their creators, the male-dominated world of superhero comics is just not for you. But there are exceptions.
Two of Marvel’s most entertaining writers – Buffy creator Joss Whedon and Lost staff writer Brian K Vaughn – have casts full of believable women. (Try Whedon’s Astonishing X Men Volume 1: Gifted or Vaughn’s Runaways Volume 1: Pride and Joy.) But perhaps the greatest female superhero of recent years is Brian Michael Bendis’s Jessica Jones. Formerly a flying crime-fighter called Jewel, Jones hangs up her cape to become a private investigator. For more than 40 issues – now collected in a series of paperbacks starting with Alias Volume 1 – Bendis took us inside her head, creating one of the bravest, wittiest and most sensitive portraits of a female character that superhero comics have ever seen.
Plus, she had a realistic body and didn’t try to battle evil in a gold bikini and stiletto heels. But even that wasn’t what really shocked fans. Jessica Jones had a particular superpower that was so alien, so incomprehensible, so disturbing, that barely a single male comics writer had ever dared to depict it before. Wonder Woman or Storm may save the world twice a day, but they’d never admit this terrifying secret. That’s right: Jessica Jones actually had a menstrual cycle.
The best new graphic novel: The Poor Bastard. Out in a couple of weeks from Jonathan Cape, Joe Matt’s graphic novel is more autoflagellation than autobiography: laying bare the neurotic author’s idleness, pornography addiction, and brainless pursuit of every “exotic” woman he meets, it’s an uncomfortable, hilarious read. Maybe sexism in comics isn’t all bad.
A (less than) intrepid Guardian blogger, helping you keep abreast of the Misituation in comic bookland.
This year, for instance, three tawdry incidents have left DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the “Big Two”, facing accusations of misogyny from even their most ardent fans.
First and worst was the case of “Mary Jane Watson: slutty housewife”, when Marvel released a statuette of Spiderman’s girlfriend bending over to pull his costume out of a laundry pail, showing off maximum cleavage and thong. Soon after came two issues of monthly comics with irredeemable front covers: Heroes For Hire #13 showed three busty superheroes menaced by an alien insect called the Brood, which many saw as a deliberate reference to the “tentacle rape” genre of Japanese manga comics; Justice League of America #10, meanwhile, showed Power Girl with breasts that were surreally oversized even by comics’ regrettable standards.
This is a real problem here. How are our young Hollywood starlets and porn stars supposed to feel when they realize their legs are never going to comprise 66% of their body, their eyes will never cover three eightths of their face, and with a waist that small there’s actually no place to store your vital organs? If comic books make life shit for our starlets and porn women, just think of how shitty your daughters, mothers, and sisters will feel when they realize a lower back tattoo just ain’t enough for either a pimply-faced teen or the stock broker he’ll become. But seriously. Ew. She looks…. pathological.
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Nop. No sexism at all. Actually this means that sexy is not the sole preserve of porn or sex workers and that on main street, though not all offices where actual work is done, sexy is making a comeback in gentrified form.
Whats so misogynistic, especially when no-touching rules apply? This is a comic! Strippers while entirely naked shouldn’t be a turn on even, being more a a background of sorts for the tired subconscious. Lapdancing with actual contact, especially the naked form (the clothed form also but depending on the need of the use, some enjoy the tactile sensation, while others are there for actual orgasmic titillation) yes. But even then misogyny should also be given appropriate space for expression. Tentacle rape as a concept (maybe they will have a likely ‘SPCA condemnable’ tank filled with Octopi and squid – the Japs were way ahead of us here – ) by the way is more like multiple massage, much like maturbation is also massage, save for the climax. Comics ALONE are hardly misigynistic and is having fun and places were this sort of thing is pathological, the writer of the above article has yet to make that difference it seems. Which Ayatollah or Taliban village or Militant Feminist was the writer brought up with anyway? Ew? You need to pump up abit with the real men.
Pity Randy Savage is already ‘dead’ (or retired in the guise of a death perhaps? lets exhume . . . bwahaha) . . . though we hope that an ‘Idiocracyland’ Theme park franchise will reach the place where ‘George’ lives (many other places where ‘Georges” live as well) so he learns to appreciate a ‘Gentleman’s Latte’ and identifies the meme of manliness within the ‘Dildo Monster Truck’ that Randy Savage . . . I mean ‘Beef Supreme’ near died in. Some of us don’t grow as much chest hair or facial hair as George, heck some even are confident enough to purposely grow b1tch t1t5 while manning it up in all other ways without losing their money makers (if there is no sabotage otherwise – see below pic), or are so GAY inclined yet ‘Spartacus’ hard and manly – but here’s a flaming domesticated/henpecked metrosexual writing ‘soft’ and whining about how misogynstic comics are, or to put it in Rush Limbaugh’s terms being ‘b1tch3s and tw@t5’. You keep at it Limbaugh! Can’t please everyone. And Rush made clear which demographic Rush’s programme is for, no need to apologise, tell them to shut up, and this article is to teach people that comic books are for kids, not for whining about how misogynstic the characters are to ingratiate oneself with the uningratiable militant feminists. It’s just not them and some people need to get new friends.
Manning up with tits. Still hetero Brian? Takes a man to do this and remain a man . . .
ARTICLE 4
Bill Maher (left pic) Defends Rush Limbaugh’s (right pic) “Apology” – Mar 7, 2012 04:35 PM by Jess Dweck
Rush Limbaugh and comedian Bill Maher are pretty far apart on the political spectrum. So, it was surprising to see Maher come to the defense of the right-wing radio demagogue for his offensive remarks about birth-control advocate Sandra Fluke.
Maher tweeted yesterday… ‘Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout.’
Listen, I like Bill Maher. He’s a great political satirist. But it’s hard not to cringe when when he drops a c-bomb or calls female politicians like Sarah Palin a “dumb twat” and a “bimbo.” (Although, to be fair, Palin is totally a bimbo.)
Is this some kind of liberal double standard? Not at all. I’d rather have someone call me a bitch than treat me like one. And I’d much rather have someone call me a slut than deny me affordable health care.
Let’s take the misogyny out of political commentary and keep it where it belongs — almost everywhere else in politics.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
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Titch. In ‘Misogynic Language’ the term bimbo and dumb tw@t is ONLY given to likeable and F-able women. Don’t apologise and be a faux-b1tch to the actual b1tche5 or a faux-tw@t to the actual tw@ts. Bill, Rush and the rest of the machomen have chosen their preferred demographic, so like any Porn or Adult Channel, will the children and non-bimbos stop watching, then crying and whining later about misogyny and just go away? This apology is WEAK, this defense ios unnecessary. Limbaugh, take that apology back and just drop those who can’t identify with OUR demographic. To each their own. Though do put up that ‘Real Men and Manly Lesbians – Misogynists Only’ warning at the front of your programme, everyone else can go play with Jane the Plain, no offense to Jane Does, or any non-bimbos.
ARTICLE 5
Limbaugh wrong in apologizing to Sandra Fluke – Tuesday, March 6, 2012
I’m not going to get into Limbaugh’s brain, because he explained his reasons for apologizing very well today. He basically said that a conservatives must not be dragged down to the level of the left. You know, that old idea that we should fight nice while our enemies fight dirty.
Well, as a right-leaning libertarian, I disagree. The left loves fighting dirty, Bill Maher can call Sarah Palin the c-word and get away with it. Rush Limbaugh himself has been called all kinds of nasty things. Michelle Malkin has been called a gook and a chink, Ann Coulter has been called nasty names, as Chattanooga’s commie cartoonist Clay Bennett has drawn black conservative Herman Cain as a confederate general and as a clown.
So to my friends on the right, why are you being nice? If a woman spends $3,000 a year on birth control and demands a Catholic university to pay for it, she is a slut. If Fluke had kept her sexual life private, nobody would be calling her any names. I mean, folks, if you go to a Jewish neighborhood wearing a swastika, you’re not going to get a warm welcome.
I’m ok with Fluke having sex, in fact, I’m a bit of a libertine when it comes to sex. but here’s the problem:
Liberals in the 1970s: “If it feels good, do it.”
Progressives in 2012: “If it feels good, pay for me to do it.”
Well I’m sorry liberals/progressives, but I don’t want to pay for your lifestyle. I don’t pay for the sado-masochists who buys a $300 chain vest, I don’t pay for the guy who visits the Bunny Ranch, I don’t finance nudist colonies, and I don’t even pay for the porn I sometimes watch online. See? That’s how society should work, you pay or enjoy the free preview of what you like, you don’t pay for what you don’t like.
Yet now millions of women like Fluke want to screw the entire country. How would progressives feel if they had to pay for my bullets, my guns, my concealed carry permit, and all the things I do as a gun owner? How would women feel if the lap dances I sometimes get where paid by them?
The libertarian solution of course is to fight for Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Association. Georgetown also needs to clean house and get rid of those stupid liberal professors defending Fluke. You’re CATHOLIC for God’s sake! I doubt your university has a Pro-Choice Club or a Secular Humanist Club, or anything that doesn’t fit in with Catholic Values.
So why are you defending Sandra Fluke? If that floozy had gone to Brigham Young University, she would have been expelled months ago! People like Fluke belong in Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, University of Michigan, and the usual places where conservatives are discriminated against while liberals are empowered.
Come on, Georgetown, you can do better than a freak like Fluke! Have pride in your FAITH! Georgetown is a great institution BECAUSE of the Catholic tradition. If you start tolerating Catholic enemies like Fluke, you’ll be destroyed from within.
This already happened at Brandeis University (Jewish) which has allowed an invasion by Muslims and self-hating Jews who have attacked Zionism. So beware, Georgetown, you are not invisible.
Posted by Gregory Smith at 2:50 AM
http://libertarians4freedom.blogspot.com/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-wrong-in-apologizing-to.html
CLIP 1
Santor . . . I mean Nicholas Cage . . . I mean Nicholas Cage playing Castor Troy . . . just watch the clip lol. Gosh that looks like Reese . . .
malaysiandemocracy 