Why Italy's Earthquake Was Weird

Discovery News.  Found it on Goro Adachi.  Kind of goes against conventional scientific expectations.  Seismically surprising to scientists.  Huh.  Excerpts:

A strong and unusually shallow earthquake struck northern Italy over the weekend, fracturing pavement, sending torrents of brick and rubble raining down from buildings, and killing seven people. The powerful shaking was a first for the region in centuries — and fairly surprising to seismologists.

Data indicate the magnitude 6.0 quake, which struck just after 4 a.m. local time on Sunday (May 20), just north of Bologna, was a thrust quake — the type of earthquake caused when two tectonic plates smash together — yet it occurred at a depth of just 3 miles (5 kilometers).

"It is kind of surprising that it's that shallow, because it's pretty far from the plate boundary," said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "Normally we expect things to get deeper as they move northward," he told OurAmazingPlanet.


The quake hit about 470 miles (750 km) north of the plate boundary — the place where the two colliding plates meet — which runs along the sole of Italy's "boot."
It is here that the African plate is plowing slowly northward, crashing into the Eurasian plate.

Caruso explained that the shallower a quake, the more damage it can cause. "If a quake is 500 kilometers deep, and you're right on top of it, you're going to feel it a lot less strongly than if it's 5 kilometers deep," he said. "As the seismic energy moves through the ground some of it is dissipated."

The strong quake rocked an area with a long history of earthquakes, yet one that has kept relatively quiet for hundreds of years.

"There has not been a whole lot of action in that area," Caruso said. "The fact that they do have records of earthquakes going back a couple thousand years shows this area hasn't been seismically active for a long time," he said. (Notice what they didn't say?  How long has it been?  Has this specific area within a seismically active region ever seen an earthquake?)
..
The most powerful quake to hit Italy in decades occurred in 2009, in central Italy, near Rome. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the medieval city of L'Aquila, killing close to 300 people and causing widespread damage.


After that earthquake, Italian officials put several Italian scientists on trial for manslaughter for not providing better warnings ahead of the deadly shaking, a move that has caused an outcry in the international scientific community(This is bullshit.  Seismology is not an accurate enough science for a legal response like this to be credible.  How can its accuracy be on trial when we don't have even close to all fault lines mapped?).

The two Italian quakes were caused by different geological mechanisms. The L'Aquila earthquake was caused when massive rock faces jerked away from one another, where as the recent earthquake was caused by their collision.

Several aftershocks have rocked the affected region, and it's not clear if this recent earthquake is a harbinger of things to come.

A lot of anomalous activity surrounding this event..  I wonder what caused it?

Meet Flame, Son Of Stuxnet

Surprise!  "Hackers" up the ante!  Not really surprising, is it?  They're not really "hackers," either..  IT World.  Whole Thing, plus some comments:

Remember Stuxnet, the malware targeted at the Iranian nuclear industry? Say hello to Flame (Win32.Flame), a 20MB piece of modern cyberwar weaponry.



Detailed by Kaspersky Lab Expert Aleks in a Questions and Answers entry on SecureList, Flame is 20 times larger than Stuxnet and has been floating around the Middle East for two years or more. It is "a backdoor, a Trojan, and it has worm-like features," according to Kaspersky, and reports to about 80 command-and-control domains. Various Flame modules can be initialized on infected systems to change the information gathered.


Flame is able to infect a fully patched Windows 7 system, indicating it leverages a zero-day exploit not yet known to security researchers. The complexity and size of Flame indicates the likely developer was a "government-sponsored entity" according to the Wall Street Journal. Other names for Flame are Flamer, Wiper, Viper, and sKyWIper. It may be the "most complex malware ever found," according to a CrySyS Lab report.


Short sighted comment:

This is an advanced mechanism employed by a state agency. The article isn't overt, but the implication is clearly that this device is of US origin and purpose. Personally, I'm happy to see the US engaging in this sort of behavior. National Defense with low cost and no lives lost!



Andrew Middleton on wired.com

How ya gonna feel there, Andy, when Flame takes out the control systems of that nuclear plant you live downwind from?  How many lives will be lost if, during the middle of summer, entire power grids across the country are taken out, for weeks, even months?  Any cyber weapon we use can ultimately be used against us.  When you design software for cyber attack, that code can be captured, re-created and sent back at us with variants we might not be expecting.

These technologies are Digital Djinn:  They are magnificent powers, and should be treated with utmost respect.  Already though, it's too late.  They're already out in the cyberscape, ready to destroy, waiting to fulfill their programmed purpose, waiting until such time when the order does come.

Technologically Modern Society stands on a precipice much, much shakier than Technologically Modern Society could ever admit.  Most of the world will be oblivious to full on cyber warfare, though:  When it happens, no one will have power, so no one will fully know what's happening..  Besides, they'll probably be more focused on more immediate needs, like life during extended blackout chaos.  But trust me, there will some Episodes of Spectacular-ity during that conflict, that is for sure..

Man hospitalized after throwing own intestines at police

Super crazy doesn't bluff.  Coincidence; or The Walking Dead?  The Question remains:  What's causing this particular version of ultra-violent lunacy?  The Raw Story.  The Whole Story:

Police on Sunday responded to call from someone saying 43-year-old Wayne Carter was threatening to hurt himself with a 12-inch knife.


When police arrived at the residence, the man yelled at the officers and stabbed himself. As police entered, he threw pieces of his own body at them and threatened them with his knife.

When pepper-spray had no effect on Carter, police retreated and called the SWAT team, who subdued him with beanbag projectiles. (There's that adrenalized, super human strength again, resistant to police efforts to subdue him.)


“The scene was a bloody mess,” a police official told Cliffview Pilot. “The SWAT team members had to be decontaminated due to the amount of blood.”

Carter reportedly damaged a major stomach artery and had more than 50 stab wounds.

Police are awaiting the results of a blood test to determine if Carter had ingested any psychoactive substances.

Further confirmation that everyone is losing their damn minds.  Bath salts?  Lame.  All of the sudden people are skipping over "violently crazy," to "blood-drenched crazy," from bath salts?  Naw.. 

Yes, at the moment, these incidents are anecdotal.  If more incidents occur, and a trend develops, the question remains:  What is it that is not only flipping these people's switches, but completely overloading their systems?  Even by 2012's insane-society-standards, these two events (Miami Cannibal Zombie included) are shocking for the singular, vicious delirium exhibited by both attackers.

Bad-Case scenario:  This is just a symptom of  Modern Society.  People make chemicals (by accident or for profit) that shouldn't be ingested, but people ingest them anyway.  These events are coincidental, but could foreshadow future events on a much larger scale.  Psychoactive drug users as "Berserkers," stoking fear, wreaking havoc, always unexpected.  Always.  Dis-topian, much?

Badder-Case scenario:  This seems to be a distinct new level of violent behavior.  A definite step downward towards chaos.  We are just now in the early moments of this new behavioral stage.  Each new manifestation will be more shocking than the last.

Worst-Case scenario:  Zombies have been created, and they thrive under intense radioactive contamination.  Fukushima makes them stronger. 

Best-Case scenario:  Reality IS a computer simulation!  Hooray!

Yeah; I'm only half-kidding about this one.. 

What I'm not kidding about:  The feeling of intensifying dread.  It's going to be a long, hot summer, here in Universe B.  Turbulence approaches..

Northern Italy struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake

The Telegraph.  Found it on Lunatic Outpost.  Excerpts:

Northern Italy has been struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake, just 10 days after a 6.0 magnitude quake killed seven people and destroyed dozens of castles, churches and other buildings in the same region.




The quake was felt throughout northern and central Italy, including Milan and Florence.


It struck about 25 miles north of Bologna in the Emilia Romagna region, at a depth of six miles.


It is not yet clear if there have been any injuries, but there are reports that buildings have been damaged in towns which were already reeling from the earthquake of May 20.


The epicentre of Tuesday's earthquake was the town of Medolla, near the city of Modena.

Buildings collapsed in Finale Emilia and San Felice sul Panaro, two of the towns which were badly hit by the first quake.

Japan's radiation found in California bluefin tuna

I'm sure everything will be all right.  Are we still on for sushi?  San Francisco Gate, via The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

For the first time, scientists have detected radioactivity in fish that have migrated into California waters from the ocean off Japan, where radiation contaminated the sea after explosions tore through the Fukushima nuclear reactors last year.


Radioactive cesium was detected in samples of highly prized Pacific bluefin tuna, but it is well below levels considered unsafe for humans, the scientists say.


The evidence is "unequivocal" that the tuna - caught off San Diego a year ago - were contaminated with radiation from Japan's nuclear disaster, the researchers said.


Virtually all bluefin tuna on the market in the United States is either farmed or caught far from the Fukushima area, so American consumers should not be affected by radiation contamination in their fish, seafood distributors say. The migratory bluefin studied by the researchers were all caught by sport fishermen and were not headed for the market.
And:
The finding was wholly unexpected, Madigan said. It came about when he was researching the migratory patterns of bluefin tuna as part of a broader study of Pacific fish migration.


Madigan had collected samples of muscle tissue from 15 2-year-old tuna given to him by San Diego fishermen in August, and when tests detected radioactivity in one sample he sent all 15 samples to Fisher in Long Island, he said.


The young tuna, averaging about 13 pounds apiece, were found to be contaminated with two radioactive forms of the element cesium. Isotopes called cesium-134 and cesium-137 do not exist in nature but are produced only in nuclear explosions such as the weapons tests of the Cold War era.


Before the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, low levels of the radioactive cesium-137 , which decays to harmlessness only over thousands of years, had been measured in Japanese waters, while the shorter-lived cesium-134 was undetectable, the scientists said. That difference, they said, was crucial in concluding that the radioactive contamination was linked to the Fukushima disaster.

Increased concentrations of radioactivity contaminated nearly 60,000 square miles of the ocean off Japan after workers at Fukushima pumped thousands of tons of seawater over reactors last year to prevent a complete meltdown of the reactor cores.

As with previous estimates about everything regarding Fukushima, the 60 thousand square mile contamination zone is most likely a vast under-estimation, and that estimate will be revised upward.

Police: Miami cannibal was overdosing on new, super-potent LSD

Holy, holy shit.  Raw Story.  Entire article, but the last sentence and video(Go to the link if you want the video.  I won't watch it.):

Disturbing new details have emerged about an incident in Miami, Florida in which police shot and killed a man who was tearing off and eating another man’s face. According to Miami’s WSVN, the victim, who is believed to be homeless, lost 75 percent of his face in the attack and is in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police claim that the dead man was overdosing on a new, powerful form of Lysergic Acid Diethlymide, the hallucinogen commonly known as LSD.



Eyewitness Larry Vega was bicycling on the MacArthur parkway on Saturday afternoon when he saw the two naked men locked in a grisly struggle. The scene, he said, was like something from a horror movie.

“And the guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, ‘Get off!’” Vega said, “You know it’s like the guy just kept eating the other guy away like ripping his skin.”

Vega flagged down a police officer, who ordered the attacker to let his victim go. The attacker ignored him, but when the officer jumped the concrete divider and shouted, Vega said, “the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled.”


The officer opened fire, striking the suspect, who barely paused as he continued to rip away the homeless man’s face. The officer fired several more times until the attacker was dead.

More police swarmed the scene and the victim was caught on Miami Herald surveillance cameras as he struggled to sit up. His face, said Vega, “was just a blob of blood. You couldn’t really see, it was just blood all over the place.”

Police spokesman Armando Aguillar told reporters that the suspect may have been overdosing on a new, super-potent form of LSD. ”What’s happening is whenever we see that a person has taken all of his clothes off and has become violent, it’s indicative of this excited delirium that’s caused by overdose of drugs,” he said, “What’s happening is inside their body their organs are burning up alive.”

Neither man’s identity has been released to the public.

That's a real bad societal omen, don't you think?  Awesome. At best, this is "Killer LSD Side Effects Include Severe, Violent Zombie-ism, Flesh Eating, Hyper-Strength, And Bullet-Tolerance."  At its worst, this is "Zombie Attacks Man; Eats Face.  Cause Of Event; Unknown."  Has Science finally created a new type of drug, similar to whatever it mimics, but much, much stronger and horrifying?  Is there really a need for hyper-violent hallucinogens?  Could we not work on technology that helps humanity, not fills it with The Hallucinating Undead?

Instead, we get Zombie LSD.  Or Zombies.  Par for the course in "Universe B." 

Also:  I'm not totally convinced this isn't a zombie, or something similar to that archetype..  The small, but high-profile  flesh eating bacteria outbreaks around the world are..  Disturbing, and terribly coincedental.  And yes, this is 2012, so, well, whatever happens; Happens..

Stories like this make me really doubt our chances for survival.

Germany Walks Away From Greece

This is going to be a nasty break up.  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

Preparing for Greece’s exit from the Eurozone has been picking up momentum and has reached critical mass—on the way to a fait accompli. Still unspeakable in public discussion last year, it has become a routine topic at all levels of government. While everyone at the very top still hues to the line that Greece should stay in the Eurozone, out of the other side of the mouth comes the but—especially since the focus is on Spain, the real problem, the one problem that the Eurozone will have trouble digesting.


Even if it could digest bailing out Spain or losing Spain, the next step up, Italy, due to its size, is beyond bailout and would cause the Eurozone to fracture into its component pieces—unless the ECB decides against all treaty limitations and stiff German opposition to monetize directly and without qualms any sovereign debt that needs to be monetized. And even that would tear up the Eurozone because Germany and a handful of other countries would refuse to be tied to that kind of loosey-goosey management of their currency.

There are political realities in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel, slipping in the polls, is trying to decipher the scribbles on the wall. Her people, who vacation in Greece more than any other people, have handed her some clues: 60% said they wanted Greece out of the Eurozone, a jump from November when an already shocking 49% had wanted them out, according to a ZDF Politbarometer poll released Friday. Only 31% wanted Greece to remain in the Eurozone, down from 41% in November, with 9% not giving a hoot.
And:
But the next big battle may actually revolve around keeping Germany in the Eurozone: 50% of the respondents saw more disadvantages than advantages, up from 43% in February; only 45% saw more advantages, down from 51% in February. The more costs and risks rise for Germany, the more this number is going to skew away from the euro. A scary trend for Eurozone bailout freaks. And suddenly Germans woke up to the headline, "Greeks Pay less Taxes"—taxes being a sore subject for Germans who pay out of their noses to get their welfare-state budget into balance. For a debacle without equal, read.... The Confiscation Conundrum in Europe.



"The notoriously tax-sinning Greeks paid their government even less than before," the article began unnervingly. Turns out, Reuters had gotten two anonymous “senior” finance ministry officials to talk: Greeks were refusing to pay their taxes in euros in anticipation that they could soon pay them in drachmas, albeit with minor penalties. And lacking a government, they wanted to wait for the outcome of the next election on June 17, which hopefully would produce a government, any government. And so tax revenues in May were on track to drop 10%. Outside of Athens and Thessaloniki, tax revenues would fall between 15% and 30%. First capital flight then quiet bank runs, and now a refusal to pay taxes to a government they don’t have, in a currency they might not have much longer.... The Greeks are preparing for a reversion to the drachma, and they're trying, very understandably, and very smartly, to protect whatever they can—which, of course, simply speeds up the process of reverting to the drachma.

Forced to answer, I'd say that by July 1st, Greece's Eurozone exit will be the foregone conclusion.  Momentum in Greece's June 17th election is swinging towards anti-austerity Syriza, and they won't hesitate to drop the hammer on all prior agreements. Bank runs have already begun, and will most likely intensify.  Greece's collapse will also effect non-E.U. countries like Romania and Bulgaria.  Greece's exit also hastens Spain and Italy's demise.  Further chaos in Greece really could get this whole party started.  Yeah.  By July 1st, things should be coming to a boil. 

Buy canned goods and water!

Chinese TV promoting the 2012 UEFA cup, flagging the destruction of London!

File Under:  Oddly Specific, Animated Promotional Doom.  Subcategory:  Weird as HELL!  Or maybe, a Vision of Hell..  The accompanying video has been removed(Before I got to see it, by the way..), but the stills provide some creepy context.  Disturbing.  Check it.  The Truth Behind The Scenes.  Excerpts:

Chinese TV promoting the 2012 UEFA cup and flagging a nightmarish scenario of warfare and bloodshed in Europe.



The upcoming UEFA 2012 soccer championship is being promoted in China in a very peculiar manner: bombers are carpet-bombing major European capitals, like London (UK), Paris (France) and Rome (Italy), tanks and rocket launchers releasing their deadly shells and soldiers are shooting the sportsmen.

But the most disturbing subliminal message is the clash between a human team, represented by a Lion, and a non-human team, represented by a Serpent.

I think the tendency would be to dismiss this as some marketing campaign gone wrong, a mis-fire of a commercial.  This Championship is a major event, and much thought from many, many people goes into every moment of each commercial message.  But, what are the Chinese trying to say? 

Isn't this just like any American, over-the-top, nu-advertising type, sensory overload assaults-called-commercials we see all the time?  Or maybe this is just the Chinese version of extreme advertising?  These images of war and alien combat  not out of bounds within Chinese advertising sensibility.  Just the way they don't understand the rhythm, the style, or the types of images used to sell us on things:  Our sensibility.

Or might there be more significance to these chosen images, the order in which they are presented, and what they imply?  I don't know about you, but I'm totally rooting for the human team!

If I can find this video, I'll update this post.

New Post From Goro Adachi

It's been a great week for unusual predictive analysis.  Monday saw the release of the Webbots, and yesterday, Goro Adachi released Transit Ritual 2012, his first major post since September 27th of last year.  His predictive style defies a conventional definition, and is an always interesting read.  Excerpts: 

All through life and history we've been sailing aimlessly through the river of time, and time is a condition that separates the present from the past and future. Limited awareness. We are here and we don't know why. Sometimes we think we can almost feel the secrets, the truth, hidden away in the "Hall of Records" be it in our DNA, Egypt, Mars... but always just out of our grasp. To "time travel" is to access the hidden side of reality, history, or destiny to find out who we really are. We aren't there yet, but from a multicontextual "big picture" perspective, escaping Earth's gravity represents or reflects a major first step. Multicontextually speaking, the closer we get to Mars and the more we learn about its history (including life), the closer we get to the edge of time, to hyperspace.


The Mayan calendar paranoia and discussions make the year 2012 an ideal temporal framework in which to microcosmically simulate or foreshadow the process of the Apocalypse, the lifting of the veil... the proverbial "ah ha!" moment... which is just around the corner. The 21st century is the designated end of the road where we have to "jump" out of time and become Prometheus ourselves.

It's long and involved, and if you're new to his writing, you should read prior posts for context.  Goro Adachi uses a certain set of archetypes, and what at first seems almost dizzying becomes clearer with each inter-related article.  And while disasters do play a role in his analysis, Goro Adachi's version of the future is overall, very positive.  We are making evolutionary leaps towards Apocalypse in its most hopeful definition:  The lifting of the veil.  Global Consciousness is being coaxed awake, and when that happens; it will be wonderful. 

In the meantime, Goro Adachi does his best to point us in the right direction, towards our eventual home.  His is a vision of hope, almost a lone candle, the sole illumination against the ever accelerating darkness.. 

Planet Next To Sun Deflects Solar Eruption: Again Dismissed As Lens Flare..

Seriously:  What's going on here?  Found it on Godlike Productions.  From You Tube.

Could this..  Sphere..  Initiate more solar activity just by its proximity?  Can it indeed "park?"  It's going to be an interesting summer!  Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

In "Universe A," Neneh Cherry Is A Superstar..

Since this is "Universe B," she is not.  I'm still baffled as to why.  Samples, including one of the 90's most amazing non-hits, "Move With Me."

For A Time, This Was The Front Runner.

Remember when everyone thought Newt Gingrich's Presidential campaign was really a marketing stunt?  Well..  Poor little fella, God love 'im, he tries.  Newt Gingrich’s private ventures going bankrupt  The Raw Story.  The Whole Article(Red-my emphasis):

There were many during former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA)’s ill-starred run for the presidential nomination who speculated that the candidate was never serious about running, but was rather using the platform to sell books and make money. If that was actually the case, then that plan was as spectacularly unsuccessful as his presidential run, because, according to Reuters, the Georgia politician’s private ventures are rapidly going bankrupt.


Bankruptcy hearings in Atlanta on May 9 showed that not only is the erstwhile candidate in personal debt to the tune of $4.8 million, the health care consulting company he part-owned is now mired in debt to a private plane company, its landlord and other creditors. His political nonprofit group American Solutions for Winning the Future went bankrupt in July, 2011, mired in debt and unable to attract clients.

In what Reuters called a “remarkable reversal of fortune of the half-dozen organizations associated with Gingrich,” the decline began shortly after the former Speaker announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination. As far back as 2010, Center for Health Transformation head Nancy Desmond said, corporate clients, some of whom paid as much as $200,000 per year in dues to belong to the organization, began to pull away for fear of being perceived as political.

“There were a lot of stories that began to appear in the paper,” she said, “and (members) didn’t necessarily want to be mentioned in a political story because they weren’t political people. They were business people.”

Last year, Politico noted that as of March, Gingrich had yet to disengage himself from the snarl of interwoven money-making schemes in which he was involved. “Untangling the web of business and political groups Gingrich is involved in has proven complicated,” wrote Politico‘s Alexander Burns, “and he’s not in a position just yet to take a more formal step toward running.”

Part of that process involved having his three partners at the health consulting firm buy him out of his share of the company for $6.4 million. Gingrich was able to convince Desmond, longtime political adviser Joe Gaylord and retired professor and longtime friend Steve Hanser that in spite of the fact that clients were leaving and revenues plunging, the firm would somehow recoup and become financially solvent again.

Such was not the case. In spite of pulling in some $59 million since it opened in 2003, by March of this year the company was no longer able to pay the rent on its Atlanta facility and was forced to close its doors.

“In April it declared bankruptcy, leaving almost $600,000 in debts to outside vendors,” Reuters reports, “The company also owes the $6.4 million to Gingrich and his wife, Callista, neither of whom could be reached for comment.”

Among its debts, the center owes $84,000 to creditor McKenna Long, $31,000 to private airline Moby Dick Airways, Ltd. (Gingrich personally owes Moby Dick $6.5 million), $894 to the state of Missouri in income taxes, $283,000 to boutique political lender Chain Bridge Bank and nearly $55,000 to Atlanta luxury hotels the St. Regis and the Ritz Carlton.

The May 9 hearing was the first step in a reorganization and repayment process to determine which creditors will be repaid and how much. The Center for Health Transformation’s combined assets, including office supplies and thousands of unsold books and films, come to an estimated $78,000.

Newt Gingrich is a spectacular Fiscal-Conservative.  Spectacular.

New Webbot Forecast Is Out Tonight..

You can get it here..   Always worth the ten dollars to download; Always a compelling, disturbing read. 

To consider when reading:  Urban Survival.  Excerpts:

And remember this (‘cuz it’s important:) The future drifts every time it is closely inspected because that’s the paradox of the Observer’s role.


Just as light is a wave – sometimes – it is a particle – other times. Same with the future: It expresses itself differently each time it’s inspected, and the best that can be hoped for is some sense of “most probable landings” and even then, anything above chance is good.


So when the report comes along, I’ll simply read it – slowly (the process can take most of a day) because you’ll want to wipe all preconceptions and prejudices from your mind (toss out belief systems, too, if you can) and then just let the paragraphs paint a series of pictures while being with your centered self. Then, even if the specific of a particular image is off, at least the down-deep archetype response may be there and strong enough to cause you to plan this way or that.

Even without the Bot run due shortly, a thinking person can get a pretty good handle on the future by simply following the news headlines and, when you think about it, that’s the main reason for news – to tell us things that may impact our lives now and off into the future.

I'm off to read.  Good future!  Good future!  No whammies!

Gigantic Planet Next To Sun Dismissed As Lens Flare..

Huge Object Next to Sun Today From China.  Video from You Tube. Oh, ultra-violet filters, is there anything you can't screen and/or see?

Second Sun?  Dark Twin?  Nibiru?  Planet X, Tyche? Mothership?

If this is real, it explains the actions and reactions of the Japanese government and TEPCO and other governments worldwide.  Nuclear Extinction Event?  Get in Line!  Global financial collapse?  Snore!  Deepwater Horizon?  Who cares? 

It comes, and it's almost here.

This video also comes just in time to cross promote the new Steve Carrell movie, "Seeking a Friend For The End Of The World," which is nice..  I always enjoyed Mr. Carrell's work on "The Daily Show," but not so much on "The Office."  Mr. Carrell, for your sake, I hope the coming Apocalypse is hilarious; My eternal impression of you depends on it.

Uh-Oh: Former Japanese Industry Minister Admits Fukushima's Beyond Bad

All quotes from Banri Kaieda, Japan's Industry Minister during and after the Fukushima event.  Presented here these two stories from ENews regarding his recent testimony. Japan’s Ex-Industry Minister: Neutron radiation is degenerating reactors — Admits he was playing a role when saying nuclear plants were safe, and Former Top Official at Hearing: Told that all 6 Fukushima reactors would ‘explode’ if workers left plant — Entire eastern Japan might be lost.  Chilling.

[...]

In June, [Banri Kaieda, the industry minister during the early stages of the Fukushima nuclear accident,] declared that nuclear power plants were safe and said he would approve the restarts of nuclear power plants, with the exception of the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture.


But [yesterday May 17, 2012] he told the Diet investigation panel that he did not believe all plants were problem-free, partly because reactors degenerate due to neutron radiation.


Still, he defended his decision to allow operations to resume at nuclear plants, saying he had a “role to play as industry minister.”
[...]
Kaieda said on May 17 that [Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa] Shimizu told him on the phone that TEPCO would evacuate from the Fukushima No. 1 plant to the Fukushima No. 2 plant. [...]
Kaieda asked industry ministry officials what would happen if all TEPCO employees deserted the plant. Kaieda said he was told: “It would be disastrous because not only the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors but also the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors would explode.”


Kaieda then discussed the issue with other Cabinet ministers who were at the prime minister’s office. He said they reached the conclusion: “A (total) withdrawal would lead to a disaster, in which the entire eastern Japan might be lost. We have to ask workers at the plant to hang in there although we feel sorry for them.”
[...]
There.  He admitted he lied, and said TEPCO feels sorry for the workers.  Don't you feel better now?

Woman Drives Into Moose, Has Jodie Foster Type Moment

I found this on Urban Survival, and agree with George Ure on this one:  This feels very "alternate reality."   What moose? Woman can't recall dramatic collision.  She can't remember accident or the drive to Gander, says badly injured mother.  CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador.  Excerpts:

A central Newfoundland woman, who drove about 40 kilometres with her windshield smashed out and her car's roof peeled back like an opened can, says she didn't know she'd hit a moose until she arrived at work in Gander on Monday.



"I can remember pulling into the driveway and my co-workers came out and asked me if I was okay and I said 'Why?' and they said 'Well Michelle you're bleeding and look at your car. I looked at my car and I was devastated," Michelle Higgins told CBC Friday.


"The roof was like a sardine can. I thought, 'this is impossible'."


Cindy Paulson is one of the co-workers who saw Higgins when she arrived at work.


"I said 'My god Michelle. What happened?' And she looked at me and said 'Nothing, what are you talking about?' I said, 'Michelle you were in an accident.' She said 'No, I was not in an accident.' "

Paulson was able to convince Higgins that she needed some medical attention.


"When we went to the hospital, the doctor was asking her questions, just questioning her memory. Like what's your name, your date of birth, where do you live? She knew everything like that. The accident was the only thing gone. Lost," she said. "Whoo. I tell you, I don't know. It's a miracle."


Higgins, of Norris Arm, said she received head and neck injuries during the collision. Her face is badly bruised and two bones in her neck were fractured. Higgins said her family is still finding bits of glass from her windshield around their home.


"I know my head did take a good impact and my forehead has a scuff mark that we are thinking may have been caused by the moose's hoof," she said.


But on Friday Higgins said she still doesn't remember hitting the massive animal after visiting the site where the dead moose was found.
..
"I don't really want to remember hitting the moose but from the time I hit it to the time I arrived in at my destination, I had to drive through Glenwood, and I had to go through Gander, pass the hospital and then make two lefts and a right. The girls said I arrived at work on time. So how did I get there?"



Higgins is appealing to anyone who saw her driving her badly damaged car on the Trans-Canada Highway to get in touch with her.


"Nobody reported seeing this lunatic on the road driving like this. I would like to have that part of my memory back," she said. "I'd like to know if I was driving safely."

The missing memory of Just the incident is a bit too specific to be a brain related reaction.  The article implies no other observed on-going memory issues not event-related.  She seems unaffected, save no recall of the events surrounding the crash.  Is there financial or criminal motive for her to lie?  No mention of alcohol or other substance involvement..  Shock is a strange phenomenon, but I don't think that's quite what this is.  

I'd really like ongoing updates on Michelle Higgins's condition.  If she remains stable physiologically but still can't remember, the memory might not ever return.  If you believe in the Multi-verse, maybe she had some trans-dimensional experience, overloading cognition.  In this case, also, her memory might not ever return.

Question:  How does one prepare for the possibility of objects materializing directly in front of you and your car's path?

Answer:  You can't!

2012!

EXCLUSIVE: Donna Summer Denied Making Antigay Remarks That Hurt Her Career

Me?  Yes, I remember the furor over her remarks, the mainstream media coverage, and the career backlash.  Yes, I do think she said what was attributed to her (In the Advocate interview at the link, she flatly denies that charge).  It really bothered me then(And still bothers some people today-check out the comments), but I'm sure her opinions did evolve when she realized AIDS was indeed killing many people she truly loved.  Getting quoted saying something stupid or regrettable or wrong or often repeated doesn't make one a monster.  Lashing out (Harshly)at your hardcore fanbase once doesn't make you Bad.  But it doesn't make you particularly bright, either..

I can imagine her remarks were tempered with the judgement and enthusiasm of someone raised in the church, who fell so far away into both gay and celebrity cultures, then was newly Born Again.  Maybe she felt like she needed to prove her sincerity.  When the moaning, simulated orgasm of 1975's "Love To Love You, Baby" came out, I heard "She's goin' tuh hell" many times..  (I never heard that song on the radio at anytime during its chart time except on American Top 40.  It got to Number 2 on the Hot 100, by the way..)  When that song came on the jukebox, everyone stopped, listened, then formed radically different opinons about what they just heard.  This was 1975/76, people:  This song was a sexual nuclear bomb.  Not everybody liked it, some people HATED it, but if you loved it, you LOVED it. 

Even at my young age, I loved it.  Conservative Christians, as a matter of course, did not love this song.  So, when Born Again, maybe she immediately swung just a little further right on her personal pendulum than where she ended up landing, and during that time, she said some things aloud she shouldn't have..  Shit like that does happen, right?

And maybe, as she continued to grow spiritually, she rethought.  At least that's how I hope it went down.  Or, maybe she buried that episode so deep, to her, it didn't happen.  Capricorns are very capable of just such denial. Whatever her motivations were at that time ceased when she changed.  As much bullshit as I've said(On a fairly regular basis), I really can't hold two or three sentences said during a 30 year old performance against her, especially considering the fact she never repeated this type of outburst.  I'm willing to give Donna Summer the benefit of growing way past those words. 

Sleep peacefully, Donna.  I'll be playing my favorites of yours; for you.  Thanks for the grooves, lady..

"I Feel Love" may be the best Disco song of all time.

Greece: Before And After

The populist tsunami forms..  If these polls hold true, Greece is about to change history.  Is this Greece's exit from the euro zone?  Is this the beginning of the end for the entire European Union?  Where's Riot Dog?  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

In one of the most fascinating psychological shifts, there has been a massive shift in the perspective of the Greek electorate since the election two weeks ago. Almost as if the size of the actual votes for Syriza, the far-left anti-bailout party, gave citizens 'permission' to be angry and vote angry. The latest opinion polls, as per Credit Suisse, show the center-right New Democracy party crashing from 108 seats to only 57 as Tsipras and his Syriza colleagues soar from 52 seats to a hugely dominant 128 seats. Is it any wonder the market is pricing GGBs at record lows and 'expecting' a Greek exit from the Euro as imminent given the rhetoric this party has vociferously discussed. On the bright side, the extreme right Golden Dawn party is seen losing some of its share.

The new election date for Greece is June 17th.  Can the bankers prevent a bank run meltdown before then?  Fun election fact:  More than one half of Greek policemen voted for the Neo-Nazi New Dawn Party.  That ought to be a great conversation starter and laugh riot during the upcoming real riots!

Richard Branson says Spain can solve its economic problems by legalizing marijuana

File Under:  Of course!  Raw Story.  Excerpts:

Sir Richard Branson believes that the ideal way for Spain to get out of its current morass of national debt, savage austerity cuts, and social turmoil would be to legalize and tax marijuana.



The billionaire founder of the Virgin Group suggested at the opening of the world’s largest cannabis museum in Barcelona on Wednesday that this policy “would help get the country back on its feet.”


Branson is a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a body “which includes five ex-presidents and Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, and which concluded last year that the war on drugs had failed and called for experiments in decriminalisation.”

Other members of the commission include former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Buncha fuckin' neer-do-wells..  Wait; what?  

Seriously, what's it going to take to have some rational policy regarding marijuana legalization and taxation on an international basis?  Where are the other revenue streams that could turn the world's economies around?  Legal or not, people will continue to use pot.  Why not try a probationary legalization, complete with taxation and safety enforcement?  Try, say, five years.  If chaos rules the day(Which it won't..), re-criminalize it.  If not, naysayers still don't have to smoke it, but the rest of the world reaps the benefits of a huge tax base increase, and the promise of some mighty fine days, full of totally legal fun!  Win-win! 

I Could've Had A V-8, But Chose This Horribly Mutated, Radioactive Tomato Instead..

The worst vegetable mutation  Fukushima Diary.  Check out this bullshit.  This is ONE tomato..

This is from June, 2011.  2011.  Now that's good eatin'!!  No telling what this year's Harvest of Horror will produce..  Seriously, though..  Nothing is wrong:  Keep shopping.