INTERESTING TIMES

Nuclear power sounds like a good idea, until something like this happens. The cleanup process at the Fukushima reactors is slow going and high stakes. Humans must in essence give their lives to save the lives of others, and while this sounds glorious in some military venues I don't think many of us would volunteer. The fuel rods need to be removed, the normal systems for their removal have been destroyed, and a mistake could cause a meltdown that would additionally contaminate the immediate area severely and the planetary atmosphere as well, though at what level it is impossible to know. There is talk, and some movement by those who have the means, away from higher risk areas. The southern hemisphere is likely to be far safer than the northern with regard to radiation for the foreseeable future. What interests me is how few people here in the US seem to care one whit about it. Radiation is invisible, and we already have cancer, so how much worse could it get? And will we continue to sell nuclear reactors around the world for the purpose of powering televisions and washing machines? Is there any movement toward less dangerous low tech solutions? I'm not seeing it.

http://current.com/news/92783673_t-r-u-t-h-o-u-t-war-over-monsanto-gets-ugly.htm?xid=PTNiGoog

The Chaco study shows that child cancers increased dramatically in a small Argentinian town between 2000 and 2009, during the same time period that "Roundup Ready" agriculture boomed in the area. (If you don't know yet about "Roundup Ready" crops, they are genetically engineered to survive being coated with Roundup, which kills everything else.) And to the surprise of the public health officials, the people got mad. Real mad.

After the recent series of earthquakes around the world, and a news article I read interviewing a Portland City employee about what will happen here when the fault pops loose. It's the same fault that San Fransisco sits on. He thinks the big one will happen here within a century. It could be tomorrow. I am not ready. When I mention it to others, no one seems willing to think about it. But why not be prepared? We here live on a giant fault, and this city would be paralyzed by a quake because the city is split in half by a river. There are eight bridges in the city. Probably half of them would fall down, or be severely damaged. Water lines would break. Lawlessness would ensue. Even here. But we like to think that we are so civilized that nothing bad would happen. I do think that Portland, of all cities, would probably be one of the best to be in when the shit hits.

This is a bit of general advice I gleaned from living through the utter anarchy that followed the earthquake, in no particular order. I write this in the hopes that it helps someone someday.
( ADVICE, not mine, but I agree, not that I act )

New science indicates that Chagas infection in humans is at least 4500 years old if not 9000, and that infection occurred before domicilization of triatomine insects. Two types of T. cruzi display distinct characteristics and may one type appears to be transmitted orally, resulting in severe disease in children.
( notes from a letter to the editor by several Brazilian docs of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro )