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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/26/2012 10:12:57 PM
	Terrifying Infographic Reveals the Power of Modern Nukes by Julie M. Rodriguez April 25, 2012 On October 30, 1961, Russia detonated the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon tested before or since. The 50 megaton blast created a fireball 5 miles in diameter and 6 miles high. The mushroom cloud was 8 times the height of Mt Everest. Someone standing 62 miles away would have received third-degree burns from the heat. To show how the Tsar Bomba stacks up against other famous nuclear blasts, infographic artist Maximilian Bode created this chilling chart: If that doesn’t give you an adequate picture of the destructive force of the nuke involved, there’s some disturbing YouTube footage of the blast floating around, as well: Infographic by Maximilian Bode, via FastCoDesign Related Stories: Shocking Number Of Nuclear Weapons Still Held By U.S. India Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile…And Nobody Cares Hanford Site: Radiation Levels High, Plant Progress Slow Read more: infographic, nuclear bombs, nukes, russia, tsar bomba Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/terrifying-infographic-reveals-the-power-of-modern-nukes.html#ixzz1tBe7yleH
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/27/2012 5:49:34 PM
	Massive Explosion in Hama Threatens Syrian Ceasefire by Kristina Chew April 26, 2012 As many as 70 people, many of them children, have been killed in the central city of Hama in Syria today in what is described as a “massive explosion.” Activists posted videos of bodies being pulled from the rubble and said that 13 children and 15 women had been killed, despite a ceasefire called for by an April 12 peace proposal negotiated by Kofi Annan, special envoy to the United Nations and the Arab League. Syrian state TV has said that 16 people had died in a blast that occurred at a house that “armed terrorist groups” were using as a bomb factory. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said it was not sure what caused the blast; the opposition group, the Local Coordinating Committee, said that security forces had fired a rocket. It is impossible to ascertain exactly what is going on now in Syria as the government bars foreign journalists from reporting from within the country. Videos have surfaced online not only of injured children in the hospital but a horrific one of a man, said to be a media activist, being buried alive by security forces, says the BBC. Residents in Hama describe people dying because the city lacks medical equipment and supplies. Hama a Long-Time Center of Rebellion Hama has been an epicenter of the uprising in Syria and a small team of U.N. observers has been there. The SOHR has asked the monitors to investigate the deadly explosion which indeed threatens Annan’s peace plan, says Al Jazeera‘s Rula Amin. Activists said that Syrian forces had shelled a different area of Hama two days ago and killed at least 20; 60 more were wounded. 30 years ago, Hafez al-Assad, the father of President Bashar al-Assad, suppressed an armed uprising in Hama by killing thousands — some say as many as 40,000 — and razing parts of Hama’s old city. Red Crescent Worker Shot Dead The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed on Thursday that a volunteer with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had been shot dead and three workers wounded near Douma, a suburb of Damascus. Mohammed al-Khadraa was in a vehicle clearly marked as belonging to the Red Crescent when he was shot and killed on Tuesday. France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, has demanded that the U.N. Security Council invoke Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter and consider military action in Syria if the violence continues. He also called for 300 more U.N. observers to be deployed in the next fifteen days. Annan is to give a report on the state of the ceasefire on May 5; Juppé says that this will be a “moment of truth” about the situation in Syria and whether the peace plan is working, or not. Related Care2 Coverage Technology Makers That Aid Syria, Iran To Face Sanctions Syria Failing To Follow Peace Proposal (Video) Syria: Protests and Deaths On Second Day of Cease-fire (Video) Read more: assad, bashar al-assad, crimes against humanity, damascus, hama, homs, mideast, mideast conflict, refugees, syria, united nations Graphic by Voice of America via Wikimedia Commons Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/massive-explosion-in-hama-threatens-syrian-ceasefire.html#ixzz1tGQfn2dB
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/28/2012 10:16:48 AM
	Ukraine Marks 26th Anniversary of Chernobyl by Associated Press April 26, 2012 Written by Maria Danilova, with Yuras Karmanau KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Urging all nations to be extremely cautious with nuclear energy, Ukraine’s president thanked donors for financing the construction of a new, safer shelter over the damaged Chernobyl reactor on the 26th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. President Viktor Yanukovych spoke during a ceremony Thursday inaugurating the initial assembly of a gigantic arch-shaped steel containment building to cover the remnants of the exploded reactor. The structure — weighing 20,000 tons and big enough to house New York’s Statue of Liberty — is due to be completed in 2015, allowing the delicate and dangerous job of dismantling the reactor and cleaning vast amounts of radioactive waste still around it to begin. “The Chernobyl disaster underscored that mankind must be extra careful in using nuclear technologies,” Yanukovych said. “Nuclear accidents lead to global consequences. They are not a problem of just one country, they affect the life of entire regions.” The April 26, 1986, explosion spewed a cloud of radiation over much of the northern hemisphere, forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in heavily hit areas of Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. The Soviet government initially tried to hush up the explosion and resisted immediately evacuating nearby residents. It also failed to tell the public what happened or instruct residents and cleanup workers on how to protect themselves against radiation, which significantly increased the health damage from the disaster. A shelter called the “sarcophagus” was hastily erected over the damaged reactor, but it has been crumbling and leaking radiation in recent years and a new confinement structure is necessary. Yanukovych said 2 million people have been hurt by the tragedy and it is the state’s obligation to protect and treat them. But his reassurances fell flat with some Chernobyl cleanup workers and victims. About 2,000 protesters staged an angry rally Thursday outside parliament in Kiev, demanding an increase in compensations and pensions. In Minsk, the capital of Belarus, more than 1,000 demonstrators took part in a march protesting plans to build the former Soviet republic’s first nuclear power station, in the town of Ostrovets near the Lithuanian border. The plant will be built by Russia. “This project is approved by the Kremlin, which through the nuclear power plant is binding all of the energy of Belarus to itself,” said Anatoly Lebedko, one of the protest leaders. A similar march in 2011 was banned by the authoritarian government, which routinely represses opposition actions, but this year’s march was sanctioned and police did not interfere. Yanukovych also thanked international donors for pledging €740 million ($980 million) to build the new shelter and a nuclear fuel waste facility. The biggest donors are the Group of Eight industrial nations, including Japan, which itself is still recovering from last year’s horrific Fukushima nuclear disaster. “It feels good to note that Ukraine wasn’t left alone with its pain. We felt that the whole world came to our rescue,” Yanukovych said. Vince Novak, director of the Nuclear Safety Department with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which manages and co-funds the project, praised Ukraine’s commitment to the cleanup. “It is definitely important for the bank and for the donors to know that there is a strong commitment in Ukraine to do everything necessary to ensure that the Chernobyl project progresses well,” Novak told The Associated Press. “We have no room or margins for delay, for errors or for poor performance.” Novak said 1,000 workers are now beginning to piece together the giant arch from special French-made steel on an assembly site 200 meters (yards) away from the exploded reactor. After it is assembled, it will be slid to cover the reactor building. Preparatory work for the new building has been under way since 2008. That included cleaning up the assembly site, replacing contaminated soil, and then putting it in concrete, which now enables employees to work without special radiation protection. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press Related Stories: Nuclear Experts Say US Learned Nothing From Fukushima Chernobyl, Fukushima and the Horror of Technology Could the Fukushima Disaster Be Worse Than Chernobyl? Read more: chernobyl, nuclear disaster, nuclear power, Ukraine AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/ukraine-marks-26th-anniversary-of-chernobyl.html#ixzz1tKR2Yzfm
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/28/2012 10:22:50 AM
	Sawmill Explosions Linked to Climate Change by Cathryn Wellner April 26, 2012 Two died and 22 more were injured in an April 24th blast that ripped through the Lakeland sawmill in Prince George, British Columbia. In the immediate aftermath, the most important issues were how to comfort grieving families and how to deal with the sudden loss of one of the town’s major employers. But questions about climate change’s part in the disaster are surfacing. The Prince George RCMP Media Relations Officer reported 49 workers were in Lakeland Mills when an explosion ripped through the plant around 9:45 p.m. The 25 in the planer mill escaped uninjured. The rest suffered injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to severe burns. Workers in the province’s timber industry have reason to be nervous. Lakeland was the second northern B.C. sawmill to explode in two months. The first was Babine Forest Products outside of Burns Lake, B.C. Two men died in that blast as well. Another 19 were injured. About 250 people, nearly ten percent of the small town’s population, were thrown out of work. Every family in the tight-knit community was affected. Climate Change May Be the Cause As investigators track down the cause of the blasts, they may find the mills and their workers were casualties of climate change. The level of dust in both mills was high. Anyone who has worked in or around a mill knows sawdust is a constant hazard. Only thorough, daily cleaning of buildings and equipment keeps the risk to acceptable levels. Or at least it did until northern B.C.’s winters stopped being cold and snowy enough to ensure healthy forests and keep the mountain pine beetle in check. Bitterly cold winters, when the temperature dips to -40° C, help contain the insect’s spread. So do strong trees. With diminishing snow packs, trees lack sufficient water to endure summer drought conditions. The weakened trees are attractive hosts for the beetles. Beetle-killed trees are dry. Dry timber generates much more sawdust. >> More >> Read more: british columbia, canada, climate change, deforestation, forest destruction, pine beetle, worker safety Photo of explosion from video posted by DANGLER76; photo of beetle-killed trees from V Smoothe via Flickr Creative Commons Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/sawmill-explosions-linked-to-climate-change.html#ixzz1tKSNbtOm
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel

1162

61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

4/28/2012 10:42:55 AM

Jellyfish-Like Organisms Shut Down California Power Plant

By Alexandra Ludka | ABC News – Thu, Apr 26, 2012

Image credit: Getty Images [View enlarged image here]

The workers of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant received a very slimy surprise this week when they discovered hoards of jellyfish-like creatures clinging to the structure, leading to the shutdown of the plant.

The organisms, called salp, are small sea creatures with a consistency similar to jellyfish.

The influx of salp was discovered as part of the plant's routine monitoring system, according toTom Cuddy, the senior manager of external and nuclear communications for the plant's operator, Pacific Gas & Electric.

"We then made the conservative decision to ramp down the affected unit to 20 percent and continued to monitor the situation," Cuddy said. "When the problem continued, we made another conservative decision that it would be safest to curtail the power of the unit."

The salp were clogging the traveling screens in the intake structure, which are meant to keep marine life out and to keep the unit cool.

"Safety is the highest priority," Cuddy said. "We will not restart the unit until the salp moves on and conditions improve. No priority is more important than the safe operation of our facility."

The plant consists of two units. Unit 1 was shut down previously because of refueling and maintenance work and will not be functional for several weeks. Now that Unit 2 has been shut down because of the influx of salp, the plant has ceased all production.

Even with the Diablo Canyon plant out of commission, PG&E has pledged to continue production using other sources of power so that customers are unaffected by the closure.

"We've had salp cling to the intake structure before, but nothing to this extent," Cuddy said.

The plant's strategy? Simply wait until the salp move on and resume production once the filters are clear.

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