Slashdot Mirror

Oh, FFS, try here:

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2018/01/05/airbnb-nightmare-new-years-eve-party/1007220001/

"South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Brent Newbury said Friday that he doubts the village law prohibiting bed and breakfasts extended to Airbnb because the rentals are not a business, strictly speaking."

"Newbury said his officers closed down the party based on noise complaints. He confirmed his officers reviewed the video provided by Feinberg and it reflected what went on in the house."

"A police report states more than 300 people were inside the house and more than 100 vehicles were parked on the east and west sides of River Road. Orangetown police responded with South Nyack-Grand View officers."

You wanna keep playing armchair fact-checker, that should be enough to get you started.

Really? Took me less than 30 seconds on Google. Try harder.

https://www.lohud.com/story/ne...

https://abc7ny.com/realestate/...

http://www.news12.com/story/37...

Much like Vermont Yankee, Entergy is running Indian Point into the ground. The AG also forced new safety inspections an those showed Entergy had let a known problem slide past any other reactor known to date. http://www.lohud.com/story/new...

Who upvotes this FUD?

The very article linked above references the actual report from the NRC. Far from letting a known problem slide past any known to date, NRC article notes that the Indian Point reactor in question was shutdown for routine maintenance. A new check of bolts that had been known to wear from experience revealed that a great many of them needed replacement, so they were replaced before the reactor was brought back online.

The other way to spin the NRC report is that routine and standard maintenance procedures at Indian Point have allowed it to continue it's operating record of zero work place fatalities, zero emissions and zero radiation escaping the plant. How many coal plants can claim ANY of those points let alone all of them?

Seriously, the anti-nuclear crowd is leaping on standard maintenance as proof of 'problems' looks an awful lot like those declaring even more missing links in evolution every time a new link is posted.

Much like Vermont Yankee, Entergy is running Indian Point into the ground. The AG also forced new safety inspections an those showed Entergy had let a known problem slide past any other reactor known to date. http://www.lohud.com/story/new...

Semi-paywalled source of more accurate information here

From back on the 15th:

On Wednesday Entergy, the company that owns Indian Point, said the highest concentration of elevated tritium levels had increased by about 80 percent from the first test to the second, "fluctuations that can be expected as the material migrates."

Entergy spokesperson Jerry Nappi said on Saturday, though, that the groundwater monitoring well that had increased by 80 percent was back down to its initial elevated level from the first sample, which was expected.

and

"[An inspector] saw leakage that supports the theory that the water came from [a] water storage tank," Neil Sheehan, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson, said Friday.
* * *
The NRC inspector saw boron crystals in the pipe tunnel where the suspected leak occurred.

No current absolute numbers, but the article reports:

The NRC investigated a similar leak at the plant almost two years ago. In April 2014 Indian Point Unit 2 reported a leak of 687,000 picocuries per liter, Sheehan said.

"To put that into perspective, the EPA safe drinking water limit for tritium is 20,000 picocuries per liter," he said. "However, groundwater at Indian Point is not used for drinking-water purposes."

33 times the drinking water limit? Not scary. Find the leak, fix the problem, make a rational decision whether the maintenance risks are beginning to exceed the benefits of the plant to begin a plan for refurbishment or retirement.

View: Common Core – and Cuomo – are failing NY

Common Core 101: What is it and how does it affect our children?

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/indian-point/2015/05/10/indian-point-tritium-leak-ongoing/10968169/

Radioactive tritium in the groundwater beneath the Indian Point nuclear power plant could be part of an ongoing leak and not a momentary spike as first thought, federal regulators said Thursday.

Elevated levels of tritium — a low-energy radioactive form of hydrogen — were found in two monitoring wells in late March near Indian Point Unit 2. Samples in April and May showed decreasing levels, suggesting the contamination might have been related to the movement of used nuclear fuel during a maintenance shutdown.

But samples collected this month showed the concentration rising again and then decreasing. There is no health threat to either the public or Indian Point workers, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

"Is it accurate to describe these increases as 'spikes' if there are several significant variations in tritium levels in monitoring wells?" NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said in an e-mail. "(Plant owner) Entergy acknowledges that it could be indicative of an ongoing source of leakage rather than one attributable to the most recent Indian Point 2 refueling and maintenance outage."

A byproduct of nuclear power, the Environmental Protection Agency characterizes tritium as "one of the least dangerous" radioactive particles because it emits very low radiation and, if ingested, leaves the body relatively quickly.

Entergy is testing drains, pipes and tanks for damage and making sure there were no unidentified spills during the March shutdown, company spokesman Jerry Nappi said. Such fluctuations aren't uncommon and could be due to the bedrock's formation beneath the plant and how rainwater filters through the rock, he said.

"While the overall trend in this instance is still a downward one, we have not ruled any source out and continue to aggressively investigate to find the cause of the elevated tritium," Nappi said in an email, adding the company's inquiry was still pointing toward a one-time event.

The monitoring wells were installed after sampling in 2005 found tritium in the groundwater, a leak traced to a failed weld in a canal leading to Unit 2's spent fuel pool.

The current problem might not have been detected without those wells, said Dave Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists. But until the source is found, he said, the leak's seriousness can't be fully assessed.

"I think the good news is at least the flag has been raised," Lochbaum said.

Indian Point isn't the only U.S. nuclear plant with tritium-groundwater issues. A list maintained by the NRC shows 44 other plants with tritium leaks or spills, as far back as 1979.

The US State Department recruited Hollywood to boost “anti-Russian messaging“.
Sony pirated multiple books about hacking, while aggressively campaigning against piracy.
Emails reveal concerns in the US over the secrecy of the TPP talks.
The leaks included a draft of the international VOD and DHE agreement between SONY and Google
Sony received nearly $48 million in tax breaks in 2011 and 2012 after donating to New York Governor Cuomo.
Ben Affleck demanded PBS program “Finding Your Roots” hide his slave-owning ancestor.
Sony changed the Snowden film press release to remove “illegal spying” from the description of NSA’s activities
Sony cameras are used as a part of the guidance system for Israeli rockets bombing Gaza
Sony Chiefs met with David Cameron ahead of the Scottish referendum
Corrupt product placement practices used in Dr. Oz show

I really hope that slashdot doesn't become another place of pro-government propaganda, as that really pisses me off. The information was already out there, but their republishing obviously did us a favor (us that care about government accountability or knowing the truth anyway). We already have enough media outlets against information out there, let's keep this one useful.
I would never know the above facts if it wasn't for them, as 1. I believed the propaganda that it was mostly employee information and didn't feel comfortable downloading it and reading, and 2. it would be too much work for me to look into the e-mails.
Now that I know these stuff I feel like someone more informed than before. I hope the Slashdot community stops being against information.

By the way, since I haven't seen here a link to their press release, with the leaks, here it is.

You might think that oil gets the biggest subsidy, with all the military hardware we keep in the Mideast, but that stuff is multi-use and optional use (aside from attacks on Israel) while the Price Anderson subsidy for nuclear power could bring down the Federal Government if a large accident occurred at Indian Point. The cost to cover the homeowners insurance nuclear accident exclusions could make it impossible for the US to service its public debt. And clean up costs are estimated to be over $1 trillion. http://archive.lohud.com/artic... No other subsidy puts our entire way of life on the line like that.

Because this is NY we're talking about. People have become so used to the nanny state that if there isn't a law that tells you how dangerous something is, people assume it's OK.

I don't disagree that texting and driving is dangerous, but NYS has a habit of going all out on enforcing particular laws instead of enforcing all the laws equally. If you read a NY (not NYC) news site (and I apologize in advance for the shit quality) you'll see that a few times a year the state police have Operation (Insert Witty Name Here) aimed at texting or something else ridiculously specific.

Also, our state attorney general keeps trying to close a nuclear power plant instead of prosecuting criminals and such.

Fresh water rivers aren't always exactly clean. I know we're talking about fresh water in general, but it seems like people are getting the idea that fresh water == drinking water. Not the educated, scientist-class of /. per say, but the average shitizen isn't all that good with the big words.

That's true today, because on Jan 18th the legislature passed a gun control bill which made gun permits private data. But as of Christmas every gun-owner in two counties had their names on a paper's website:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/25/new-york-journal-news-gun-owners-westchester-rockland-counties_n_2362530.html
They did take the list of names and addresses offline when the bill passed, but the map is still online, and despite gun-owners being convinced they're responsible for multiple burglaries there have been no legal consequences to the paper:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20121224/NEWS04/312240045/The-gun-owner-next-door-What-you-don-t-know-about-weapons-your-neighborhood?nclick_check=1
The paper has pointed out that since the list was posted there have been almost 600 burglaries in the two counties:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20130617/NEWS02/306170027
They've only been blamed for three, either gun-ownership in the two counties is below 0.5% or gun-owners are being oparaboid when they claim a list of gun-owners will significantly change criminal behavior.

That's true today, because on Jan 18th the legislature passed a gun control bill which made gun permits private data. But as of Christmas every gun-owner in two counties had their names on a paper's website:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/25/new-york-journal-news-gun-owners-westchester-rockland-counties_n_2362530.html
They did take the list of names and addresses offline when the bill passed, but the map is still online, and despite gun-owners being convinced they're responsible for multiple burglaries there have been no legal consequences to the paper:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20121224/NEWS04/312240045/The-gun-owner-next-door-What-you-don-t-know-about-weapons-your-neighborhood?nclick_check=1
The paper has pointed out that since the list was posted there have been almost 600 burglaries in the two counties:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20130617/NEWS02/306170027
They've only been blamed for three, either gun-ownership in the two counties is below 0.5% or gun-owners are being oparaboid when they claim a list of gun-owners will significantly change criminal behavior.

Look at how many states received revenue for the class action lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Many states used that revenue to fund programs that had absolutely nothing to do with tobacco use or health issues as a result of tobacco use. Instead they spent the money on programs for children (won't somebody PLEASE think of the CHILDREN!?), etc. That revenue was either one-time money or was an annual payment for a few years. That money has dried up and now states are scrambling to find other revenue sources for this mess that they created.

It's pretty sad to see how our "brilliant" elected officials and public employees think.

Up in smoke: Counties gave up millions from tobacco settlement for short-term gains

Once Foes of Big Tobacco, States Have Been Hooked

where those risks seem nice compare to being under the heel of the oppressive government.

China does not have a monolopy on oppressive governments.

If we hadn't had things like CRA and community activist groups painting banks that didn't paint lots of bad loans into 'underserved' areas as racists, then we might not have had quite so many bad loans.

This wasn't the only cause, but definitely a big factor.

No, it was a relatively small factor. 50-80% of subprime loans were made by companies to which CRA didn't apply. In fact, CRA only applied to 1 of the top 25 subprime lenders. Furthermore, less than a third of CRA loans are in the category of subprime - most of them have fixed interest rates better than subprime and consequently default rates are below average too.

I can't fathom why someone would travel 2 hours each way, every day, just to get to the place where you work. Maybe it's cheaper, but aren't the minutes of your life worth more than saving a few bucks? Even if you worked in NY you could find a reasonable (relative to the payscale and market) place to live that's 30 minutes away.

Speaking as someone who lives in NYC, yes you can find a reasonable place to live in town on a middle class paycheck. If you don't mind renting forever (median apartment prices are over $900k) and you don't have kids. As soon as you actually care about the schools and neighborhood cultural ideals, acceptable places to live become amazingly scarce. Most of the towns around NYC where the soccer mom lifestyle exists also are priced that $200k a year salary is the entry level. The median housing prices are around $600K and property taxes are high. So anyone who makes less than the requisite $200K lives farther away, and your don't have to get all that far away for a rush hour commute to take two hours or more. Minutes of your life may be worth more than a few bucks, but your family's standard of living is worth more than a few minutes. This is where the jobs are, so millions of people make the daily trek.

I don't think you know much about what happened, or even been near a modern rail system.

I'd have to agree. If the train tracks south of my house that I cross going to work were laid after the 40's I'd be surprised.

First of all, the bombs were in backpacks, left inside the trains. The rails had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Isn't this agreeing with my statement: 'Realistically speaking, they could have done the same thing in a crowded mall for the same effect.'?

What I'm worried about is terrorists doing something to derail a 300mph train, as if they manage it they'd probably kill just about everybody aboard. No, they probably won't be able to run it into an important building, but a crowded train with 90% fatalities would be bad enough.

Second, nobody "wanders" in front of a train and gets smeared.

Sure about that?

They do it trying to beat the train(often driving around barriers to do it), make a wrong turn, sleep on the tracks, commit suicide(it's so bad that in Japan the train company charges the family clean up costs), etc...

We don't live inside a Roadrunner cartoon, tracks are very obvious and at least in populated places have barriers around them. You don't exactly end up on one by accident.

I must have never lived in a crowded enough area. Even when I lived in moderately sized cities I could walk over many active train tracks. I also have pretty high faith in drunks being able to darwin themselves in elaborate fashions.