I happen to be one of those people who owns a Geiger counter. After the incident in Japan, I set it on my desk so I could watch it. A few days after, I noticed that it was registering 3 times the usual background levels (@800 ft elevation). This lasted about a week until it went back to normal.
Now I know background is slight and 3 times background is really nothing to worry about for an individual, but at this point I'd like to point out that I was on the *other side of the planet* from Japan. While I know the/. crowd enjoys the smug hand waving and proclamation of radiation not being a big deal (myself included), I don't think anyone is qualified to really say the GLOBAL impact that these raised rates could have.
I try to err on the side of caution with worldwide issues. I urge everyone here to do the same.
I'd just like to point out that a terrorist draws the line as using children to blow things up. No one would *ever* think to sacrifice a child for their religious views. They should obviously be allowed to pass through any security points without any problems!
I notice a lot of the comments here are getting modded up for putting down this plan. Here's my question: if you don't like the plan, what are your qualifications and how much time did you spend studying the problem?
The current Secretary of Energy is a Nobel Laureate and it's his job to make these plans. Is the claim that he's incorrect or purposefully lying to us?
100 millisieverts? Per hour? Per day? Per century? Thanks, Slashdot, for giving us a useless number.
I assumed it meant that the meter had recorded a *cumulative* amount of 100 mSv before it fizzled out. I have a counter on my desk that I've had running since this disaster occurred. In that time, it's accumulated 0.013 mSv with the background here.
Well, if you clicked the link you'd see I wasn't being serious. I would personally consider the link (pictures of mousepads styled after anime girls) safe for work, but the actual product itself probably wouldn't go over well...
But.... how is video of a nuclear reactor of benefit to the public?
suppose the IR videos shows the rods in pool deformed from melting, with pool of molten slag at the bottom.
Your reasoning is laughable.
That didn't answer my question. All you did was insult me and mention unnamed misery brought on by general misinformation.
Geiger Counters and other detectors are easy to come by. If an individual thought "the evil government" was lying about the dose rates, all they'd have to do is get one and walk up to the fence with it. It'd be a huge stink if they were caught lying, so they probably wouldn't. Seeing the interior of the site is unnecessary.
But.... how is video of a nuclear reactor of benefit to the public? At best it can alleviate some fears to see that the walls aren't glowing. At worst it can give nefarious folks all the information they need to put together a plan to swipe radioactives while security is lax. Transparency is great when public policies are being discussed, but I think here it's a bad thing.
I guess I'm part of "the problem" too. I want to withhold information that could get people killed.
Folks quickly started misquoting the prediction and saying that Mars would appear larger than the full moon to the naked eye. Websites started yelling at the space programs of the world to launch rockets, wanting to put men on Mars "while it was closer than the moon".
People believe anything these days.... Would anyone like to buy some anti-radiation pills? Only $800 a box.
To make things worse these things are not just your normal transmission x-ray where you just want to see what photons make it to the sensor and the dark spots tell you where the dense stuff is. What these scanners are doing is providing far more radiation with the aim of getting atoms to absorb and re-emit photons - effectively making you radioactive while the scanner is on.
The units discussed in the article are rems. Those are more telling than rads in that they measure the *biological reaction* rather than the flux of the bombardment. So 1 rem of cosmic rays is just as bad for you as 1 rem of a directed x-ray source.
I don't think that 3 minutes of additional flight time is worth mentioning. Planes spend a tremendous amount of time just circling airports for the traffic pattern sometimes, no one whines about radiation in that situation. I'll grant you that the pilots being scanned is ridiculous, though. I'd fire whoever came up with that idea.
One thing people rarely consider is the amount of cosmic rays you get with the high altitude during a flight. A visiting physics professor coming to our university wore a geiger counter watch during the flight. After he explained to nearby passengers why it was sounding alarms, he was detained when they landed.:( The talk he was coming for was cancelled because he was held for several hours at an airport for detecting cosmic rays in this age of paranoia.
So I'm just a bit in the gray on this issue. Where's the line drawn on what's morally acceptable with this? If I immediately run and sell all my Japanese stocks and instead buy into rice after seeing all the fields on tv being destroyed, does that mean I'm evil and taking advantage of this situation? I would still end up being in a financially better position as a result of a tragedy.
I've never understood why people call this a myth. Whenever I'm sitting near speakers and my cell phone decides to check in with the tower, I hear a distinct beeping noise. If I can *hear* the effect of a signal, why do people think that a switch can't flip because of it? I don't want to die in a fireball of doom because you wanted to tweet that the guy next to you on the plane just farted.
Perhaps mainframe is the wrong word.... The guy did something that affected all the computers in the school over the network. They had to hire a couple techs as regular employees to straighten it out and prevent things like that from happening in the future. That's a couple full time jobs that the school wouldn't have had to pay for otherwise, and I figured each was paid ~$35k/annum just as a guess.
It was quite entertaining though. The computer literate people in the school were pulled aside in groups of 3. The culprit was in my group. As soon as the principal stepped out of the office, he turns to us quite pale and said, 'I think I'm gonna have to get a lawyer."
I had a disk I took to class searched once. I didn't mind. You know why? There was nothing counter to school policy on the disk.
Fuck you.
Oh, were you the one with the hacking tools on your disk who had to fork out $70k to repair the mainframe and was sent to juvee? Sucks, bro. I imagine folks like us have it rough there. I'm glad they caught you though. As a tax payer, I'd hate to have to pay for that because you got bored and screwed stuff up.
I had a disk I took to class searched once. I didn't mind. You know why? There was nothing counter to school policy on the disk.
In general, I make sure I have nothing offensive on my person whenever I go out. What if the phone just slipped out of the student's pocket? To identify the owner of the phone, someone would have to search it anyway. My point is keep private things in private. If I go to a police station while waving a knife around and get arrested, I'm not going to claim that they violated my privacy by looking at me.
If no one had anything against school rules on their phones, then they wouldn't have to implement such a policy.
Slashdot Mirror
I happen to be one of those people who owns a Geiger counter. After the incident in Japan, I set it on my desk so I could watch it. A few days after, I noticed that it was registering 3 times the usual background levels (@800 ft elevation). This lasted about a week until it went back to normal.
Now I know background is slight and 3 times background is really nothing to worry about for an individual, but at this point I'd like to point out that I was on the *other side of the planet* from Japan. While I know the /. crowd enjoys the smug hand waving and proclamation of radiation not being a big deal (myself included), I don't think anyone is qualified to really say the GLOBAL impact that these raised rates could have.
I try to err on the side of caution with worldwide issues. I urge everyone here to do the same.
What do you do when the voters are conditioned and misinformed and the majority is wrong?
I had a nightmare once that Bin Laden was trying to recruit me. He started his pitch with this exact sentence. Creepy.
I'd just like to point out that a terrorist draws the line as using children to blow things up. No one would *ever* think to sacrifice a child for their religious views. They should obviously be allowed to pass through any security points without any problems!
Too bad you're not. Cunt.
I'm amused because I envisioned Hit-Girl saying exactly this. Realizing you're probably not a 12 year old crime-fighting girl sorta ruins it though. :/
I notice a lot of the comments here are getting modded up for putting down this plan. Here's my question: if you don't like the plan, what are your qualifications and how much time did you spend studying the problem?
The current Secretary of Energy is a Nobel Laureate and it's his job to make these plans. Is the claim that he's incorrect or purposefully lying to us?
Few meters of cable, small antenna and.... miracle!
Sooo you're saying we should have a cable put the antenna for the wifi right next to our receiving antenna? ...... :P
100 millisieverts? Per hour? Per day? Per century? Thanks, Slashdot, for giving us a useless number.
I assumed it meant that the meter had recorded a *cumulative* amount of 100 mSv before it fizzled out. I have a counter on my desk that I've had running since this disaster occurred. In that time, it's accumulated 0.013 mSv with the background here.
Well, if you clicked the link you'd see I wasn't being serious. I would personally consider the link (pictures of mousepads styled after anime girls) safe for work, but the actual product itself probably wouldn't go over well...
If you are buying an expensive mouse because it has better ergonomics than your cheap mouse and you want to reduce wrist strain ...
An alternative is to just use a nice pad for that :P
http://www.insertcredit.com/news/032004/gelmousepad.jpg
SHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! :P
What are you thinking?! You're gonna jinx it!
I had a conspiracy theory that this thing was secretly completed underground. These pictures lower the chances of that being true. I'm sad. :(
-walks up and farts right next to him- :P
Wouldn't want to censor myself.
-notices his username-
Oh, well... that might come back to bite me.
But.... how is video of a nuclear reactor of benefit to the public?
suppose the IR videos shows the rods in pool deformed from melting, with pool of molten slag at the bottom.
Your reasoning is laughable.
That didn't answer my question. All you did was insult me and mention unnamed misery brought on by general misinformation.
Geiger Counters and other detectors are easy to come by. If an individual thought "the evil government" was lying about the dose rates, all they'd have to do is get one and walk up to the fence with it. It'd be a huge stink if they were caught lying, so they probably wouldn't. Seeing the interior of the site is unnecessary.
But.... how is video of a nuclear reactor of benefit to the public? At best it can alleviate some fears to see that the walls aren't glowing. At worst it can give nefarious folks all the information they need to put together a plan to swipe radioactives while security is lax. Transparency is great when public policies are being discussed, but I think here it's a bad thing.
I guess I'm part of "the problem" too. I want to withhold information that could get people killed.
What is "the problem"?
Heh, this reminds me of when Mars came close back in `03.
http://www.v-r-a.org/ppp/Mars/Mars.htm
Folks quickly started misquoting the prediction and saying that Mars would appear larger than the full moon to the naked eye. Websites started yelling at the space programs of the world to launch rockets, wanting to put men on Mars "while it was closer than the moon".
People believe anything these days.... Would anyone like to buy some anti-radiation pills? Only $800 a box.
Blah blah blah, I'm right because I said so and your argument is a pile of shit because you cite facts.
Sorry to hear that.... I'm not in the mood so I'm just gonna leave now.
To make things worse these things are not just your normal transmission x-ray where you just want to see what photons make it to the sensor and the dark spots tell you where the dense stuff is. What these scanners are doing is providing far more radiation with the aim of getting atoms to absorb and re-emit photons - effectively making you radioactive while the scanner is on.
The units discussed in the article are rems. Those are more telling than rads in that they measure the *biological reaction* rather than the flux of the bombardment. So 1 rem of cosmic rays is just as bad for you as 1 rem of a directed x-ray source.
I don't think that 3 minutes of additional flight time is worth mentioning. Planes spend a tremendous amount of time just circling airports for the traffic pattern sometimes, no one whines about radiation in that situation. I'll grant you that the pilots being scanned is ridiculous, though. I'd fire whoever came up with that idea.
One thing people rarely consider is the amount of cosmic rays you get with the high altitude during a flight. A visiting physics professor coming to our university wore a geiger counter watch during the flight. After he explained to nearby passengers why it was sounding alarms, he was detained when they landed. :( The talk he was coming for was cancelled because he was held for several hours at an airport for detecting cosmic rays in this age of paranoia.
Anyway, here's an article about the dosage you get during flight compared to the scanners:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politifact-radiation-of-airport-scans-less-than-the-dose-in-flight/1135857
So I'm just a bit in the gray on this issue. Where's the line drawn on what's morally acceptable with this? If I immediately run and sell all my Japanese stocks and instead buy into rice after seeing all the fields on tv being destroyed, does that mean I'm evil and taking advantage of this situation? I would still end up being in a financially better position as a result of a tragedy.
I've never understood why people call this a myth. Whenever I'm sitting near speakers and my cell phone decides to check in with the tower, I hear a distinct beeping noise. If I can *hear* the effect of a signal, why do people think that a switch can't flip because of it? I don't want to die in a fireball of doom because you wanted to tweet that the guy next to you on the plane just farted.
Perhaps mainframe is the wrong word.... The guy did something that affected all the computers in the school over the network. They had to hire a couple techs as regular employees to straighten it out and prevent things like that from happening in the future. That's a couple full time jobs that the school wouldn't have had to pay for otherwise, and I figured each was paid ~$35k/annum just as a guess.
It was quite entertaining though. The computer literate people in the school were pulled aside in groups of 3. The culprit was in my group. As soon as the principal stepped out of the office, he turns to us quite pale and said, 'I think I'm gonna have to get a lawyer."
I had a disk I took to class searched once. I didn't mind. You know why? There was nothing counter to school policy on the disk.
Fuck you.
Oh, were you the one with the hacking tools on your disk who had to fork out $70k to repair the mainframe and was sent to juvee? Sucks, bro. I imagine folks like us have it rough there. I'm glad they caught you though. As a tax payer, I'd hate to have to pay for that because you got bored and screwed stuff up.
Well someone had to argue the other side, the debate is boring if everyone is on the same team. :P
I had a disk I took to class searched once. I didn't mind. You know why? There was nothing counter to school policy on the disk.
In general, I make sure I have nothing offensive on my person whenever I go out. What if the phone just slipped out of the student's pocket? To identify the owner of the phone, someone would have to search it anyway. My point is keep private things in private. If I go to a police station while waving a knife around and get arrested, I'm not going to claim that they violated my privacy by looking at me.
If no one had anything against school rules on their phones, then they wouldn't have to implement such a policy.