Radiation Update!

I have decided to keep a track on the levels of radiation, taking the figures from the Japan times which takes readings at about 5pm every day. I do not profess to understand how everything works, but I felt it a good idea to put this up. Japan is still open!

I have selected several prefectures, including my own, which are round Fukushima.

I have not included Ibaraki, as that just stretches the graph up a lot, and trying to add Fukushima will just be silly!

Just to put it into perspective.

All this radiation is measured in microsieverts per hour. Just to put it into perspective, a chest X-ray will see you get blasted by 50 microsieverts, a flight from tokyo to New York and back, will see you subjected to 190 microsieverts, and should you require a serious stomach X-ray, thats 600 microsieverts.

Also, the average person per year, through using the microwave and other objects will receive 2400 microsieverts. A CAT scan will see you walloped with 6900 microsieverts, and the maximum a nuclear power worker is allowed is 50,000 microsieverts. 

Finally, at 100,000 microsieverts, your risk of cancer will increase! By a massive 0.5%!

So, I have my iodine tablets, but I am not unduly worried!

Please help! The call is being answered!

Well, Japan is still suffering massively with rolling blackouts in Tokyo, and other areas are scaling back mightily in power usage to save from suffering the same fate. Aid is ramping up and getting through in larger quantities to the afflicted areas, and the rescue and clean-up operations are settling down.

Shows of solidarity are being carried out round the world. Caroline Wozniacki dispatched her manager to buy a Japanese flag, which she signed along with her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, at the BNP Barabas Open. They then displayed the flag on court during a minutes silence. Whilst hard cash would be welcome, pictures like this keep the crisis in the publics eye, and hopefully encourages wider support.

Unfortunately, these shows of solidarity have been marred with some celebrities seeking to regain the spotlight by making light of the tsunami. Gilbert Gottfried was fired by Aflac (who do a lot of business in Japan) after he posted several jokes about the tsunami on Twitter. 3 days after. I know comedians are supposed to make jokes, but there is a time and a place, and method in making jokes about such things. Tasteless jokes 3 days after is tantamount to career suicide.

He has not been the only one. The always attention-seeking 50-cent got in on the act. Obviously feeling left out because he was not in the spotlight, also ventured on to Twitter to pass his own comments, making light of the whole thing.

Thankfully, in sports, the vast majority are nothing like these idiots.

The Formula 1 team, Sauber, which features the Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi, will display a message of support as part of the livery on their cars once the Formula 1 season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix.

Before their game with Juventus, Italian club Cesena wore t-shirts in honour of those suffering from the disaster. After the first half, Cesena found themselves 2-0 down, but then took inspiration from the people trying to re-build their lives in Japan, and battled back to draw the game!

Many Japanese players now plying their trade overseas have also been suffering, being so far from their homeland. This has not stopped them from displaying messages of support. One example being Atsuto Uchida, playing for Schalke, wore a t-shirt in Japanese and German declaring "Dear friends in Japan, in the hope that many lives can be saved, lets stand together!"

At Inter Milan, Yuto Nagatomo did not write on his shirt, but displayed his message of support for his homeland on a Japanese flag, along with the apt line, "You'll never walk alone!"

Indeed, throughout the Football world, before games, a minutes silence has been observed. Also, before Champions League games, banners of support in Japanese have also been displayed.

The support is not just limited to Football. Baseball is getting in on the act. With many Japanese players now plying their trade in the MLB, many of the MLB's clubs are stepping up efforts to raise funds for disaster relief. 

Seattle are offering to match the value of donations made by fans during their opening game, with a guaranteed minimum of $100,000.

San Fransisco has made an immediate donation, are organizing collections, and all monies from their Japanese Heritage Night will go towards disaster relief. 

The Yankees made an immediate donation of $100,000, and altered their pre-season game with the Boston Red Sox into a fundraiser, raising yet more money. 

However, I think the biggest sporting donation, which speaks volumes about the man, comes from Ichiro Suzuki. As a gesture, he donated 10,000,000 yen to the relief fund in the wake of the volcano in Miyazaki. However, his donation of 100,000,000 yen ($1,230,000 at todays rates) dwarfs this. Not only that, but he has just donated the money. No attention-seeking, no press blitz. He has just done it.

Can you imagine 50-cent doing something similar? I cant. Not the amount, and nor the lack of publicity. 50-cent craves the spotlight. He would donate a bit of cash, then go on a press bender bigging himself up.

50-cent may be one of the biggest musical stars at the moment, but "Fiddy," Ichiro is a far bigger man than you.

Ichiro, I salute you.

Please help.

Before, and after

The earthquake and following tsunami has devastated large swathes of north east Japan. The quake has leveled many towns, and the following tsunami rolled in, and literally scoured the land free of any remnant of those towns. 

Basically, nothing left

Many of these towns are unlikely to be rebuilt, ever. Indeed, one town had a population of 17,000. 7,000 people where safely evacuated. That means that more than half the population is missing. Many towns will probably never be re-populated. Everything that makes a town, a town, is gone. Homes, schools, shops, businesses, restaurants, bars, everything. It is almost as if the town was never there.

Mother nature, despite kicking lumps out of Japan, does have a sense of humour

This has devastated many lives, and hammered Japan hard. My area was not affected by the quake. But the impact is so great that we now have fuel rationing, and rolling blackouts to reduce demand so as much power as possible can be directed to the relief effort. Simply because there is no power generating capacity in the northeast of Japan.

Dead fish? No, dead boats.

So, please, dig deep, and help. The disaster side of this is going to take months to stabilize. The clean-up will take longer, and the rebuilding will take years. The people will take years and years to recover.

Dont think I need to say anything about this.

So, please, here is a list of charities that are looking to help out with this disaster. To steal Tesco's strapline:

"Every little helps!"

 Save the Children

 Doctors without borders

 Oxfam

 ShelterBox

  British Red Cross

Please be careful! The Red Cross has announced scam e-mails going round purporting to come from them asking for donations! Ignore it! Go direct to their website!

Nuclear Power - Is it safe?

With the world rushing headlong into a need for a carbon-free future due to global warming, we are looking at having to do a balancing act between the lifestyle we want, and the lifestyle we can afford with regards pollution.

Now, if we want to keep the lifestyle we enjoy, then we need to be able to produce a LOT of energy, even though we are looking at being more efficient and using less electricity. And green energy will be part of the mix. However, until it becomes more efficient, then to replace the current nuclear power stations, we would need to blanket the nation with wind turbines, and ring the coast in wave technology.

Is nuclear power the answer? It is not the perfect answer, but definitely emotive. Indeed, the BBC Radio 5 Live phone in on Monday morning saw people call in, some keeping cool heads, and others taking parts of what happened at the Fukushima Daiichi station, and use it improperly to further their argument.

Because the nuclear plant has suffered explosions, and released radiation, this obviously proves that nuclear power is inherently dangerous/fragile...

My argument to this is several-fold.

1) No power source is safe. Coal power is seriously dirty, and the Kingston plant in the US caused a spill far more serious than Exxon Valdez. Nuclear power generates massive amounts of energy, and the potential disaster is correspondingly large.

2) Nuclear power is dirty! Hang on, Fukushima has nothing to do with that! Besides, nuclear waste whilst being highly radioactive, is low carbon...

3) Nuclear power is unsafe. Well, Chernobyl blew up. But that was a totally different style of reactor to Fukushima. Fukushima has been shut down, and wont go critical. The explosions have been linked to hydrogen, not the fuel. 

4) Fukushima is dangerous. well, the radiation leaking out has been leaking out. But at levels below dangerous levels.

5) My final point. This is totally unprecedented. Whilst the odds where high on a big quake in that area, it was expected within the next 30 years. Fukushima got nobbled by a magnitude 9.0, and a monster tsunami in quick succession, and this 40 year old plant has not collapsed. It is wobbling, but there has not been a proper nuclear incident at the plant.

Yet. 

A re-balancing of power

Warning! I am about to get political here!

In the UK, the Government is seeking to cut the costs of politics, and 1 way to do so is to cut the number of MP's that sit in the House of Commons. The government is also using it to try to rebalance some historical inbalances in the system. For a long time, Wales and Scotland where over represented in Parliament with more MP's per head of population than England. England actually enjoys better representation than Northern Ireland, but Northern Ireland is a different political animal with the sectarian divisions and a history of a high degree of autonomy making the case for more MP's tough.

With the advent of devolution, with Scotlands devolved parliament getting authority over a wide range of domestic issues ranging from education to health. But not defence. That is still held by the UK government. Northern Ireland has its assembly which has a wide range of powers (when it is working) and Wales assembly has just started the move to take full control over many areas of Welsh policy from central government.

But what about England?

Well, Labour did make noise about regional assemblies, but that died a death. As it stands, all England-only issues are debated by the full Parliament. With Welsh, Northern Irish, and Scottish MP's able to vote on matters that does not directly impact on their constituencies. The area which elected them to represent them in the British Parliament. Many of these policy areas are devolved, meaning that whilst the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish can, through the ballot box, can influence decisions in England, this is not reciprocated.

Now, the government is looking to cut the number of MP's, and Plaid Cymru, the SNP, and Labour are bleating about the unfairness of it all. That the reduction of MP's will lessen their regions voice in the UK parliament. Lets not forget folks, the total number of MP's being cut is across the whole UK, with England losing MP's too!

But let us take a look at the situation right now.

In the UK parliament there is 1 MP for:

 96,510 people

 87,627 people

 74,750 people

Northern Ireland is higher than England, but due to government being slightly different in Northern Ireland, and the complexities of sectarianism means that it is difficult for opposing areas to "share" an MP.

Using these figures, it means that 1 Welsh vote about 1.4 English votes. Which strikes me as kind of unfair. Now, I understand, there have been arguments, that a Welsh MP sitting in the British Parliament has the right to vote on things that are debated by the British Parliament. This does, of course, cover all things in England. And, as an MP, if they are limited to only British things, then there is nothing for them to do.

Also, with the reduction of MP's, there is a reduction in the "voice" of the Welsh, and Scots in the British Parliament.

My argument here is simple. Reducing the voice of the MP's is neither here nor there. MP's are paid to sit in the Houses of Parliament on our behalf, the citizens of the United Kingdom. The MP is not important here. What is important is the voter. The schlub in the street.

And, as it stands, the Welsh have a direct impact on Welsh only matters, and the Scots have a direct impact on Scots only matters, and same in Northern Ireland. This is through the right to vote in their own devolved parliaments. Through their ability to vote in national elections, the Welsh and Scots, and Northern Irish also can have an impact on UK-wide matters, such as tax, immigration and defence. AND finally, because there is no power devolved in England, leaving purely English matters in the hands of the British parliament, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish voters still have an impact on English only issues. 

Case in point, in 2004, Labour introduced a new round of top-up fees for universities in England. A deeply unpopular policy, and suffered a revolt on their own back benches. The Conservatives voted against, as did many other parties. The policy passed thanks to the Labour party's contingent of Scottish MP's voting for it. The Conservatives Scots MP abstained. On the simple ground that it would not affect his constituents.

As it stands, right now, a Welsh vote is worth 1.4 English votes (per head of population. I did not find electoral roll numbers), and not only that, but a Welsh vote has more impact on the fabric of the country. 

This reduction will see this over representation whittled away (It will, however, still exist. It will see 1 MP per 100,000 in England, and 1 per 99,000 in Wales and Scotland). There is no longer any need in Scots and Welsh MP's enjoying this over representation, as Welsh and Scots only related issues are no longer debated in the House of Commons, but in their own devolved parliaments. Therefore, there should be parity between the home nations, as they will now, only debate British only matters. As well as English only. A reduction in the number of Welsh and Scots MP's means that their ability to meddle is lessened.

And this will be the next round that people want fixing. The ability for Scots and Welsh MP's to be stopped form getting involved in English only matters. I know that England is by far the largest constituent nation of the UK, and anything done in England will have some impact in the other nations. 

BUT democracy is 1 person, 1 vote. As it stands, a person in England has a vote of less value in comparison to a person in Wales, or Scotland.Given that Scots and Welsh issues are back in the hands of their respective parliaments, this means that on British matters, the value of a vote should be the same.

With regards English only matters, fine leave it in the hands of the British parliament. I am not too keen on yet another parliament. But I DO understand, and would support one if it was offered. At the very least, allow Scots and Welsh MP's the ability to debate, vote on issues at committee level, but any final vote on English issues at least should be limited to English MP's.

I suppose the best answer would be to totally slash the number of MP's, tidy up devolution properly, so each home nation is responsible for the same areas of policy that only affect their own nation, and each home nation has its own parliament. Including England.

High Speed Rail moves a step closer

Well, the public consultation phase has arrived for the initial phase of the UK's proposed High Speed 2 line from Birmingham to London. And the outcry is massive! 

Plenty of groups are up in arms over it. The environmental cost, economic cost when the UK is in massive debt, disruption, and the basic level of NIMBYism. 

The environmental cost is obvious. A strip of steel will be laid across some of Britains beautiful countryside from London to Birmingham, all the way, eventually to Scotland. It will destroy a lot of land. It will be noisy. However, there are mitigating consequences. The railway will be better in the long run for the environment, than the equivalent number of cars, or plane flights. also, by using cuttings, and barriers, a lot of the sound problems can be mitigated. And unlike a motorway, the noise is intermittent. And using modern technology, a high speed train is not as loud as it could be. 

Look at Japan's E700 Shinkansen, currently running hell for leather from Tokyo to Osaka. It looks like a duck. That "beak" is designed to be aerodynamic, as well as reduce the shockwave as the train pushes through the air. This lessens its audio signature, and really reduces its "boom" as it enters and exits tunnels.

A concept taken to a more extreme level with the introduction of the newest E5, with a stupidly long nose. Again, designed not just to allow the train to push through the air more quickly, but also to reduce its noise footprint.

Economically, will it make sense. Er, yes. Reducing the time from the north to London, will allow companies better access to the London financial market, as well as allowing international companies to locate outside London (cheaper), but still be a player in the big money markets.

Right now, the country is in hock, but with the Government slashing spending to reduce the debt, it should be in a position to be able to shoulder the financing required to pay for it. Also, governments are the only option to be able to shoulder such debt for massive infrastructure development. Infrastructure development like this is always front loaded. Massive investment in the front, and the benefits to be felt later. Looking at Japan (I live here, OK!) again, the estimate is that while the line from Tokyo to Niigata has been phenomenally expensive, it has allowed Niigata to develop 10% a year faster than if there was no line. And along the line's corridor. '

A lot of people have said that the West Coast line should be upgraded. Problem is, the West Coast line is full! Expanding it will only delay the inevitable by a decade or so, and still result in the destruction of property. With HS 2, the line can be routed to avoid built up areas as much as possible. Such a development of the West Coast line would result in more disruption than HS 2 will be (not that HS 2 will be disruption-free!) 

The other thing with the West Coast line, it is a mixed service line, with high speed trains running alongside freight! That is not sustainable in the long term! 

At the end of the day, HS 2 will free up capacity on the West Coast line. It is far better for the environment than the alternatives of car or bus, or plane. It is quite efficient. A high speed train sucks up a lot of electricity, but through regenerative braking, it dumps a lot of energy BACK into the network for the next train!

Also, it will bring Britain up to date with the rest of the world. Pretty much every nation that is "advanced" has one. Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain. The Dutch, in such a small nation, they have a high speed train! The Koreans have one, Taiwan, heck, China has more lines than anyone else! Brazil is bringing in a line, as is Argentina. India is also looking at it. Even the US has more line than the UK! And the US is not a rail nation. A new line would allow the UK to prove it can deliver on big engineering projects!

I travel from Niigata to Tokyo, which is more than Manchester to London. I do the journey in less time than from London to Manchester, in the worlds biggest trainset.

That is cool.

London 2012 is anti Islamic!

Well, who would have thunk it! But the organiser's, apparently, racist! First, we had Massoud Sharjareh from the Islamic Human Rights Commission spout off that because Ramadan follows the Lunar calendar, and this time round, clashes with the London Olympics, the scheduling of the Olympics was deliberately placed there in an attack on Islam. (Blog post here.) Like I say in that post, to say that they would never schedule it on Christmas is a dumb comparison, given Christmas is 1 day, and in the depths of winter...

Still, before I wind myself up over that story, there is a new one that really proves the organiser's of the London games have it in for Islam.

According to the Iranian Olympic Association, the logo is racist. It spells out the word "Zion" which is an old term for Jerusalem, and now synonymous with hardline Judaism, and regularly used as an attack by Iran on Israel.

According to the letter from the Iranian OA, this proves that London is racist, and that the Olympics are complicit by association and their lack of action. Mohammed Aliabadi goes on to threaten the London Olympics with a boycott, and urges other Islamic nations to follow Irans lead. Do I need to point out how dumb this is!

Now, with regards logos, the London one really is not great. Past logo's have all had some kind of significance. The Manchester Commonwealth Games logo took 3 people standing on a podium linking arms to form an "M".

Glasgow have come up with a series of rings, each one standing for something. the outer ring stands for the fact that it will be the 20th games, the next ring stands for the 17 events, and the final ring for the 11 days. And a great big "G."

Athens was a great logo. Using a historic style of art in Greece, and a laurel wreath. A symbol of the old Olympics, of triumph, and symbolic of Greece's place as the birth of the Olympics so long ago.

London? Well, that has been heavily criticized for just being a naff jumble of jagged numbers spelling out 2012. I am not a fan. London could have done so much more.

Still, when it is overlaid with the Union Jack, it looks OK...

But to say it spells out "Zion" is quite a stretch. To do so needs you to make a few jumps of logic. If you follow standard English patterns, and read right to left, it is a 20, and underneath, a 12. Making 2012. If you read vertically right to left (which you dont really do in English, given how few books are printed this way!) then  it still reads 2102. 

To get to "Zion" what we need to do is to read it vertically from left to right (left to right being the standard format for reading in English) and need to twist the final character (a "2") 90 degrees anti-clockwise, like this...

Or, if we where to follow standard English layout, we need to switch the "0" and "1" around as well, kind of like this...

Which as can you see, really takes a naff mess of a logo, and butchers it! 

By using the logic displayed here, then we can say that the Iranian flag is obviously sexual. The sword in the centre of the logo is clearly phallic, and the outer shapes clearly represent female genitalia! Though, of course, it does not. The 5 shapes representing the 5 pillars of Islam, the 4 crescents representing a highly stylised form of the word "Allah" in Arabic. I had a whole blog thing on the Iranian flag here.

Lets face it, if you squint hard enough, you can say everything has a hidden meaning. For example, in China, they refer to the Union Jack as the "Rice Flag" due to its similarity to the Chinese character for rice. Was this deliberate? No. It just happened.

And to further point out the absurdity of this allegation. The logo was unveiled after market testing, analysis, being studied by a number of focus groups, in 2007! Apart from the absurdity of the allegation, the timing of this is just silly. The logo was unveiled in 2007. This allegation has been sent to the IOC 4 YEARS after the logo was revealed. They have had time to look at it and voice concern. But 1 year before the Olympics, 4 years AFTER the logo came out!? 

Also, do they not realise that this logo would have been studied by focus groups, some of whom would have been Islamic? Surely they would have spotted this, too, and voiced their concern!

Ah well, it is all insane. I do believe that this is just some rabble rousing by Iran, against the "Little Satan." All I can say is, please, boycott London. You will be the only ones who do. Talk about MASSIVE quantities of eggs on faces!