New Zealand was hit by yet another major earthquake, the third this year. The 7.6 quake hit July 7, but this time it was off the north end of the island country.
A tsunami warning was issued, 1 meter (3.2 feet) tall waves were seen off of Raoul Island.
Tokyo Electric Power Company announced it will increase monitoring of airborne radiation levels around the damaged reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.
TEPCo will especially focus on reactors 1 and 4. High levels of contamination are being found in dust and steam emitted from the reactor buildings.
Looks like it was the right move, for the Prime Minister to order standard safety stress tests of all nuke plant in Japan. The Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture has failed earthquake safety tests for its electronic equipment.
The amazing thing is that the earthquake safety standards for Tokai Daini were created by the very company that runs the nuclear plant.
The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says many of the nuclear plants in eastern Japan are failing their own earthquake safety standards for their electrical equipment. In one case it was discovered that the metal frames holding electric motors were made of such inferior metal that they could be easily broken by twisting. The agency also says they still don’t know the true reason why the electrical systems at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed.
Mitsubishi announced their new electric car can keep you from starving after a major disaster.
They claim that in case of major power loss to your home you can use the electric car to power your home appliances. Supposedly the batteries in the car can hold enough power to run your house for one and a half days.
Well, I guess they weren’t thinking of a really big natural disaster, like what happened on 11 March 2011. But getting through the first day after such a disaster is critical.
What we really need is someone to come up with a portable solar panel that’s powerful enough to cook with, and charge up the batteries on your electric car. Then who needs utility companies?
Mitsubishi plans to start selling their electric survival car in 2012.
06 July 2011, Prime Minister Kan Naoto has ordered those in the government, who’re in charge of nuclear reactor safety, to create new rules. Kan says the numerous and growing complaints from the people have made it clear a new system of rules for reactor start ups need to be created. Many prefectures are refusing to allow reactors to be re-started. Gee, I would’ve thought it was the fact that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is still ongoing.
Under current rules the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the Industry Minister, decide when it is safe to start up a reactor.
Prime Minister Kan wants the new rules to include stress tests, and be in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kasai Akira, of the opposition Communist Party, pointed out that it is useless to create new rules when local prefectures have the right to override those rules, as they are in not allowing reactors to re-start.
On the night of 05 July 2011, the Japanese Prime Minister issued an order to conduct stress tests on all nuclear reactors in Japan.
The tests are based on European Union standards. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says Japan’s reactors are safe, but many Japanese citizens think otherwise. Several prefectural governments are refusing to allow reactors to re-start. The new EU based tests are meant to ease any remaining fears among the people.
General Motors, desperate to increase domestic sales, will include insurance on new car purchases. But only if you live in Oregon or Washington states.
It is part of an experimental marketing program, to increase car sales. The insurance will be provided by Met Life.
The experiment will last until September 6. Oregon and Washington are being targeted because GM sales suck in those two states.
Standard & Poor’s is warning that a French plan to “rollover” Greek debt will force Greece into default. The plan was put forth by the Fédération Bancaire Française.
S & P’s is not the only finance rating company to make such a claim. It’s complicated, but basically they claim the French plan would result in current “investors” in Greek bonds receiving much less of a return on their investment, so much so that S & P’s is willing to declare Greece in default.
The plan was approved by the only economic powerhouse in the European Union: Germany.
“In our view, Greece’s near-term reliance on European Union and International Monetary Fund official financing, the government’s difficulty in reducing its sizable fiscal deficit, and the current pricing of Greek government debt in the secondary market all underscore the Hellenic Republic’s weak creditworthiness and, consequently, point to a ‘realistic possibility’ that financing option would fit the ‘distressed’ category.”-Standard & Poor’s
First the Germans blamed Spanish cucumbers. Then they blamed sprouts, from a northern German farm. Then the French blamed a German owned grocery store selling French grown sprouts. Then the French blamed a U.K. seed company which supplied the seeds to grow the sprouts. Then the Swedish blamed the Germans, then backed off when they began having e.coli cases in people who’d never been to Germany, or eaten sprouts. Now the Europeans are blaming Egyptian fenugreek seeds for the deadly e.coli. Fenugreek is used as an herb and a spice.
The Europeans have gone so far as to ban any more imports of Egyptian fenugreek. On top of that they’re banning other Egyptian agricultural products, until they can be proven safe.
Here’s the problem; no one has proven conclusively where the deadly e.coli strain is coming from!
Fact: German health officials traced some of the e.coli cases back to a typhoid Mary suspect, a woman who worked for a catering company. The woman seems to be a carrier. She thinks she might have eaten sprouts.
Fact: E.coli comes from humans, not plants. The only way plants could get infected is if they came into contact with humans waste.
So far at least 49 people have died, and more than 4,000 are sick. Knowing the facts about the case, how can European officials now blame Egyptian fenugreek? Of course they claim the seeds were used to grow the sprouts that made people sick. But up ’till now the claim has been that “bean” sprouts are the culprits. Now suddenly it’s fenugreek sprouts?
Seeds get contaminated when they come into contact with the bacteria. This could be at anytime in the planting, growing and harvesting process. It only takes a tiny bit of the bacteria, once the seeds are planted not only does the plant grow, but some does the e.coli, and it spreads. That’s the traditional way.
Here’s a new way: In an earlier posting I wrote how some scientists say it looks like the deadly e.coli strain was engineered in a lab. If you understand the way genetic engineering of plants works, then it actually makes sense. In order for scientist to make their genetic modifications ‘stick’, they must use a bacteria that is resistant to almost all forms of self preservation by the original plant genes. Yes, e.coli is one of those deadly bacterias that agricultural giants like Monsanto could be using to create GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).
They also want their newly modified plants to be super resistant to natural diseases, and man made chemicals. Again, that’s where the deadly bacterias come into play. GMOs contain bacteria that are intentionally made to be super resistant.
Are we looking at the first cases of deadly results from genetically modified plants?
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Epidemiology reports a study done by Australian researchers, into the effects of hypoallergenic whey based infant formula.
620 babies were divided into three groups. One group got the whey formula, another group got cow’s milk, and the third got soy milk.
Two years later the babies were checked. Surprise! More than half the 620 babies developed allergies regardless of what type of formula, or milk they drank.
Further more, when researchers looked at just the babies who drank the hypoallergenic whey formula, they discovered that the incident rate for developing allergies, was no different than for the cow’s milk or soy milk.