Bonneville Power Administration has been shutting down their Oregon wind power farms, because of the late melting snowpacks in the local mountains.
Rivers that power hydroelectric dams have been full thanks to a wet winter and spring. Now the late melting of snow in the mountains is keeping the rivers fuller than normal, keeping the hydroelectric dams generating plenty of electricity, reducing the need for wind power.
According to surveyors from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, June 1 had Idaho breaking record snowpack levels. Normally most of Idaho’s mountain snowpack melts off by the end of May. This year’s cold wet spring has delayed that, and actually added to some the mountain snowpacks.
In eastern Idaho, Two Ocean Plateau’s snowpack is at 113% of peak average, as of June 28. What global warming?
The concern now is that temperatures are finally warming up to what is normal for the time of the year, which means all that snow is gonna melt and just continue the flooding that’s already taking place.
The same is true of snowpacks in the Rockies, and other western U.S. mountain ranges. This is why officials have warned the flooding from the Missouri River could last through the month of August.
Swedish officials announced that they have at least one case of the deadly e.coli that can not be connected to Germany or France. Sweden does have 53 cases where a link has been established.
The problem with this latest case is that they can’t trace it. The Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control says there are no signs that the infected individual got the e.coli from Germany or France.
So far 47 people have died in Germany, and one in Sweden. There are almost 4,000 cases in Germany.
A survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows which countries are the top for computer/internet skills among teenagers.
Japan did not come in first. South Korean teenagers are number one in computer/internet skills, followed by New Zealand, Australia, then Japan and Hong Kong/China.
The OECD study looked at the digital reading comprehension and computer operating skills of 15 year olds. 16 countries were involved with the study, the United States did not take part. It turns out that girls are better at digital reading than boys (studies show that girls are better at print reading as well).
A surprising find was that use of computers in schools showed little benefit. It could be because they aren’t used at school as much as at home. The study showed that most teenagers learn their computer skills at home, not at school.
“But computer use at school had little impact on results, while using a computer at home had a more marked impact on results. To help students at school, computer use should be integrated into curricula and more invested in training teachers to use them for teaching and to help students learn, says the OECD.”
I can attest to that. Almost every year here in Idaho, the Albertsons Foundation gives our schools new computers. One year, right before the start of the school year, I was visiting Chubbuck Elementary school to meet one of my daughters teachers. The teacher was busy trying to set up some of the new computers, she was also complaining about it. She admitted that she didn’t “understand the things” and tried “not using them at all”. Over their elementary school years, my daughters, and my son, confirmed that most of the teachers did not allow them to use the donated computers. My kids learned their computer skills from me and their mother (passed away). We did so well that I have to go to my now adult kids for help with any computer problems.
The state of Idaho is pushing a new computer system on our schools, they hope to give high school students their own laptops. I’ve already read stories of how other states have done the same thing, then actually used those laptops to spy on the kids while they where at home. This new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development blows holes in the argument by some education officials that pushing more computers in schools is the answer for our country’s educational disaster. In fact the study proves that kids learn better at home. It’s too bad most parents don’t have the luxury of home schooling.
“The silos are a part of the swift reaction unit of the [IRGC] missile brigade; missiles are stored vertically, ready to be launched against pre-determined targets.”-General Asghar Qelich-Khani
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials revealed, on June 27, that not only does Iran have underground missile silos, but they’ve had underground silos for 15 years.
The “pre-determined” targets are Israel, and U.S. bases in the Middle East. Iranian military officials say they have no reason to build missiles with longer range than being able to hit Israel. Iran says the only countries that threaten them is Israel and the United States. They don’t need ballistic missiles that can hit the U.S., because there are so many U.S. targets in the Middle East.
Iran also successfully launched 14 missiles on June 28, including long range ballistic missiles.
Video which starts out with missile launches, and then shows underground silos.
A surprise announcement, China says local governments (cities, provinces and autonomous regions) have racked up $1.65 trillion in debt, threatening a new credit crisis.
The revelation came after the Chinese government conducted audits of local governments. It seems the local governments are playing the same financing games that got the United States (and Europe) into its own credit crisis, which led to one of its worst recessions.
The local governments were using loan after loan on infrastructure projects and real estate development. The audit by the Chinese government came as national leaders expressed concern over evidence of the skyrocketing number of potentially bad loans being held by Chinese banks (sound familiar?).
Is this the real reason China is dumping U.S. bonds, to raise cash to pay its debts?
A record breaking turnout for a Sony shareholders meeting; more than 8,300 people showed up on June 28.
They want to overthrow Sony management. It’s all because of the huge hack attack that breached the personal data of at least 100 million Sony customers.
One shareholder said the management lacks a sense of crisis. Gee that seems to be the norm for Japanese officials.
For at least the third time Tokyo Electric Power Company had to stop water decontamination at Fukushima Daiichi, this time because pipes were leaking.
You might not think that’s such a big deal, but how does one ton of radioactive water leaking out within two minutes sound? That’s what happened. But to make that worse it didn’t have to happen. Turns out that TEPCo decided to skip what should have been a routine check of pipe fittings before starting the decontamination. According to an NHK report, four kilometers (8 miles) of pipe were loose (that’s how you dump one ton of water in two minutes).
A few months ago it was reported that waste incinerators (which is how Japan handles its trash) were finding high levels of radiation in the ash of the burned trash. The disaster at Fukushima Daiichi was blamed.
Today, waste incinerators as far south as Tokyo are still emitting cesium through their exhaust stacks. One incinerator in Edogawa ward registered 9,740 becquerels of cesium per kilogram! The incinerator handles only household trash. This is an indicator that cesium is still being spewed into the air, and it’s settling as far south as Tokyo.
For the first time strontium 89 and 90 have been found on the seabed near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company tested the soil at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, on 02 and 03 June 2011, at locations 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the nuke plant.
While this is the first time strontium has been found in the seabed, it is not the first time it’s been found in the water.