All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
International

Thousands of Bodies Found

France 24 reporters, in Japan, are reporting that tens of thousands of bodies have been found.

The reporters say at least 2000 bodies have been found on beaches and along the coast line.

Another reporter said that in one city local police are keeping people out of one part of the city.  The reporter asked why and was told that they found at least 13,000 bodies piled in that part of the city.

Currently, the official Japanese government report of dead is at 1800.  It’s clear that the Japanese officials are masters of understatement.

Fukushima

Germany Closes Nuclear Plants, Cites Japan Event

Reuters is reporting that Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor,  has suspended an agreement that was meant to delay the closing of Germany’s older nuclear plants.

Merkel points to the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan as the reason. She has decided that Germany’s old nuclear plants need to be shut down, by their originally planned closure dates.  Another German official suggests that the events in Japan may result in all nuclear power plants, in Germany, being shut down.

Fukushima

Japan Nuclear Reactor Safety Systems May Have Caused the Melt Down

NHK is presenting an official ‘explainer’ of why the nuclear safety and backup systems failed. I’ll try to put it simply.

1: Earthquake triggered automatic shut down procedures, which involves raising/exposing fuel rods. This still requires cooling of the rods.

2: Cooling of raised rods failed because main power supply cut. Back up generators came on, but failed when tsunami hit the plants. They could not be restarted.

3: A third backup cooling system failed. This is a steam reclamation system that collects steam off the hot rods, condenses it to water, then sprays the water on the rods. It failed because coolant levels dropped too much for steam to be created. Officials say coolant levels might have leaked due to structural damage caused by the quake and tsunami. They can not be sure what happened to the coolant, until they can inspect the structures.

The failed safety & back up systems are causing the raised fuel rods to partially melt down.  The report suggests that all the reactors along the coast line hit by the quake/tsunami are in partial melt down. An official now says they obviously didn’t expect such a powerful natural disaster when they planned the safety/back up systems. In Fukushima Prefecture alone, one of the hardest hit areas, there are 10 reactors.

There are a total of 55 plants, with anywhere between 2 and 6 reactors each, in Japan. There are 2 plants under construction, with another 11 planned.  In the United States there are at least 104 commercial nuclear plants.  Most of the plants are east of the Rocky Mountains, in highly populated areas.

The failure of all these systems, in Japan, will give anti-nuclear activists plenty of ammo for the demand to end the use of nuclear power plants.

 

Fukushima

Japan Update: Reactor 2 Now Critical, More Quakes, Survivor’s Stories

200 plus aftershock/quakes greater than magnitude 5 have hit all over Japan (if I heard right, this was in a 24 hour period).  These are not just in the area of the main quake, but all over Japan, another sign of a major geological event.

At least half a million people are in emergency shelters. The shelters are running out of food and water.

At least 15,000 people are officially missing.

Fukushima nuclear plant 1; officials admit that reactor 2 fuel rods melted/permanent damage, caused by a huge drop in coolant levels. Pumping in water failed the first time, because the rods were so hot it all evaporated. They are attempting to pump in more water.

For the first time in Japan’s modern history, reserve military forces are being called up. Also, 13 countries are currently helping with rescue efforts.  As many as 96 countries are offering help.

To help with the economy, which has literally been stopped, the Bank of Japan has injected billions in cash, and has announced that it will increase asset purchases.

There is home video from survivors, which demonstrates the surrealness of the event.  In one video people have run up a hill near their town. They are heard screaming at others to hurry up, “Run, run faster!”, as the wall of water engulfs their town and heads towards the hill they are on.  One survivor said the event made it impossible to think, you just ran.  Another survivor, after seeing the total destruction of her town, and loss of life, said “It would have been better if I died.”.

International

Ring of Fire Seismic Events part 1

I am looking into seismic events around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  I was thinking of doing a review of the past 12 months, however, it has become clear by going back just to January of 2011, that the Ring of Fire is going non-stop with seismic events, so it might be a daunting task.

The events picked up frequency and intensity since the end of February, especially around Japan.  Hawaii is also seeing a change in seismic activity.

People might say: Hawaii and volcanoes, so?  The recent volcanic activity in Hawaii is cause for concern because the type of seismic readings geologist have gotten have radically changed.  The tremors have become denser.  Back in February a U.S. Geological Survey report said there was a “…unusually high number…” of volcanic tremors.

The most recent Global Volcanism Program report (from the first week of March) on volcanic activity shows almost all activity is around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  Most activity is in East Asia, mainly Japan, but also in Kamchatka, Luzon (Philippines), and Java (Indonesia). There is also activity in Hawaii, Mexico and Guatemala.  A volcano in the British Caribbean colony of Montserrat is also active, but that’s not in the Pacific.

Something of interest, in looking at maps I have discovered that Hawaii, Guatemala, Luzon and the volcanic activity in Mexico, takes place between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator.  Even Montserrat, in the Caribbean, is between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator (as well as Haiti, remember their big quake?).

I hope to get more done on this, to establish a time line that shows whether there is an increase in geologic activity, or not.

International

Movie Star Volcano in Southern Japan Erupts

The Shinmoedake volcano on the southern island of Kyushu, has erupted, again.  The volcano started erupting back in January.  This was part of a series of volcanic events that lead some people to predict a major geologic event for Japan.

The volcano had settled down for the past two weeks, but now, after the big quake event, it has roared back to life.  Witnesses say it is hurling huge boulders, and ash.

This volcano is a movie star; it was used as the bad guys hide out in the 1967 James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Bank of Japan Floods Economy with Cash, U.S. Bonds could Suffer

Bank of Japan officials are issuing millions in cash, into the Japanese economy.  This is due to the earthquake and tsunami destroying a major part of Japan’s infrastructure.

Major Japanese manufacturers have closed, mainly because employees and supplies can not get to the factories.  Farm lands have been destroyed by the tsunami.

Japan must focus on financing a major recovery effort, and this will affect U.S. Treasury Bonds.  Japan was one of the biggest buyers of U.S. bonds, helping the U.S. government deal with its debt, but now that money will go to rebuilding efforts.  Also, Japan might be forced to sell off its existing holdings of U.S. bonds, to help pay for the rebuilding of their country.  This will affect interest rates in the United States.

For all those electronic junkies out there, get ready for withdrawal symptoms.  Japan is a crucial electronics supplier, but don’t expect anything now. About 40% of lightweight chips, for computers and phones, are supplied by Japan. Objective Analysis, a semiconductor research firm, said “This may cause phenomenal shortages…”.  You can bet this will affect prices of goods, and trading in stock markets around the world.

Like your Blue-Ray movies?  Forget it, Sony shut down operations at their Blue-Ray plant in Japan, thanks to the disaster.

Were you thinking about getting one of those gas saving Toyota Prius, or Honda Fit?  They are made mainly in Japan, and production has been halted.

Speaking of gas. Expect fuel prices to go up, even more. Japan is being forced to turn to other sources of fuel to run electric generators, now that their nuclear plants are going critical.  Already two tanker ships, with LNG, were diverted from their original destination in Russia, to Japan.

International

Wild Fires Spreading in Japan

An NHK reporter discovered, in an abandoned fishing town of Kesennuma, that fires that destroyed the city have spread to the country side.

No firefighting capabilities due to the destruction.  Wild fires likely to spread.

The reporter talked to the few survivors in the area and they said the fire was spread by a fishing boat, that was on fire, being pushed around the city by the tsunami.  Kesennuma was destroyed by flood and fire.