Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage
November 18th, 2011I have a special relationship with the McRib sandwich. Long ago, I had a friend who used to eat those things and the smell of them turned my stomach. He found my revulsion hilarious and he would taunt me by offering me some of the McRib, or blowing the putrid fumes my way. One time, […]
Japan: Radioactive Contamination in Soil Will Severely Impair Food Production
November 15th, 2011Via: Telegraph: Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster. A team of international researchers said food production would likely be “severely impaired” by the elevated levels of caesium found in […]
Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors
November 14th, 2011Via: Vimeo: Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo. Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street is one of the world’s most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. This short documentary peeks inside, offering a glimpse of the massive material infrastructure that makes the Internet possible.
Mystery Radiation Detected ‘Across Europe’
November 12th, 2011Via: ABC News: The hunt is on for the source of low level radiation detected in the atmosphere “across Europe” over the past weeks, nuclear officials said today. Trace amounts of iodine-131, a type of radiation created during the operation of nuclear reactors or in the detonation of a nuclear weapon, were detected as early […]
Foxconn Wants to Build “Intelligent Robotics Kingdom” to Replace Human Workers with Robots
November 7th, 2011I love how they mention that this facility will create jobs! Yeah, 2000 jobs for people who are tasked with figuring out how to eliminate millions of other people’s jobs. This is definitely one for your Arbeit Macht Frei file folder. Via: Cnet: iPhone maker Foxconn aims to manufacture its own robots and automation equipment […]
Fukushima Residents’ Urine Now Radioactive
November 4th, 2011Via: Japan Times / Kyodo: More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has […]
Japanese Government Considers Building ‘Back-Up’ Tokyo
November 3rd, 2011Via: Wired: The Japanese government has unveiled radical plans to build a standby city for Tokyo’s political functions to move to in the event of a disabling earthquake or other natural disaster. The back-up city, which has been codenamed IRTBBC (Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and Backup City) will sit 300 miles west of Tokyo on […]
Fission Detected at Damaged Fukushima Atomic Power Plant
November 2nd, 2011Via: Bloomberg: Tokyo Electric Power Co. detected signs of nuclear fission at its crippled Fukushima atomic power plant, raising the risk of increased radiation emissions. No increase in radiation was found at the site and the situation is under control, officials said. The company, known as Tepco, began spraying boric acid on the No. 2 […]
Northeast: Snowstorm Leaves Two Million Homes Without Electricity
October 30th, 2011Update: Three Million Homes and Businesses Without Electricity —End Update— Via: Reuters: Transportation in the Northeast was hard-hit on Sunday by a rare October snowstorm that also cut power to more than 2 million homes and killed at least three people. The heaviest snow was recorded in Western Massachusetts, where 27.8 inches/(71 cm) was measured […]
Fukushima’s Cesium-137 Fallout Double What Government Claims
October 26th, 2011Via: Slashdot: “A new study posted for open peer-review suggests that the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi released far more radiation than the Japanese government initially estimated. The study [PDF] uses global radioisotope and meteorological data to calculate the size of the release from the plant. Nature News reports that, contrary to official claims, the […]
