We are Douchebags

via @Humanhand

Nunchuks are useful.

Normally I think it's kind of uncool to use dead celebrities to hawk stuff in TV commercials (like that DirecTV ad with Chris Farley), but in this case I'll make an exception for my #1 favorite bad ass mofo Bruce Lee. Wa pow!

Mishandling nuclear fuel

Mr. and Mrs. Pony and I were discussing nuclear power the other day, and a 1999 nuclear chain reaction at an experimental facility in Japan came up. The idiocy of those involved made many wonder if the nuclear power industry could be trusted to deliver electricity safely.

The accident began when workers were converting enriched uranium into oxide powder for use in preparing fuel for the Joyo experimental fast breeder reactor...

An inadvertent nuclear chain reaction, or so-called “criticality accident,” began at 10:35 AM local time on Thursday, September 30 at the JCO Co. Ltd. Conversion Test Building at Tokai-mura, Japan, about 75 miles northeast of Tokyo. The chain reaction, which gave off intense heat and radiation, could not be stopped until 18 hours later....

It appears that workers deliberately circumvented safety measures to save time. A solution of uranyl nitrate was transferred into a large-volume precipitation tank, rather than the smaller, cylindrical container required by regulations. According to JCO Inc. official Yutaka Tatsuta, one of the injured workers reported that some 16 kilograms of uranium solution had been poured into the precipitation tank, nearly eight times more than its criticality safety limit of 2.4 kilograms.

Workers reported seeing a blue flash and then started to feel ill. According to one report, “the area was wrapped in a haze of blue smoke.” Workers told plant staff that “they saw a blue flame rising from the fuel.” Kenji Sumida, a member of Japanese government’s Nuclear Safety Commission, concluded, “I know this is difficult to believe, but I think that we have no choice but to recognize this accident as having been critical.” The criticality continued for about 18 hours until the water that was moderating the flow of neutrons and allowing the chain reaction to continue was drained and the tank was flooded with boron, a neutron absorber.

Tokyo Electric Power, Japan's largest utility, made people even more nervous when it was found to have falsified its nuclear plant repair reports for 15 years.

Maybe the anti-nuclear power sentiment is fading though, as 8 new nuclear plants opened last year from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

I still don't think I'd be comfortable living next to a nuclear power plant, even if it gave off less greenhouse gases than a fossil fuel plant. Then again there are 18 nuclear-powered submarines at Pearl Harbor just a few miles from Honolulu. Each has a mini nuclear power plant on board.

Giant French Automatons invade Berlin! Story at ten.

Much as I hate 4-on-the-floor techno...

"I saw you-right before you went to outer space." Lord British vs. Martha

Heisted from i09, or Kotaku, or something Gawker-y.

Cantina

Tauren Halloween Costume

Speaking of Halloween, check out this sweet costume our old friend Earl made (Your old friend, my new friend). He was a Tauren last year, but this year he resolved to be like, a better, higher-level Tauren with badder-ass armor and gear. Here are some notes on how he made it:

I made the armor mainly with craft foam, sealed with mod podge and painted with black latex house paint and dry brushed with metallic silver acrylic paint .. the giant rivets are ping pong balls cut in ½ ... And the chest piece base is made from a rubber maid tote and a laundry basket … I plan on making a rough tutorial and posting it online with pics to help others interested making this kind of stuff… when I was researching all I could find was elf armor and Halo armor.