Ok let's try this out: Nuclear 101

So I've been greatly petrified by nuclear energy since I studied about the explosion in Chernobyl in 1986. We'll get to that exact subject later, but let's talk about what's happening now...

So let's start here....

Japan and it's nuclear power plants:

Full article here

 Japan has (had) some pretty reputable nuclear power plants in their country. However, the plants were not built to withstand such an intense earthquake as the one on March 11, 2011. So the nuclear power plants exploded and now radiation is flying through the air, crossing through to other countries and eventually reaching the United States (because I know a lot of you wouldn't care AS MUCH if you thought it was just in Europe). So now Japanese citizens are given iodine pills just in case they are exposed to the radioactivity. Although these iodine pills are a sorry attempt to resolving this issue, the people are literally terrified for their lives because of what they know: radioactivity has done horrific things to another group of people... and not long ago....



Russia and Chernobyl: 1986

WARNING: GRAPHIC! I did not watch the video so I do not know how graphic it will be. I do know, however, how deformed these poor children are because of other documentaries I've watched so I can't get myself to watch it again. But if you want, it is here. And there are plenty of amazing documentaries on this subject.

What- Nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Russia explodes in the spring of 1986, spreading radioactivity across Europe. TO THIS DAY, children are still suffering the consequences of this explosion.

Radioactivity is invisible. You do not know it's there. The soldiers sent out to clean up the mess all died horrible deaths due to their exposure to radiation at the power plant site. I mean HORRIBLE deaths.

Good read: 

Voices From Chernobyl

EXCELLENT READ. First hand accounts about what happened on that day and thereafter. Stories are sad and courageous and ironic all at the same time. It's a quick read because it is written conversationally since the entire books is comprised of interviews. If you really want to know how bad radiation is, this book will let you know quick and easy.

So now we are aware of two things: 

1. Chernobyl became a prime example of the downfalls of nuclear energy.

2. Japan just made us realize that we did not learn our lesson the first time. 

But do we all know how many nuclear power plants we have here in the United States? Do we also know whether or not these can withstand an earthquake the size of the one that hit Japan?

First question: How many in the US?

Source: International Nuclear Safety Center

The closest one to us (here in Southern California) is in San Onofre, California. And just in California alone there are 5 nuclear power plants!
(Clarification: 2 power plants are in operation in California) 

America in total = 104 nuclear power reactors.

And let's be clear here: It is not the earthquake that caused the explosions. It was the lack of power needed to keep the reactors from overheating. Water is constantly flowing over the fuel rods to keep them cool. So once that stops, the power plant will EXPLODE.  And Japan's power plants were initially built to withstand an earthquake just the way the ones in America CLAIM to have been built.

Sources: Huffington Post

So let's just be a little more aware of what a nuclear power plant really is. And now when money-hungry big-business goblins tell you that nuclear energy is the safest and cleanest way to go, you can just point them in the direction of Chernobyl and Japan and tell them you've been told otherwise.

So here you are, ladies and gentlemen!! Now you can't say you didn't know.

because.....

Now You know. Nuclear is Naughty.

Where are we?

Did this really just happen 2 days ago? I feel like we watch so many end-of-the-world movies that now this looks just like a movie. Like we're just sitting at home and enjoying the special effects. This is the most eerie video I have seen yet. The reason for the eeriness of the video is the almost pure silence. There aren't news reporters or first-hand accounts. It's the way it would be if you were standing on the roof of a building, overlooking what mother earth had just done.

The part that really hit home for me was 0:49.... The minivan's windshield wipers are still on!! Therefore, the car is still on. This happened so quick, I don't even know if the person in that car had gotten out!! Oh my god, where are we? Is this really happening??

Mother nature is just as evil as any one person. She kills mercilessly with no guilt or conscious. But this term "evil" was not created by mother nature. It was created by man. We are the ones who make conscious actions. We are alone in that aspect. We are living in a world that does not think farther than JUST BEING. Yet we can think far past that and become aware of the fact that things like this happen.

To nature, this isn't sad. To nature, this isn't happy.  To nature, this just IS. It just IS WHAT IT IS.

Now You Know. Nature reached Nirvana.

Coolest thing i've seen in a while

Thank you National Geographic. You have FINALLY put into perspective what has been on my mind for years now!

OK OK HERE I AM!!

Ok so I promised a hybrid of the two themes i discussed in my last (last) blog. So here I am to explain that process.

We live in a consumer-based society and I don't think enough people realize the power the consumer has over the market. IT IS NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. For some reason we have been tricked into believing that we are the enslavement of the business. In actuality, we are the leaders of the business. We are the ones who demand products, therefore helping any given business to succeed.

Ex: If nobody drank milk, the milk industry would go under. Correct? Who else would fund the business other than the people demanding the product?

So the women in the suffrage movement performed hunger strikes and the blacks in the South performed sit-ins. One was a hhhuuuggee sacrifice, while the latter crunched the economy so much that businesses were forced to change their laws and finally desegregate their companies.

Now people always complain about stuff... Just stuff in general. But nothing is done to fix it. We've become huge complainers.

I am giving everyone here an easy way to help fix the problems...

POINT: If you do not agree with something, don't fund it.

what i'm saying is: BOYCOTT! Boycott everything!! Anything that is on your supermarket shelves that you do not agree with, DO NOT BUY IT! It really is as simple as that. Let everyone else you know around you why you do not buy it and encourage them not to buy it either.

My general list of boycotts:

1. Most things Made in China (although I do buy used goods since it already made itself into the demand pool by someone else)

2. Wal-Mart ( watch Wal-Mart: High Cost of Low Prices)

3. Plastic Bottles (Watch Tapped)

4. McDonalds (or any other fast food for that matter)

5. Most meat (I say MOST because I am not against eating meat, I'm just against the industrialization of the process our meat goes through now, thus making it a non-enjoyable experience.)

6. Milk (read here)

Among a great deal of other things.

And I know I am only one person, so what can I do, right? I think that is the most dangerous way to think. It is also the ideology that keeps us in this vicious circle of problems we complain about everyday and do nothing about.

Ok so that's my general manifestation on the subject. Expect random posts on what I boycott and why you should, too.

Now You Know. Take back your rights.

I know, I know....

I'm supposed to be writing about my hybrid of the two themes i discussed yesterday... But, instead I'm choosing to read about the Columbia University uprising because it's COOOOOOOOL (and it's part of my thesis).

So to keep you guys occupied until tomorrow, CHECK THIS OUT!!

"Zombie" Ants Found with New Mind-Control Fungi

Full story here

ZOMBIES!!! REAL ZOMBIES!!

Zombie fungi take control of ants and lead them to wherever the fungi wants to go and then kills the ant and grows from its brain!! AAAANNDDD there's FOUR of these fungi species and they all target a certain kind of ant!! SO CRAZY!!

seriously, why does television spend so much time and money making shit up when THE REAL WORLD is so much more interesting!!

and another thing: people get paid to figure this kind of stuff out!?!? SERIOUSLY?!?! wtf! mind=blown.

My brothers and I always discuss what we would do if zombies attack. If we could kill each other if it got to that point. Whether we would want to be surprised of the attack or fully prepared.

Maybe we will be attacked in our lifetime!! This is so cool!!

Now You Know. (Everything except what I promised)

Hybrid: Hunger strike, meet Consumerism.

Some may call it boycott: You don't buy goods from a certain store to show your disapproval of their style of business.

I have been "boycotting" Wal-Mart for about three years now.

My friends find it as a running joke "HEY ANGELA! YOU CAN FIND THAT CHEAPER AT WAL-MART!! LET'S GO!."

it's ALMOST as funny as the poorly-constructed vegetarian jokes that have been coming at me for about 7 years now.

JUST ALMOST!!

(Wondering why I boycott Wal-Mart? Read previous post entitled "Blame game, Blame game, who is to blame?" OR watch this amazing documentary to get the fuller version. and PLEASE enjoy all the other videos in the side columns.)

i disgress... Here we go.... Back to my point.... what were we talking about??? Snookie on the cover of Rolling Stone??

OH RIGHT!! I forgot.. I don't give a FUCK! (but apparently it's more important than the rolling waves of revolution that might end up changing history as we know it.)

Right. so.....

1. HUNGER STRIKES

This dame: Alice Paul
Who:
leader of the National Woman's Party (NWP)
What:
1. DEMANDED (not pleaded) for women's right to vote
2. Led first nonviolent civil disobedience campaign in front of white house that lasted 18months with 1,000 women.


October 20, 1917- ALICE PAUL ARRESTED AND SENTENCED TO 7 MONTHS IN PRISON
Her reaction? Hunger strike!! Lasted 22 days

THEY'RE REACTION?



Force fed Alice and other women 3 times a day for 3 weeks straight
details: tube through nose and mouth, pumping food into their stomachs.

AMERICA'S REACTION?
LIVID!! newspapers couldn't get enough of it.



END RESULT:

1.November 17- Suffragist released because of public pressure
2.President Wilson FINALLY announces his support for the suffrage movement
3.June 4, 1917- Senate Passes 19th Amendment, women's right to vote


Conclusion: SUCCESS

Information: Woman in History

2. BOYCOTT

These guys: Ezell A Blair, Jr, Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, David L. Richmond

Who:
Four BLACK college students at Greensboro, North Carolina AT&T college (not the phone service! Agricultural and Technical College)

what:


1.Performed a nonviolent sit-in at an all-white cafe named Woolworth on February 1, 1960
2. Inspired by this, people in other Southern states started to perform the same form of protest, overcrowding some places so much that NOBODY COULD PURCHASE GOODS FROM THE STORE.
a. not only sit-ins, but boycotts

THEY'RE REACTION:


whites reacted poorly, blacks maintained civility. Often, the students would sit quietly and read for their next day's schooling.

(stay with me here)
END RESULT:
-Woolworth breaks down and starts to serve the blacks. Many more city cafes followed suit.
-This sparked a civil rights movement that eventually led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, desegregating public facilities.

CONCLUSION: SUCCESS

Information and photos: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

ok uummm i think that's enough... digest this for now.

Coming soon: My very own hybrid of the two. It will probably look something like this...


ok ok it will not look ANYTHING like that... however, that IS a real animal!!
Here is the story


Now You Know. well, half.

SLIGHT mishap... SLIGHT!!

Woops! oh MAN!! SOOOOO embarrassing!!




Click here for full article

Summary:
-NATO is hunting down insurgents and end up killing 9 boys, ranging from age 7 to 9. SEVEN TO NINE!!! Collecting wood for their family....


-NOT THE FIRST TIME! "tribal elders there claimed NATO forces killed more than 50 civilians in recent air and ground strikes."


Solution???????
Gen. David. Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, ordered a debrief of attack helicopters on who to and NOT to shoot....

Where are we? Is anyone else reading this feeling a little weird about the procedures here?

Switched roles:
NATO flies over the US and "accidentally" kills 9 American boys in Minnesota, gathering wood for their family......
and then they say "OHHHH SNAP!! SORRY ABOUT THAT!!"
and the problem is solved......
RIGHT??
that's how it would work, RIGHT?!?!

Know You Know.