Warm summer days spent hiding inside pretending to work till I think I've pretended enough. Thinking I'll dive into the new texturing tool my fellow graphics developer, Gatto, turned me on to, it's called MaPZone editor... http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/index.php

I'll post some examples of what I come up with after I play a little!

One thing I NEVER in a million years thought I'd do is edit a book. Later today, I'll be finishing my second book edit. The first book is a reference book Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes, by- Barbara Fix. Available in Kindle and Print editions here - http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B006K2CV68/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link . And a melodrama/dark humor fiction, Painfully Yours, by- Bella Carter. This rowdy fast paced story charms the reader into begging for the sequel. Painfully Yours, will be available in Kindle and Paperback in a few days!

Well, It's been over a year since the earthquake and tidal wave hit Japan. They're finally seeing effects on animals in Alaska, and are now concerned about the facilities in the Japan Disaster area being used to store spent rods. The situation is becoming quite dire, though there is still not much about it on ANY news. I think if most people realized what we're really looking at, there wouldn't be people living in the northern area of Japan OR on the Western coast of the United States. It won't be long now and they'll have to start letting the cat out of the bag on this. I just hope people don't become too desperate when major poo hits the fan. I just want somewhere that Duck and Cover would actually sort of work... Gotta hand it to the government on that one. The whole duck and cover thing, basically teaching us how to kiss our asses goodbye whilst trying to fit under the coffee table during a nuclear explosion. If it wasn't such a poor idea, I'd almost think it was a joke. Here's a link to the old "Duck and Cover" psa: http://archive.org/details/gov.ntis.ava11109vnb1 This video also seems to be the same mentality that the Japanese are up against with regard to their plight overseas. As I said once before, it's the Tepco executives and ANYONE who had ANYTHING to do with building all of those facilities on areas directly over heavily active fault lines should be the ones out there in thin rubber suits dealing with the nuclear slag pit they've created. LET them fix their screw up.

I've decided to not blog about this type of thing any more. I'll not erase these posts and anyone is still welcome to comment if you wish.

Purple Peeps are Evil

I'm talking about THESE:

Yes, the cute fluffly purple sugar coated marshmallow bunnies or other purple peeps candies. NO candy should be so cute you can't resist eating just one, let alone the misery of trying to keep yourself from eating the whole box in one day....ugh

Riding the Tide

A few days before my last post, the North Eastern coast of Japan was devastated by a multi-fold chain of catastrophic events. When I first heard about the earthquake on March 11, my thoughts immediately went out to a friend, who's family still lives there. Her father and mother, recently returned to their southern home city Fukuoka from a visit to the US. Relief when I discovered how far north the earthquake was. Then the news of the Tsunami heading for Japan.

We watched in horror as our fellow humankind were swept away in a flash of a few moments. I felt sick, and in shock. Then...the mention of a few nuclear plants (Japan's main resource for electrical power). That stopped me cold. I started searching to find out how many other plants are nearby. There are 4 plants in the earthquake/tsunami effected area. RIGHT THERE, I tell you. Fukushima I & Fukushima II, Tokai and Onagawa. ALL of them were effected by the earthquake and tsunami. What state are the other three in? At this point it's hard to believe that the "OFFICIALS" have any desire or compassion enough to tell the world the truth. I realize that personal honor and how one is perceived by outsiders is a big thing in Japan. Saving face I think they call it. This is one case where the people who are SUPPOSED to be in charge feel that saving face is more important than dealing with the TRUTH of how bad it really is and saving your PEOPLE. They don't want the world to know how irresponsible they've been with this...volatile form of power resourcing.

Now, we have NO idea what is going on at the OTHER 3 nuclear plants in the area. On the map I've included the original number of reactors.

15 in total near the worst effected area. They've told press that some of those reactors were in cold shutdown, what ever the hell that's supposed to mean. How many of these other reactors are now being used to store spent fuel rods as well? What about them? What state are they all in right now?

Then, a few days reading how Japan's nuclear specialists are "dealing with it" by forcing those poor guys to work in those death traps in order to cover someones corporate ass. And reassuring all the poor people who are left struggling without food nearby that the radiation is nothing to worry about. Even the radiated food is ok to feed to your children. I'd like to see if the "OFFICIALS" would like to feed that food to their children/familes.

Now we see this:
"The amount of radioactive iodine-131 isotope in the samples, taken Wednesday some 330 meters (361 yards) into the Pacific Ocean, has surged to 4,385 times above the regulatory limit. This tops the previous day's reading of 3,355 times above the standard -- and an exponential spike over the 104-times increase measured just last Friday.
Officials have downplayed the potential perils posed by this isotope, since it loses half of its radiation every eight days.

Yet amounts of the cesium-137 isotope -- which, by comparison, has a 30-year "half life" -- have also soared, with a Wednesday afternoon sample showing levels 527 times the standard.
"That's the one I am worried about," said Michael Friedlander, a U.S.-based nuclear engineer, explaining cesium might linger much longer in the ecosystem. "Plankton absorbs the cesium, the fish eat the plankton, the bigger fish eat smaller fish -- so every step you go up the food chain, the concentration of cesium gets higher." *
30 YEARS?
Now take a look at the air and water currents. The Bering Sea will most likely see the first of the nasty radiation. Yes, the place most of us living near the pacific get our seafood and fish. Then the Western Coastline, probably hitting Oregon first then splitting upward to Washington/Alaska and southward to California and beyond. No one seems to be concerned that our ocean is about to become a poisoned pit of radioactive water. Thanks for all the wonderful nuclear power guys. It's helping with all that pollution so much, right?

* quote from article on CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T2

Epiphany

i feel it but I can't see it YET

(punctuation or lack of it, intentional)javascript:void(0)

BP: 'We are doing everything we can to stop the damn leak' (http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/28/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1)
How can you be drilling in the ocean floor and NOT already have a plan to FIX a problem like this? Negligence for not having a plan is nearly criminal. Ignorance in this case is NOT bliss.

Remember what your doctor says when you say...my leg hurts when I do this....
And he replies, "THEN STOP DOING IT and your leg won't hurt like that any more!"

Ever stop to think that if we quit carting oil overseas and trying to drill it up out of the ocean that we wouldn't have these CONSTANT disasters with it polluting our environment? DUH! Start lowering your use of petroleum based products and save our planet.