You guys, I am not doing well dealing with this. I was fine until I saw this pic from the pier at Kailua Kona: [link]

And these: [link] Damage on Alii Drive: [link]

There are reports of another new earthquake near Nagano, not an aftershock, but I can't find good data about it.

The nuclear facility is still in danger of meltdown, and although apparently Hillary Clinton said the US military delivered "coolant" the US military says it didn't, although it's ready to help. But it's a stupid thing to say because coolant isn't the problem, a lack of power is the problem.

I haven't heard from my cousins since last night when they were asking each other if their cell phones were working...no, wait, in classic posting makes it happen form, she just posted. They're okay, just can't travel very well because of the aforementioned Ali'i Drive. She said she saw somebody's house floating. Anyway, she's the one I was thinking of, because she works down at Bubba Gump Shrimp, which I know got water in it.

My mom talked to my other relatives, and it seems like only one would have had to evacuate and she thinks everybody got out that needed to.

I'm just tripping. I think I'm going back to bed. The dog doesn't know what to make of me.

I pay about the same, Ginger. I'm afraid of the bills I know are coming my way. I can't tap into my meager HSA until April and I don't know if I can submit receipts that are dated in March. Yuck.

Liese, I am so sorry. Try and take a nap. The sleep will help you a little and there will be more time to gather actual news.

I know I stayed away from the news for a while and then checked and the top story was massive tsunami damage in Crescent City where I have dear family. It was not calming. They are, I am certain, fine. But it was so stressful.

I'm pretty happy with Kaiser, which is a good thing because no one else will ever insure me. It's $500 a month and a $3,000 deductible though.

One of the (many) things I'm very unhappy about with the job situation is that the new employer is based in Colorado, and the only health plan they offer is Anthem/Blue Cross. Which bites, because I had Kaiser, where I had been for twelve years. I really cannot face the idea of having to find a new PCP and Ob, and all the rest.

But at least I have care, yay. We so need an NHS here. I cannot believe people are refusing to do it because of philosophical disagreements with the concept. It saves lives!

Cass is right, Liese, get some rest. Your phone can wake you if there is family news and the telemebision will have a chance to gather new information.

What's a life (someone else's) when principles are at stake?

I need to find a sleep specialist. On my own. My migraine specialist is just not cutting it, and his first recommendation was crazy lady and he doesn't seem inclined to make another.

Scrappy, I never got to see that ep, or even pics. Is there a link?

I can't get video here at work, so I don't know if it is up on the Hammer Heads section of the HGTV site. IT might be. You can read a blog I wrote about it for our company's website which has a few pix: [link]

The nuclear facility is still in danger of meltdown, and although apparently Hillary Clinton said the US military delivered "coolant" the US military says it didn't, although it's ready to help. But it's a stupid thing to say because coolant isn't the problem, a lack of power is the problem.

I know y'all were just waiting for me to jump in. Cooling is the problem at this point. Matt Wald has a pretty good explanation in the NYT.

Here's a (relatively) short version. The reactor automatically shut down, i.e., all the rods dropped, when the earthquake happened. That will keep the reaction from becoming self-sustaining. Then the diesel generators (usually two per unit) were knocked out by the tsunami. However, the fuel is still generating heat. The heat is removed with circulating coolant, essentially highly purified water with some additives to make it a better moderator and to help preserve the plumbing. That coolant is normally circulated either with offsite power or the diesels.

Without power, the cooling water can circulate for a couple of hours using pumps run by steam pressure. There will be battery power for a couple more hours. After that, the heat will be high enough for the cooling water to flash to steam and a "meltdown," which is actually just melting the cladding on the fuel pellets, can occur. There is so far no indication that containment, which is a highly reinforced concrete dome 10 feet thick at the bottom, has been compromised, and it was built for a worse quake than this.

If all these measures fail, inside containment will be a radioactive and very expensive mess, but it's very unlikely radiation will escape containment. The reactor at Three Mile Island melted big time, but there was no measurable release outside the plant boundary. They may vent some steam to keep the containment pressure down, but that's done through filters.

The reason they'd add cooling water is because they're probably losing some to steam. They'd prefer to get cooling water from another plant, because if you dump plain water in there, the reactor will have to be shut down for months. I'm sure they're moving batteries and other power there.

TEPCO has damage at its fossil plants too, so I hope the can get the nukes back up quickly, because they're looking at a severe power shortage now.

Thanks, Ginger. That's helpful.

Thank you, Ginger. I actually was waiting for you.