Heartland

It doesn't seem to get any better with Fukushima...

Im am sure there will be no concert as far as I can see. The situation is too bad actually and I am not sure if they will fix the problems until july..

Oh dear. Well, not to worry, the girls still have the Australia/NZ dates. Right?!?

Bluebell wrote:Im am sure there will be no concert as far as I can see. The situation is too bad actually and I am not sure if they will fix the problems until july..

What do you mean?
1. They have announced new bands as of april 1st.
2. Naeba is not close to Fukushima.
3. The Japanese are very tired of "Western panic making" as they call it.

Fuji Rock 2011 will take place. It can of course be cancelled, just like any festival can, but not because of anything related to the disaster earlier this year.

It's not that I am going there, so all of this is none of my business, ... but I agree with you, Euphoria.
Reminds me that a friend asked me if I thought it was tasteless to order a vinyl from a Japanese website
I can't see that the whole country would hold their breath until the reactor problem is solved. Maybe it's hard to imagine from the outside, but people got lives. And it's certainly better for their economy if they carry on.

But it still spreads radiation, and the situation isn't improving as far as I know... What if it lasts for months?

Yes, it's actually a pretty disturbing situation. I was just saying...

Oh it's not the end of the world. You'd get a higher radiation dose flying to Japan from Europe than you would from standing next to the damaged reactors for a month.

markfiend wrote:Oh it's not the end of the world. You'd get a higher radiation dose flying to Japan from Europe than you would from standing next to the damaged reactors for a month.

Exactly! If the average person understood how much radiation they are "allowed" to be bombarded with they would freak out.

It really is just fear mongering past a certain point.

Prescott wrote:

markfiend wrote:Oh it's not the end of the world. You'd get a higher radiation dose flying to Japan from Europe than you would from standing next to the damaged reactors for a month.

Exactly! If the average person understood how much radiation they are "allowed" to be bombarded with they would freak out.

It really is just fear mongering past a certain point.

... absolutely, apart from all the radiation bombardement we will never ever get
informed of (for our own safety, I assume) and apart from the fact, that hell,
tomorrow or next week it could be San Francisco ...

@markfiend and @Prescott

Not trying to start an argument but the situation is more serious than you guys are making out. Standing next to the damaged reactors would definitely be hazardous to your health. And there are used nuclear fuel pools there that have no containment.

Radioactive iodine and caesium have entered the sea, food chain (beef, fish, fruit and vegetables) and the tap water. Over time they can accumulate in your body and cause health problems. Young children are especially vulnerable and these radioactive elements can also lead to increases in birth defects. Caesium is said to have a half life of 30 years.

It's quite possible that people living within 20km of the nuclear power plant may never be able to return to their homes in the foreseeable future. That means about 100,000 people have lost their homes and their livelihoods (a lot of them are farmers and fishermen).

Prescott wrote:

markfiend wrote:Oh it's not the end of the world. You'd get a higher radiation dose flying to Japan from Europe than you would from standing next to the damaged reactors for a month.

Exactly! If the average person understood how much radiation they are "allowed" to be bombarded with they would freak out.

It really is just fear mongering past a certain point.

I hope you guys are kidding, right?

didn't check if anyone wrote that but this gig is now officially confirmed.

Prescott wrote:

markfiend wrote:Oh it's not the end of the world. You'd get a higher radiation dose flying to Japan from Europe than you would from standing next to the damaged reactors for a month.

Exactly! If the average person understood how much radiation they are "allowed" to be bombarded with they would freak out.

It really is just fear mongering past a certain point.

Yes, I am quoting myself. "Past.A.Certain.Point" being the operative phrase here. I am Well Aware that the situation is Critical. I am merely saying that outside of the specified radius of safety (that may need to be increased) you are pretty darned safe. Which in the context that matters to this forum, Fuji Rock, is not an issue. Oh, and don't eat the seafood from the eastern coast.

A bigger threat to Japan in general: More Earthquakes.

We should all be glad that the 9.0 didn't hit downtown Tokyo.

I Am The Jaw wrote:@markfiend and @Prescott

Not trying to start an argument but the situation is more serious than you guys are making out. Standing next to the damaged reactors would definitely be hazardous to your health. And there are used nuclear fuel pools there that have no containment.

That is probably true actually, I did pull that "standing next to the reactors for a month" thing from where the sun don't shine. However, once they're embedded in concrete, the damaged rectors will be perfectly safe.

However:

Number of people killed by the quake and/or tsunami - many thousands.
Number of people killed by the explosion(s) at nuclear power station...

So which are people freaking out over?

I would be more worried about the oil refinery just up (or down?) the coast -- that's a far more serious environmental threat. But people hear "nuclear" and they go ape.

Interesting factoid: on a per-megawatt-hour basis, a coal-fired power station releases more radioactive material into the environment than a nuclear station.

How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation

George Monbiot and others at best misinform and at worst distort evidence of the dangers of atomic energy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... -radiation

an interesting read...

Burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming. We have no choice but to wean ourselves off them. However, renewables like wind, solar, tidal, etc. need backup (pumped storage and the like) to be feasible for the long term. NIMBYs are already complaining about wind-farms as it is. And our power demand is only ever going to increase...

I don't think that nuclear power is the perfect answer, far from it, but IMO there's little alternative for electricity generation at the moment.

Also, from your linky QB:

Helen Caldicott is president of the Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear-Free Planet and the author of Nuclear Power is Not the Answer

So, hardly an unbiased source herself.

She's doing precisely what Prescott and I are arguing against. Her argument is effectively "Nuclear! Radiation! Booga booga booga! Be afraid!"

The idea that the Chernobyl disaster was responsible for nearly a million deaths is simply not credible, and that Caldicott rests her argument, even partly, on a book claiming that this is the case undermines her whole thesis.

markfiend wrote:Also, from your linky QB:

Helen Caldicott is president of the Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear-Free Planet and the author of Nuclear Power is Not the Answer

So, hardly an unbiased source herself.

She's doing precisely what Prescott and I are arguing against. Her argument is effectively "Nuclear! Radiation! Booga booga booga! Be afraid!"

you're right of course, but i thought some of her numbers looked credible and/r interesting.

Fairy nuff.

Anyway, this thread was about a gig?

markfiend wrote:Interesting factoid: on a per-megawatt-hour basis, a coal-fired power station releases more radioactive material into the environment than a nuclear station.

Hahaha. These kinds of facts...Jesus. The stuff i've read in this thread is too incredible to even begin to respond to - it's no use. Like the good old satanist and torturer George W. Bush said, "it boggles the mind."

All i can say is i'm glad i live in a different world than you do.

You're entitled to your own opinions.

You're not entitled to your own facts.

Johnny "Fingers" Moylett, Hidaka's co-producer of Fuji Rock, says that none of the bands has pulled out of their event scheduled for the end of July because of fears surrounding the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

However he admitted that ticket sales over the past couple of months had been much slower than in previous years.

Hidaka says he had to reassure many international bands that it would be safe for them to play at the festival, yet many of them responded really positively to the crisis with some joining the "Benefit for Nippon" charity concert that took place in London last month.

In many ways Hidaka believes the festival will be more vital than ever this year.

"(It will be) the first major gathering and a time for release of all the terrible times and tension that has been winding up inside."


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiap ... tml?hpt=C1