Arianna Huffington Describes The Lede Blog on The New York Times as an ''Aggregation Blog.''
Social media executive Arianna Huffington went on Twitter this afternoon, and she called the page on The Lede blog dedicated to the Japan disaster a ''great aggregation blog.''
| Re: Lisberg: Mayor Mike Bloomberg 'pedals' his vision of city's future Posted: Mar 13, 2011 6:00 AM  in response to: Guest | |||
 Watch the video footage from four years ago --- too date DEP and DOB cannot get this fixed and ditto for around the corner on St. Marks Place between 2nd Ave. and 1st and all over the city --- why are the streets and below the streets -- a dangerous mess? Ditto for the MTA? Bloomberg and the worst city planner, Amanda the people's Burden, socialite mega-millionaire pushed a reckless, dangerous tsunami of development and by the way --- many if not all of the hideous New New York built could not survive an earthquake like Japan's. DOB did not police the builds as they should have perhaps because of bribes and because there were too many builds too actually police but DOB, DEP, the MTA, Con Ed should have joined us in raised voices that said over and over Safety First!!! Bloomberg, Burden and Christine Quinn supported greed and stupidity first! | |||
Cuomo wants lobbying groups to be required to disclose financial backers
It is about time and sadly too little too late. Albany to City Hall it is a culture of corruption and most lobbyists are pimps! We should get rid of lobbyists and charge a set fee to post what one wants represented for all the people to see. For now it is back room deals, kick-backs, agreements to exclude rival companies from even being considered. Massive conflicts of interest and if we had wire tapping the jails would be filled with politicos and lobbyists!
Two Days After the 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake and Tsunamis, the True Extent of the Disaster in Japan is Yet Unknown.
Rescue teams from various countries, including the United States, Great Britain, and numerous other countries, have set out for Japan, to join what is being described as the ''colossal'' effort to rescue survivors of the tripple tragedies of the earthquake, tsunami, and the resulting nuclear emergencies.
Reports of food shortages in Japan continue to grow, not only as a result of the damage to stores, but to transportation and distribution systems.
One emotional story that demonstrates the large scale loss of life is the often-repeated news report that as many as 10,000 people are reported to be missing in the port town of Minamisanriku, after the tsunami swept away large portions of the town.
Adding to the rescue and recovery efforts is the concern about the nuclear emergency taking place at the Fukushami nuclear power plants. The New York Times is finally catching up to the severity of the nuclear fears.
''The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort.''On Saturday, Japanese officials took the extraordinary step of flooding the crippled No. 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 170 miles north of Tokyo, with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown. That came after an explosion caused by hydrogen that tore the outer wall and roof off the building housing the reactor, although the steel containment of the reactor remained in place.
''Then on Sunday, cooling failed at a second reactor — No. 3 — and core melting was presumed at both, said the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. An explosion could also rock the No. 3 reactor, Mr. Edano warned, because of a buildup of hydrogen within the reactor.''
The official death toll, reported to be as low as 800 people, is unrealistic in the face of the evidence of disaster in the coastal town and villages following the dangerous tsunami.
Another example of the underreporting of the extent of the damage is the growing reality that Japan is facing a nuclear emergency. Although more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from danger zones around two atomic facilities in Fukushima, Japanese media and government officials keep insisting that few people have been hospitalised as as result of radiation exposure. And the events at the Fukushima nuclear power plants continue to be irresponsibly described as possible''partial meltdowns,'' in spite of the facts that one nuclear reactor exploded on Saturday and the desperate efforts to cool the damaged nuclear reactor cores at the troubled nuclear power plants with sea water.
Nobody knows what Japan's plans are, in order to keep people safe, should a nuclear meltdown happen.
Meanwhile, the divergence in reporting doesn't end with the fallout of the disaster. Even the size of the earthquake is in dispute. The Associated Press has reported that the Meteorological Agency in Japan upgraded the magnitude of Friday's catastrophic earthquake to 9.0 from its earlier measurement of 8.8. By comparison, the U.S. Geological Survey had measured the earthquake at magnitude 8.9 -- leaving that measurement unchanged as of Sunday.
Youtube.com - IAEA Director General Briefs Member States and Media on Nuclear Safety in Japan
At 17.45 CET on 14 March 2011, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano convened a technical briefing on the consequences of the twin natural disasters for nuclear safety in Japan.
Youtube.com - IAEA Director General's Video Update on Tsunami and Earthquake Emergency Response
[12 March 2011, 2000 CET] - IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano released a YouTube video statement on the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. Director General Amano noted the current effort to prevent further damage to Unit 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The text portion of the YouTube video indicated that the IAEA was using emergency communication channels to exchange verified, official information between Japan and other IAEA Member States, as well has been coördinating the delivery of international assistance, should Japan or other affected countries request emergency relief.
In violation of due process rights, U.S. Magistrate Theresa Buchanan backs U.S. Department of Justice request for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's friends' online records.
The U.S. Magistrate with judicial power over the U.S. government investigation into WikiLeaks has issued a new court order, which affirms a previous secret court order demanding WikiLeaks-related discovery from user accounts on social media journalism sites, such as Twitter, which have no known connection to WikiLeaks other than for typical online social networking activities, such as ''following.''
The Hon. Buchanan denied legal challenges to her previous court order by prominent owners of Twitter accounts. The magistrate said that U.S. government prosecutors were not seeking the "content of the communications," according to Reuters.
Even though Twitter account owners may follow each other on the website, it does not mean that the account owners are, by association, automatically engaged in questionable online behaviour, some online privacy activists say. There is a freedom of assembly in the United States, whether it be in an assembly hall or over a social media website.
In a further worrisome development, the magistrate also invalidated legal arguments that if Twitter were to provide to prosecutors the Internet Protocol addresses of Twitter account owners, then the act of unreasonable disclosure would constitute a "violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure because it revealed their location," reported Reuters.
"Buchanan originally signed an order for prosecutors seeking about seven months of information from Twitter, including who they communicated with, who they followed, and who followed them. They also requested information about how they logged in, which could identify their location at the time," wrote the Reuters reporter Jeremy Pelofsky.
As reported before, what would the U.S. government be gaining from conducting a court-sanctioned surveillance for this kind of social media account information? Not for nothing, by focusing on subscribers and connection records, among other things, the U.S. government is casting a wide, indiscriminate net into cyberspace, and it is hoping to pull in something -- legal or otherwise, relevant or otherwise, applicable or otherwise. There is no focus to the court order ; its only objectives are to spy and to collect surveillance over both foreigners, over which the U.S. may have no jurisdiction, and citizens, who are being denied due process.
Update : CNN is reporting that spent nuclear fuel rods may have burned in the last disaster to strike the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
Tokyo (CNN) -- Spent fuel rods containing radioactive material may have burned in Tuesday's fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant -- causing a spike in radiation levels, the plant's owner said.
The blaze started Tuesday morning but was later extinguished, Tokyo Electric Power Company said. It was unclear how much radioactive material may have been emitted, or what kind of health threat that could pose.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday afternoon that radiation readings at the plant's front gate had returned to a level that would not cause "harm to human health."
Japanese officials earlier told the International Atomic Energy Agency that radioactivity was "being released directly into the atmosphere" during the fire, according to a statement from the UN watchdog organization.
Official: ''We see the possibility of a meltdown''
12 March 2011 Update : CNN reports that a nuclear meltdown "may be underway" at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Conflicting reports confuse the real danger that Japan may be facing. An official with Japan's nuclear safety agency announced that a risk of meltdown exists. MIT scientist Jim Walsch said on the CNN news program hosted by Wolf Blitzer that it is too soon to tell if a meltdown is happening. When confronted on live television earlier this evening about the meltdown danger, Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki denied that any meltdown was underway.
Image Source : Twitter. Image Date : 12 March 2011 6:08 pm New York Time"There was a concern about this reactor. We have confirmed that there was a blowup but it was not a blowup of reactor nor container. It was a blowup of the outer building so there was no leakage of the radioactive material," Ambassador Fujisaki told Mr. Blitzer.
Following is the initial CNN breaking news brief :
[5:48 p.m. ET, 7:48 a.m. Tokyo] A meltdown may be under way at one of Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear power reactors, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency told CNN Sunday.
A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release. However, Toshiro Bannai, director of the agency's international affairs office, expressed confidence that efforts to control the crisis would prove successful.
Meanwhile, a second reactor at the same facility failed shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said, according to TV Asahi. The power company said it was having difficulty cooling the reactor and may need to release radioactive steam in order to relieve pressure.
A nuclear disaster, indeed, does loom in Japan, as a second nuclear reactor has failed. So far, the most notable official response by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been the expansion of the evacuation zone around Fukushima from 10 to 20 kilometers.
In apparent desperation to prevent a nuclear meltdown, Tokyo Electric Power plans to use sea water to cool down the nuclear reactor at the Fukushima power plant. The drastic sea water plan may not be working.
Japanese authorities are in a race against time to secure the integrity of the nuclear reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, following a large explosion earlier today.
The large 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday in Japan had caused extensive damaged to the Fukushima power plant, leading to the failure of the reactor's critical cooling system. Prior to the explosion, nuclear engineers had been releasing steam from the cooling system in an emergency effort to relieve pressure.
Although some press is reporting that the release of radiation is decreasing, Yahoo! news is reporting that the attempt to use sea water is a sign that Japanese nuclear authorities are scrambling to find a solution to prevent a major nuclear disaster.
"They are working furiously to find a solution to cool the core," said Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Nuclear Policy Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Nuclear agency officials said Japan was injecting sea water into the core — an indication, Hibbs said, of "how serious the problem is and how the Japanese had to resort to unusual and improvised solutions to cool the reactor core."
In a subsequent report, The New York Times provided clarity about the last-ditch effort to use sea water to cool the nuclear reactor core : ''... ocean water is likely to permanently disable the reactor.''
UPDATED AND CORRECTED ! Concern for the safety for U.S. cities like Los Angeles following Japan's nuclear plant explosion.
In the latest news report, The Daily Mail reports that the "Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits it is 'quite possible' radiation could reach the U.S." Plus, given that Pacific Ocean jet stream moves wind currents from Japan to the West Coast of the United States, should there be any U.S. public health advisories issued for at-risk cities, like Los Angeles ?
Even as David McIntyre, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said, "Right now it's quite possible that there could be some radiation floating over the United States," the NRC "downplayed the threat to Americans," however. Mr McIntyre told the AFP: "We don't think that it would be particularly harmful... even in a worst case scenario," according to The Daily Mail.
Japanese government authorities are issuing emergency orders, advising residents to follow safety procedures and take other precautions following the nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima. Residents within the immediate Fukushima radius are being told to stay indoors, turn off air conditioners, and avoid drinking tap water.
In The Los Angeles Times, news so far has centered around any lessons to be learned from the Japan earthquake itself, not from the damage to energy infrastructure, like to nuclear power plants, for example.
Thus far, the Japanese government has not issued radiation risk warnings to other countries. As of Saturday evening Japanese local time, an evacuation perimeter of 20 kilometers around the Fukushima nuclear power plant. On the RT news channel, a correspondent has reminded viewers that the Soviet government suppressed for several days the truth about the dangerous radiation levels following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown.
No announcement have yet to be made about any emergency preparedness plans for residents in Los Angeles, or other major U.S. West Coast cities.
News video from Japan, showing the nuclear power plant explosion at Fukushima, Japan.
New YouTube video of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant explosion from Japanese news program. Video Credit : ProducerMatthew.
One day after the explosion, an image was broadcast by Sky News of the explosive damage to the ''Fukushima I'' (aka ''Fukushima Daiichi'') nuclear power plant. In the highlight bubble below, one can see the skeletal remains of the building's structure.
The risk to the public is very severe in Japan. Authorities have ordered an evacuation area spreading 20 kilometers around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Supplemental reports indicate that residents in close proximity of the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been ordered to avoid drinking tap water.
CORRECTED ! Could a risk exist of nuclear radiation danger to the U.S. West Coast following the Japanese nuclear power plant explosion ?
In the latest news report, The Daily Mail reports that the "Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits it is 'quite possible' radiation could reach the U.S."
If the nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, generates large amounts of nuclear fallout, then people living in the West Coast of the United States could be exposed to nuclear radiation, if radiation enters the Pacific Ocean jet stream.
Indeed, "The wind direction for the time being seems to point the (nuclear) pollution towards the Pacific," Andre-Claude Lacoste, of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, told AFP, according to The Daily Mail.
Conceivably, some amount of radiation would reach islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as Hawaii, followed by the West Coasts of Canada and the United States. Large U.S. West Coast cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, would be at risk.
It is not yet known if scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have issued any emergency advisories in the United States. Even as David McIntyre, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said, "Right now it's quite possible that there could be some radiation floating over the United States," the NRC "downplayed the threat to Americans," however. Mr McIntyre told the AFP: "We don't think that it would be particularly harmful... even in a worst case scenario," according to The Daily Mail.
People living along the West Coast of the United States seemed to have largely escaped mass damage from the tsunami following the 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan. Now, the dangerous new threat facing the U.S. West Coast is radiation exposure.
UPDATED ! No official link-back can be found to the Japan fallout forecast map. (The graphic has been removed, but it can be seen by clicking on the preceding link.) Further research indicates that the graphic was a hoax. Nevertheless, the direction indicated on the map is consistent with the Pacific Ocean jet stream and with a forecast by an Austrian meteorological model. There is no way to confirm the rad level predictions. (A ''rad'' is a measured unit of absorbed radiation dose.) Furthermore, comments to this blog post suggest that the trade or prevailing winds, such as the westerlies, would carry any nuclear radiation particles, not the jet stream. No contradiction, though, suggests that the direction of the map was incorrect. In fact, nuclear radiation is already being detected by the U.S. Navy down wind from the site of the nuclear power plant explosions. In the latest news report, The Daily Mail reports that the "Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits it is 'quite possible' radiation could reach the U.S."
Early on Saturday morning (New York Time), a suspicious map circulated on the Internet. The map was exposed to be a hoax, because the rad levels were unrealistic, and there was no official link-back to the map. But with several explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, could nuclear meltdown occur ? And could wind currents carry dangerous levels of radioactivity ?
The suspicious map, bearing the logo of Australian Radiation Services, indicated that exposure to radiation following a likely nuclear fallout from the nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, could reach the West Coast of the United States within 6 to 10 days time. While the map may appear suspicious, the direction of the spread is consistent with the Pacific Ocean jet stream and/or trade or prevailing winds. And if the rad levels were wrong, has a scientist issued any realistic levels of radiation that would be spread by wind currents in the event of a nuclear meltdown at Fukushima ? Confirmation that nuclear radioactivity is now in the wind currents comes from The New York Daily News : "The U.S. 7th Fleet, positioned about 100 miles northeast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to deliver aid to Japan's coastal region, moved its ships further away due to 'airborne radioactivity' and contamination found on its planes." Making the worst case scenario -- a nuclear meltdown -- all the more likely is the fact that employees at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have abandoned their posts and fled their responsibilities -- this comes after a third explosion at the doomed power plant.
Even as David McIntyre, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said, "Right now it's quite possible that there could be some radiation floating over the United States," the NRC "downplayed the threat to Americans," however. Mr McIntyre told the AFP: "We don't think that it would be particularly harmful... even in a worst case scenario," according to The Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, here is a YouTube video of the first nuclear power plant explosion at Fukushima from a Japanese news program. It shows what could be white smoke and/or steam rising from the building as a result of the nuclear power plant explosion. Video Credit : ProducerMatthew.
Separately, supplemental reports have come in that the Japanese government has imposed an evacuation area spreading 20 kilometers around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Prior to the explosion, energy scientists had been managing the nuclear emergency at the power plant by releasing steam, to relieve pressure in the cooling system. One risk from releasing steam is that critical water in the cooling system is lost ; if too much water is lost, there is a depletion in the cooling system, thereby leading to a risk of exposing the core, leading, in turn, to a nuclear meltdown.
Apparently, radiation would be carried across the Pacific Ocean by the wind currents, such as the jet stream. Scientists have not yet determined the amount of radiation that has been released by the nuclear power plant explosion. So far, the only information available is coming from nations nearer to Japan. United States government officials have yet to make any risk assessments in connection with radiation exposure.
Fukushima is approximately 150 miles north from Tokyo. Residents within the immediate Fukushima radius are being told to stay indoors, turn off air conditioners, and avoid drinking tap water. It is not yet known what nuclear emergency advisories are being made, or preparations being taken, at other large large cities in Japan. Later on Saturday, however, there was news that the company that operates the power plant planned to use sea water to cool down the reactor's core, and it was also reported that authorities were planning for the distribution of Iodine to residents. (Iodine can be taken to prevent the absorption of radiation by the thyroid, reported MSNBC.)
[Updated Monday, 14 March 2011 9:20 am EDT] : Whereas the original photograph that circulated last weekend was not an official map, the forecast direction where wind currents would carry airborne radioactivity is generally consistent with the jet stream and the westerly wind currents over the Pacific Ocean. Tom Costello, an NBC News correspondent for The Today Show, predicted that nuclear radiation would be carried by wind currents over the Pacific Ocean, but would ''dissipate'' over the ocean, presumably before any radioactivity would reach the U.S. West Coast. No scientific evidence was given to support that radioactivity would completely dissipate, however.
OP-ED : After Rudin Management converts St. Vincent's Hospital into Luxury Condos, will the billion-dollar real estate empire next convert closed schools into more luxury condos ?
Since he has become mayor, Michael Bloomberg has waged a sustained campaign to layoff teachers and close schools. Once wonders why he is systematically attacking public education, which is such an important underpinning of our society.
Remember how New York University got away with demolishing the Edgar Allan Poe house to build a new mega-building ? Well, yesterday, word was received that St. Vincent's Hospital, which closed after mysterious back-room meetings last year, is being converted into luxury condos by the Rudin Family. Are we beginning to see a pattern ?
In the last 10 or so years, no public institution (not a historical landmark like the former house of the famous poet Edgar Allan Poe, not St. Ann's Church, not the fabled St. Vincent's Hospital, not even public schools, where children go for an education) has been safe from being condemned and closed down -- all in the name of more and more reckless real estate development.
It is time for people to wake up and see what is on the horizon : the time is going to come when children are going to be loitering in the streets, having nowhere to go, nothing good to occupy their time, and no future to create, after all the teacher layoffs and school closings. There will be less firehouses and fewer hospitals. What kind of urban design for a metropolis is Mayor Bloomberg creating ?
But according to the real estate development wet dreams of Mayor Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and other development-crazed politicians, that is exactly what they want. Their vision for a new ''partnership'' for New York must include closing down public institutions, like schools, firehouses, and our historical landmarks, to make room for more luxury condo conversions and mega-buildings.
What happened to wanting to live in an exceptional city ? Aren't we capable of being better than this ? We need to organize grassroots efforts to block the elitist urban-renewal projects of real estate developers, like the Rudin Family, who seem to be joining Mayor Bloomberg on a renewed campaign to destroy the fragile character and experience of our local neighborhoods. It's time to get organized and fight back !
Christine Quinn's Bluff Pays Off : Needs Assessment Provided Cover For Back-Room Real Estate Deal For St. Vincent's
We don't want to say, ''We Told You So,'' but we told you so. First, Christine Quinn said, ''We are not going to fall for that BAIT-and-SWITCH.'' But, like time and time again, Speaker Quinn was just pulling the wool over our eyes.
It was reported earlier today that St. Vincent's Hospital is going to become luxury condos. Naturally, it should come as no surprise that the announcement coïncides with a Joint Meeting of Manhattan Community Boards 2 and 4. The upcoming needs assessment (aka Monkey Survey) was nothing but a farce, SMOKE-and-MIRRORS to provide the Rudin family cover to buy St. Vincent's and turn it into luxury condos.
Assess Your Access Community ForumVoters have no say in their government under the administration of Speaker Quinn and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Christine Quinn Sells St. Vincent's Hospital to Rudin Family ; Jane Jacobs is Turning in Her Grave. :'(
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continues her campaign to sell New York City landmarks to real estate developers, activists say. Witness the latest announcement involving the historic real estate of the former St. Vincent's Hospital.
From Curbed :
If this graphic looks familiar, it's because we've seen it before, back when the Landmarks Presrevation Commission approved the highly controversial St. Vincent's redevelopment plan. In the intervening months, the hospital's closure took that redevelopment plan off the table, and the great St. Vincent's sell-off began. And then this bombshell: the Observer reports that, actually, the sawtooth O'Toole Building will be retrofitted and reopened as an emergency medical facility, with assistance from Rudin Management, the developer behind the previous plan, and North Shore-LIJ hospital. A victory for preservationists? Yes and no.
One thing the preservationists didn't want was the construction of an FX Fowle-designed residential building on Seventh Avenue South. Win some, lose some: that aspect of the old plan is back in a big way (as is the Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates makeover of St. Vincent's Triangle). The building will contain 450 units of luxury condos. Last time the subject came up, the LPC ordered the 233-foot building cut down a few stories, so we don't know what the final version will look like. We're guessing the architectural surgeons will still end up with something similar to the last design.
The rumour amongst activists it that, for an encore, Speaker Quinn will join forces with Mayor Bloomberg, to bust the unions of public employees, like teachers.
