DAILY LEAKS AT FUKUSHIMA, 5 BILLION Bq STRONTIUM-90, 150 BILLION Bq CESIUM-137

Tepco announced in a press conference near the end of August that 5 Billion Becquerels  (Bq) of Strontium-90 flowed into the Pacific daily throughout 2014.

They also announced 2 Billion Bq of Cesium-137 and 150 Billion Bq of Tritium flow to the sea every single day as well. 

This number change would make one year at the lower 2014 rate add 1,719,150 billion Bq of MEASURED isotopes to the Pacific, or an annual total 1.7 Petabecquerels in a year at this rate.

The bulk of this is tritium.  
TEPCO DID NOT GIVE READINGS FOR ALL RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES BEING RELEASED FROM DAI'ICHI.  

 WHO TRUSTS TEPCO TO REPORT THE TRUTH?

AT THIS "PRESS RELEASE", THEY HAD TO CHANGE THE TRITIUM FLOW DATA AFTER IT WAS POINTED OUT THE NUMBERS DID NOT MATCH THE FLOW CHART.

TEPCO ALSO ADMITTED THAT LEAKS IN YEARS PRIOR TO 2014 WERE HIGHER, SO 2014 LEAKS WERE LESS THAN 2011, 2012, AND 2013, BUT THE GRAPH PRESENTED ONLY SHOWED THE MUCH HIGHER LEVELS FOR 2013.

According to journalist Ryuichi Kino,TEPCO said this may be due to failings of some sort within the “glass” wall at the sea front. This is an underground wall made in the soil by injecting a solidifying agent to block water flow.

 

TEPCO HAS ADMITTED THAT WALL WAS A FAILURE.   

Underground wall nearly doubled the increasing speed of retained water in plant buildings   

The admissions were extracted by journalists that continued to press TEPCO for an answer.     

Transcript of the admission (in Japanese) http://kiikochan.blog136.fc2.com/blog-entry-3870.html. 

 

 

SOURCE: http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=13700

 

 This drastically changes the estimated releases to the sea in total.   

4 YEARS FROM FUKUSHIMA COMPARED TO 41 YEARS IN NEVADA

AS WE READ ABOVE, DAI'ICHI IS RELEASING NOT QUITE 2 PETABECQUERELS PER YEAR OF MEASURED RADIATION, SO AT LEAST 8 Ptbq SINCE 2011.

The estimated total radioactivity from weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site was 5,600 petabecquerel , from 100 bombs.

That's about, what, 56 Petabecquerels per bomb?

And, after all this time, the place is still contaminated, still contaminated, STILL CAUSING CANCERS.

Tritium contamination in groundwater was first detected off-site in Nevada in 2009 near where two nuclear tests — the 1968 Benham and 1975 Tybo tests — were conducted in Pahute Mesa in the site’s northwest corner.  

 Most of the early tests, 100 in all, were conducted above ground, beginning with the first one at the Nevada site in 1951 until all testing ended in 1992. 

Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah.    

Marked increases in cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980. 

 

[ See: Johnson, Carl (1984). "Cancer Incidence in an Area of Radioactive Fallout Downwind From the Nevada Test Site". Journal of the American Medical Association 251 (2): 230. doi:10.1001/jama.1984.03340260034023]

 

KNOWING THIS, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT, WHAT CAN THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN EXPECT FROM THEIR DISASTER?

 

IS TEPCO MONITORING EVERY RADIOACTIVE ELEMENT?
WE SAW NO DATA ON PLUTONIUM, NEPTUNIUM, AMERICIUM, POLONIUM, COBALT, URANIUM...WELL, YOU KNOW, THE ENTIRE LIST.

THERE WAS ALSO NO DATA FOR THE "FUKUSHIMA FINGERPRINT", CESIUM-134, WAS THERE?

NOR DOES TEPCO MEASURE WHAT THEY'RE SENDING INTO OUR ATMOSPHERE EVERY DAY, NOR WHAT'S EMITTED FROM ALL THEIR MILLIONS OF LEAKY BARRELS AND BLACK BAGS FILLED WITH RADIOACTIVE WATER, SOIL, AND WASTE...NOR DOES THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT MONITOR WHAT THE DAIICHI PLANT IS LEAKING INTO THE SOIL, INTO THAT ANCIENT AQUIFER RIGHT BENEATH THE REACTORS THERE...NOR WHAT GOES UP IN SMOKE AS THEY CONTINUE TO BURN DEBRIS...AND ARE THEY STILL BURNING THINGS ON THAT BARGE OUT IN THE HARBOR AT NIGHT?
WHAT WAS THAT?


HOW DO THEY MEASURE THINGS LIKE WE READ BELOW FROM HEADLINES IN JAPAN?

    THEY DON'T!
BUT OTHERS DO. 

 Sr-90 density spiked 170 percent at an observation well beside Reactor 2

              

45 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 detected from farm soil in Chiba prefecture

5,600 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 from vacuum cleaner dust accumulated from this September in Iwaki city 

Significant level of Cs-134/137 measured from 46 of 50 dried persimmons from Fukushima

 

420 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 detected from mushroom sold on a shelf in Gunma

Cs-134/137 detected from 9 of 9 pond smelt samples in Gunma

Cs-134/137 detected from 6 of 6 sea bass samples taken Ibaraki offshore

 

 

Cesium-134/137 measured over 200 percent of safety level from Fukushima rice 

 

Cs-134/137 detected double as food safety limit from water purification plant soil in Saitama

Still 102,900 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 measured from Matsutake mushroom in Minamisoma city


Radioactive density in tapwater higher in Tokyo than Miyagi in first quarter of 2014


Ice cream products of “Glico” is made of Fukushima milk / Thai airways serves as in-flight meal
It's part of the airline's "Taste of Japan" campaign. 

http://www.straight.com/blogra/401131/all-nippon-airways-serves-food-fukushima-taste-japan-promotion

Still high level of radiation from fish] 193,000 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 from fish in Fukushima plant port

110,000 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 from spotbelly rockfish of Fukushima plant port



FOR MORE REPORTS ON FOOD CONTAMINATION, LIKE IN BEEF FROM 8 PREFECTURES, SEE http://fukushima-diary.com/ecology-2/food-contamination-ecology/page/5/.

AND REMEMBER, BOYS AND GIRLS, OUR CONGRESS HAS PASSED A BILL THAT BANS LABELS WITH COUNTRY OF ORIGIN ON THEM.

WE MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST JAPANESE FOOD ITEMS.


NO, THAT, ALL THAT, THEY CAN'T MEASURE...THEY DO NOT MEASURE ALL LEAKING RADIATION AND EVEN ONCE ADMITTED THEY DON'T HAVE INSTRUMENTS THAT WILL MEASURE THAT HIGH!

THEY WERE ALSO CAUGHT MORE THAN ONCE FALSIFYING MEASUREMENTS, FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS.

JUST THIS PAST MONTH, A NEW PLAN...LET'S EVAPORATE IT!

Tepco considers evaporating 800,000 m3 of Tritium water to the air.

NOT MENTIONED?

WATER RUNNING THROUGH THOSE REACTOR BUILDINGS EVERY RAIN THEY HAVE AND THEN OUT ONTO THE GROUND IS ALREADY "EVAPORATING INTO THE AIR", WHILE THE SURFACE WATER IN THE PACIFIC ALSO GETS "EVAPORATED" BY THE SUN EVERY DAY.

THEY'VE GOT THE "EVAPORATION" THING GOING ON NOW.

BUT THEY DON'T MEASURE MUCH OF ANYTHING.

IS ANYONE MEASURING FALLOUT LEVELS IN THAT TSUNAMI DEBRIS HITTING AMERICAN AND CANADIAN AND MEXICAN BEACHES?

IT HAS BEEN IN THE OCEAN COLLECTING MORE RADIATION FOR OVER 4 YEARS NOW.

WHAT ARE THE EXACT PLUTONIUM MEASUREMENTS?
WHO CARES, EITHER AMONG JAPANESE OFFICIALS OR OUR OWN? 
 

WAY BACK IN SEPTEMBER OF 2011: 

SPA Magazine has now uncovered that “several thousand” becquerels of neptunium-239 was found in Date City. neptunium-239 evolves into plutonium-239 that has a half life of 24,200 years. These findings show that Date City has a significant plutonium contamination that neither TEPCO or the government are aware of or admitting. It was previously disclosed by the same magazine that Iitate-Mura had the same kinds of heavy plutonium contamination. 

This is a big problem, plutonium has some serious health risks  and it is being found in large amounts 60km from the plant.

The government and TEPCO have been trying to focus public attention on first iodine-131 and now on cesium-137.

They rarely test for or mention strontium-90 or plutonium-239, two isotopes that are considerably more dangerous.

The nuclear research that discovered the findings is not releasing all of the information or their name.

They stated they want the information to make it to a peer reviewed journal outside Japan first, expressing concerns about the government squashing the information. In light of the current situation in Japan this is an understandable action by the researcher.

JP Gov to consider filing a suit in WTO against S. Korea for banning all fishery products from 8 prefectures.

 

 LET'S HEAR IT FOR SOUTH KOREA FOR PROTECTING THEIR CITIZENS!
WISH AMERICA WOULD! 

RADIATION DATA ERASED BY WOODS HOLE  


The Woods Hole “Our Radioactive Ocean” project has erased years of Fukushima Pacific contamination data from their website.

The website originally contained data from their 2011 monitoring voyage and data for each year up to 2015. As of today the website only contains data for 2013-2014 with some of the 2013 data near Hawaii now missing.  

Since we have been following the ongoing monitoring done by various groups on the Pacific, our article archive provides a documentable paper trail of what used to be there and what work has been done in the past.

Our article from March 2013 when Woods Hole announced the program included a temporary web address for the monitoring program that was later replaced by the official OurRadioactiveOceans.org.

This old address still contains all the data from 2011-2015 but the public would not be directed to this page and would only be found if you had the same old link as on our 2013 article.

**UPDATE** Two other unrelated websites house screen shots of the OurRadioactiveOcean.org site, both taken in 2014 that show the 2011-2012 data was on the site.


1. Deep Sea Newshttp://www.deepseanews.com/2014/01/first-results-from-crowdfunded-study-shows-radioactive-seawater-from-fukushima-has-not-reached-the-us-coast/

Screenshot of Deep Sea News including the URL showing their screenshot of OurRadioactiveOcean.org taken in January of 2014 that shows the 2011-2013 data was previously included on the website.


 2. Orgo-Nethttp://orgo-net.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html


MEANWHILE, IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO COVER UP, PRETEND IT'S PART OF THE BEACH, COVER IT WITH SAND, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE.
SAVE MEGABUCKS, JUST HIDE THE EVIDENCE, LET THE TIDES TAKE IT OUT TO SEA, LET RAIN WASH IT INTO THE OCEAN.
"OOPS, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM", RIGHT , TEPCO?  

FUKUSHIMA WORKER'S CANCER TIED TO HIS JOB THERE, RECEIVES COMPENSATION

The 30 year old man with leukemia was awarded work related compensation. His exposure at the plant was 15.7 mSv.

The worker with leukemia had a lower exposure dose than many of the workers at the plant with some as high as 750 mSv and many workers exceeding the 100 mSv limit that prevents further work at the plant.

Complicating the matter further was the lack of enough working dosimeters during the initial disaster.
Some workers did not have one or they shared a dosimeter among a work party.

There are also instances where workers left their dosimeter behind to do dangerous work so they would not end up excluded from further work at the plant.

Even the more routine work later on saw instances of contractors having workers put lead shields over their dosimeter so they could work longer at the plant.

BUT ABOUT 4,000 WORKERS LISTED BY TEPCO ARE "MISSING", REPORTED MISSING BY RELATIVES, SOME, BUT OTHERS JUST "DISAPPEARED" .


WHY AREN'T AMERICA'S MEDIA PICKING UP HEADLINES FROM JAPAN THAT REPORT SUCH THINGS?

IS IT SO WE DON'T SEE WHAT CAN HAPPEN, WHAT IS HAPPENING AND DEMAND AN END TO NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS HERE?

OR IS IT, AS SOME "CONSPIRACY THEORISTS" SAY, JUST A GREAT WAY TO MAKE SURE MILLIONS DIE FROM RADIATION HERE IN AMERICA?

THAT IS A SERIOUSLY SICK CHARGE...GENOCIDE... BUT SEEING WHAT WE'VE SEEN IN THE PAST, LOOKING AT OUR OWN NEVADA TEST SITE, HANFORD FACILITY, WIPP, LOS ALAMOS, THREE MILE ISLAND, THE SAVANNAH RIVER FACILITY, YANKEE, TURKEY CREEK, ALL OF THEM...WHETHER INTENTIONALLY OR NOT, THOSE LEAKY TOWERS CARRY DEATH ON THE WIND, SEND IT INTO SOIL AND WATER, AND WE PUT UP WITH IT, SO MAYBE WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET?


MAYBE SOME DO...LIKE THOSE WHO COVER UP THESE FACTS WE FIND FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES. 

BUT NOT THOSE OF US WHO ARE SCREAMING FOR AN END TO THE MADNESS.  

WE GET LESS THAN 15% OF ALL ENERGY FROM NUKES...WE DON'T NEED IT.  

WE NEED TO MAKE THEM BURY THOSE SITES FOREVER, FIND WAYS TO STOP THE LEAKS, BUT THE VERY ONES WHO GAVE US NUKES ADMITTED LONG AGO THAT THERE IS NO WAY TO MAKE THEM SAFE, NO WAY TO KEEP THEM FROM LEAKING OUT INTO OUR ENVIRONMENT, NO WAY TO KEEP CANCERS FROM HAPPENING BECAUSE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY OR NUCLEAR BOMBS. 

STILL, WE COULD STOP PRODUCING NUCLEAR WASTE, CLOSE ALL THE PRESENT FACILITIES, NEVER AGAIN USE THAT GLOW-IN-THE-DARK MONSTER FOR ANY REASON.  

WE WERE WRONG TO BRING SUCH A THING INTO THE WORLD, AND WE ARE WRONG TO CONTINUE "FEEDING" IT.  

 

______________________


FURTHER READING, INFORMATION.

~ A REALLY GOOD TIMELINE OF WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHEN AT FUKUSHIMA CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14318 .

GOING TO THE OLYPICS?
BE AWARE OF THIS:

~ Tokyo supermarket sells Fukushima tomatoes for 50% price of other origins  


~ Elementary school student in Tokyo area, “We should think all the food is contaminated. We are just left to die.”


~ 1.04 Bq/Kg of Cs-137 detected from powdered milk in Tokyo, already distributed for sale


THE ABE ADMINISTRATION MAY BE "DISCOURAGING" THE PUBLISHING OF RADIATION TESTS OF FOOD, WATER, AIR QUALITY:

~ Radiation test result of food for self-consumption is missing on the website of Minamisoma city


~RADIATION DATA ERASED
 http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=15146

~ Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb 26, 2015: NRA chief slams TEPCO for data reporting delay… after rainwater contaminated with high-level radioactive materials leaked into the sea.

~ Tunnels under Fukushima plant suspected to have quake damage — Allows radioactive water to ‘move’ into ground — Still holding over 15,000 tons — High-level contamination flowing in from turbine buildings — Tepco “couldn’t afford to work on tunnels” August 3, 2013

Nearly 10 Trillion Bq of Cesium — Concentration of strontium-90 and other radioactive materials not reported April 14, 2014

http://enenews.com/officials-hot-material-15-km-from-fukushima-plant-is-most-likely-from-unit-3-7-3-billion-bqkg-of-cesium-over-7500-bq-kg-of-plutonium-and-americium-mox-fuel-a-contributing-factor-phot

~ A MAP OF WHERE THE "BOMBS BURSTED IN AIR" IN AMERICA, JUST IN THE NEVADA TEST RANGE.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site#/media/File:USGS_NTS_detonations.png

BIGGEST PROBLEMS HUMANS FACE?

What's the biggest problem facing humanity over the next 50 years?

 

According to Nobel laureate Richard Smalley, whose chart is above, the answer is energy.

 

In a lecture, Smalley explained that finding sustainable sources of energy for the entire world will not only alleviate a growing energy crisis, but will also assist in the solution to many of the world's other problems, such as water, terrorism, and health.

I HAVE TO WONDER HOW SMALLEY SCORED IN SOMETHING CALLED "COMMON SENSE LOGIC"?  
WHY?  

BECAUSE IT IS THE VERY NATIONS OF EARTH WHO HAVE ALL THAT WHICH SEEM TO MAKE THE MOST WAR, FINANCE OR CREATE THE MOST TERROR, CONTROL THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S WATER AND HAVE THE WORST HEALTH.

FROM THE WEBSITE "QUORA":

[THEIR "ABOUT" STATEMENT:

"Quora's mission is to share and grow the world's knowledge. We want to democratize access to knowledge of all kinds—from politics to painting, cooking to coding, etymology to experiences—so if someone out there knows something, anyone else can learn it. Quora makes it easy to get your questions answered, share your own knowledge, and browse the most interesting information people across the world want to share."]

QUOTES FROM SELECTED "MEMBERS" OF QUORA:

"In the short term, our greatest threats are unpredictable solar events, volcanic eruptions, uncontainable plagues, war, and asteroid/comet collisions.

 

In the long-term and in terms of probability, the greatest threat to humanity's continued survival is global thermonuclear War.

Mutually assured destruction as a deterrent is only relevant if you assume rational actors, and we have seen from North Korea to the Iranian government that self-preservation does not dependably produce rational behavior. "

"I think a big risk is that as technology improves, individuals are capable of much greater destructive damage than ever before. This is either with bombs, or, in the future, viruses. "
"A halt to innovation and, as a result, economic growth.Malthus T.R. 1798. An essay on the principle of population.
You can find a summary of the Malthusian Theory here: Malthusian catastrophe."

"Nick Bostrom from Future of Humanity Institute (Univ. of Oxford) has a nice article enumerating the so-called existential risks here.To enumerate some of the more obvious:

• asteroid or comet impact
• deliberate or accidental misuse of nanotechnology
• nuclear holocaust
• unfriendly artificial (super)intelligence
• genetically engineered or naturally evolved diseases
• physical experiments gone wrong (e.g. resulting in a miniature black hole in the center of our planet)
• attack by a hostile extraterrestrial intelligence
• an environmental catastrophe (e.g. global warming gone into self-accelerating death spiral)
• "we're living in a simulation and it gets shut down" (related to Bostrom's pet hypothesis)
• stalling of scientific, technological, or cultural development (e.g. "value erosion")"

"Here are some possible scenarios:

- a nuclear war (Korean war? Iran war? a war by mistake?)
- a mortal virus (plague, HIV, ebola, others?)
- super-volcanoes (like the one which is dormant now in Yellowstone Park)
- rapid changes in the world natural environment (see Atlántida, but at the world scale)
- intelligent machines taking over the world (Terminator or Matrix anyone?)
- alien invasion (War of the Worlds perhaps?)
- messing with enough anti-matter (better than classic nuclear bombs)
- an asteroid or comet impact (where are the dinosaurs? It's a matter of when, not if.)
- a powerful gamma ray burst (from the Sun or from exploding nearby stars)
- encounter with a black hole - micro or macro (Large Hadron Collider maybe - not really possible but who knows - or some which are wandering in the Universe?)
- Sun becoming a red giant (that will happen for sure)
- the Universe itself collapsing or stretching too much (that could also happen)"

"Another serious threat is the Yellowstone super-volcano caldera. It's about due for another massive eruption. Modern humans weren't around for its last one. There is a lava pool growing under it with enough molten rock to fill the Grand Canyon 11 time over."


"1) Fossil fuel depletion, and the rapidly looming crisis of fuelling and maintaining human civilization at its current population and energy-usage levels. Electric cars must still be charged by power plants, and are built by a modern global economy itself utterly interwoven with oil power and oil products.

2) Climate change will drive climatic instability, almost certainly damaging agriculture systems, as well as causing widespread correlated damage to the environment and biodiversity. Plus many major urban cities will be threatened by rising water levels.

3) Non-climate change related environmental damage caused by the continuing industrial activity of our society. Particularly accelerating biodiversity losses causing ecosystem "crashes", and the further expansion of monoculture agriculture making the world food supply dangerously homogenous.

4) Potential use of nuclear weapons as global politics are destabilized as a result of food shortages, infrastructure instability, unemployment, social unrest and political radicalism (points 1, 2, and 3).

5) Widespread antibiotic resistance, reintroducing humanity to some forgotten bedmates.

6) Increasing physical and information vulnerability of individuals, governments, corporations and other institutions, public and private, as human society becomes more dependent upon digital infrastructure.

7) Finally, the loss of compassion and human spirit as things start to get tough."

 

"Overpopulation is the elephant in the room of our anxiety about the future of the species. It is the background problem that lies behind many of the issues that currently face the world, such as food security, climate change, pandemics and geopolitical tension.

 

Humanitarian concerns rightly mean that we work hard to bring people from around the world up from under the poverty line, but as we do so we are transforming them into Western-style consumers with the same wasteful and consumption-driven lives we lead. Given the physical capabilities of the planet our current situation is unsustainable.

I cannot see a way out, however. The sense that we have a right to life and a right to create life runs deep in us all." 

[MY NOTE: HOW ABOUT IF WE ALL LEARNED WE CAN DO QUITE WELL WITH LESS OF EVERYTHING, HMMM?
WE DON'T TRULY NEED HALF OF WHAT WE THINK WE NEED, MAYBE?]

 

FROM "A FORMER FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER":  

"I'll go with Corruption, on both governmental and personal levels.

If people, singly or in mass, stopped trying to get one over the other guy or group of guys through dishonest means, life for everyone would be a lot easier." 

[MY NOTE: NOT EASIER, BUT PERHAPS WITH FEWER DISTRACTIONS LIKE, OH, I DUNNO, WAR?]

 

 

A POLL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION:

~ THE #1 PROBLEM, ACCORDING TO THOSE SURVEYED IN THE E.U.?
Poverty, Hunger And Lack Of Drinking Water.

28 percent of the EU said that poverty, hunger and lack of drinking water represented the biggest problem for the world.
That number was 34 percent when a similar survey was conducted in 2009.

Who is the most caring nation?

France, though over half of those surveyed in all countries said that poverty was a global issue.

The least caring?

The United Kingdom, where 49 percent of people surveyed didn't mention global poverty as a big problem.

SOURCE: Eurobarometer  


[THE TEA ROOM WONDERS HOW MANY OTHERS READING HERE LOATHE "POLLS", SEE THEM AS TOO EASILY MANIPULATED AND NOT "POLLING" NEARLY ENOUGH PEOPLE.

DO EVEN A MILLION PEOPLE "POLLED" REALLY SHOW US WHAT THE MAJORITY BELIEVE?

 IT'D ALSO BE NICE TO ALWAYS KNOW WHO PAID FOR THE "POLLS", WOULDN'T IT?]


~#2 CLIMATE CHANGE  
20 percent of Europe think that climate change is the world's biggest problem.
On average, when asked to score out of 10 how big a threat climate change was, Europe rated it at 7.4.

~#3 The Economic Situation
16 percent of Europe believes that the globe's economy is its single biggest hurdle today.
Less surprising is that Greece is the most concerned European nation when it comes to economic matters.

THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST PROBLEM, PERHAPS?

"HUMANITY ITSELF.
Its own ignorance.  

Technology has been developed surpassing human maturity.
This is always dangerous to a race and the planet upon which it abides. 

[MY NOTE: WONDER WHAT OTHER PLANET AND RACES THAT 'MEMBER' CHECKED WITH FOR COMPARISON?] 

Greed and disconnect is the second most dangerous thing, also stemming from a low level of evolution. 

It is ignorance.

Creating imbalance in a society's ability to flourish and develop potential.  

 It weakens the organic whole of societal structure, imposing increased stress and weakness upon its entirety. Fear fights humanity's progress. 
Human fear is a great threat to humanity."

"The bottom line is humanity is the greatest threat to humanity.  
The state of being that the majority of humanity embraces, binds them to illusions of reality, separateness and fear. 

Actions arising out of this state of delusional mind bear negative consequences. 

 It forms a loop repeating itself over and over again." 


TO WHICH ANOTHER MEMBER RESPONDED:  
"Mankind is unable to control his reproductive urges, yet he is the only creature on earth with the capacity to contemplate doing so. It is not as though he is an endangered species, but he breeds away without giving a thought to the impact it will have on the planet in the future and whether he can afford to support his offspring or not.  [MY NOTE: MOST HUMAN BEINGS, IT SEEMS TO ME, SELL THE ABILITY OF HUMANS TO CONTROL ALL OF OUR DRIVES, THOUGHTS, ACTIONS WAY SHORT. ANY HUMAN BEING IS CAPABLE, QUITE CAPABLE OF EXERCISING 100% CONTROL OVER EVERY URGE, EVERY THOUGHT AND EVERY ACTION.
WE CALL THIS WONDERFUL ABILITY....FREE CHOICE!] 

There are so many unsolved mysteries right here on the ground, yet he prides himself on his ability to waste vast sums of money on sending craft into space and to explore other nearby heavenly bodies.

He sends all his healthiest specimens to be killed in wars, retaining the sick, the lame and the lazy to propagate his species.

Is this small sample a sign of mankind's vaunted intelligence?

If they are, then mankind is truly his own greatest threat."     

[MY NOTE: OR, IS IT THAT WE ACCEPT THE EXCUSES HANDED TO US TO USE EACH DAY WHICH, THEMSELVES (THE EXCUSES), ARE DESIGNED TO WEAKEN US AND DUMB US DOWN INTO A "HELPLESS HERD" MENTALITY THAT IS DOCILE, COMPLACENT, APATHETIC BY USING THOSE VERY EXCUSES...LIKE "EVERYBODY DOES THAT", "YOU JUST CAN'T HELP YOURSELF", "YOU CAN'T STOP BECAUSE YOU ARE ADDICTED", ETC?  

 

 

ABOUT THOSE VIRUSES...

ONE MEMBER THINKS THEY'RE NOT THAT BIG A DEAL: 

"Viruses can kill a lot of people. Carefully designed and carefully spread virus could kill more than a half of human population. But no virus can kill all the people.

No virus can spread as fast as information about it.

In case of a large outbreak, airports and roads will be closed and people will start to avoid each other. They will start wearing masks, keep distance to everyone else and stay home as much as possible.

No virus can adapt to all climates, all immune systems and all lifestyles.
Some people will survive because they are immune, some because they are isolated, some because they live in too cold or too warm places."

[MY NOTE: WRONG ON ALL COUNTS, KEMO SABE!
THE COMMON COLD, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A VIRUS AND EXISTS IN ALL CLIMATES.

ANY VIRUS RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE, SPREAD ACROSS THE GLOBE MUCH AS VOLCANIC ASH SPREADS, OR INSERTED INTO ALL WATER SUPPLIES SIMULTANEOUSLY, WOULD INDEED SPREAD FASTER THAN ANYONE CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
AND IT WOULD NOT TAKE MUCH TO DO THE JOB.

THERE ALREADY EXIST PATHOGENS WHICH NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO...WELL, SO FAR.

MAYBE SCIENCE CAN DO A DESIGNER BABY, OR AN ENTIRE DESIGNER RACE WHICH CAN BE GENETICALLY MANIPULATED FOR RESISTANCE, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, SOME LAB SOMEWHERE IS CREATING A COUNTER-ACTION FOR THAT.

SCIENCE MARCHES ON...LIKE IT OR NOT.]



IS IT WEALTH? "Wealth disparity is in my opinion the most important challenge due to the criticality and scale of the problem." 

[MY NOTE: THE TEA ROOM WOULD SO LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY OF US HERE GREW UP HAPPILY IN A "LOWER CLASS" THAN THE SUPER-RICH? 
HOW MANY HAD OR HAVE QUITE HAPPY LIVES WITHOUT PILES OF CASH ON HAND? 
HOW MANY NEVER OR SELDOMLY GIVE THOUGHT TO WHO HAS MORE THAN WE HAVE?
SOME OF THE HAPPIEST AND HEALTHIEST PEOPLE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED LIVE A MORE OR LESS "SUBSISTENCE LIFESTYLE", DAY-BY-DAY, BARE-BONES SURVIVAL AS MOST WOULD LABEL IT.

HAPPY, VERY HAPPY...UNTIL SOMEONE CONVINCES THEM THEY SHOULD NOT BE HAPPY, SHOULD FIGHT FOR MORE, SHOULD GATHER "WEALTH".
YOU ALL HAVE SEEN THIS, I'M SURE.]


ANOTHER QUORA MEMBER HAD THE FOLLOWING LIST:

1. Religion - It is possible, given modern technology, that humans, in the name of  their religion will exterminate humanity.
2. Globalization - An industrial economy (and particularly, a global and industrial food system) makes humanity very fragile to diseases and very reliant on technology that may fail.
3. Technology - The unintended consequences of technology (specifically nanotechnologies and artificial intelligence) pose a threat to humanity.
4. Asteroid, Meteors, or the Sun Goes Nova - Of all non-human potentialities for extinction, I think this is one is most likely.

 

[MY NOTE: RELIGION IS NOT THE PROBLEM, PEOPLE DEMANDING THAT ALL ACCEPT THEIR RELIGION AS THE ONLY VALID RELIGION AND USING THE NAME OF WHATEVER GOD THEY CLAIM TO SERVE AS A WAR CHANT TO GO OUT AND FIGHT TO MAKE THEIR GOD "KING" IS THE PROBLEM.
YOU WANT TO WORSHIP A BOWL OF SPAGHETTI?
GREAT!

DO SO.
I DON'T.

I WON'T EVER DEMAND YOU WORSHIP ANYTHING BUT YOUR CHOSEN "GOD", AND YOU DON'T ASK ME TO ACCEPT SPAGHETI AS "GOD" AND WE HAVE NO PROBLEM, RIGHT?
NO, IT'S NOT RELIGION THAT'S THE PROBLEM, IT'S HUMANS USING RELIGION TO MAKE AN EXCUSE TO KILL EVERYONE ELSE..."IN THE NAME OF GOD", OR IN THE NAME OF SPAGHETTI.

AND, HONESTLY, I MUST SAY THAT ATHEISTS ARE THE WORST I'VE SEEN IN THIS CATEGORY. 


ATHEISTS CLAIM THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, THEN RUN AROUND LIKE FLOCKS OF CHICKENS AFTER IMAGINARY WORMS, TRYING TO FIND PROOF THERE IS NO GOD AND DEDICATE THEMSELVES TO FORCING THE WORLD TO ACCEPT THE "FACT" THAT THERE IS NO GOD, WHICH IS UNPROVABLE SINCE WE CAN'T GO LOOK IN OTHER GALAXIES FOR HIM,  ALL OF WHICH MAKES MANY ATHEISTS THE "BANE OF THE COSMIC FORGE" OR WORSE...
I DON'T BELIEVE IN ELVES, BUT I ALSO DON'T GIVE THE SMALLEST DAMN WHO DOES BELIEVE IN THEM!   IF WE ALL COULD JUST LEAVE PEOPLE THE HELL ALONE , NO MATTER WHAT THEY BELIEVE, KEEP TO YOUR BELIEFS, LET THEM HAVE THEIRS, PROBLEM SOLVED.  

WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANY SANE BEING ASK FOR PROOF OF SOMETHING THEY ARE HONESTLY CONVINCED DOES NOT EXIST?]   

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS?

"pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.".

"All of the usual culprits: greed, aggression, ignorance, inequality, are secondary results of psychic processes we do not control, working in us and through us mostly unconsciously."  [THE MEMBER WHO MADE THAT STATEMENT LIKELY MEANT PSYCHOLOGICAL, NOT PSYCHIC, BUT ISN'T HE STILL WRONG? 

ONLY WE CAN CONTROL ALL THOSE THINGS WITHIN OUR MINDS.
THE FIRST STEP IS ADMITTING THEY EXIST.
SEE THEM, :OWN" THEM, STOP THEM.]
TO BRING US FULL CIRCLE... ONE GUY WANTS A "GROUP-THINK" SCENARIO, A LA ORWELL'S '1984'...TO DO AWAY WITH "TRIBAL THOUGHT" AND BRING EVERYONE UP TO THINKING LIKE ...WHAT...AUTOBOTS?

LIKE THOSE WE ACCEPT AS OUR "INTELLECTUALS", OUR "EXPERTS"?

CRIMINY! WHAT HAPPENED TO INDIVIDUALISM AND INDEPENDENCE ARE GOOD THINGS?]

"To take advantage of the Internet and other means of global communication to end tribal thinking.

Throughout history, most people have only been exposed to the "truth" that is believed within their local social group. With the Internet, it has become possible for people all over the world to get deep information about any topic.

The challenge is (a) to learn to challenge our own provincial beliefs, and (b) learn to extract facts from the most complete-but-noisiest source of information ever."

 

HE DIDN'T TELL US, USING A BUSH, Jr. EUPHEMISM, WHO THE "DECIDER" WAS TO BE... AS IN WHO WILL DECIDE WHAT IS FACT? 

WE'VE RUN ON THEORIES FOR SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS NOW UNTIL THEORIES ARE ACCEPTED AS FACT, THOUGH THEY AREN'T PROVEN FACTS AT ALL.

NEED A FACT? 
JUST PULL ONE OUT OF THE BACKSIDE ORIFICE OF THE GREAT "DECIDER", RIGHT?  

"END TRIBAL THINKING"?

EVEN IF IT'S FACTUAL?  

"DEEP INFORMATION ABOUT ANY TOPIC"?  
WTH DOES THAT MEAN?

I READ RECENTLY ON THE INTERNET THAT EISENHOWER MADE A DEAL WITH  "E.T." ALIENS THAT THEY COULD HARVEST "X" NUMBERS OF HUMANS PER YEAR..
SERIOUSLY.
READ IT <HERE>.
 

IS THAT THE "DEEP INFORMATION" THAT GUY IS READING?  

THE DUMBING DOWN OF SOCIETY...IT STRIKES AGAIN. 

 

WHAT HE REALLY IS SAYING IS THAT "TRIBES" ARE DANGEROUS, IN HIS OPINION, SCARY, AND YET, HE DEMONSTRATES THE VERY "TRIBAL THINKING" HE CLAMS WE MUST RID OURSELVES OF BY SUGGESTING A CERTAIN SET OF "FACTS" SHOULD BE ACCEPTED BY ALL!


"STOP THINKING WHAT YOU THINK AND THINK LIKE I THINK", RIGHT?

THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN WITHOUT SERIOUS MIND-ALTERING CHEMICALS OR SOME REALLY NASTY BRAIN SURGERY, KID.

INDIVIDUALISM IS HERE TO STAY.
SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP.
NO TWO OF US WILL EVER THINK PRECISELY ALIKE. 

THOSE WHO ARE OKAY WITH INDIVIDUALISM SEEM A RATHER PEACEFUL LOT, COMPARED TO THOSE WHO DEMAND "GROUP-THINK".

THOSE 'GROUP-THINK' GUYS HAVE REALLY BIG WAR DRUMS AND POUND ON THEM INCESSANTLY....

THE RHYTHM OF THOSE GO SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

"MUST MAKE ALL COMPLIANT...MUST MAKE ALL LIKE ME...YOU'RE TOO DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT MEANS WRONG, I AM RIGHT!"


CAN IT BE THIS SIMPLE?

MANY OF US, WHETHER OF THE "OLDER GENERATION" OR OF TODAY'S YOUNGER ONES, WERE TAUGHT THAT THE FIRST PLACE WE SHOULD LOOK FOR A SOLUTION TO AN EXISTING PROBLEM WAS THE MIRROR.

NOT A CASUAL GLANCE OR A GAZE INTO A DISTORTED MIRROR WAS CONSIDERED, IT WAS NEVER ALLOWED, BUT A LONG, HARD, HONEST LOOK, ASKING OURSELVES QUESTIONS THAT SOME SAY TODAY REQUIRES "BRUTAL" HONESTY.
ONCE THAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED, ONWARD THEN, IF THE PROBLEM DID NOT LIE IN...SELF.

IF WE DID FIND SELF AT FAULT, WE "AUTO-CORRECTED" RATIONALLY AND COMPLETELY, EGO BE HANGED,
IT WAS JUST BETTER TO "FIX" THINGS THAN LET A PROBLEM SLIDE BECAUSE WE WERE THE PROBLEM.

 

IT WAS "OKAY" TO BE WRONG, "OKAY" TO LOSE TO "THE BETTER MAN" (OR WOMAN), AND IT WAS CERTAINLY OKAY TO GO ON WITH LIFE IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT BROODING.

THOSE WHO DESPISED CORRECTION WERE RARE, RARE ANOMALIES.

PROBLEMS WERE RESOLVED! 
WHAT A RELIEF! 

WE SAW OUR ERROR JUST IN TIME TO FIX IT!

WHEW!
NEVER WANT TO GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN...I'LL HAVE TO PAY CLOSER ATTENTION TO WHAT I DO, THINK, SAY...ETC.


IF WE WERE NOT THE PROBLEM, THEN ONWARD TO DIG OUT WHO OR WHAT WAS THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM, AND EVERYONE WAS HAPPY TO HELP "FIX" THINGS....WELL, EVERYONE I KNEW WAS.

WE LIVED, WE LEARNED, SO THAT WE DID NOT LITERALLY PERISH.

JUSTICE, HONEST, LOVELY JUSTICE PREVAILED.  
 

THE TRUTH ALWAYS GOT US TO THE POINT THAT EITHER (A) WE FIXED THE PROBLEM, OR (B) WE ADMITTED WE COULD NOT AND TURNED ELSEWHERE TO OLDER AND WHAT WE CONSIDERED WISER MINDS (DAMNED "TRIBAL THINKING", RIGHT?) , OR (C) EVERYONE AGREED THERE SIMPLY WAS NO SOLUTION...LIKE WHEN A RELATIVE OR FRIEND DEVELOPED A TERMINAL ILLNESS, DROUGHT OR TOO MUCH RAIN MEANT NO CROPS, ETC.

THERE WERE "WINNERS AND LOSERS" BACK THEN...ONE KNEW NOT TO EXPECT TO ALWAYS WIN, BUT ONE WAS DRIVEN TO BE THE BEST ONE COULD BE, MAINLY FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE AROUND US. 

 

WITH EVERYONE BUSY AS BEAVERS PERFECTING THEMSELVES, NOBODY HAD TIME TO BEAT OTHERS OVER THE HEAD WITH THEIR FAULTS. 


SOME DID GET "LEFT BEHIND" IN SCHOOL AND IN LIFE WHILE OTHERS MOVED ON.

THATS' JUST HOW LIFE IS...IF WE CONSTANTLY ARE BUSY PERFECTING SELF AND LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE THE HELL ALONE TO DO THE SAME.



SO...WHAT'S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TODAY, THE BIGGEST PROBLEM?


ASK A THOUSAND PEOPLE, YOU MAY GET 1,000 ANSWERS.

AND THAT'S FINE.
DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT IS "OKAY".
ALL DIVERSITY SEEMS TO BE A GOOD THING, YES?
"VARIETY ADDS SPICE TO LIFE", DOESN'T IT?

DISAGREEMENT IS TO BE EXPECTED, EVEN WELCOMED SINCE IT MAKES US THINK, CONSIDER, QUESTION.

WE JUST MUSTN'T IGNORE ANY PROBLEM, HOPING IT WILL GO AWAY.

WE FACE PROBLEMS HEAD-ON, UNAFRAID TO DISCOVER THAT WE MAY JUST BE PART OF THAT PROBLEM.
WE KNOW WE CAN "HANDLE IT".

WHATEVER TURNS OUT TO BE MANKIND'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE OR PROBLEM, WE HAVE THE MEANS TO SOLVE IT.

THAT'S WHAT MINDS ARE FOR, ISN'T IT?

WE ARE THE "TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN"...HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS.
WE CAN DO ANYTHING WE DECIDE TO DO.
IT'S MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION, MAYBE, THAT WE NEED TO WORK ON...FOR AS LONG AS WE LIVE.


SELF-EXAMINATION...IT TAKES GUTS!
WE HAVE THAT, ALSO, FOLKS.
HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!






_______________________________



ALMOST COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO THE ABOVE....
I FOUND A NICE SOURCE OF SOME FAIRLY GOOD EBOOKS, FREE FOR THE TAKING....
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO READ AND MAYBE NEED NEW MATERIAL, THERE ARE "CLASSICS" ON THIS SITE AS WELL AS SOME "ODD DUCKS".

JUST THOUGHT TO SHARE IT, SO....

http://www.accuracyproject.org/literature.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPACE X : TAKE TOP 1% TO MARS, LEAVE OTHER 99% BEHIND ON EARTH

                                           WILL THE WEALTHY CHOOSE MARS?



OR WILL THE MOON BE FAR ENOUGH OUT OF HARM'S WAY?


AS NEWSWEEK AND SPACE NEWS BOTH REPORT:  

 Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have a plan. They will help the richest people in the world go to Mars and start over, leaving the other 99 percent to suffer on a dying, warring planet.

While many dream of escaping earth to settle on Mars, billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are working to make it possible. But finding a new home on the red planet will likely only be for the rich, leaving the poor to suffer as earth's environment collapses and conflict breaks out.  

This is the unspoken flip side of Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’s Blue Origin. The space travel companies say they are creating a way for the human species to endure by populating other planets.

But the bottom line is that only the wealthy will have the means to move to Mars. Musk’s target ticket price is $500,000 a person in 2015 dollars, and that’s just to get there.

All this might sound crazy—except it’s not.

NASA AGREES!  
WE MUST COLONIZE MARS TO SAVE THJE HUMAN SPECIES.

"Colonizing Mars necessary to save human species from destruction, says NASA chief."
"Humans must colonize Mars to ensure our survival as a species, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at the opening of the Humans 2 Mars Summit at George Washington University.

"Colonizing Mars (and eventually other solar systems) is the only guarantee against extinction," Bolden said. "Even if some other global catastrophe does not wipe out humankind, eventually our sun will burn out."  

BLUE ORIGIN MAKES A GIANT STEP
Last month, Blue Origin advanced the technology of space flight by another important notch. The secretive company launched a rocket 62 miles into space and then landed it upright, like you might see in a sci-fi movie, just a few feet from the rocket’s launchpad. It’s a step toward making reusable rockets, and reusable rockets are absolutely essential to getting the cost of a Mars flight low enough to expand the target market beyond the Forbes 400.

Also in the mix are Richard Branson with his Virgin Galactic and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who funded the nerdily named Stratolaunch Systems. Space is turning into a billionaire-athon.  

At least in some circles, building colonies on Mars has entered the realm of the possible. Some writers and scientists think the first brave souls will make the six-month journey to Mars within 10 years, and that’s Musk’s prediction.

Not long after the technology is proven, regular flights of supplies and people will begin. The pioneers will have to build habitable indoor spaces and, later, domed communities.

As this year’s hit movie The Martian showed us, once on Mars it’s possible to grow food, make breathable air and harvest energy from solar panels.

Musk calls Mars “a fixer-upper of a planet,” but by 2040, he says, there should be a thriving colonial Martian town.

The cost of the flight and setting up on another planet will hover well past the means of almost anyone but the super rich.

Where will these wealthy people come from?

Most of the space travel companies so far are American.
What if those companies take mostly Americans?
Will we start a human colony on Mars or an American colony?

REMINDS ME OF THE MOVIE "2012", WHEN THE WORLD FACES CERTAIN DISASTER, BUT THE MOST WEALTHY HAVE HAD "ARKS" BUILT TO SAVE THEM, AND ONLY THE VERY RICH HAVE TICKETS FOR THAT RIDE.

THIS IS REALLY NOTHING NEW.
IN EVERY WAR, THE RICH HAVE SIMPLY MOVED OUT OF WAR'S WAY, MADE MILLIONS SELLING TO "BOTH SIDES", WHILE THE AVERAGE PEOPLE HAVE TO STAY AND TAKE THEIR CHANCES.

THE RECENT RUSH TO FIND AND GET TO A HABITABLE PLANET SURELY HAS A REASON BEHIND IT. 

Threat of comet impact with Earth much greater than previously believed, according to new study.


Sixth Mass Extinction Event - Stanford University News


SNOWDEN SAID IT'S SOLAR FLARES, THAT U.S. KNOWS THEY ARE IMMINENT
[There are other more 'credible' websites reporting that, but I chose the one above, "for fun".]

" Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that's new to human history. "
Or, as Michio Kaku has long said, a Carrington Event would stop us all in our tracks for a long time..


GAMMA RAY BURST?
(#7 on the list) Earth also has to contend with incredibly infrequent Gamma-ray bursts – streams of ultra-high energy radiation typically emitted from hypernovae. Although we are bombarded by weak Gamma-ray bursts daily, a burst originating from a nearby system – within 6500 light years away – has the potential to wreak havoc for anything standing in its way.


Disappearance of Earth's Magnetic Field
(#5 on the list)
Video <here>.


Inner Solar System Collision?
(#4 on the list)


Earth stops spinning?
Video <here>.


WE MAY NEVER KNOW WHAT THAT REASON IS THAT HAS UPED THE ANTE IN THE PAST DECADE OR SO, MADE IT "IMPERATIVE" THAT WE FIND A WAY TO LIVE ELSEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE, BUT IT MAY BE THAT ELON MUSK HAS GIVEN US A CLUE THAT "SOMETHING" IS MAKING SCIENCE, AND THE MEGA-RICH, NERVOUS? 

WELL, BON VOYAGE, ALL WHO GO.
AND MAY I ADD...GOOD RIDDANCE.

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, AFTER THAT DESERTION OF PLANET EARTH, WE CAN SEE A "NEW WORLD", SANS THE ULTRA-ULTRA RICH AND THEIR POLITICAL INFLUENCE?

WOULDN'T IT BE IRONIC IF THE "TOP 1%" BAILED OUT TO MARS AND THEN ONLY EARTH WAS SAVED FROM CATASTROPHE?

INTERNET DOWN, AN ANNUAL EVENT

FROM THE BACK DECK AS WATER RISES.



A WEE DUSTING OF SNOW BEGINS THE THREAT OF INTERNET DOWN.

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR, DEAR READERS...THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI IS FLOODING EXTENSIVELY, BACKING UP OUR LOCAL RIVERS, STREAMS AND INUNDATING THIS OLD OXBOW.

THE VIEW FROM HERE IS A WATERWORLD...FLOODING TO THE COUNTY ROAD, ACRES UPON ACRES OF WATER...AND NOW WE DROP INTO THE 20s AT NIGHT...ICE WILL FORM, AND THEREIN LIES THE ANNUAL PROBLEM OF NO INTERNET.


OUT HERE, IN THE WILDERNESS, INTERNET IS BY SATELLITE ONLY.

WE CAN GENERALLY SURVIVE THE FLOODING AND MAINTAIN CONNECTION, BUT NOT WHEN ICE FORMS ON THE SATELLITE DISHES.

SO... EVEN LIVING 8 FEET ABOVE THE FLOOD, A COMMUNITY OF HOMES BUILT "ON STILTS" (PILINGS, WHATEVER), KNOWING THIS HAPPENS TWICE A YEAR, WINTER AND SPRING, THERE'S JUST NO FIGHTING 'MOTHER NATURE'...WHEN THE ICE COMES, THE TEA ROOM MUST HIBERNATE, UNWILLINGLY, WITH MUCH COMPLAINT, AND HARSH WORDS FOR INTERNET PROVIDERS WHO CAN'T SEEM TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.

JUST WANTED TO MENTION THE "ANNUAL EVENT" IN CASE THINGS ESCALATE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE AND THE CURTAIN FALLS ON INTERNET CONNECTIVITY.

ACCORDING TO OUR WEATHER PREDICTIONS, THE MISSISSIPPI WILL FLOOD AS IT HASN'T IN YEARS.
I'M SURE MOST OF YOU HAVE SEEN THE FOOTAGE OF THE TERRIBLE FLOODING IN MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS. 

WE LIE SOUTH OF THAT, SO WE SIMPLY WAIT TO SEE.

IT'S VERY STRESSFUL ON WILDLIFE WHEN THIS HAPPENS.

THE UNPREPARED SQUIRRELS ARE HARD-PRESSED TO FIND FOOD OUT THERE.
THEY MUST TRAVEL THE TREETOPS TO GET TO DRY GROUND.

MANY SMALL ANIMALS HAVE TO "SWIM FOR IT".

AT NIGHT ONE CAN HEAR THE LOCAL DEER HERD SLOGGING THROUGH THE FLOODWATERS OUTSIDE, HEAR THE LOCAL COYOTES HOWL MUCH MORE THAN USUAL BECAUSE THEY CAN'T FOLLOW THE DEER, A RATHER EERY SOUND, AND A BIT SAD.

WHETHER WE SEE DAYS, WEEKS OR A COUPLE MONTHS OF THIS DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON TEMPERATURE AND ICE ACCUMULATION.

WHEN THE TEA ROOM GOES "DARK", THIS IS WHY.

MAY YOU ALL BE WELL...AND ABOVE WATER.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, PEOPLE OF EARTH!

HEALTH, EVERY BREATH YOU DRAW...PEACE, WHEREVER YOU GO...AND ENOUGH OF EVERY GOOD AND WONDERFUL THING TO SUSTAIN YOU, MY FRIENDS.

MAY YOUR BLESSINGS FALL LIKE RAIN.

WITH DEEPEST APPRECIATION TO ALL WHO READ HERE,

WANINAHI