Massive tsunami hits Japan (JARED MATTE MEMORIAL THREAD,RIP)

[Locit]

Jesus Christ I thought Gibbon was dead for about thirty seconds until I got far enough into this thread. Fuck, people. Just... fuck.

[P.P.A.]

He’ll always be dead in our hearts.

[Green Gibbon!]

Yeah, unfortunately, God has failed to kill me yet again. Please put away the champagne.

The earthquake really wasn't that big a deal over where I'm at. It was definitely the strongest since I came here, but there was no major structural damage. Shit fell off the shelves - in yesterday's garbage all my neighbors threw out their broken plates - the biggest thing was that we lost power for two days and phone lines until just about an hour ago.

It's been a pain in the ass to get information. I honestly had no idea what a big deal this was until power came back and I turned on the TV. A lady I work with was really worried about her husband in Miyako, a city on the coast that got slammed. I thought she was overreacting at the time, but then I saw the news. I still don't know how that turned out, I haven't been able to reach her. I know a couple of people who worked in those cities that got blasted - I think everyone is OK, but I'm just going on information from my company who in some cases only have second-hand reports.

People have been buying shit up like it's Armageddon. Convenience stores, usually open 24 hours a day 365 days a year - were actually closed for two days and now the shelves are empty, literally. I don't think they're selling anything except magazines and cigarettes. There's no meat, fish, dairy, or bread to be found anywhere. (I assume most of it had to be thrown away after the long power outage.) I had to wait in line over an hour to buy a flashlight on the day, and now of course you can't find such a thing (or batteries). And toilet paper. I'm down to my last three rolls and if Homac doesn't get some stock soon, I'll have to start using my curtains or something.

Also, constant aftershocks. We've had a few small quakes every day since then.


It's been an interesting week here!

[Segaholic2]

Glad you're okay. Good luck with your ass-wiping situation.

[Crowbar]

Jesus, sounds intense, hope things continue to be okay.

[Senbei]

Good to hear from you, man. I hope things settle down quickly. It's freaky to think of the area being without everyday amenities!

So, are people still going to their jobs and all that, or are things kind of at a standstill right now?

[Crisis]

Glad you're OK, GG!. And on the day my Pebbles arrived too...

And if you're short on toilet paper, well... you can always just hold it in.

[Isuka]

Glad you're okay. Good luck with your ass-wiping situation.

Ditto, it sounds like you're gonna have it rough...

In any case, it's a relief for you to be among us again.

[Ritz]

The NRC chairman has confirmed that radiation levels at the 4th reactor's spent fuel pool have gotten so high that the 50 workers left (of 750!) can't get close enough to cool things down. GG, It's great that we're finally hearing from you, but you might want to get the fuck out of there! Pretend you're French.

[(No Imagination)]

Can't they send in 50 bipedal robots or something? Or would the radiation melt their circuits..? Anyhow, I echo Ritz' suggestion - from the picture the media has been delivering, from over here it basically looks like an enormous radioactive Cthulhu is about to envelop that whole island with tentacles and drag it down to ocean floor.

[Delphine]

Oh, there you are.

[Ritz]

Anyhow, I echo Ritz' suggestion - from the picture the media has been delivering, from over here it basically looks like an enormous radioactive Cthulhu is about to envelop that whole island with tentacles and drag it down to ocean floor.

I don't know what the mainstream media is saying, but it's 100% guaranteed retarded and incorrect. It really isn't that bad- if the waste fire is the worst to come of this, I'd wager everything to the south would be relatively safe. GG's alleged location is about twice the current advised distance from the reactors and he isn't exactly facing the jet stream, but it's close enough that he might start spurting the acidic jizz he's always longed for if the wind gets wacky.

[Crisis]

This is a public report on nuclear safety from an academic journal evaluating the risks of unlikely nuclear plant complications, in this case an exposed expired fuel rod catching fire. The worst case scenario is described as "long-term contamination consequences... worse than those from the Chernobyl accident... which could cause tens of thousands of excess cancer deaths, loss of tens of thousands of square kilometers of land, and economic losses in the hundreds of billions of dollars."

Not that I want to say that the worst case scenario is guaranteed, but that exposed fuel rod has reportedly run out of coolant, just as recovery work on the plant slows to a crawl after personnel are forced to evacuate. And then you have those three reactors that are still running and could potentially all result in a simultaneous meltdown, the likes of which have never been precedented. Will they reach critical and undergo a complete meltdown? Will the containment vessel integrity be breached as a consequence? Or will it simply be a subcritical fire that goes out on its own? We don't know, but America is pretty upset about how badly Tepco seem to have under-evaluated the risks.

[Green Gibbon!]

So, are people still going to their jobs and all that, or are things kind of at a standstill right now?

No, everyone's back at work, at least everyone who can get to work. Transportation is another big problem right now. Apparently there's a fuel shortage - all the gas stations are closed, so you can't get gas or kerosene. I'm afraid to drive anywhere unless I absolutely have to.

Radiation doesn't concern me. I could use a third eyeball.

[cjmcray]

Hey! You're not dead!

To reiterate what Ritz said, i'd probably get the fuck out of there.

About the T.P situation, I would use a sock instead of ruining perfectly good curtains.

[Green Gibbon!]

In other news, Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4 was cancelled: http://www.zettai-zetsumei.com

I was kind of looking forward to it!

[Delphine]

About the T.P situation, I would use a sock instead of ruining perfectly good curtains.

And my first thought was, "but he needs socks for... OH GOD BRAIN WHY DID YOU DO THAT." If I have to suffer, you all have to suffer.

[Ritz]

The pillar of our community has set a fine example. We need to get our priorities straight:



The consequences will never be the same.

[P.P.A.]

Possible solution to your toilet problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKkryfdtMNQ
I really hope it will all be over soon and turn out not too badly, though. :(

That said, I wonder if it would be wise now to invest into the stocks of Japanese pharmacy companies producing iodine tablets and other medicaments which may or may not help against nuclear radiation considering how high in demand they will be if there is a nuclear meltdown and possible explosion afterwards. Of course, the stock market will know this too, but they might not act until this has already happened.
It would be so immoral and unethical it’s drag my karma (Hindu or Buddhist version) down into the negatives, but hey, I could donate the profits I make!

[Locit]

Glad you're okay. Good luck with your ass-wiping situation.

I think this sums up the sentiment quite admirably.

[Crisis]

Good things are happening at Fukushima right now. The power cables are ready to be set up at sunrise along with pumps to repair the coolant system. Radiation levels are rising but only at a very slow rate, and there haven't been any more sudden leaks or explosions. If things keep up then Tepco should regain control of the situation and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

[Spazz]

A Japanese cartoon about nuclear power plants and poop.

[Radrappy]

Good things are happening at Fukushima right now. The power cables are ready to be set up at sunrise along with pumps to repair the coolant system. Radiation levels are rising but only at a very slow rate, and there haven't been any more sudden leaks or explosions. If things keep up then Tepco should regain control of the situation and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

I had a feeling everything would turn out better than people were making it out to be. Why do people LOVE to jump on this shit? Since when did doom and gloom get so goddamn popular. You could almost hear the elation in reporter's voices when they talked about it.

[Crisis]

Human nature? We get excited about dangerous things all the time. It'd be different if we were actually involved - I'm sure the TEPCO officials are shitting themselves - but this is what humans do when they're distanced from events. They start to imagine all the different possibilities.

Right now Tepco are being criticised for not having a backup plan in case the power cable doesn't work. Which is actually fair, because there's no guarantee that the power cable will fix the problems in the trouble reactors. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

[G.Silver]

Everyone loves a train wreck!

You could almost hear the elation in reporter's voices when they talked about it.

They were happily thinking about how many people were going to tune into their broadcast now that they'd had the shit scared out of them.