China moving fast, pours concrete for reactor

China isn't wasting time pouring concrete for more nuclear reactors:

Westinghouse: First Concrete Pour For Haiyang Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Completed in Record Time


"Haiyang is the site of two Westinghouse AP1000 units that are being built under a contract signed in 2007 for four AP1000 units. Two other AP1000 units are currently under construction at Sanmen, China. The first of the four units, Sanmen Unit 1, is scheduled to come online in 2013, with each unit thereafter subsequently coming online approximately six months later. Additionally, Westinghouse, Shaw and China are currently in discussion on plans for more AP1000 plants to be sited inland of China's coastal areas."

Bully! And of course Westinghouse is a under Toshiba, who's working with Bill Gates to make neighborhood nuke plants. We'll get this nuclear thing right yet.

Particles found in Hayabusa sample chamber -- could be plain old Earth dust

According to the news article below, they've found some particles in the Hayabusa sample chamber, even though it hasn't been opened up all the way yet. One of the scientists doubts that the particles are asteroidal or extra-terrestrial.

Japanese lab finds 'minute particles' in asteroid pod

The first part I don't get is that the sample chamber hasn't been opened completely. How does that work? Did they just crack the lid and look under it?

Quote: "We have started the opening process of the sample container of Hayabusa since June 24, 2010 and confirmed there are minute particles,"

"started the opening process" is somewhat like being halfway pregnant. Either the chamber is open or it isn't, right?

Further: "Researchers have not fully opened the capsule yet but have found more than 10 specks visible to the naked eye, said another JAXA scientist, Toshifumi Mukai. Mukai conceded these particles may not have come from the asteroid. "I have a feeling that they are not cosmic dust," he said, adding that it was also possible that they were from deep space."

And then it says: "When Hayabusa was launched in 2003, the canister was open, meaning it may contain materials that originated on Earth, a JAXA spokesman said."

It was OPEN? How do you expect to collect material from an asteroid when you fly the sample chamber when it's OPEN? I sure don't get that.

We'll just have to see what they say next!!!

Whatever happened to ... Jodi Lyn O'Keefe?

Jodi Lyn O'Keefe was a young starlet that got famous playing the daughter of Nash Bridges on the show Nash Bridges, and also for playing the "bad girl" in the teen movie She's All That. Since then, she's had a number of smaller roles, but had a recurring role on Prison Break.

She was also John Cusack's paramour from 2003-2009, but apparently they ultimately split because John wasn't interested in getting married. I'd say John might have made a mistake there.

Here's a recent interview from 2008, about Prison Break,

and a fairly recent picture:

Heat waves are just weather... right?

Joe Romm at Climate Progress is putting this June heat wave in perspective:

Having a heat wave

The thing is, as anyone intelligent will tell you, this heat wave is just weather. Global warming, aka climate change, is weather on top of longer-term change, i.e., a TREND. So no heat wave "proves" the climate is warming -- despite what the global warming-friendly press might trumpet -- just as the cold snaps and blizzards beloved by the skeptical frontliners don't prove anything about warming global temperatures either.

What's happening now is that the hot breath of El Nino has warmed the atmosphere, and the effects are being felt on land. But meanwhile, the Pacific is actually cooling, and to set a record global temperature, land and ocean have to be warm together. That might not happen for the calendar year, even though it has already happened in spades for the 12-month running mean. At the same time (last I checked), Arctic sea ice is below the 2007 record retraction.

This will be an interesting next few months for the battle for the American mind on global warming.

Get well soon

Google "Cheryl Cole" + the word malaria and you'll find out that the incredibly luscivious Cheryl Cole soon-to-be Tweedy came down with malaria whilst on holiday with new main squeeze Derek Hough in Tanzania.

endemic: 1. Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people; as in malaria is endemic in Tanzania.

One article I read said she was taking her malaria pills yet still came down with it. I believe that some malaria parasites are chloroquine-resistant. [Confirmed.] The thing is, ya gotta start taking the pills before you go, sometimes a week before ya go. This romantic trip might have been planned on the spur of the moment, thus Cheryl might not have been taking her prophylactics for long enough.

In any case, get well soon. Cheryl is not only gorgeous, she's a talent, and she also seems to be, well, nice. Losing her to a disease like malaria at her age, with her best years ahead of her, would be a horrific loss. So I certainly hope that the drugs work. For her - for us - and well, for Derek too.

Zoe Saldana gets engaged

OK, she wasn't really available (snif), but willowy Zoe Saldana, the blue princess of "Avatar", got engaged recently.

The lucky guy's name is Keith Britton. Lucky by this quote, regarding human sexual fulfillment, especially:

"Love it, love it, love it -- can't live without it! I love sex. I love skin. I don't believe the body is something to hide."

Opportunity takes a long view

It may never get there (but it's trying), but rover Opportunity took a long look at the horizon at some of the features of the Endeavour crater rim. It's still headed that direction.



NASA Mars Rover seeing destination in more detail

Meanwhile, Spirit has not re-awakened as the days get longer and the Sun gets more intense. I'm hoping Spirit gets one more chance.