From my journal 10 years ago +.

- Aunt Betty died in a Las Vegas area hospital. She had been unwell and was scheduled for surgery but succumbed to an infection.

- busy with school assignments. Went to Hunterston B nuclear power station in Ayrshire with class. Also to a Wind Power consultancy place and a wind farm.

- Meggie gets a new blacksmith.

- a ( Read more... )

I had anti-extremism training today, which was interesting. Recognising the signs...

The extremist groups which are more likely to affect Cumbria, and perhaps influence or groom young people who we teach in Carlisle, are the BNP anti-immigrant types and animal rights activists and maybe anti-nuclear power people. We don't have many Muslims, so ( Read more... )

Something about where I work ( Read more... )

Right... I've had this project that has been on hold for several months... documenting what I did, where I was, etc. based on my old journal books which go back to 1986. Anyway, today I've got it in my head to try to do some more.... maybe catch-up a little and eventually I'll have all that info in here ( Read more... )

Japan nuclear plant: Just 48 hours to avoid 'another Chernobyl'

Gordon Rayner and Martin Evans
Last Updated: 11:10PM GMT 16/03/2011

Japan has 48 hours to bring its rapidly escalating nuclear crisis under control before it faces a catastrophe “worse than Chernobyl”, it was claimed last night.

Nuclear safety officials in France said they were “ ( Read more... )

Ugh! Very busy lately. Assignment due dates piling up. I'm at my Friday video-linked lecture right now, so there's a bit of a break.

I wanted to mention... we've had a recent problem with the heating at home. The gas guy came the other day to investigate and it appears we have a bit of a problem with our flue vent pipes up thru the roof. Turns ( Read more... )

Wind Power.... So what happens when the wind doesn't blow ?

I recently read Alex Bramwell on www.Helium.com say what they've done for that problem in the Canary Islands. He wrote this as a rebuttal of the article I re-posted earlier (from Helium.com) which I titled Nuclear vs. Wind:

"Wind power has a couple of fundamental flaws that must be overcome ( Read more... )

Excerpts from an article in www.helium.com:

"... the next best alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear power. It doesn't produce Carbon Dioxide, it is more efficient as you can obtain huge amounts of energy from relatively tiny amounts of fuel, it is reliable and very little waste is made. It seems that as an alternative to fossil fuels, nuclear ( Read more... )

Excerpted from the Washington Post:

... "Not long ago, siting a nuclear reactor anywhere near a population center would have been unthinkable. While the 1979 Three Mile Island reactor meltdown didn't cause any deaths or injuries, it soured Americans on nuclear energy. Construction of new reactors came to an abrupt halt. The dramatic Chernobyl ( Read more... )

Tomorrow is election day for the Scottish Parliament and local council.  I don't get to vote as I'm not yet a citizen but I've consulted Linda, and I think she's going to vote pretty much the way I'd vote...  In our Scottish Parliamentary constituency, the incumbent Labour MSP, Elaine Murray, lives in Dumfries, has kids who go to school in Dumfries ( Read more... )