think_too_mut

I own Canon Kiss EOS Rebel T2i.

The camera itself (body) can be dirt cheap second hand but it can't take photos.

You need lenses and that is where the buildup starts.

The lenses are cross-model compatible, owners carry them over to a newer model while they often discard the camera body only. It's camera body that can be had second hand for 50-80$.

The lenses don't become technologically obsolete as the camera body does, their ageing is over decades, not years.

New model, body, (successor) can, for example, take high definition video.

Whatever you do, there are 3 things surrounding a purchase of a good camera:

1. all in one lenses. Fairly expensive, cost even more than the camera body.

Without it, if you go with a basic lenses that are on offer, you will soon go and get long distance ones and will have to carry 2 sets on you.

2. Tripod that not only holds the camera but has a handle for precise directing.

3. Remote control. Inexpensive and great for group pictures where the camera owner is not missing in the pic. If you don't get it with the camera, 6 month later it may be impossible to find it, as the model could be superseded.

Even if only one third of that radiation is gamma, you'd get 16 microSievert per hour inside your lovely tent, three times the dose rate flight attendants are exposed to at cruising altitude. You'd get that 24/7. If you leave the tent or take contamination inside, your exposure increases.

microsieverts, not milisieverts. 1000 times less. Have a look again. Nothing dangerous.

16 microSievert per hour = 365.225 days/year * 24 hours/day * 16 microSievert per hour = 140 mSv/year.

Radiation dose rates at Iitate dropped below 10 microsievert/hour as of March 25 and are now below 5 microsievert/hour. If the Iitate dose rate stabilised permanently now, people living there would sustain annual dose rates of 44 millisievert. If levels continue to descend along the curve seen thus far the dose in the first year would be below 20 millisievert and less thereafter.

I may apologize for saying "nonsense" without strict qualification what I meant: the nonsense is what the article suggests, that even Japanese are shutting down their nukes.

Thanks

The PM is simply usinig (the initiative to build 20m high construction to house backup systems) of Hamaoka, started by the plant itself, without him knowing. Out of 58 nukes in Japan, I doubt he can tell more than 10-15 of them.

Harvesting the points that he needs after the public has grown mistrustfull about his handling of Fukushima. He is not wrong but is irrelevant. Except that he covers energy shortages caused (by the temporary closing, until the structure is built and used).

Ah the cynical politics...

Pete

Furhter more..just now.. the plant has told him to get stuffed. Not much revealing but along the lines that you have seen frome me:

Chubu Electric puts off decision on nuclear plant suspension

What shutdown?

The PM is, to say it mildly, an idiot. He has no idea about how to cross a street. Thanks to his aides (much linked to his survival) that he is still afloat.

Listen to more of his announcements. He is as clueless as CNN or Fox or similar rubbish stations.

Again, you can live in a tent next to the Fukushima plant and receive for your lifetime same radiation flight attendants/pilots receive in 6 months.

No you can't! Even in save environments, your exposure is 0.5 to 4 mSv/year, compared to 5 to 20 mSv/year for long-haul flight attendants (ICRP-recommended limit is 10mSv/year). Your life should be pretty short to verify the above claim.

The geiger map you yourself commended (http://japan.failedrobot.com/) currently shows a dose rate of 48 microSievert per hour at a location approx. 1km west of the reactor buildings 1-4. Even if only one third of that radiation is gamma, you'd get 16 microSievert per hour inside your lovely tent, three times the dose rate flight attendants are exposed to at cruising altitude. You'd get that 24/7. If you leave the tent or take contamination inside, your exposure increases.

microsieverts, not milisieverts. 1000 times less. Have a look again. Nothing dangerous.

Call me a 'tree hugger' if you want, but I want to be as far from nuclear radiation as humanly possible. And it offends me that Thai officials are still hell-bent on making Thailand go nuclear.

In that case, you'll need to move outside the universe. Every human everywhere is constantly bombarded by nuclear radiation and if you're really concerned, you'd be better off taking a ship to Thailand rather than fly. Btw, nuclear power stations do not emit harmful amounts of radiation by default. There are many hundreds around the world running just fine and the new generation are tickety-boo. No need to cite what's happening now as we all know a monster quake & tsunami caused Fuk' problems, while Chernobyl was an unauthorised experiment gone wrong.

If the nukes were allowed to operate at the same safety standards as the gas fired powerplants (400 times less and 400 times cheaper) the electricity from them would be so cheap that nobody would even bother metering it, let alone to charge for it.

When in BKK, our 2BR condo with 2 aircons would consuume about 2,500baht of electricity per month (aircons not alweays on, only at night). Imagine that 400 times cheaper? 50 satangs per month. Is there still that small change in circulation in Thai?

Tap water would be 30 times more expensive than electricity from the nukes.

That would be a negligent cost to ordinary Thais and the World as a whole.

Nonsense.

He is exploiting the situation with Fukushima to gain points and remain in the saddle.................

Comprehensive reply. Thankyou Pete

I may apologize for saying "nonsense" without strict qualification what I meant: the nonsense is what the article suggests, that even Japanese are shutting down their nukes.

The PM is simply usinig (the initiative to build 20m high construction to house backup systems) of Hamaoka, started by the plant itself, without him knowing. Out of 58 nukes in Japan, I doubt he can tell more than 10-15 of them.

Harvesting the points that he needs after the public has grown mistrustfull about his handling of Fukushima. He is not wrong but is irrelevant. Except that he covers energy shortages caused (by the temporary closing, until the structure is built and used).

has created vast pools of highly radioactive water within the plant.

That is what I am talking. Within the plant. Big deal. Where else?

Perhaps no big deal for you, but big deal for others. Water is fluid. It doesn't stay in one place. It's also gaseous at times, and can spread far and wide, both as a fluid and as a gas. One day it's in a containment pod, the following month it could be wafting over Hawaii and falling on dairy herds as rain. The assessment reports we're hearing from officials are their valiant attempts to downplay problems as much as possible - similar to what think_too_mut does (btw, I like the handle). If Fukishima and gov't officials were car mechanics, and they had a car in their shop with blown carborator spewing flaming gas, they might report, "engine block warmer than average."

Again, you can live in a tent next to the Fukushima plant and receive for your lifetime same radiation flight attendants/pilots receive in 6 months.

Where is you radiation, from water/gas/solid materials?

How clueless people find tings to be scared of, like animists worshiping secret powers of wild beasts.

Maybe the PM should have just consulted with think_too_mut and realised there was no problem...

Pete

http://www.bbc.co.uk...acific-13306358

Japan PM orders halt at Hamaoka nuclear plant

Scientists said the chances of a powerful quake striking the Hamaoka region was high

Japan's prime minister has told a power company to halt operations at another nuclear plant

due to fears an earthquake could trigger a new crisis.

Naoto Kan said three reactors at Hamaoka plant should be suspended until new safety measures were put in place.

Experts said the chances of a powerful quake hitting the area were high.

Nonsense.

He is exploiting the situation with Fukushima to gain points and remain in the saddle. The reason is "high chance of a major earthquake in 30 years". What 30 years? He is 6th PM in 5 years, where is he going to be in 30 years? Not even alive. As PM he will be happy to survive another 6 months.

The truth behind it is: that plant has same configuration as Fukushima. Power generators lay low and are susceptible to tsunami flooding and basically the same backup problem that Fukushima has experienced.

The plant has started making a construction to elevate the generators some 20m above the ground and that is in progress. What the PM has done - just declared it as his own decision. To the clueless, it sounds he is sincerely acknowledging some problem with the nukes and ensuring it does not happen again. What about another 58 nuclear plants in Japan? Anyone ordering them to shut down?

That Hamaoka nuke is near me, not only myself have raised that question the very 11th of March when Fukushima was damaged. 95% of Japanese population will swallow PM's story but anyway, he is irrelevant, owning what is already being done is not stopping the works.

Edit: "closure until safety measures are put in place" means: until the plant completes the construction that has already started without PM even knowing the plant existed. Now he will use that to declare he did it when they finish the work.

Tepco starts flooding No. 1 reactor vessel

Nuclear fuel in core must be submerged by water to cool

Tepco on Friday started increasing the amount of water it is injecting into the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in hopes of providing stable cooling for the damaged nuclear fuel inside.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to fill the reactor's primary containment vessel with enough water to submerge the fuel over the next 20 days or so, and start operating by June an air-cooling device it hopes will reduce the temperature of the water circulating around the reactor, company officials said.

Restoring the reactors' cooling systems, which were lost in the March 11 quake and tsunami, is vital to ending the nuclear crisis because its current emergency cooling measure, which requires that water be continually injected from outside, has created vast pools of highly radioactive water within the plant.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20110506x1.html

Wonder if they're continuously pumping put the heated up, contaminated water out to the sea?

No, that water was in the trenches (16m deep) and shafts containing pipelines. It had been pumped out into a reservoir. That water is firstly from the tsunami, including junk + the excess of what they forcefullly pumped (seawater) in the first week to cool down the reactors. Only small amounts of it could possibly come from the damaged vessels and it is not highly radioactive. For the cameras and hysteric CNN they even staged a spectacle involving helicopters who dumped useless water that spilled everywhere. That water has been removed to enable people to approach the environment and install the new cooling system.

Now they are pumping in the new water into the pressure vessel of the reactor 1 , just increased the flow from 6 to 8 tons an hour, until they reach 7.400 tons.

has created vast pools of highly radioactive water within the plant.

That is what I am talking. Within the plant. Big deal. Where else?

As these stinking Japanese Nuclear plants contaminate the ocean fish, air and milk in Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere its about time to see Japan is taking a little proactive action and shutting down other Nuclear plants that will further contaminate the earth when hit by earthquakes and/or Tsunamis. Maybe the U.S. and the rest of the world will do the same. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/06/business/AP-AS-Japan-Earthquake.html?_r=1

It angers me to see the baloney posted here that no one is harmed by this mess. You must have your head in the sand.

Poor victims of the hystery.

You are handing over the world to the tyrans of Saudi Arabia and similar. On a plate.

Your stupidity will ensure that you and our children shun off nuclear energy and make those Middle East dictators rich and richer. Their subjects should not be protesting, with people like you they should be dancing in the streets.

It's far less damage than it looks. Although visualy spectacular and media attractive.

Nobody was hurt (lest died) from that.

11 people (4 TEPCO employees, 3 subcontractor employees and 4 Japanese civil defense workers) were injured due to the explosion at unit 3 on 14 March

You started with "many dead".

Now they are injured.

I say - nobody injured, nobody dead, nobody got health risk size od radiation.

Man, understand that nobody has came close to the reactors. Only yesterday, not before.

What are you doing now? Spreading junk that has no factual base.

Stop linking the FUD that is as informed as you are.

How is Obama Bin Laden?

Not that some danger will have passed, the danger has never been there, we have the government measures and disciplined Japanese who obey. Many are angry.

It's the Colonel Saito mentality

You think Japan is Haiti? Or mickeymouse response to Katrina that itself was basically a simple flood.

No looting, no gang wars, nothing had happened in the wake of the quake and the tsunami.

These days the area hit by the earthquake and tsunami are refusing any more donations, they don't know what to do with all the wares, unwanted, unasked, just dumped on them.

Air Photograph of reactor #3

It's far less damage than it looks. Although visualy spectacular and media attractive.

Nobody was hurt (lest died) from that.

zero people dead at Fukushima from nuclear causes;

Yet.

When can people go back to their homes in the evacuation zone? Sell the food they grow? Sleep at night not worrying about what the consequences will be?Body count does not equal impact.

Now, that victims of Fukushima are zero, you are asking what?

I am surprised with this question. Japanese government is buidling new houses (temporary, up to 2 years, free) for the people who have lost everything.

As 165 thousand evacuees move as the lodging becomes built and available, the last ones would be those who want to return to their homes. Into the (now) evacuated zone. Quite likely, they would be able to return to their (still standing) homes within 6 months.

Not that some danger will have passed, the danger has never been there, we have the government measures and disciplined Japanese who obey. Many are angry.

Of course. Where else you find high radiation other than in the reactor itself and in it's housing? The containment vessels have been breached so they no longer providing the biological protection they're designed to.

That does not feel, only instruments can measure it, outside the plant.

RADIATION - by the time you could feel it you'd be dead, or as good as!

And that from the plant that has whitstood 9 richters (about 5 times stronger than designed for) and a 15m tsunami (designed for 3.8m, doubled to 5.7m 10 years ago). Tepco was warned that there were bigger tsumami's in the past there, they just chose to ignore it - this is well documented on this forum already.

Sorry buddy, the facts are:

zero people dead at Fukushima from nuclear causes;

zero people died from (intentionally vented out) steam explosions;

zero people received radiation that could present health hazard to them;

radiation outside the plant fence is tollerable by laws;

japanese government, under media pressure and hysteria, has done even more precaution measures than needed

Now those who launch the news like "Obama Bin Laden Dead" have been reporting on Fukushima since March 11th.

That is what you have dragged to this topic. Utter rubbish.

READINGS FOR REACTORS - SOURCE TEPCO

Shows radiation reading from reactor 2 is 12.4 Sv/h

12 times more than is required to give a worker immediate radiation sickness.

Of course. Where else you find high radiation other than in the reactor itself and in it's housing?

That does not feel, only instruments can measure it, outside the plant.

And that from the plant that has whitstood 9 richters (about 5 times stronger than designed for) and a 15m tsunami (designed for 3.8m, doubled to 5.7m 10 years ago).

(at least in some developed countries), allowed radiation level is 20-100 milisieverta per year. Japanese law is 1 milisievert, most restrictive on the planet.

Finally, not a single person has received radiation that would risk their health, not even those working at the plant. Not a single person has been killed by Fukushima

The legal limit for radiation exposure from sources such as nuclear plants for members of the public is 1mSv a year, based on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Several workers were killed in the explosions!

Many workers at Fukushima have been exposed to high levels of radiation - levels which can cause cancer. Local people have also been exposed to high levels of radiation - try reading some of the articles here.

Reading what? Hysteria?

None of the workers were killed by radiation. One fell off while climbing into a crane cabin when the earthquake struck and that was at Fukushima Dai-ni (8km distant sister plant orderly shutdown). Two workers at Dai-ichi were killed by the tsunami, their bodies found with severe limb fractures.

Not a single person was exposed to radiation that poses health risk. Those few that had their feet soaked in radioactive water were dismissed from hospital next morning.

Nobody has even came close to the reactors until yesterday - first batch of workers, wearing protective gear, eneter the building of the reactor 1, installed 8 pipes, connected to a turbine that will vent out radiation from the reactor housing (one that spectacularly blew it's top off when (intentionaly released) steam expoloded. That will finish by Sunday and next batch of workers will the enter to install new colling system.

Those workers received from 0.8 to 2.8 milisieverts in 1 hour (1 miliseivert per year is acceptable by Japanese rules) and will not come back to work to Fukushima.

The biggest danger is inhaling radioactive particles and secondary contamination - hence the exclusion zone by your government.

For a real map try this one!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?

The real map is under my feet, I am standing on the Japanese soil and the sky above me is Japanese too.

Exclusion zone: in EU it would not have been declared (at least in some developed countries), allowed radiation level is 20-100 milisieverta per year. Japanese law is 1 milisievert, most restrictive on the planet.

The zone is not in reaction to an event that has endangered people, it is as a precaution. Until Fukushima is either dead or under control government must do what they have done - remove the people from the area.

Finally, not a single person has received radiation that would risk their health, not even those working at the plant.

Not a single person has been killed by Fukushima.

All hype and media hysteria.

I live in Japan, have not left like 240,000 other foreigners had. (fly-jin)

To put this radiation in a perspective, if one put up a tent next to the Fukushima plant fence, for his lifetime he would absorb the same amount of radioation flight attendants/pilots get in 6 months.

The whole nonsense from the press is just that: scaremongering rubbish.

Why do you think everyone on site is wearing radiological protection gear?

Have you seen the radiation maps for Fukushima recently??

Please provide evidence that supports your claim...

From where I am I can not access that site (company has blocked many sites includuing yahoo, gmail..) and that radiation map is available online.

Whole wold + dog can see the rubbish that is being made of it, the trouble is that few understand what it is about, including all the junk articles that are dragged into this 110 pages topic.

the site is

japan.failedrobot.com

and note - it is in micro sieverts, thousand times less than milisieverts. Have not been there for days, should be even less now, you will see that the only place where radiation is high are the reactors themselves. What a surprise?

I live in Japan, have not left like 240,000 other foreigners had. (fly-jin)

To put this radiation in a perspective, if one put up a tent next to the Fukushima plant fence, for his lifetime he would absorb the same amount of radioation flight attendants/pilots get in 6 months.

The whole nonsense from the press is just that: scaremongering rubbish.

The fees for comparable International school are higher in Thailand than in Japan.

One reason might be - it is harder to attract good quality teachers, with families of their own, to uproot their lives from the US and come to Thailand than it is to attract them to Japan. Some money must be involved and those schools are private enterprises that exist for money.

Most teachers in our school in Japan have at least 2 kids, some 3, some 4. In addition to salary (same as in the US, about 50K US$ a year), and housing allowance, they get free schooling for their kids in the same school and hop from one country to another every 2 years. They say it is a chain of people who circulate through those jobs, help each other. 5-6 rounds in different schools around the world and their own kids are ready for Uni, along the way had lived in compounds and spared from the usual fears (drugs, gangs, alcohol, violence). That's how they (several of the teachers) told me where their interest lays.

Through that light, it may be a bit easier to understand how full-blown International schools work and how hard it may be to crack in for someone outside the loop, especially non-caucasian (black Americans are OK).

Japanese schools would not (not even those non-academic like ECC) even consider anyone who is not from one of the 7 English speaking countries: US, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland, South Africa.

I met one teacher of Vietnamese origin, Oz citizen, she had to prove that she had been to Oz 10+ years, some hard requirement (like finished at least 10 years of formal school in Oz).

My neighbor in Bangkok is a young Thai man, teaching PE at Bangkok Pattana International School.

Now, I don't know if he is an "assistant teacher", he may well be, he is in late 20s.

Very good English.

In my daughter's (full International, not bilingual) school in Japan, each class has 2 teachers, class master is American/Canadian and another one (assistant) may be local (Japanese) with excellent English. Some of the assistants are native English speakers married to Japanese nationals with some formal degree linked to education.

An acquaintance was telling me about his small condo building in Pattaya back in 2005. On his wife's land he built a small block that has 10 x 36sqm simple studios each with bathroom. Cost was 4 million baht and the rooms are rented at 2,000B each. One room was rented to a farang who uses it to keep his suitcases, old appliances, as a storage. Always rented, brings him 5% return when he is not spending on maintenance.

As renting to students, they rarely live on their own, more like 2-3-4 of them in 1 room so OP's intent to rent at 4,000B would most likely come from several tenants, whether they are visible in papers or not.

Who is going from terrible losses into purchase of 30+ new aircrafts?

It is all about locking the contract into todays 1US$ < 30B exchange rate. Then sit and wait. In addition to regular discounts that are given (who buys at list prices?) this would mean that 200mil US$ plane would cost ~140mil. Multiply that by 30 planes and you get 1.5+ BIL US$ saving, equal to 10 new planes. 10 new planes for free.

Custom made seats: those were "Recaro", produced by a local contractor, terrible seats that got replaced on most of the older B-777.

One of them, HS-TJK, when she had them fitted:

But Recaro is a German company. Do you mean that Recaro manufactured them in Thailand? I really didn't know that those prior generation 777 seats were made by Recaro, and that surprises me as they are generally well regarded as a high quality seat company.

Also, I believe your photo is with the new design 777 seats. The old ones were all blue with fabric cover.

Recaro can be a German company but the seats were trusted to "a local contractor", meaning recaro made them in Thai. Nothing special, many manufacture their goods in Thai.

New design seats? That was in 2007. and the plane was (then) I think 17 years old. The design could not be older. On 2 more planes like this I have been but did not see blueish design of the seats. Theye were being sent to Manila, Nagoya, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, mainly. Out of 17 planes with Recaro seats 11 had been refitted with regular ones (after years of passenger complaints), 6 remained and I think they are being discared as A330s arrive.

I recall that Thai had already done some seat conversions on 777s in 2007. I'm pretty sure you weren't on a 17 year old 777 in 2007 though, since the oldest 777 flying at that time would have been 12 years old (first commercial delivery was to United in 1995). TG got their first 777 in 1996. Also, (and not to get pedantic :-) ), there is no TG aircraft with tail number HS-TJK. There is an HS-TKJ, but that was originally delivered on 1/2/08, then Thai took delivery on 28/05/2010. And of course even 17 year old planes can have new seats installed, just as Thai have done with their 20+ year old A300s.

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Thai%20Airways-active-b777.htm

And the seats in that photo you included are most definitely the refitted (colourful) seats with plastic backs that also included the new shell-design business class seats. Here is a link where you can see the old, blue, fabric-backed economy seats, pre-refitting.

Losing my marbles...here is my post from 3 years ago, while I was still fresh.

After that been on several brand new 777s and A330, perfect.