bananas
bananas's JournalPower outage prediction map
Brad Panovich Verified account
?@wxbrad
Interesting to see the power outage modeling for #Matthew. Estimated 8-10 million people could lose power.
3:30 PM - 6 Oct 2016
Trump punts on Yucca nuclear waste site
Source: The Hill
Donald Trump isn’t taking a position for the time being on the highly contentious, decades-old proposal to build a federal nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Speaking late Wednesday with Las Vegas television station KSNV, the Republican presidential nominee acknowledged the controversial nature of the Yucca Mountain proposal, and said he would eventually stake out a position on it.
“I'm going to take a look at it, because so many people are talking about it. I came into town and everyone's talking about it. So I will take a very strong look at it, and the next time you interview me, we'll talk about it for five minutes,” Trump said in an interview.
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“You have to worry about safety,” Trump told the station. “And it’s a little bit close to a very major population base, so I’m going to take a very strong look at it and I will come very strongly one way or the other. I will have an opinion.”
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Clinton told the Las Vegas Sun in January that Yucca should be permanently “off the table” as a nuclear dump.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/299575-trump-punts-on-yucca-nuclear-waste-site
Nuclear plan gets backlash from left, right
Source: Daily Star
A coalition of environmental and consumer activists warned Wednesday that New York electricity customers will be jolted by a “huge tax” stemming from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to subsidize aging nuclear power plants.
Customers of National Grid, NYSEG and other state-regulated utilities will see bills climb by more than $2 per month beginning next year — and even more in subsequent years — if the plan stays on track, the critics said.
<snip>
But representatives of more than 70 groups — consumer, environmental and conservative — announced they are working in unison to derail the “bailout” of reactors near Rochester and Syracuse.
The subsidy’s cost is expected to top $7 billion, according to a projection by the Public Utility Law Project, which is fighting the plan. Household customers will shoulder about $2.3 billion of that, it said, with the rest passed to industry, institutions and school systems.
“This is one of the biggest transfers of wealth in New York state history,” said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.thedailystar.com/news/local_news/nuclear-plan-gets-backlash-from-left-right/article_928006bc-b987-595a-ae5c-c11871ccd29d.html
These old reactors are ticking time-bombs and should be shut down ASAP.
Maine Peace Walk Pot Luck Supper & Program Schedule: Oct 11-26, 2016
MONDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2016
Maine Peace Walk Pot Luck Supper & Program Schedule
Below is our nightly pot luck supper & program schedule for the 5th Maine Peace Walk entitled: Stop the War$ on Mother Earth
The public is invited to attend any and all of these events. All suppers begin at 6:00 pm. The programs will last one hour following the supper.
For more information please contact [email protected] or call 207-443-9502
Oct 11 Penobscot Nation on Indian Island
Oct 12 Indian Island to Dexter (First Universalist Church next to library on Rt 7)
Oct 13 Dexter to Pittsfield (164 Lancey St – white house)
Oct 14 Pittsfield to Unity (At MOFGA grounds)
Oct 15 Unity to Waterville ( Methodist church at 61 Pleasant St)
Oct 16 Waterville to Augusta (St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 9 Summer St in Social Hall)
Oct 17 Augusta to Norway (First Universalist Church at 479 Main St)
Oct 18 Norway to Lewiston (Episcopal Church on corner of Bates St)
Oct 19 Lewiston to Brunswick (Unitarian Church on corner of Pleasant & Middle Sts across from library)
Oct 20 Day off in Brunswick (No supper – 3:00 pm vigil at BIW on Washington St in Bath during shift change)
Oct 21 Brunswick to Freeport ( Durham Friends Meeting House at 532 Quaker Meeting House Rd)
Oct 22 Freeport to Portland (State Street Church – UCC at 159 State St)
Oct 23 Portland to Saco ( First Parish Congregation Church on corner of Beech & Maine)
Oct 24 Saco to Kennebunk ( New School at 38 York Street)
Oct 25 Kennebunk to York Beach (52 Freeman St - Green house)
Oct 26 York Beach to Kittery Naval shipyard (Walk ends with 3:00 pm vigil at Naval shipyard gate on corner of Wentworth & Walker - Rice Public library on corner)
Keep Space for Peace Week Events List: October 1-8, 2016
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Space Week Final Events List
October 1-8, 2016
Keep Space for Peace Week
International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space
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Russia: U.S. controlling an "international terrorist alliance"
Source: CBS
Russian officials accused the U.S. on Thursday of siding with “terrorists” in Syria, in a sign of escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington amid the battle for the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby’s warning that the collapse of U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria could lead to a rise in extremism and potential attacks against Russia drew Moscow’s anger.
The Russian Foreign and Defense Ministries both cast it as U.S. encouragement of terror attacks on Russia.
“We can’t assess those statements as anything else but a call, a directive for action,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Kirby’s statement amounted to “the most frank confession by the U.S. side so far that the whole ‘opposition’ ostensibly fighting a ‘civil war’ in Syria is a U.S.-controlled international terrorist alliance.”
<snip>
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-us-inviting-terror-attack-de-facto-support-for-terrorism-syria/
Passengers in Uber's self-driving cars waived right to sue for injury or death
Passengers in Uber's self-driving cars waived right to sue for injury or death
The company has rolled out a self-driving fleet in Pittsburgh. But passengers might not be aware of how experimental the pilot still is
Mark Harris in Seattle
Monday 26 September 2016 15.36 EDT
Anyone requesting an Uber ride in a 12-sq mile area in the center of Pittsburgh might now be randomly allocated a self-driving Ford Fusion rather than a human-operated vehicle.
But passengers riding in Uber’s computer-controlled cars today might be surprised at just how experimental the technology is. According to documents obtained by the Guardian under public records laws, until as recently as June anyone not employed by Uber riding in one of its autonomous vehicles (AVs) had to sign a legal document waiving the company of any liability for their injury or death.
<snip>
All rides are currently free during the trial.
<snip>
Public passengers today do not have to sign any such waiver, and Uber confirmed to the Guardian that all riders in self-driving Ubers are covered by $5m of accident insurance, in line with pending legislation in Pennsylvania.
“It’s possible that, by not charging for rides, Uber’s pilot program avoids Pennsylvania’s rules for taxicabs,” says Bryant Walker-Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina. “Courts generally hold that providers of transport for hire have a heightened responsibility for the safety of their passengers. However, I’d expect a court to hold Uber to a similarly high standard if its program were to result in injury.”
<snip>
Elon Musk live stream: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species
Starts 11:30AM PT, 2:30PM ET
SpaceX
Scheduled for Sep 27, 2016
SpaceX Founder, CEO, and Lead Designer Elon Musk will discuss the long-term technical challenges that need to be solved to support the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars. The technical presentation will focus on potential architectures for sustaining humans on the Red Planet that industry, government and the scientific community can collaborate on in the years ahead.
Elon Musk live stream starts in 30 minutes (11:30AM PT)
http://www.spacex.com/marsedit to add: related links for more info:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41249.0
https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceX/
SLS Flight Software Safety Issues at MSFC (Update)
SLS Flight Software Safety Issues at MSFC (Update)
By Keith Cowing on September 26, 2016 5:48 PM. 17 Comments
Keith's 26 September note: Shortly after this original posting on 9 September Andrew (Andy) Gamble was summoned to MSFC Center Director Todd May's office to talk about QD34 issues. During subsequent closed door meetings MSFC management decided that they did not have any software problems - when in fact they do. A few days later Steven Pearson, Deputy Director of NASA MSFC's Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate, suddenly announced his retirement after 37.5 years at NASA. This is not surprising since the internal assumption is that the first SLS flight will have a built-in risk of failure of around 8%. This risk is being "baked in" to the design of SLS in part due to decisions being made at MSFC about software and avionics - decisions that are being made so as to not surface troublesome issues that no one wants to deal with. One can imagine that safety folks at MSFC are nervous.
Meanwhile, contractor employees working for QD34 who have surfaced the issues I reported earlier have suddenly found their funding yanked. Moreover, employees who are leaving or thinking of leaving as a result of raising concerns - are being specifically blackballed - by name - by MSFC management. Potential employers are being told by NASA MSFC that they risk wining new contracts - or losing existing contracts - if they hire these individuals.
<snip>
This is no way to build a rocket folks.
Keith's 9 September note: NASA's SLS program has been experiencing budgetary and scheduling issues for years as noted in multiple GAO and OIG reports. The program has also had problems with technical issus such as software and avionics. Multiple sources report that one of the places experiencing significant problems is QD34 at NASA MSFC - where significant SLS flight software safety issues are mounting - issues that no one else is hearing about. The Branch Chief for QD34 is Andrew Gamble. NASA MSFC management - and perhaps the NASA OIG might - want to pay that organization a visit.
Keith's 9 September update: According to an internal memo there is a "lack of understanding by QD34 of the intent of NPR 7150.2B (A or B) [NASA Software Engineering Requirements] and of CMMI [Capability Maturity Model Integration] when it comes to a higher level of process, procedure, etc. rigor expected for Class A software than for Class C" and that actions by NASA MSFC QD34 management represent "a direct attempt by our QD34 customers to intentionally minimalize the differences to avoid making matters complicated and having to make any corresponding changes for SLSP at this time."
<snip>
Some of the comments with the article:
I work for QD34 as a contractor. I would like to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the branch chief and I would like to keep my job and others have been fired. I have seen QD34 management manipulate data and discourage people from speaking out using intimidation. NASA upper management needs to confront this problem or it will keep getting worse.
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RocketScientist327 • 2 hours ago
You are not alone... which is why websites like this are so critical. It is not that we will change anything however we can document, document, document so when the wheels do come off the wagon we can say see I told you so.
I do not have any faith and confidence in OIG anymore. They are well aware of the problems here.
[hr]
Resident4 • 2 hours ago
I agree, OIG is a puppet organization on so many levels. I've seen them ignore outright fraud many times.
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