Homer: "It's Pronounced Nucular, Honey. Nu-cu-lar".

I love Godzilla and all the other nuclear-spawned monsters, but I certainly don't think that Japan should jump the gun by creating more. I know there aren't many places to build them in Japan, but of our 55 Nuclear Power plants, several of them are built on volatile tectonic plates. So it was no surprise that damage was done when a 6.8 quake hit the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant a few weeks ago. But the repercussions are slowly beginning to leak.

My favourite physicist blogger can speak more eloquently on the subject than I, so I'll trust you to go there to look up some facts. In the interim, life goes on, scandals abound and problems with inspections continue.

For example, "Crane damage at reactor may delay core checks." Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki expressed concern stating, "If new cases of damage are found in the operator's inspections of the facilities, the government will conduct strict investigations,"
He voiced concern that such damage may erode public trust in nuclear plants. I frankly never had much trust in Japan's nuclear facilities and this does nothing to avert those concerns. When there is sabotage and arson at a power plant, who needs to worry about a piddling earthquake. Just the thought of it makes me tremour.

Furthermore, some facilities are just not up to snuff when it comes to preparedness for temblors. Now who's at fault, the inspectors, the designers, the saboteurs, the workers or God? I think one of the culprits would be the public.

Do we really need 2-5 vending machines at every street corner in Urban areas? Is it really necessary to have them outside of a Convenience store where you can buy the same item inside? Fortunately, they shut down the cigarette and booze vending machines at midnight, so that children under 20 can't get at them. How many times when you were 13-19 did you want to sneak out of bed in the wee hours of the night so you could grab a pack of fags or a cold one? And now 'tis the season to put the air conditioners at full blast so that you need to wear a sweater indoors, sweat like a pig when you go to the corner to grab a soft drink and a smoke and then freeze those droplets of perspiration once you're back in the building. No wonder everyone has the sniffles in the summer and everyone one walks around looking like Hawkeye Pierce in surgery.

But at least we don't have this guy in office so we can rest a little easier!

As for Gojira, BRING IT ON!