Sea Bus and Sky Train follies

For the past five weeks I've been using Transit to get from the North Shore to Vancouver at Broadway and Boundary and back again without the stress of driving/parking.  Whether its using the bus via Phibbs Exchange (Second Narrows), or the First Narrows, or the Sea Bus and then the Sky Train's Expo Line/Millennium Line, its all been a pleasure, except for three minor details.

The fastest route to my destination has never been my sole intention when I'm doing the driving and I thought that the least Translink could provide this poor traveler is the same sort of approach while I cross Burrard Inlet.  After all there are three routes, but Translink only provides two, unless one lives in Lower Lonsdale, and I don't.

A GPS device such as Garmin allow motorists to make one Detour, but Translink scheduling doesn't allow any.  With Translink its enter the starting point (A) (your home/nearest bus stop) to the ending point (B) (your destination/nearest bus stop), there is no (A) (B) (C).  No allowance for dropping off the suit to the tailor (B) or the bicycle (B) in for a Spring tune-up or show the town off (B) to the visitors who are on their way to YVR.

My pet peeves are thus:
    SkyTrain has a theorem:  "Before passengers can enter they must let passengers exit...." or something like that, but on Wednesday of last week, morning rush hour going east, at the Stadium ChinaTown station, there was a Translink technician forcing his way onto train #031, coffee in hand, briefcase in the other hand without letting the passengers off.    Hmmmmmm.

  SeaBus allows cyclists onto their vessels, always, on all sailings, but they must load their bicycles at the stern of the vessel.  I don't mind their bikes taking up three passenger seats, I don't mind having the handle bars knocking the paint off of the stanchions that support the deckhead (where they lean the bikes), I don't mind the sweaty T-shirts being wrung out before being put into their back packs, BUT I do question the logic under which bicycles are allowed to be placed across the mouth of DOORS which exit from the about to be docked vessel.
 
How is it that cyclists, with their protruding pedals, are allowed to mingle with the masses as they make the dash in a VERY congested area?   I'm not suggesting that cyclists should be barred from the SeaBus, but please, a little etiquette needs to be imposed here.  Pedestrians first, bicycles last.   This morning, not the first time, the cyclists on board the vessel were blocking the exit without realizing, perhaps, that they are exiting from the vessel's STERN.  They're not going to be in the front of the line up, not by a long shot.   I waited till the masses had made their escape, so too did twelve other patient pedestrians, and as we turned the corner of the floating dock and onto the ramp, there lay a person flat on her back with a cyclist stopping to assist her with other concerned pedestrians looking on too.

Staff from the SeaBus Terminal had been summoned and were rushing to her assistance with their First Aid kit.       I'm not saying the accident was caused by the cyclist, but if Cyclists, in general, were to hold back, they could easily make up the difference in lost time with their pedal power. 

And lastly, to the passengers on the Millennium Line who can't read, who take the shortest route whenever possible when leaving the Rupert station platform .... the sign says EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY.   At the bottom of the stairs the sign on the outside says HIGH VOLTAGE   KEEP OUT.   Could you please close the door to keep the kids from playing on the tracks?    or, Could TransLink put a closer on the door?

Last month we heard that there was a problem with Radiologists not being Certified

In an earlier post I was asking about whether or not we are safe from radioactivity landing on our shores from Japan.  The Provincial government and a Medical Officer now say we are, so too has the Harper government,  but what of this latest press release saying that there will be nine more detection units set up on the BC coastline to back up the existing six stations.  Does the public even know where the existing ones are?

Medical Health Officer, Doctor Paul Gully, says that's in addition to six permanent stations. "These will be monitors which will be placed along the West Coast in order to collect information about radiation in the atmosphere, in the air.  Information from those monitors will then be continually fed back to Ottawa to be analyzed in terms of what the current situation is."

To the south, there's this link with the Disclaimer along the bottom:

"This is the first web site where the average citizen (or anyone in the world) can see what radiation levels are anywhere in the USA at any time (see Disclaimer below)"

On separate pages there is a map for Japan, Alaska and Hawaii, and Europe.


Where's the map for Canada, or more to the point, British Columbia?

And after the Provincial Health authority fiasco of not having enough properly certified Radiologist, where's the list of those nuclear technicians who are certified to read and interpret the results of these new monitors, plus the existing six?

What the news media is not saying about the Fukushima Power Plant but scientists are

The news media has made us all aware of the Fukushima 50, that is, the shift workers of 50 taking their turns to tend to the needs of the Fukushima nuclear reactors from a pool of 300.   Think about this though, these are the top 300 nuclear scientists that Japan has to offer.   What happens when they're no longer able to work?  Who in Japan will step up to the plate and become the next Fukushima 50?   And of the 300, are we talking about one, two or three generations of Japanese nuclear scientists?

 ****************************************

Here is a group of concerned scientist who are explaining the "nuts and bolts" operations of what is taking place at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, without the hype of CNN, BBC or the CBC.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Japan Nuclear Power Crisis: Daily Telephone Media Briefings

"In response to a tremendous volume of requests from national and international media, technical and policy experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists have commenced daily telephone briefings (as of Monday, March 14, 2011) on the Japan nuclear power crisis.
The briefings will cover the latest developments at the two Fukushima nuclear complexes in Japan, updated analysis on the potential threats to public health and the environment, and a review of potential legislative and regulatory policy implications in the United States.
This page will be updated on a daily basis with both an audio recording of the introductory remarks and a downloadable written transcript of the full briefing (with reporters' names redacted)."

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS UPDATE ON JAPAN'S NUCLEAR POWER CRISIS TELEPRESS CONFERENCE
MARCH 14, 2011, 11:00 A.M., P R O C E E D I N G S 

Snip

"We are, as you know, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and we've been a nuclear industry watchdog on security and safety issues for 40 years. I just want to note that we are not for or against nuclear power, but we have grave concerns about the industry, both here and abroad. In any case, the three folks that we have on the call today will be speaking about what we know as of now with the events on the ground. We do not know -- we do not have -- we are not privy to any up-to-the-minute reports out of Japan, any more than you are. We are dealing with what we know, because we don't have anyone on the ground down there. And we will be talking about what we know as of now about what is going on with the reactors that are in trouble in Japan; we'll be talking about the threat that they pose to the public health and the environment; and we'll also talk a little bit about the potential ramifications of this crisis on the nuclear industry in the United States........."

 Snip
March 15, 2011 

March 16, 2011      
March 17, 2011
March 18, 2011

March 19, 2011    Snip

MR. LOCHBAUM: Good morning. The temporary electric power cable has been installed to power cooling systems for the spent fuel pool and reactor cores on Units 1 and 2, but those connections have been slowed by the need to shield this power equipment from the water spraying and dumping operations on adjacent units. Once power is restored, workers will check to see if cooling pumps, piping, and controls remain functional after the combined effects of the earthquake, tsunami, and the hydrogen explosions. Reports of high radiation levels around Unit 3 continue. Some reports indicate that a U.S. nuclear worker would receive the annual permissible dose in less than an hour. The high radiation levels continue to limit the workers' access to structures. Limited access prevents workers from evaluating the extent of damage caused to date and to determine what systems or parts of systems can be returned to service to mitigate the problem. Fire trucks are continuing to spray water into the upper floors of the damaged reactor building to refill the Unit 3 spent fuel pool. The Unit 3 spent fuel pool seems to be the source of the high radiation levels. The Unit 4 spent fuel pool has reports of water in it, but the latest indications are that the water level in the pool is low, lower than necessary. There were reports yesterday of a possible breach in the Unit 4 spent fuel pool. Water can leak from the pool from evaporation or boil-off. Water can also simply drain out of the pool. The spent fuel pools are large swimming pools but with one key difference: One side of the spent fuel pool has a large door that's about 20 feet tall and about three feet wide. This door, also called a gate, is removed during refuelling to allow spent fuel to be transferred underwater from the reactor core into the spent fuel pool and to allow fresh fuel to be transferred from the spent fuel pool back into the reactor core. We understand that these doors, also called gates, have been installed. When installed, there's a bicycle inner tube-like device that goes around each side and bottom of the gate where it connects with the spent fuel pool wall. The loss of power following the earthquake and tsunami meant that there was no air flowing to these inflatable seals. When inflated, these seals provide a leak-tight fit between the gate and the spent fuel pool wall so leakage does not occur. When deflated, water could be leaking past the edges of the gate out of the spent fuel pool, so that any make-up water would have to replenish the boil-off, the evaporation, and any leakage through this and other pathways. The primary problem on Unit 4 is the spent fuel pool and the need to get water back into it and restore cooling. We have heard reports, confirmed reports, that diesel generators have been connected and are now providing power for the Unit 5 and Unit 6 spent fuel pools. The cooling of those pools had been lost for a while and the temperature of the water inside the pools had been rising, but it appears that cooling was restored before those pools got into distress. I appreciate that. That's the extent of the update I have for today. MR. NEGIN: Thank you, David. Our next speaker is Ellen Vancko.

MARCH 20, 2011 11:00 A.M. Sunday P R O C E E D I N G S 

DR. LYMAN: Thank you, Elliott, and good morning.

A brief update about what we know with regard to the status of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility. The Japanese have announced that Units 5 and 6 are now stable. These two plants were in the least amount of trouble to begin with, but this is still one bit of good news. It also suggests that if they have actually been able to reestablish off-site power and the pumps are functioning well, that means that at least there's the potential that they will be able to reestablish cooling to the more severely affected units, although since they experienced hydrogen explosions that may have caused further damage, it's still not assured. My understanding is that power has still not been supplied to any of the other units, off-site power, and they've delayed their -- they originally planned to have power to at least Unit 2 by yesterday afternoon, and they've changed their deadline. Overnight, there were announcements that the pressure in Unit 3 containment was rising and that they may have to do another controlled venting, but then that order was cancelled based on a report that it had stabilized, although at a high level. So, the situation is still quite uncertain.

I understand that Energy Secretary Steven Chu made statements on CNN this morning that he believes the situation is improving, or I don't want to characterize what he said, but I think our own assessment is that it's premature to make any conclusions about the most severely affected reactors, 1 through 4. I would like to explain a little bit why we still have a concern. The IEA and others have reported that Units 1, 2, and 3 have had their cores at least or approximately half uncovered, and this has probably been the case since shortly after the initiation of the accident. So, it's been at least several days that at least 50 percent or the upper half of these cores have been uncovered. Now, that's a longer period of time for the situation than the core at Three Mile Island experienced, and the upper parts of the cores may have experienced significant damage. What may have happened is a swelling of the fuel rods that could cause a potential -- reduce the ability of coolant to actually get between those rods if the core is reflooded. So, the situation may not be -- these cores may not be as easily cooled as they would have been if they were undamaged.

We'll be alright - Nom de Plume

The New York Times

Forecast for Plume's Path Is a Function of Wind and Weather

"Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 16, 2011

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday......................................."

Déjà vu, Japan is to be our Atlantis?

Today, after many reassurances from news broadcasters here in North America, and from around the world, I headed off for my X-ray treatment.   As I laid my bare shoulders against the cold wall I almost asked the technician if it was going to be four or six shots of Fukushima, but I'll leave that comment for a Coffee House order.

UPDATE:  NHK World (English) (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

"In an effort to avert the fuel rods' exposure, a Self Defense Force CH47 helicopter took off from the Sendai base hauling a large container of water on Wednesday afternoon.

But the plan was aborted after radiation levels above the plant were found to have largely exceeded 50 millisieverts -- the maximum permissible for SDF personnel on a mission."

"Japan has 48 hours to bring its rapidly escalating nuclear crisis under control before it faces a catastrophe "worse than Chernobyl", it was claimed on Wednesday night.
Nuclear safety officials in France said they were "pessimistic" about whether engineers could prevent a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant after a pool containing spent fuel rods overheated and boiled dry.
Radiation levels were "extremely high" in the stricken building, which was breached by an earlier explosion, meaning that radiation could now escape into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric, the owners of the plant, said five workers had been killed at the site, two were missing and 21 had been injured."   - "Japan: Just 48 hours to avoid 'another Chernobyl'"   By Gordon Rayner and Martin Evans, The Daily Telegraph via the Vancouver Sun

Atlantis, what was its downfall? Mother Nature, or did it happen so far back, before recorded time, that it was actually a man-made event that was so devastating in its consequences that it created a myth that there was once a powerful island, third in economy in the world.........

Is Google doing a satellite fly over devastated Japan?

I'll answer my own question, because even though the Japanese roads, railways, shipping lanes have been curtailed by the Earthquake and the Tsunami, the air above still leaves the option open to get a snap shot of where help is needed the most.

UPDATE for March 20th, 2011   Saigai.gsi has flown two more sorties over the tsunami areas.  I don't read Japanese, but its obvious how the GSI map has been updated both in dates, and the specifics, related to the new dates.

************************************************

UPDATE April 6, 2012

岩手県域を撮影した空中写真

岩手県大船渡市

 Translated  to English, but there are options to other Languages as well.  First result on this link to Google, then hitting the Translate button generates this.

Aerial photographs were taken region, Iwate Prefecture

Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture

 *****************************************

However, once again, "a picture is worth a thousand words" (in English)  Print and keep at hand:

This link       came to me via an email from someone who does have family in Japan, and have been found safe and sound, sort of.   Their home was not destroyed, but it is without electricity, water, and heat.  They have no means of obtaining food.  The weather conditions is freezing, with snow.

On the maps (access via the "link".  Zoom in by clicking on the "+" symbols.  The one on the map is more accurate (top right corner).   And to be even more accurate, use the cross hair on the map to centre on where you want to look.   I've used Google Earth to find the Highway (in English) and then, thankfully, the highways on the map in the "link" above, is also in English.

Google Maps to the rescue, but for some reason England keeps popping up for Japan.  You've got to spin the "globe" around to reach Japan and its highways aka routes:

http://saigai.gsi.go.jp/photo_h23taiheiyo-hr/photo/index.html

Each Red Dot is a High Definition photo as of March 13, 2011

Here's two images, one Before and then After the Tsunami hit Kamaishi (Highway 283):

 And just where was the High and Dry Dry Dock before the Tsunami hit this port?

39°16'9.57"N 141°54'33.86"E

Christy Clark: Deal with PlayNow.com Sporting events advertising or hire one or two PAB Technicians to deal with Radioactive Fallout landing on BC from Japan.

Busy weekend for Christy Clark and her Transition Team before 1:00pm Monday's resignation of Premier Gordon Campbell.  Then, the swearing in of the Leader (Christy Clark) of the BC Liberal Party as Premier, and her Cabinet followers.   However, may I make two suggestions here?

ONE

Air Canada sent a letter to Commissioner Gary Bettman saying that ".......it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality"

PlayNow.com advertising keeps popping up on my television screen while I'm watching Hockey.  I know, I know, the BC government which has become so dependent upon the revenue of the gambling ....oooops... gaming, could argue that its my choice to either watch television or not, thereby my critique here would be unnecessary.   "Know your limit, Play within it."

Christy Clark claims she is putting families first in her Government, heavens to Betsy, but just what kind of message is the Crown Corporation of BC Lottery promoting with their adverstising?   I never used to see this kind of advertising before the BC Liberals came to power, especially on their election promise in 2001 to CUT gambling.  They've gone the other direction!

Air Canada has taken, in my humble opinion, the correct position with Bettman, whereas BC Lottery has gone so far as to ramp up more advertising, and coincidentally at exactly the same time as the City of Vancouver Council is sitting down with those of the community who are protesting 1500 slot machines.

Christy Clark has said on the topic of the HST that funding of the proponents/opponents will be equal, and yet the government is spending mega bucks via BC Lottery's PlayNow.com without an equal amount of money being supplied to opponents of gaming/sporting events, especially in light of an Health Officer who is dead set against expansion of casinos.

With Clark's little tyke being cheered on by surrounding hockey mothers the day after she won the Leadership race, don't they understand that little boys and girls grow up to become adults like the Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara or Montreal Canadiens' Max Pacioretty?


TWO

News flash from Japan. One of the two endangered nuclear power plants has exploded.   There are two schools of thought on this disaster, one is that its only the building shell surrounding the concrete/metal nuclear core has been demolished, the core itself is secure and is cooling.

We've all had our eyes and ears glued to the media these past 24 hours in regards to the earthquake in Japan, but has Christy Clark with her high-powered transition team taken the time to appoint someone to monitor who is in charge, British Columbia or Canada, when it comes to radioactivity of rain, drinking water, milk and milk derivatives?

In a Christy Clark news release in regards to assistance in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, it was stated that Rich Coleman was dealing with offerings to Ottawa.  With Japan's nuclear plants spitting bad radioactive stuff, much like Chernobyl, and our having survived the warnings of a Tsunami hitting our shores 24 hours later (something that can actually be seen by the naked eye), what of our air quality today compared to once those "invisible things" when they hit the whole Westcoast of British Columbia.

Everyone (the Press) seems to worry about the mechanics of earthquakes but shouldn't we be preparing ourselves as the Japanese people have done so, for OUR immediate future?   What of the radioactive fallout that is surely on its way once the Melt Down has ...........?

Christy, over to you.

THREE

"VICTORIA – Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Rich Coleman issued the following statement today in response to the radiological situation in Japan.

“Health Canada has advised us that at the present time the current radiological activity at a facility in Japan is expected to pose no health risk to British Columbians.

“The Government of Canada, through the Government Operations Centre, is monitoring and assessing the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan following reports of an explosion, in order to assess any potential risks to Canadians.

“Emergency officials in British Columbia remain in constant contact with the federal government’s operation centre which includes officials with Health Canada, the lead department responsible for coordinating Canada’s nuclear emergency response.”

For more information on Health Canada’s Federal Nuclear Emergency Plan visit: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/ed-ud/fedplan/intro-eng.php"

 <===================================>

The link above has this info, nothing relevant to what has happened within the last three days in Japan.

"Health Canada coordinates federal operations with provincial and territorial operations as required. The FNEP includes provincial annexes for Ontario, Québec, and New Brunswick as they have nuclear power stations, and with Nova Scotia and British Columbia as they have ports which are visited by nuclear-powered vessels. The FNEP also supports the provinces and territories without specific annexes as required."

Federal Health officials, are on the other side of Canada, near Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick where there ARE nuclear power stations, however British Columbia is on its own as far as fallout coming from overseas, Japan.   Relax folks, the distance between Japan and BC is twice the distance as Ontario to BC.  Wait a minute, if an Ontario Nuclear Power Plant melts down it will get to us twice as fast.  We're caught between the devil (nuclear) and the big blue Pacific Ocean.

FOUR  
 
MLA Rich Coleman is out as the-go-to-guy-for-Gordon-Campbell on the Public's safety portfolio and before the new Safety officer for the Christy Clark Government can respond to the public's concern (one day) over the fall out from Japan, in steps the:

"Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall said there is no expected health risk from the radiation, in a statement released Monday.
Kendall noted that nuclear particles would take five to six days to reach B.C. from Japan, by which time it would be so dispersed it would not be considered a health risk."   -

Vancouver Sun - B.C. officials try to ease fears over radiation from Japan by Tiffany Crawford

Epicentre Japan Friday, until further notice. Forget about Victoria on Monday

Premier Gordon Campbell sits on the sidelines this Friday evening, leaving the Premier-Designate-in-charge till Monday morning when she will be officially sworn in as Premier of British Columbia.

Until Monday, all official words from the BC Liberal Government are coming from Leader Christy Clark as to what "her" outgoing-but-current Ministers are doing to assist the overseas disaster.

Just why in Sam Hill are we paying for a Deputy Premier, Colin Hansen (Finance Minister and Health Minister of Tim Horton Fame) during these turbulent times while a side-lined, not maligned, Premier is leaving?   The last time British Columbians had chaos like this, was it during the Hawaii driving debacle or was it during the BC Rail Raid on the Legislature, where the then Deputy Premier (Christy Clark) was usurped by a Finance Minister (Gary Collins).

Google Maps above

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant Proximity to Sendai

One would think, that with the Power Plant being built right on the sea, that a naval vessel could just warp up to the dock and off load a power system to cool off the Nuclear plant.  But no.

 and

Earthquake history lesson

Google Earth below   38°24'4.94"N 141°30'0.93"E

BC Liberal Party Website says "Our MLAs" and it includes Premier-Designate Christy Clark

Jumping the By-Election Writ for a non-existent vacated Seat, the BC Liberal Party website has declared the winner already, under the heading of "Our MLAs", bottom left hand corner:

UPDATE: April 13 2011   BC Liberals have changed their website to reflect that their Leader, our Premier is NOT an MLA.   See bottom left hand corner of their blog, fact is, under the heading of Premier Christy Clark's name doesn't exist.  Is it possible that its only MLAs that are permitted to have their names up in print here?

"Our MLAs

Premier-Designate Christy Clark

B.C. Liberals Elected MLAs

B.C. Cabinet Ministers"

<=============================================>

On page 49 of the BC Liberal Party Constitution:

"CHAPTER 12 – CAUCUS

59       Composition

In this Constitution, “the Caucus” means those members of the Party who are members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia."  - BC Liberal Party Constitution PAGE 49

<=================================>

"....the downside of getting people from outside of parliament is that they are way less accountable." - Christy Clark  -2004

Gordon Campbell quit when things got tough for His government

Gordon Campbell should have remained at the helm of the BC Liberal Government until May of 2013, but because of his disastrous introduction of the HST in 2009, he only made it to early November of 2010 before he told the public that he had become to much the focus of their attention.    Where has this man been since he sold off BC Rail?   He believed more in the polls that his government commissioned, at taxpayers expense, than listening to voters. 

Now we have a Designate-Premier, from the start of her run to be Premier, claiming that she needs to have her own mandate.   The monies to pay for this Temporary mandate comes from the taxpayers.   I say Temporary because we do have a law that says our elections of Members of the Legislative Assembly will be elected every four years.   Christy Clark has maintained that she needs the Mandate and not wait for two and a half years.

In the Vaughn Palmer column today he doesn't make it clear, no clearer than what Christy Clark has been saying, as to whether HER mandate will be for Four years or for the Remainder of the Mandate that Gordon Campbell received for Four years.

This downfall, this resignation by Gordon Campbell is not of the Public's making.   Its solely on the shoulders of the BC Liberal Party because of their shenanigans of not been truthful to the public on the Harmonized Sales Tax when it came to being an Open and Transparent Government.  They had the opportunity to raise it for discussion during the last election, and they chose not to.

Ms. Clark, please clarify just how long you see YOUR Mandate lasting.   Is it for two years or for four years?

I might put up with you for two years, as a trial period, but for four years, without any recent experience in politics on your part, I'd say NO!   

BC HST and P3 is designed to fail under the BC Liberals

In the Vaughn Palmer column today its all about Christy Clark the Premier (not Designate-Premier) asking Kevin Falcon to take over the Finance Ministry because of a spent Colin Hansen. So far, Kevin Falcon has said "No".   In Vaughn Palmer's own words of what Kevin Falcon said in a media scrum after Saturday's loss:

"Life was too short to spend it immersed in numbers and statistics."

The Harmonized Sales Tax was on the "radar" by the BC Liberals before the 2009 Election and they decided not to introduce it because ..... because they would have probably have LOST the election on just this one issue.

Public Private Partnership was Kevin Falcon's baby when he was the Highway Minister, no wonder he was known as Action Man (same article as "Life was too short to spend it immersed in numbers and statistics")

The public will be burdened with Tolls and Shadow Tolls for the next 35 years, and if the Province had had its way with the Coquihalla Highway, and Tolls, that give-away would have gone on for 50 years.

Make no mistake about it, the BC Liberals campaigned in 2001 of not burdening our children's children with debt when in fact PPP3 have done exactly that.  The BC Liberals have left the numbers and statistics up to outsiders to collect on, instead of the public reaping the profits of Crown organizations which have been Privatized without a word being asked for from the public........ just like the HST was sprung on us.