When you visit this site you can enter your address and a map will pop up with your house as a small icon of a house. There will be red, blue and green dots surrounding your entire neighborhood. When you click on these dots a picture of a criminal will appear with his or her home address and the description of the crime he or she has committed. The best thing is that you can show your children these pictures and see how close these people live to your home or school. This site was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted. This is another tool we can use to help us keep our kids safe.
#2
1960's OLD DREAM/VISION > A SAILOR outside a Sub called K-129, deliber trying to sink his own ship.
HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER [paraph] > SEAN CONNERY -"This submarine cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of the Americans...The Officers and Senior NCOS will stay aboard, we will open the sea valves and detonate the explosive charges, and sink/incinerate the ship"!
"You will receive the ORDER OF LENIN = HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION for this, CAPT"!
I like to think it was His skeleton that was found outside the wreck of the K-129, recovered and buried wid full naval honors by HOWIE HUGHES + the GLOMAR CHALLENGER.
MARIAH CAREY > "A HERO LIES IN YOU" ... IN THE SOVIET/RUSSIAN NAVY!
*FYI > STARS-N-STRIPES/OTHER - US ARMY FUNDS MIND-READING/CONTROL [Psychic] STUDY.
I'm shocked! Shocked, I tells ya!
So it really was a rubber suit. How do they know? I mean, he's Bigfoot. Maybe he's some kinda rubber mutant...
The excitement over a supposed Bigfoot body that built all last week, culminating Friday in a circus-like press conference in Palo Alto, Calif., collapsed like a wet soufflé over the weekend as an independent investigator found out it was all fake. Awwwww. And we all had such high hopes...
SearchingforBigfoot.com owner Tom Biscardi paid an "undisclosed sum" to Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two Georgia men who say they found the body, for their frozen corpse and the privilege of trotting them out in front of TV cameras. At the same time, Biscardi sent self-described "Sasquatch detective" Steve Kulls back to Georgia to check out the body. Good morning, sir. Steve Kulls, Sasquatch detective.
Oh. Hi.
Kulls, it's safe to say, was severely disappointed. Oh, well. Keep looking, Steve. You'll find em. We're all pulling for ya.
The upshot? The real Bigfoot, once found, is now missing. So are Whitton, Dyer and Biscardi's money. What was that saying about a fool and his money?
In a long statement on SearchingforBigfoot.com, Kulls reveals what he found early Sunday morning Eastern time as the body thawed out. "I extracted some [hair] from the alleged corpse and examined it and had some concerns," Kulls writes. "We burned said sample and said hair sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair." Oh, good. They have procedures. That makes me feel better.
Kulls called Biscardi in California, who told him to heat the body to speed up thawing. It's in your procedurs, dammit! Do I have to think of ebverything!
"Within one hour we were able to see the partially exposed head," Kulls continues. "I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section. This was yet another ominous sign." Was that Bigfoot's head or his?
Then came the clincher."Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. ... I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot." ...and, boy, did I feel like an asshole.
That jibes with what Jerry Parrino, owner of Internet Halloween-costume retailer TheHorrorDome.com, told FOXNews.com last week. "It definitely looks like our [Sasquatch] costume," Parrino said after viewing photos of the body. But, Jerry, you're not a professional Bigfootologist. Leave this to the professionals.
The Biscardi team immediately went into crisis mode. Biscardi called Whitton and Dyer at their California hotel. They admitted it was a hoax and agreed to sign a promissory note at a meeting set for 8 a.m. Pacific time at the hotel. But when Biscardi got there, he "found that they had left." Damn. If ya can't trust Bigfoot hunters, who can you trust?
"At this time action is being instigated against the perpetrators of this fraud," Kulls writes on Biscardi's Web site. "On behalf of myself I can say with certainty Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer [are] not the best Bigfoot trackers in the world!" Scam artist on scam artist crime is an ugly thing...
#1
This is too convenient. I smell a coverup. Next they'll be claiming me there's no Yeti or Loch Ness Monster either. I bet the gray aliens are behind it;)
#4
Any fool willing to part with his money for a bigfoot body deserves to be conned.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 11:41 Comments ||
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#5
Mystery solved. It was Ed Asner.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2008 11:47 Comments ||
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#6
It looks like Abdominal Snowman has pulled off another last-minute body-snatching-and-switching. He's good.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/19/2008 11:52 Comments ||
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#7
Scandal! Bigfoot a Fake!
No.. No... No.. It can't be TRUE!
My girlfriend and I just quit our jobs so we could see Big FOOT before we die... *sniff*
We had even gassed up the Station Wagon and packed it full of Provisions for our visit.
You see my girlfriend [Gina] and I have spent a lifetime collecting genuine Big Foot artifacts and we are board certified experts with graduate degrees from Big Foot University.
Need Proof of our expertise? Go ahead ask any question/s about Big Foot.
~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/19/2008 12:52 Comments ||
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#8
How do bigfoots communicate ?
Do they hunt in packs or solo ?
Do they use any tools ?
#17
mojo, What's the plural? Bigfoots? Bigfeet? Bigfooti?
It was so confusing over the years mojo because everyone used their own woid to stand in for the plural, that we had to standardize a single woid not very long ago.
We finally picked the single woid "plural" to mean multiple bigfoots.
~:) /gawd that waz bad
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/19/2008 18:34 Comments ||
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#18
Boy, Afghanistan + IRAN-CONTRA + Panama + DESERT SHIELD/STORM + DARPA,etc. now BIGFOOT > guess GUAM will have to be the one - again - to prove or disprove BIGFOOT HARRY's existence. Ditto for NESSIE + CHUPACABRA + ...........
And now you know, VIRGINIA, AGAIN, why Rambo's COLONEL TROUTMAN demands "GET ME THAT GUY/WHATS-HIS-NAME FROM GUAM"!? IFF ONLY PAULA "DELILAH/HOW ABOUT SOME INFORMATION PLEASE" ABDUL CAN LEARN TO STOP KICKING DADDY'S FAV COCONUT PLANTS!
JIMMY STEWART > D *** NG IT, WOMAN, DON'T YOU HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER YOUR DAUGHTERS!
#6
What an idiot. Kitesurfing is dangerous enough, but doing it in near-hurricane force winds...idiot. Kitesurfing is dangerous for the very reason that it is too easy to get "launched" and too hard to quickly depower your kite. You can't just drop your sail like you can on a windsurfer.
My nephew was seriously injured last September near Tampa when a front went over where he was kiting and he got dragged then launched. He hit a powerline, was electrocuted and dropped 30' onto a barrier. That either the electrocution or the fall didn't kill him is a miracle. That both didn't kill him is a real miracle. He is pretty much back to full strength now.
I've windsurfed for 25 years. Not going to go kiting any time soon.
Interesting read. Excerpt:
Magali, the photographer, is appalled. We are in McDonald's, just around the corner from the Louvre in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, and we are tucking into some breakfast. With a beer. Because we can.
"But what ees thees?" she demands. Croque monsieur. Well, technically a Croque McDo. Jambon and a spot of fromage. It's rather good.
#1
See also TV > THE CAPITALIST REVOLUTION IN CHINA. CARS + RONALD + THE COLONEL [KFC] + OREO Cookies lead the way. Rest assured there are still a'plenty [for now] of Free Market/Laissez Faire- competing local MOM-N-POP SHOPS offering your favorite SWEET-N-SOUR OR CARAMELED BUG/FROG/
LIZARD/SCORPION-ON-A-STICK!
#2
Standardized, consistent, decent, reliable food source readily available regardless of location on the planet. There are few surprises [well, alcohol in Europe]. What a concept. From the same thinking that brought the Model T to the average person. The underlying principle of mass production of bringing goods to the average or less than average income population.
Small women with long legs are the most sexually attractive to men, scientists claim.
Dr William Brown, of Brunel University, which carried out the study, said: 'We found that shorter, slimmer females with long slender limbs and larger breasts are more attractive.'
"We spent months and months looking at girls with nice legs and big bazooms, measuring them and observing them from every possible angle--and we got paid grant money to do it! And then we published our findings and got tenure! Is this a great country or what?"
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2008 17:26 ||
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#1
Hence my moniker.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
08/19/2008 18:29 Comments ||
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#5
See YAHOO NEWS for OLYMPICS' demand for sexier, petiter femme attire. or in the altern complaints therefrom. It conquered CNN + CSPAN [no easy feat].
NICE TO KNOW THE POST-COLD WAR COMMIES ACTUALLY HAVE WOMEN ON THEIR WOMENS' TEAMS.
Mt Ruapehu is claiming the biggest snow base ever recorded for a New Zealand skifield with over 4.5m of snow on the ground.
Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, operator of Mt Ruapehu ski area, was celebrating what it called a major milestone today. The snow measuring stake at Turoa previously only stood at 380cm so had to be extended to measure today's 455cm snow base.
The Whakapapa side of the mountain also had 350cm of snow, the biggest since 1995.
Mt Ruapehu marketing manager Mike Smith said the record-breaking snow base would be paradise for skiers and boarders, and with such large bases the season could potentially keep going into November.
But while the North Island field was claiming the record, southern skifield Cardrona, near Queenstown, was proclaiming the quality, not quantity, of its snow.
Geoff Wayatt, who runs the snow safety and ski patrol for Cardrona, said the snow measured 78cm at the base and about 110cm at the top station. The weather patterns meant that the more northern fields could receive bigger snow falls, he said. "They have got great terrain, we have got better snow. The further south you go the colder it gets and the better the snow quality."
ROME (Reuters) - About 60 newly hatched sea turtles lost their way during their ritual passage to the sea and marched into an Italian restaurant instead, a conservation worker said on Monday.
The baby turtles -- which ended up under the tables of startled diners at the beachside restaurant -- were probably thrown off track and lured by the eatery's bright lights, said Antonio Colucci, who was called to help rescue the group. Either that, or they were looking for pizza.
The stranded turtles, which had hatched on a beach in the southern Italian region of Calabria, were released into the sea.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2008 06:51 ||
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Hi, I am a big fan of scuba diving, especially in the Middle East and since I am working in Dubai, and have the opportunity to travel in the Gulf, I am very interested in diving areas in Saudi Arabia.
Mark, Dubai
Dear Mark, Saudi nationals, and of late international tourists, have now adopted what started out as mostly an expatriate sport, scuba diving. The Red Sea is the best in natural assets for just under the surface is one of the great coral reefs of the world containing at least 200 species of coral. Compared to Egypts Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurgada, reports say that Saudi reefs are healthier and not crowded with dive boats. There are several boat charters and diving clubs in the yellow pages.
Major points to take when planning a diving trip:
n That you have a licensed local skipper with at least five years experience in the Red Sea area.
n That you rent scuba gear from licensed stores and not from individuals. The safety of your gear is vital.
n Check weather forecasts before booking trips.
n Check the nearest hospitals in the area and make sure you have their contact numbers. This is in the event of an emergency.
n Diving groups of more than five are preferred.
n Avoid groups with females; usually they are without a permit and if discovered could cancel the whole trip.
n Do not hesitate to take your water camera for great shots.
#1
Don't forget the essential equipment that will be missing for your "final dive of the day".....booze.
But actually, they have come up with a diving chador/burka/whatever the hell they call that damn shapeless sack a woman has to wear....as long as she dives only with an acceptable male companion. I kid you not.
(Too bad, heard that the diving there is spectacular, with lots to see, warm water and great viz.)
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/19/2008 9:15 Comments ||
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#2
they have come up with a diving chador/burka/whatever the hell they call that damn shapeless sack a woman has to wear
The ones in the bags are tasty - but it's such a pain opening the package.
The government of Dubai, which is vying to become a global financial hub, vowed on Sunday to crack down on corruption amid a series of probes into alleged financial irregularities in high-profile firms. "The government will continue to have a strict stance against all aspects of corruption and will take legal measures against violators" in both the public and private sectors, public prosecutor Issam al-Humaidan said in a statement. "There are strict directives to have zero-tolerance towards all aspects of corruption, bribery and taking advantage of official positions," he said.
Humaidan said the results of investigations of employees being questioned over alleged irregularities will be announced once they are complete.
His warning was backed by the chairman of leading real estate company Deyaar Development, whose former chief executive is being held for alleged fraud. According to press reports, several people are being detained or questioned over alleged fraud in a number of major companies. They include leading government-controlled property developer Nakheel, one of whose executives is held on bribery charges.
Nakheel is building three palm tree-shaped artificial islands, as well as "The World" -- a cluster of some 300 islands looking like a blurred vision of the planet's nations -- off Dubai's coast.
Others reported under arrest include two senior executives being questioned over alleged financial irregularities at their former employer, housing finance provider Tamweel. Dubai Islamic Bank, which partly owns Deyaar, is also under investigation.
Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, is a booming business and tourism hub in the oil-rich Gulf region, and is seen as on course to rival major financial centers such as London and New York.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Nakheel is building three palm tree-shaped artificial islands, as well as "The World" -- a cluster of some 300 islands looking like a blurred vision of the planet's nations -- off Dubai's coast.
#1
WORLD MILITARY FORUM [China] > PAL's SECOND ARTILLERY TEST OF THE JL2 SLBM in JUNE 2008 > the JL2 can as per WMF cover/reach anyplace in the USA = CONUS-NORAM, ergo TAIWAN had better watch its six! TAIWAN RESPONSE > successful JL2 test by PRC via Type 092/94's Subs [12 ea. JL2 SLBM Tubes] will only induce Taiwan to keep improving its own stock of LR Missles.
For years now, I have been advising people not to eat meat. Apart from all the other things wrong with it, very few people know which animal has been killed for its meat, its state of health when it was killed (45 per cent of all animals killed in slaughterhouses and 70 per cent of all chickens have gangrene when they are killed) and the way in which it is killed.
In a report of the main slaughterhouse in India, Idgah in Delhi placed before the Supreme Court it was shown how the animals were cut with rusty blades, urinated and defecated on and left in pools of other animals. But this article is not about the filth in meat that no amount of boiling can take out (can you boil gangrene or human faeces out?) It is about the type of meat you eat.
The Bihar Government has just announced that it will promote rat meat. This is one State that has been looted so systematically and ruthlessly for the last 15 years that it has no middle class or rich people left at all. In 15 years of Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav's misrule, no roads were built, no hospitals or schools made, every single industry fled, most shops closed down. Even the politicians became scroungers! The only people who got rich were the criminals and mafia dons with the help of Mr Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi whom he made proxy Chief Minister.
The new Government already crippled with huge floods and an inefficient administration is now, looking for quick fixes to bring prosperity. For a while they jumped enthusiastically into smuggling cows out to Bangladesh to be killed for meat. But now there are very few cattle left and the farmers dependant on them for ploughing are even more destitute. So now what better than the only natural resource left rats
Rats are eaten in Bihar by a community named Musahars or Bhuyans who are considered the 'lowest' on the social ladder. Now the Government of Bihar has announced on August 9 that they have a panacea to everything people will be encouraged to eat rats, the meat will be introduced formally into all eateries from roadside dhabas right up to five star hotels and will occupy a place on the menu rat burgers, rat tail pasta, baby rat keema (I am not joking). This will solve the following problems:
First, rats eat more than 50 per cent of the grains in farms and badly-kept Government godowns. If these are caught, then the grains will be saved. Second, the community of Musahars will be socially rehabilitated and will become rich. And third, everybody will have a source of protein.
This will solve the global food crisis. India has, according to the bureaucrats who have no doubt done a population count with NGOs of their relatives and charged the World Bank for the same, eight billion rats seven for each Indian.
Bihar's Social Welfare Department secretary Vijay Prakash was quoted in The Statesman as saying: "Rat meat has huge potential to be developed into a popular dish which, if extensively commercialised will tackle almost 50 per cent of the food crisis in the country." He said that his department plans to organise food festivals, set up stalls at various locations to sell rat meat and train hotels in ways of making tasty rat meat dishes.
The Social Welfare Department plans to popularise rat farming on the lines of chicken and fish-farming. Some field rats weigh as much as 3 kg and if a poor rat-catcher can nab three or four rats a day and sell the meat , he could lift his family out of poverty, Mr Prakash told the daily.
Twenty years ago, we were told that Polish rabbit farming would solve the meat problem. Rabbit farms were set up in West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh and by now, they have run into the ground with the animals dying of starvation and disease and escaping into the forests where they have destroyed a large amount of natural habitat.
Then we were told that emu meat is wonderful and emus were smuggled in to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka from Australia and have proven to be big failures except in the clandestine meat market where they are sold as duck and chicken. Ducks and turkeys are still too expensive for their meat to act as substitutes for chicken. And why should they be sold cheaply when dogs, cats, rats, mongooses and squirrels can be caught for free and killed?
Maneka Gandhi is an Indian politician, an ardent animal rights activist, environmentalist and former journalist. She has been a Minister in four governments, and has authored a number of books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare. She is an estranged member of the Nehru-Gandhi Family
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 13:31 ||
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#1
45 per cent of all animals killed in slaughterhouses and 70 per cent of all chickens have gangrene when they are killed
You're eating the wrong kind of chickens sister.
But in India, who knows.
#2
"Have Gangrene when they are killed" > which is why I'd argued times before that its notsomuch BIRD FLU thats killing poor people in Indonesia and Asia as the fact that they are eating long-dead infected CARRION = ROAD-KILL, + IMPROPER PREP, etc. BIRD FLU + other fram animal diseases ocur naturally and have been here on Guam [farms + ranchos] since I can remember, AND I KNOW OF NO ONE WHOM HAS EVER GOTTEN SICK OR DIED FROM EATING BIRD-FLU AFFECTED POULTRY OR OTHER.
ALL TOGETHER NOW, WID FEELING, "DON'T EAT CARRION, ZOMBIE BIRDS/ANIMALS, OR ANYTHING FROM STEPHEN KING'S PET CEMETARY"!
We don't have an "Ohfergawdsake" category, more's the pity.
A state government in eastern India is encouraging people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks. Authorities in Bihar, one of India's poorest states, are asking rich and poor alike to switch to eating rats in a bid to reduce the dependence on rice. The article doesn't say what political party this guy's in. Whichever one it is, I suggest voting for the other one. Trust me on that.
Gent is Vijay Prakash and he's not a politician. He's the Principal Secretary of the State Welfare Dept. He has other ideas too - hiring eunuchs as security guards to maternity wards in hospitals and catching snakes for venom as an economic activity for the poor
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare with NET > VARIOUS - HUMAN HUNTING WIPED OUT THE GIANT KANGAROOS.
#2
Rats are a reasonable source of animal protein. Clearly a more logical source than some other popular sources (who was the first starving person to eat an oyster?)
Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik on Tuesday said commencement of trains from Patna would increase the number of beggars in the state.
"Mostly all the beggars are from other states and train scheduled from Patna to Goa will create the problem," Naik said participating in the discussion during the ongoing State Legislative Assembly session.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 9:19 Comments ||
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#5
Maybe they should call the rats "squirrel deer" and no one would be any the wiser. It worked in the movie.
#6
Squirrels are just tree rats, and I would guess that field rats or wharf rats taste similarly good. It beats listening to the kids cry themselves to sleep at night.
I thought India was supposed to be this big technology, economic behemoth the likes of which the world has never seen?
Kind of like China, eh?
#7
I always wondered why they didn't raise them and process them into cat food.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2008 11:34 Comments ||
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#8
Problem with rats is they carry too many diseases that transfer to humans. Not a recipe for a long and healthy life. Plus rats live communally so any disease spreads quickly.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2008 11:37 Comments ||
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#10
ed,
If you are already living in a rat-infested environment then you are already pretty thoroughly exposed to their carried diseases. And I don't know how many of those are still infectious through consumption after stewing with some root veggies, corn, limas for a few hours (wharf squirrel Brunswick stew).
#11
The former chief minister of Bihar is a fellow named Laloo. He is now in the Indian federal cabinet (minister of railways).
At one cabinet meeting he declared how disappointed he was as chief minister that he could not print his own money. He suggested that all states could do this and thereby solve their budget problems. He could then give pay rises to all the workers.
The Indian finance minister (Harvard trained economist) said nothing.
The Indian prime minister (Oxford trained economist) said nothing. He later wrote a memo to all his ministers pointing out that attendance at cabinet meetings was not a requirement. Ministers could send their civil servants instead.
I suspect he didn't mean Vijay Prakash or anyone else close to Laloo.
When Laloo was arrested a few years ago he was unable to run for reelection. He put his wife on the slate. She won.
Rabri Devi is illiterate. She was placed in charge of a state with a population of 83 million people.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 11:48 Comments ||
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#12
Well, they're also great in stews. Now, I don't mean to brag, but I make a mean weed rat stew.
#13
Squirrels are just tree rats, and I would guess that field rats or wharf rats taste similarly good.
Food tastes of what it eats. Coutry squirrels eat nuts and berries. Wharf rats eat mostly garbage. Granary rats no doubt are as succulent and tender as grain-fed beef, but street and wharf rats eat garbage and drink effluent, and are as full of parasites as they are fleas.
It beats listening to the kids cry themselves to sleep at night.
#14
Killing and cleaning rats intimately exposes a person to parasites and infected tissues. That raises the probability of infection to a whole new level than stewing veggies that rat a nibbled or took a dump on.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2008 11:55 Comments ||
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#15
"Patna" is also the name of the ship abandoned at the start of "Lord Jim", for whatever that's worth.
#18
(who was the first starving person to eat an oyster?)
Oysters were a dietary staple of the poor in 18th century england. As was salmon. I recall a diary of apprentice from the time who bemoaned having had to eat salmon every day for an entire month.
Given its limited reserves of natural uranium and its abundant supply of thorium, India has chalked out a unique three-stage nuclear program. In the first stage, pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs)similar to those used in advanced industrial countriesburn natural uranium. In the second stage, fast-breeder reactors, which other countries have tried to commercialize without success, will burn plutonium derived from standard power reactors to stretch fuel efficiency. In the key third stage, on which India's long-term nuclear energy supply depends, power reactors will run on thorium and uranium-233 (an isotope that does not occur naturally).
Scientists and engineers at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, in Mumbai, have designed a novel advanced heavy water reactor to burn thorium. They say that because no reactor in the world today uses thorium on a large scale, they will be breaking new ground. The head of the Mumbai reactor design and development group, Ratan Kumar Sinha, spoke to IEEE Spectrum's Seema Singh in July about the challenges of and prospects for this new thorium reactor technology.
IEEE Spectrum: Why do you call this advanced heavy water reactor one of a kind?
Ratan Kumar Sinha: No reactor in the world utilizes thorium on a large scale. We are the first ones to design such a system, which we are validating through an experimental program. In April, we started a test reactor, which has a flexible configuration and allows use of a range of fuel materials; we can even physically shift the distance between fuel rods. Here we are able to simulate the reactor almost 100 percent.
Spectrum: What are the unique features in this reactor?
Sinha: While we have used the well-proven pressure-tube technology, we've introduced many passive safety features, a distinguishing one being the reactor's ability to remove core heat by natural circulation of coolant under normal operating and shutdown conditions. This eliminates the need for nuclear-grade circulating pumps, which, besides providing economic advantages, enhances reliability.
We have also introduced passive shutdown on the main heat transport system in case of a failure of the wired shutdown system. Using mechanical energy from the increased steam pressure, the system injects neutron poison into the moderator [that sustains the nuclear chain reaction]. There are several other safety features, which are important, because they allow the reactor to be built close to the population.
Spectrum: What will the fuel assembly look like once it is operational?
Sinha: This is a vertical, pressure-tube-type, heavy-water-moderated, and boiling-light-water-cooled natural circulation reactor. The fuel assembly is 10.5 meters in length and is suspended from the top in the coolant channel. The fuel cluster has 54 pins arranged in three concentric rings around a central rod. The 24 pins in the outer ring have thorium-plutonium as fuel, and the 30 pins in the inner and middle rings have thorium-uranium-233 as fuel. The plutonium pins are placed in the outer ring to minimize the plutonium requirement. The thorium provides 60 percent of the reactor's power.
Spectrum: Is it designed for a longer life than the present generation reactors?
Sinha: Yes, the reactor is designed [to last] 100 years. Present-generation reactors have a design life of about 40 years, and many of the reactors in the West have been extended beyond that. However, what goes inside the core of our advanced reactors will have a lifetime of [only] about 30 years, so the design includes replacement of the material twice in the life of the reactor, which can be carried out during normal annual shutdowns. The reactor is also designed for on-power fueling.
Spectrum: You said earlier that no reactor today uses U-233, but India has a reactor called Kamini running on this fuel.
Sinha: That's a small 30-kilowatt reactor in Kalpakkam [near Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu] that uses U-233 not for power generation but for neutron radiography. It tests and evaluates the fuel from the fast-breeder test reactor at Kalpakkam. But our reactor will produce 300 megawatts of electricity and 500 cubic meters per day of desalinated water for its own purposes.
Spectrum: Since India is still some years away from using fast-breeder reactors as a source of U-233 for its third-phase nuclear program, what role do you see for the reactor you're designing?
Sinha: This reactor will provide a platform for further research and development. In nuclear technology, the biggest emphasis is always on proven concepts. We have to have the timely development of thorium-based technologies for the entire thorium fuel cycle.
The supply of uranium is not perpetual. With the rate at which nuclear programs are growing worldwide, it is projected that by 2028 any new power plant will not have a guaranteed lifetime of uranium supply. So, one has to go for recycling as well as thorium. I don't see any shortcut as such.
Spectrum: What was the trickiest problem you faced while designing this?
Sinha: There were several, but the perennial challenge was to match the reactor's physics requirements with heat-removal requirements from the core. Physicists wanted to bring down the moderator use as low as possible, which meant the reactor had to be made very compact, with fuel rods being placed as close to one another as possible. The fuel rod spacing had to be reduced from the standard 270 millimeters to 245, and finally to 225 µmsomething not attempted anywhere before. And that tremendously improved the performance of the reactor.
Another innovation was in differentially enriching the fuel [that is, boosting its fissile content] at the top and bottom of the central rod. The upper half has 2.5 percent enrichment; the lower half has 4 percent enrichment. This caused the power to jump from 230 MW to 300 MW.
Spectrum: Even though thorium has always looked attractive theoretically, why hasn't the technology taken off yet? What are the impediments?
Sinha: There has been interest in thorium in some other countries because of its proliferation-resistant nature, but no other country had the problem of uranium supply like India. In other countries, the economics were not in favor of thorium, so uranium became the fuel of choice.
Spectrum: Why was thorium not economical?
Sinha: Thorium has a much lower neutron multiplication rate than plutonium, and hence you cannot achieve power levels in a reactor as high as with plutonium. When burned, thorium initially acts like a blotting paper for neutrons and keeps absorbing them. But this exercise also means it is getting enriched and converted into U-233, which will pay dividends later on. Once the energy generated has reached 40 000 megawatt-days per metric ton, U-233 starts contributing many more neutrons than what has been lost in absorption by thorium. So you tend to get economic benefits of thorium if you have a fuel that can run up to 40 000 MWd/t and beyond. But most early generation reactors had lower burn-up values of around 15 000 to 20 000 MWd/t. These have, of course, risen to about 40 000 MWd/t in recent time. So the world is now thinking of thorium.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 15:21 ||
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A nearly 200 ton nuclear reactor safety vessel is erected at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, about 80 km (48 miles) from the southern Indian city of Chennai, June 24, 2008. The reactor is a 500 MW prototype fast breeder and it will begin commercial production of nuclear power by 2011.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 18:19 Comments ||
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#6
Laloo would probably steal the fertilizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fodder_Scam
Fodder Scam is a scam related to Animal Husbandry Department of Government of Bihar in which irregularities of nearly Rs 950 crores (US $ 264 million) were detected
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 18:23 Comments ||
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#7
A joke from Bihar
India and Pakistan fight a war. Pakistan thrashes India. They begin negotiations.
The Indian PM comes to the meeting with a very sorry face but when both of them are coming out, he looks happy. Journalists ask Nawaz Sharif : "So Nawaz, Pakistan have won Kashmir?"
Nawaz says "No! We have not taken over Kashmir since India says, if Pakistan wants to take Kashmir, it should take Bihar also."
Posted by: john frum ||
08/19/2008 18:27 Comments ||
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#8
TOPIX > SCIENCE, INDUSTRIES DESIRE WIDESPREAD USE OF NUCLEAR REACTORS [Industro-Consumerism] BUT PUBLIC FEARS PERSIST.
Contrary to popular opinion, SOLYENT PIZZAS are NOT enuff for our future TEN ** 26 POST-OWG NEW SPACE ORDER SPACE DESCENDANTS TO ATTRACT THE ORION SPACE BABES WITHOUT A NUKE IN THEIR LIGHTSPEED HOT/STAR RODS!
* RUN DMC? > "GOT NO MONEY AND YA GOT NO CAR - YA GOT NO WOMAN, AND THERE YOU ARE"! As true in DEEP SPACE + DUNE + KLINGON EMPIRE, etc AS FOR ROSWELL + PAUL SIMON'S BOW TIE BACK ON FUTURE OLD EARTH!
After more than two years as refugees, the fate of hundreds of Ahmadiyah followers in West Nusa Tenggara remains uncertain, with the provincial government failing to take decisive action to resolve their situation.
The administration's failure to act is despite a joint ministerial decree recognizing Ahmadiyah followers' freedom to practice their faith but barring them from propagating their faith to others.
It is up to the refugees to help themselves by accepting the decree because they had been forcibly evicted from their homes by local communities, head of the nationhood and security affairs at the governor's office, H.M. Nur said.
"The government cannot work alone to resolve the issue. The initiative must also come from the Ahmadiyah followers. They must be able to assimilate into society before we can return them to their homes," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Forty-eight families, or 194 people, have been living in temporary shelters at the transmigration building in Mataram, Lombok, and in a disused hospital in the city since 2006, when their homes were destroyed and they were forced out of their villages in Lingsar and Praya districts.
The forced evictions occurred after the Islamic Ulema Association (MUI) declared Ahmadiyah "heretical".
Nur said the government had provided counseling for refugees so that they might accept mainstream Islamic teachings and live together with other Muslim people, but had made no effort to change public views or to reconstruct their damaged homes.
The refugees need intensive counseling and guidance before they can be sent home, head of the provincial religious office Lalu Suhaimi said.
"The evaluation will determine whether or not the followers have truly adhered to the items (in the decree). We are considering whether to return them to their home villages, but it all depends on the community there," he said.
#3
I read it exactly that way. They are being held away from their homes until they assimilate into their villages. Since the only problem their village has with them is their religion -- it follows that they will not be returned until they convert to a more 'conventional' form of Islam.
"The government cannot work alone to resolve the issue. The initiative must also come from the Ahmadiyah followers. They must be able to assimilate into society[by converting to Islam - since that is the only reason they were drivin out] before we can return them to their homes," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
And the beef is their religion:
The forced evictions occurred after the Islamic Ulema Association (MUI) declared Ahmadiyah "heretical".
#5
Ahmadiyyas don't believe Mohamed is the last prophet. That's big time heresy for Mo worshipers. They also don't believe in jihad.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2008 12:47 Comments ||
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#6
Technically, they don't believe in 'jihad by the sword'. They are Not Allowed into Mecca. The Pak passport religion column fracas a few years back was more-or-less instigated by the Soddies, who wanted to be sure they weren't admitting heretix to the Trampledome.
Even now, the Pak passport application requires the applicant to renounce and denounce persons of Ahmadiism. (A year or so I read the account of a nice Pakistani lady who was horrified that she was required to fill that section out.)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Dr William Brown, of Brunel University, which carried out the study, said: 'We found that shorter, slimmer females with long slender limbs and larger breasts are more attractive.'
Mt Ruapehu is claiming the biggest snow base ever recorded for a New Zealand skifield with over 4.5m of snow on the ground. 
