Austinites fearing effects of Japanese fallout..wait, what?! (West: shop, kids)

[jobert]

Nuclear accident occurs 8000 miles away, yet Austinites still freak out...

Austin-area consumers, fearing radiation from Japan, snap up supplement

This gives me little faith about how people would react if there was an actual disaster in Texas.

[SmartGXL]

Alex Jones is reporting that the fallout from the disaster can reach to, at least the West Coast, and even possibly to Texas and Chicago. This is due to the way the jet stream works.

[spelrod]

I'm in my bunker now with a year supply of SPAM and twinkies. See you all later when you're three armed freaks!

[drshdw]

The winds are pretty bad and radiation doesn't exactly decay quickly..

[WoodyTX]

Garbage. The radiation leakage so far is minor. Most of it will fall to the ground as precipitation, and what does get here will be so dispersed that it will be undetectable.

I get a laugh out of my "science is important" friends scaring themselves over this. Yes, science is important, which is why you should look into the qualifications of anyone providing your scientific advice. When the 'experts' on the news have a background as an anti-nuclear activist and a manager of a 'peace fund' (as in a recent article), it's not exactly news.

[Jennibc]

I'd be more concerned about the economic fallout.

[jobert]

Interesting enough, this jetstream was actually used by the Japanese to send balloon-born explosives to the US during WWII. The only casualties of this campaign were a pregnant woman and 5 kids who found one in a southern Oregon forest.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jobert

Interesting enough, this jetstream was actually used by the Japanese to send balloon-born explosives to the US during WWII. The only casualties of this campaign were a pregnant woman and 5 kids who found one in a southern Oregon forest.

.

Fire balloon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons but were used in one of the few attacks on North America during World War II.

Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched over 9,300 fire balloons. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in North America, killing six people and causing a small amount of damage.[1]

[CptnRn]

Better order your radiation dosimeters right away!

dosimeters - Google Search

[jobert]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

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talk about a tragic figure... the guy who watched his pregnant wife and 5 kids get killed - later on he remarried, and then his wife and 3 kids were kidnapped by the Vietcong and never heard from again. Wow.