Has anybody seen glow in the dark pussy yet?

Are there any verifiable reports of that Japan mess affecting any of our favorite mongering spots?

CNN is reporting that Seattle got some.

Here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Pge9F5SpE

I was thinking about going on a trip in the Spring, but I will not go until a few months after the reactors are stable and secure. I dont believe I will get a blast of radiation in places like Thailand or the Phils, but I want to be on the safe side and go when all the issues over there have been resolved. I dont even want to be exposed to even trace amounts of radiation or noxious chemicals. There are ways things can be spread, for example, your shoes. An NBC reporter had radiation on his shoes going out of Japan and if he had not been checked then he would have taken the radioactive shoes back home. So I feel its best to wait until a bit of time after all the issues have been resolved.

To put things in perspective, air travel itself remains the greatest radiation threat most folks will ever face on a trip to Asia. Air travel at 38,000 feet or so exposes you to ~5 µSv (Microsievert) per hour of naturally occurring cosmic radiation that would normally be blocked by the lower atmosphere.

Since most of us will spend 15 or more each way in the air getting to and from Asia, that is a cumulative total of ~150 µSv (Microsievert) from the air travel alone, getting to and from Asia. To put that in perspective, a chest x-ray would give you ~50 µSv so 1 round trip to Asia is roughly the radiation equivalent of 3 chest x-rays just for the plane ride alone.

The current average readings in Tokyo ~0.16 µSv. That's 400% normal. So currently 30 hours in Tokyo is exposing you to as much radiation as 1 hour in a plane. I think I'll survive. If I lived there I would be more than a little uneasy but I wouldn't think twice about changing planes at Narita tomorrow.

Additionally, it is almost inconceivable that any fallout at all would reach any popular South East Asian whore mongering destinations, since they are all essentially up wind of Japan. USA would get fallout long before SE Asia ever did.

If there is a bright side, frequent flyer award tickets transiting Narita have excellent availability now. I just scored an ANA award ticket with Continental miles on prime high season holiday dates AND a Japan Airlines ticket with AA miles also on prime, high season holiday dates.

I think Portege is being more than a little paranoid here, as the odds of getting radiation sickness are FAR lower than the chance of catching something from one of the bar girls.

Besides most of the flights to SEA fly far to the north of Japan.

(Message edited by Roadglide on March 23, 2011)

I do think the chances are rather low. I don't believe I will come home with any type of radiation sickness. However, I would feel more comfortable if the reactor situation was completely resolved.

I read up on Chernobyl and there were people in Germany that had health effects. There was also some contamination found in food and animals hundreds of miles from Chernobyl. I know Chernobyl is different though....still I'd rather have the reactors completely under control and the issue buried before I take a trip.

Unless you are going to Japan, postponing your trip because of the problems in Japan is just dumb. Take a look at a globe, and you will see that both Thailand and the Philippines are just north of the equator and are west of Japan. Most of the weather systems develop near the equator and move north, and the jet stream flows west to east.

My suggestion is to turn off FOX news and start to live life without fear.

I thought the air travel radiation was when sun was up only...not at night....could be wrong...

Ionizing Solar radiation will be evenly distributed to light and dark sides of the world by the Earths magnetic field. Hiding from the sun wont help. Plus, other than during solar storms, flares and such, it is the galactic cosmic radiation that is the bigger threat and that comes from everywhere.

Doing some fun with math.... I calculated that someone who evacuated Tokyo to America by air, to avoid the radiation, received more excess radiation on that flight alone, than they would spending almost a month in Tokyo with radiation being at 400% normal levels.

Lets look at the facts. First look at this link. In the Chernobyl incident radiation was spread to places as far as Sweden, Finland, Norway, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#International_spread_of_radioactive_substances

The fact is that no one really "knows" how bad the situation is in Japan or the effects of the radiation. I know I wont get a high level dose of radiation, but what if I am exposed to a much lower dose or somehow breath in or ingest lower amounts of noxious chemicals. I gave the example of radiation and noxious chemicals being on someone's shoes.

I would rather be "dumb" and simply postpone the trip until a little bit of time after the situation has been resolved. In this case, it would probably be about 2-3 months from now.

Like I said, I was watching NBC and a reporter's shoes had been irradiated enough for a warning device to go off. The reporter's shoes were then bagged up and treated as hazardous waste. So thats enough to convince me to at least delay a trip. I have enough health issues as it is and we could do calculations all day, but the fact is that no one knows the true situation or all the angles. I don't believe the reporters went near the reactors. Also, I read today that people are being advised not to drink the water as far as Tokyo.

(Message edited by Portege on March 24, 2011)

I really hope that there are more guys out there that think like you on this subject. Fewer guys = buyers market!!

Those shoes could have been cleaned and worn again by just wearing a pair of heavy rubber gloves, taking a brush and soapy water and scrubbing off the contaminated soil that was on them.

You guys are trying to help a doofus rationalize a subject that he clearly knows nothing about. "Radiation on his shoes" - what, did he step in a puddle of radiation? Did they forget to put the little yellow plastic signs down warning about the puddle of radiation?

Again, you are using an age-old destructive conversational tactic Catocony. You are basically following me around the board and inserting yourself into the threads I involve myself in. You use profane language and believe that I will just get frustrated and stop posting. You are wrong on that assumption. In any event, none to classy of you and its a good way to destroy a great forum like this one. I know, you dont care. You dont have any money or time invested in building a board like this one so you dont care how you act or the results of your actions.

If I might make a suggestion, try following the terms of service and respect the board. You dont see me calling names or harassing people as you are doing.

(Message edited by Portege on March 24, 2011)

"Those shoes could have been cleaned and worn again by just wearing a pair of heavy rubber gloves, taking a brush and soapy water and scrubbing off the contaminated soil that was on them."

You guys sound very young and probably have never watched anyone die in your life. On the other hand, I have watched a few people die of very painful agonizing deaths. There was this one family member of mine who died of emphysema. Earlier on in this persons life, they seemed very healthy. They never engaged in smoking...they never worked in a nuclear or chemical plant. In fact, they were never exposed to industrial chemicals that I could see. However, they died of emphysema mysteriously. There have been other people I have known that also died just as mysteriously. People who 20 years ago could run, swim and lift weights but are now buried somewhere due to unknown causes.

So, yeah, maybe you could scrub the shoes or whatever, but at this point in my life I know there are things that I dont know about. You guys act like you know something, but I dont think you really know. Can you tell me what all those people who passed away mysteriously in my life died of? Honestly, if I had a pair of shoes or jeans where an instrument detected radiation then its going right in the pile of hazardous waste. Im not going to be scrubbing it off with soap and water or taking any additional risks.

Im not going to Asia while there are reactors spewing radioactive bits all over the place. Chernobyl dumped 400 Hiroshimas of radiation out and as for this one we dont know yet. The long term effects of low doses of radiation are not known and I would like not to know.

One last time to try and calm your fears.

(1) What do you think they just did on the USS Reagan? They put on their rain gear, went out and washed down the ship. This is how you deal with that type of contamination. In the military we call it Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) defense. Most of my 20 years were spent either stationed overseas or in a forward deployed unit, and CBR exercises were part of life back then.

(2) if this nuclear accident had happened outside of Manila your concerns would be valid if you planned on going to Angeles same thing with Bangkok and Pattaya if the plant were outside of Bangkok, but it's in Japan and Tokyo is 1800 miles from Manila and 2800 miles from Bangkok.

(3) Unless you are planning on going to northern Japan there is no valid reason to change your plans and the odds of the plants doing a Chernobyl imitation are slim to none because Chernobyl did not have a containment vessel like they have in Japan. They used a different type of reactor.

Hope this calms your fears.

How many of you are aware that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is just a few miles west of Angeles City and Manila.

It was also built within a couple hundred yards of the ocean and in a tsunami zone just like the stupid positioning of the Japan nuclear plants.

But does it work.....or is it like most things in the Philippines?

It was completed, but never fueled.

In reference to the USS Reagan and the Navy, since when has the military ever put their people's interests first? I remember they injected a lot of chemicals into many soldiers during the first gulf war and many came back with Gulf War Syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome

I wouldnt justify a position just because the military is doing it. I actually know quite a few guys who have been permanently handicapped as a result of what the military did. Thank god they do have a Veterans Administration.

The truth is that many of the naval personel were exposed to low levels of radiation and much more then if they were in the United States. The effects of this low level exposure will not be known to them until later in life. Will they die of emphysema like my relative who did not smoke and took good care of their health? Did I mention that my relative was in the military? What was he exposed to exactly there that might have caused the emphysema? When you look at folks with cancer and emphysema, know that smoking and other such things may not have been the proximate causes for their conditions.

Im not trying to bust your balls. Im just saying that Ive heard this song before over and over again about noxious chemicals and radiation. At first, they always say there will not be an effect like they told those soldiers during the first gulf war. Then people start getting sick. Usually not immediately, but many years or decades later. When the tests come back, no one can quite figure out why they are getting sick.

So I error on the side of caution because I dont think anyone really knows whats going on. Ive heard many things over quite a few decades about whats safe and whats not safe. The safest thing is to stay out of Dodge. Thats my firm opinion.

I made that post wondering how long it would take before somebody revealed that Acquino refused to fuel the nuclear plant that Marcos built. That is fortunate because it never should have been built where it is.

IAS: Other than that it seems to make male flight attendants gay, and apparently leads pilots to excessive emoticon-usage problems, are you aware of any research showing the increased levels of radiation one is exposed to on an airplane cause any medical problems (e.g., increased leukemia rates for flight attendants, and so forth)?