Countries such as France, Russia and Japan reprocess much nuclear waste into new fuel. That dramatically reduces the volume: Forty years' worth of France's highly radioactive waste is stored under just three floor surfaces, each about the size of a basketball court, at Beaumont-Hague.Okay? Fuel's not the problem.
"...[N]ot all waste can be reprocessed. The deadliest bits--such as fuel rod casings and other reactor parts as well as concentrated fuel residue containing plutonium and highly enriched uranium--must be sealed and stored away." But if we can get away from having to store slightly-used fuel, the other stuff will also become less of a problem.
IFR, damn it! IFR! That'll deal with 99.997% of our fuel and fuel waste woes.
Should we spend less on AIDS? A lot of people think so, and have been saying so for years. You could easily save more African lives just by putting in proper water and sanitation systems. Is the spread of HIV overstated? In Africa it is, where they count cases of tuberculosis (for example) as "AIDS-related" and don't test for the virus.
A sidebar in the article mentions that HIV cases peaked in the 1990s according to new estimates. Well, isn't that some good news? Why the hell haven't we heard anything about that anywhere else?
We make law-abiding citizens of the US show proof of citizenship if they want to come home, but we can't keep illegals out. Typical: we make it harder for the legal people while taking no steps to make it harder for the illegals.
This will stop the terrorists! ...the ones who try to cross at established crossings, that is.
Kathleen Willey discusses Hillary Clinton. "Ever since I dared to 'out' Bill Clinton for the sexual predator he is, I got on Hillary's hit list...." An interesting read.
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I had an opportunity to read the first four tankoban of Kodomo no Jikan, scanlated, and all I can say is "WTFF!"
KnJ is pretty close to being hentai. The main character is a rookie teacher; and he has to deal with three 3rd-grade girls, all of whom are precocious in one way or another.
This is the problem I have with the series: at the beginning of the series the girls are eight years old. It wouldn't be so bad if they were 16; it would be less egregious than it is if they were even 14--but eight is just beyond the pale.
The main character, Aoki-sensei, is a good person and has a healthy attitude about his students. He's a bit clueless (especially with regards to Houin-sensei, his voluptuous co-worker, who likes him) but honest and hardworking. He's not a pedophile; and so he reacts properly (more or less) to the teasing of Rin-chan.
Rin's an orphan, being raised by her second cousin Reiji, who was her mother's cousin; Reiji had a romantic relationship with Rin's mother until she died of cancer. Reiji, at the end of volume 4, has designs on having a similar relationship with Rin-chan. He's definitely a bad guy, IMHO.
Still, part of the conflict of the story revolves around the fact that the girls are so young, and I don't know if it would work if they were older. I honestly don't know what to do with this. The story--the larger story, outside of the "H" elements--is fantastic. The conflicts that the characters have are well-executed and interesting.
...the practical upshot of all this is that I'm wondering if I'll even watch the anime, now.
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During my last trip to the bookstore I found the complete collected Bone. I got into it in 1997 and started collecting the issues as they came out, but my ability to spend money on comics ended in 2001 with my tech writing career. The series ended in 2004 and I missed it, so I was pleased to find the "one volume collection" for the bargain price of $40.
"Bargain"? You bet your ass. It's 1300 pages long and the artwork and storytelling are great. There's no color and no screentones--everything is ink on paper. It's funny in spots, serious in others, and it's an excellent read.
I got it for $30 because I used a "Borders Rewards" coupon for 25% off. Lucky me. I have more than the cover price of $40 tied up in individual issues and I certainly didn't feel ripped off for that.
So, I've started over at the beginning, and I'm really enjoying it. I highly recommend this book.