#fossil fuel industry: quaking

[idk-bruh-20]

If Tony Stark was real in our reality

all the villains he " "created" " would be, like:

- oil tycoon pissed that Stark has made renewable energy free for the whole state of NY and has plans to expand the tech to other states, countries, the world

- CEO of a predatory student loan company enraged by Stark making college widely affordable through an endless supply of scholarships

- corrupt politician whose career is over after his dirty laundry gets aired - in a leak that can't be traced to Stark Industries.. but also can't not be traced to it

------

Tony: attempts to make the world a better place with the power he has

Literally all the people who benefit from the world being a bad place:  time to break out the tights and commit crimes???

[rjzimmerman]

A Development Could Kill One of the Oldest Living Things on the Planet. (Sierra Club)

Jurupa oak. | Photos courtesy of Aaron Echols

Excerpt from this story from the Sierra Club:

Few living organisms can claim to be 1,000 years or older. The ones that can are most likely trees. From Methuselah, the Eastern Sierra’s nearly 5,000-year-old bristlecone pine, to Pando, a clonal colony of quaking aspens in Utah more than 14,000 years old, these ancient beings provide a snapshot of our world.

The US Forest Service rightly protects Methuselah and Pando so travelers far and wide can gain perspective on our brief human lifespan and the mark we leave on Earth. Another of these neolithic wonders is an oak between 13,000 and 18,000 years old in California’s Riverside County, but it’s being denied the protection it desperately needs.

The Jurupa oak, an 80-foot-long Palmer’s oak shrub (Quercus palmeri), is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. This clonal colony sprouted among saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, and mammoths during the Pleistocene era. However, the future of the oak is now in peril thanks to a decision by the Jurupa Valley City Council. In September, it narrowly agreed to approve a sprawling 917-acre development. The council voted 3-2 to allow a massive warehouse complex, chain restaurants, salons, and breweries just 450 feet from the oak. It will increase Jurupa Valley’s population by 6 percent, bulldozing more than 200 acres for homes and 140 acres for industrial and business parks.

Despite the dangers to new residents and the surrounding community, developers are planning to build all of this smack dab in the middle of an area east of Los Angeles that’s designated as a high-risk fire hazard severity zone. So why didn’t the Jurupa Valley City Council protect the ancient and enduring Jurupa oak as the Forest Service did Pando and Methuselah? The simple answers are location and money. The oak’s rocky outcrop is in an area gradually being devoured to accommodate our obsession with online shopping. In its place, the city wants to see a vast landscape of warehouses and roads clogged with trucks going back and forth 24/7. In 1980, the Inland Empire, which encompasses Jurupa Valley, had 234 warehouses. Now, there are more than 4,000, covering nearly 26,000 acres of the region. In the eyes of the warehouse industry and the city, the world’s oldest Palmer’s oak—and the last in its watershed—is disposable.

This enduring oak, with its spindly leaves and ancient roots, shouldn’t be thrown away like packaging from an online purchase. But that’s the kind of casual treatment city officials have provided, feigning certainty that nearby development will not harm the oak while admitting they can’t answer lingering questions.

How far do the Jurupa oak’s roots extend, and where does its water come from? How might increased temperatures from fossil-fuel-driven climate change and the urban heat island effect harm the oak? Could heavy machinery vibrations during construction jar loose the rocks supporting the oak’s roots?

These crucial questions need to be answered to ensure a responsible project that protects the Jurupa oak. Unfortunately, the city approved the massive development without answers to any of them, risking death for the world’s third-oldest organism.

That’s why the Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act seeking a 100-acre preserve to safeguard the oak. This legal fight should not even be necessary. Anyone who has strolled through the ancient bristlecone forest or stood beneath the 3,000-year-old Grizzly Giant Tree in Sequoia National Park understands that the value of these ancient beings far outweighs another Southern California warehouse.

[ghostflowerdreams]

When The Electricity Goes Out In The Apocalypse

When an zombie apocalypse (or alien invasion, natural disaster, deadly contagion, etc.) happens the power grid will eventually go out. The reason for that is that the people who work in such places would want to go home to their families too. It would be their first priority so they wouldn’t show up to work when an apocalypse is happening and if they were already there they would want to leave. But that would be a huge problem if they were to suddenly stop working or to not show up at all.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that the employees may be force to continue working by the security, government, military, or whatnot to provide electricity for as long as possible. Or they’ll shut them down before they’re evacuated from the power plant. But again, that doesn’t seem likely because it is dangerous to leave a nuclear power plant unattended.

The power station, also referred to as a power plant (or generating plant), is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Others use nuclear power, but there is an increasing use of cleaner renewable sources such as solar, wind, wave and hydroelectric.

The problem is the nuclear power plants have a huge possibility in having a meltdown a few days after power loss. Of course, there are fail-safe mechanisms (SCRAM) put in place that triggers the nuclear plants to safety shut down in the absence of human maintenance. But they don’t always work because there could be other factors that could get in the way of it. A good example of this was the recent disaster in Fukushima Japan when a earthquake and tsunami caused compound equipment failures that resulted in coolant loss and subsequent reactor meltdown. 

Also, the fail-safe system is run with emergency battery (which last long enough for the diesels to kick in) and backup diesel generators (there’s several weeks worth of fuel onsite -- enough to last for 7 days or 30 days). It’s purpose is to keep the reactor cool after shutdown. However, that won’t last because nuclear plants (with very few exceptions) were only designed to survive local failures, not a full system by several weeks or years. So it would only be a matter of time, which some say it'd be a week or at best a month (it depends if there are any other complications) before the power plant begins to go critical. 

When it does it won’t be like Chernobyl. That had explosions, in which the raging fire spread to consume large swaths of land and it released radioactive plumes that swept over Europe and ravaged a whole city unusable. Any living thing near ground zero during or soon after the meltdown got a lethal dose of radiation within minutes. Even til this day, which is three decades after the explosion it still leaks radiation and it will continue to do so in many more years. But despite the high radiation levels the wildlife is thriving in the area because the absence of humans. It is still not clear how badly the local wildlife has been affected by the radiation. However, what we do know is that the animals, plants, and mushrooms still contain so much radioactivity that they are unsafe for human consumption.

Instead the meltdown would probably be more similar to Three Mile Island accident, in which the cooling malfunction and human errors at the plant caused it to have a partial meltdown, that released dangerous radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. About two million people were exposed to small amounts of radiation as a result of it. The public was assured that there wouldn’t be any significant health impacts from the accident. However, some of the locals believe that the state of Pennsylvania hid the truth, such as the deletion of cancers (from the public record, abolition of the state’s tumor registry, misrepresentation of the impacts it could not hide and including an apparent tripling of the infant death rate in nearby Harrisburg) and much more.

Unfortunately, people might not know that they’re sick until it’s too late. The symptoms don’t happen quickly, unless they were expose to a lot or were too close  to the source (in which case their radiation sickness would occur faster and be much more intense). After all, radiation is invisible; you cannot taste it, or smell it, or feel it on your fingers. So depending on the survivors location their exposure levels could differ. 

Someone at the edge of the fallout may not have noticed anything was wrong with them until years later (in the discover of cancer or something else). Others may feel flu-like symptoms (expect nausea and vomiting, headaches, fatigue, and fever). A little bit of radiation can be treatable (but sadly, it might not be easily available or accessible in the apocalypse). 

If they were closer to the radiation zone or within it, their symptoms would be worst. They would suffer a sunburn which would look like red patches, peeling skin, and sometimes blistering -- which would show up within 24 hours (and hair starts falling out too). But at lethal levels the route to death would be miserably painful. They would suffer severe vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and fever. Possibly unconsciousness and seizures too. Death would inevitable be within 48 hours. 

If it all goes well, the loss of power would switch the system to backup  generators which allows SCRAM to begin the progress of shutdown to the nuclear power plant  This is done by lowering control rods and cooling the system with water. The system continues to do that until there’s no more water or fuel, but that should be enough time for it to cool down to safer levels so that it won't meltdown. 

If it doesn’t work, it should give people plenty of time to evacuate the area. The containment domes around the reactor cores would contain most of the radioactive release (unless something were to happen to them or something else went wrong). But I doubt anyone would want to go in to check just to be sure that it all went well. So to be on the safe side, it would probably be best that the survivors keep their distance from all nuclear power plants (10 miles or more). It would be good idea for them to prepare in advance and mark the location of each of the nuclear power plants on a map. And to also measure out the 10-mile to 50-mile zones around them, so that they can figure out safe routes to travel.

I’ve notice that in many zombie apocalypse stories (and those that have an zombie apocalypse plan) they tend to forget the danger of power plants, especially those that are nuclear. They don’t just shut off quickly with a flip of a switch. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), anyone living in a 10-mile radius of the plant would need to evacuate immediately because they would be hit with radiation plume. Outside the 10-mile zone, the NRC identifies a second zone that stretches out to 50 miles. Within this 50-mile zone, people won’t necessarily be directly affected, but food and water may become contaminated.

It’s important to know if you’re within the danger zone of a nuclear power plant and if so, where to go if you are. It’s also good to know what to wear to shield yourself from the radiation or what to take if you do get sick. This applies for your characters too because they would need to keep this in mind in the apocalypse. It would be another danger for them to deal with and it could also result in irradiated zombies. 

Did you know that there are 61 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 99 nuclear reactors in 30 U.S. states? Of these nuclear plants, 36 have two or more reactors. They’re located mostly in the east coast, which majority are at risk for core damage (that can lead to water loss which can lead to a meltdown) from earthquakes. These nuclear plants were not designed for the serious stresses of a large quake.

Currently, there are 450 nuclear reactors in operation in some 30 countries around the world. And 60 plants in 16 countries that are under construction. The United States has by far the most, followed by France, Japan, China and Russia.

NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) - Map of U.S. Nuclear Plants

Wikipedia - Nuclear power by country

European Nuclear Society - Nuclear power plants, world-wide

Union of Concerned Scientist - Nuclear Power(less) Plants

Emergency Plan Guide - Are you within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant?

NRC: How Can I Prepare for a Radiological Emergency?

Smithsonian - Do You Live Within 50 Miles of a Nuclear Power Plant?

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) - How many nuclear power plants are in the United States, and where are they located?

NBC NEWS - The 10 states that run on nuclear power

Business Insider - The 20 Countries With The Most Nuclear Reactors 

Scientific American - What Happens During a Nuclear Meltdown?

Scientific American - How Long Can a Nuclear Reactor Last?

PhysOrg - How does a nuclear meltdown work? (w/ Video)

Quora - What would happen if a nuclear reactor was suddenly abandoned (in a post-apocalyptic scenario)?

Quora - Do nuclear power plants have an automatic shutdown procedure if they are unmanned for a certain amount of time?

Reddit: AskEngineers - What would happen to nuclear reactors if the power grid failed forever.

Business Insider - How To Save Yourself From Radiation Poisoning After A Nuclear Disaster

Mayo Clinic - Radiation Sickness

CNN - Radiation: When to worry

CBS News - Radiation sickness: 8 terrifying symptoms (Photos)

Motherboard - 30 Years After Chernobyl, Here’s What Radioactivity Is Doing To Wildlife

HISTORY - Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island

The Washington Post - Three Mile Island’s residents remain on alert three decades after nuclear crisis

York Daily Record - Plagued by disease, ridiculed for their explanation: A TMI 'survivors' group is growing

HuffPost - People Died at Three Mile Island

Centre for Research on Globalization - NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS: The Very Real Possibility of A Global Nuclear Catastrophe

CBS News - What's the most at-risk U.S. nuclear power plant?

[cloaphofbread]

Technology Asset Management - How To Make Your Business Life Easier

As we cross the year 2000 with a bang and approaches 2020, technology has entered our lives, every area, every area, and rightly. With that, the operation of the majority of businesses have improved by leaps and bounds while the attempt of attaining that business performance was reduced greatly.

Well, many might have inquired, is it the ideal time to consider asset management. With the introduction and application of technology, it has come to be a very easy thing to do right now.

What's really asset management, and how can technology help us?

It's the process of organizing all of the information pertaining to resources to be able to maximize its usage and performance. Before automation made its way into our lives, coordinating all information was previously handled manually.

What are the downsides does manual direction owns?

It's much better than not having manual system of it. It's troublesome and very tricky to share across a large organization. From time to time, the sharing of vital information is crucial to the rise of gains in the organization.

How do technology asset management help?

What's painfully slow and awkward can be made simpler by the use of technology.

As of now, there are a lot of information to share in this 21st century with the the press of a button. You just have to have a computer access the information saved to get whatever report you will need for the business deal, negotiation or program.

Technology asset management has really gained acceptance and popularity in large and smaller businesses where most management has always taken care of particular departments or people specifically.

What has this sort of direction elevated to?

It's another outstanding form of business administration. It has become a method of improving profits in a tactical manners that's systematic and scientific. To put it differently, it's not difficult to apply theory to business with the ideal application of technology within it. Additionally it is easy to forecast business profits and losses in addition to make realistic plans for the future.

The way to find that bank loan quickly?

With the coming of application of technology will greatly enhance the odds of a bank loan because asset management will help to project the business strategy by showing all of the resources in the best possible setting in order to maximize the valuation of the loan.

With that, technology has also simplifies the ability to share information internally thus thereby helping in decision making and planning. Additionally, it's much easier to orient yourself when everything is automatically retrieved and examined.

Therefore, Eddy Kong has started a handy information guide that enable you to select and understand what sort of applications, systems, tools for your business and business.

China's 5 Year Plan - The Overall Impact on Clean Technology

China's 5 year plan has once more said a focus on Green renewable energy technologies. The authorities already recognises that future economic growth can't be sustained at the present pace with comparable levels of pollution and over consumption of natural resources. The energy development strategy contained in this, the 12th5 Five Year Plan (covering 2011 through to 2015) focuses on structural alterations in energy resources.

Domestic energy providers will be invited to obtain key technologies in emerging renewable energy businesses in China and abroad. This is viewed as essential for the development of clean tech/"new energy" overall.

The plan also contains a sensible design for the development of new energy businesses in the nation. 

Senior government officials have confirmed that China plans non-fossil fuel based energy resources to amount to 11.4percent of primary consumption in the nation at the end of the strategy.

Solar Photovoltaic

The PV industry will be expected to grow to an advanced manufacturing base and provide high value to the energy industry throughout the course of the strategy.

Smart Grid

Smart grid technology will be expected to be incorporated in all new transmission capacity where possible. Ultra high voltage lines covering 40,000 km will received an investment of 500 billion Yuan, to improve transmission of energy in the resource rich (but very low population) western and Western regions to the East shore major population centres.

Nuclear Power

China has reiterated that after the Japanese quake their atomic strategy will remain unchanged, even though there'll be a temporary halt to new structure until lessons could be learned from this disaster to enhance the protection of their plants. With long-term strategies for 138 new nuclear power plants that the country has a significant commitment to this clean energy source. It's known that Chinese consumption of Uranium will overtake US consumption by the year 2020.

Increased Oversight

The Chinese government is to raise levels of supervision on high pollution businesses. This is almost certain to include a market cap on the quantities of coal consumption in current manufacturing hotspots, like the Pearl River Delta, Tianjin, and Yangtze River Basin regions. There'll also be a widely expected review of emission limitations on coal based power plants expected to create Chinese criteria the most popular in the world today.

For Investors

The ministry of trade and the NRDC are expected to revise guidelines controlling foreign investment in green businesses to promote further accelerated increase in clean energy technology. China's Central and Western regions will be offering uncommon levels of aid for investors seeking to generate successful regional partnerships in this area. Also supporting a crucial element of the 5 year strategy to enhance the capacities of indigenous innovation structures and furthering the conversion of these sectors by leveraging new technologies.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

William Gibson interviewed: Archangel, the Jackpot, and the instantly commodifiable dreamtime of industrial societies

William Gibson's 2014 novel The Peripheral was the first futuristic book he published in the 21st century, and it showed us a distant future in which some event, "The Jackpot," had killed nearly everyone on Earth, leaving behind a class of ruthless oligarchs and their bootlickers; in the 2018 sequel, Agency, we're promised a closer look at the events of The Jackpot. Between then and now is Archangel, a time-traveling, alt-history, dieselpunk story of power-mad leaders and nuclear armageddon that will be in stores on October 3.

It's been nearly 20 years since I first interviewed Gibson and in the intervening decades we've become both friends and colleagues. He was kind enough to submit to an email interview again, in advance of Archangel's publication.

Cory Doctorow: This feels like an intermediate step between today and Agency, which is, in turn, an intermediate step on the way to The Peripheral. I know that when you first wrote The Peripheral, you didn't really know what The Jackpot was... Is this you taking successive runs at either side of The Jackpot, trying to get up to the edge of it so you can get a better look at it?

William Gibson: It feels like that to me now, but the whole thing’s been completely unintentional.

Mike and I (Michael St. John Smith, the actor, who’s also a screenwriter) started bouncing things around after I’d finished The Peripheral, which I assumed would be a one-off, but I found myself still in the grip of the “stub” alternative timeline thing, so Archangel wound up with a similar mechanism (rules of time travel invented, as far as I know, by Sterling and Shiner). Meanwhile, Agency was conceived as a book set in 2016 San Francisco/Silicon Valley, but treating contemporary reality there as if it were a near future (which of course it feels like to me, because I’m old). But I’m also slow, so Trump got elected before I’d finished, and suddenly I had about half of an ms that felt like it was set in a stub, a world that never happened. Extremely weird feeling! So I had this one extra thing to be pissed off with, about Trump! But then I wondered what would happen if I considered it as exactly that, a stub, but to do so I felt I needed to hook it up with the further future of The Peripheral, the London of the klept. Meanwhile, Archangel had been coming out from IDW, and when I went down to meet them at ComicCon, in 2016, the possibility of a Trump win naturally came up. So, through to November 8th, part me was looking at that, and the other part was No Fucking Way, and, well, you know.

For the record, in the graphic novel's script, pre-election, the Pilot winds up where he winds up in the comic, but it’s a nice WTF moment.

CD: You've written screenplays and novels but not, AFAIK, comics. You're on record as thinking that the comics previously adapted from your work were visually disappointing. You are one of the most visual writers I know, a font of extremely specific and striking visual details -- tell me what it was like to be able to collaborate with drawing-type people who could make visual things happen? How did it compare to screenwriting, how close did it come to your mind's eye, did this scratch some long-felt itch to conjure those visuals up and make them tangible?

WG: Well, previous attempts were well-intentioned, I don’t doubt, but comics have gotten a lot more sophisticated in the meantime.

Maybe because I'm a very visual writer, I don’t actually have any specific urge to see someone else render the things I’ve already seen, myself, in mind’s eye.

That said, the process with IDW was extremely gratifying. The talent and experience of a lot of professionals, all bent toward making this thing right. And budget not an issue, just a question of what could be drawn and fit in available space. You want an atomic explosion, you’ve got it!

CD: You once told me that Neuromancer was optimistic because it only featured a couple of limited nuclear exchanges instead of the holocaust we'd all be expecting. The futures you've written this decade all feature much more grave catastrophes, with much higher death-tolls. Is your optimism (such as it was) waning?

WG: I think I was relatively optimistic then, and remain so, but less so. I’ve never felt that my optimism, such as it was, was particularly logical. Often it felt deliberately quixotic to me.

But I’ve also observed a tendency, over my years as an sf reader, for sf writers of a certain age to give the After Us The Deluge speech, so I promised myself I’d try to be watchful of the onset of that, try to fend it off as best I could. I suspect that when people notice how much of the world they grew up has already ended, it’s quite natural to feel that the world is ending. Because the world one knew quite demonstrably is. But it always has been ending, that way. You can read the ancient Greeks, say, doing it at great length. When younger, though, this sounds like something one can simply choose to avoid, just as old people, to the young, appear to have made some sort of inexplicably terrible decision to become old.

There aren’t many catastrophes in my work, in our traditional cultural sense. There’s the California quake that forms the backstory of the Bridge trilogy, and the somewhat deliberately goofy Singularity that closes it. Otherwise, the catastrophic landscapes are simply human civilization, ongoing. The Peripheral introduced something new, for me, with the idea that our cultural model of catastrophe is still largely one of a uni-causal event of relatively short duration. We are ourselves of relatively short duration as individuals, and thus do we look at the world. Is our widespread use of fossil fuels a single extended catastrophe? Did it become one at some relatively late point? Is our species itself catastrophic (see Sterling’s “Swarm”)? Would it seem so to tigers, could they consider such things, and know that we’re on the brink of bringing about their extinction? I don’t see why it wouldn’t.

It seems to me in retrospect that Ballard’s work had a certain arc, in its employment of catastrophe. Early on, he’d unleash catastrophes of the sort our culture recognizes as such, though with wonderfully poetic results. As he continued, however, the catastrophe became humanity. Not a world made desert, or drowned, but a world made Cannes writ large, and terrible through being the very opposite of deserted.

CD: One place where this catastrophic business wraps around to touch your visual sense is in the cyberpunk aesthetic: for decades, you've been frontrunning the mainstreaming of bohemian subcultures. Archangel features gorgeous, eyeball-kicky sequences in an illegal nightclub in war-torn Berlin, with lots of well-dressed weirdos (there's also a Bowie-esque protagonist in the cast of characters). Today, it's hard to imagine a genuinely underground culture that isn't also something you can buy at the mall, with a few exceptions (e.g. extreme racist alt-right Pepe trolls who have to order their t-shirts off the internet or get them in a flea market). Can you imagine an uncommodifiable futuristic bohemian subculture that today's post-cyberpunks could deploy to make really edgy teens and young people? (Scott Westerfeld suggested that tomorrow's punks might opt for acne in a post-zit world)

WG: I accepted Sterling’s description of bohemias as “the Dreamtime of industrial societies” immediately, but I also took it (and still do) to imply that that might not be true for post-industrial societies. Bohemias were the product, if Sterling was right, of societies in which information was relatively unevenly distributed, specific information being what you needed in order to auto-other yourself into subculture. Roots of “hip”: to know, to be "with it”. A more universal, post-geographical availability of information seriously messes with that, because you don’t need to physically go to Montmartre or the Haight to get with it.

Mr. Baby’s club in Archangel is envisioned as a scaled-up version of what you get when Berlin’s Weimar bohemia becomes a platform for the postwar black market, so imagine it as primarily extra-legal, but staffed in part by pre-war counterculturists.

It’s interesting to consider the Pepe trolls as a subculture, because if they aren’t, why aren’t they? Yesterday a friend showed me a passage from Joshua Green’s book about Steve Bannon, Devil’s Bargain, describing René Guénon as an influence. So I checked out Guénon’s Wiki for the first time. Highly recommend it. Trippy, as we used to say! Guénon was, among other things, a convert to Islam (albeit a raging esotericist along with it, so not just any Islam) and otherwise deep into Egypt. So in the way of things internet I wound up diving his correspondence with Julius Evola, who kept him up to date on what Aleister Crowley was up to, and explained why this Jung character was even more dangerous than Freud. Both these guys, Guénon and Evola, were obviously total hipsters (in the original sense of the term). Subculturalists, unmistakably. With-it dudes. Whatever “it" was.

But then I never felt I truly understood many aspects of what I’d experienced in the countercultural ‘60s until I got a prof at UBC whose central interest was the mass psychology of fascism. Guénon and Evola and, hell, Bannon, come with big deja-vu, that way. Guénon also influenced Andre Breton (doesn’t surprise me). So the Pepe trolls, however distantly, have this weird lineage, which feels countercultural to me. (Is Bannon hip to the Dark Enlightenment?)

Subcultural “cool”, it seems to me, is inherently commodifiable. Subcultures may have pre-dated cool, but I wouldn’t bet on it. There was a countercultural boutique in Greenwich Village in the 1890s, called The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the first I know of. Sold the outfit a girl needed to self-other into Village-ness (but she still needed cigarettes, too).

CD: Last question: When I first interviewed you, 20 years ago (!!), we talked about why Japan was a wellspring of cool futurity and China was (in the cyberpunk pantheon, at least), an also-ran. Now, Chinese authors are winning Hugo awards and China is projecting more heavy zaibatsu-style force into more territories (including orbit) than Japan ever dreamed of. In The Peripheral, China is a mysterious, closed technocracy that may or may not be the source of interdimensional semi-time-semi-travel. Now that you've written two more books that circle The Peripheral's future, are you homing in any more on what role China plays in this future you're playing in?

WG: In The Peripheral, I thought of China as a much more sophisticated and advanced species of klept. So that “the” klept, as Netherton thinks of it, comes out of the jackpot controlling everything still habitable that isn’t China. Which has become some sort of super-advanced sphere of its own, with little need of dealing with outsiders. Which gave me this other, unknowable realm, a sci-fi Faerie, where impossible magic can conveniently happen without my having to invent an explanation for it. But that’s not any literal prediction for China. That’s me using China as a plot device.

What I wanted from Japan, when I started writing sf, was that it was Japan. It was wonderful for me that it was Japan during the Bubble, because that slotted perfectly into my being sick of sf futures basically being America. But that was really just another excuse for me to write about Japan. The thing that makes me nuts about Japan, as near as I’ve ever been able to express it, is the way in which all of all their culture, their stuff, seems to be fractal. You can break it down into smaller and smaller bits, and each one is still Japanese. For whatever reason, I’ve never gotten that from China. For me, Japan’s gotten steadily more interesting as that Next Big World Player thing has receded. I don’t want to hang with whoever has the most money and spaceships. I want to hang with whoever has the best shadows, the most exquisitely weird and poetic history of being whacked with alien technology, becoming the first industrialized Asian nation, trying to take over their side of the world, getting nuked for their trouble, and inventing the Walkman. I think it’s probably something like you and Disneyland: I’m just so there.

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/22/the-jackpot.html

[studiopep]

The DisruptiveEnterprises Which Depending on the Social New Economy

The sharing economy means move toward the free trade of goods and services rather than the usage of money to represent value. This harkens back to a time before civilization-- when we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women. Money is more practical but it of course creates great inequality and countless other problems. Thanks to the internet, trade is back in a big way. Because it's now possible to ask an entire community for goods and services from the comfort of your home, that's. Got something you need done? Just see and check the app if there's someone from your area able to do it in return for something you're able to do. Some of the very most innovative businesses in recent memory have already been built for this notion. Here are a few of these ... Uber Uber is usually a taxi company that eliminates the the taxis. The idea is the fact that anyone can subscribe and then offer lifts with the app and this users are able to have the comfort of being in a position to choose their driver determined by their fee and ways in which far away from their store. Bottom line is the fact that getting a lift is actually much cheaper along with the taxi market is quaking in the boots. AirBnB AirBnB is to hotels what Uber is to taxis. In other words, this is a tool that lets you find accommodation without paying over the odds for a hotel. Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a step further through getting users to invite website visitors to stay on their couches completely free of charge! The only expectation is the fact that they extend exactly the same offer along with other users and this way, they could guarantee the masai have a free shtelter as they travel wherever! Schpock Schpock is usually a 'bootsale app' and thus it lets you make money by selling your old items that you don't need any longer to people from your area. It's a great way to earn money from something small you wouldn't be in a position to sell elsewhere this is a good way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, getting rid of the need for cash! The Most Exciting and Disruptive Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We reside in the age in the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare plus it would take incredible guts and foresight to be in a position to take a risk with a new idea and turn it into a viable and profitable idea. Today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, wonderful . possible to generate almost anything, to advertise to anyone as well as create huge movements. Other technologies in addition have made more invention possible-- so when invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. So, with it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's please take a look at some of the very most notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's all to easy to write Facebook off like a simple social networking for sharing pictures of cats but actually it is considerably more than that. Facebook has evolved the way we get connected to people plus it has even caused huge political shifts-- whereby traders credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of it was the result of some code that your Harvard student wrote in the dorm room! Matt Mullenweg Slightly lesser known but no less prolific, Matt Mullenweg is the entrepreneur behind WordPress. The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. The result? A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has produced countless disruptive technologies no doubt merely has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, also, he spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to separate our reliance upon fossil fuels for transportation) and that he even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's not easy to talk about visionaries without a minimum of mentioning Steve Jobs. And he greatly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the initial true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the tunes industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey would be the newest part of this list but once again, his place here is greatly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets like a hobby and finished up launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company is actually poised to fully change the entire world and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a whole industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. And when they do, they can be incredibly hard for people to swallow. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. People are afraid of change. And people-- like a whole-- may also be unfortunately without ambition often. The most common reaction you'll get is disbelief if you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut. This is a shame though: someone has to make it! With that in mind though, how may you go about convincing website visitors to put their faith (and money) behind your idea? If you want to want to do something big, how would you get others up to speed? The Power of Credibility All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up with the idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to generate his vision an actuality. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to generate his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found people who were as obsessed with his idea as they was by doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. When he appeared alongside such luminaries, people would have laughed him off the stage but not. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea The next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. If it sounds stupid coming from you, then speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others. And this can be the advantage of developing a 'big idea'-- it's going to automatically be more exciting over a small idea and thus you'll find you will see people out there who wish to become ambassadors for this. You just have to locate them!

[holyspongeblog]

The LeadersCompanies That Depending on the Social New Economy

The sharing economy describes move toward the free trade of services and goods rather than the by using money to represent value. This harkens back to a time before civilization-- when we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women. Money is more practical but it of course creates great inequality and countless other problems. But thanks to the internet, trade is back in a big way. That's because it's now possible to ask an entire community for goods and services from the comfort of your home. Got something you need done? If there's someone from my area prepared to do it so they could earn something you're able to do, just check the app and see . Some of the extremely innovative businesses in recent memory happen to be built with this notion. Here are a few of these ... Uber Uber can be a taxi company that eliminates the the taxis. The idea is the fact anyone can subscribe and then offer lifts throughout the app knowning that users will have the capability of being capable of choose their driver according to their fee and exactly how far away from their store. Bottom line is the fact getting a lift has become much cheaper as well as the taxi companies are quaking rolling around in its boots. AirBnB Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a stride further by permitting users to invite individuals to stay on their couches completely free of charge! The only expectation is the fact they extend a similar offer with users knowning that way, they're able to guarantee they've got a free destination as they travel from any location! Schpock Schpock can be a 'bootsale app' and thus it means that you can make money by selling your old issues that you don't need much more to people from my area. It's a great way to generate profits from something small which you wouldn't be capable of sell elsewhere and it is a easy way get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, getting rid of the need for cash! The Most Disruptive and exciting Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We are in the age with the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare also it would take incredible guts and foresight to be capable of take a risk using a new idea and turn it into a profitable and viable idea. But today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, it is possible for making almost anything, to offer to anyone and also to create huge movements. Other technologies in addition have made more invention possible-- so that as invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. So, with it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's require a look at some of the extremely notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's simple to write Facebook off to be a simple social media for sharing pictures of cats truly it is additional than that. Facebook has evolved the way we connect to people also it has even caused huge political shifts-- whereby traders credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of this became the result of some code that the Harvard student wrote as part of his dorm room! Matt Mullenweg Slightly lesser known but no less prolific, Matt Mullenweg is the entrepreneur behind WordPress. The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. The result? A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has produced countless disruptive technologies no doubt merely has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, actually is well liked spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to finish our attachment to fossil fuels for transportation) and the man even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's tough to talk about visionaries without no less than mentioning Steve Jobs. And he significantly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the very first true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the background music industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey will be the newest part of this list but once again, his place here is significantly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets to be a hobby and finished up launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company has become poised to fully change the earth and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a total industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. And people-- to be a whole-- can also be unfortunately low in ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it! With that in mind though, how will you go about convincing individuals to put their faith (and funds) behind your idea? If you want to make a move big, how can you get others up to speed? The Power of Credibility All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up through an idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary for making his vision possible. The only problem? He didn't have the money and no one believed that he could offer it! His solution was for making his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found people who were as interested in his idea when he was by doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. People would have laughed him off the stage but not when he appeared alongside such luminaries. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea So, the next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. Speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others if it sounds stupid coming from you. And this can be a advantage of which has a 'big idea'-- it'll automatically be more exciting compared to a small idea and thus you'll find you will have people out there who would like to become ambassadors correctly. You just have to locate them!

[epic-lee]

The DisruptiveEnterprises Which Depending on the Sharing Economy

The sharing economy is the term for move toward the free trade of services and goods rather than the utilization of money to represent value. This harkens back to a time before civilization-- when we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women. Got something you need done? Just see and check the app if there's someone in the local area willing to do it in exchange for something you can do. Some of the very innovative businesses in recent memory have already been built with this notion. Here are a few of which ... Uber Uber is often a taxi company that eliminates the the taxis. The idea is the fact that anyone can subscribe and then offer lifts over the app knowning that users are able to have the simplicity of being capable to choose their driver according to their fee and exactly how far away from their store. Bottom line is the fact that getting a lift has become much cheaper as well as the taxi marketplace is quaking in their boots. AirBnB Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a step further through getting users to invite individuals stay on their couches completely at no cost! The only expectation is the fact that they extend the identical offer along with other users knowning that way, they will guarantee these people have a free destination as they travel around the globe! Schpock Schpock is often a 'bootsale app' which means it lets you make money by selling your old items that you don't need much more to people from my area. It's a great way to earn money from something small you wouldn't be capable to sell elsewhere and a easy way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, getting rid of the need for cash! The Most Disruptive and exciting Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We are in the age on the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare plus it would take incredible guts and foresight to be capable to take a risk over a new idea and turn it into a profitable and viable idea. Today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, it may be possible to create almost anything, to showcase to anyone as well as create huge movements. Other technologies have likewise made more invention possible-- so when invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. With it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's have a look at some of the very notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's simple to write Facebook off to be a simple online community for sharing pictures of cats but actually it is a lot more than that. Facebook is different the way we communicate with people plus it has even caused huge political shifts-- incidents where credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of this became the result of some code that the Harvard student wrote within his dorm room! Matt Mullenweg Slightly lesser known but no less prolific, Matt Mullenweg is the entrepreneur behind WordPress. The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. The result? A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has established countless disruptive technologies no doubt just has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, also, he spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to absolve our addiction to fossil fuels for transportation) and the man even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's challenging to talk about visionaries without at the least mentioning Steve Jobs. And he significantly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the 1st true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the songs industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey could be the newest an associate this list but once again, his place here is significantly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets to be a hobby and found themselves launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company has become poised to fully change the earth and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a whole industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. And people-- to be a whole-- may also be unfortunately low in ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it! With everything in mind though, how will you go about convincing individuals put their faith (and funds) behind your idea? If you want to make a move big, how would you get others aboard? The Power of Credibility This is actually the very same problem that Elon Musk faced when he wanted to send a man into space. Musk is taken seriously by everyone now but at the time, he was completely unknown. All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up by having an idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to create his vision an actuality. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to create his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found individuals who were as excited about his idea as they was and also by doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. People would have laughed him off the stage but not when he appeared alongside such luminaries. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea So, the next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. If it sounds stupid coming from you, then speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others. And this can be a advantage of creating a 'big idea'-- it's going to automatically be more exciting when compared to a small idea and thus you'll find you will have people out there who would like to become ambassadors for doing this. You just have to discover them!

[teeky185]

At least eight people were killed and 32 were missing, Japanese media reported, after a powerful earthquake paralysed the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents. Aerial footage showed dozens of landslides exposing barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido, with mounds of reddish earth and fallen trees piled up at the edge of green fields. The collapsed remains of what appeared to be houses or barns were scattered about. Houses were buried by multiple landslides after a powerful earthquake in Atsuma, Hokkaido Credit: Getty Six of the deaths were in the village of Atsuma, National broadcaster NHK reported. With swathes of the country further south recovering from Typhoon Jebi, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that 25,000 troops and other personnel were being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations. NHK showed the moment the quake struck the city of Muroran, with its camera violently shaking and all city lights going black moments later. In Sapporo, a mudslide on a road left several cars half buried. Akira Fukui, from the main city of Sapporo, told AFP: "I woke up around 3am with a vertical jolt. I put the light on but it went out shortly afterwards. All the traffic lights are out and there's no power at work." A strong earthquake rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido shortly after 3 AM on Thursday. Police are checking on the extent of the damage. NHK WORLD-JAPAN is LIVE streaming the Hokkaido earthquake updates. https://t.co/QbGNxwoMjtpic.twitter.com/AX72kCYbEO— NHK WORLD News (@NHKWORLD_News) September 5, 2018 Another Sapporo resident told NHK: "I was scared... I felt the tremor, which lasted for about 30 seconds. I was on the sixth floor, it was really scary." The entire island was without power after Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants following the quake. The utility said it wasn't clear when electricity would be restored to 2.95 million households. The trade and industry ministry told the utility to restart the coal-fired Tomato-Atsuma power plant within a few hours, Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko said. All trains across the island were also halted. Residents watch a road damaged by an earthquake in Sapporo, Hokkaido, northern Japan Credit: AP Roof tiles and water could be seen on the floor at Hokkaido's main airport, New Chitose Airport, which would be closed for at least Thursday. New Chitose is a major tourist gateway to the island, known for its mountains, lakes and abundant farmland and seafood, and more than 200 flights and 40,000 passengers would be affected, Kyodo News Agency said. The closure comes just a couple days after Kansai Airport, an important hub near Osaka, in western Japan, was shut after it was hit by Typhoon Jebi. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said officials hoped to reopen Kansai Airport for domestic flights on Friday. The quake, which hit at 3.08am, posed no tsunami risk, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The US Geological Survey said it struck some 42 miles southeast of Sapporo, Hokkaido's main city. It registered a strong 6 on Japan's 7-point earthquake scale. Mr Abe arrived at his office before 6 am and told reporters his government had set up a command centre to co-ordinate relief and rescue. Sounding haggard, Mr Abe said saving lives was his government's top priority. A house damaged by a landslide caused by an earthquake is seen in Atsuma town in Hokkaido prefecture Credit: AFP The Tomari Nuclear Power Station, which has been shut since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, suffered a power outage but was cooling its fuel rods safely with emergency power, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Operator Hokkaido Electric reported no radiation irregularities at the plant, Suga told a news conference. Farming and tourism are two of the island's biggest economic drivers, but there is some industry. Kirin Beer and Sapporo Beer both said factories were shut by the power outage, although they said no structural damage was found. A fire broke out at a Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co plant in the city of Muroran after the quake but was mostly extinguished with no injuries, a company official said. A series of smaller shocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.4, followed the initial quake, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. Agency official Toshiyuki Matsumori warned residents to take precautions for potential major aftershocks in coming days. "Large quakes often occur, especially within two to three days (of a big one)," said Toshiyuki Matsumori, in charge of monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis at the meteorological agency. He added the risk of housing collapses and landslides had increased in the area hit by the quake, saying: "We urge residents to pay full attention to seismic activity and rainfall and not to go into dangerous areas." The 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns. The earthquake also affected telephone service and television broadcasting in Sapporo. 

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[newsintodays-blog]

Death toll from Japan's Hokkaido doubles to 16: prime minister

New Post has been published on http://newsintoday.info/2018/09/07/death-toll-from-japans-hokkaido-doubles-to-16-prime-minister/

Death toll from Japan's Hokkaido doubles to 16: prime minister

TOKYO (Reuters) – The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rattled the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido doubled to at least 16, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday, with more than half the island’s 5.3 million residents still without power.

Members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) search for survivors from a house damaged by a landslide caused by an earthquake in Atsuma town, Hokkaido, northern Japan, in this photo taken September 6, 2018. Japan Self-Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS

The 6.7-magnitude quake, which hit before dawn on Thursday, triggered landslides that buried houses and paralyzed Hokkaido with widespread power and transport cuts.

The death toll had been put at eight overnight but NHK cited Abe in reporting the new total soon after he held an emergency meeting early on Friday.

Another 26 people were missing, disaster management authorities said.

(For a graphic on Japan quake click, tmsnrt.rs/2oJz6zd)

The island, a tourist destination about the size of Austria known for its mountains, lakes and seafood, lost all power after the quake when Hokkaido Electric Power Co shut its fossil fuel-fired power plants as a precaution.

The utility had restored power to about 1.31 million of 2.95 million customers by early Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. It could take at least a week to restore power fully, Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko has said.

Rescue workers search for survivors from a house damaged by a landslide caused by an earthquake in Atsuma town, Hokkaido, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo September 6, 2018. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

The quake was the second disaster to hit Japan this week alone after a summer during which the country has been battered by deadly typhoons, flooding and a record heat wave.

Kansai International Airport has been shut since Typhoon Jebi ripped through Osaka on Tuesday, although some domestic flights operated by Japan Airlines (JAL) and ANA’s low-cost carrier Peach Aviation resumed on Friday, the carriers said.

At Hokkaido’s main airport, New Chitose, JAL was preparing to restart some flights from around 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Friday, a spokesman said. ANA canceled all morning flights but would resume operations as normal in the afternoon, a spokesman said.

JR Hokkaido planned to resume bullet train operations from midday. It was also trying to resume other train services on Friday afternoon, a spokesman said.

However, manufacturers were still being affected by power outages.

Toyota Motor Corp’s Tomakomai factory, which makes transmissions and other parts, said operations remained suspended indefinitely until power was restored, a spokesman said.

Toppan Printing’s operations at a plant in Chitose, which makes food packages, would remain suspended until it regained power, a spokesman said.

Cultural events were also affected, with a soccer friendly between Japan and Chile scheduled for Friday in Sapporo called off.

Reporting by Chris Gallagher, Kaori Kaneko, Makiko Yamazaki and Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Paul Tait

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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[todaynewsstories]

Japanese nuclear station on emergency power after quake revives Fukushima memories

TOKYO: A Japanese nuclear energy station is relying on emergency back up power after a powerful earthquake knocked out electricity on the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday (Sep 6), a stark reminder of the Fukushima disaster more than seven years ago.

The three-reactor Tomari nuclear plant, operated by Hokkaido Electric Power and in shutdown since the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, lost power after a magnitude 6.6 quake – according to the US Geological Survey – hit the island in the early hours, the government said.

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The station’s fuel rods are being cooled with emergency power supplied by diesel generators, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Thursday.

There were no radiation irregularities at the plant, Suga said, citing the operator.

The atomic regulator said the diesel generators have enough fuel to last seven days.

More than 100 have been injured and 19 are missing following the quake, according to broadcaster NHK.

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On Mar 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake, the most powerful recorded in Japan, struck off the northern Honshu coast. The quake set off a massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and left nearly 20,000 dead.

The quake knocked out power to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and the tsunami swamped diesel generators placed low in reactor buildings, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear disaster for 25 years.

The crisis led to the shutdown of the country’s nuclear industry, once the world’s third-biggest. Seven reactors have come back online after a protracted relicensing process.

The majority of Japanese people remain opposed to nuclear power after Fukushima highlighted failings in regulation and operational procedures in the industry.

Hokkaido Electric has shut down all fossil fuel plants, cutting power to all its nearly 3 million customers, a spokesman said by phone.

Japan’s industry minister, Hiroshige Seko, has instructed Hokkaido Electric to restart its biggest coal plant after the station was tripped by the earthquake.

The blackout shut down Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport, a popular gateway to the most northern of Japan’s main islands, the second major airport to be knocked out in the country in two days after a typhoon swamped the nation’s third-biggest.

Japan is in the midst of a record tourism boom and will host the Olympics in 2020.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, arriving at his office before 6 am, told reporters saving lives was the priority as his government set up a command centre to coordinate relief and rescue.

A fire broke out at a steel plant operated by Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing in the city of Muroran, but has largely been brought under control, a spokesman said.

Idemitsu Kosan, Japan’s second biggest refiner by sales, stopped all refining and product shipments at its 150,000 barrels per day Hokkaido refinery, an official said.

(Reporting by William Mallard and Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick)

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The post Japanese nuclear station on emergency power after quake revives Fukushima memories appeared first on Today News Stories.

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[investmart007]

TOKYO | The Latest: Quake halts all trains on Japan island

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TOKYO | The Latest: Quake halts all trains on Japan island

TOKYO  — The latest on the powerful earthquake in northern Japan (all times local): 1:05 p.m.

The main railway company on the quake-hit northern Japanese island of Hokkaido says all trains have stopped due to power outage. Hokkaido Railway Co. says high-speed bullet and all local trains on the island are halted. The company says it cannot update information on the social media due to the blackout.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday morning, knocking out power to nearly 3 million households. The outage also affected subways, power plants and hospitals.

Trade, Economy and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko says damage at the main thermal power plant is delaying power restoration and that utility officials are rushing to get several other thermal and hydroelectric plants working to at least deliver some electricity within a day or two. ___ 12:35 p.m. Japan’s economy minister says damage from a powerful earthquake at the main thermal plant has delayed the restoration of power on the main northernmost island of Hokkaido for more than a week.

Nearly 3 million households are without electricity across the island after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko initially instructed utility officials to restore power at the Tomato Atsuma thermal plant “within a few hours.” But Seko says the plan is now impossible due to damage.

Officials are trying to start up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants to get at least some power back on the island.

Seko says the government is also arranging additional power supply from the mainland and sending power generating vehicles to hospitals. ___ This item corrects the spelling of the plant. ___ 11:35 a.m. A Japanese government spokesman says two people have been confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake rocked the northern main island of Hokkaido.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the search was ongoing for those missing after the quake triggered dozens of landslides in the mountainous region near the epicenter. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake on Hokkaido early Thursday morning also knocked out power across the northern island.

Aerial footage showed slashes of brown earth on many heavily forested mountains, crushed homes and farm buildings and roads buried by avalanches of mud, logs and other debris. ___ 10:15 a.m. The Japanese national broadcaster NHK is reporting that 125 people have been injured and about 20 are feared missing after a powerful quake triggered dozens of landslides in heavily forested mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday morning. Power was knocked out across the island. The government said airports and many roads on the island were closed following the quake.

Officials said that 25,000 troops and other personnel were being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations. ___ 8:30 a.m. Japan’s minister for the economy, trade and industry Hiroshige Seko told reporters that efforts are underway to try to restore power in Hokkaido.

Nearly 3 million households over a widespread area are without electricity after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido at 3:08 a.m. Thursday (18:08 GMT Wednesday) at the depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles).

Seko said the government plans to use power from the area’s four hydroelectric plants as all the area’s fossil fuel power plants aren’t working.

Places like hospitals will get priority, he said, noting he hoped to get power back “within a few hours.”

Power is still out at the area’s Tomari nuclear plant, but backup diesel generators have kicked in so the reactors’ fuel is continuing to be kept cool, according to the government nuclear authorities. The plant has also shut down. ___ 4 a.m. A powerful earthquake hit wide areas on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido early Thursday, triggering landslides as well as causing the loss of power at nearly all of 3 million households and a nuclear power plant to go on a backup generator.

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido at 3:08 a.m. Thursday (1808 GMT Wednesday) at the depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The quake’s epicenter was east of the city of Tomakomai. It also struck Hokkaido’s prefectural capital of Sapporo, with a population of 1.9 million.

By  Associated Press

[tadleesgirl]

Top InnovativeEnterprises Which Rely on the Social New Economy

The sharing economy describes move toward the free trade of services and goods rather than the by using money to represent value. When we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women, this harkens back to a time before civilization--. Money is more practical but it of course creates great inequality and countless other problems. But thanks to the internet, trade is back in a big way. Because it's now possible to ask an entire community for goods and services from the comfort of your home, that's. Got something you need done? Just check the app and see if there's someone from your area ready to do it in return for something you can use. Some of the most extremely innovative businesses in recent memory are already built for this notion. Here are a few ones ... Uber Uber is often a taxi company that eliminates the the taxis. The idea is the fact anyone can join and then offer lifts with the app knowning that users might have the capability of being competent to choose their driver depending on their fee and exactly how far away from their store. Bottom line is the fact getting a lift has become much cheaper plus the taxi companies are quaking rolling around in its boots. AirBnB Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a pace further by letting users to invite individuals stay on their couches completely totally free! The only expectation is the fact they extend a similar offer for some other users knowning that way, they could guarantee these people have a free destination as they travel from any location! Schpock Schpock is often a 'bootsale app' and therefore it means that you can make money by selling your old things which you don't need anymore to people from your area. It's a great way to earn cash from something small which you wouldn't be competent to sell elsewhere and it is a fantastic way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, eradicating the need for cash! The Most Exciting and Disruptive Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We have a home in the age from the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare and it also would take incredible guts and foresight to be competent to take a risk over a new idea and turn it into a viable and profitable idea. Today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, it is now possible to produce almost anything, to advertise to anyone and also to create huge movements. Other technologies also have made more invention possible-- so when invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. With it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's require a look at some of the most extremely notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's an easy task to write Facebook off as being a simple myspace and facebook for sharing pictures of cats but actually it is a lot more than that. Facebook has evolved the way we communicate with people and it also has even caused huge political shifts-- whereby traders credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of i thought this was the result of some code that the Harvard student wrote as part of his dorm room! Matt Mullenweg Slightly lesser known but no less prolific, Matt Mullenweg is the entrepreneur behind WordPress. The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. The result? A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has produced countless disruptive technologies no doubt just has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, vehicles spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to finish our addiction to fossil fuels for transportation) and that he even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's tough to talk about visionaries without at the very least mentioning Steve Jobs. And he a lot deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the primary true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the songs industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey may be the newest an associate this list but once again, his place here is a lot earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets as being a hobby and found themselves launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company has become poised to fully change the planet and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a total industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. And people-- as being a whole-- are unfortunately without ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it! With everything that in mind though, how could you go about convincing individuals put their faith (and money) behind your idea? If you want to want to do something big, how would you get others agreeable? The Power of Credibility This is actually the very same problem that Elon Musk faced when he wanted to send a man into space. Musk is taken seriously by everyone now but at the time, he was completely unknown. All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up with the idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to produce his vision a fact. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to produce his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found folks that were as interested in his idea when he was and also by doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. People would have laughed him off the stage but not when he appeared alongside such luminaries. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea So, the next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. If it sounds stupid coming from you, then speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others. And this can be the advantage of which has a 'big idea'-- it is going to automatically be more exciting over a small idea therefore you'll find it will have people out there who wish to become ambassadors because of it. You just have to see them!

[fuckyeah-insolitude-blog]

Top DisruptiveEnterprises That Depending on the Sharing New Economy

The sharing economy is the term for move toward the free trade of services and goods rather than the usage of money to represent value. When we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women, this harkens back to a time before civilization--. Money is more practical but it of course creates great inequality and countless other problems. But thanks to the internet, trade is back in a big way. Because it's now possible to ask an entire community for goods and services from the comfort of your home, that's. Got something you need done? If there's someone from my area ready to do it so they could earn something you can use, just check the app and see . Some of the most extremely innovative businesses in recent memory have already been built about this notion. Here are a few ones ... Uber Uber is usually a taxi company that eliminates the the taxis. The idea is anyone can enroll and then offer lifts over the app understanding that users will likely then have the comfort of being competent to choose their driver determined by their fee and just how far away from their website. Bottom line is getting a lift is much cheaper as well as the taxi marketplace is quaking to use boots. AirBnB AirBnB is to hotels what Uber is to taxis. In other words, this is a tool that lets you find accommodation without paying over the odds for a hotel. Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a step further by letting users to invite website visitors to stay on their couches completely at no cost! The only expectation is they extend exactly the same offer for some other users understanding that way, they will guarantee these people have a free accommodations as they travel around the globe! Schpock Schpock is usually a 'bootsale app' and therefore it lets you make money by selling your old stuff that you don't need any further to people from my area. It's a great way to generate profits from something small which you wouldn't be competent to sell elsewhere this is a easy way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, eliminating the need for cash! The Most Disruptive and exciting Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We are now living in the age from the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare also it would take incredible guts and foresight to be competent to take a risk using a new idea and turn it into a viable and profitable idea. Today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, it is now possible to produce almost anything, to showcase to anyone and create huge movements. Other technologies have made more invention possible-- in addition to being invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. With it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's have a look at some of the most extremely notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's very easy to write Facebook off being a simple online community for sharing pictures of cats but usually it is additional than that. Facebook is different the way we talk with people also it has even caused huge political shifts-- in which credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of it was the result of some code that the Harvard student wrote as part of his dorm room! Matt Mullenweg The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has built countless disruptive technologies without doubt only has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, vehicles spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to absolve our reliance upon fossil fuels for transportation) and hubby even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's tough to talk about visionaries without at the very least mentioning Steve Jobs. And he significantly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the initial true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the songs industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey may be the newest an affiliate this list but once again, his place here is significantly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets being a hobby and finished up launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company is poised to fully change the earth and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a full industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. And when they do, they can be incredibly hard for people to swallow. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. People are afraid of change. And people-- being a whole-- can also be unfortunately low in ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it! With everything that in mind though, how might you go about convincing website visitors to put their faith (and money) behind your idea? If you want to take a step big, how can you get others agreeable? The Power of Credibility All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up by having an idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to produce his vision an actuality. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to produce his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found those who were as excited about his idea because he was through doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. People would have laughed him off the stage but not when he appeared alongside such luminaries. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea So, the next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. Speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others if it sounds stupid coming from you. And this can be the advantage of creating a 'big idea'-- it can automatically be more exciting than the usual small idea and for that reason you'll find you will see people out there who wish to become ambassadors correctly. You just have to locate them!

[justinbbparliament-blog]

Top LeadersEnterprises That Are Rely on the Social New Economy

The sharing economy is the term for move toward the free trade of services and goods rather than the usage of money to represent value. When we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women, this harkens back to a time before civilization--. Got something you need done? Just see and check the app if there's someone in the local area willing to do it in exchange for something you can do. Some of the very innovative businesses in recent memory are actually built within this notion. Here are a few of those ... Uber Uber is often a taxi company that gets rid of the taxis. The idea is always that anyone can subscribe and then offer lifts over the app which users will likely then have the ease of being capable of choose their driver dependant on their fee and the way far away at their store. Bottom line is always that getting a lift is much cheaper and also the taxi marketplace is quaking to use boots. AirBnB AirBnB is to hotels what Uber is to taxis. In other words, this is a tool that lets you find accommodation without paying over the odds for a hotel. Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a pace further by getting users to invite individuals to stay on their couches completely without cost! The only expectation is always that they extend a similar offer along with other users which way, they are able to guarantee the masai have a free lodging as they travel wherever! Schpock Schpock is often a 'bootsale app' and therefore it permits you to make money by selling your old things which you don't need much more to people from our area. It's a great way to generate profits from something small that you just wouldn't be capable of sell elsewhere this is a easy way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, getting rid of the need for cash! The Most Exciting and Disruptive Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We reside in the age on the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare and it also would take incredible guts and foresight to be capable of take a risk on the new idea and turn it into a viable and profitable idea. But today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, wonderful . possible to generate almost anything, to showcase to anyone and create huge movements. Other technologies have made more invention possible-- in addition to being invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. With it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's please take a look at some of the very notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's an easy task to write Facebook off like a simple online community for sharing pictures of cats but actually it is a lot more than that. Facebook is different the way we communicate with people and it also has even caused huge political shifts-- whereby traders credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of it was the result of some code that the Harvard student wrote as part of his dorm room! Matt Mullenweg Slightly lesser known but no less prolific, Matt Mullenweg is the entrepreneur behind WordPress. The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. The result? A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has generated countless disruptive technologies with no doubt merely has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, vehicles spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to separate our addiction to fossil fuels for transportation) and that he even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's challenging to talk about visionaries without a minimum of mentioning Steve Jobs. And he significantly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the 1st true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the background music industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey will be the newest part of this list but once again, his place here is significantly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets like a hobby and found themselves launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company is poised to totally change the planet and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a total industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. And when they do, they can be incredibly hard for people to swallow. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. People are afraid of change. And people-- like a whole-- may also be unfortunately short of ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it after all! With everything that in mind though, how might you go about convincing individuals to put their faith (and money) behind your idea? If you want to take action big, how can you get others aboard? The Power of Credibility All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up with the idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to generate his vision an actuality. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to generate his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found those who were as obsessed with his idea when he was through doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. When he appeared alongside such luminaries, people would have laughed him off the stage but not. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea The next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. If it sounds stupid coming from you, then speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others. And here is the advantage of developing a 'big idea'-- it is going to automatically be more exciting compared to a small idea so you'll find there'll be people out there which become ambassadors because of it. You just have to discover them!

[vernashtonmcgloin]

The DisruptiveCompanies That Depending on the Social New Economy

The sharing economy is the term for move toward the free trade of goods and services rather than the utilization of money to represent value. When we would have made deals with one another by discussing what we could offer our friends and fellow tribesmen and women, this harkens back to a time before civilization--. Money is more practical but it of course creates great inequality and countless other problems. Thanks to the internet, trade is back in a big way. Because it's now possible to ask an entire community for goods and services from the comfort of your home, that's. Got something you need done? Just check the app and see if there's someone from my area able to do it in substitution for something that you can do. Some of the extremely innovative businesses in recent memory happen to be built for this notion. Here are a few of these ... Uber Uber is really a taxi company that gets rid of the taxis. The idea is always that anyone can join and then offer lifts from the app understanding that users will have the ease of being in a position to choose their driver depending on their fee and ways in which far away from their website. Bottom line is always that getting a lift is much cheaper as well as the taxi marketplace is quaking rolling around in its boots. AirBnB AirBnB is to hotels what Uber is to taxis. In other words, this is a tool that lets you find accommodation without paying over the odds for a hotel. Instead, you're paying to stay in someone front room, their outhouse or their holiday home. And if you have some spare space yourself, there's nothing to prevent you making a little money from that! Couchsurfing Couchsurfing takes this concept a measure further by letting users to invite individuals to stay on their couches completely totally free! The only expectation is always that they extend the identical offer with other users understanding that way, they will guarantee there is a free accommodations as they travel wherever! Schpock Schpock is really a 'bootsale app' which means it enables you to make money by selling your old things which you don't need much more to people from my area. It's a great way to generate profits from something small that you simply wouldn't be in a position to sell elsewhere this is a easy way to get cheap things. And you can even trade things directly, eliminating the need for cash! The Most Disruptive and exciting Entrepreneurs to Learn From This Generation We are now living in the age from the entrepreneur. For a long time, entrepreneurs were rare and it also would take incredible guts and foresight to be in a position to take a risk on the new idea and turn it into a profitable and viable idea. But today that has all changed thanks to the web. Through the internet, it is now possible to produce almost anything, to advertise to anyone and also to create huge movements. Other technologies have likewise made more invention possible-- in addition to being invention begets invention, we hurtle toward the singularity. With it being more possible than ever to change the world with an idea, who are some of the most inspiring figures to have done this recently? Let's please take a look at some of the extremely notable ... Mark Zuckerberg It's all to easy to write Facebook off being a simple social media for sharing pictures of cats but usually it is considerably more than that. Facebook is different the way we communicate with people and it also has even caused huge political shifts-- incidents where credit it with triggering the Arab Spring. And all of i thought this was the result of some code a Harvard student wrote in the dorm room! Matt Mullenweg The general idea was simple: to write a piece of software that could 'productize' his web design service. A tool that now powers 25% of the entire internet! Elon Musk Elon Musk has established countless disruptive technologies with out doubt only has just gotten started. Not only did this incredible man launch he SpaceX program, also, he spearheads Tesla Motors (which seeks to separate our reliance upon fossil fuels for transportation) and hubby even runs PayPal! Steve Jobs It's challenging to talk about visionaries without a minimum of mentioning Steve Jobs. And he significantly deserves the mention, being the guy who brought us the primary true 'smartphone', who made the moues popular and who completely transformed the background music industry. Palmer Luckey Palmer Luckey could be the newest an associate this list but once again, his place here is significantly earned. Luckey started toying around with virtual reality headsets being a hobby and appeared launching Oculus Rift on Kickstarter to immense success. The company is poised to fully change the globe and has kickstarted (no pun intended) a complete industry. How Elon Musk Made People Take Him Seriously Big, world-changing ideas do not come along often. And when they do, they can be incredibly hard for people to swallow. People like the status quo in fact and when you come along and try to change that, you will always meet resistance. People are afraid of change. And people-- being a whole-- will also be unfortunately without ambition often. If you tell someone that you're going to be a rock star or an astronaut, the most common reaction you'll get is disbelief. This is a shame though: someone has to make it after all! With everything that in mind though, how might you go about convincing individuals to put their faith (and funds) behind your idea? If you want to take a step big, how will you get others up to speed? The Power of Credibility This is actually the very same problem that Elon Musk faced when he wanted to send a man into space. Musk is taken seriously by everyone now but at the time, he was completely unknown. All he knew, was that it was his mission to make space tourism a reality. And he was disenfranchised with the attempts made by NASA and others at that time. He thus came up having an idea of a prize to motivate companies into creating the technology necessary to produce his vision a fact. The only problem? He didn't have no one and the money believed that he could offer it! His solution was to produce his initial presentation alongside enthusiastic engineers and astronauts. He found people who were as interested in his idea because he was by doing this, he lent his entire concept credibility. People would have laughed him off the stage but not when he appeared alongside such luminaries. How to Get Credibility for Your Big Idea The next time you have a big idea for a business, think about how you can get others to buy into it and who it would take to convince them. Speak to someone who won't think it's stupid and who will be able to convince others if it sounds stupid coming from you. And this can be a advantage of developing a 'big idea'-- it is going to automatically be more exciting when compared to a small idea and thus you'll find there'll be people out there who wants to become ambassadors because of it. You just have to discover them!