Why is nuclear hysteria on the rise in Japan...

...even as the risk of meltdown is falling? New Scientist has the scoop and it proves yet again that it's not the problem you expect that gets you - it's the one that you didn't realize was coming. Or the one caused by a complex series of unlikely events.

The pools are housed on the top floors of the reactor buildings. Spent fuel rods are transferred to them as soon as they come out of the reactor itself, and are kept under water to cool them down and trap the radioactive material within them. Once they have cooled down enough, the rods are then transferred to outdoor pools for long-term storage.

It is the pools inside the reactor buildings that are causing the problem. Two of the reactor buildings - 1 and 3 - have lost parts of their roofs, thanks to the hydrogen explosions that have taken place over the last few days. While these explosions apparently did not damage the reactors within, they have left the pools exposed to the outside air.

If you want to know why Incumbents will be thrown out in November...

...consider the political cowardice demonstrated by a Congress unwilling to pass a budget when the current one runs out tomorrow! Could anything be more emblematic of our problems than a legislature unwilling to even vote on keeping itself running? Clearly, incumbents realize any action will be criticized by their opponents. But don't they see that no action is at least equally contemptible?

Goodbye Congress 2010. We look forward to your replacement, and hope it looks nothing like the body that just left the dinner table without finishing the vegetables, or even offering to do the dishes.

If my bank fails, how quickly will the FDIC pay me back?

The Consumerist has up a reassuring piece for those concerned about the possibility of their bank going under. And there is a lot of confusion out there on how the FDIC works.

[The] Federal Deposit Insurance Act states that the FDIC is required to pay insured depositors "as soon as possible." (see 12 USC 1821(f)) In practice, this usually means the next business day, or within a few days.

So, while it is always wise to have on hand enough cash to get you thru a long weekend (enough money to keep feeding yourself and your family and to keep the car gasses up), most people would not notice the amount of time it took the FDIC to act upon a bank being closed.