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.

How can addiction destroy a nation?

In the drug legalization debate, there are many sides to come at it from. Societal costs, difficulty of enforcement, libertarianism, etc. But it is important to remember that addictive substances should also be feared for the distortions they can put onto economies. Consider this situation in Yemen with their national addiction, Qat.

Qat, a mild narcotic plant, is chewed daily in almost every part of the country and is an integral part of the culture here. It has become Yemen's addiction, requiring a steady supply to feed the nation's growing demand.
"The farmers here prefer growing qat to growing grapes," laments Mohammed. "Growing qat makes them more money, but growing it also uses up much more water."...
The situation is so critical that, out of the country's 15 aquifers, only two are being replenished. Some members of Yemen's government have floated the idea of moving the capital, as well as desalinating seawater on the coast and pumping it to Sana'a...
When asked if he knows his country will soon run out of water and what that means for future generations, he sighs.
"The farmers here -- we have no future -- we have to rely on God," says Mohammed. "We only have God's mercy to rely on."

Sometimes the costs on society of bad choices do not end with the individual. These bad choices can easily mushroom and draw thousands of others into a trap with no way out.

Drinking water to lose weight is a failure

A new study is out which suggests that drinking water to lose weight is ineffective, although eating foods with a high water content can help. Actually, the study measured waist sizes and not weight, but the two are usually comparable.

This matches my own experience. I have always drunk a lot more water than anyone else of my age/weight/height and it has not helped nor hindered my effort to lose or maintain weight. It can be useful in making you feel a bit more full when you are desperate for "something", but overall it just tends to make you have to pee a lot more often.

Water banned from MLB dugouts

We have posted plenty of criticism here of the bottled water craze: it is too expensive, it creates waste, etc. But it seems strange to ban bottled water from baseball dugouts at Major League Baseball games!

White Sox clubhouse personnel said if players take bottled water onto the bench, all the bottled water will be removed from the clubhouse as punishment.

So remember, the biggest threat to baseball isn't steroids or HGH or amphetamines or runaway ticket prices or four-hour games.

It's water.

Hopefully, they allow the water if it is delivered in gatorade-logoed cups instead. {{Roll eyes.}

The Truth of Bottled Water

And yet I buy the stuff myself for convenience, and to keep myself from buying soda instead.