A story some might find interesting (Fleeing the West Coast)

I posted this in another thread but wanted to share it wider.

I worked for a major computer company. Days before the plume reached the west coast I resigned and took my family east driving. (i have a young daughter) Keeping tabs on the plume we kept in front of it and by luck missed most of it in the deep south. Eventually it caught up but the gulfs wind patterns knock most of it back up east from my observations. I follow a lot on line, from here, all news, blogs, arnie gunderson, all the report, everywhere I can find.

It was scary to watch people on the news say it was ok and the govt say it was ok WHEN THEY DIDNT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE SAYING WAS OK? They had little data, cause until it hit only Tepco might have known and I doubt they even knew other than HOLY S$^% what do we do!!! ARGH!!

When I was younger I started a job where I almost destroyed all the merchandise in the wharehouse in one second. I stood there paralyzed, having rammed the pallette racks with a forklift . Luckily I fixed it by luck or fate where pushing it back it all bent back up into shape, but had I not I would have had to just walk away. It was like such an Oh s%%% moment, i couldnt tell anyone. I never did. It was so bad...eventually they saw damage but did not know how it happened to infrastructure. I think TEPCO knows its SO bad theres nothing to talk about. Its damage control and cover thine ass. Whatever isnt found out by luck, the better in their minds. The world has to figure it out ourselves.

So that said, here it is over a month later and I am en route back to coast to tie things up, but the data and accumulation is worrisome.

When I took off, I thought people would panic and evac en masse but no one had a clue. They all beleived the media. But it wasnt a huge BANG event like I thought it could be... hits, radiation sickness...over. Its a LONG emergency that drags on slowly poisoning. Like the slow unwinding of the us economy, and letting the truth be known might cause far more damage.

So I try to stay informed and those I know, but as one wise man told me once "sometimes the truth is hard or impossible to get at".

If that japanese could send balloon bombs over in WW2 its obvious microscopic particles in a jet stream efficiently can move.

The BRAWM? team though I feel there could be a conflict of interest, but I think being students from UC Berkeley believe in truth. Nuclear lasts a long time, even if it is just to be decomissioned! Theyve already given enough data to show, its not safe. Since no level is. I thank them for keeping that going, it is honorable and they are heroes as long as they report true results and are not coerced or otherwise convinced to modify their true findings.

In my travels many expressed worry across the USand did not trust the EPA, or other govt officials. Obama went to South or Central America right when the plume hit. If Iwas him and I told people it was safe I would have sat my butt right at the center of where the plume was to hit and stand outside eating large leafy veggies. Lay out on the beach.... Then I would drink CA milk (2-4 liters?) every day until the crisis was resolved and 6 months after that.

So what to do, what to do. Go one with life taking precautions and when the data (eventually it will through social networking and people who care about people) maybe head to South America?

The west coast is contaminated and luckily we werent here for rains, but its still coming in and in the food supplly and building.

It has been quite an adventure and scary at first. I send people here, but you cant preach. People have to figure it out themselves. They are just being spoon fed what they want to hear.

Good luck to all of you
Thunder

addendum from original post:
added note from original: for me the key moment for me was when I asked my boss for an emergency week off and he said "we need you, you gotta pay your bills, you gotta have a job, just tape up your house and dont let your daughter go outside" What kind of life is that? I even told him I knew it would be accumalating. Even Steve Jobs knows, if you dont have your health you aint got much....

stayed with friends across the country. luckily for me the stars aligned and we tried to have fun in our journies. many I met wouldnt have the resources to leave if they HAD TO. It made me sad and a little angry.

my tabs on the plume were models from Comprehenvisve Test ban treaty and Europe sites and others

one thing that concerned me is a family i know on the west coast had 6 kids get sick the SAME day the largest measurements of plume hit. vomiting and nausea. I know the flu was going around but...same day? it was slight cause for concern cause I read other stories on here

Im know longer panicked like the first days of my flight but I think a lot of things I used to enjoy are done (foodwise) and life may change completely....