Vorl Bek <vorl....@antichef.com> wrote: > > So the expression I heard in the army from the southern boys: > > "He went out to shit and the hogs et him" > > was no more than the truth. >
Seriously, that happens. The NHK documentary veterinarian says wild boars like to eat about half-and-half plant life and meat. People are made of meat, as noted here and by Swan and Flanders. The vet explained that boars in Japan are usually afraid of people and stay ~15 m or more away from them, and flee when people get closer. But the ones in Fukushima born after the accident have not encountered people and they are losing their fear. The IAEA guy is quoted describing boar tracks in the sand [image with orange arrow superimposed on sandy field]: 調査員 「圃場の真ん中を、けっこう普通に来ながら、足跡が直線じゃなくて、ふらついているんですね。 無警戒に近づいてきてますよね。」 "The tracks are not straight as you would expect, but rather as if the animal is wandering around, which means it is not on guard against human beings." This is not the sort of expertise you expect to find in the IAEA, but they have be ready for anything these days, now that we have seen fission reactors blow sky high. When you have the IAEA fretting about wild boars and monkeys spread out from here to hell-and-gone over hundreds of square kilometers, you know that this technology is out of control. These are not problems we can deal with. I have not heard any proposals to go chasing after the fish in the ocean yet. I guess even TEPCO and the Japanese government realize that is a non-starter. Another problem we cannot possibly come to grips with are microscopic radioactive particles of debris spread out over hundreds of square kilometers. The NHK regularly shows backhoes and people with shovels gathering up topsoil in Fukushima into giant bags. I don't know where they put those bags, but there is a lot of surface area not cleaned up yet. This is a rural area. Those IAEA officials and the hunters going after the boars both say they will not go into many of the woods and mountains because their rad-meters go off the scale. Does anyone think TEPCO is going to dispatch crews to scrape the topsoil off all those hills, and scrub down every rock, every tree, every leaf and blade of grass while they are at it? It can't be done. They make a show of hosing off people's roofs and the roads, and digging up the topsoil at school playgrounds, as if those are the only objects in the landscape. - Jed
