Some good news this morning, “officials” are saying that a “partial” meltdown is likely at one of Japan’s beleaguered nuke plants. And here everybody was worried about something bad. Of course, what they admit to is typically not as bad as what they revise it to later on in the week (on Friday night). For instance, the original earthquake (which wasn’t actually the first – apparently there were “pre-shocks”) has been revised up to a 9.0.

The Japanese Prime Minister says Japan is “facing the most difficult crisis since World War II.” Oh, sure. You always have to throw that whole atomic bomb thing in our face, don’t you?

Here, the owners of the nuke plants nearby – whose cooling towers and tremendous plumes (when it’s cold out) I can see clearly as I drive down the road on my way home (since we’re about 1,000 feet above their location on Lake Ontario, and less than 40 miles away) say they’re “monitoring” the situation in Japan, but not to worry, as our nuke plants were constructed with “state of the art” technology built to withstand “significant seismic events.”

Uh-huh.

The state of the art part is interesting, since I recall taking field trips to the visitors’ center there (to bask in the glow – so to speak – of the wonders of nuclear power) when I was in elementary school, so if it was ever state of the art, it was state of the art over 40 years ago (it went online in 1969, and is one of the two oldest nuclear reactors still in service in the United States; there’s nothing more comforting than having a “vintage” nuclear power plant in the neighborhood).

Over the years, I’ve also heard plenty of stories about how the mafia controlled the construction, faking the weld x-rays and the concrete tests, and pretty much driving trucks in the front and out the back to resell the materials, which is why the plant – the first one, anyway – was many (many) times over budget. And then of course there was this back in 1991 at another of the plants up there, owned by Entergy – though I’m sure it was just an isolated incident. Well, one of several isolated incidents, actually.

Oh, and we’ll kind of forget about the Zebra Mussels – an inadvertent gift from our friends in Russia that now thrive in the Great Lakes, as the horny little buggers reproduce way faster than the crayfish can eat them – that are clogging the cooling water (actually the water that cools the cooling water and supposedly doesn’t intermingle, but still gets returned to the lake a few degrees warmer than it was when it came out – the super algae and three-eyed fish love it) intake pipes. No problem there.

But, hey, what does Japan know about technology compared to us, right?

So please excuse me if I’m not particularly buoyed by the statement from your corporate spokesbitch (clearly given over the phone, ‘cuz I’m pretty sure the upper muck-mucks from Constellation Energy don’t live anywhere near here).

Nukes and hydrofracking – why don’t y’all just admit we’re in your way up here, and you just want us all dead already?

Looks like the monkeys have invented a new way of fishing (for termites), using poles. I suspect it was really all Michael Nesmith’s mother’s idea.

Much as I despise Connecticut (the university, that is, not the state, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive them for Joe Lieberman), I have to hand it to them for winning 5 games in 5 days to take the Big East Tournament title. Now we wait for the tournament pairings tonight. The good news for SU is that we shouldn’t have to play any Big East teams for a while.

Yesterday was the big “it’s not St. Patrick’s Day so why is there a fookin’ parade” Parade here, and my fellow micks were out in force. I no longer participate in such things, but back in the day, I’d be among the untold throngs who’d start the day off at mass at St. Patrick’s, then freeze our asses off lining the parade route before spending the rest of the day drinking as much as humanly possible.

Except I’d typically skip the mass part. And the parade.

Now that the sun is coming up a bit, it appears that all the spots that were devoid of snow when last I looked are now white once again, so I reckon we got a little snow overnight. Not much, I don’t think. Just enough to brighten things up a bit. If it was bright out there, which it isn’t yet.

That’s because it’s an hour later this morning than it was yesterday morning (well, I supposed it’s actually 24 hours – give or take – later, but you know what I mean).

I know there is a certain amount of resistance to this amongst certain people, but I personally welcome it. It won’t be any darker at four o’clock in the morning when I get up, but sunset will now be after seven in the evening – and that means I can get home and watch the sun set above the deer grazing in the corn field (16 in the herd at last count) from my home office window. That’s way better than an hour more daylight in the morning as I sit in my windowless office pondering whether or not suicide is a viable option.

Anyhow, it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, ‘cuz nobody’s asking. Just get out those manuals and figure out how to set your clocks ahead. So far, of the ones that don’t do it on their own, I’ve got six done – two wall clocks, the coffee maker, and the three programmable thermostats. Only another half dozen or so, and then comes the big challenge – figuring out the clock in the car.

Have a good day.