by Greg Palast

I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.

I don’t know the law in Japan, so I can’t tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.

But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn’t suffered enough.

Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven’t heard on CNN:

The failure of emergency systems at Japan’s nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.

Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called “SQ” or “Seismic Qualification.” That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from ‘failed’ to ‘passed.’

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by Keith Daniels

Today is π day, 3/14, as we reckon dates in the US. On an even geekier level, using the European method of writing the day and then the month (e.g. 14/3), today is, as noted by Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait, “the sum of 3 consecutive primes (43+47+53), and also of 5 consecutive primes (11+13+17+19+23+29+31).”

Today would have also been Albert Einstein’s 132nd birthday. By coincidence, Pi figures prominently in Einstein’s field equations, “10 equations in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity which describe the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of spacetime being curved by matter and energy.” Heavy stuff, that, but Einstein’s theories are the foundation of the scientific knowledge that has allowed the development of GPS systems (the effects of the satellites’ movement relative to observers on Earth must be accounted for), the gravitational microlensing that allows astronomers to see otherwise unobservably faint or distant objects, and, ahem, nuclear power — amongst many other wonders. Science is badass.

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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Charley and Koshil

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.

Q: I’ve been single for about a year now, and in general it didn’t bother me too much. In September I wound up taking two classes at college alongside a girl who was everything I ever could have dreamed of in a woman. I didn’t get to know her very well, and, due to her having her own circle of friends, I was fairly intimidated to approach her as I’m not the most outgoing guy ever.

The problem comes in that she is no longer in any of my classes for this semester, nor do I have her as a “friend” on any social networks. I’ve been battling with myself as to how much time I should allow her to have space, as well as to how I’m going to contact her. The only way I can seems to be Facebook, and I guess I feel like it’d be creepy to say, “Hey, it’s the guy from your film class last semester, I know we don’t know each other well, but…”. Maybe I’m over-thinking it and should just take the leap. What do you think?

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by Brad Warner

I just moved into a new apartment in beautiful Akron, Ohio. Don’t be sad. It’s OK. I like it! Anyway, the previous tenant apparently subscribed to Psychology Today magazine and neglected to either cancel or forward her subscription. So I got the latest issue, dated April 2011, and on the cover an article inside is advertised with the rather lurid headline, “Smashing a Taboo: Does Porn Protect Kids?”

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by Nicole Powers

Neil Strauss has a talent for honing in on the very essence of who a person is. It’s an attribute that has served him well as an interviewer for publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, as a writer penning biographical books with the likes of Mötley Crüe (The Dirt) and Jenna Jameson (How To Make Love Like A Porn Star), and in his other life, as Style, the seduction guru and author of the pick-up bible, The Game.

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Milloux Suicide in Interlace

• INTO: Murder By Death, forensics, film editing, music making, sleeping, Siouxsie, the art of soap operas, country music, Cute Cannibals, claymation, tails, roadkill, reading upside-down, crying babies, painting on the public, bikes, real emo, skramz, playing shows, steampunk, Satan, Jewish people.
• HOBBIES: Making movies, making music, making faces, making pictures, making cakes, making sex, Mercs, buying mice, buying fish, buying Chapstick, riding bikes, riding my bike again, riding dudes, working on bikes, working my hips (not).
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: My dog (Siouxsie), water, computer, avocados, dental floss.
• VICES: I have none.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Sleeping and/or on my bike.

Get to know Milloux better over at SuicideGirls.com!