Although off the news grid, The situation at Fukushima is getting worst, go here to read what is happening.

@unknownuser said:

Seawater purifiers to be set at Fukushima plant

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it will install equipment to purify highly radioactive seawater near the reactors' water intakes.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will start work on Tuesday to install seawater purifiers, which use the mineral zeolite to absorb radioactive cesium.

The utility previously built undersea silt barriers around the water intakes for the No.2 and 3 reactors after highly contaminated water was found to be leaking into the sea.

But radioactive substances exceeding the government-set safety limits are still being detected both inside and outside the barriers.

To stop contamination entering the sea, TEPCO decided to install new equipment to decontaminate seawater.

It is planning to draw and treat a maximum of 30 tons of water per hour from inside the silt fences, where radiation levels are higher, aiming to reduce contamination in the water outside the fences.

The company says the equipment will be installed around the intakes of the No.2 and 3 reactors, and it will begin preliminary operations as early as Thursday.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 06:03 +0900 (JST)

Guess you are right about that. My model sizes, and origins are such that clipping is rarely a problem for me. I posted as such for beginners because zooming in with the mouse wheel was a revelation (perhaps only for me) after I had been at it with SketchUp for over a year.

Rock1, I am guessing that you are a SketchUp beginner. Apologies if you are not, but from time to time, many beginners complain about the lack of precision control due to SketchUps inference engine. One of the ways to get around this is with the mouse wheel. Place your pointer where you want to go then spin the wheel to get close enough to override the precision of the previous snap. Typically you will be able to lock on the point you want. Then zoom out with "previous" (or the mouse wheel), and lock on to the next spot.

SketchUp will lock on center (mid point), physical intersection, end, a point on, and inference points. You can orbit, etc. while locking on points. ACad it's not, thank G0d (just me)! The only things I miss are projected intersections of, and intersection view of (by my Cad). Once I overcame my bias, I was OK, you will be too.

Hmm...Reminds me of one of my favorite films where a Nagra has a minor part in the film. What a beautiful, and lyrical soundtrack.
[flash=640,390:5pjfwgk4]http://www.youtube.com/v/2hsmoo97CVA?version=3[/flash:5pjfwgk4]
[flash=640,390:5pjfwgk4]http://www.youtube.com/v/lN_8qFinDBM?version=3[/flash:5pjfwgk4]

Jean, Are Rhino windows fixed, editable, 2d views of the model?

Very nice, It is instructive. If you do this again, and remember, show us the raw construction of the detailed parts before you apply Artisian. Thanks for posting.

If the demonstrations did not affect the election, how will they force the government to change? What did the demonstration accomplish? In this case, is change by "force" appropriate? If the government resigned, who would write the law?

Juan, While their goals are lofty, how do the demonstrations contribute to their goals. Didn't they help the "right wing" take power, or is that good? Isn't a "60% turn out of the whole country" to vote good? In the US, 60% turn out of registered voters (not even 60% of the whole country (eligible voters)) has not happened since the 60s.

In view of what is happening in Egypt today, I am having second thoughts about the demonstrations that removed Mubarak from office. Not to say that I have any insight into what works. Democracy is the best tool we have today, but it still falls short of achieving the ideals.

IMO, comparison of the chart, and the possibility of WWIII is spurious correlation. How would the graph look with discounted dollars (to measure real purchasing power), and per capita debt.

@solo said:

Nah!

From the moment we thought it a great idea to bring the media to the battlefield we destroyed all hope of ever winning a war.

With the event of International media exposure, I am not sure about this. Doesn't exposure apply equally to the other side? Wouldn't it affect their chances of winning? Perhaps it does. The Taliban have recently become less popular among Arabs; haven't they?

One thing that really bothers me is how rhetorical "support for the troops", and patriotism are used to justify wars. Sometimes those that question the "bad" action of leadership are true patriots, and supporting the troops is not the same as a "righteous" war. Look at Germans in WWII.

The first render is similar to a sketchup model on a watermark (background photo). The exception is that the render adds shine and reflections to the sketchup model (the car). The third image is a render of the model, along with its drop shadow (that's what I call it). The final (fifth) render is a render of the model, and its drop shadow on the background photo.

Btw, none of these is "photo match". That refers to a different process.

Doesn't England have special consideration for crimes by children? In the US, in most cases like this, the juvenile delinquent's record would purged when he turns 18.

@mike lucey said:

I was chatting with a friend today about this and we concluded that the car must have 'see sawed' on the ramp delivering much of the car's weight (4 tons+) went to the front wheels which obviously could not handle it and just kicked in / buckled!...
Could that be it? You think they would test the car to jump small hills, etc. How about metal fatigue on a flawed bolt? But would a single bolt failure cause that the wheel assembly to break. Better add another billion to Solo's estimate for research:)

@unknownuser said:

you can see from this point of view that the front wheels are busted - nice Achilles heel

Was the busted wheel the reason that the car bottomed out, or did bottoming out break the wheel?

That's funny. The first vehicle seems to just make it over, and the long wheelbase of the Cadillac Limo bottoms out. Guess the limo got into the embassy from another gate.

If you are asking about creating photo real renderings, use the search box above and look for "free render", etc.

Switch to Camera > Two Point Perspective, then set the camera height with Camera > Position Camera. Try out all the camera controls to get the view you want. Don't forget to save your scene.

@dave r said:

..........For woodworking/cabinet making applications, SketchUp and LayOut are more than capable of handling the task.

I will take your word for it. Here in paradise, we eat off (out) of t-leaves:)

@srx said:

Here is the picture from the project in Autocad, and ploted detail. There are 20 like this project on my desktop alone. In the World, I guess millions. Show me only one done in Layout, and I'll buy it

Dave, I have to agree with "srx" on this matter. If it could be done, there would be a massive movement of Architectural firms, to use SU/LO to document construction plans. Architects have 3d modeling tools, little of which is used to produce construction documents in the manner that the construction industry can economically assimilate, and use to build buildings.

With my 3d cad application, I am able to conceptualize, then port to SketchUP for design, and visualization. However I continue to return to cad in order to produce construction documents. That is because I can do it faster, and with more control with cad, then SU/LO.

It doesn't mean that progress isn't being made with those who use SU/LO. Only that it will take more time, and effort on Google's part to build a capable tool.

If you have a lot of reversed faces, there are several plugins that can help you. This is one.

@unknownuser said:

Radiation level at No.3 reactor water intake rises

The operator of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima has reported a sharp rise in the concentration of a radioactive material in samples of seawater near the Number 3 reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 110 becquerels of radioactive cesium-134 per cubic centimeters in seawater samples taken on Wednesday morning.

The level is 1,800 times the national legal limit, compared to 550 times, which was reported the previous day.

The utility also found 120 becquerels of cesium-137, 1,300 times higher than the limit.

Last Wednesday at the same location near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor, water contaminated with highly radioactive substances was found flowing into the sea from a pit. TEPCO says it detected cesium-134 at 32,000 times the legal limit.

In its latest announcement, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive iodine in seawater samples from the same location fell from 1,900 times the limit on Monday to 630 times on Tuesday.

The utility also said it detected radioactive materials at levels higher than the national limit at 2 of the 4 survey points along the shoreline near the plant.

It says cesium-134 with a concentration level 1.8 times the limit was found at a point 330 meters south of the water drainage gates of the Number 1 to 4 reactors.

Thursday, May 19, 2011 02:57 +0900 (JST)