Hasta La Gadget!

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese nuclear plant won preliminary approval Wednesday for meeting stringent post-Fukushima safety requirements, clearing a major hurdle toward becoming the first to restart under the tighter rules.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority accepted a report that found that design upgrades and safety improvements at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s two reactors at the Sendai Nuclear Power Station have complied with the requirements introduced last July.

The regulators said the plant is now deemed capable of avoiding severe accidents such as the Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdowns in an equally serious situation.

The authority is expected to give final approval after a 30-day technical and scientific public comment period.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to bring at least some of Japan’s 48 reactors back online, saying a prolonged shutdown hurts Japan’s economy.

All of Japan’s 48 remaining reactors are offline for safety checks and repairs since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima Dai-ichi, causing multiple meltdowns.

It will still take a few more months to get the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Sendai Nuclear Power Station online, officials said. The operator has to clear final steps such as on-site checks, followed by obtaining local government consent.

Though public opposition over restarts exceeds support, Abe’s government has been calling for restarts, reversing a nuclear phase-out policy adopted by the previous government. The safety approval for the Sendai plant and its expected restart marks a big boost for the nuclear industry.

The Sendai plant is 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo and on the southern tip of Japan’s Kyushu island. Regulators in March placed the plant, one of 19 reactors undergoing safety checks, on a fast-track for safety approval, largely because the operator was quick to raise the bar on tsunami and earthquake safety.

“Do your research.”

That is the lesson that John Lasseter — Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney & Pixar Animation Studios — has repeatedly drilled into the artists that he works with. That before they jump feet-first into developing a brand-new animated feature, these filmmakers must first understand the world that this movie’s characters are supposed to occupy.

In the case of Pixar’s “Up,” this meant that Pete Docter and his production team had to go to Venezuela. Where it then took them three days of hard traveling by airplanes, jeeps & helicopters before they finally reached Mount Roraima (i.e., the highest point of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateau in South America) and Angel Falls.

And when it came to Disney “Frozen,” animators & effects artists flew to Jackson Hole, WY in the middle of winter. Just so that they could then don authentic period clothing like long skirts and mush through deep snow. So that — when it came time to animate Anna’s struggle to reach Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post & Sauna — they could then get all of the details just right.

But when it came time to research “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” the story team from Disneytoon Studios didn’t get to fly off to South America or Wyoming. They just hopped in a car and drove on down to the Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base. Where they then talked with dozens of aerial firefighters who work for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection AKA CalFire.

“We worked with these guys for four years,” Paul Gerard, the director of Creative Development for Disneytoon Studios, explained. “And CalFire helped us so much with ‘Fire & Rescue.’ They let us know everything that you’d possibly want to know about Air Attack. And we’d then not only try to incorporate as much of that information as we possibly could into our film … Well, we’d also invite members of the Air Attack team to come look at our movie while it was still on reels. We’d then take the additional notes that these guys gave us and fold them into our film to make ‘Fire & Rescue’ as authentic as possible.”

Now I know that — especially for folks outside of the animation industry — that it may sound kind of strange that Disneytoon Studios would put this much effort into a sequel to 2013’s “Planes.” Given that the first film in this series had been such a success … Well, it must have been awfully tempting to just put this project on auto-pilot. Have Dusty Crophopper compete in yet another ’round-the-world race.

“But that’s not how we do things here at DisneyToon Studios,” said Jeffrey M. Howard — the co-screenwriter of both the original “Planes” as well as “Fire & Rescue.” “We weren’t looking to repeat ourselves with the second film in the ‘Planes’ series. We wanted to do different things with Dusty this time around. Have him go off and explore an entirely different corner of his world.”

Which — given that the central character of this series is a crop duster turned world-class racer — was something of a challenge. But it was actually “Fire & Rescue” director Bobs Gannaway who, during the research phase of this Disneytoon Studios production, stumbled across the factoid which eventually allowed Dusty to soar off in an entirely new direction.

“It was Bobs — as he was researching the history of agricultural airplanes — who discovered that these planes had also been used for firefighting. Only instead of dropping chemicals & fertilizer on fields, they’d then drop water on burning forests,” Howard continued. “And it was that neat bit of trivia — that crop dusters had once been used as single engine air tankers — that then allowed us to step away from the world of racing and go explore this entirely different aspect of aviation.”

Which is why Jeffrey, Bobs & Paul made their first trip to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base back in 2010. But what they thought was going to be a simple research trip suddenly changed the overall theme of their film.

“Now you have to understand that a lot of us who worked on these movies were big aviation geeks. So we were like ‘Show us the planes. Let us see what you have,’ ” said Howard said. “And as the folks at Hemet-Ryan showed us their fleet, we discovered that all of their aircraft are repurposed. I mean, there’s actually one aircraft in the Western World that’s been purpose-built specifically for firefighting. Everything else was originally built to do something else.”

“Take — for example — the S2, CalFire’s main tanker. It used to be a sub fighter. And the OV-10 Bronco was a military reconnaissance plane. While the Huey had dozens of roles going all the way back to Vietnam,” Jeffrey continued. “So all of these aircraft had originally been designed to do other things. But now that they were part of the Air Attack fleet, they all had these brand-new lives doing different & challenging things. And taking that into account … Well, that’s when the idea that ‘Fire & Rescue’ might then become this story about second chances began formulating in our heads.”

So to get better acquainted with the world of CalFire, the folks at Disneytoon Studios regularly began making the 95-mile drive from the Disney Media Campus in Glendale to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base in Riverside. Where Battalion Chief Travis Alexander was happy to throw open the door and let Disney’s artists get better acquainted with the world of aerial firefighting.

“They let us see everything, including the red stuff which they drop on fires. They call it slurry or mud. And it’s red so you can then see it as you drop it out of a plane. You can see from a distance. And it has the sort of consistency of snot,” Gerard stated. “Now I have an 8 year-old son. So I know a lot about snot. And that’s the stuff that they fill up the S2 with. Because on the sub hunter, they’ve built in these tanks. And on the back, they have this double gauge to just plug in and they then load up this plane up with slurry.”

“Now you have to understand that — when you’re working with artists & animators — we’re just a bunch of big kids. So as soon as you’d say ‘Hey, this slurry feels like snot,’ a bunch of animators would then immediately say ‘Let me feel,’ ” Jeffrey laughed.

The other thing that Gannaway, Gerard & Howard discovered as they continued to hang out at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base was that it wasn’t just the aircraft that had been repurposed. That a lot of the base’s buildings / support structures had either been repurposed or built from scratch.

“We’d point at some building and say ‘Has that always been here?’ And the Air Attack team members would say Nope. ‘We just got some lumber and some corrugated metal and put it up ourselves,’ Jeffrey continued. “Everywhere you looked around the Air Attack base, the CalFire crew had made smart use of repurposed materials. Take — for example — the cabinets where they store their giveaway t-shirts and coffee mugs. These cabinets used to belong to this video game store that was just down the road. They were where that store used to store all of their Nintendos. That video store was just giving these cabinets away because they didn’t need them anymore. CalFire snatched these cabinets up and put them to great use at the Air Attack base. And that look — this place where the pieces didn’t often look like they quite fit together because they’re actually made up of all this hand-me-down equipment — began to inform the look & design of ‘Fire & Rescue.’ “

Mind you, this isn’t to say that everyone at Disneytoon Studios was immediately on board with the idea that Dusty Crophopper’s next adventure should be set in the world of aerial firefighting.

“Just like at Walt Disney Animation Studios & Pixar, we have a story trust at Disneytoon Studios that directors can pitch their stories to. And one time after Bobs had pitched the story for ‘Fire & Rescue,’ one of the other directors here said ‘It’s really convenient — from a story-telling point-of-view — that just as Dusty lands, the klaxon goes off, there’s this fire and the team then has to go fight it,” Paul said.

“But here’s the thing: One time when we had brought all of our artists down to Hemet-Ryan to talk with the Air Attack team and draw all of their planes, that actually happened to us. The klaxon went off and we then had to quickly get all of our artists off of the runway,” Gerard continued. “And we were like ‘Wow! A fire!” And the Air Attack team was like ‘You guys only hear about the big ones.’ And then they took off.”

FYI: That “You only hear about the big ones” line actually wound up in the movie. As did Hemet-Ryan Air Attack’s funky hand-me-down quality as well as its repurposed air fleet. Which is why — if you want to see the most authentic film that’s been made about aerial firefighting in the past 50 years — then you really need to go see Disneytoon Studios’ “Planes: Fire & Rescue.” Which opens in theaters this Friday.

We know that Samsung isn’t one to let any potential market segment pass it by, and according to TechCrunch, it’s considering an acquisition that would put it in play in the suddenly expanding home automation business. The target? SmartThings, which…

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) appeal to African-American voters in his winning primary election runoff last month was funded entirely by a super PAC supporting his campaign.

According to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, a super PAC called All Citizens for Mississippi received all $144,685 of its funds from the Mississippi Conservatives super PAC run by Henry Barbour, a lobbyist and nephew to former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R).

Bishop Ronnie Crudup of New Horizon Church in Jackson, Mississippi, runs All Citizens for Mississippi. He said previously that he had raised the super PAC’s money from other sources.

“I raised money for our PAC; that’s what PACs do,” Crudup told the Clarion-Ledger on July 9. “And there is no doubt as part of that I raised some money from the Republicans, I raised money from African-Americans. I raised money from a number of sources.”

Mississippi Conservatives super PAC was heavily funded by establishment Republican Party donors, including those closely connected to the Barbour family’s political network in the state. This included Barbour himself and businesses and their executives that have relied on federal money secured by Cochran over the years, including Bollinger Shipyards and General Atomics. The super PAC also received contributions from the leadership PACs of Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah).

American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove, contributed $50,000 to Mississippi Conservatives as it transferred money to All Citizens for Mississippi — even though the national super PAC pledged to stay out of the race following the close primary vote that forced the runoff. The Rove-linked super PAC gave $210,000 overall to Mississippi Conservatives.

All Citizens for Mississippi was instrumental in stirring the largely Democratic electorate in African-American communities to vote for Cochran in the runoff against tea party challenger Chris McDaniel, which was essential to Cochran’s victory. The reliance on African-American votes by a Republican to win a GOP primary sparked racially-charged cries from McDaniel and his supporters of vote- buying and voter fraud.

The pro-Cochran super PAC ran advertisements on radio and in newspapers touting the senator’s support for the African-American community. The radio ads calling for Cochran’s election weren’t reported to the FEC as required, nor are payments to radio stations or ad-buying firms.

In one radio advertisement, Pastor Siggers of Mt. Olive Baptist Church said, “I know that traditionally we as a community don’t vote Republican, but for this special election we need to turn out in record numbers to push back against this Tea Party effort.”

Siggers listed Cochran’s support for black farmers, the Martin Luther King Day holiday and the historically black colleges and universities in the state as reasons to vote for the senator. “I urge you to vote Thad Cochran June 24th,” Siggers states.

Campaign finance laws require independent expenditures — the legal term for efforts calling for the election or defeat of a federal candidate– to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours. The super PAC has not filed any of these 24-hour reports.

All Citizens for Mississippi did report on Tuesday that it had paid for advertisements to be placed in three newspapers: Jackson Free Press, Jackson Advocate and Mississippi Link. These advertisements also featured calls to vote for Cochran, but have not been reported to FEC.

The majority of the funds raised by the super PAC did not go for advertising, but to door-to-door, get-out-the-vote efforts. The group paid a handful of individuals, including operatives and politicians, in the heavily African-American area of Jackson to get voters to the polls.

Previous reports have noted that James “Scooby Doo” Warren, a top Democratic operative, ran the pro-Cochran get-out-the-vote effort. Warren told the Clarion-Ledger he was “putting it in place across the whole state.” All Citizens for Mississippi paid Warren $35,000.

Also receiving funds to get out the vote were Bill Washington, who was paid $34,000, and Roosevelt Daniels, paid $20,000. Both are from Jackson.

Jackson Democratic state Rep. Credell Calhoun was paid $5,000 by the super PAC. According to the Clarion-Ledger, Calhoun drove around in a vehicle on Election Day plastered with “Thad” signs and calling, “Let’s go vote,” over a megaphone.

Beyond funding the efforts of All Citizens for Mississippi, the Mississippi Conservatives super PAC paid the Democratic firm Winning Connections $130,000 for get-out-the-vote phone banks. Winning Connections previously worked for Democratic politicians, including Barack Obama, and liberal groups like Planned Parenthood, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee.

Following Cochran’s narrow victory in the June 24 runoff, McDaniel alleged that the senator “stole” the election with “illegal Democrat votes.” McDaniel has challenged the vote in a lawsuit.

McDaniel’s conservative supporters have further alleged that the Cochran campaign or its supporters paid for African-American votes. The allegations were fueled by a statement by Stevie Fielder that the Cochran campaign asked him to pay $15 per vote for the senator. Fielder later partially recanted, calling his allegations “hypothetical.”

The McDaniel campaign has presented what it claims to be 8,300 instances of fraud by Cochran voters and is currently pushing for the state to open poll records. Cochran’s campaign has denied all allegations.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Jeter soaked in the adulation from fans and players during one more night on baseball’s national stage, set the tone for the American League with a pregame speech and delivered two final All-Star hits.

Mike Trout, perhaps the top candidate to succeed the 40-year-old Yankees captain as the face of the game, seemed ready to assume the role with a tiebreaking triple and later a go-ahead double that earned him MVP honors. On a summer evening filled with reminders of generational change, the AL kept up nearly two decades of dominance by beating the National League 5-3 in the All-Star game Tuesday for its 13th win in 17 years.

Miguel Cabrera homered to help give the AL champion home-field advantage for the World Series.

No matter what else happened, it seemed destined to be another special event for Jeter.

He received a 63-second standing ovation when he walked to the plate leading off the bottom of the first, another rousing cheer when he led off the third and about two minutes of applause after AL manager John Farrell sent Alexei Ramirez to shortstop to replace him at the start of the fourth.

As Frank Sinatra’s recording of “New York, New York” boomed over the Target Field speakers and his parents watched from the stands, Jeter repeatedly waved to the crowd, exchanged handshakes and hugs in the AL dugout and then came back onto the field for a curtain call.

While not as flashy as Mariano Rivera’s All-Star farewell at Citi Field last year, when all the other players left the great reliever alone on the field for an eighth-inning solo bow, Jeter also tried not to make a fuss.

A 14-time All-Star who was MVP of the 2000 game in Atlanta, he announced in February this will be his final season. His hits left him with a .481 All-Star average (13 for 27), just behind Charlie Gehringer’s .500 record (10 for 20) for players with 20 or more at-bats.

While the Yankees are .500 at the break and in danger of missing the postseason in consecutive years for the first time in two decades, Jeter and the Angels’ Trout gave a boost to whichever AL team reaches the World Series.

The AL improved to 9-3 since the All-Star game started deciding which league gets Series home-field advantage; 23 of the last 28 titles were won by teams scheduled to host four of a possible seven games.

Detroit’s Max Scherzer, in line to be the most-prized free agent pitcher after the season, pitched a scoreless fifth for the win, and Glen Perkins got the save in his home ballpark.

The AL won for the first time in three tries in Minnesota; it lost 6-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in 1965 and 6-1 at the normally homer-friendly Metrodome, where not one longball was hit under its Teflon roof in 1985.