AH I am growing a third arm!

wouldn't that be useful?  I would be able to hold and drink a cup of coffee while I type this blog post.

Anyway, it is a lie.  I am still here with only 2 arms, taking breaks every few minutes for a sip of coffee..  Here is the update from my end.  It is mostly websites that you can click and decide for yourself what you want to believe.  First, an excellent breakdown of radiation in daily life (and beyond)
Radiation Dose chart

Second, we have some more information about radiation levels in Japan:
Japan radiation levels
I live in Nagano prefecture, and if you cannot find it and do not know how to do that fancy Ctrl+F search thing, then, if you go under where it says "Latest Graphs (English)" and then find "Chubu Region," and then look to the right, you will see Nagano towards the middle/right.  Give it a click and see what is what.  It is a graph, and under the graph it has information about tap water.

This one is the International Atomic Energy Agency, and as far as I can tell, they are providing accurate, not exaggerated updates, pretty much on a daily basis.
IAEA

Ok, so those are useful.  I do suggest you check them if you are interested, and keep in mind that there is a big (BIG) difference between "elevated" levels of radiation and "oh my God, we are all going to turn into monsters from that movie" levels of radiation.

A note about water and vegetables.  Yes, the tap water in Tokyo (and now also in Chiba, Ibaraki and Saitama) has been tested and has higher levels of radiation.  However, it is still ok to drink, just not for infants under 1 or pregnant or nursing mothers.  The vegetables and the milk from Fukushima also had higher levels of radiation, but, same deal.  You would have to eat 1kg (2.2 lbs for you "kg?  what is a kg?" people) of the contaminated spinach every day for a significant amount of time to notice any difference.  That is a lot of spinach.

I am getting so frustrated with the US media.  It makes me distrust everything I read, and that is sad.  I think the one that got me angriest so far is an article I read about an acquaintance returning to America.  She lived south of me in Nagano prefecture, but the news report stated that she was "several miles from the epicenter" of the quake on March 11.  Try several hundred miles.  It is little things like this that are driving me insane.  Keep that in mind as you read anything in the US news.

Again, I emphasize that this nuclear mess has caused everyone to overlook the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people without homes in the Tohoku region of Japan.  They have stopped rescue efforts and everything is pretty much at a stand still.  Donations are still needed, so also keep that in mind.

Alright, that is all from me.  I am still planning to stay here and go to work every day, I am still feeling aftershocks, my emergency bags are still packed, and I still love chocolate.