Tomorrow, November 2nd, is Dia de los Muertos and my birthday. It also roughly marks ten years since I arrived at South Pole Station one glaringly bright and cold Antarctica day. I bring this up because it’s already my birthday in Antarctica and I have a story to share. For those that don’t care about …
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Horrible People Dragging The World Forward
This rant had it’s genesis chatting outside the Burger King, around 2pm on a Sunday, in Terminal C of Las Vegas’ McCarran “Sad Bro” International Airport. Let me tell you, early afternoon on Sunday in McCarran is a sea of desolate, hungover, broke, exhausted, and, above all, chica-less bros. It earned my new name for …
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The Tale of the Dolphins
My old wonderful curmudgeon of a boss from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the man who gave me a not so gentle kick and made it possible to be a health physicist, has just moved into hospice care. He said, and I quote, “You’re too damn smart to spend the rest of your life swinging a …
Your Radiation Safety Conundrum
I have returned from Adventures in Radiation in eastern Washington and a fresh round of pre-order slots have gone up in the store as I finish up the last of the previous lots. I have discovered that I have quite a few emails with questions that aren’t related to enhancing my maxxxximum manprow. Sorry for …
Where’s Phil Now & How To Get To Antarctica
If you’ve been poking at the store side of things lately, you may have noticed that the inventories of most everything has dwindled down to zero. This is intentional as I want to clear everything out before I put up the next round of pre-orders. “Why?” you ask. Because I am off to beautiful, scenic …
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BBotE Ambassador Supplies and Approaching Science
Alright, as of tomorrow, resupply cases for all your local BBotE Ambassadors (except for College Station, TX and Dublin, Ireland) are either there or on their way. In fact, Portland may be out of stock again and in need of another. I am to understand the case for Delta City (AKA Detroit) has disappeared into …
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An Antarctic Recipe: Enhanced Sangria
In the interest of sharing important slices of life from my time as Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station’s bartender, I give you the recipe for “Enhanced” Sangria, AKA Mechanics’ Juice. Accidentally freeze an entire airdrop pallet of wine so that you have enough broken bottles that need to be consumed NOW so that this recipe’s portions make sense. …
The One Where I Play Sherlock Holmes
It’s been quiet here for a bit, so I figured it’s time to tell you about my super power. Some people know the fire and electrical codes inside and out. I swear to booze that there’s this one guy at LLNL who is the goddamn Cement Listener and can tell where subsidence is going to occur …
Lest Ye Become Arrogant In Your Knowledge
In my continuing efforts to make sure that world becomes a More Awesome place, always remain aware that you don’t know everything. When someone says, “Pffft, no…[sotto voce] dumbass” to one of your proclamations, remain humble and take a moment to consider if everything you’ve ever known is wrong. My favorite exemplar of this is …
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Hard Life Lessons from the Land of Q Clearances
In an ongoing effort to share helpful things in life about topics other than delicious coffee & beer, I want to take a moment to discuss something that effects all of us, every day. First, let us review the two fundamental pieces of wisdom that can so easily be forgotten in a moment of blinding …
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You Know A Building Is Awesome When…
You walk up to the door and this NFPA diamond is posted prominently on the wall above it so that approaching first responders can know to hit the brakes from a very, very long way away. I love my job. I now return you to your regularly scheduled Twinkie eating, porn surfing, and LOLcats.
The Tale of the Adventure Socks
Adventure is the gift that keeps on giving. And in this case is still giving, because I get to share this story with you. Yes, I have more coffee related things to share later, but I want to take this moment to discuss the importance of Adventure as a gift. I have a friend named …
A Bounty!
So, as we previously discussed, I’ve been to Antarctica. In my time there I got to visit two of the American stations, McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole (where I wintered over), and New Zealand’s station right over the hill on Ross Island from McMurdo, Scott Base. I want to take a moment so that I …
I Went Here: Exploration, Toilet By Toilet
At last, the long promised “Bathrooms of Antarctica” post. Once upon a time, in the dawn of the new millennium when Geocities and Angelfire sites still littered the internet, I came across a brilliant website, now lost to the ages, entirely dedicated to one man’s exploration of the world via it’s bathrooms. Now, you might …
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This Is How Marie Curie Died
…unlike her husband who said hello to the bottom of a cart wheel. No, instead I share a cautionary tale where I speak of poor lab hygiene and the danger of long hair. But first, a definition: Satori (n): sudden enlightenment and a state of consciousness attained by intuitive illumination representing the spiritual goal of …