CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Med vs. Rad

Medical Emergency vs. Rad is the natural follow up to Fire vs. Rad because the responder priorities are exactly the same: Life, Property, and Environment. Though in some jurisdictions they swap the order of those last two. Life saving efforts are always top priority though. [The eighth in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Urban Explorer Wildlife

This scenario is much like when the Local Color brings you a dead radioactive seagull, except this time your surprisingly competent coworkers may have captured an actual live, radioactive, and displeased animal to bring to you. It’s just another day in paradise. [The seventh in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers for my CHOOSE …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Wildfire vs. Rad

The traditional answer to avoiding NIMBY crap, whatever your particular issue may be, is to build your facility three miles down the road from the ass end of nowhere. Unfortunately, the suburbs will follow you and suddenly it’s your fault that you’re in their backyard again. You can’t win. [The sixth in an ongoing series …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Collections of the Dead

It’s clear that folks have some experience clearing out the homes & offices of deceased friends and relatives who were eccentric. From the previous Radioactive Seagull Adventure, perhaps they were the Local Color. Inherit enough interesting things, you might get known as the Local Color too. [The fifth in an ongoing series of my compiled …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Surprise Positrons

For this scenario, count your blessings that they bothered to call you at all. SURPRISE ACCELERATOR is the worst kind of accelerator. I wish I could say this has never happened in my career. But you already knew this one existed. It’s the modification that’s the problem. [The fourth in an ongoing series of my …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Nuke Crabs

Since I used the word earlier today, “extended, unplanned deployment to an uninhabited island” is an excellent euphemismspeak for being marooned. Luckily, you aren’t marooned. You’ve just been sent in on a zodiac raft to get samples while boss-type sips coffee back on the boat. [The third in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Radio Shack

Well folks, you did it. You all have a future as remediation contractors. Go get yourself some licenses, equipment, and hire some workers that you, personally, absolutely never have to suit up do this work. Oh wait, the money is thin. Welp, looks like you are. [The second in an ongoing series of my compiled …

CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE: Radioactive Seagull

The people who work in secured facilities will never know the pleasure of randos walking in off the street to drop things off. Maybe it’s an interesting shaped rock they’re CERTAIN is a dinosaur egg. Maybe it’s a grenade from grandpa’s war chest. Sometimes it’s a dead bird. [The first in an ongoing of compiled …

Fukushima – I Finally Wrote It

I don’t know how many times I’ve started, stopped, and deleted trying to write something up on my trip to the Fukushima Hard-To-Return-To Area, AKA the Futaba District of the Fukushima Prefecture. Unfortunately, thanks to COVID-19, I have plenty of time to write this up now. I want to give thanks at the outset to …

Phil vs. The Otago Rail Trail, Part 2

We last left our intrepid heroes at the trailhead of the Otago Rail Trail in Middlemarch. Apologies for the delay getting to part two because one of the hard things in reconstructing this tale is that the websites I used in 2003 have dramatically improved and it’s hard to recreate my old errors. Pretty sure …

Holidays: The Decembering (2019 Edition), The Sequel

The BBotE pre-order slots for the short production window ending December 21st are now up, which means it is now LAST MINUTE SHOPPING TIME.  All things being equal, domestic or international, everything shipped by the 14th should end up at their destination by Christmas Eve/first day of Hannukah. I can’t control weather, volcanic eruptions, asteroid …