As a holiday and end of year gift, I have finished up Part II of the colonial currency and gold coin rant with all due haste. I’ve got three Dominions to cover here, so it’s a bit long. Take a break after the Raj and have a festive drink or something. Remember that handy reference guide to …
Yearly Archives: 2017
Money Rant: Colonies, Coinage, and Gold
In my continuing efforts to share my odd view of American history through the medium of our money, it’s time to talk colonies and gold. Since the Lydians first introduced the concept of coinage to the world ~3000 years ago and the first larger nation-states organized, there has been bickering about who is allowed to have …
The Last Minute, 2017 Edition
Apologies if you came here looking for some information on the blog side of the house here at Funranium Labs this week; there was a bit of a server crisis and had to spend a while reconstructing things. Still putting some older stuff back together, but I’ve got most of my bullshitting back up again. …
The Decembering 2017 Update
Okay, the BBotE pre-order slots for the window ending December 2nd are now up and it’s time to roll out the PROTIPS for holiday shopping. As a bonus, not only is it that time again but I have excellent news for you: Ipsento Panama Natural is back in the line up and you should see …
Production & Extra Life Announcements
As the denizens of this blog know, Dia de los Muertos is my birthday and, in my family, one’s birthday is a high holy day. It is to be honored and you should enjoy the hell out of that day. While I will be going to visit some of the graves of members of the …
The Tale of the Schrempeltraps
Once upon a time, I worked at a company where the lead scientist/CTO for one of the divisions had some compulsive behaviors. He was a German PhD electrical engineer of the small, wizened tinker gnome persuasion. Whatever Grimm’s fairy tale mental picture you have of a watch/clockmaker is pretty much spot on, though put him …
Puerto Rican BBotE Update
I just wanted to take a moment to field a question I’ve gotten from a few folks about the BBotE I do made with beans from Puerto Rico. So the quick blurbs are: GOOD NEWS: I laid in a decent supply of the beans from my roaster of choice in Puerto Rico so I have …
Laser Products I Hate
I’m going to ask you all to bear with me here. I tried to find a way to divide this into a couple of posts but, well, it’s so intertwined and problematic that I couldn’t figure out a way to do it. This is gonna be a long one, but I hope educational. TL;DR version: …
The 2017 Atomic Heritage Roadtrip, Part 3: Trinity & Titan
As it is July 16th, the anniversary of the dawn of the Atomic Age, I suppose it’s time to get to the third and final part of the Atomic Holiday. The whole genesis of this trip was the fact that we could go visit the Trinity Test Site on April Fools Day, along with all …
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BBotE Line Up Changes & Vacation Alert, Summer 2017
For those of you that pay exquisite attention to the length of the BBotE production windows, you may have noticed they tend to be two weeks long and end on Saturdays. The slots that have just gone up are for a slightly shorter window than normal as I’ll be heading up to Alaska for a …
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The 2017 Atomic Heritage Roadtrip, Part 2: What Are You Doing Here, Jeff?
Gonna skip to the oddest bit of trivia I picked up from this trip for Part 2, rather than talk nuclear weapons and atomic ephemera this time. We started with fun in Albuquerque for Part 1 and I’ll get back to fun at the Trinity Open House and the Titan Missile Museum next time for …
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State of the Black Blood of the Earth, 2017 Update
Short version: production is ticking along nicely, a new experimental variety going into play, a reminder on special requests, and Ambassadors. So, first off the the pre-order slots for the production window ending June 10th are now up. To be honest, everything is gonna ship by the 9th as I have a wedding to be …
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The 2017 Atomic Heritage Roadtrip, Part 1: ABQ & the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Well, I’ve now stood on my second nuclear weapon ground zero. (the first I did on this trip) April 1st was the Trinity Test Site open house, one of the two times a year that the White Sands Missile Range opens up to allow the public to visit. They used to open it up on …
Some Holiday Related Bullshitting I Am Proud Of
[NOTE: This tale is originally occurred before Easter 2009] At work on Thursday, my co-worker asked me what my holiday plans were for Easter. I told him that I’d be going down to see my folks and eat some delicious ham. A puzzled look crossed his face and he asked, “Phil, why is it considered …
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More Atomic Fun Times!
The new BBotE production slots are now up, though this window will be a little longer than normal, ending on April 15th, because in the middle of it I will be taking a bit of a road trip. I will attempt to crank as much out before I depart on March 30th, but while I’m …