An exploration of ultracoffee, radiation safety, and more often than not a beer or two.
In case readers have not seen the 28 year old movie “Dark City“, let me give the relevant plot point here: aliens are running an experiment on humans by swapping memories around to see if there is anything innate to a person. If we are more than the sum of our experiences. But there is …
Continue reading ““Do You Know The Way To Shell Beach?” – Memory and Return from Antarctica”
Because @jfoy.bsky.social asked for it, it is time for Linear-No Threshold (LNT) Hypothesis & As Low As Reasonably Acheivable (ALARA) chat. One is a philosophy and the other is a model operating within that philosophy. NOTE: If you have a burning and irresistable desire to chime in about the beneficial effects of radiation hormesis just…don’t. …
Continue reading “ALARA and the Linear-No Threshold Hypothesis”
This week, I had the pleasure of attending the DOE Laser Safety Officer (LSO) Workshop which is always a nice chance to meet colleagues from all over the complex and affiliated univerities. I’m sad I missed the LSO Axe Throwing Competition (PROTIP: never gamble with the guy from NIST, he will hustle you). But just …
To end 2025 on a high note, a long promised story. Once upon a time, I went to Italy. This was a very good idea and I recommend it. I don’t necessarily recommend doing some of the things I did over the span of two weeks in Rome, Florence, and Naples but they were all …
Continue reading “A Noble Reason To Make Pants – A Tale of Italy”
Yes, I saw the story about the FDA recall of shrimp from Walmart because of Cs-137 contamination. Do I know exactly how this happened? No and it is likely to be a while until we get any definitive answers, if ever. But I do have a pretty good idea what happened by which I understand …
I’m very proud of all of you for identifying that these are all TERRIBLE IDEAS. The thing about terrible ideas is that they still occur to people. Sometimes staggering amounts of money will be spent to try to make them real and marginally less terrible. [The twenty sixth in an ongoing series of my compiled …
Continue reading “CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE: Anti-Drone Warfare”
Only a few of you failed out of counter-terrorism theater club: when you are handed select choices to investigate, the money wants you to investigate those. The money does not appreciate when you question their premises/choices or study things they didn’t pay you to consider. [The twenty fifth in an ongoing series of my compiled …
Continue reading “CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE: Murder By Nuclide”
As we approach the second anniversary of Fr. Gabriel and I completing the Camino Primitivo, it’s about time I finished Part 3. If you’d like to start with Part 1 or Part 2 first, you now have the links. Part 1 might help with defining some terms but they’re all different vectors of approach on …
Continue reading “Camino Primitivo After Action Report, Part 3”
For those those that were paying attention on social media or watched the Extra Life 2024 streams, you may be aware that my good friend Jen Miller, AKA Test Subject IT To Porn (though she was much more than that), died rather suddenly in October 2024. If you have purchased any BBotE off the store …
Continue reading “In Memoriam: Jen Miller & Extra Life Overtime”
Sometimes there are treasures that are worth driving 2000 miles for. I had to write this post first to help explain why it was worth making this trip. In the autumn of 2022, I lamented the destruction of a precious object. As a health physicist, I am also a member of the the local chapter …
Fine. FINE! After the who knows how manyeth time of being asked or having someone referred to me, I am writing this down for ease of reference to just point at. TL;DR version – It’s perfectly safe to possess Fiestaware & uranium glass in your home and to consume food or drink that isn’t acidic with/from/on …
It has been brought to my attention that I have never actually written this story down before, merely told it in person to many students for valuable lessons and also for laughs over cocktails. It is a litany of bad ideas from several people that all came together at once to reach out and zap …
With Spring all sprungen and allergies going off, I am having a weird sensation of being unstuck in time. It is hard to believe almost a year as passed since we walked the Camino Primitivo, seems like it was just the other week, with a side order of anxiety that I am not training to …
Continue reading “Camino Primitivo After Action Report, Part 2”
People who believe they have True Ultimate Power want nice, simple, sound bite executable solutions that obliterate nuance and complications with BOLD & DECISIVE ACTION. Were those actions good and appropriate? Ehhhhhh. [The twenty-third in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers for my CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE quizzes. There’s never really a right …
Continue reading “CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Kneejerk Spent Fuel Solutions”
Back in May, I posted this preliminary itinerary where, to quote that noted fool Phil of the Past, this was the optimum “everything goes as planned” schedule. It did not go as planned. We finished, we did the Camino Primitivo, we got our Compostela, but the itinerary went out the window on Day 2. This …
Continue reading “Camino Primitivo After Action Report, Part 1”
