Originally wrote this 16 years ago as I was getting my masters degree. As my adviser often asked “Don’t you want to learn normal things?” While PUREX may save us from being buried in nuclear waste it is not without peril, though it’s more of the did-you-actually-think-this-through-before-you-started-pressing-buttons variety of peril. It is vitally important to …
Category Archives: Adventure & Radiation
A Sweetwater Tale
These events originally happened on November 12th, 2008 in Sweetwater, TX when I went to visit Ludlum Measurements. I add them here for posterity. SCENE: Our Hero, Phil, is seated at the bar of the closest consumption establishment within walking distance. He is dressed in shorts, sandals, t-shirt and wearing his long red hair in …
Looking Out For The Babushkas
UPDATE: As of April 2nd, you all have through your purchases and gifts given us enough to send $4400 to our fixer in Kyiv so far. I didn’t expect this much generosity and our fixer certainly didn’t either. You’ve made an old Stalker cry with your kindness. As you might be aware, Russia invaded Ukraine. …
CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Mailing Cheney’s Heart
With the exception of the old Pu-238 pacemaker, as hospitals & mortuaries prefer FedEx for some reason, all of these things have been sent through the mail by the USPS. Whether they should have is the issue. If the postal inspectors had checked, they’d be cranky. [The eighteenth in an ongoing series of my compiled …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE: Radioactive Kitty
The fun thing about this one is that I know a lot of people out there have treated their cats for hyperthyroidism, but the number of responses from people that’ve experienced radiopharma medical care for humans that I’d call “inadequate, bordering on actionable” is high. [The seventeenth in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers …
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An Atheist’s Pilgrimage – Bethlehem University
The TL;DR version: I had a great time at Bethlehem University and my friend is trying to fundraise for a scholarship for one student. If you wish, you can donate here. In October of 2019, I joined a pilgrimage organized by the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher (EOHS). My …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Abort Launch
The first thing to keep in mind with a rocket launch is that you don’t get to do a lot of “aiming” between pressing IGNITION and ABORT. Aiming, AKA mission planning, is what you spent the previous several months/years doing. These seconds/minutes are the shitfuckdammit stage. [The sixteenth in an ongoing series of my compiled …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Legacy Waste
All of these choices technically cause legacy waste to take up less space, even if one is just a bullshit accounting trick. All of them have been tried, all of them have lead to uptakes, but like all of these quizzes my word choice is important. So, let’s define some terms. [The fifteenth in an …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Old Tubes
I should preface that my primary vacuum tube experience is related to trying to fix the 1920s built-in wall radio made of redwood in a house my family rented when I was in elementary school. Readers, I never fixed that radio. [The fourteenth in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers for my CHOOSE YOUR …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – The NYC Reactor Problem
When I put these polls up, one of the most common responses is “Why on Earth would anyone ask *me* to do this?” That’s fair, but this is my game. ;) But for reactor siting? The number of different fields we talk to is astounding, lest we miss something. You never know when you might …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE: Radioactive Dead
To reiterate, the good news here is zero chance of zombies. The bad news is that you have to cope with the living instead. Unlike the shambling dead, who are fairly goal oriented (re: your brains), the living have Opinions™ and they are often contradictory. [The twelfth in an ongoing series of my compiled explainers …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Radon Hijinks
A good place to start is that counting labs rarely (read: I have never seen one) end up on the top floor with beautiful views of your surroundings. No, you get the dungeon labs where sunlight & windows are a rumor, but the radon down there is quite real. [The eleventh in an ongoing series …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – Demonstration Radiation
When you’re regarded as a teacher/professor’s favorite student over their entire career, it makes it very likely the school administration or alumni association will drop you a line for help, no matter what you went on to do in life. This may encourage you to move far from home. [The tenth in an ongoing series …
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CHOOSE YOUR OWN RADIATION ADVENTURE – The Counting Experiment
Mooching off of other departments is always a challenge, if for no other reason than they’re gonna mooch right back at you later. Of course, the things they’re most willing to give you is their garbage. As the saying goes, “It’s not waste if someone else has a use for it.” [The ninth in an …
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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 …
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