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”
[rubs temples] Do I need to explain depleted uranium again? I don’t wanna explain depleted uranium again. Dammit @dankaszeta.bsky.social The primary bit is covered in the first section of this rant which Cheryl Rofer strongly encouraged me to write. Depleted Uranium, dep-U or DU in comman shorthand, is the remainder after natural uranium has been …
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 …
In the long, long ago, in the beforetimes, when Delta’s GoGo In-flight Entertainment System was a thing, I watched many movies on my iPad Mini flying around this world of ours. This, of course, can get a bit boring on long flights even in first class. Delta didn’t rotate their movies often and their catalog …
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”
One of the ways I mark the change of the seasons is when I get my first order designating it as a holiday gift. It’s my sign that I need to revise this post for a new year and gird my loins for the MAXIMUM PRODUCTION that’s soon to come. This year it happened on …
Continue reading “The Decembering 2025 – Yes, It’s That Time Again”
I have often described myself as a human giftschrank. That I keep ahold of the poisonous knowledge that others need to forget to have a happy life, but that it is important to keep around for when we need it. When someone needs to “rediscover” some horrible event to bring cautionary tales back to everyone …
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 …
Man, I could have sworn I wrote down a description of Antique Rot before. When a undiversified town loses it’s economic base, it also loses it’s youth to new opportunities elsewhere. The town and it’s population are now aging and dying. One of the ways to hang on for a little bit longer, maybe squeeze …
One of the ways I mark the change of the seasons is when I get my first order designating it as a holiday gift. It’s my sign that I need to revise this post for a new year and gird my loins for the MAXIMUM PRODUCTION that’s soon to come. This year it happened on …
Continue reading “The Decembering 2024, Once More With Feeling”
Because Peter Clines is a wonderful person and sent me the Penguin Readers edition of the movie adaptation of se7en, I feel obligated to complete the activates section at the back. We still owe Peter a visit to a town called SHAME in our next Extra Life play. CHAPTER 1 1a) Vanity 1b) Sloth 1c) …
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 …
For folks that haven’t been lucky enough to experience the “Phil Points At Things That Aren’t There Anymore” Manhattan Project Tour of Berkeley, there is a secondary bit of education that comes courtesy of having 160 years worth of chemistry buildings still standing to point at. I similarly do this for students when getting them …
Continue reading “Evolution Of Safety Equipment – The Berkeley Box”