[looks at calendar] Well, this is only four months late. Been too busy having other adventures. Sorry about that. TL;DR version: I enjoyed the hell out of smart people sharing problems and solutions that I am not directly responsible for doing something about. Somebody else’s problems are the best problems. So, as I mentioned previously, …
Category Archives: Adventure & Radiation
Fukushima Exclusion Zone Preview & Announcements
Much like my trip to Kiev-Pripyat-Chernobyl in 2016, I took a lot of pictures (Robyn took more and much better pictures), and I learned a lot which I now need to sort out in my head and do a whooooole lot of follow up. I think I may have just signed myself up for an …
Continue reading “Fukushima Exclusion Zone Preview & Announcements”
The Fringes of Regulation
One of the reasons I work as a safety person at a research university is the variety. On any given day, I have no idea what it is I am going to be asked to do and I like it that way. While this may sound like hell to people who like well-defined duties and …
Meet Herr Direktor: DEFCON & National Atomic Testing Museum
First, the business matters. Because DEFCON makes things tricky, production of this window is now closed and the production slots for the window ending August 18th are now up for order on the website. At DEFCON proper, the BBotE Ambassador of Flagstaff (Dan Nowak) and the former ambassador of Chicago (Bill Weiss) will be there …
Continue reading “Meet Herr Direktor: DEFCON & National Atomic Testing Museum”
Upcoming Adventures: Sumo & Fukushima Daiichi
In late September, I will be continuing my long standing tradition of visiting new continents by going to their islands first. I went to Britain before I made it to Italy, New Zealand before Australia (don’t start your sunken continent in the Tasman Sea crap), Ross Island before South Pole Station, and now Japan before …
Continue reading “Upcoming Adventures: Sumo & Fukushima Daiichi”
Containing Multitudes: Laser Safety Edition
Most of you found me as the ridiculous coffee & steins guy. Some think of me as the radiation safety man who knows way too much history and is an embodiment of Institutional Memory (this would definitely be the point of view from the researchers and students I wrangle). To others, I am the crazy …
Continue reading “Containing Multitudes: Laser Safety Edition”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “The 2017 Atomic Heritage Roadtrip, Part 3: Trinity & Titan”
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 …
Continue reading “The 2017 Atomic Heritage Roadtrip, Part 2: What Are You Doing Here, Jeff?”
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 …
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 …
So, You Want To Test A Nuclear Weapon?
I dedicate the following rant to my Lovely Assistant, who can probably recite this by heart now, and Meredith Yayanos who hit boggleface about halfway through an in person version and asked “PLEASE, WRITE THIS SHIT DOWN.” Now I have. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you have a brand new nuclear weapon. Let’s …
Herr Direktor Funranium Goes to Chernobyl & Kiev, Part 3 – Kiev, Hero City
Let me get this out of the way upfront. I didn’t even spend long enough in Kiev and I want to go back before it’s too late. My time in the city was all too brief and all too enjoyable, among people who are putting on a brave face over deep insecurity and fear. Get …
Continue reading “Herr Direktor Funranium Goes to Chernobyl & Kiev, Part 3 – Kiev, Hero City”
Herr Direktor Funranium Goes to Chernobyl & Kiev, Part 2 – Chernobyl, the Town & the Reactors
When you have the incredibly photogenic and not bulldozed ghost city of Pripyat to take pictures of, it’s easy to forget the other towns and villages that were once there, or still are in the case of the city of Chernobyl. Generally the name “Chernobyl” is associated in everyone’s head with the the reactor that …