Sunday, August 26, 2012

Cleanup on aisle 9 & Nuclear rocket power

First this guy is brilliant.  http://whatif.xkcd.com/7/

But I have a possible correction to xkcd.  DOE was formerly AEC.  One of their labs was Los Alamos with a side order of Sandia.  They were the first to test bombs in the SW desert.  Killed John Wayne early, or at least accelerated his death from smoking cigarettes.

In my nuclear years, I saw a video or a fail of theirs.  They built a nuclear rocket.  They then set up a camera and turned it on.  When it failed, it spit chunks of plutonium out the back.

"Cleanup on aisle 9"

signed

I'm not Sheldon


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Domestic tragedy

I found a pile of small grey feathers between the driveway and the wood pile in front.  Their scattered pattern suggested violence.  Up above on the power wire sat a single dove.  I don't see raptors near the house but have seen them near the office several miles away.

Violence in our midst disturbs us yet it goes on in nature all around us.