For Matt

I think that Thorium is a really cool element.  One thing that makes it so amazing is that it is the most energy dense element in the universe.  It also has a half life of 14 billion years, which is the same thing as saying that it is very weakly radioactive.

"Man, I wish I had some thorium," I was thinking to myself the other day.  Then, it dawned on me, "I do have some thorium."

Don't rush to call the federales just yet.  The thorium is in the form of thoriated tungsten TIG welding electrodes.

You can read about them here.  The 2% thoriated electrodes have a red stripe on the end.

Here is a photo of some thoriated tungsten TIG electrodes and a Geiger counter.

Next,  is a video clip of the geiger counter measuring background radiation.

 

Lastly, are two clips of the thoriated tungsten TIG electrodes next to the Geiger counter.

 

As you can see, they are very weakly radioactive.  Cool, huh?

Utopia

I saw the new iPhone on Sunday and I was really amazed by it.  It will do just about everything. It has GPS, HD camera, HD video and makes phone calls of course and it has Siri.  It's Apple's answer to Google. 

You can ask the phone in a verbal command to search the web for this or that.  It will send a text to my wife - tell her I'll be home late - by verbal commands and dictation.  It does all of this and it's a tiny little phone that fits in your hand.  It's amazing and has incredible pictures and you can watch HD movies on it.  There is just about nothing it won't do.  There are so many applications (apps) for it.  The younger generation is enthralled with this phone it is so incredible.  This phone (and other smart phones) will be the death of Utopia.  I can only hope to live to see it. 

Fiber to the home is mostly malarkey.  No one in the rising generation cares about fiber to the home . No one under 30 goes home to send a text or e-mail message from their home computer. They have smart phones; iPhone and android phones.  They stay connected with their phones.
 
They're totally mobile! These phones are wireless and fiberless.  They are not physically connected to anything.  This will definitely be the final final final bankruptcy of Utopia. 

If the managers of Utopia were smart/honest they would sell now to the highest bidder at what ever price so the new owner can connect the fiber network to cell towers.

So, once again I'm predicting the insolvency of or the continuing insolvency of Utopia.  Now all we need to do is get out of the way and let it collapse.

If you don't believe me just ask your kids or your nephews and nieces or the neighbor kid to show you their iPhone or their android phone. They are incredible, relatively cheap and they do so much.  Mobility trumps the speed of fiber optics because wireless is better.

That is my post for today. Once again I am predicting the insolvency of Utopia.

Fools' Gold and Fools' Copper

I got these really great iron pyrite crystals (fools' gold) from my son-in-law, D.  They are from the Rio Tinto Kennecott mine in Bingham Canyon, Utah.  I have seen other samples from the same mine, but these were really pretty.  The smallest one looks almost perfect.

Of course, iron pyrite is worthless as a source of industrial materials.  The iron is too hard to separate from the sulfur to be economically viable.  Rio Tinto already produces about 1 million tons of sulfuric acid as a by product of the copper smelting process, according to their literature.

The post-1982 penny is almost worthless, also.  That is what I am calling fools' copper; a zinc slug covered in copper.  Whereas before 1982, the penny used to be mostly copper.  I have blogged about the penny here.

Dad's Pueblo Style Wood Shop

My dad built this incredible Pueblo style wood shop in his backyard in Southern Utah.  I have been after him to post construction photos of the shop, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet, so I snapped some shots to show my readers just how great it turned out.

This is the custom gate he built that leads to the vegetable garden

The sun was just at the right angle to cast shadows from the vigas onto the front wall

The pole construction on the inside is just as amazing

Great job, Dad!

Cee Oh Two

I like to think that I am pretty quick on the uptake, but I missed this one.  I read years ago that Dr. Sherwood Idso (and many others) had done experiments on plants growing under supplemental CO2.  Dr. Idso basically built enclosures around the plants and pumped more CO2 in to the enclosure, simulating much higher levels of the "evil" greenhouse gas, currently at 340 parts per million (ppm) or 0.034% of the atmosphere.  These experiments showed that many plants respond to increased levels of CO2 by producing more fruit and more plant matter.  In a word, they thrived.

This shouldn't be all that surprising if you run the numbers.  Pretty much all life on this planet starts at the bottom of the food chain as photo plankton or land plants and grasses.  These convert sunlight, water, and CO2 into plant sugars (biomass), which is eaten by other critters and so on up the food chain.  The carbon in the plants comes from the atmosphere, which is only 0.034% of the air we live in and breath.  In many cases, plant growth is limited by the low concentration of CO2 in the air.

Commercial plant growers overcome this by adding CO2 to the atmosphere in their greenhouses to make the plants grow faster, better, and healthier.  I am not making this up.  See this link by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  This enrichment raises the ambient CO2 to 1,000 to 1,300 ppm, or nearly 3 to 4 times the 340 ppm currently in the atmosphere.

Dr. Idso has also done experiments demonstrating that a doubling of CO2 will not cause runaway global warming, but may cause warming of only 0.4°C! 

Another related topic I have blogged about before is radiation hormesis.  An excellent study was inadvertently conducted by the Taiwanese Government. 

The following figure was taken from the study:


In this "serendipitous experiment", approximately 10,000 people lived for up to 20 years in buildings that were made with steel contaminated with radioactive Cobalt-60.  The figure shows that the chronic radiation received by the residents did not cause excess cancers, but actually resulted in fewer cancer deaths.  Thus, the linear no threshold theory (LNT) of radiation carcinogenesis is flatly contradicted by this data.

LNT hypothesizes that there is no safe dose of radiation.  Even one ionizing event, LNT says, can cause cancer.  This leads to extremely stringent protective regulations regarding exposure to ionizing radiation.

These overweening regulations stoke the fear of radiation in the public and lend support to the anti-nuclear forces calling for the shutdown of all nuclear reactors.

The authors of the Taiwanese study recommend a "reevaluation of the standards, taking into consideration the beneficial as well as the harmful effects of radiation".  This would be a great start to reversing the irrational public fear of radiation.

So now, readers of this blog know that we live in a world that is deficient in two critical components in order for life to flourish; CO2 and ionizing radiation.  All life on this planet would be healthier, more robust and thriving, if there were more of the two.  Now you are armed with the truth - and it shall make you free!

PS. So when you think of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima (or any reactors for that matter), remember what I said to my carpool buddy, Mike.  "If people knew about the hormetic effects of ionizing radiation, they would be paying $20 per hour to swim in the spent fuel pools, because the ionizing radiation will make them healthier."

Landing with Coby on 35 in his RV-4

My flight instructor, Coby, took me for a ride in his RV-4 last night.  This is a video of the final approach and landing on runway 35 at Brigham City Municipal Airport (BMC).

 

California Contradictions

I spent last week in Encinitas, California on vacation with my family.  I enjoyed the company, the weather, the beaches and the break.  

I like to take the opportunity to observe things, mostly things that seem wildly contradictory to me.  Here are two that I noticed in SoCal.

Amongst the million dollar beach houses in Encinitas are some real dumps, so not every one is awash in money.  (Does that mean economics applies even in SoCal?)

Million dollar beach house

Boarded up dump (roach motel) just a little ways away

The other thing that made me laugh more than anything was the solar panels in the parking lot of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), which is owned by SoCal Edison.  You might think I am making this up, but here are the photos:

SoCal Edison - San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station parking lot with solar powered lights

These photos were taken around noon with coastal fog and there was fog every day I was there.  This reduces the collecting ability of the panels.

I guess the solar panels charge some batteries that power the parking lot lights.  I have a hard time imagining collecting a few watthours per panel when you have megawatthours of nuclear power on site.   Maybe it was a sop to the greens?
 

Interestingly enough, it seems that seagulls live on top of the containment buildings at San Onofre.  At least the amount of guano would indicate as much.  (And, I have not heard any reports of godzilla seagulls in SoCal.)

Seagulls (and guano) on top of the reactor containment building at San Onofre

Seeing SONGS again made me think of Kirk Sorensen's proposal for thorium reactors anchored to the sea bed - earthquake proof, tsunami proof, vandal proof, and out of sight.  I think the later would be great for SoCal.  I think it would get a lot less opposition being out of sight and it could provide needed power and desalinated water to a very dry area.

Magnetometer

This aircraft has been flying around Box Elder County for the last couple of months.  The local paper even ran an article telling residents not to worry about the strange aircraft flying low in back and forth patterns.

I was at the airport and snapped this photo and came home and looked up the Canadian registration. (enter C-GCMD)  The plane is owned by Firefly Aviation Ltd in Calgary.  Apparently, they use the magnetometer on the rear of the aircraft to perform aerial geophysical surveys.  I wonder who hired them and how the science works?  I mean, I think I know how a magnetometer works, but does a positive or negative magnetic anomaly signal a potential oil or gas field, or is it more complicated than that?

Here is what Wikipedia says about it.

Magnetometer equipped aircraft (notice boom sticking out the back of the plane)

Utah Rotorcraft

The Utah Rotorcraft Association had their annual "Rotors over the Rockies" On June 11th at KBMC (Brigham City Airport).  I took  a few pictures of the gyros, a few helicopters and some fixed wing and light sport aircraft.  Enjoy.