Kirk Sorensen's TEAC2 Talk

Sorensen obviously did his homework on this excellent talk/article on a very encouraging path toward a sustainable nuclear power industry. Now if just enough people will listen and act.
Click here.

Retire A Space Shuttle In Orbit

Here is an interesting idea. Retire one of the Space Shuttles in orbit with the ISS. There are many pluses on this. After all, how much good will three Shuttle do sitting in museums around the country? The Shuttle can still be used to help maintain the ISS, provide an emergency escape system, and provide shielding from orbital junk. I think it should be seriously evaluated.

Hail Storm In Oklahoma

Check this out. It gets very intense around the 1 min. mark. Unbelievable!

Do you suppose that roofing companies will be very busy over the next few weeks?

Plasma Rocket Breakthrough

I find it strange that with all the re-shifting of NASA's manned space program goals, that the Ad Astra VASIMR plasma rocket engine technology is not getting more press coverage in the USA. Here is a link to a report from our neighbors to the north, the CBC, with some encouraging developments on getting this new engine tested on the ISS in 2013.

If there is to be a manned mission to Mars, the success of this plasma engine (or something like it) is absolutely essential. Mars in 39 days is something that the human body can handle. Just make sure the flight path is clear.

iPhone/iTouch/iPad App and Nuclear Power

Believe it or not, now there are Apple apps for helping researchers build better nuclear power plants.

What Is the Record Depth For Drilling?

With the oil gushing out in the Gulf of Mexico, I've been wondering about just how deep are they going when looking for oil these days. A little research indicates that the deepest hole on record was done in the Kola Peninsula in norther Russia which hit 40,229.66 ft. Drilling started in 1970 and ended in 1994. This was not to find oil, but was an exploration of the make-up of Earth's crust. It was estimated that the temperature at that depth was about 572 deg F and was just too much to drill any further.

In U.S.A, the record depth on the was 31,441 ft in the Bertha Rogers gas well in Oklahoma in 1974. They had to stop due to hitting molten sulfur.

In 2005 U.S. based Chevron drilled a well in the Gulf of Mexico to 34,189 ft below sea level making it the deepest offshore oil and gas well in history. I found no information on what the sea depth was for this well. The pipes and drill get smaller the deeper they go into the ocean floor. At over 30,000 ft the drill bits are only about 8 inches wide, which makes them fairly delicate and subject to breakage.

The deepest onshore oil and gas well came in at 37,016 ft on Sakhalin Island, off the Russian coast. Those Russians have chutzpah don't they?

So, that all being said, I find it very interesting that BP had drilled to what was reported to be about 30,000 ft. Click here to check this article out that is from May 2005.

Some Things About Facebook You Should Know

I'm not too happy about where Facebook is going these days. A big issue is privacy. Read all about it here in an article from Wired.

Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization

Why do societies collapse? How can internet technology be the key to keeping ours from doing so. Click here to watch the video.

Dark Chocolate and Brain Protection

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound (epicatechin) in dark chocolate is a silver bullet in protecting brain cells from stroke damage. Guess what destroys epicatechin? Heat and light. Guess which company has a process for making dark chocolate to preserve this important molecule? MXI

Get At Least 6-Hours Sleep And Live Longer

Uh-oh. Time for bed.

Behind the Scenes at Disneyland - The Midnight Shift

Here is this week's off-the-wall story about the midnight maintenance crew and the work the do at Disneyland.

Stimulus Jobs v. Beryllium Risks

As some of my readers may know, I just recently completed a job as a mobile laboratory manager on a project which had the objective to measure natural radioactivity and beryllium oxide in soil at a former beryllium ore refining plant.

This recent report on the issues of human health and beryllium oxide exposure in the work place is relevant and informative, at least to me and my colleagues.

A lot of taxpayer dollars are going into the cleanup of these types of sites. It is challenging work and to do it safely requires management commitment, worker discipline, added expense and complexity to all tasks.

The U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel Policy: Road to Nowhere

Here is some background on the saga of the search for a spent nuclear waste depository in the United States. This article is not technical. The author does not cover many of controversial issues dealing with seismic activity, ground water, and the integrity of the site characterization data, but it is still a worth while read.

We are still without a long-term solution on this matter but something must be done regardless of further development of the nuclear power option.

Guenter Wendt 'Pad Leader' - R.I.P.

A legend at NASA, Guenter Wendt passed away today at 85 years of age. Guenter was the man in the White Room that helped get Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts get their spacecraft and off the launch pad. He was a walking history book. He was a technical consultant for Tom Hanks on the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" and authored "The Unbroken Chain."

Cold Fusion Experimentally Confirmed

It only took 21 years but someone was finally able to experimentally confirm the phenomena of cold fusion. The announcement came last week at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting. No doubt Fleischmann and Pons were pleased. Now all that is needed is a coherent theory of how it all works.

Beer Byproduct-Powered Batteries?

This type of battery may become very popular, particularly in bars and sporting events. It's for real. How ironic if they start using this battery in cars.