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Showing posts from December 9, 2007

Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...
My Boss last year when I was at Pole. Like almost all folks in the program he is a good guy and a pleasure to work with. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9049898
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When I saw this pic this morning I had to post it. This plane is near the transantarctic mountains. You don't see many photos like this, however JATO bottles are frequently used to take off from science camp areas. I flew in the plane, but without a JATO takeoff. I asked some of my co-workers about what it is like to be in the plane during a JATO takeoff. The answer was "Loud!" Photo from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4318736a12.html
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I have been building the piece of furniture I designed over the past few weeks to shelve all the living room electronics. Our sick chicken is a lot better. Warming her up, forcing her to drink and generally paying attention to her seems to have kept her alive. We haven't had one get so close to dying and come back. She still might not make it but she is a lot perkier and is eating pretty good. Tough old bird is a good saying. It is cold and damp out. I guess that is what you expect of winter. Working out side isn't bad. The lack of sunshine puts a damper on productivity though. One of the neighbors likes lawn ornaments for each holiday. The giant blow up turkey was something else.