Chocolate health drinks
I’ve always had a glass of something chocolate since I was a wee child. Homemade chocolate shakes, mixed in cocoa powder to make the old-school chocolate milk, then the chocolate syrup varieties, to shakes from the fast food places. Heck, Nestle Quik is a drink I still sneak off with for a late-night chocolate rush.
Hurricane Sandy and Salem Reactors
Several days ago I wrote a post about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on nuclear reactors on in the East Coast of the United States. With respect to a particular reactor, I wrote:
“Public Service Enterprise Group manually shut down its Salem Unit 1 reactor near Wilmington, Delaware because four of the six pumps that circulate cooling water were no longer functioning. A lot of grass and debris were brought in by the storm and could have clogged the water circulation system.”
I concluded that post by saying that the nuclear plant operators had the situation under control and that there was no risk to the public. Since then, I have seen and posted links that call that assessment, especially with respect to the Salem reactors, into question.
There have been several reports since that post that suggest that there may be problems with the spent fuel pools at the Salem nuclear plant.. Five of the six pumps that circulate cooling water for the Unit 1 reactors were damaged and had to be shut down. One of the cooling pumps for the Unit 2 reactor lost power and shut down.
When power is lost at nuclear plants or the coolant pumps are damaged, there can be problems with cooling the fuel rods being stored in the fuel rod pool. Without pumps to circulate the coolant in the pool, the temperature rises. If it gets hot enough to boil off the water in the pool, the rods will be exposed to the air and may begin to burn, releasing toxic smoke and particulates into the atmosphere.
This is a great concern at Fukushima because of the spent fuel pool on the fourth floor of the damaged Unit 4 reactor building. If there is another quake or hurricane and the building collapses, the rods will burn and release huge amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere. The winds will carry the plume around the planet, threatening everyone in the Northern Hemisphere.
Salem Unit 2 reactor was in refueling mode with most of the fuel rods in the pool and lost power to one of its cooling pumps. The pump has been repaired and the reactor is back in service. The reports of dangers to the spent fuel rods pool at Salem Unit 21 claim that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was aware of the potential danger but that neither the NRC or the company that operates the plant released that information to the national media.
. The Salem Unit 1was operating at 100% when the storm hit. Some of the reactor operators on the East Coast choose to reduce the power output of their reactors or to shut them down entirely as Hurricane Sandy approached. Continuing to run at one hundred percent power as a hurricane is approaching is probably not a good idea.
With the increase in extreme weather events and the experience of problems with the Fukushima tsunami and the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy, it would be a good idea for the NRC to review its recommended procedures in case of storms and flooding for nuclear plant operators. Information on potential dangers resulting from storm and flood damage need to be communicated to the public in a timely fashion. If we are going to continue to make use of nuclear power for generating electricity, then the government and the industry are going to have to have the confidence of the public.
Salem Nuclear Power Plant:
Becoming a history buff
History repeats itself. I’ve heard this many times in my life, and the more I learn about the world, the more I start to believe it. It can come in the form of interaction with friends and family, or watching governments make the same mistakes that have happened in the past. Regardless, the more I see, the more I realize that knowledge of our past can tell a grasping story of what the future holds.
While visiting Phnom Penh in Cambodia, I found out how little I knew about the nation I was visiting. Though I had a great time trekking in the north, and seeing what natural beauties the country had to offer, I knew very little about its gruesome history. I had no idea about the magnitude of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge during the late '70s.
What happened during the time of the Khmer Rouge was disgusting. The three and half years of the killing fields, when over 1.7 million Cambodians perished, is absolutely tragic. The sad truth is, though, that this isn’t the first time it has happened. Genocide is something that has happened in multiple time periods, in multiple cultures. As the haunting voice said over the speakers at the end of the tour, this is not the last genocide the world will see, either.
I’m not saying that becoming a history buff will curb crimes against humanity. I do, however, believe that robust knowledge of our past can garner a much brighter present and future. Learning about our ancestors, mixed with a healthy dose of knowledge of our neighbors, is a great recipe in creating a cosmopolitan society worth living in.
Death by meteor
In the Sims 3 game, there are numerous ways for your Sims to die. If you have the Ambitions expansion pack, then death by meteor is a real possibility for your Sim. During my time playing the game, I have witnessed one death by meteor.
During Beveerly Chan’s elderly years, she decided to dabble into a new profession. She became a magician, and was often out and about at the various parks in town.
One day, I had her drive over to a beautiful park in Hidden Springs to perform for some tips. There was hardly any other Sims there. Nonetheless, I had her continue performing, since I figured it would only be a matter of time before more Sims arrived at the park.
Unfortunately for Beverly Chan, no more Sims ever showed up at the park that day. Instead, what did show up was a meteor. The spot where Beverly was standing suddenly got casted with a dark shadow and inauspicious music started to play.
Beverly started to wonder what was happening to make things so dark. At this point, I probably could have directed Beverly to move in order to remain safe. However, I was curious as to what was going to happen.
Therefore, I did nothing, and just allowed things to carry on in the game. Shortly after, Beverly was crushed by the meteor. Then the Grim Reaper came for her, and left behind nothing more than a gravestone. Who would have guessed it? Beverly Chan got crushed by a meteor while performing magic for tips, and died. Life in the Sims 3 in as unpredictable as it is in the real world!
Video Non Sequitur: Weirdest Yet Best Joker Impression and more strange dumps
The very first Video Non Sequitur dealt with the origin of Overly Attached Girlfriend, aka Laina Walker, and her Justin Bieber video. Well, in honor of Halloween, YouTuber jklam1234 put out a Laina-themed video, in which he chillingly performs the best Heath Ledger Joker impression I have ever seen. Prepare for goose bumps.
You can't cure stupid
First and foremost, I want to point out I am not making light of Hurricane Sandy or the East Coast tragedy. While it was images from this event that brought these thoughts to the forefront, I see these types of idiots everywhere – whether during a time of tragedy or in the course of everyday life. It's the complete lack of common sense and idiocy of some people that gets my blood boiling every single time.
As Sandy made landfall Monday night, one of my personal heroes, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, sent this tweet from his high rise apartment in lower Manhattan: “Darwinian Natural Selection poised to cull the herd: All those drawn to shorelines seeking a close-up view of Hurricane Sandy.”
I found it amusing, especially since just a few minutes before the news had flashed an image of a bunch of idiots standing in the ocean as the storm moved in. Waves were breaking around them and the tide was rising. I've been around the ocean a bit, and I was dumbfounded. Seriously, one of those waves knocks you off your feet and it is very easy to be swept out even when a hurricane – excuse me, tropical storm – isn't bearing down on you.
Just like every disaster of this magnitude, the news continued to broadcast images of idiots. People, who had plenty of warning to get indoors, standing next to railings with the ocean crashing over them. People taking their dogs out in the middle of the melee, instead of letting Rover mess on a layer of newspaper indoors.
I'm sure a few people had good reason to do what they did, but the vast majority did it because they don't have the sense nor the intelligence to do otherwise. I grew up in tornado country, and I have seen first hand how dumb the herd is in the face of disaster.
I'm actually surprised at how low the death toll is from this latest disaster. As amateur images pour in from Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, we see how many stupid risks people were taking just so they could go viral – if they survived. Sorry Dr. Tyson, natural selection missed a lot of dumb during this last round!
Creativity exercises
Although most kids are born creative, they begin to lose the ability as they get older if they aren't given opportunity to use it. Just like a muscle, creativity needs a regular workout to remain strong and healthy.
In many schools, creativity is inadvertently stamped out in our children as they are forced to fit into a mold with their peers and follow all instructions to a tee. Consider implementing “creativity” training with young children (and older kids, too!) to keep those muscles pumping and the ideas flowing for the rest of their lives.
I like to take a midday break for a silly creative activity. Although I give an inspiration idea, no creative project is ever wrong, even if the child completely ignores the provided inspiration. For example, I may tell the kids to draw an ice cream Sunday consisting of all their favorite things, minus the ice cream. Or perhaps we take turns telling stories about a real event, but replacing any people in the story with an animal and any animals in the story with a person.
Silly songs also work well. Take a well-known song, such as Row, Row Your Boat, and change the word boat to something else, such as shoe. The kids will laugh and soon will be changing even more words and eventually writing their own songs.
I like manipulative creative activities. Sometimes I give the kids dice with the instruction that they need to roll it then draw a comic strip that somehow integrates the number they rolled. Color or letter die also work well as story or art builder inspiration. These activities don't have to take long, perhaps 15 minutes, but they keep those creative thinking synapses firing for many hours afterward.
Candy management
Halloween is over and the kids have counted their haul. My boys fall into two categories when it comes to candy. My oldest carefully selects two pieces for Halloween night, then he allows himself one piece a day until it's gone. His yearly goal is to stretch out his Halloween treats until Christmas. He has done this since he was little. I have never even tried to monitor his candy intake, because he does it so well himself.
My seven year old is a different story. He didn't even possess a sweet tooth until he was two. When he did finally discover sweets, he was smitten. We tried free access to candy with him, and it backfired. He ate almost all of it in one evening and ended up sick for two days. We hoped that cured him, but the following year we caught him doing the same thing and had to take the candy away.
Now, he's an organized kid. The first order of business on Halloween night is organizing the candy by type and size. But once organized, the face stuffing begins. I'm not the type to take their candy and give it away, or to do a silly candy trade for a toy or money, but we have to do something.
So the candy ends up in a high cabinet, with a piece doled out after each meal. He gets to choose the piece, and he usually begs for extra (we don't give in). His brother has learned to be secretive about his stash, since youngest usually runs out much earlier than he. The reward of no upset stomach is well worth the sneaking around and candy policing, though.
How do you manage candy in your home? Do you have a kid with self control, or must you watch the candy bucket like a hawk until it's finally empty and you can breathe a sigh of relief?
Rainy days
After a long dry summer and struggling to keep the plants watered, fall has been nothing but wet and cold. My front yard is covered in leaves to soggy to rake up and compost. I have beds that need turned and mulched before the ground begins to freeze and the duck pen and pond needs mucked out before winter descends. But until the rain lets up, everything is at a standstill.
My fall crops are loving the cool weather and moisture, though. The kale is monstrous and the broccoli raab is producing well. I manage to scoop out soggy leaves from the pond each morning so the pump doesn't clog, but that's about all I can manage.
Everything feels as though it must wait, but winter is marching closer and I know I will soon have to break down, don rain gear and do the garden chores, even though it means coming in tired, wet and cold.
Fortunately, I'm a neat gardener so there isn't too much needing attention. The compost piles are regularly turned, so ignoring them as we go into winter is just fine. I cleaned out my beds as I harvested the last of the plants at the end of summer, so they only need a mulch covering to keep out the early spring weeds.
My garden tools are kept put away and clean after every use (a side effect of having children in the yard who would otherwise hurt themselves on strewn about tools). The ducks can survive the wet and even a bit of a mess until we get a break in the weather. And leaves, oh leaves! The leaves can always wait. At worse, they compost in place, beneath the snow.
Everything is winding down and yet there is still so much to do. Yet, the urgency is gone, and everything can wait as far as I am concerned. How is your fall weather and what's going on in your gardens?
Fancy a root?
I’ve learned a lot of interesting things through travel. In regards to the sexier side of life, I’ve learned a lot about sexuality of different cultures. Both through other travelers, as well as locals, one hears many things that differ from their own culture when their only responsibility during the day is to make sure they eat and get a little culture. One of the most interesting things I’ve learned, though, is about Australian Mine Workers.
Quickly becoming one of the highest paid jobs in mining, Western Australia boasts six-digit salaries to people with little mining experience. This, of course, mixed with the grueling schedule that also gives great time off, is basically an open invitation for young people with little commitment wanting to make money.
While traveling with a German friend who worked in one of these mines, I was told about how hard the work was. This, of course, was followed by how miners get six weeks off at a time, and since they spend most of their working time at the mine (not spending money), young guys, who have been deprived of fun, with a shit load of cash, led to complete hedonism.
Though the details were pretty graphic (apparently this is how two guys talk to one another), what I took away from the conversation is that miners in Australia like to drink and gamble on who can pull the best Barney Stinson-style play at the bar to pull women. Be it acting as if one has turrets, or lying about being a secret agent, the better the ploy, the bigger the pay out. Ladies (and gentlemen alike) watch out for these guys, because work hard, play hard is absolutely a way of life.