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 A New Look at Nuclear Safety Design Criteria

Service Factor

This is an attempt at an interdisciplinary look at safety, especially where it concerns progressive, complex failures.   Electric motors have 'service… Read full post »

 The story here is about Detroit's dissatisfaction with Mr. Millen.

But the story to me is the boy in the photo?    That's my boy.

 Imagine the household with ardent freedom of speechers,,,, lots of them.

That day signs were being forcibly taken from fans and 'Securi… Read full post »

In a chemistry class  of our imaginations, to brew a bit of energy and some other interesting bits, you start with 100 grams of hydrogen....

100 grams of Hydrogen
Plus LOTS of heat and pressure
And what you squeeze out is 96 grams of helium

96 grams of helium.

4… Read full post »

Gitmo

That leased land is under OUR control.

Where ever and always we control, the Bill of Rights is.

IS

Apply the Bill of Rights to Gitmo now.

If there are people to prosecute, hand one to each major city in the United States.  In each, there are… Read full post »

Time. How shall it be measured, made?
That which no foot rule beside can be laid,
scale balanced, basket filled, or scoop amount,
so we close our eyes and to ourselves we count.
How many heartbeats, metered,  seconds it will last,
for the scary, screeching  freight tr… Read full post »

I have been involved in passive solar design since I was a child.  I marveled that on a sunny day how warm the house was and how little the furnace ran. It was something of note to me because one of my favourite tricks was to make a hot air 'turtle'… Read full post »

I have been working diligently on research for an article.  A by product of that search has yielded something interesting and possibly disturbing.

 Is a plug in electric car all it is cracked up to be?

This is a true question.  Input from all is needed and welcome.

The facts… Read full post »

There I was, truck loaded ugly and tall, junk for the recycling place.

The first duty upon arrival is the weigh in. Park on the scale, big enough for a semi, and turn off the truck, exit the vehicle, stand along side and visible, while the old guy… Read full post »

There is no such thing as a service economy.  None!

Wealth is created, positive GNP growth, by the production of something.

In very broad terms, the value of the final sold product must be greater than the sum of all the parts that went into it.

 True service jobs do… Read full post »

Working in Michigan winter beside the frozen pond,
Cold.........you hold everything inside tight,
keeps things, things from falling out.
Straw the ground to melt the frost,
the earth warmth slowly oozes up so I can dig.
Cold.....so cold every muscle is up and tight
to keep things, ju… Read full post »

There are energy 'improvements' that should never be.  "A 20 year payback!"   Bragged about in many publications and ads, IS NOT A PAYBACK.  It is a loss of principle and interest.  Paybacks of 3 to 5 years are profitable.   NO 'improvement' beyond seven years to pa… Read full post »

Night Sails


I like night sails. Far from shore, with no glow from land and man, the heavens wheeling about the North Star, the sun pinned in the one spot in the heavens, just far enough north that the sunset and sunrise are of exaggerated length and beauty. On… Read full post »

The Nuclear Industry of the United States has suffered a Green assault lasting decades.  Is Nuclear Electric generation dangerous?  Yes, emphatically, yes.

But, is it truly any more dangerous than burning coal?  No, it is not.  In truth,  coal kills far more.  Water poll… Read full post »

Well, believe it or not, this started out as a 'words 101'.  It kinda grew, went its own way.   And somewhere along the process, and I am saying this from a writer to a writer,  I realized I had settled into 21 words per stanza, 30 syllables.  I should set it… Read full post »

Excerpt from an  AP report dated August 22, 2008

" State's law covers all minors
But instead of following the lead of other states, which focus on the abandonment of newborns, lawmakers here wanted to extend the protection to all minors. And in Nebraska, that goes all the way up to age… Read full post »

In cultures of the Middle East a thrown shoe is an extreme insult.   It shows a disgust, a contempt, for that person and what he has done or not done.

 It is a cultural  insult.

He may serve two years and have suffered a broken bone or two.

If… Read full post »

Will of the Wisp, Maid of the Mist,
I have a sailboat
And the sound when the speed is right just,
it is not a chuckle,
the sounds of small whispering boys
and hidden laughter
over a small boy like joke, small boy like joys,
and the water slides
and tumbles under the cutwater, the prow
no, no, it is… Read full post »

A Walk At Night

I don't know when a walk at night became my friend
to enjoy and Yet maybe yes, I do
The child walking to comfort the neighbor
Each night my bedroom lay across the field
she afraid of night, her husband gone before

I enjoyed those darkened minutes alone, but not,
Lovely… Read full post »

Why, that ain't nothin' !

 A worst job?   A worst Job???     Well come on over here and set a spell. Set your coffee cup up there on the barrel.  That's it. An' lemme tell you of the meaning of the Kentucky phrase, "Why, why that ain't nothin' !"

The day… Read full post »

Where or when did I learn?  It was not just dry words in a book.
It was I think, my Grandmother who taught me by the doing of.
It was near to Christmas time, sparkling chinks in the potbellied stove,
Cold of night, handmade polished cotton quilts, braided… Read full post »

Open Call

A story struck me as odd this morning.  And I was wondering who among us has the experience,  the knowledge,  to confirm or deny my curiosity or suspicions.

The story is of a rape and murder suspect arrested in Arkansas.

Excerpts from the story:… Read full post »