Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere I: Big Think Nukes

Lots of accumulated blathering from me in this morning’s newspaper. First up, a fun thumbsucker on the Obama administration’s rhetoric regarding zero nuclear weapons (sub/ad req.) and what it might mean in practice: Supporters of a world without nuclear weapons, who include prominent hawks like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, argue the world would …

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Manure spontaneous combustion II

Further research shows this, from C.A. Browne, The Spontaneous Heating and Ignition of Hay and Other Agricultural Products, Science, 3 March 1933: Vol. 77. no. 1992, pp. 223 – 229, DOI: 10.1126/science.77.1992.223 In 1929 the author suggested as a possible solution of the problem of spontaneous ignition the formation, by micro-organisms under anaerobic conditions, of …

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Manure Spontaneous Combustion

In Vol. II of his exhaustive 1882 treatise “Legal Medicine“,  Charles Meymott Tidy, M.B., FCS, Master of Surgery; Professor of Chemistry and of Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the London Hospital, Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Late Deputy Medical Officer of Health and Public Analyst for the City of London, Etc., Etc., noted …

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Ghost Meter

Some time ago I purchased an Actron CP7875 PocketTherm Infrared Thermometer from Amazon. It’s a cool gizmo. I highly recommend it. You point it at whatever, and it tells you the object’s temperature based on infrared emissions. Today, Amazon informed me that people who bought the Actron PocketTherm also might like this: The accompanying description …

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Westward Ho!

Westward Ho! Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. From today’s bike ride, the Westward Ho motel along old Route 66 on Albuquerque’s west side. I love the saguaro and battered neon. I’m guessing the pun in the motel’s name is not intentional.