Radon gas Radiation Testing around Seattle

"The EPA standard for radon cleanup is 4.0 picocuries per liter of air. We found that all readings were below 0.3 picocuries, which is the minimum detection limit." 

"We also surveyed several locations in the surrounding neighborhood, and farther away from the Sand Point area including Woodland Park, Queen Anne, Pike Place Market Park, and Safeco Field." 

https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/radiation/magnuson-park-cleanup-seattle/radiation-testing

Moving more people on public trains

https://youtu.be/TGu9RBHPVz4?si=OKPjQ_SJWwIrnraG

4:03 smart idea - signs indicate at upcoming platforms which cars are already full, based on video analysis inside the approaching train. 

Clever musical humor

https://youtu.be/OaZveHbxAYs?si=z_eA_1MgAmLd1w4G

How to best use your dishwasher

Great advice about not pre-rinsing dishes, just scraping them.

Load items dirty side down, and don't block the spray arm from moving. 

Hand-wash wooden items. 

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-use-your-dishwasher-better/

Incredible African entrepreneur

https://youtu.be/zkKlUUVBdlU?si=OQ_Vii6cM7Lv-u7z

A triple win - efficient, safer, cheap stoves

Clean-burning briquettes made from agricultural waste 

Add an ingredient that deters mosquitoes when the briquettes are burned. 

Massive crane on a barge

I watched this massive crane lift a 90-foot pilon from horizontal on a barge to vertical ready for pounding into the seabed. The picture may be a little hard to see the necessary detail. 

It was a really interesting process. You can see there are 3 blocks at the top of the crane arm: the large one to take all the weight, the higher small one that holds the upper end of the "ramming gantry" and the lower smaller block for hoisting the end of the pilon. The crane operator also had remote control of two little arms that "hug" the bottom of the pilon into place at the bottom of the gantry once it's vertical. 

So he lifted the horizontal pilon up into the air, where it was about 10 feet in front of the "ramming gantry," and then used the middle block to slowly lift the bottom end of the gantry forward until it met the pilon. But both these massive structures have free swinging ends over which he has little control, so he has to patiently wait until they were aligned with each other at water level, while they were swinging in the wind.  I noticed he kept the end of the pilon in the water to slow its movement. 

Once he had the lower end of the pilon "hugged" by the remote control arms at the lower end of the gantry, he then slackened the block that held the top end of the pilon, so that it "fell" towards the crane and into the top end of the gantry. I realized that the length of free rope above the end of the pilon and the top of the gantry had to be precise so that the two smaller blocks didn't run into each other as the top of the pilon came into position. 

Then he lowered the hydraulic ram onto the top of the pilon to keep it from moving, before finally moving the whole assembly into position by rotating the base of the crane 180 degrees. 

In the end, I realized that the crane operator has to very precisely control 3 blocks, the hydraulic ram, and the base of the crane all to get this into position. 

I would have thought that there would be people at barge level with guy ropes assisting him in maneuvering the pilon into place, but I guess it was too heavy or dangerous for them to do so. He has to do it all very deftly with his controls. 

Very impressive. 

Why are street lights turning purple?

https://youtu.be/4Mll-YDDAF4?si=w5BGeAikiYnhNjU8

4:31 The phosphor coating (that adds yellow color to the light emitted) is falling off but it can be repaired by 11:38 painting back on.

When the phosphor falls off, most of the light is now 9:41 invisible to the eye, so luminance goes way down. 

How slab countertops are made

https://youtu.be/RtbIrLlzUJI?si=bEno9oJNfrla8e5_

White powder, artificial veining, compression under heat, cooling, sanding. 

2 razors

Hanlon's Razor is a mental shortcut which teaches us, in the words of Robert J. Hanlon to "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." In other words, rather than questioning people's intentions, question their competence.

https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/philosophy/hanlons-razor

It reminds me of Occam's razor - "The simplest explanation is usually the best one." Also known as the principle of parsimony, it is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Scurvy facts

"The knowledge that consuming foods containing vitamin C is a cure for scurvy has been repeatedly forgotten and rediscovered into the early-20th century...February 1601, Captain James Lancaster... conducted an experiment...One ship's crew received routine doses of lemon juice while the other three ships did not... the non-treated ships started to contract scurvy, with many dying as a result." 

"It has been estimated by researchers that during the Age of Exploration (between 1500 and 1800), scurvy killed at least two million sailors...During the 18th century, scurvy killed more British sailors than wartime enemy action." 

"1747... James Lind formally demonstrated that scurvy could be treated by supplementing the diet with citrus fruit, in one of the first controlled clinical experiments reported in the history of medicine...However, the experiment and its results occupied only a few paragraphs in a work that was long and complex and had little impact..."

"1795, it was reported that the Suffolk had arrived in India after a four-month voyage without a trace of scurvy...The effect was immediate. Fleet commanders clamoured also to be supplied with lemon juice...This led to a remarkable health improvement among the sailors and consequently played a critical role in gaining the advantage in naval battles"

"Lauchlin Rose patented a method used to preserve citrus juice without alcohol in 1867, creating a concentrated drink known as Rose's lime juice...provide a daily "lime or lemon juice"... to sailors to prevent scurvy... hence the term "limey"...for British sailors"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy

Having long-term storage of vitamin C will resurface in the future of space exploration. It would seem that vitamin C pills degrade very slowly and are much easier to transport than other sources of vitamin C. https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/54559/are-there-any-long-term-storable-sources-of-vitamin-c

Manufactured Quartz slab countertops

https://youtu.be/RtbIrLlzUJI?si=q2YVAmzzIW3eHZo0

How 3000 slabs per week are made in a 250,000 sf facility. 

"Arabs tend to draw from a rather smaller, commonly used pool of names"

"In the Arab world, children are sometimes named after their grandfathers, to keep the spirit of their ancestors alive...

"Mohammed. Ahmed and Mahmood... all mean "praiseworthy"...

[From] "the Quran...Ibrahim (Abraham) and Dawood (David)...Yousif, Yahya, Zakariya, Nooh and Ismail" 

"Common names for boys include the names of Prophet Mohammed's cousin Ali (meaning lofty or sublime) and grandsons Hassan and Hussain (both of which are derived from the Arabic word hasuna, which means "to be good")." 

"Fatima meaning "to abstain"...Zahra "blooming flower", Zainab "fragrant flowering plant...Hameed (thankful) and its [female] counterpart Hameeda; Jalil (important) and Jalila; Nabil (noble) and Nabila; Nader (rare) and Nadera; Jamil (handsome) and Jamila (beautiful); Tahir (virtuous, chaste or pure) and Tahira; Wahid (peerless or unique) and Wahida; Adel (just) and Adela and even Samir (companion in evening talk) and Samira.

"Khalid (eternal), after the army leader Khalid bin Al Waleed. Khulood (immortality) is its feminine derivative..." 

"Names given to boys are more masculine and show their status and standing in life. They include Khalifa (successor); Naser (helper); Rashid (rightly guided); Khalil (friend); Emad (support or pillar); Husam (sword); Ihsan (charity) and Mansour (victorious)." 

-Bahrain guide

Callard and Bowsers nougat!

Discontinued in 2003 after a corporate takeover... Ooh! Someone reinvented Callard and Bowsers nougat. Now I know what I want for birthday next year. 

https://championreeves.com/product/soft-white-nougat-with-italian-cherries-bite-size-pieces/

Here's the thread where I found out about it. 

History of tipping

https://youtu.be/Gyjr7Fvpl74?si=J4ljap9lJc88rvUv

3:11 tipping gained traction in the US when businesses wanted to pay emancipated slaves nothing, and have them live off tips alone. 

4:04 it even went so far as charging workers for the privilege of working for tips. 

6:14 some 43 states have a "tipped minimum wage," or "subminimum wage" that remains unchanged since the 1990's at $2.13 an hour. 

7:12 black women get tipped less than white males working the same shift in the same area of the same restaurant