Start on the Other Hand

Once again, it's mid-May. Whoa.

You see, six years ago today, I started this blog. That means it can't show you its age on one hand anymore...

It's also still worth mentioning that this blog still exists, I guess. I've got some ideas for what to write more of here, but they're all pretty radically different from the existing content. So we'll see if any of them actually come to fruition. (Hint: Probably not anytime soon, if ever.)

Anyway, tradition dictates that I bake a bloggy cake today, but since today was an awfully busy day, I did it after midnight last night. Which still counts. Totally.

It's perhaps worth noting that today was busy in the same way as the day I started this blog in that it was the day of the National Association of Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger food drive, the second Saturday in May. Each year, I've volunteered to help the local food pantry take in all of the donations from the area, which usually amounts to about 2 tons of assorted food coming through the doors in 7 hours.

It's always fun and rewarding, but also somewhat exhausting. So that explains why my first post was so short and uninspired. And it explains why I'm finding it difficult to come up with more to write here now.

I guess I'll just loosely tie things together by saying that we saw various cake things at the food pantry today. But don't worry, for my dearest bloggy's sixth birthday, I baked this one fresh! Enjoy! And get used to counting on two hands...

An Unwise Commitment

I wasn't planning on posting anything here for a couple more days, but I couldn't resist passing this particular gem along. There is a slight chance that this may be the birth of a new "series" on this blog — but then again, series have historically died here faster than they've been created. But in any case, this one might be fairly more sustainable than the others I've tried. (Key word: "Might.")

Welcome to Bad Quotesville. Or whatever you want to call it, really. Often, I read the news and come across a quote that sticks out like a sore thumb in the context of the story. In most cases, including this one, it's not so much a "bad quote" as just "less-than-desirable juxtaposition" — but that's not as catchy a phrase.

So without further ado, the following is excerpted from the front-page story of Thursday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

A napping air traffic controller who forced a medical flight to land unaided in Nevada brought swift reaction from the Federal Aviation Administration, which on Wednesday added a second overnight controller at 26 airports and a radar facility. The move came after several other recent incidents of controllers sleeping during their shifts.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "The American public trusts us to run a safe system. Safety is our No. 1 priority, and I am committed to working 24/7 until these problems are corrected."

Now I'm all for the principle of what Secretary LaHood is saying, but I truly hope that he fails to uphold that commitment. Because actually working 24/7 just can't be good for one's health. I mean, after a while you'd get tired and have to go to bed, lest you accidentally fall asleep while on the job. ...Oh, wait; that's what we're trying to avoid in the first place!

You're certainly not going to fix the air traffic control system on no sleep, Mr. Secretary. No one can actually work completely tirelessly, much as they may try. Since "[t]he National Air Traffic Controllers Association has warned against... assigning tiring work schedules," perhaps you would be wise to adhere to the same standards.

Get some rest, man!

On Fears of Fukushima

I was thinking about what I wanted to write here today, since I hate missing a month on this blog even though I've done it before and will likely do it again. I've been talking myself in and out of writing about the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, but I wasn't sure what I was going to say about it. After all, it's been nearly three weeks since the earthquake and tsunami rattled that region of the world, and most of what can be said has been said already — and a lot of it by people more qualified to say it than myself.

Nevertheless, I got a little bit upset watching ABC World News this evening. The first four minutes were all about fears that fractions of trace amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in milk supplies in California and Washington... fears that are entirely overblown.

Even though the associated article is entitled "Radiation Levels in West Coast Milk 5,000 Times Lower Than Danger Threshold", from watching the main story presented in the newscast you'd think levels were 5,000 times higher than the threshold. Go ahead and watch it yourself. Of course, at the end, they bring in their medical expert to assure the public milk is safe, but all the while they're playing up the fact that the nation is abuzz about this dire situation, making very little mention that it isn't dire at all. Especially not here in the United States.

Now I don't claim to know everything about nuclear power, but considering I took several classes on it and even helped teach one, it was frustrating seeing something which I know isn't a big deal being blown out of proportion in the mass media. How many people who saw that report are thinking, right now, "I'd better avoid giving milk to my kids until this blows over"? At what cost to our collective public health? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

In this particular case... probably not.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson managed to put many of these fears in perspective this morning with a sobering tweet entitled "Causes of death worldwide in March 2011." He noted that while 3,000,000 died of starvation, 250,000 of Malaria, and 100,000 in car crashes, less than 28,000 have died in the aftermath of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. (I would even go so far as to point out that there have been no deaths related to the so-called "nuclear crisis" at Fukushima Daiichi.)

Yes, there is potential for much worse to happen from the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi. But it's important to remember that there is potential for worse in anything. Work is being done around the clock to protect public's health, safety, and well-being. And while there will always be disagreements on how the specifics are handled (we're only human), we must remember that it is because this work is being done — diligently, tirelessly — that a true nuclear crisis is being averted.

We must remember that, even without the fear of radiation, there are already hundreds of thousands of people in Japan whose lives have been directly affected by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. And while remembering that, we must guard ourselves from the easy fear of the "unknown" by educating ourselves with facts whenever we can.

And in the age of the Internet, there's really no excuse anymore for not having the facts.

If you're on Twitter, consider this a "Follow Friday" (even though it's still Thursday for a little while longer). Countless organizations have been diligently sifting through conflicting reports and cutting through the media hype, but the ones I've found the most useful in the past three weeks are (in no particular order) @ans_org, @W_Nuclear_News, @neiupdates, @iaeaorg, and @NuclearStreet. All have provided timely updates, presenting the data clearly and concisely and providing context, despite the difficulties that arise when trying to put radiation figures into perspective.

If you're not on Twitter, you can get updates from ANS Nuclear Cafe's Fukushima page, World Nuclear News' Fukushima portal, and the Nuclear Energy Institute's Fukushima page.

In short, there's really nothing to be worried about. But you have to prove it to yourself.

P.S.: There's no way in hell I'm attempting BEDA this year. More on that later.

Ten Years Later

On the morning of 3 February 2001, my great uncle, Michael L Troiano, passed away at the age of 66.

It's difficult to get a grasp on all that has happened in my life and the lives of those around me since Great Uncle Mike, or "GUM" as I came to know him, left us. Obviously, the first week or so was the roughest for me. But there have been countless ups and downs over the last ten years. Somehow, demarcating ten years from this point seems more significant than arbitrarily demarcating a decade according to the calendar.

I'm almost positive the last time I saw GUM was for Christmas 2000; I was 12, going on 13. Gosh, when you put it like that, it's scary. And here I sit in 2011, a 23-year-old. I honestly can't begin to fathom what percentage of the things I think about in day-to-day life — my ambitions and desires, my worries and fears, my hopes and dreams — were even part of my conscious existence when I was 13. Simply put, so much has changed.

GUM, even though you were affectionately known as everyone's "Uncle Mike," you'll always be my "Uncle Mike." Life isn't quite the same without you, but it is in part because of you that things have turned out as great as they are. And while I still remember old memories of you fondly, I can't wait to share my newer ones with you someday.