Ot: Adrenalynn...

[CatMommy]

LOL...Oh Addy...your brain makes me crazy.

The original post was a joke...(sort of). I thought you might have just set one up to show the risk was negligible to non-existent.

Honestly though since this incident began, (and another reason for the thread) I couldn't get the image out of my head of you launching a rocket equipped with a geiger counter and a GPS to take readings at 30,000ft...and you were wide-eyed and salivating...Ha-ha...

 

[Adrenalynn]

You know me - I just take everything seriously and tongue-in-cheek simultaneously.

We've flown radiation monitors up to 120,000ft a couple times aboard sounding balloons. The problem right now is that we need dispensation from the FAA to launch in greater than 5/10 coverage, ie "broken clouds". Right now we have 10/10 coverage, and it'd take at LEAST three weeks to get clearance, another week of notices, another couple days for the NOTAM to post... Pain in the rump. Anything above FL600 (Flight Level 600, aka 60,000ft ASL) is "restricted airspace". We fly with radar reflectors, marker beacons, radio beacons, etc. but ya just can't beat the government, ya know?

Otherwise, yeah, I'd send a mission or two up for kicks and giggles.

I'm seeing articles claiming detection (by the government, of course) here in Sacramento, of "minute levels". But I'm seeing background. And low-average background at that. I wrote a script to collect 15min sliding window averages to lower the noise a little bit. I'll post it in your thread here a couple times a day. The last hour and a half has looked like: 34,30,31,24,26,21,23

I'm also immediately alerting on anything over 99CPM. Anything above that will hit my phone. (And that's still at least an order of magnitude below what rescue workers are allowed for exposure)

 

[CatMommy]

A website (enviroreporter) has a livestream of their counter set up in a Santa Monica office building. The last 10min average they did was 45CPM (about 16 hours ago).

I guess working in the field, I find it all very fascinating (or should I say annoying). People don't realize how much natural background radiation they are exposed to everyday but they want a dissertation on the effects of ionizing radiation on the human body before having a Chest X-ray despite the fact that they flew from New York to see a Los Angeles specialist........Remember your points on the Time Change and Population Control?

 

[Adrenalynn]

Exactly. The majority of the unwashed hear "radiation" and freak out, not realizing that it's required for life, without it we'd have none. They also don't realize that just having a 25lb dog sleeping next to you every night is going to expose you to more increase in radiation exposure than what we'll see from Japan. Having a human bed-mate is just that much more. Metal dental fillings? They're irradiating you all the time. The pins in my knee, thumbs, wrist - all substantially more. Live at high elevation? There you go. Eat your veggies like your mommy told you too? Wow. And let's not even get started on cigarette smoking!

45 CPM down in Santa Monica isn't too far off what I'd expect in that 'hood for background.

I'm ~20mi from a long-decommissioned nuke site. (Rancho Mistako, errr - Rancho Seco) The baseline is a little lower than at my last place, and that's why I can't use a >1yr sample for my background.

I'm wondering where the heck Jamvector is. He's the honest-to-gosh Nuclear Physicist here...

This is what I'm working on for "you":

As you can see, it's been pretty darned disappointing. Trend has been down drastically. And is still lower than my 1yr background.

 

[Blooper]

i hope it will be bright causei wanna wear sunglasses at night. /me spontaneously breaks into song.. I wear my sunglasses at night dobedo!!!! yeah!!

 

[Adrenalynn]

For CatMommy:

Average is 26.75. Trended down. And off the one year average by a fair bit, but not statistically significant.

I'll try to scale it to exposure levels, probably μSv. Need to read up on this tube's datasheet and figure out the scale factor.

For Darri and everyone else:

ZOMG! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

 

[CatMommy]

Well, like I said on the "SuperPower" thread: It's hardly worth the effort put into the data collection; though I still find it interesting. I kind of wish there was access to more (by "more" I guess I mean Military/FAA) sources as I think you said there were changes at crusing altitude? Two CT's worth? That may be about 2Sv, which would be about 1/2 my max occupational exposure dose...which means...Me + a Film Badge + a Plane Ride to Hawaii = A Long Paid Vacation...LOL

Now, regarding the Super Moon tomorrow, do you have your tsunami warning system set up? (I'm Kidding!)

 

[Adrenalynn]

Commercial pilots exposures are tracked too. It's not uncommon for the really long-haul guys to screw-up and get grounded. The funny thing is that they go in for a comprehensive and their CT's don't get tracked either.

But, yeah, you should be able to carry your dosimeter up on a vacation or two and get to extend that vacation.

The beautiful thing, as more data is being added now, the trend-line is almost perfectly flat. I use the geiger counter normally for generating random seeds for encryption. As we collect more and more data and the line levels out more and more over time, we're proving the randomness of the data.

I added Standard Deviation, Population and Standard Deviation.

As far as my Tsunami Warning System: I set one up just for you. Just look north. If you see me hauling bootie for Truckee - RUN!

 

[Adrenalynn]

Also for Darri, since he just asked a few mins ago: (and we're still ALL GONNA DIE!)

 

[CatMommy]

True, I can take my dosimeter aboard, but unfortunately a dose higher than the norm initiates an investigation and will be permanently part of my Life-Time dose record. *Sigh* I guess I'm too honest for that.

On a side note: If you're itching for a research project, I just bought a pair or leaded glasses. At 65gms, they are still too heavy to wear comfortably for extended periods of time (Headache) and they fog when wearing in conjunction with a surgical mask. There really need to be a better, affordable solution.

 

[Adrenalynn]

Have you tried toothpaste on the lenses? That's what we use in scuba diving to prevent fogging. A pea-sized drop of non-gel toothpaste, then rub for a couple minutes, then rinse. Repeat a few times. I'm assuming they're glass and not plastic - plastic will scratch.

Try replacing the nose pads with memory foam? Something like a 2.4lb density is marshmellow soft and will alter their absorbing qualities depending upon shape and body heat.

I built my own bed about six months ago when I was dealing with some lower back pain from catching a falling 40' class A ladder. I have 4" of 2.4lb on 6" of 5lb on 3" of carpet pad on a home-made frame of stretched burlap. Destroys a "Tempurpedic" for about 1/20th the cost. I could put a bowling ball under it and sleep in total comfort

 

[Adrenalynn]

I'm going to bed. Someone needs to buy this "radioactive plume" a GPS or sumthan. Srsly. I think it got canceled due to lack of interest.

Oh, and I have a theory that the reason my average background was higher in Folsom than it is here in Sacramento actually doesn't have anything to do with the environment itself. I suspect the difference is 8 smoke detectors vs 1 smoke detector, and 9 CRT's versus 0 CRT's. I got rid of all the old monitors when I moved and went completely LCD.

 

[Adrenalynn]

 

[Adrenalynn]

24hrs, with some standard numbers, calibrated.

 

[DawnsFolly]

Does that mean no super powers? <sigh>

Thanks Adrenalynn for debunking this bit of media-hyped BS. Bless you.

 

[Adrenalynn]

Refresh for correction. I always seem to have trouble juggling my decimals around in decimal notation instead of scientific notation. I'm doing a conversion on the fly programatically now.

Super Power Development is looking a little scarce right now, I'm afraid. Better luck next week maybe?

You're welcome! It's a fun project on a windy rainy icky day. And the rain doesn't appear to be glowing, even...

 

[Darrigaaz]

For Darri and everyone else:

I like how I'm the leader of the "everyone else" crowd!

I'm KING OF THE LEMMINGS!

 

[Adrenalynn]

It's good to be the king!

 

[Adrenalynn]

Godzilla's obviously asleep at the wheel...

 

[Kanza]

Godzilla NEVER sleeps He's only resting - a lot! He's not snoring, that's a purr!