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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
My Dog Don't Fart, An Epistle
I recently received this letter and thought I should share it with the rest of the world. If you're a wine blogger and haven't yet received your copy, well, you will.
Dear Blobber,
You pathetic, irrelevant, imbecilic, illiterate, bottom-feeding, sulfurous, bung-licking, nose picking, flop dicking, inbred, brain dead, wet-the-bed piece of crap.
Where do you get off questioning my ethics or the ethics of my trained seals? Without me and my publication none of you would even exist. You all want to be me! Like that's a walk in the goddamn park. Pretending to give a crap what Mark Squires thinks, wading through all that Schildknecht babble about German wines only sissies and old ladies drink, listening to Dr. Miller ramble drunkenly on about his ugly ex-wife Mrs. Miller--you think that's fun? And then spending hours adding four or five points to the scores of that Galloni guy--if I've told him once I've told him a hundred times, "People like to see high scores! Do you think they'd watch the Olympics if every gymnast received a 7.5? Would they watch 'Jeopardy' just to see Trebek's newest toupee if the contestants only won $35? Why do you think the Stanley Cup Finals are on the WhoGivesaShit Network? They have violence and nonstop action and cheerleaders with erect nipples but they have low scores! No one cares!" But he still lowballs the Italian wines, not that I blame him. They all smell like Berlusconi's fingers if you ask me.
What do you care that Squires gets a free trip to taste Israeli wines? So what? I sent him on that trip praying for a suicide bomber to get me out of the contract. Who cares about the wines of Israel? What, "Wailing Wall White" is going to set the wine world on fire? Sure, it's unfined, unfiltered, uncircumsized, so what? No way any of their plonk rates over 82 points. So what does it matter he took a free trip? All you blobbers do is whine, whine, whine. If you ask me, China has it right when it comes to the Internet. It needs to be monitored and controlled. When did free speech ever amount to anything except yokels spouting off about shit they don't understand? Hey, let's put it this way, my team's ethics are the equivalent of the knowledge and experience of wine blobbers--sure, they've got a little, but they never let that get in the way.
Come on, get off my back. I'm trying to retire anyway. But I want my little mimeographed phone book to survive me. OK, OK, I passed the buck to the wrong guys. You know that and I know that. I'm hoping that they'll get better, but, hey, I'm managing the Washington Nationals here--no, make that the Washington Generals. I got Lemons alright, just no Meadowlark Lemons. One of them comes to me and says, "Hey, Slim, I think I'm going to head off to Portugal with some guy named Symington--can you front me a couple of Benjamins?" how am I supposed to know the whole trip is a freebie? I'm in the stinkin' Barossa sweating my hairy echidnas off and tasting 100 point cough syrup with Aussie descendants of felons, I'm supposed to hold these bozos' hands? You expect a lawyer and a doctor to understand ethics. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile you blobbers are begging for free samples, printing up business cards and suckering wineries for free tastings, trying to get free tickets to wine events, going on and on about transparency but neglecting to tell your fourteen readers that most of what you know about wine you learned from Trader Joe's "Fearless Flyer," and hallucinating that consumers will one day turn to unqualified strangers on the Internet for wine recommendations. Could happen. Yeah, and my dog don't fart.
In Vino Veritas,
Robert Barker, Jr.
He's got a point.
16 comments:
[Indignant scoff]
So what does an attorney know about plant physiology, viticulture and fermentation science?...
Just askin' cos Constitutional Law 101 was not part of my undergrad Bio curriculum and I did not see it offered in med school either...
As for business cards: what's the obsession? It's no secret that many bloggers want to monetize their blogs - ie make them into businesses. How else will you give your pertinents to parties of interest? - June 10, 2009 at 10:29 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Arthur,
(Polite belch)
I love the verb "monetize," which actually means to turn something into money in a literal sense, like the Denver mint. I know you mean that bloggers want to make their blogs a source of revenue. I've got no problem with that--I don't read them anyway.
I'm not at all obsessed with business cards (hey, this is a real letter, you can't make this stuff up!). But I am reminded of my restaurant days when "reviewers" would appear representing newspapers like the "Torrance Gazette" or the "Whittier Globe and Bird Bidet" and demand free dinners. We usually bounced them.
I'll lay off the business cards if you'll lay off my Hello Kitty! - June 10, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Hey Ron
Well, now I know which bed you'll be taking if you visit and need to crash..... (I have my kids only part of the week).
(And I still miss the nekid womens) - June 10, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Oh, and while the Torrance Gazette was a venerable journalistic institution, the Whittier Globe and Bird Bidet was a rag not worth the droppings it collected in bird cages.
- June 10, 2009 at 1:12 PM
- Samantha Dugan said...
I want business cards...dammit, I'm doin' this whole blob thing all wrong. Maybe I should call Mr. Parker for a lesson
- June 10, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Whodda thunk a blog such as Hosemaster of Wine has a higher ethical standard than Robert Barker's (The Price is, after all, Right) Whine Avocado!?!?!
I view Parker's rag as merely a cheerleader for the wine business. Only wineries, importers, distributors and (if this isn't redundant) stupid, lazy retailers actually subscribe along with the same 14 readers of the Wineography blog.
Well, it's a sad revelation knowing Parker's underlings are not quite as impartial as we all had hoped. Next thing you know, we'll find out wineries submit gussied up samples to critics such as Parker and The Wine Speculator, knowing these writers are too cheap to every actually go spend a dollar on a bottle of wine.
Oh, the shame...
ANONYMOUS I (glad you're back making fun of the helpless) - June 10, 2009 at 5:48 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Gorgeous, (not you Anonymous 1)
You've got an actual job in the wine biz so you don't need a blog card to get into tastings for free. Plus, you've got knockers. And I adore you.
Welcome Back, Anonymous 1!
I hoped you were lurking out there somewhere. I think the whole "ethics" thing is hilarious. Ones ethics are determined by what one does, not by what one says, over and over, on the Web. I can't think of a single soul who reviews wines who has earned the right to point a finger, usually the middle one, at Parker, or anyone else. What a bunch of rubes. - June 10, 2009 at 7:26 PM
- St. Vini said...
You're blowing the whole lid on blogging. After all, many of these regurgitations were established in the hopes of getting some hot samples of Dancing Bull on the doorstep. Doesn't rereposting about Murphy Goode and the tremendous potential of Twitter to sell oodles of bottles constitution sufficient contribution to vinodom?
I have more to say on this, but I'm waiting for the boobies to return before I post anything erudite.
V - June 11, 2009 at 10:09 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey St. Vini,
Man, am I glad you're back. I'm sure you have a LOT more to say on this subject. I laugh about it every day, but, then, I'm insane.
You've got a long wait if you're waiting for boobies, unless you mean blue-footed ones. The HoseMaster has retired from the nude glamour shot business. The crowd that went along with them was really odd (you should have seen the Google searches that led to my blog, and some of the comments I had to delete). And, aside from that, it took way too long to find them--I was picky about my "girls."
Great to hear from you, St. Vini. I'll start haunting your blog in return. - June 11, 2009 at 10:19 AM
- Charlie Olken said...
Don't call me gorgeous.
So, I go over to Steve Heimoff's blog and I find him barging in on your act, and in the meantime, Tish is going after Costco instead of laying on some of his shtick.
So, I come over here and find Sam Dugan who I used to find on Ken Payton's blog and there is St. Vini. Next thing we know, Alder Yarrow will start posting on other blogs if he can ever think of anything to say but look at me and the latest $100 Cabernet I just tasted.
It's a hard business--this blobbing. You never know where your next sample is coming from, and, by the way, Ron, if you missed out on your latest perversions of once famous labels from the Kingdom of Fred Franzia, I will be happy to send you some. I usually give them to Special Olympics (no,not the kids--the fundraisers) so they are yours for the asking. - June 11, 2009 at 2:54 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Charlie,
I'd never call you Gorgeous. Puff Daddy, maybe, but not Gorgeous.
I find that Alder only posts on my blog if I mention his name. Usually "Your Majesty" works. He must have Google Alert set on high. In which case it helps to have a botanical name instead of a human one. I loved hearing Jon Bonne singing "Follow the Yarrow Brick Road" at a charity event once, but that's another column altogether.
Let's see, the Special Olympics. That's the California State Fair Wine Competition, right?
All of you comments are a reminder of just how pathetically incestuous wine blogging is. We are one tiny step from being eBob.
And to prove it--Nice post, Charlie! - June 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Ron, Charlie,
No doubt that the comment section dialogue on blogs may seem "incestuous". But I think you forget the lurker factor.
Plenty of visitors come, read (post and comments) and do not pipe in.
This, then begs the question: are blog posts and the ensuing discussions like talk shows (sometimes like Charlie Rose, sometimes like McNiel-Lehrer, sometimes like AC 360, sometimes like The View, sometimes like Donahue and, yes, sometimes like Jerry Springer) and readers may be "tuning in" for the entertaining read of post and comments?
Those other bloggers commenting, then,play the role of pundits and commentators on TV shows. - June 11, 2009 at 6:44 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Yes, Arthur, I like to think of myself as the Star Jones of wine blogging.
- June 12, 2009 at 8:39 AM
So when do we start talking about the wines themselves? We know that many of these so-called wine reviewers are basically wine-whores and that the 100 point scale is really a load of BS. Was it not Socrates who said, "Beauty is in the mouth of the taster." OK, maybe not, he did after all die drinking hemlock. Now there's an essence that I don't see mentioned in many wine reviews-- maybe Barker and his ilk need to "familiarize" themselves with that one.
BTW, I'm sipping a nice Peterson 2006 DCV Zin tonight. Verdict—I like it. Yes, I could write about how it has the mouth feel of a French kiss on humid night in Manila—but that's another story which I will leave for the upcoming J. Peterman wine catalog. - June 12, 2009 at 5:25 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Abel,
I'm just getting my feet wet again with my stupid blog, playing the Fool, but it won't be long before I'll start reviewing wines now and again. Ooooh, I can hear those tape guns going crazy at wineries as they prepare to overwhelm me with free samples!
I plan on visiting Murphy-Goode to see what their Social Media Stooge is up against. I'll be a Pinot Days in a couple of weeks tasting the latest Syrah blends. And I'll perhaps bring back my "The Best Wine I Tasted All Week" feature. I'm just doing this for the laughs, Abel, I'm not a guy looking to "monetize" his blog. Who'd pay for this crap?
I love Dry Creek Vally Zinfandel, though I haven't yet tasted the '06 Peterson. The best Zinfandel I've had from Dry Creek lately is the Quivira 2007 Old Vines Zinfandel Katz Vineyard. Wow! I think there are about 140 cases of this beauty. It's really gorgeous, strikingly rich, reminiscent of a Russian River Zinfandel with its undertones of white pit fruit, and bursting with blackberry fruit and that uncanny viney-ness of old vines Zin. It's probably only available from their website, but it's worth the search. Oh, and I love Ridge's 2007 Geyserville.
That enough wine talk?
Thanks for chiming in, Abel. Come back often and raise some Cain. - June 13, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Not nearly enough; it's like watching the tenor playing Don Giovanni clearing his throat. But I get your point. We have to listen to the overture first.
Aof their wines QAbeing Aof their plonk. (OK, so maybe I don't need to taste their wines to criticize.)
A - June 13, 2009 at 11:18 AM


text:
It is the belief of this club that one key ingredient in the success of competitive team sporting endeavors is clear, consistent communication between coaches, players and parents. This document is one way of explaining in detail the expectations competitive soccer will place on you as a member of LAPFC. It will help clarify some areas of potential confusion and at the same time answer questions about the club and team's decision-making process.
As you have committed to become a member of LAPFC, please take the time to carefully read this handbook.
The club and each team's success are dependent on a dedicated, knowledgeable and licensed staff. LAPFC is comprised primarily of volunteers and only the coaching positions are paid positions. The extent of each team's success depends on the work and dedication of the Players, Team Administrators, Parents, and the Coaches. Talented players alone will likely achieve minimal results. It takes a combination of talent, hard work, and a little luck.
Welcome to LAPFC. We wish you and your sons and daughters the best of success participating in the most popular sport in the world.

subset: commoncrawl


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Second in a series of posts where I'm picking through WikiLeaks Cablegate for literary topics. See my first post in the series for an important introduction, and view the entire series here. At the time of my first Literary Cablegate post (then called Literary WikiLeaks), not all of Cablegate had been published; CablegateSearch.net showed 665 hits for the search term "literature" and 334 for the term "literary". Now that all of Cablegate has been released (a.k.a. "Cablegate2"; see my remarks on the controversy surrounding the comprehensive Cablegate publication), CablegateSearch.net shows 1,214 hits for "literature" and 403 for "literary."
I'm going through all of them.
I'm focusing only on cables where "literature" or "literary" is used in the sense of short stories, essays, the humanities, etc. So I'm mostly ignoring cables mentioning literature as in, say, campaign literature, or the medical literature for a malady (unless the cable mentions one of Oliver Sacks's highly literary case studies, you see?). Given the importance of intellectual property (or lack thereof) to free speech and the Internet, copyright and copyleft issues will be included as well. Literary Cablegate blog posts will feature about 8 cables each, starting from the most recently written cable. I'll take on the 403 cable hits for "literary" first.
Please consider tipping me through Flattr either by clicking the button at the end of a post, or clicking the Flattr tip jar button for this entire blog on the right sidebar widget. Also consider supporting WikiLeaks and Julian Assange as well as Bradley Manning.
Here we go!
The United States maintains an annual "Special 301 Report" that, in the words of the United States Trade Representative, reviews "the global state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement" and "reflects the Administration's resolve to encourage and maintain effective IPR protection and enforcement worldwide." The Report lists nations perceived as threats to copyright interests. Some nations wind up on the Watch List, and others on the more severe Priority Watch List. In a cable dated February 2010, the US Embassy in La Paz said Bolivia's laws granted powerful intellectual property rights:
the existing copyright law does protect literary, artistic, and scientific works for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. Bolivian copyright protection includes the exclusive right to copy or reproduce works; to revise, adapt, or prepare derivative works; to distribute copies of works; and to publicly communicate works. Although the exclusive right to translate works is not explicitly granted, the law does prevent unauthorized adaptation, transformation, modification, and editing. The law also provides protection for software and databases.
Compare the Bolivian law's extreme length of copyright (50 years) to the US Pirate Party's intent to reduce the length of copyright to 14 years and legalize all noncommercial sharing, and to the efforts of Creative Commons.
Regardless of Bolivian law, the US Embassy noted, copyright was so laxly enforced in Bolivia that their
Video, music, and software piracy rates are among the highest in Latin America, with the International Intellectual Property Alliance estimating that piracy levels have reached 100% for motion pictures and over 90% for recorded music. There are no legal sources of audio-visual materials in most of the country, since it would be impossible to compete with pirated products prices: in the capital of La Paz there is only one store that sells legal CDs. Bootleg CDs, DVDs, computer software, pharmaceutical products, and other goods are sold on street corners and in stores across the country.
The Embassy blames the rampant piracy on Bolivia's lack of human and financial resources to enforce copyright, and says pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to file patents in Bolivia due to fears of trade secret theft and counterfeiting. Despite all the piracy, the US Embassy suggests keeping Bolivia only on the Special 301 Report's Watch List and not its Priority Watch List just so as not to frustrate Bolivia and thereby damage the copyright interests' outreach efforts. In 2010 and 2011 Bolivia did remain on the ordinary Special 301 Watch List.
A February 2010 cable from Baghdad discusses the membership of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's State of Law Alliance (SLA), formed in October 2009 as, according to the cable, "a nationalist, non-sectarian political" group. The cable identifies Hassan Sunayd as one "key figure" of SLA, describing him as
SLA candidate 4 in Dhi Qar. A well-known poet and literary figure in Iraq, Sunayd has been in Da'wa's political bureau since the late 1980's. A member of the previous COR's Security and Defense Committee, he is Maliki's closest friend, one of his security advisors and liaison to the KRG leadership. Having survived physical torture during the Saddam regime, he has used his position as spokesman for the SLA to rail against the threat of resurgent Ba'athism and was critical of purported U.S. efforts to interfere in the de-Ba'athification process.
A somewhat substantial search of Google's various resources as well as academic journals and US newspaper archives turned up no discussion of Hassan Sunayd's literary background, with one minor exception. (Sometimes his first name is transliterated as Hasan, sometimes his last name as al-Sunayd.) According to an April 14, 2008 BBC transcript, Sunayd recited a poem at a ceremony held in Baghdad to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the martyrdom of Islamic scholar Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. Sunayd is mentioned with some frequency as a spokesperson for the Iraqi government.
Professor Hanan Hammad at the TCU History Department told me Sunayd used the pen name "Jawad Jamil (could be Jawwad Gamil). he lived in Iran in early eights along with members of al-Da'wa Islamist Party. his sister Balqis is also a poet, but with the Communist party. nothing indicate that he's a great poet/ intellectual." My searches for his pen name turn up nothing.
(Original Cable "Coalition Profile: Pm Maliki's State Of Law Alliance" 10BAGHDAD499)
The US State Department maintains an annual Trafficking in Persons Report to "engage foreign governments on human trafficking" and as a resource for "governmental anti-human trafficking efforts." In a February 2010 cable, the first of three parts (part 2, part 3), the US Embassy in Paris gave its input for the tenth annual report. The cable notes "France prosecutes French nationals who travel abroad to engage in child sexual tourism" and goes on to say
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand faced criticism during the reporting period related to his 2005 literary work, which included depictions of sexual tourism in Asia. In "The Bad Life," Mitterrand details the experiences of an unnamed protagonist with so-called "boys" in the brothels of Thailand. Facing pressure to resign for engaging in sexual tourism before he joined the government, Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand stated during an October 8, 2009 television interview that he had never had sex with a minor. "Each time I was with people who were my age, or were five years younger," the 62 year-old Mitterrand said, adding: "I condemn sexual tourism, which is a disgrace. I condemn pedophilia in which I have never participated in any way."
The Guardian extends Miterrand's quote a sentence: "The book is in no way an apology for sex tourism, even if one chapter is a journey through that hell, with all the fascination that hell can inspire." The BBC termed Mitterrand's book an "autobiographical novel" and said the scandal would have brought him down in other countries, "not because he is gay, but because there is an inconsistency between a government committed to fighting sex tourism and a minister who has been a sex tourist. But in France, where a belief in the right to privacy and a liberal view on sex are both near sacrosanct, many believe it would be hypocritical to hound Frederic Mitterrand from office."
The cable says France prosecutes child sex tourism, and Mitterand claims he was involved with people basically his age. More importantly, the book is, autobiographically based or not, a work of fiction. How much of it is true to Mitterrand's life is therefore hard to evaluate beyond educated guessing. Mother Jones, reviewing the book, says the French right wing targetted Mitterand by quoting the book out of context. The Mother Jones reviewer makes the book sound pretty good:
The Bad Life is a stunningly candid and beautiful book. Described by its author as an "autobiography which is half real and half dreamed," it recounts his life as a child of privilege born into Paris's haut bourgeois sixteenth arrondissement, his experience of homosexuality, and a number of deeply felt personal relationships. Much of this is set in a social milieu of movie stars, politicians, renowned artists, and other public figures. […]
The Bad Life is an intimate, courageous memoir in which Mitterrand is brutally honest not only about himself, but with himself. If it includes a few sordid accounts of a homosexual underworld that some would rather not be asked to consider, it does so within a larger portrait of one man's life and desires, a nuanced collection of affecting incidents examined with an unsparing eye.
The entire scandal was complicated by Mitterrand's defending Roman Polanski shortly beforehand, demanding the director be released after arrest in Switzerland over his US conviction for sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Yet again, the publisher calls The Bad Life a "novel inspired by autobiography." You don't take Philip K. Dick's autobiographical novel VALIS as definitive proof of anything, do you? Or Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead. Writers build off their own experience, but don't exactly replicate it in fiction. No crime was shown here. Mitterrand is still in office.
(Original Cable "France: Input For The 2010 Trafficking In Persons Report (part 1 Of 3)" 10PARIS196)
A February 2010 cable from the Consulate Shenyang US Embassy in China noted traffic across the border between China and North Korea. "For all the talk about frozen trade between the DPRK [North Korea] and China," the cable says, the Consulate General Office noted people crossing the border talking business and culture. For example,
At the train station many different groups of North Koreans were seen waiting to take the train up to Shenyang [China]. On board, a middle-aged North Korean female trader was reading a Sino-Korean literary journal and a Dandong business weekly.
The apparent significance for the Office is the interest North Koreans show in the Chinese, as evidenced in part by the Sino-Korean literary journal. One wonders which journal the woman was reading. In the United States, "literary journal" tends to mean a venue for highbrow literary work, as opposed to a "magazine," which can run the gamut of literary taste classifications.
A February 2010 cable from Berlin discusses German copyright law in the context of foreign investment in Germany.
Germany is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Germany is also a party to the major international intellectual property protection agreements: the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Geneva Phonograms Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Brussels Satellite Convention, and the Treaty of Rome on Neighboring Rights. […]
Germany has signed the WIPO Internet treaties and ratified them in 2003. Foreign and German rights holders, however, remain critical of provisions in the German Copyright Act that allow exceptions for private copies of copyrighted works. Most rights holder organizations regard German authorities' enforcement of intellectual property protections as sufficient, although problems persist due to lenient court rulings in some cases and the difficulty of combating piracy of copyrighted works on the Internet.
The Berne Convention — spelled Bern or Berne — was instigated by the writer Victor Hugo in the late 19th century. It says copyright is established when the creator puts the work into fixed form, bypassing the need for registration. The Berne Convention also establishes a minimum term of 50 years after the author's death for written works. Cory Doctorow talks a bit about the Berne Convention in this Guardian article.
(Original Cable "Germany – Revised Investment Climate Statement 2010" 10BERLIN166)
A February 2010 cable from Geneva and the US Trade Representative discusses January 2010's 7th Working Party meeting on Yemen's Accession to the World Trade Organization, the in-progress effort to enter Yemen into the WTO. In a section about trading rights, the cable noted
The US and EU had additional concerns about certain requirements that only Yemeni nationals could be granted the technical clearance needed to import medicines, medical equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, books, newspapers, audiovisual and other artistic literary works, and requested that the Trading Rights Action Plan be updated to include information on these technical clearance requirements.
I suspect the technical clearance for Yemeni nationals who regulate the import of "artistic literary works" involves Yemen's prohibition against the import of "Any item offensive to Muslim culture." (Yemen's population is 98% Muslim.) Reporters Without Borders ranks Yemen within the bottom 10 of all nations for press freedom. This might or might not be relevant: a May 25, 2009 piece in the Yemen Times by Dr. A. K. Sharma said if "a nation has to import and export not only goods and commodities but also knowledge and skills, it has got to have an army of well-equipped and professionally competent translators." Currently Yemen isn't a member of the WTO.
A February 2010 cable from Beijing discussing the climate for foreign investment into China notes the country is a member of the Berne Convention (discussed above).
(Original Cable "2010 Investment Climate Statement – China" 10BEIJING303)
Another February cable discussing the climate for foreign investment, this time from the Colombo embassy, notes Sri Lanka is a party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (discussed above). Original literary works are protected under a 2003 Sri Lanka copyright law that was "intended to meet both U.S.-Sri Lanka bilateral IPR agreement and TRIPS obligations to a great extent." In a January 2003 article for Daily Variety, an entertainment-industry trade magazine, Bryan Pearson said the new law aimed to crack down on piracy; pirating software was "not illegal in Sri Lanka," Pearson wrote, and the island was a "paradise for fraudulent imports."
(Original Cable "Investment Climate Statement, 2010 – Sri Lanka" 10COLOMBO72)
Literary Cablegate, Number 2 of Many by Douglas Lucas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.douglaslucas.com. Seeking permissions beyond the scope of this license? Email me: email@example.com.


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Amarillo, Texas Car Accident Statute of Limitations
If you or a loved one has been injured in an Amarillo car accident that was caused by another motorist, you may be entitled to file an injury claim against the at-fault driver's insurance. This will allow you to seek fair compensation for your medical bills and other accident-related expenses. However, you only have a limited amount of time to file a claim for compensation following a car accident. In Texas, there are time limits known as the statute of limitations that you must follow when claiming compensation following that accident.
The statute of limitations specifies how long you have to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party or parties. If you fail to file your claim within the time allowed, you may end up losing your right to seek a financial recovery.
The statute of limitations means that you must move quickly to pursue a car accident claim. You need an aggressive, experienced personal injury lawyer to ensure that your claim is diligently pursued. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the car accident attorneys of Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., fight for the rights of car accident victims across Texas.
If you've been involved in a car accident, Call Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., today at (361) 882-4357 or fill out the contact form to schedule a no-cost consultation with a knowledgeable car accident lawyer. We'll discuss your legal options and how our firm can help you pursue financial recovery after your accident.
How Long After a Car Accident Can You Claim Injury in Amarillo, Texas?
Under Texas law, a driver involved in a car accident is required to report the accident to the local police department or sheriff's office if the accident resulted in the injury or death to any person involved in the accident.
The driver's insurance policy requires a driver to report an accident within a reasonable period of time, which may be as little as one or two days or as long as 30 days, as specified by the policy. If you fail to report your accident in the time required by your insurance policy, your insurer may deny a claim you make against your policy.
If you need to bring an injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver who caused the accident, Texas law requires that you file your lawsuit prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations. In the state of Texas, the statute of limitations for motor vehicle accidents is two years. This is measured from the date of injury and regardless of the type of incident that allegedly led to the injury. The affected party must bring suit for personal injury no later than two years after the day of the car crash, but under limited circumstances, more time may be allowed to file a lawsuit, such as for a child injury victim, or if the injured victim does not know the identity of the at-fault party or parties.
In addition, if you have a car accident claim against the government (such as if you were hit by an official vehicle), you must provide the government with notice of your claim prior to filing a lawsuit. In most cases, you must provide notice in a shorter time frame than the statute of limitations in your case. In Texas, you must provide the state with notice of your pending car accident claim within 180 days of the accident. Many counties and municipalities in Texas have even shorter notice periods, sometimes as short as 60 days after your accident.
Statute of Limitations on Car Accident Claims in Texas
If you file a claim for your injuries and damages suffered in your car accident against the car insurance company, you will need to follow the Texas statute of limitations on personal injury claims, which is two years, measured from the date of your accident.
However, if you have a claim against the car insurance company itself for denying a claim for benefits, other statutes of limitations come into play. For example, if you are bringing a breach of insurance contract claim against the insurance company, you have four years from the insurance company's alleged breach of the insurance policy to file your claim.
Alternatively, if you are bringing a claim of breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, or alleging that the insurance company violated the Texas Insurance Code, you must file your lawsuit within two years of the insurance company's statutory violation of breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.
What Happens If the Statute of Limitations Expires?
If you file a lawsuit after the expiration of the limitations period in your case, the court will dismiss your lawsuit, and you will be without an avenue to pursue compensation for your injuries and damages.
If you fail to provide timely notice of your claim against the government, or you do not get permission from the court to file a late notice, the court will be without jurisdiction to hear your lawsuit against the government and can dismiss any lawsuit you file.
However, courts do not dismiss late claims on their own. Instead, the defendant in the case must file a motion to have the case dismissed as untimely under the statute of limitations or tort claim notice requirements. You may be able to prove that the statute of limitations in your case was extended for some reason, or that you should be given leave to file a late tort claims notice for car accident claims against the government.
How to File a Car Accident Claim in Amarillo, Texas
Filing a car accident claim should begin with reporting the accident to the local police department or sheriff's office. The police will send an officer to prepare an accident report that will note details of the accident and may even include the officer's opinion as to how the accident occurred and who may have been at fault.
A police officer can summon emergency medical services if someone involved in the accident has been seriously hurt or appears to be in distress or summon the fire department if someone is trapped in a vehicle or if there is a risk of fire from fuel or other fluid leaks.
As soon as possible after your accident, you should report your accident to your insurance company, either at the scene of the accident or as soon as you are in a position to do so. If your car cannot be driven from the scene, your insurance company can arrange for towing and alternative transportation. Once you report your accident or file a claim with the insurance company, you will likely be contacted by a claims adjuster who will be the point person for your dealings with the insurance company.
If you have injuries from the accident, you should talk to a knowledgeable injury attorney before discussing the accident with an insurance adjuster. A car accident attorney at Herrman & Herrman can review the details of your accident and discuss whether you have a valid claim. We can help you understand the appropriate steps to take and whether you are entitled to hold the other driver's insurance company liable for your injuries.
If you decide to go to court, you will likely want the assistance of an experienced attorney who can ensure you have the strongest possible legal claim.
Contact an Amarillo, Texas Accident Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in an Amarillo car accident through no fault of your own, the car accident lawyers of Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., can help you pursue the compensation and justice you deserve. Our firm has office locations in Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi South Side, Brownsville, McAllen, San Antonio, Houston, and Ft. Worth. Our law firm utilizes an Accident Investigative Team to get to work building the strongest, most persuasive claim possible.
We are honored by the positive reviews and feedback we've received from our clients on Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms. We have a bilingual staff to serve both the English- and Spanish-speaking members of our community. Our firm also makes an effort to give back to our community, including providing innovation scholarships for high school and college students and sponsoring charity races and festivals that help many worthy causes in our community.
If you have a car accident claim, contact Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C., today to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our Amarillo auto accident attorneys to discuss your case and learn more about your legal rights and options for seeking compensation. Call us at (361) 882-4357 or fill out our website contact form to set up a consultation.


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Scientists have discovered traces of life more than half-a-billion years old that could change the way we think about how all animals evolved on earth.
The international team, including palaeontologists from The University of Manchester, found a new set of trace fossils left by some of the first ever organisms capable of active movement. Trace fossils are the tracks and burrows left by living organisms, not physical remains such as bones or body parts.
The fossils were discovered in sediment in the Corumbá region of western Brazil, near the border with Bolivia. The burrows measure from under 50 to 600 micrŷometres or microns (μm) in diameter, meaning the creatures that made them were similar in size to a human hair which can range from 40 to 300 microns in width. One micrometre is just one thousandth of a millimetre.
Dr Russell Garwood, from Manchester's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: 'This is an especially exciting find due to the age of the rocks – these fossils are found in rock layers which actually pre-date the oldest fossils of complex animals – at least that is what all current fossil records would suggest.'
The fossils found date back to a geological and evolutionary period known as the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition. This was when the Ediacaran Period, which spanned 94 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period, 635 million years ago, moved into the Cambrian Period around 541 million years ago. To put that into context, dinosaurs lived between 230 and 65 million years ago in the Mesozoic Era.
The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition is seen as extremely important period in evolutionary science and theory. Dr Garwood explains: 'The evolutionary events during the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition are unparalleled in Earth history. That's because current fossil records suggests that many animal groups alive today appeared in a really short time interval.'
However, the team suggest these burrows were created by 'nematoid-like organisms', similar to a modern-day roundworm, that used an undulating locomotion to move through the sediment, leaving these trace fossils behind. This is important because current DNA studies, known as 'molecular clocks', used to estimate how long ago a group animals originated, suggests the first animals appeared before these burrows. But this research, which has been published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows these trace fossils pre-date similar animals currently found in the fossil record.
Luke Parry, lead author from the University of Bristol, added: 'Our new fossils show that complex animals with muscle control were around approximately 550 million years ago, and they may have been overlooked previously because they are so tiny.
'The fossils that we describe were made by quite complex animals that we call bilaterians. These are all animals that are more closely related to humans, rather than to simple creatures like jellyfish. Most fossils of bilaterian animals are younger, first appearing in the Cambrian period.'
To find such tiny fossils the team used X-ray microtomography, a special technique that uses X-rays to create a virtual, 3D model of something without destroying the original object.
Luke added: 'Our discovery highlights an unexplored window for tracking animal evolution in deep time.'


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the new Extra-Firming collection
Return home
Day & Night
Put the spring back into your skin
- Skin looks lifted and nourished
- Fine lines are smoothed
- Hydrate and Nourish
- Fights pollution and free radicals
How does it work?
Science has the answers
Here are our latest scientific and botanical breakthroughs that revitalise your skin.
2018 firmness innovation
Improve firmness at the source
For the first time, Clarins laboratories have discovered specific areas within the skin where fibroblasts are grouped together in a protective nest. These clustered fibroblasts have high regeneration potential and new Extra-Firming helps to do exactly this.
The Clarins answer
Kangaroo flower extract
The ethnobotanists at Clarins travelled to Australia to study kangaroo flower extracts. The flowers that grow at the end of its stem increase the plant's ability to generate by attracting pollinating birds. Just like groups of young cells help the skin regenerate.
Constant innovation
Fortifying the firmness bonds
The last generation of Extra-Firming creams provided the best firming action by impacting all elements of firmness (elastin fibres, collagen fibres and fibroblasts) as well as the connections that anchor fibres to skin cells. In 2018, Clarins is boosting this action with a new plant-derived active ingredient.
The Clarins answer
Mitracarpus extract
Clarins sourced a new Mitracarpus extract in Burkina Faso with a triple action on collagen, elastin fibres and firming bonds that visibly improve the skin's elasticity and firmness.
Night chronobiological innovation
We regenerate at night.
The skin has its own rhythm. During the day, it fights off external aggressors like pollution, free radicals, UV rays and stress. At night-time, the skin rests and reaches the peak of regeneration, especially during the "golden hours" between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM.
Slowing momentum
Night-time regeneration
By comparing the nocturnal activities of young and old fibroblasts, Clarins discovered that regeneration slows down with age.
The Clarins answer
Moonstone hydrated silica
By acting on the fibroblast's two nocturnal mechanisms affected by age, moonstone hydrated silica helps optimise the skin's nocturnal regeneration process.
Additional actions
Clarins skincare expertise
Extra-Firming provides the latest scientific and botanical breakthroughs in caring for your skin.
Hydrate and Nourish
Shea butter
Extra-Firming includes shea butter to help soothe and protect skin's firmness.
Organic leaf of life extract
Organic leaf of life extract helps encourage the natural hydration of the skin. Your skin's capacity to retain moisture is restored. The extract used by Clarins Laboratories is organic.
Anti-pollution protection
Stops premature ageing
Your skin needs as much protection as it can get against external stress, the new Clarins Anti-Pollution Complex prevents ageing of the skin by targeting the harmful effects of internal and external pollutants.
Skin barrier function
A red algae common to the coasts of the North Atlantic, furcellaria extract helps protect pollution-exposed skin against dehydration.
Antioxidant No. 1
Organic sanicle
Rich in antioxidant rosmarinic acid, organic sanicle extract helps protect the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals.
Antioxidant No. 2
African ebony tree
African ebony extract protects the skin against the harmful effects of pollution and free radicals.
Stimulating our natural defenses
Organic succory
Succory dock-cress extract, with its anti-free radical properties, helps stimulate the skin's natural defense against environmental aggressors.
All-over radiance
Long live glowing skin!
As we age and our hormones change, our skin is increasingly susceptible to pigmentation and age spots. Don't worry! Extra-Firming contains active ingredients that fight dull complexions.
Even complexion
Desert date
Popular in the dry regions of Africa and Asia where it's used as food for humans and livestock, a medicinal plant, building material and fuel. Organic desert date extract, selected by Clarins research, helps to even skin's complexion, reducing the appearance of age spots.
Instant smoothing effect
Instant beauty
At 40, keep skin visibly firm and radiant with the new
Extra-Firming Collection.
The Clarins answer
Organic oat sugars
Oat sugars instantly firm and tighten the skin.
Make it glow
Acerola seed
By reactivating the skin's oxygenation process, Acerola seed improves radiance.
Does it work?
That's the most important question!
The effectiveness of our products is a top priority. That is why they all undergo a series of clinical and consumer tests. But, naturally, the ultimate test is when you use it at home!
Experts prove it
New Skin Expert Firming Duo
+89.5%*agreed Skin is firmer
+86.7%*agreed Skin is lifted
+88.7%*agreed Skin is nourished
+84.3%*agreed Skin is smoother
* Satisfaction test - Extra-Firming Day All skin types & Extra-Firming Night All skin types - 102 women - 14 days.
Women approve
What women are saying
Now it's your turn to try!
Submit the form below to receive your 7-day sample to try new Extra-Firming.
The Clarins Bonus
What makes us different
At Clarins, we are constantly concerned with the quality and effectiveness of our products. Every day, our teams strive to combine effectiveness with skincare that is pleasant to use, while ensuring it respects nature and people.
Face fitness studio
Give your face a workout!
To complement your Extra-Firming Day & Night routine, doing these three exercises every day will help to tone and firm up your facial muscles.
Instantly tightens features
Open your mouth and smile as widely as you can while lifting the outer corners of the lips.
Muscles worked: Zygomaticus muscles and risorius
Facial contours
Improves firmness
Open your mouth and push the tongue against the back of your upper teeth as hard as you can.
Muscle worked: Digastric
Nasolabial fold
Reduces appearance of the nasolabial fold
Open your mouth to form an 'O', then curl your upper lip over the gums.
Muscle worked: Nasolabial
Sensory experience
We never forget about feeling great!
In addition to unprecedented anti-ageing effectiveness, the new Extra-Firming Day & Night offers ultra-sensorial textures, and sleek packaging.
Day creams
Totally irresistible
The soft and nourishing Extra-Firming textures provide an instant feeling of comfort as well as a visible firming effect.
*Satisfaction test - Extra-Firming Day All Skin Types - 107 women - 28 days.
Night creams
Instant pampering
The soft and nourishing Extra-Firming textures provide an instant feeling of comfort as well as a visible firming effect.
94.4%*Creamy texture
*Satisfaction test - Extra-Firming Night All Skin Types - 109 women - 28 days.
Sustainable development
Caring about the future
Extra-Firming Day & Night exemplifies the brand's commitment to preserving biodiversity and making life better for future generations.
Recycled materials
Caring about our resources
We use 25% recycled glass and cardboard from sustainably managed forests Clarins helps protect natural resources by sourcing sustainable materials and promoting a circular economy that puts the raw materials from recycling back into circulation.
Organic active ingredients
Caring about biodiversity
85% of the active ingredients in Extra-Firming Day & Night are derived from plants and 50% of them are organic.
Fair trade
Caring about people
Clarins has three fair-trade agreements in partnership with the Jardins du Monde association. The purchase price for leaf of life, mitracarpus extract and African ebony tree includes a contribution to improve the economic and social development of the people who harvest them.
Extraction method
Caring about the environment
A new biomimetic extraction method that respects plants and the environment, NADES*.
Biomimetic extraction inspired by the plant intracellular environment is utilised to extract low-soluble molecules in the lipid and aqueous phases, which before then had been difficult to extract with conventional extraction methods.
Agri-sourced biodegradable green solvents.
*Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents


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Happy Halloween from NASA and ESA!
Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With a modern calendar, however, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day. Halloween's modern celebration retains historic roots in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting tribute to this ancient holiday is this view of the Ghost Head Nebula taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar to the icon of a fictional ghost, NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Ghost Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years and is shown in representative colors.


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Easier to use products through auto-settings and better visibility.
Improve productivity with technologies that enhance efficiency and save you money.
Optimize your operation through advanced welding processes, training and weld data monitoring.
TIG welding thin aluminum? Don't ball your tungsten - sharpen it. To advance everyone's knowledge, this aluminations answers questions on welding thin material, describes the operation and benefits of AC balance control and discusses selecting a TIG welder based on amperage requirements.
Using AC to TIG weld aluminum evolved from the need to remove the oxide layer that forms on its surface. The electrode positive (EP) portion of the AC cycle, in which electricity flows from the work to the tungsten, "blasts" off surface oxides. The electrode negative (EN) portion of the cycle does the actual welding, directing heat from the tungsten into the metal.
When Miller engineers invented the Squarewave AC output, they also discovered that an unbalanced AC wave form works best for many applications. That's why lighter-duty machines, like the Syncrowave® 180 SD, feature a fixed balance control set for more penetration (60% EN) than cleaning (40% EP), as shown in Fig. 1.
Miller also invented adjustable balance control. This feature permits tailoring the EN/EP ratio to match an application. For example, Miller's Syncrowave® 250 and Syncrowave® 350 LX let you adjust EN values from 45 to 68% (32 to 45% EP).
Greater amounts of EN create a deeper, narrower weld bead and better joint penetration. This helps when welding thick material, or it may permit faster travel speeds. Conversely, greater EP values remove more oxide and create a shallower, wider bead (see Fig. 2). On materials that have a heavy oxide layer or cast aluminum, increasing the cleaning action minimizes the chance of foreign particles becoming included, promoting a better weld.
No hard rules exist for setting balance control. The typical error involves over-balancing the cycle. Too much EP creates a large ball on the end of the tungsten. Consequently, the arc loses stability and you can't control arc direction or the weld puddle; arc starts also degrade. Too little EP results in a scummy weld puddle. Add more cleaning action if the puddle looks like it has black pepper flakes floating on top.
When choosing a TIG welder, consider how much amperage you need for a given thickness. To weld aluminum less than 3/16 in., a 15 to 180 amp machine like the Syncrowave 180 SD works well. For thicker metal, or if you want adjustable balance control, the Syncrowave 250 with its 5 to 310 amp range makes sense. Consider the Syncrowave 350 LX and its 3 to 400 amp output for work on heavy sections, or when you need a full-featured machine with pulsing control, Lift-Arc™ and a sequencer option.
For more specifications on Miller's Syncrowave family or information on TIG welding, call 1-800-4-A-MILLER (800-426-4553, ext. 604).
Q. How do I pick a TIG welder for thin gauge aluminum?
A. First, recall that you need about 1 amp of heat for every .001 in. of metal (e.g., you need a welder that goes down to 15 amps AC for work on .015 in. aluminum). Next, consider a machine with a reputation for a stable arc and good starts at low amperages, such as one of Miller Electric's Syncrowave® units. Lastly, note that many fabricators use high-end TIG welders for fine detail work because of their low amperage capabilities.
Q. I keep making holes in thin material. What can I do?
A. Try a set-up that gives you finer control over amperage adjustments. If your foot pedal and front panel amperage control have a leader/follower relationship, limit output on the machine (e.g., if you need 20 amps, set the machine at 40). Now the entire range of foot pedal motion only controls a fraction of the welder's output. In other words, 1 in. of travel might change the heat by 5 amps, not 50.
Q. Should I ball a pure tungsten electrode for welding thin material?
A. No. Instead use a 3/32 in. tungsten with 2% cerium (2% thorium is second choice), grind it to a point and put a small land on the end. Compared to a balled tungsten, a pointed electrode provides greater arc control and lets you direct the amperage precisely at the joint, minimizing distortion.
View Online Arc Shaping Videos
Frequency, or Hz, is the number of times the AC TIG arc switches between electrode negative and electrode positive in one second. Miller's Dynasty™ 300 DX inverter-based TIG power source permits adjusting output frequency from 20 to 250 Hz. Conventional TIG machines have a frequency fixed to that of the 60 Hz primary power.
Increasing the frequency narrows the shape of the arc cone and increases the arc force. This stabilizes the arc, reduces arc wandering and provides excellent directional control over the arc. On lap and T-joints, using a higher frequency lets you establish the weld puddle exactly at the root (view 200 Hz arc shaping video). This can ensure good penetration, control bead width and minimize the etched zone. With a 60 Hz output on fillet welds, the wider arc dances from plate to plate. The puddle starts at the toes of the weld and flows toward the center (view 60 Hz video). On some joints, you're almost compelled to over-weld to ensure penetration at the root.
Other Aluminations Articles
Issue 1 - See if an inverter-based AC/DC TIG machine that incorporates advanced Squarewave technology can improve your operation.
Issue 2 - How to TIG weld thin aluminum, adjust balance control and determine amperage requirements.
Issue 3 - New push-pull feeder technology improves MIG welding.
Issue 4 - Why you should consider pulsed MIG for your aluminum welding jobs.
Issue 5 - When you control the shape of an AC TIG weld bead, you control profitability.
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[An updated treatment of this material appears in Chapter 15 of the Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet (free) textbook.]
A recent thrust on Do the Math has been to sort our renewable energy options into "abundant," "potent," and "niche" boxes. This is a reflection of my own mathy introduction to the energy scene, the result of which convinced me that we face giant—and ultimately insurmountable—hurdles in our quest to continue a growth trajectory. It is not obvious that we will even manage to maintain today's energy standards. We have many more sources/topics to cover before moving on to the "now what" phase of Do the Math. Meanwhile, requests for me to address the nuclear story are mounting. So before readers become mutinous, I should interrupt the renewable thread to present my nuclear reaction. It's a rich topic, and in this post I will only give a tutorial introduction and my big-picture take. A single post can't possibly address all the nuances, so my main goal here is to demystify what nuclear is all about, build a vocabulary, and set a foundation for further discussion in later posts.
Nuclear Basics
First of all, it is important to understand that a nuclear power plant operates in almost entirely the same way as a coal-fired plant. The chief difference is in the source of heat. For the coal plant, pulverized coal is combusted in a giant furnace to deliver heat to water, thereby generating steam that drives the turbines. Nuclear plants use energetic fission events to create heat, generating steam that drives the turbines. Did you pick up on the similarity?
Thus nuclear plants are merely heat engines that extract useful work from some fraction of the thermal energy flowing from a hot source (flame or fission) to a "cold" source (condenser). The hourglass-shaped cooling towers that came to symbolize nuclear power may just as often be found in modern coal-fired plants away from large bodies of water. Conversely, nuclear plants near large bodies of water (like San Onofre in SoCal) lack cooling towers and are rather compact installations.
Before we go on, let's make sure we're all on the same phonetic page. A branch of Fizzics deals with with the nukulous of atums, and this is where nukular energy comes from. I think there may be some operating plants in Texas. In this post, we'll deal with the physics of nuclear energy arising from the nucleus of atoms. When in doubt, think "Let's be clear—we're dealing with nu-clear."
Okay, I just had to get that off my chest—partly to confront my Southern heritage. The main point so far is that nuclear plants are only complicated in how they produce their heat. After that, it's standard fare. And due to their similar design, both achieve something like 30–40% efficiency in converting thermal energy into useful electricity.
Fission Basics
Heavy nuclei can be split apart by blasting them with high-energy particles and having extremely good aim. But this is no fun, since the requisite energetic particles can be hard to produce. Nature provides a subtle trick, however, in that three semi-stable nuclei are capable of splitting apart by the mere introduction of an extra (slow) neutron. These are 233U, 235U, and 239Pu. That's uranium and plutonium to most of us. The preceding superscript denotes the total number of nucleons—another name for protons and neutrons—contained in the nucleus. Uranium always has 92 protons, while plutonium always has 94 protons (it's what makes them what they are: chemically, it's all about how the neutral atoms behave, containing 92 and 94 electrons in differing configurations, respectively). This leaves 141, 143, and 145 neutrons in 233U, 235U, and 239Pu, respectively.
As an aside, what pattern do you notice in the names uranium and plutonium? Hint: there is one element in between. Further hint: its name is neptunium. Considering that Pluto has been voted out of the planet club, perhaps it's overdue that we vote plutonium off the periodic table! Hmmm. Astronomy textbooks are changing, but I suspect that Pluto's planetary status will be immortalized in chemistry textbooks.
Left alone, 233U, 235U, and 239Pu will spontaneously decay (not by fission, but by emission of an alpha particle: two protons and two neutrons in a tidy chunk) on a timescale, or half-life, of 159,000, 704 million, and 24,000 years, respectively. But if we add one more neutron to any of these, they stand a significant chance of splitting into two large chunks and a few spare neutrons. The aggregate particle count does not change in the process. The extra neutrons are left to wander into other fissile nuclei and keep the process going—called a chain reaction. In order for this to work, one must control the likelihood that neutrons get absorbed by non-fissile material (including control rods), and have enough fissile nuclei about to keep the process humming (critical mass).
For instance, if we add a neutron to 235U, it momentarily becomes 236U before splitting into, for example, 97Rb and 137Cs plus two spare neutrons. Because heavier nuclei are increasingly neutron-rich (protons repel each other, so the fewer the merrier in a large nucleus), the "daughter" nuclei are exceedingly neutron rich for their tax bracket, and start converting neutrons to protons via "beta" decay, ejecting high-energy electrons in the process. Thus we say that the daughter nuclei are radioactive and emit damaging (ionizing) radiation in the form of fast electrons that can rip right through your DNA. In the above example, the daughter nuclei are short-lived: within a few seconds, the rubidium beta-decays several times through strontium and yttrium, pausing at zirconium for about a day, then spending a minute as niobium, finally retiring as a stable isotope of molybdenum (97Mo). The cesium lasts for about 30 years (half life) and beta-decays to a stable barium isotope (137Ba).
There is no controlling what the daughter products will be. In practice, they cover a distribution of middling-sized nuclei in two groups (one around 135 nucleons and the other around 95—sometimes called "fish and chips"—see figure below). As a rule, they will be neutron-rich and undergo beta decays on a whole range of timescales—some getting stuck for thousands of years. It is also possible that the absorbed neutron fails to spur fission, and the nucleus keeps absorbing neutrons to create "trans-uranic," or actinide radioactive waste. The unstable daughter nuclei (fission products) and trans-uranic nuclei are what make spent nuclear fuel hazardous—often for very long times.
We've looked at the accounting of splitting atoms, but where does the heat come from? When these nuclei and neutrons erupt from the unstable nucleus, they fly apart, carrying kinetic energy. As they rudely bump into surrounding atoms, they deposit this energy as a cacophony of motion/vibration in the solid lattice. We call this heat. A typical fission event releases about 200 MeV of energy—the energetics of which we will revisit later.
Fuel Options
Of the three slow-neutron fissile nuclei, only 235U is found naturally. The other two have substantially shorter half-lives, so the 233U and 239Pu provided in the initial supernova-generated stock of material for Earth has long since decayed away. Meanwhile, 235U has decayed much faster than its sister 238U, which has a half-life of 4.5 billion years (coincidentally about the age of Earth, so we have half of our original stock of 238U). Today, 99.3% of natural uranium is the impotent 238U variety, the remaining 0.7% being the fissile 235U. This is a very significant fact.
But there is a back door. Reactor fuel is typically enriched to be 3–5% 235U, leaving lots of 238U in the reactor. When 238U happens to gobble up one of the wandering neutrons, it becomes 239U, which is unstable and undergoes two beta decays in a matter of days to become—presto!—239Pu. Now we have two fissile contributors in the reactor, and in practice 239Pu contributes something like a third of the total energy in a typical reactor.
Some reactors are designed to be especially efficient at generating 239Pu, and these are called breeder reactors, built to make weapons material. On the energy front, breeders open up 140 times more uranium supply than is found naturally in 235U, by using the ubiquitous 238U nuclei. The principle problem with breeders is that plutonium is chemically distinct from uranium, making it very straightforward to isolate and make bombs. Conversely, the two isotopes of uranium are notoriously difficult to separate (enrich). Enrichment is a significant hurdle to those who strive to have nuclear weapons. Abundant plutonium would change the calculus considerably, tipping the scale toward weapons proliferation.
A similar back-door trick can be used to breed 232Th into fissile 233U (taking a month to work through the beta decays). Thorium is several times more abundant in Earth's crust than uranium. It's not fissile out of the ground like 235U is: some assembly required. In that sense, it is not terribly different from 238U. One of the main differences is that the bred 233U is often contaminated with 232U, which has a 69 year half-life and is a prodigious emitter of high-energy gamma radiation along its decay chain. After one year, the escalating radiation level from uranium that is 5 parts per million 232U is seven times higher than that of reactor-grade plutonium, and about 50 times worse than weapons-grade plutonium (reference). And because the gamma ray emission is higher-energy than the corresponding emission from plutonium, it is harder to shield.
The bottom line is that 232U contamination of thorium-produced 233U makes 233U very dangerous to handle, which is considered to deter proliferation (easy for terrorists to find uneducated martyrs, harder to find nuclear technicians willing to sacrifice their lives). Deliberate contamination with 232U would help curtail proliferation, and would make the substance easier to detect from its gamma emission.
I will no doubt get a lot of flak for not gushing over the advantages of thorium over conventional uranium reactors. It is not hard to find accounts extolling all the virtues—including chewing through our current stock of spent fuel (though no help on daughter products) and passive dumping in a loss-of-cooling emergency (if the salt plugs work properly). But it's not all a bed of roses, and I sense that there's a bit of "hopium" mixed in. I will need to spend time studying thorium more fully before I can say much more.
Because it's fun to apply E = mc², I'll use the example above of 235U plus a neutron producing 97Rb and 137Cs plus two neutrons. A neutron has a rest-mass of 1.0087 atomic mass units (a.m.u.: 1.6605×10−27 kg), and 235U has a rest-mass of 235.043 a.m.u. On the other side, 97Rb is 96.937 a.m.u. and 137Cs is 136.907 a.m.u. If we add up the initial mass, we get 236.05 a.m.u., and for the final mass we get 235.86 a.m.u. (235.83 after all beta decays are done).
Somebody stole 0.2 atomic mass units! Putting this into E = mc² (with mass in kg and c ≈ 3×108 m/s), we find the missing amount to be 3×10−11 Joules. It might not sound like much, but a gram of 235U contains 2.6×1021 atoms, for a net of 76 GJ of energy. This amounts to about 20 million kilocalories per gram—over a million times more potent than chemical energy. This is why nuclear is such hot stuff—literally.
Fuel Availability
To put a scale on things, the world's energy appetite, at 13 TW, would require the expenditure of about 20 grams of 235U per second: a seemingly paltry amount. That works out to about 600 tons per year. In terms of total uranium (235U is only 0.7%), we would therefore need to dig out about 800,000 tons yearly. At present, the world uses about 60,000 tons of uranium per year (correcting for the fact that 85% of the yellowcake ore—U3O8—is actual uranium), even though only 0.75 TW (thermal) of power currently derives from nuclear reactors worldwide. Scaling this number to 13 TW implies a need for 1 million tons of uranium per year, in reasonable agreement with our first estimate.
So how much uranium resource exists in the world? The World Nuclear Association puts the number at about 5.4 million tons of ore (4.6 t U). At present rates of use and no more exploration, this suggests 80 years of resource. But nuclear is just 6% of global energy production. In the spirit of stacking each energy resource up against our total demand—as I have done for solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric, etc.—the implication is that we would deplete our resource in a mere 6 years if we required conventional nuclear power to be our sole source of energy!
That's the scary/extreme version of the story. We would no doubt identify additional resources (at higher extraction cost) if push came to shove. Presently, nuclear fuel is not the cost driver for generating nuclear electricity, so there is room for mining costs to increase before nuclear gets more expensive (already loses economic competitions, though). Still, doubling or tripling the resource does not break us out of the few-decade regime. Therefore conventional nuclear cannot provide a long-term replacement for fossil fuels—and it's not nearly as convenient in any case.
If it became economical, we could harvest uranium from the ocean, where each cubic meter of seawater contains about 3 mg of uranium (3 parts per billion). At a volume of 1.3 billion cubic kilometers, this translates to 4 billion tons, extending the supply by a factor of nearly 1000.
We also must consider the breeder angle. Only 0.7% of natural uranium is fissile, so breeders can extend the scope by a factor of 140. Now our decade scale is a millennium scale. Likewise for thorium, which is a breeder program from the start, and arrives on the scene more abundant than uranium.
So Do We, or Don't We?
You are indeed a patient lot, bearing with me through a lengthy pedagogical exposition when all along you just want to know whether nuclear will be a major component of our future and can scale sufficiently to put our minds at ease with respect to energy scarcity.
And my answer is: I could imagine it going either way. After all, I would likely not be motivated to "do the math" on our various energy options if I thought that nuclear would simply take care of business without worry.
Even though nuclear fission does not represent a renewable resource (at best we're dealing with millennia, not eons), breeder programs can make it last long enough for me to throw it into the "abundant" box. Absent breeders, I must put conventional nuclear employing conventional mining into the "niche" box, since it can't supply over a quarter of our demand for a meaningfully long period. Ocean harvesting allows conventional nuclear to jump straight over "potent" back to "abundant." It's worth emphasizing that we can't simply ramp up the nuclear we know and—ahem—love, and expect to get much out of it.
So the prospects for nuclear are all over the map. As such, economic, sociological, and practical concerns—more so than physics/math—will determine how large a role nuclear will play.
Practical Matters
Let's start with the obvious. Nuclear represents yet another way of creating electricity. Between solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal, wave, ocean currents, etc.—granted, some of these are puny—we are not running short of ways to generate electricity. Nuclear has no special power over the others to alleviate the liquid fuels crunch we will soon experience. Like all the other options, it's no panacea. It's not the silver bullet we might hope to find.
Nuclear power does not tolerate rapid changes in power output. It can adjust over a matter of hours, not minutes or seconds. It is therefore not useful for balancing short-term intermittency arising demand fluctuations or from wind and solar, etc. On the flip side, it does not have problems with intermittency. It could therefore be a useful baseload source, which accounts for about a third of peak electricity demand, and about two-thirds of total electricity produced.
Unlike solar or wind, nuclear will not be distributed, but will be centralized into large, expensive, high-tech facilities. Successful operation of a large fleet of nuclear power plants requires a highly functional, stable society with an educated workforce—you know, like Homer Simpson and buddies Lenny and Carl (I was surprised to learn that Lenny "actually" has a master's degree in nuclear physics). So nuclear looks fine if our transition to the future is smooth and orderly. If we get caught off guard by energy scarcity—possibly leading to hoarding, resource wars, severe economic crashes, and other surprises—then it may be very difficult to mount a strong nuclear response. In other words, nuclear is the most technologically challenging of our primary energy options, so that we risk not having it together enough to pursue the nuclear road when the need becomes apparent. Things would have to get pretty bad before this self-limiting effect kicks in, and I cannot easily assess how likely such a scenario might be. As such, this consideration is not the reason I'm not hyped about nuclear, but it is certainly a factor to bear in mind. Nuclear requires advanced planning, and is not going to be an effective pinch-hitter in a crunch.
Then of course we have the pesky issues of waste storage (unsolved worldwide after five decades), proliferation of weapons-grade material (relevant for breeders), and safety. True, radiation levels outside a coal-fired plant are higher than outside a nuclear plant—until they're not. Three-mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima certainly violated this "truism." When nuclear plants have trouble, the trouble can be pretty unsettling.
Societal Factors
This brings us to the societal angle. People fear nuclear power, almost as much as they fear nukular power. First, we form a mental connection with the most destructive weapons known to man. The connection becomes real when proliferation is considered. Second, when nuclear plants have trouble, it's big news—leading to out-sized fear. More people die from bee stings than from shark attacks, yet our fear of the shark is vastly greater than our fear of bees. Crazier yet, we don't run screaming from cars—as deadly as they are—and will actually wade into a parking lot packed with these killers. Third, we have not been able to implement a waste storage scheme yet, holding spent fuel indefinitely at nuclear plants in swimming pools that were meant to provide temporary storage only.
Public acceptance of nuclear power plants tends to run counter to their acceptance of Congressional Representatives. Huh? We (in the U.S.) tend to despise Congress, giving approval ratings as low as 10% for the job they do. Meanwhile, our local Representative has a 90% chance of re-election because they're perceived to be one of the good eggs. Conversely, we might overall begrudgingly accept nuclear power at a national level, but not in our district, please. We invoke the NIMBY (not in my back yard) response to almost any new proposed facility (wind, solar, coal-fired plant, etc.), but our aversion to nuclear is on a whole different level.
As a scientist who understands what nuclear energy is all about—that a power plant cannot detonate, that nominal radiation levels outside the plant are quite low, that natural radiation is far greater (especially during air travel), and that nuclear fuel is hyper-efficient compared to chemical sources—I don't personally harbor an intrinsic knee-jerk fear of nuclear power. Nor do I discount the waste storage complications, the potential for proliferation, or the finite nature of the resource. These are legitimate societal concerns (see the Union of Concerned Scientists' super-solid analysis on the pros and cons). I am also aware of the complexity inherent in building and maintaining a nuclear plant, and that the energy derived is never going to be "too cheap to meter," as was once promised.
Sure, molten salt thorium reactors could ease some of these concerns (and bring about new ones). As I said, I need to look at this option in more depth. One thing I know already: nuclear is far more complicated than many of our other other options (e.g., solar, wind), relies on rare materials for fuel, and has serious societal barriers. That said, it has some very nice properties as well: stable power output, low carbon, potentially abundant fuel (if economies allow), and decades of experience (on certain reactor types).
On Balance
In the end, I think nuclear is likely to play an increasing role in our energy story. Energy hardship will trump concerns over waste, proliferation, and safety. As long as such hardship does not bind us in an Energy Trap or plunge us into dysfunction, we will likely build more plants. But because nuclear does not smack the primary problem right on the kisser (fossil fuel substitute), I doubt it will be heralded as the answer to our prayers, and imagine that its role will be correspondingly modest.
Are you as disappointed in my non-committal answer as I am? Perhaps I could have saved us all a lot of time, and just said: "Meh."
We'll see fusion next week.
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Marriott International introduces Fairfield Brand to Asia
Marriott International expands its brand offering today in Asia with the opening of its first Fairfield by Marriott hotel in Bengaluru, India. Known as an established leader in the moderate tier segment, the brand offers guests a productive stay with well-designed rooms and consistent and reliable service at an exceptional value. Considered a growth engine for the company's expansion in Asia with 12 hotels signed in India and additional properties signed in Nepal and Indonesia, Fairfield represents an excellent opportunity for Marriott International to move into new locations and markets.
Marriott international offers nearly 20 brands globally with eight in Asia Pacific. The addition of the Fairfield brand to this area enhances the company's ability to meet the increasing demands for international moderate tier brands.
Talking at the opening, Don Cleary, Marriott Internationals COO in Asia said: "The timing is right and the market is primed for a brand like Fairfield. The brand has a long history in service and offers innovative design at an affordable price, which combined gives us a huge strategic advantage in many markets across the region."
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Fairfield - Bangalore - Twin RoomIntroduced in 1987, Fairfield is Marriott's solution for affordability, quality and innovation in its segment. Marriott is committed to making the Fairfield brand the preferred lodging option for travelers in the moderate tier, as well as a strong development opportunity for owners and franchisees. With more than 715 properties throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and now India, Fairfield is designed to provide both business and leisure guests with just what they need so travel is uncomplicated and successful.
"We couldn't be more excited to bring our unique Fairfield experience into Asia. Fairfield sets the standard of delivering a great hotel experience at an affordable price point. Contemporary design and quality service should not have to come with a heavy price tag," said Shruti Gandhi Buckley, Vice President Global Brand Management, for Fairfield Inn & Suites at Marriott International. "For over a year, we conducted research in India and Asia to better understand guests' preferences around the guest rooms, public spaces and food and beverage offerings. The Fairfield product in Asia is a direct result of the research, ensuring we deliver a product that is truly designed for the value-seeking Asian business traveler and is differentiated from the competition."
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Peter Blasser is President and Designer of the electronic instrument producing entity known as Ciat-Lonbarde. The device plans on their site display a refreshing ability for incorporating chance and forcing experimentation – evidenced by instructions from the Paper Circuits collection (which almost simultaneously do and don't make sense).
[…] resistors with an X can be any value form 10k to 100k, randomer is better. chip "4015" is CD4015 CMOS register. Hairy capacitors come in pairs, they should be most similar within these pairs for the most variety.
There are three buttons: 1,2, and 4. When you have buttons 1 and 2 down, you are playing note 3, which you can tune with trimmer pots 3 and 3. In other words, the three buttons are binary counters for pitch. Figure it out.
Build your own approximation on, appropriately enough, paper (through-hole of course) –
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The Neighbor
Lorhainne Eckhart
(The O'Connells, #1)
Publication date: January 31st 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense
After the devastating loss of her husband, Jenny Sweetgrass packs up her teenage daughter, Alison, and moves to Livingston, Montana, hoping for a fresh start—that is, until Ryan O'Connell knocks on her door.
Park ranger Ryan is one of the six O'Connell siblings in Livingston, raised by an independent mom who has been a rock to him. He has a career he loves, and up until six weeks ago, he lived a comfortable life. When a new neighbor moves in and disturbs the quiet peace of the area, bringing with her a daughter who's walking trouble, Ryan is shocked to discover that the woman is a one-night stand he picked up at a bar years ago.
Right now, the gorgeous Jenny isn't too interested in making friends, but despite her cool façade, as Ryan gets to know her, he can't fight an idiotic need to try to ease the pain he sees her trying to hide. At the same time, he knows deep down that both mother and daughter have a secret, and if he were smart, he would listen to his brother's warning and walk away.
When Alison goes missing, everyone in town believes she simply ran off or found her way into trouble, but nothing about her disappearance adds up. She simply set out on an afternoon hike into the park and never came back.
Jenny soon learns she's not alone when Ryan takes matters into his own hands and sets off with her into the park to find her daughter. What he doesn't know is that Alison is actually his daughter, too, and when he learns the truth and the real reason she left, the secret could end up dividing the O'Connell family and the community.
He didn't smile this time, but his gaze seemed intense, hard. "So you bought this and moved in a few weeks ago. Just you and your daughter live here? You didn't say last night if there was a husband, boyfriend, significant other in the picture or any other kids."
She hadn't bought the house, but she wasn't about to share that with Ryan. "As I said, it's just me and my daughter." Something about kneeling in front of a man didn't work for her, so she brushed her hands together to wipe off some non-existent dirt, pressed them to the grass, scooted her feet around, and stood up.
Ryan didn't even step back. Just the scent of him made her angry, because it was too appealing. She let her arms hang to her sides even when he allowed his gaze to skim over her. It was intimate and egotistical and indecent, as if he thought looking at her was his God-given right. His arms were crossed over that amazing chest, which she'd felt skin to skin just one time.
"Your daughter…" he started, and she knew he was waiting for her to step in.
"You mean Alison? Yes, my daughter." She fisted her hands again and could feel her nails digging into her palms.
This time, he did smile, and he pulled his gaze over to the house. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was interrogating her. "Yeah, Alison. You have a talk with her about the noise? It's been going on every night since you moved here. I'm assuming you're not home at night? She's like, what, sixteen, seventeen…"
Oh, here we go. The topic of Alison wasn't open for discussion. "She's almost fifteen, and I work afternoons, evenings. Again, I told you the noise won't happen anymore. I know about it now, and I put my foot down."
Actually, her daughter was fourteen and three months, nowhere close to being fifteen. Regarding the stereo, Jenny had yanked the audio connection from the speaker and hid it in her underwear drawer, because her daughter hadn't been known for her compliance as of late, as illustrated by the nose ring two weeks earlier and the jet-black hair the previous week.
"Where do you work?" Ryan asked. Boy, she was really getting the sense of a full-out interrogation.
"Mini-mart," she said. Counting cash in the back room and reconciling statements for the small grocery store was the only job she was qualified for, considering her late husband had been the sole breadwinner—his insistence and her mistake.
Author Bio:
With flawed strong characters, characters you can relate to, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Lorhainne Eckhart writes the kind of books she wants to read. She is frequently a Top 100 bestselling author in multiple genres, and her second book ever published, The Forgotten Child, is no exception. With close to 900 reviews on Amazon, translated into German and French, this book was such a hit that the long running Friessen Family series was born. Now with over sixty titles and multiple series under her belt her big family romance series are loved by fans worldwide. A recipient of the 2013, 2015 and 2016 Readers' Favorite Award for Suspense and Romance, Lorhainne lives on the sunny west-coast Gulf Island of Salt Spring Island, is the mother of three, her oldest has autism and she is an advocate for never giving up on your dreams.
FTC Guidelines: In accordance with FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials for bloggers, I would like my readers to know that many of the books I review are provided to me for free by the publisher or author of the book in exchange for an honest review. If am compensated for any reviews on this site I will state that post has been sponsored.