supplementary shows

ASFO 2023–04–22

While some people are celebrating “Earth Day”, I prefer to wait until 20 July and celebrate “Get Me Off This Earth Day”. Also, observations on German rural life and Kleingartenanlagen (allotment gardens), and some new thoughts about the “Theatre of the Atom”.

2023–04–25 More from Vignettes in Nuclear Medicine by Marshall Brucer, MD. End of №7, Lowell Erf and the New Cure for Leukaemia (Phosphorus–32), carried over from last time ; №8, The *T3 Test (TBI and Other Procedures) ; and the first part of №9, The Sex Life of the Screw Worm Fly, The Taxonomy of Medical Radioisotope Scanning.
2023–04–28 Conclusion of Vignette №9 ; №10, Sixty–Five Years of Medical Radioisotope Scanning (Which is Clinically Really Only About Five Years Old) ; and the first part of №11, The Rea$on for Radioi$otope$ in Medi¢ine.

A yellow pin-back badge with a black radiation trefoil, in which the center dot and upper foil have been replaced with a red dot and a curved-over red line, and the slogan "Nuclear power affects your sex life" — A typical antinuclear tactic : make a false claim that elicits a strong emotional response

ASFO 2023–04–15

The sleep of reason (it has been said) brings forth monsters. Whether that is the shutting down of nuclear power in Germany, or of public lending libraries in the United States of America, it is clear that those monsters are loose in our world. To oppose and overcome them requires being intellectually awake and alive.

A clipping from “Physics World”, 1989 January number, with the headline “50 Years of Fission : Exhibition destroyed”. Corresponded Richard Sietmann, in Berlin, describes how masked intruders broke into the Technical University on 2 December 1988, less than an hour before the official opening of an exhibit to commemorate the discovery of fission by Hahn and Strassman in 1938, and destroyed it, causing thens of thousands of marks in damage. The University cancelled the exhibition. — The item from “Physics World”, 1989 January, which I read during the show. The Institute of Physics (publishers of the magazine) were kind enough to furnish a copy of the opinion piece referred to, and it can be found under “Supplementary Shows” for 2023–04–29.

Supplementary Shows

2023–04–18 Continuing Vignettes in Nuclear Medicine by Marshall Brucer, MD. №5, The Modes of Radioisotope Decay, An Explanation of a Language, which is quite difficult to read aloud owing to the extensive use of diagrams ; and a good bit of №6, The Modes of Radioisotope Decay, How Many Isotopes Are There?
2023–04–21 Beginning with the “scientist’s prayer” from the novel Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, I finish Vignette №6, and almost all of №7, Lowell Erf and the New Cure for Leukaemia. As I so often do, I had to stop one paragraph short of the end.

ASFO 2023–04–08

Arising to new life ― what does it mean? Nuclear energy as social energy, or, I try to express a little more clearly a thought I have had about the implications of technology ; and an invitation to join me in Berlin next week.

A typical scene in Munich, political posters set up in a public place. The one facing the camera is advertising a celebration of the shutdown of the last nuclear power plants in Germany. The one adjacent to it is advertising a talk about the alleged climate protection policy of the governing coalition. — Poster for a “Nuclear Exit Celebration” to be held in Munich (to add insult to injury, the theme of the adjoining poster is “climate protection”)

Supplementary Show

2023–04–11 More of Marshall Brucer’s Vignettes in Nuclear Medicine : №3, A Herd of Radioisotope Cows (There are 118 Potentially Useful Cow Systems), and №4, The Isotopes : Who and When (Discovery of Isotopes) ― did not archive properly, alas!

ASFO 2023–04–01

Earth system limits? No, I’m not April Foolin’ here ― it’s difficult to keep ahead of the absurdities of the so–called real world (and anyway I’ve been sick, so my wits aren’t in the best shape). Also, quantitative thinking comes around for another pass or two. Just what are they teaching in the schools, anyway?

Pass for a radiomedicine patient in the New York City area

Supplementary Show

2023–04–04 Vignettes in Nuclear Medicine by Marshall Brucer MD : №1, What is Nuclear Medicine? A Historical Approach to a Definition, and №2, From Surgery Without a Knife to the Atomic Cocktail (History of Nuclear Medicine)

ASFO 2023–02–18

Charles Proteus Steinmetz is a name you should know. For generations Edison was lionized, now Tesla is cast as the romantic hero, but Steinmetz is always ignored. Yet, where would we be without him? Also, what does it mean that India has ordered 470 new large jetliners? The very necessary distinction between “renewable” and sustainable energy, and a reminder of the importance of quantitative thinking. And Mail Call!

Supplementary Show

2023–02–24 “Why Nuclear Power Should be Defended”, address given 1980–03–15 in Los Angeles by Professor Petr Beckmann, author of The Health Hazards of NOT Going Nuclear ― transferred from audiocassette

ASFO 2023–02–04

Power outage? Power outrage! And just like that, I’m back to talking about the Regulated Utility Model for applying private enterprise to furnishing public goods, and trying to examine its potential uses in fields as disparate as pharmaceuticals and housing. With a bonus mention of Jimmy McMillan, the guy who says The Rent Is Too Damn’ High! Also Mail Call.

Supplementary Show

2023–02–07 More from Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Finney and Jones, eds) : Introduction to Section II, Demography and Economics : Growth of the Human Tribe ; Comments on Hodges’ “The Division of Labor”, by the editors (with a very different view of “artificial intelligence” from that exhibited by, say, ChatGPT) ; Introduction to Section III, Migrating Societies ; Introduction to Section IV, Speciation ; and a part of the Introduction to Section V, Is Anybody Home? (stopping at the beginning of the section on the “Fermi paradox”).
2023–02–10 Probably the last I’ll read out of Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (but perhaps you’ll be interested enough to seek out the book for yourself). Fermi’s Question, the Epilogue, and the short biographies of authors.

ASFO 2022–01–21

In which I announce an Exciting New Initiative, although I’m not yet clear on how to pay for it, and consider non–existent remedies for non–existent maladies, and the question of whether you are really entitled to your own opinion, if you can’t be bothered to inform yourself about the topic. Also… yes, Virginia, reducing the human population of Earth to 2 billion by 2100 would in fact constitute genocide, even if you do it purely by limitation of births. Let’s spend more time on the happier business of the what and how of the Lunar Settlement, shall we?

Cover of a booklet entitled (in German) "Homeopathic Prescriptions for a Future with Radioactivity". — Non–existent remedies for non–existent maladies

Supplementary Shows

2023–01–24 Probably the last reading from Man and the Moon. In addition to the notes by Richardson, I read the whole of Where to Land on the Moon by Wilkins, and the first part of Man on the Moon ― The Exploration by Whipple and von Braun (from the famous 1952 Man Will Conquer Space Soon series of illustrated articles in Collier’s). The idea behind this has been to get a feel for the way people were thinking when serious work on space travel began.
2023–01–27 Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Finney and Jones, eds) is the proceedings of a conference held at Los Alamos in 1983. And a very interesting volume it is, too! I read the Table of Contents, Prologue, Introduction to Section I Resources : Human, Technological, and Cosmic, and the concluding summary to Solar System Industrialization : Implications for Interstellar Migrations by David Criswell.

ASFO 2022–12–31

Glorious Future Year 2022 ends as it began, with A Step Farther Out. I could take this opportunity for a “Year In Review”, but asking the question “what use is a cut–price monarchy?” proved to be more fun. Then, having previously discussed the miseries of living in a metro area with a low enough density of development to actually allow for covering a great part of its energy needs from rooftop solar, and irritated by an (on–line) encounter with “solarpunks”, I draw an analogy between energy supply and transportation. Betweentimes, discussion of the problems raised by our dependency on financial markets… and hey, paper straws in paper wrappers!

New propaganda!

Supplementary Shows

2023–01–03 The first Hear Now the Words! of the New Year is occupied with completing Chapter 6, “Success, Failure, and Politics”, of Rockets : The Future of Travel Beyond the Stratosphere (third printing with additional material, January 1945) by Willy Ley.
2023–01–06 Selections from Man and the Moon (1961), mostly the interstitial commentary by astronomer (and frequent Astounding/Analog contributor) RS Richardson, and a more extended piece from him entitled Astronomical Observations from the Moon, as well as a prefatory poem by Adrienne Rich.

ASFO 2022–12–10

Intercontinental air travel having its usual effects on me, compounded by having to be up early in the morning for an Apollo 17 commemorative event (see me at about 1h20m in), doesn’t make for the most coherent show I’ve ever presented. But I think there may nevertheless be a few items of interest, first and foremost, correspondence! from SDF user eskill. There is also some mention of possible upcoming program content, and new propaganda materials and merchandise I have planned. (Does anyone have a suggestion on an alternative to Etsy?) And the geopolitics of fossil fuels, the hollowness of climate commitments, and the possibilities of real progress through committed engineering effort, attract my attention once more.

Scan of a card with, drawn on it in pen, the words "Man and Atom" in a blocky style, with "92 U" inside the "o". — “Man and Atom” logo drawn by *eskill*

Supplementary Shows

2022–12–13 Mostly a reading of the last chapter of Commonsense in Nuclear Energy (1980) by (Sir) Fred and Geoff Hoyle. This is itself composed primarily of excerpts from The Lives of the Engineers by Samuel Smiles, illustrating the life of George Stephenson, and in particular the Rainhill Trials which established the position of the locomotive or travelling engine as the key to world transportation. (The reference in the text is to a 1968 edition of this 19th century work.) I also read the preface and the very short first chapter of this very short, trenchant book. If it weren’t in hard covers I’d be inclined to call it a tract.
2022–12–16 Off to a rocky start, but I decided to re–read the bit from Flight Into Space by JN Leonard which got chopped up by a malfunctioning archiver a couple of months back. I occupied the remainder of the time with some extracts from Vignettes in Nuclear Medicine by Marshall Brucer, MD, which are interesting for the way they illustrate the development of scientific practice, in a lively style with personal reflections from someone directly involved in the work.

ASFO 2022–12–03

Belgium, or more particularly a Belgian engineer named van Mele, provides me with the material for an extended meditation on global energy use, and especially the topic of energy efficiency, which many people look to for large gains. Having teased it last time, I remember to explain the practical application for Compressed Air Energy Storage which occurred to me. This in turn proves to be another chance to insist on considering the character of the demand for energy when discussing how to meet it. (A comment directed me to an interesting article peripherally related to the subject of district heating, which I often raise.) And I spend a moment talking about the upcoming Apollo 17 anniversary, of which more anon.

Supplementary Show

2022–12–06 Conclusion of the brief biography of Count Rumford, from the 2022–11–29 show. I then read Nuclear Energy and Southern Africa by BFJ Schonland from Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy volume 1, which leads me to ramble on about the origins of “apartheid”, possibly without really knowing enough about the topic.