Monthly Archives: February 2023

A Poem About Gold Telluride

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I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about gold telluride (Calaverite), a mineral found in some gold deposits. It seemed rather obscure so I was interested in seeing what it would do. Seamus Heaney it is not, but it did do a fair job.

By ChatGPT.

Golden telluride, shining bright, A mineral rich, with hidden light. In the earth’s embrace, you lay so still, Waiting for the day when you’ll fulfill.

Your purpose, to bring wealth and fame, To those who find your gleaming flame. In the veins of the rock, you glow so warm, A treasure, rare and precious, like a golden swarm.

With your beauty, you captivate the eye, A symbol of success, that cannot lie. From ancient times, men have sought you out, Dreaming of the riches, no doubt.

In the hands of the miners, you are refined, Crafted into jewelry, with a heart so kind. A reminder of the earth’s hidden wealth, A source of wonder and amazement, that never felt.

So here’s to you, golden telluride, A symbol of prosperity, that will never hide. May you bring joy and happiness to all, In this world of wonder, so small.

China Aiming to Dominate Near Space

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2/10/23. News is breaking that China wants to militarize the near space environment, defined as 12 to 60 miles in altitude. News reports are appearing that claim that the balloon was carrying radio antennas capable of receiving and possibly geolocating radio transmissions over the US according to The Guardian. A senior State Department source said that a U2 flyby was able to determine that the balloon was being used for gathering signals intelligence.

Chinese balloon in rapid descent maneuver.

According to CNN, the military was aware of the balloon from the very beginning and avoided any unencrypted radio communications along the flight path.

The Chinese government reacted angrily to the downing of the balloon, continuing to maintain that it was for weather research. It seems to me that the public display of anger is mostly for internal consumption although there could be those elsewhere who actually believe the official story. From various reports, it appears that the Chinese government is embarrassed that it got caught in a lie. Like other autocracies, it screeches in displeasure when contradicted.

The balloon was judged to be absent any threat to the US by the North American Defense Command when it was discovered off Alaska. Shooting it down over the US was determined to be unsafe for the citizens below. Later, in a press conference, Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command stated that the balloon debris that fell into the ocean is expected to be within a 1500 meter by 1500 meter field and in about 50 feet of water. The US Navy and Coast Guard are on station for recovery efforts.

From the press conference-

STAFF:  Let’s go to — let’s go to Jennifer Griffin, Fox.

Q:  Thanks, General VanHerck. Can I just ask you, on the record again, because there’s been a lot made in recent days still about why this was not shot down after it crossed or neared the Aleutian Islands? Can you just explain what you were watching then, what you were thinking then? What the decision-making process was. And why it — you didn’t have enough time to do so, if that was the case?

GEN. VANHERCK:  Thanks, Jennifer. It wasn’t time. It — the domain awareness was there as it approached Alaska. It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America, this is under my NORAD hat. And therefore, I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent. [emphasis mine] From there, certainly, provided information on the status of the whereabouts of the balloon. And moving forward, kept the department and the governor — the government of Canada in the loop as my NORAD, I have a boss in Canada as well. Over.

The General made an interesting comment about collecting intelligence-

Again, this is on record previously. We did not assess that it presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese.

And with that said, you always have to balance that with the intel gain opportunity [emphasis mine]. And so there was a potential opportunity for us to collect intel where we had gaps on prior balloons, and so I would defer to the intel community, but this gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed, and I think you’ll see in the future that the — that time frame was well worth it’s value to collect.

A Kerfuffle over Science in Montana

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One of Montana’s ‘elite’ conservative thinkers, State Senator D. Emrich has submitted 2023 Senate Bill No. 235 to limit science instruction in Montana to the teaching of scientific fact and not the teaching of scientific theory. The Bill reads-

2023 Montana Legislature

SENATE BILL NO. 235

INTRODUCED BY D. EMRICH, S. HINEBAUCH, T. MCGILLVRAY

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT ESTABLISHING REQUIREMENTS FOR SCIENCE INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS; DEFINING “SCIENTIFIC FACT”; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.”

WHEREAS, the purpose of K-12 education is to educate children in the facts of our world to better prepare them for their future and further education in their chosen field of study, and to that end children must know the difference between scientific fact and scientific theory; and

WHEREAS, a scientific fact is observable and repeatable, and if it does not meet these criteria, it is a theory that is defined as speculation and is for higher education to explore, debate, and test to ultimately reach a scientific conclusion of fact or fiction.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

NEW SECTION. Section 1. Requirements for science instruction in schools. (1) Science instruction may not include subject matter that is not scientific fact.

(2)        The board of public education may not include in content area standards any standard requiring curriculum or instruction in a scientific topic that is not scientific fact.

(3)        The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any science curriculum guides developed by the office of public instruction include only scientific fact.

(4)        (a) The trustees of a school district shall ensure that science curriculum and instructional materials, including textbooks, used in the district include only scientific fact.

(b)        Beginning July 1, 2025, a parent may appeal the trustees’ lack of compliance to subsection (4)(a) to the county superintendent and, subsequently, to the superintendent of public instruction under the provisions for the appeal of controversies in this title pursuant to 20-3-107 and 20-3-210.

(5)        The legislature intends for this section to be strictly enforced and narrowly interpreted.

(6)        As used in this section, “scientific fact” means an indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon.

NEW SECTION. Section 2. Transition. The board of public education, the superintendent of public instruction, and school district boards of trustees shall fully implement the requirements of [section 1] no later than July 1, 2025.

NEW SECTION. Section 3. Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 20, chapter 7, part 1, and the provisions of Title 20, chapter 7, part 1, apply to [section 1].

NEW SECTION. Section 4. Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

============================

A lot of the kerfuffle stems from a misunderstanding of the word “theory”. According to Wikipedia–

A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. Where possible, theories are tested under controlled conditions in an experiment.

Now for a moment of reductionism. This is a bill that seeks to control how people think and to prepare a cozy nest for religious teaching in the schools. Florida is off and running with this ball. They are aiming at what they believe is the source- public education. Youth tend to be hungry for new ideas and open vistas. Science naturally fills some of this void. Science education aims to inform people on how the universe works based on measurement and analysis. You might suppose that this would appear to be neutral in terms of ideology. It doesn’t rely on ancient writings and the acceptance of a spirit world. It is the absence of theology in science that ruffles feathers.

It seems plain that the sponsors are focused on a few concepts that are most troublesome to them, evolution being one of them. Perhaps Critical Race Theory is another. Christians in particular have been riled up about evolution ever since the notion first appeared. You can explain the biochemistry and biology of evolution to religious followers until you are blue in the face. Unless they are willing to dive into a personal journey of discovery to learn about it for themselves, they will never see that it makes sense without having to invoke a universe driven by magic.

It isn’t clear that this bill will work its way into law. However, it would seem to be another thinly veiled attempt to pierce the delicate membrane between church and state. My guess is that the GOP Senator must be checking off all of the boxes to establish his conservative bona fides to the lunatic fringe.

We are all born ignorant. Some choose to live out their lives and die that way too.

Poor Dumb Bast*rds

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An article in The Telegraph notes that Taliban fighters who have moved to Kabul are already fed up with traffic congestion, boring jobs and crime.

Huzaifa, a 24-year-old former sniper, was enrolled in the capital’s police department on arrival. He echoed his comrade’s disdain for office life.

“The Taliban used to be free of restrictions, but now we sit in one place, behind a desk and a computer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Life’s become so wearisome; you do the same things every day,” he said.

Another former insurgent said- “I sometimes miss the jihad life for all the good things it had”.

The poor dumb bastards. After driving out and humiliating the West, they are left to face bad traffic and thieves in the big city.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has been scraping away the rights of women in the country. Women are now second-class citizens in Afghanistan. It is the only country in the world that forbids women and girls from attending secondary school and university. Male health care workers are now banned from caring for women. The health situation for women in Afghanistan is dire. On top of this women are required to be covered head to toe in public and escorted by a male chaperone virtually everywhere they go. Punishment for infractions can be vicious. Outside aid by NGOs or other influence has been curtailed by the Taliban.

This kind of malignant patriarchy is suffocating Afghan women and has stunted their development. The large scale maltreatment of women is a crime against humanity validated by male selfishness and stupidity. You’re right- I don’t understand Afghan culture and history. I’m sure there is much positive to be said for it. You can try to be respectful of the culture and beliefs of others, but at some point it can cross the line into plain old cruelty.

Filthy Lucre, Again

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Yet another reprint of posts from the past, this time from April 11, 2008.

As usual, Th’ Gaussling’s most interesting observations of the ACS meeting are of a proprietary nature and will have to go with me to the grave. Our student and academician friends can expound openly on what lights their fires. The lusty satisfaction of compelling oratory in the darkened halls of convention centers is part of the reward for the cardinals of the academy.  Members of the merchant class have to be satisfied with better dining.

People who are involved in personnel issues often speak of an employees “deliverables” as their work product. For those lucky enough to be in the academy, the work product includes teaching young minds, conducting research, and participating in the dissemination of the results in the form of papers and conferences.

For we chemists who did the deal with the devil in exchange for filthy lucre, our performance is rated somewhat differently.  Like academics, our performance metric only starts with some understanding of science. Once it is possible to begin understanding a thing, the task of transforming a process or material property into an item of commerce begins. In the chemical industry we do the most important reaction of all- the transformation of chemicals into money.

The part of the brain that sees a stick on the forest floor that resembles a tool is the same part of the brain that scans a molecule and sees latent functionality or value. The extraction of value from a composition or a process is a complex anthropological activity. Product development is anthropological because it involves the use of tools and organizational structure to provide products or services that are exchanged between groups.  

An industrial science group has to isolate value in some material property and contrive to bring some product or service into being.  But to get it to market, the science tribe has to cooperate with those with other skills. Organizations often resemble a confederation of tribes who cooperate with complex rituals and methods of exchange.

M 7.8 Quake in Central Turkey

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The US Geological Survey (USGS) has technical information on the Feb.6, 2023, magnitude 7.8 earthquake in southern Turkey. The event happened at 1:17:35 UTC and the epicenter located at 37.174°N 37.032°E at 17.9 km depth. The strike slip quake occurred in a seismically active region near the triple-junction of the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa plates. As of this writing the exact location isn’t clear but the USGS suspects it happened either along the Eastern Anatolian Fault zone or the Dead Sea transform fault zone.

Image from Wikipedia. Dead Sea transform.
Image from Wikipedia. East Anatolian fault.

According to USGS, the East Anatolian fault accommodates the westward motion of Turkey towards the Aegean Sea and the Dead Sea Transform accommodates the northward motion of the Arabian plate.

The quake was reportedly felt as far away as Istanbul, Tbilisi and Cairo.

National Aphorism Day, Redux

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Sometimes I repost essays out of pure laziness and other times because the content seems apt. This one is from 7/7/07.

Below are a few quotations that patch together in a particular way.  

Here is a great quote lifted from the internet. With any luck it is accurate-

 “They lied to you. The Devil is not the Prince of Matter; the Devil is the arrogance of the spirit, faith without smile, truth that is never seized by doubt. The Devil is grim because he knows where he is going, and, in moving, he always returns whence he came.” (Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose)

Here is another good one-

“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)

And then there is this-

“Ask a Soviet engineer to design a pair of shoes and he’ll come up with something that looks like the boxes that the shoes came in; ask him to make something that will massacre Germans, and he turns into Thomas F–king Edison.” (Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon)

Neal Stephenson’s book, Cryptonomicon, is quite good though ponderously large.

Below is a comment from the notorious Uncle Al-

Uncle Al

Mediocrity is a vice of the doomed.

Beware any society that has grown comfortable within its ancestors’ nightmares.

To guarantee a good product, bill Customer Support costs to Design Engineering’s account.


“Freedom” said the policeman, and played baseball with his truncheon.

When swine vote, the man with the slop bucket is always elected swineherd(er) no matter how much slaughtering he does.

What is the foundation of American zero-goal education, corporate management, and government? Mud packs more tightly than jewels.

Social engineering: How easily we obtain what we do not want.

First ecstasy, then laundry.

Lost Capsule of Cs-137 Recovered in Western Australia

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According to Reuters, a 6 mm diameter by 8 mm long capsule of radioactive Cesium-137 was lost along the 1400 km road between a storage facility in suburban Perth and Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron mine in the Kimberley region of western Australia. The source was lost sometime between January 12 and the 25th, 2023. The capsule had been attached to a piece of equipment in a crate but evidently vibrated loose in transport from a road train– a multi-trailer vehicle- and fell off. While the activity was not disclosed the source was described as one that “emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour”.

On February 1, 2023, the source was reportedly located after a week-long search along the 1400 km road. It was discovered by a vehicle moving at 70 kph with special detection equipment.