Author Archives: gaussling

About gaussling

Gaussling is a senior scientist in the chemical business. He occasionally breaks glassware, spreads confusion and has been known to generate new forms of hazardous waste. Gaussling also digs aerospace, geology, and community theatre.

GOP Apparachiki Rattling Sticks in Bucket of Swill

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It certainly seems as though the GOP is orchestrating a pageant of contrived television events meant to draw in followers who may have gone astray. Tea parties and theatrical outrage over alerts issued from homeland security. Broadcasters find this kind of thing irresistable and, like stray cats, are drawn to lap up footage from a saucer of engineered controversy.

Tejas Governor Perry will probably have to eat his words about independence. If he is smart, he’ll realize that crow is best eaten while still warm.

What is striking about post-election GOP behavior is the magnitude of the mean spiritedness and the heat of the invective spewing from the right. These people are pissed off about their role as the minority party.

The fact of power is the act of power.  What is so telling about the character of the GOP core is that despite the mandate of the last election, GOP soldiers continue to vociferously spout expired doctrine despite the will of the majority of voters. Contrary to the interest of voting citizens, these people are gaming every rule, squirting glue in all the locks, and dropping flaming bags of political shit on every doorstep they can find.

This is a valuable insight into the party of “character and values”. Instead, they have betrayed themselves as the party of “win at all costs and take no prisoners”.

Green Propellants

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Notes from the Field-

There appears to be a movement in the gun and rocket propellant field away from perchlorates.  Propellants that are comprised of substances that pose minimal potential for the dispersal of adverse and environmentally persistant substances are referred to as “green propellants”.  Substances that qualify as adverse include arylamines, perchlorates, and certain rheology modifiers. Substances that are thought to be endocrine disrupters have been specially targeted for replacement.

While it may seem absurd to attempt to produce a weapon system having a reduced toxic signature, the  fact is that between practice projectiles and warshots, a good deal of hazardous residues are released in the use of these devices. Reducing the chemical environmental insult is a step in the direction of reduced collateral damage.

One expert in the area of perchlorates said that people with adequate iodine intake shouldn’t worry about perchlorate contamination of water. Hmmm. While that may be true, it sounds like a poor basis for policy.

Mea Culpa

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Today I found myself attending a talk on mortar propellants. It was delivered by a shy young woman who looked to be no older than a high school senior- she looked like a babysitter you’d hire to stay at home with the kid while you treated the wife unit to a night out on the town. Yet she was an expert in mortar shell propellants.

Next, I attended a talk on flare compositions delivered by a tiny woman who could barely see above the podium.

I rounded the day off by attending a talk by a woman who presented her results on igniter design and in developing a new explosive propellant manufacturing process. During the Q&A, my questions on ignition mechanisms were answered by yet another woman who was exceedingly knowlegeable in this field.

What I have noticed is that the gun and rocket propellant R&D field is populated with women to a much greater degree than the industrial organic or organometallic chemistry waters in which I normally swim.

Before you fire a rude comment alleging some sexist malfeasance, please understand that I was raised by a single mother as the eldest of 5 kids. That, and having witnessed the birth of my child, I have no doubt whatsoever about the robustness and Ability of women.

That women do this isn’t news. What is noteworthy is the extent to which my ignorance remains so great at age 51. My caveman misconception was that explosives chemistry would not appeal to women. I had mistakenly and foolishly assumed that a career with explosives was largely a male domain and driven by male fascination with power. Holy cats. I was quite mistaken.

I seem to be wrong about  a lot of things these days.

Was Abe Lincoln Wrong?

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When I hear the  snide comments of Gingrich and Limbaugh or witness the rebirth of Tom DeLay, I begin to wonder if President Abraham Lincoln wasn’t mistaken in trying to keep the Union together. Southern Conservatism with its fanatical Baptist dominionist wingnut demographic has even perverted basic conservative values of thrift and small government. It’s expensive military fetish and its efficient marshaling of extreme nationalism have cast precious little light on the complex problems of our time, just a devisive heat.

The epoch of the “Bush II Wild-Assed Excursion in American Civilization” has lead to the present disintegration of the GOP from the Grand Old Party to the Confederate Splintered Old Party of serial filibustering demagogues.

Perhaps we should set aside a few states for the Southern Conservatives to set up a Confederacy where lassaiz faire and the Southern Baptist Convention can run unfettered in the shady green pastures of God’s marketplace. Hell, throw in Texas for good measure- except for Houston. Houston would be a independent city-state a la Hong Kong. Newt can be the new Jeff Davis of the Confederacy of Theocratic States.

Let the southern conservatives luv each other up in their own country. They can preach their sticky doctrine to a ready made choir all day long. It would be worth having a Republican Homeland seccession if it will shut the bastards up.

Return to Vegas

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Th’ Gaussling departs for a few fun filled days in Las Vegas as a conferee. I’ll be doing my bit for God and Company speaking before a smattering of government and contractor ubermenschen through the cybermagic of PowerPoint and laser pointer. As tacky and grotesque as Las Vegas is, it certainly beats a motel on the Sam Houston Tollway as a conference destination.

A Nevada Cinder Cone

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Whilst doing a survey of Lithium mining in North America, I blundered into a small cinder cone. It is found in the Clayton Valley of western Nevada south and west of Tonopah.

A link from the University of Nevada, Reno, gives some details on this cone as well as some interesting photographs.

Just to the south of this cinder cone is the Chemetall Foote Corporation Silver Peak brine facility. Lithium rich brines are pumped into evaporation ponds for concentration of the lithium salts. US 7390466 says that the Silver Peak brines contain 0.02 wt % Li.  The richest Li brine can be found in the Salar de Atacama brines in Chile. The Atacama brines contain from 0.15 to 0.193 wt % Li.

Research and Playfulness

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As a kid I noticed that many cats seemed to lose their playfulness as they matured. What were once playful kittens would mature into rather less playful adult animals with irritability issues. Many humans I know seem to have “matured” away from a general disposition to playfulness in a similar way. It is a shame. Playfulness is an important expression of brain vitality.

Play can be manifested in many ways. One form is where one teases out a response from a stimulus. It can be done for simple joy, as in the case of teasing your sister. Or it can be directed to somewhat more useful and enduring outcomes as in the case of research.

As I look back on my meager list of useful developments in the laboratory, I can see that most were the result of play. I was just curious as to a particular outcome. If I had simply paid more attention to my boss and focused on getting expected results (a production activity), it is unlikely that I would have fallen into some interesting and useful insights. No doubt almost every scientist can make the same claim.

On the other hand, if I had paid more attention to my boss, perhaps I’d be  a tenured prof at a decent university or a mid-career manager at Pfizer. Hmmm.

What happens to many people when they age is the same thing that happens to cats. They settle into comfortable patterns and try to exclude surprises from their lives. Just like it takes discipline to get regular exercise, it also takes some discipline to keep imagination and playfulness a central part of your consciousness.  Go out there and try something that has been on your mind all these many months! See if it works.

Tuna Salad with Olives

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Here is how to make a good tuna salad-

Drain thoroughly 1 large can of tuna packed in water and add two large dollops of Kraft salad dressing (or mayonaise), a spoonfull of pickle relish, and your favorite mustard (to taste).  Take a dozen olives stuffed with pimento and slice them into fifths. Carefully fold the olive slices into the blended tuna mixture.

The olives add a saltiness and a pleasing texture to the tuna salad. Enjoy as a sandwich or on a salad.

Compared to What?

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Big confusion settled here for Th’ Gaussling. What I had always believed was a Gil Scott-Heron piece was actually Les McCann performing a Eugene McDaniels song. Here is a link to a track from Montreaux in 1969. Not the highest quality recording, but a great tune nontheless.

Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton have a version that is competent, but lacks the spark that McCann put on it. It really should be delivered as an edgy piece and the Beck/Clapton version with vocalist Doyle Bramhall lacks the anger that makes the song. It is a protest song after all.

The Taylor Hicks version is not worthy of comment.

[I fixed the Link to Les McCann- sorry!]