Author Archives: Ponderer

About Ponderer

Ponderer also writes science fiction and science-inspired rhyming poetry. Check her out at katerauner.wordpress.com/ She worked at Rocky Flats for 22 years - you may know her as Kathy London.

Rocky Flats Retirees – You Have a Decision to Make About Your Pension – Don’t Delay

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A big change is underway for Rocky Flats retiree’s pension plan. To our other readers: please forgive the focus of this post – but you might be curious about how your government treats the Cold War Warriors. The government is dumping the pension plan. No longer will your pension be guarenteed by the Fedral government. You must choose to receive a lump sum or a private annuity plan.

I’ve received my Plan Termination Benefit Kit and if you have not, call the Support Center at 1-800-709-7697.

There are deadlines coming up – the end of May for corrections. Check your information. My spouse was listed as deceased. He assures me he is not now and has never been deceased, so I had to submit a correction.

There’s a lot of detail in the kit and I won’t try to summarize it. Get your kit, read your kit, and make your decisions. Don’t delay. There are various financial instruments to research. There are forms to fill out, some need to be notorized, and if you are divorced there are extra forms. Did I mention, don’t delay.

Whatever you decide, your paperwork must be postmarked by the end of June or you get whatever the default option is.

I’m not qualified to offer recommendations. Heck, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. Continue reading →

Put Your Foot Down

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No bicycles sign

No, not bicycles

To put your foot down is to be unyielding and insistent. Phrases.com offers no citations, but says

This expression is thought to have originated in 16th century but it actually became popular and common in 18th century. It is observable that when you clump or tramp your foot on ground, it means to demand someone’s attention.

A commenter on actuarialoutpost wonders if “the origin started around the time the bicycle was invented. In order to stop, you had to put your foot down.” But wikipedia says “bicycles were introduced in the late 19th century” which is incompatible with a 16th century origin. Though it is an inventive hypothesis.

Archeology Takes Courage

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book coverIt’s a shame to miss the story behind science. With The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story you don’t have to – the book offers a fascinating tale of discovery.

Since the first Europeans set foot in the Americas, they chased rumors of “lost” cities of gold. The first third of his book, Douglas Preston recounts an amazing group of, generally, con-artists claiming to have found the Monkey God City in an inaccessible jungle, and would rich donors just give them more money to prove it. These characters make for fun reading.

But there are real ruins in Honduras, and the Monkey God City legend is a conglomeration of real places. Space age technology and changing politics in Honduras enabled a scientific team to take up the search. Deadly snakes, deadly insects, drug cartels, dense jungle, and sucking mud all provide a thrilling backdrop to the expedition. Continue reading →

Skin in the Game

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To have skin in the game is to be incurring risk, monetary or otherwise – in the outcome of an effort. The phrase was recently popularized by investor Warren Buffet, but seems to be older.

The late columnist William Safire sought the origin of the phrase and didn’t resolve the issue. Some trace the phrase to a related element of Shakespeare’s play The Mercahnt of Venice where a character offers a pound of his own flesh as collateral.

The phrase makes me think of another saying, that when you eat your ham -and-egg breakfast, realize that the hen was involved but the pig was committed. Wonder where the came from?

Chinese Space Station Will Crash to Earth April 1st – No Fooling

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Space events aren’t our usual topic here at Rocky Flats Facts, but this is hard to ignore:

Tiangong compared to school bus

Tiangong compared to a school bus

One enormous chunk of space junk is about to crash. What was once China’s first space station, a habitat designed to test docking procedures as well as perform some experiments in orbit, has run out of fuel. Like any satellite or orbiting spacecraft, without periodic altitude boosts, Tiangong will return to Earth in a fiery breakup.

The world is watching as Chinese space station Tiangong-1 hurtles toward Earth and makes a fiery reentry. Chances that space debris will hurt anybody are extremely slim, although when and where the space station’s remains will land is still unknown. aerospace.org

There’s a great video posted here – scroll down.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge – a new source of science-based information for neighbors

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Rocky Flats Plant fromAir

My own photo of the old plant, from a public document

Rocky Flats Facts began with a book debunking myths about the Rocky Flats Plant. Decades of secrecy surrounded the nuclear weapons plant, and by the turn of the century, greater-Denver’s expansion towards the once-remote location put a large population within sight.

Read the book to learn about the plant’s production days, good and bad, and the EPA/FBI raid. The raid occurred after the Cold War fizzled out, leaving the Department of Energy unexpectedly confused over what to do with the plant, which was now in the heart of the Colorado Front Range.

It took years, and as an employee I can tell you it was terribly frustrating to go first in one direction, then another, with study after study, before a final plan emerged. Much of the waste and debris from demolishing the plant was shipped away to disposal and storge sites, though some contamination was buried onsite.

Today the site is a National Wildlife Refuge, and since decades of security had protected it from livestock grazing, that’s a fine use.

I was recently sent a link to a new website, Friends of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

This site is intended to educate rather than to just convey information. The focus is very much on recent data and recent science. Information on this site is intended for those who wish to understand at a variety of levels (from the very non-technical through the fairly technical) the science behind the assurances that living near or visiting the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is safe for adults and children.

We have been careful to draw information (whenever possible) from 2012 to the present, and from international (not simply US federal) sources. We intend that it serve as a repository of carefully vetted information (and links to more) drawn from the published, peer-reviewed literature in health physics, radiation biology, biophysics, medicine, and epidemiology, or from personal experience.

The site is independent from the usual suspects in ongoing discussions of Rocky Flats. You’ll find discussions of risk that are useful in daily life, as well as when evaluating the old plant site. I won’t leave you wondering: their headline states “the Wildlife Refuge is safe.”

I hope the surrounding communities value the site’s final use, and I admire the effort and care that has gone into this new website. If you want to know more beyond the headline’s conclusion, check it out.