The subtitle of this Michael Lewis book is “Inside the Doomsday Machine.” Lewis has written several popular books, and this one is an interesting and disturbing analysis of the 2007-2008 financial crises. As the dust cover says, it is about “…the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear…” Lewis focuses the remarkably small number of smart people who recognized the insanity of situation. They often tried to warn others with very little success, perhaps because they were “socially awkward” in a variety of ways. They found a way to sell the market short so they would make incredible amounts of money when the collapse they predicted became a reality. Continue reading
Work Your Tail Off
I searched for an explanation of the origin of this expression, but found mostly explanations for the meaning. Several sites explained it referred to a person who worked diligently and usually with no obvious benefit to the worker. Ask.com had the most likely explanation for the origin, and it refers to the process of “docking” an animal’s tail. Docking is the intentional removal of the tail or sometimes ears to prepare the animal for some sort of practical function. One example was the “docking” of the tail of a horse to make it easier to use the horse for hauling. That makes sense, since the horse has part of its tail removed despite the fact the horse is working hard to achieve a work task after having part of their tails removed with no obvious value to the horse.
Resuspension of Plutonium from Rocky Flats
This web site was started to provide the book I’ve written about Rocky Flats and to publish commentaries about the now-closed site that was famous (or notorious) for producing the plutonium parts and other components for nuclear weapons. The commentaries had drifted far afield of Rocky Flats until the recent crop of negative media stories. I’ve written recent commentaries disputing that the place still is a threat to nearby residents and about the stories of health problems of workers. A common refrain of critics was or still is that “the site never researched respirable plutonium.” There is a long and well-referenced report by G. Langer that completely dispels that accusation. There was an extensive air monitoring program to collect and analyze plutonium in air at the site, near the site, and in communities. It is no surprise the critics never liked the very low results found by the extensive sampling and analysis networks. One criticism was that we were sampling at the wrong height. A sampling station was built with samplers at various heights as requested by one of our critics. As far as I know there were never any results published on the results. My guess is that the results were statistically identical at all sampling heights. Continue reading
The Great Degeneration
This book by Niall Ferguson (a Brit) has the subtitle “How Institutions Decay and Economies Die.” The title and the subtitle tell you that this is not a book with a happy ending. I had trouble reading the book, but recommend it to people who are interesting in economics and the history of important writers who have analyzed economics. I’m not in that camp, but I still worked my way through the book and decided it has value. My suggestion is that you shouldn’t pick up this book if you want light reading or a clear picture of what must be done to solve the degeneration of the U.S. economy. The problems are clearly presented in the dust cover. “Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debt, increasing inequality, aging population, antisocial behavior.” The author says these problems are caused by degeneration of institutions, and presents evidence to back up his conclusion. However, I was frustrated with the lack of solutions. My reaction was something like, “It is inevitable. Deal with it!” Continue reading
Cool as a Cucumber
Phrase Finder suggests this phrase plays on the two meanings of “cool” as a low temperature (cucumbers are cool to the touch) and imperturbable. The phrase was first recorded in a poem in 1732. The Online Etymology Dictionary adds that the idea that cucumbers feel cool was “confirmed by science in 1970: inside of a field cucumber on a warm day is 20 degrees cooler than the air temperature.” I am not surprised that a poet would create a memorable phrase, but for “cool as a cucumber” to last for nearly 300 years with its meaning intact is quite an accomplishment.
Rocky Flats News
The Rocky Flats Plant where plutonium and other parts for nuclear weapons were once manufactured (the Plant closed in 2005) is back prominently in the news. The title of one article by Electa Draper explains that workers who have one or more of twenty two listed cancers “…no longer have to reconstruct their own personal histories of radiation exposure in order to receive medical compensation.” Instead of being celebrated as a victory, the announcement seems to have angered people who are sick and worked at the Plant. One disturbing article by the same author shows pictures of some workers who are angry and has the bold print quote, “They just want us to die and go away.”
I do not intend to try to convince anyone who worked at Rocky Flats that their illnesses were not caused by exposures during that work, but I do want to present some pertinent facts. Chapter 22 of my book, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked” discusses cancer and other diseases.The largest study of cancer rates among Rocky Flats workers that I’m aware of was completed over 20 years ago. The report concluded, “When compared with U.S. death rates, fewer deaths than expected were found for all causes of death, all cancers, and lung cancer. No bone cancer was observed. An excess of brain tumors was found.” The last observation was the result of comparing all malignant and non-malignant tumors found in Rocky Flats workers to only malignant tumors in the general population. Some have speculated that the lower rate of cancers may be due to the prohibition on smoking in many areas of the Plant. Continue reading