ScavHunt211

VoidEngineer writes "Well, it's that time of the year again... the World's Largest Scavenger Hunt has begun again. (This is the same annual Scavenger Hunt where the students built the breeder reactor, for item #240, back in 1999...) Anyhow, you can find the list here. This year, the competition is between 9 teams and there are 307 items. Nerdy items include, but are not limited to: #2 From the fetid swamps of Lotan to the teeming forests of Jojojop, Endor is an ancient, mysterious, beautiful land, deserving to be rendered as a full-color map fit for National Geographic, circa TA 3019; [51 points] #46 Mobius stripper. Must be non-orientable. Must not emphasize the one-dimensionality of the stripper's personality. [28 points]. #98 A piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia with NASA verification [155 points] #101 A hologram of an entire team member. [50 points] #136 Explain string theory using only sock puppets. The Judge must understand. [19 points]"

Comments

Re:Bad taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe NASA asked for this to be added so that they can get the pieces that are turned in as part of the hunt.

string theory sock puppets

[everyplace]

What's funny about this item is that last year I wrote up a PBS-oriented kids show, about a mad professor black hole (think of a black sock puppet with a mustache, googley eyes, and a black swirley patterned outfit) called "The Great Abyss". He went around talking with his sidekick, every now and then making hilarous jokes about Twistor Theory.

I'm sure we could dig up the old material if anyone wanted to adapt it to string theory. Heh.

Re:Sexist.

[stwrtpj]

A "mobius stripper"? Why is it always with the nerdy population that we find such blatant sexism and a desire to exploit women? Are you people still wondering why no women want to enter the fields of engineering or computer science? It's a hostile environment, plain and simple, and you assholes are the cause.

You need to take this stuff with a grain of salt. I happen to be in the software field, and there are a lot of women in my office doing the same or similar job as me, and everything is as professional as you can get it. Yet these are the same people that would laugh at this in a context other than the office. Hell, I've met some of these women outside of the office, and they like off-color humor just as much as the guys. In the office, yes, it would be inappropriate. But what we're talking about here can hardly be considered in this context.

This is not the right battle to fight.

stupid.

[glwtta]

#98 A piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia with NASA verification [155 points]

Stupid, and in poor taste. I am sure I'll get bitched out for being far too "PC" (never heard this one in real life, for some reason) or for not having a sense of humor, which would somehow apply here, but that doesn't make it any less stupid.

Oh someone mentioned that they want it "NASA certified" so it's not debris they are looking for, well why the fuck don't they ask for Discovery, Atlantis or Endeavour then?

Re:I'd Be carefule if I were the hunters

[Remik]

Did anyone catch the article about the worms that survived the crash?

As a judge of this year's hunt, that's the only hint you're getting about how to fulfill this item, legally.

By the way, the rules say that every item can and must be completed legally.

-R

Re:1999: breeder reactor

[Rufus211]

I remember posting this last year, so I might as well Karma whore this year again.

Yes, they did it.

Here is /.'s article about it from the time:
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/05/20/13202 56.shtm l

Here is about the best explination I've seen:

Here are the explanatory posts by the two guys who made the reactor on the University of Chicago local newsgroups: Enjoy!
Alright, I just want to set a couple things straight, so here are some responses to oft heard comments the last few days:

1. "I assume they used U-238 to get to Pu-239..." we did not start with any uranium or plutonium, that would have ruined the fun, and the point was to make fissionable materials. Our starting material was thorium, which can be found at any hardware store. we happened to have some in our dorm room... The final products were Uranium 233 and Plutonium 238. I'm not going to spoon feed the decay chains to anyone, you can figure it out yourself if you really need to.

2. "You endangered the life of my son!" We created a neutron source using some shit we pulled out of a trash can. This source was safer and less radioactive than the radioisotope Americium 241 found in the smoke detector in each of your rooms.

3. "Someone said your roommate lost his job because he built a nuclear reactor" Neither I nor my rommmate have lost our jobs since doing this.

4. "I hear you paid another group to steal Plutonium for you" We did not steal Uranium or Plutonium from anywhere. Nor did we have anyone
else steal some for us.

5. "but to qualify as a true breeder, doesn't the reaction have to be self-sustaining?" No. A breeder reactor just means taking advantage of all those tasty neutrons flying off from whatever source you have, be it a sustained fission reaction or a naturally radioactive source. The best neutron source on campus would be the Physics Dept's neutron howitzer. But since the howitzer produces neutrons from the decay of Plutonium, you have to agree it would be silly to use it to try and make plutonium.

6. "(I'll be really impressed if the two come up with a micro-fusion reactor.)" We'd fly back next year just for that one...

- Juniper Tasks

Just some clarification for the readers who've forgotten their nuclear physics:

U-235 is the fissionable used in the Hiroshima bomb and Pu-239 in the Nagasaki bomb. U-238 is used in fast breeder reactors to make weapons grade Pu-239. (U-238 is also used in fission-fusion-fission bombs, so technically it is fissionable with a net gain of energy but you need really fast neutrons).

Thorium was to have been used in slow breeder reactor technology which turns out U-233 as its fissionable. (Is Pu-238 fissionable at low neutron
energies with a net gain? The even Z makes me think not...)

I thought you had started with depleted uranium to make a fast breeder; didn't know the thorium isotope available from hardware stores was the
one used in slow breeders. Well, with a small sample of thorium and a neutron source, you can make the U-233. But with a fully functioning breeder don't you need some of the U-233 created to fission and transform the rest of the thorium without running away and slagging the reactor or damping out so you never end up with more thorium than whatever's directly exposed to your neutron source? I suppose the nuclear engineering definition of a breeder has to be more pragmatic.

Fred and Justin didn't begin with any uranium.
(Uranium, after all, ain't a commonly available thing.) They began with some thorium and an alpha source, which they just happened to have lying
around. They used the alpha source to make a neutron source, and bombarded the thorium. This induced a chain of reactions, the final products of which were fissionable uranium and plutonium.

Re:#291

[Remik]

Every year there is a Judges/Captains meeting in the same place at the same time. Each year the item is described a bit different on the list, but the idea that a team could 'forget' it is kinda silly.

Now, if you're meaning just the roadtrip...that's not an essential part of the hunt as a whole. It's certainly important, but it is possible to score high without fielding a roadtrip team.

-R