When I moved to New Mexico in 1994, I had to take a special course (as did all immigrants to the state), which was very anti-drunk driving. I remember being in the room with a bunch of very pissed-off people, as the angle was that the state's drunk driving problem was the fault of people moving into the state; if memory serves, the class wasn't required of residents that were getting their DL for the first time. It was just stupid.
I spent several years as a firefighter in the state, with a fire department that covered >25 miles of interstate. Lots of drunk drivers piled it in over that time on that stretch of road, but the problem was much worse once you got off the interstate. The drive-up liquor windows went away, yes- but I think the only effect that had was on my roommate at the time, who was bound to a wheelchair and found it much more convenient to pick up a couple of beers on the weekend via the drive-ups.
New Mexico has a long way to go in terms of bringing itself to the modern day. Enforcement is also a big issue; in the areas where the police AREN'T corrupt, they're usually so sparsely placed that they simply can't cover it. Catron County is something like 3x the size of Rhode Island, and has only two state police officers to cover the entire area at any given time. It's amazing.
Perfectly safe. Titanium dioxide is already used as a whitening agent in paint (replaces lead, although lead is still "whiter" than titanium) and in paper. Titanium dioxide is the oxidized form of titanium metal; it's just a fine white powder that is about as non-reactive as you can get. Calcium carbonate is just limestone- a mild alklai, but no more toxic than, say, concrete.
It's interesting to note that an experimental technology involving the use of very fine titanium dioxide powder has been selected to purify water. The water is recirculated in a fountain so that it is exposed to lots of light- ultraviolet catalyzes the decomposition of select contaminants in the presence of the otherwise inert titanium dioxide, producing non-toxic byproducts. It's CHEAP, safe, and effective- but nobody wants to do it, since the technology is still in the experimental phase. Company XYZ isn't willing to pay $millions to try it when there are proven (if more expensive) techniques for doing essentially the same thing.
And I'm a firefighter, too. And a chemist. Too many hats to wear these days.
It is worth noting that the NOx from smog already forms nitric acid, which sticks to surfaces. Nitric acid is very "sticky" in this regard, and when it rains or the humidity gets very high, it corrodes the surfaces on which it has been deposited. This occurs even without the catalyst. In effect, the new paint won't be a big change- nitric acid will continue to be deposited, but at a higher rate- and preferentially on surfaces with the catalyst, which has a modest amount of calcium carbonate to neutralize the product.
On the bright side, if calcium carbonate is used for neutralization, the calcium nitrate is actually fertilizer. Yum for the plants.
There are a couple of big problems with this technique that I didn't see mentioned. Right now, I genetically engineer plants for a living; before that, I used to be an explosives chemist. Yes, it's been a wacky life.
The biggest problem will be that nitrous oxide naturally occurs in some soils; your false positive rate would be high. Moreover, as explosives rot and decay in the ground, the residue spreads out over a fairly large area. Many military bases are plagued with "pink water" from TNT leachate, for example. As a result, a single landmine might produce a fairly large disc of activity, meaning you'd still need to manually probe for the landmine. In some cases, these are nothing more than plywood boxes, which rapidly degrade when put in place in areas that receive plenty of rainfall. In war-torn areas, trying to find something like this after it has aged, even when you have a rough idea of where it might be, is still hazardous and time-consuming.
Next to this, the biggest problem is going to be that the plant being used is not capable of growing in very dry areas, where landmines are a serious issue (Angola, Namibia, Afghanistan, etc.). Even worse are areas like Kosovo, which receive so much rainfall that the vegetation has grown up and around landmines; wet areas like this have grown trees tall enough to make detection and removal a very serious problem. Large areas are not safely traversable once one leaves pavement, much less mow so that weeds like those used to detect explosives simply won't be visible. They're not tall enough.
There is no panacea to landmines, and although it's good to see one possibility, I doubt many people in the business of landmine removal will find this to be a useful technique, much less stake their lives on it. The folks doing the tinkering in the lab have little or no idea what it's like in the field. It is a very, very difficult problem that a lot of smart people have spent a lot of time on. And it's still not enough.
I used to make explosives as a contractor for the government. Not just any explosives- we made stuff that the national labs wouldn't touch because it was too dangerous, all in the name of "terrorism research." We made stuff so sensitive that nobody in their right minds would make it. Fortunately for them, they found us.
We used to make hundreds of grams of the stuff at a time, wrapped in Kevlar with ear defenders on and huge safety shields. Everything was by hand signals.
Making things worse was the fact that we were working in a bunker in a remote part of a western state that only had one life flight helicopter for the entire state at the time, and no level 1 trauma center. The local hospital was 70 miles away from any major city, and really wasn't up to fixing anything more complex than hangnails.
Miserable, wretched job- making explosives nobody else would make, under horrible working conditions. Fortunately, my boss was great. He and I made some truly dangerous compounds, and got away without so much as a scratch- a combination of skill and luck.
A list of the transactions taken by SCO's top brass since December is very telling. Sell, sell, sell.
1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI
Director 11,841 Proposed Sale (Form 144)
estimated proceeds of $213,138.00
1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI
Director 11,841 Open Market Sale
proceeds of $210,189.59
1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI
Director 11,841 Exercise of Stock Options
at cost of $13,261.92
12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON
Director 10,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144)
estimated proceeds of $173,400.00
12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON
Director 10,000 Open Market Sale
proceeds of $174,860.00
12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO
Divisional Officer 25,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144)
estimated proceeds of $371,500.00
12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO
Divisional Officer 6,640 Open Market Sale
proceeds of $100,190.25
12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO
Divisional Officer 6,640 Exercise of Stock Options
at cost of $7,436.80
I used to do research on this; in fact, I was with the first radar-based surveys to try to determine potential kills from these towers. A few things need to be mentioned.
The first is that the location of many of these windpower sites coincides quite nicely with the channels through which migratory birds travel. As a result, there is a strong correlation between windpower sites and migratory routes for birds. This is a problem.
The second is that many of these birds move at night; we counted nights where there were hundreds of birds visible on radar. How they managed to fly this way, I'll never know- flying in sub-zero temperatures, in the dark. Nobody was ever able to answer why their eyes didn't freeze, traveling like they did. Putting complex cages around the turbines to birds don't impact the blades won't matter a damn if they're traveling 30-40 mph with the wind, and collide with the cage instead of the blades. They're not going to see them at night, when some of the heaviest air traffic occurs.
The third is that there is a treaty (Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918) that says that it's illegal to kill birds without permits. This is to keep, say, Canada from killing a bunch of birds that Americans say are "theirs." Wildlife not understanding international borders and all that. So, if we start killing lots of migratory birds with windpower sites, we can expect there to be international ramifications.
Last, a number of electric companies don't like having to buy the surplus power these wind sites generate, and will do everything they can to shut them down (see number three, above).
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I spent several years as a firefighter in the state, with a fire department that covered >25 miles of interstate. Lots of drunk drivers piled it in over that time on that stretch of road, but the problem was much worse once you got off the interstate. The drive-up liquor windows went away, yes- but I think the only effect that had was on my roommate at the time, who was bound to a wheelchair and found it much more convenient to pick up a couple of beers on the weekend via the drive-ups.
New Mexico has a long way to go in terms of bringing itself to the modern day. Enforcement is also a big issue; in the areas where the police AREN'T corrupt, they're usually so sparsely placed that they simply can't cover it. Catron County is something like 3x the size of Rhode Island, and has only two state police officers to cover the entire area at any given time. It's amazing.
It's interesting to note that an experimental technology involving the use of very fine titanium dioxide powder has been selected to purify water. The water is recirculated in a fountain so that it is exposed to lots of light- ultraviolet catalyzes the decomposition of select contaminants in the presence of the otherwise inert titanium dioxide, producing non-toxic byproducts. It's CHEAP, safe, and effective- but nobody wants to do it, since the technology is still in the experimental phase. Company XYZ isn't willing to pay $millions to try it when there are proven (if more expensive) techniques for doing essentially the same thing.
And I'm a firefighter, too. And a chemist. Too many hats to wear these days.
It is worth noting that the NOx from smog already forms nitric acid, which sticks to surfaces. Nitric acid is very "sticky" in this regard, and when it rains or the humidity gets very high, it corrodes the surfaces on which it has been deposited. This occurs even without the catalyst. In effect, the new paint won't be a big change- nitric acid will continue to be deposited, but at a higher rate- and preferentially on surfaces with the catalyst, which has a modest amount of calcium carbonate to neutralize the product.
On the bright side, if calcium carbonate is used for neutralization, the calcium nitrate is actually fertilizer. Yum for the plants.
The biggest problem will be that nitrous oxide naturally occurs in some soils; your false positive rate would be high. Moreover, as explosives rot and decay in the ground, the residue spreads out over a fairly large area. Many military bases are plagued with "pink water" from TNT leachate, for example. As a result, a single landmine might produce a fairly large disc of activity, meaning you'd still need to manually probe for the landmine. In some cases, these are nothing more than plywood boxes, which rapidly degrade when put in place in areas that receive plenty of rainfall. In war-torn areas, trying to find something like this after it has aged, even when you have a rough idea of where it might be, is still hazardous and time-consuming.
Next to this, the biggest problem is going to be that the plant being used is not capable of growing in very dry areas, where landmines are a serious issue (Angola, Namibia, Afghanistan, etc.). Even worse are areas like Kosovo, which receive so much rainfall that the vegetation has grown up and around landmines; wet areas like this have grown trees tall enough to make detection and removal a very serious problem. Large areas are not safely traversable once one leaves pavement, much less mow so that weeds like those used to detect explosives simply won't be visible. They're not tall enough.
There is no panacea to landmines, and although it's good to see one possibility, I doubt many people in the business of landmine removal will find this to be a useful technique, much less stake their lives on it. The folks doing the tinkering in the lab have little or no idea what it's like in the field. It is a very, very difficult problem that a lot of smart people have spent a lot of time on. And it's still not enough.
We used to make hundreds of grams of the stuff at a time, wrapped in Kevlar with ear defenders on and huge safety shields. Everything was by hand signals.
Making things worse was the fact that we were working in a bunker in a remote part of a western state that only had one life flight helicopter for the entire state at the time, and no level 1 trauma center. The local hospital was 70 miles away from any major city, and really wasn't up to fixing anything more complex than hangnails.
Miserable, wretched job- making explosives nobody else would make, under horrible working conditions. Fortunately, my boss was great. He and I made some truly dangerous compounds, and got away without so much as a scratch- a combination of skill and luck.
A list of the transactions taken by SCO's top brass since December is very telling. Sell, sell, sell. 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $213,138.00 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Open Market Sale proceeds of $210,189.59 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Exercise of Stock Options at cost of $13,261.92 12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON Director 10,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $173,400.00 12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON Director 10,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $174,860.00 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 25,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $371,500.00 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 6,640 Open Market Sale proceeds of $100,190.25 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 6,640 Exercise of Stock Options at cost of $7,436.80
The first is that the location of many of these windpower sites coincides quite nicely with the channels through which migratory birds travel. As a result, there is a strong correlation between windpower sites and migratory routes for birds. This is a problem.
The second is that many of these birds move at night; we counted nights where there were hundreds of birds visible on radar. How they managed to fly this way, I'll never know- flying in sub-zero temperatures, in the dark. Nobody was ever able to answer why their eyes didn't freeze, traveling like they did. Putting complex cages around the turbines to birds don't impact the blades won't matter a damn if they're traveling 30-40 mph with the wind, and collide with the cage instead of the blades. They're not going to see them at night, when some of the heaviest air traffic occurs.
The third is that there is a treaty (Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918) that says that it's illegal to kill birds without permits. This is to keep, say, Canada from killing a bunch of birds that Americans say are "theirs." Wildlife not understanding international borders and all that. So, if we start killing lots of migratory birds with windpower sites, we can expect there to be international ramifications.
Last, a number of electric companies don't like having to buy the surplus power these wind sites generate, and will do everything they can to shut them down (see number three, above).