u/Analogsilver

After the Apollo fire that destroyed ~75% of world-wide lacquer production in 2020, that apparently left only Public Record Company in Japan the provide all of the world's lacquers.

This is a potential single point of failure that can stop all record production. It has been 6 years now since the Apollo fire. Does anyone know if a new lacquer plant or plants are being considered or constructed? I'm not finding any information on this. I'm actually surprised Chad Kassem isn't in this part of the business yet.

Thanks!

Living in the desert southwest of the US, dust is an ever present issue. I'm using several methods for static reduction on my records & turntable. These StaticMaster brushes use the alpha emitter Polonium 210 to ionize the air and the record surface, but the half life of Po210 is pretty short. Because of this you need to replace the Po210 cartridge once a year, and the cartridges are pricey.

Yes, StaticMaster brushes are still produced and are available for purchase.

I wondering if placing a different alpha source under the dust cover might be useful for ionizing the air and reducing the static charges. I'm curious if anyone else is doing something similar with their turntable?

The latest microbe outbreak, this time Cyclospora causing explosive diarrhea, has seemingly become an annual, or more often, event. I did a quick search and found about 400 to 500 Gy is the dose where most of these pathogens can no longer infect their hosts.

I know we won't see rapid, widespread aceptance of irradiated foods, (it's stunningly hard to find any), but it seems to me these continuous outbreaks are perfect teaching opportunities for the industry. It also seems like an obvious path for growth.

I'm interested in hearing from the more knowledgable on the subject. I'm sure there are a few people that work in that industry, or closely related, lurking or participating here. It would be interesting to hear what, if anything is going on with the industry in relation to these outbreaks.

I got a boring, dark gray disk 45 rpm adapters with my turntables. They work fine, but I'm wondering if there are any other designs and styles that I want to 3D print instead. Obviously the classic in the image are cheap and widely available, but I'm thinking something different. Getting ideas from retail sites as well as 3D model sites, but nothing has clicked yet.

I'd be surprized if there are not some really nice adapters out there.

If you have something that is different or unique, lets see them.

I had a medical test today. (No questions or dose readings. Just my experience)

I brought my Radview A,B+Q with me so I could get to watch the dose reading and counts drop after the test. I chatted a bit with the Nuclear Tech, about radiation and the procedure. She was quite pleased when I told her I wasn't a radiation worker but a hobbyist. She understood my disappointment when she told me the tracer being used was Rubidium 82. 75 second half life means I would miss seeing the highest flux as there were no place I could put the AB+G and see it well.

As soon as I could, I pulled it out of my pocket it was showing 25k+ cpm on skin contact. I watched the count drop rapidly as I recovered. I was down to a few thousand cpm when I left the office and was back to background by the time I got home. I'm figuring I was berween the 7th & 8th half life when I took the 1st measurement, so if I'm figuring correctly I think I was measuring over 3 million cpm at the start of the test! I wish I saw that! She was quite impressed with my Radview. Nick might be getting a new order.

She told me a bit about how they generate the Rubidium 82, with the Strontium source being 50 mCu! Wow! Overall, this is something I hope no one here has to experience themselves, but it was a really interesting experience!

I'm curious if there is an audiophile group in Tucson? When I search on that I only find some discussion in one audio forum that generated a lot of interest in the idea, but that was over 20 years ago. The conversation stopped abruptly with no obvious outcome.

I know Tucson has a lot of audiophiles, but are we all introverts, or have I just not found the secret society?

(NOT my system in the photo. Just for eye candy to attract audiophiles)

I've upgraded my uv light, and recently purchased a radiation detector. The latter isn't just for uranium glass.

I have watched a few videos where people looking around antique or thrift shops with their detectors have been low grade confronted by others over their use of a radiation detector.

I understand that a lot of people have a fear of radiation, even when it comes to natural background radiation. I expect to discuss what I'm doing, and hopefully share a little knownledge about radioactivity.

That said, I have questions for those of you hunting with a detector.

Have you been questioned about the use of your detector?

What term do you use for your detector when talking with others?

I use "radiation detector" for my detector as technically it is not a geiger counter. I'm thinking though that the word radiation may bother some if they're already concern. Everyone knows what a geiger counter is, but I'm not sure if that term is less upsetting.

Have you fellow radiation hunters have any experiences that you can share?maybe I'm over thinking thus?

Thanks

(Manufacturer's photo of the AlphaHound ab+g model, which is the detector I own)

I've been watching a video tour of the nuclear merchant ship NS Savannah. The NS Savannah was the only commercial ship constructed under President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program in the 1950's. Several of the tables in the passenger veranda have nearly the same design, though the ship entered service 6 years before TOS aired the pilot.

​

Has anyone seen or read about where or how the Star Fleet delta design came about? The NS Savannah was in the news quite a bit at the time, so Gene Roddenberry or another person involved in the production would have probably seen photos of these tables, or even visited or sailed on the ship.

​

I'd be interested to learn where the idea came from. It is kind of hard to think there is no connection at all, as tge NS Savannah was pretty futuristic at the time.

​

Thanks!

I'm sure there are a number of fellow model railroaders in this sub. Does anyone have dimensional or elevation drawings of the new ATLAS nuclear waste car, or have a link to this information?

I'd like to model this new car, and even the older designs, but I'm not having any luck finding any information on them. Most likely I just haven't turned up the correct archive yet.

If you've already modeled any of these cars, I'd love to see them.

Thanks!

I've been looking online for food products that are irradiated, usually to kill insects and microbes, or to extend shelf life. By law here in the US and in many countries, the labels have to display this Radura symbol and possibly a written statement about irradiation too.

I know irradiation is used on things like herbs and spices, some meats as well as some fruits and vegetables.

Finding these products online isn't obvious, most likely due to unfounded fear of the process.

I'm curious if you've come across any irradiated products, or if you regularly use any? It would be interesting to determine if there are any products I'd like to purchase if I can.

S50, 20 second subs processed in Siril, using Naztronomy's preprocessing script, Cosmic Clarity for denoise & sharpening, and Veralux Hypermetric Stretch.

When I first started collecting coins, I attended a F.U.N. show and came across a dealer with a box of ancient coins for $5 each. I spent a few minutes poking through it and while most wheren't in great shape, one turned up one that caught my eye. It became my first ancient coin.

Bronze follis

Constantine I

Struck 322-325 CE

Ticinum mint

Obv: CONSTAN_TINVS AVG

Laureate head facing right

Rev: D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG

VOT dot XX crescent within wreath

2.68g

18.80mm diameter

Ref: RIC VII, 167

Long time collector of ancients, primarily Greek coins from Sicily. I just finished 3D printing a stand for easier photography of my coins. (I still need to refine the design a bit) Some trays of Roman coins were close at hand, so the denarius is up first.

Denarius

Roman Republic

124 BCE

Rome Mint

ROMA / LABEO

Helmeted head of Roma, facing right

Q FABI

Jupiter holding a thunderbolt and scepter, driving a quadriga to the right with the prow of a galley below

An interesting new "Tested" got released today. Adam obtains a titanium spehere and builds a model core and the transportation box. I'm sure this will be a popular video for redditors here.

https://youtu.be/V1Y4UR8xqxA

I understand that Europium-152 decays primarily (72.1%) via Electron Capture, which produces Samarium-152 that has an excited nucleus. The Samarium-152 then emits a gamma to drop to its ground state. I'm not finding any decay chain charts that show this gamma emission, which is confusing to me. (I also understand some charts leave out gamma under some circumstances.)

My question is, does Electron Capture usually produce daughters with excited nuclei, which then emit a gamma, so it isn't normally listed? I must have missed that correlation in my studies if that is the case.

Thanks.

I asked Spectrum Technologies for a quote on some 0.1uCurie sources, but put off the purchase. I modified my request and got a new quote yesterday. These sources have go up $20 each, from $45 to $65, and shipping is up $5 more too.

Disappointed that my order will now $65 more than it was last month.

I am interested in glazed decorative tiles from around 1900 through the 1930s. I'm looking for buildings, (commercial, governmental, schools, parks, private walls along public sidwalks, etc.) that were built around that timeframe which have glazed decorative tiles on them.

If anyone knows of any tiles on buildings of this age around town, I'd be interested in hearing suggestions on where to look.

Image not from Tucson. Just used for illustrative purposes.

Thanks!

My Alphahound AB+G arrived a few days ago, and I have been having some fun with it. I soon realized there are a few display modes where I would like the unit to be standing upright to more easily see the display. Radview has the stl for the included dust cover on their website. I downloaded that, modified it slightly so I could plug it in while it is in the cradle, and added the base you see here. I uploaded this remix on to thingiverse if anyone would like to print one for themselves. Just search for alphahound. I have designed a handle and a separate mount for a cane I occasionally use. I'll post those too if there is any interest. My printer is wearing out, so this print is a bit rougher than I would like.