Tag: Translator

Welcome to the third to last xx/xx/xx year in our lifetimes  Only next year and 2012 until we wait another 88 years for one.

Now that I have gotten your attention, actually MOST plastic bottles are not evil from a health and safety perspective, but the way that we use them certainly is evil.  I did say MOST, since by far the greatest number of plastic containers are made of polyethylene (PE, recycle code 2), polypropylene (PP, recycle code 5), or polyethylene terephthalate, (PET or PETE, recycle code 1).  These materials are not very apt to leach harmful materials into the contents.

Some plastics, notably polycarbonate (PC, recycle code 7 [7 is a catch all for “other”]) are apt to leach out harmful materials, particularly bisphenol A, strongly suspected as being an endocrine system disruptor because of its potential to mimic estrogen.  Polycarbonate containers are clear and usually thick, while PE and PP are translucent.  PETE is also clear, but usually quite a bit thinner than PC.  Just look at the recycle codes on the bottom.

This covers a topic about which I wrote earlier this week, but is expanded and completely revised, and includes actions that you can take if you find yourself in this situation.  I know that this will not be as well received as the installment last week, but this is an important topic, (although not a popular one), and is part of our culture at present.  I am talking about telephone billing scams, often called cramming, and they are common.

This incident is from personal experience, and recent at that.  Cramming is the addition of charges on one’s residential or wireless telephone bills that were not authorized by the owner of the account, or the addition of charges that were unwittingly authorized by the owner of the account.  In my case, it was the former, twice.

Well, this will not be nearly as entertaining as some of the music ones, but it is still part of popular culture.  There is a telephone billing scam going around, and I daresay that at least one of you reading this has become a victim of it.  I was.

It has to do with third party billing to your telephone bill.  You do not call 900 numbers?  No matter.  Not the 809 ones to the Bahamas?  No matter.  Right now, this audience is being vacuumed for telephone numbers for surreptitious billing.  It happened to me, and I thought that it was my fault.  It was not.  Please continue this journey.

We have been talking about sustainability recently, and one of the resources in most jeopardy is fresh water.  In the United States the freshwater problem is becoming more and more significant, and in many parts of the world it is already desperate.  We shall look at some of the methods used to purify nonpotable water tonight.

First of all, we need to understand what kind of water we are purifying.  It ranges in quality from surface or ground freshwater, requiring only minor treatment to eliminate microbes that might cause disease (the vast majority of drinking and industrial water in the United States comes from these sources), all the way to seawater, with lots of intermediate kinds.

Those of you who read this column regularly know that I am a big fan of the British Invasion era bands.  This is not to say that I hold American bands in disdain.  Actually, that could not be more untrue, because the revolution in early American music made possible the British Invasion.  Without Buddy Holly (Sir Paul is reputed to have a pair of his cufflinks), Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and many, many others, the British Invasion never would have happened.

But that was then.  This evening I wish to point out what I consider to be one of the very best American bands, and they are still with us.  Considering the circumstances, it is unlikely that they ever came to be, and considering one of their performers really self destructive habits, it is a wonder that they continue.

Many of you know that I regularly post and host the Pique the Geek series here and elsewhere on Sunday evenings.  One of my rules is to prepare myself for questions and corrections (both of which I relish) after posting.  Some of you may not know that I NEVER look up anything after posting, unless specifically requested to do so, and when I specifically say that I have in the comments.  There is a reason for that.

When I write my scientific blogs, I prepare for them.  For each minute that you read them, often more than an hour of research has gone into them.  But I can never know everything, and the comments are usually the most interesting and often the most illuminating part of my posts.  I would not have it any other way!

I have been thinking about sustainability for a long, long time.  Unfortunately, in my scientific analysis, it not possible if we continue on the route that we have chosen.  This is an extremely complex topic, and might even deserve its own, new, date.  I am thinking that Wednesdays might be a good time for it.  This is more speculation than science, so it does not properly belong on Pique the Geek for the long term.

This will be the most controversial topic that I have ever tackled.  I may be dead wrong in some of my speculations, but a lot of thought has gone into them.  I offer no easy remedies but do ask the hard, horrible questions and illustrate them with facts.  I will ask that you, my readers, tell me whether this deserves a new series, uncoupled from Pique the Geek. Please read further.

I apologize for being away last week; Translator was a bit under the weather.  Not really ill, but feeling poorly enough that I could not have monitored comments for the hours that I always promise after publication.  I would rather post nothing at all than not be available to respond to comments, because I respect my readers and know that the comments are usually the most interesting part of the post.

Tonight we shall discuss the final spinoff of Star Trek that appeared on TeeVee. Enterprise (after the first couple of seasons renamed Star Trek:  Enterprise) is, in my opinion, held in much lower esteem than it should be.  I always liked it, but since SyFy has been running it, I have come to appreciate it even more.  It sort of lost its way halfway into the run, but the final season more than made up for it.

Negative feelings certainly has a victim.  That victim is he or she who holds them in an unreasonable manner.  This is not a “9/11” post, but any similarities might well be noted.

I have written on the Big Orange for a very long time, sometimes with better and sometimes with poorer results.  Those of you who have read my posts will know that, several years ago, I was accused of a heinous crime, and was innocent of it.

Here is what happened Tuesday past.  I thing that it might be of interest to people.

Most of you who read my posts know that I am a big fan of the Gene Roddenberry Star Trek universe of science fiction.  Those of you who do not read my posts as often also know that I am a dedicated fan of Doctor Who.

What you might not know is that both of those TeeVee Series have contributed more that you might not have thought towards our technology as it stands at present.  Well, we do not have a TARDIS just yet, but we have many of the things that Star Trek pioneered.  Tonight we will study just a few of them that are common.

Please stay with us on this trek.  By the way, the term “Star Trek” was NEVER used in the original series, but finally was uttered in the very last installment of Star Trek, The Next Generation, by “Q”.