When I was a post-doc at the Univ. of Kansas Chemistry Department the main hallway had a display about helium being discovered in natural gas. The display contained a sealed glass flask with some the helium.

See: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ku.edu%2Fnews%2Fartic...

Isn't seizing the means of production part of communism?

Check out ths site https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kcet.org%2Fkcet-50th... especially bottom photo.

Shouldn't folks working up there have problems for all the EMF? I assume they don't even in an enviroment of hundreds of kilowatts of rf emissions. Also assume the local wildlife is ok too. Until someone can show how non ionizing radiation causes biological effects (other than heating), I would be skeptical of it affecting embassy people.

Google Novec 1230. Seems quite safe and global warming potential similar to CO2.

We read RUR in high school English in 1962. Thank you Miss Hempstead.

A serious EMP occurred in 1859. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spacelegalissues.c... It took out telegraph systems.

As analytical chemist I can tell you that measuring the concentration of a chemical is difficult to better than one percent. Claiming 0.1% would require multiple samples and calibration at a similar concentration before and after each sample. Just having a standard to this accuracy is hard. Sure weighing things and electrical measurement to this accuracy is straight forward but not chemical concentrations. Just think how you would make a 0.08% alcohol in air standard. I assume one would add a known liquid volume of alcohol to a gas cylinder and pressurize with nitrogen (don't want oxidation). Weigh the cylinder before and after filling to determine how much N2 was added. Doing this to better than one percent requires care. My own feeling is that unless someone blows more than 0.085% the result is suspect and folks should not be charged unless this is exceeded.

Roger Easton is a better candidate see https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...
As I recall both the Navy and the Air Force had different ideas for a GPS system. Eventually the Navy version was selected and the Air Force was chosen to manage it. The Air Force system as I recall involved a mix of low orbiting satelites and geo-syncronous ones.

With all the discussion of taxes lately, I looked up Apple's US income taxes, see http://investor.apple.com/fina...

Bottom line: on income of about $64 billion, Apple paid about $16 billion in taxes. So even a company as rich as Apple is not paying the 35% rate that keeps being quoted by Congress, yet we need to lower the rate to 20%.

Off roaders use high intakes mainly to reduce the amount of dust sucked in which will eventually clog the air filter. Obviously it would help going through water. Usually water is flowing and as soon as the car reaches a depth where is will float you are going to go "down the creek without a paddle."

Override safety switches on a microwave oven and run it with the door open. Could cause havoc with a lot of nearby electronics. Would be interesting to see how far away GPS would be overwhelmed. Before you try the experiment, I am sure it is illegal to operate a transmitter this powerful without a license.

Often in science discoveries are made different from the original goal. Much like Columbus looking for a shorter route to India and "discovering" the Americas. With Einstein as mentioned in the article, it was more like asking the right question such as, "What if the speed of light is independent of the observer?"

Often at business meetings we would go out to dinner. Usually when the bill came we would have everyone chip in including tip the amount of money they felt they owed. Some folks had drinks, wine with dinner, and desert. Others may have had only a salad. It was a good judge of character to see who was honest about it. Since this is Slashdot I should mention that we were scientists and engineers so we could do the math. Most the time we would end up with a few extra dollars which would just go for a bigger tip. Occasionally we would be short, and someone would have to fess up about not putting enough in. Good way to see who is trustworthy.

For small payments to many people, split the money between the law firm and the govt. in a reasonable manner. Saves a lot of admin costs and we all as tax payers benefit.

Federal R&D funding agencies often have to justify why certain states get a disproportional amount of their funding. Information like this can be used to show why some states get a lot more federal funding than others. About 20 years ago I looked at DOD basic research funding per capita. As I recall Mass. got about $50 per person vs. 50 cents for Maine. NSF has a program called EPSCOR to set aside funding just for the have not states.