Radium Ore Revigator

One thing I did while visiting Louisiana with family was go to a rural museum where they had lots of artifacts from the area from the '30s through the mid-19th century. There was one particularly interesting one (from a rad health point of view) was a "Radium ore revigator" which, according to this website, put vigor into "tired or wilted water," which, amusingly enough, isn't far from the modern-day quackery that you'll find in ads in the back of popular science.

So random

Gmail decided that the following advertisement was relevant to my email:

Are you a Random Badger?
Then you will feel at home in the comforting glow of Badgerville.
www.weareallbadgers.com

I just... don't get it. It would be hilarious but I think I've stumbled upon something so random it's just more "huh?" than "ha!".

I like vacation.

Reactor startup

Today I had the fun of being a reactor trainee operator. Exciting. Procedures: unlock the SS scram buttons, engage magnet power, withdraw transient to 100%, withdraw RR to ~40%, start withdrawing shim safeties in gang until reactor reaches critical (not exceeding a 20 second period while doing so), withdrawing SS until 1 MW power, ignore John the ex-Navy annoying senior operator's comments and false alarms and coffee spills, engage servo. Oh yeah! I completely forgot about getting to announce over the PA that the reactor is being engaged and/or steady. It made me feel important. On the way down, disengage servo, hit alarm silence button, lower SS in gang along with TR and RR. And, of course, continue to ignore John.

I also made a microwave s'more. It was gooey.

It is also very cold outside (at least for Texas; it's in the high 30's). I need gloves, a hat, and a heavy coat. Because, biking in this weather? Brrrrrr.