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Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

nytimes.com

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Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#351

Post by micromacrofoot »

pantry-man wrote: post #125
micromacrofoot wrote: post #116

I don’t really buy the “fell off a truck” story, will be very surprised if they find this before it gives someone cancer… and if whoever took it knows what they’re doing, it will never be found.

What motive would someone have to do this? Seems like a baseless conspiracy theory

I guess maybe it's a lack of detail leading me to this suspicion, but I've moved lots of stuff, thousands of tons of stuff. I don't understand how a capsule this small could even possibly be unsecured to the point that it falls out of containment and into the road on its lonesome.

> Upon opening the package, it was found that the gauge was broken apart with one of the four mounting bolts missing and the source itself and all screws on the gauge also missing

If they were transporting it this sloppily it could have easily killed the transporters. I've moved empty USB sticks with more caution. If they find this just lying on the side of the road somewhere I'll eat my hat.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#352

Post by nineteen999 »

defrost wrote: post #350
nineteen999 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to look up the word "kartiya" because I hadn't heard it before, being from the East Coast. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kartiya Which led me down the rabbit hole of the second quote, which is an interesting topic all on its own.

It was a lure to encourage the curious to look it up alright :-) Fun questions that might have prompted include: Given the number of lanuages [1] why would a Noongar person [2] from the South West of Western Australia use a word from the Western Desert Group? To be honest it's something he said in both English (in his work) and Noongar in response to the play | movie The Fringe Dwellers [3] and common usage of the ph…

Please don't apologize, I will read when I have some free time. I'm not particularly learned about literature or plays, even less so regarding those of Australian origin, and less so again when the playright in question is of a native background. But I do like to absorb information about the history of the country I live in, so thank you for the links.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#353

Post by jamesrcole »

rowanG077 wrote: post #208
Bluecobra wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Getting closer, like putting it directly against your torso, would mean serious health effects in a matter of minutes. Let’s hope that some random person doesn’t find it and turn it into a necklace or something. The TNG episode “Thine Own Self” comes to mind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident Stuff of nightmares.

I read the Wikipedia article... it's scary and sadly a number of people died or were injured... but then I think about something like the Covid pandemic and, compared to that, the number of deaths from radioactive sources like this basically round to zero.

If people are strongly affected by the radiation, then it's probably not going to be that long until the problem is tracked down and dealt with.

I suppose the worst case scenario would be if the radiation was in a place where it wasn't affecting people as acutely and lots of people were passing nearby it, such that the existence of the radiation wouldn't be as obvious or as easy to track down.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#355

Post by toomuchtodo »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #62
leaving wrote: post #56

This is mostly a data analysis job. If the capsule is on or very near the road, a single trip from start to finish with a NaI(Tl) or CsI scintillation counter will find it. Every CBRN team in the world has these, so they have obviously completed the first run at this without finding it. The capsule is not on or near the road. Australia is famous for road trains on the Great Northen Highway. They travel fast and heavy…

You comment is fantastic because it demonstrates we are beyond finding it with a rolling road block and sensors on trucks. This is a recovery operation where you're going to want surveillance for when someone shows up somewhere (medical care provider) with radiation sickness and to start contact tracing. If a human has it in their possession, exposure is ongoing. If it's sitting in a ditch somewhere, maybe it's years…

I was wrong! It’s been found 2 meters from the road.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34607423

https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/d47c6a97fd9b93de...

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#356

Post by brutusborn »

qikInNdOutReply wrote: post #331
brutusborn wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia says his wife wanted him to see the year 2000. I suspect doctors just followed family orders, not much glory in keeping an almost-corpse alive.

Ah, doctor is a trained professional, who is forced to uphold the truth and stand up as the agent of reason against delusional personal wishes of humans in denial. You can not see the year 2000 with shredded dna. They knew, they did not insist, they created the ilusion of possible cure and healing for what was essentially a hospice cure. They created a situation, were they applied cures that could not work to a patie…

I agree that unnecessary suffering should be prevented, however I see no evidence that the family was under any illusion.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#357

Post by anakaine »

AlbertCory wrote: post #142
anakaine wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No moose, bears, wolves, cougars, or other alpha predators in Australia though. About the worst are wild dogs / dingos, though they typically won't be a problem unless they're in a pack. I'll take Australian dangers over North American every day of the week.

I've been there three times. How about you? Those megafauna in North America are pretty hard for a human to encounter accidentally. As opposed to these: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013...

There, being Australia? I'm Aussie, spent a decade working in remote area exploration. Grew up on/in the bush. I know my way around.

There being North America? Been a handful of times. Enjoy snowboarding and hiking. Thankfully I've never run into anything on the trail.

The guy below me posted about the Gympie Gympie tree. Been stung by one, twice. First time from a dead leaf. Second time from a very much alive and still on the tree leaf. That tree is rather painful. Both times treated with a cold wax strip. Had to ring around to find one on the second occasion as it was at night.

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