Morning Fix: Less Stressed but more Radioactive Edition

9 Comments

Comment by Uncle Jess on July 9, 2009 at 8:10am

With WIPP being 'the nation's only transuranic storage site' I guess that puts NM either as #1 or #50 on something, depending on your point of view....

Comment by Masshole in Fringecrest on July 9, 2009 at 8:47am

Um, why is there a "wellness index" sponsored by Amway? I read the Stressed article and was surprised to read about the "Amway Global Wellness Index"....

Comment by Another Mike on July 9, 2009 at 8:51am

Maybe all that radiation will make the Green Chile's even hotter and give it a nice glow. TRIVIA: Radiation glows BLUE and not GREEN.

So maybe we'll have some awesome BLUE Chiles!

Comment by Uncle Jess on July 9, 2009 at 9:01am

@Another Mike. Funny you should suggest blue chiles. DOE sponsored a contest, encouraging mainly artsy types, to design warning symbols for Yucca Mt. The challenge is that people (or whatever) probably won't be speaking English or Spanish 10-20 thousand years from now. Lots of pictures of people in pain carved on rocks, etc, but one of the finalists was a specially bred day glow blue cactus.

@Masshole - are they saying that if NM had more amway we would be better off, heh.heh...

Comment by JFoote on July 9, 2009 at 9:27am

In 10-20 thousand years I'll bet language barriers will be the least of humanities worries.

Comment by Khan on July 9, 2009 at 10:51am

I have to admit, even though I'm usually a green chile purist, adding pico to a GCCB is actually a pretty awesome idea. Now where can I get that very thing, made with a boca burger, here in ABQ?
[sigh...defeat.]
I should've eaten breakfast.

Comment by Another Mike on July 9, 2009 at 12:04pm

Uncle J. ~ yeah. Let's be concerned about the people who won't be born decades later, but for those living now...who cares. And it is my belief that such designs of warning and foreboding only INCREASES people's curiosity of the unknown.

And Blue cacti sounds pretty cool!

Comment by FactWino on July 9, 2009 at 12:31pm

I had to look up that blue cactus, actually a yucca as it turns out, not a cactus. The article incorrectly conflates the two. From NPR's A Canticle for Yucca Mountain: Ashok Sukumaran's winning design in the competition features "genetically engineered Yucca catcus which turns various shades of blue depending on the levels of radiation in the area."

"The irony of the concept," says Josh Abbey, "is twofold. First, there are no Yucca cactuses at Yucca Mountain. Secondly, it's like one genetic mutation trying to control another mutation."

Comment by Barelas Babe on July 9, 2009 at 9:20pm

@FactWino - great link! When I saw Josh Abbey's name I wondered if he could be related Edward Abbey, who spent a bit of time here in the Duke City and picked up a master's degree in philosophy at UNM. Sure enough (if you trust Wikipedia) it looks like this is his son.

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