ImPerceptibility

Archive for November, 2008

Today I got up and started peeling apples. It started out good.

I made applesauce. But I over-processed it and it ended up like stage 1 baby food. Still tasted good if you can get past the texture.

I also made Asian style baked bean with apples from dried beans. I cooked them all day. Then right before dinner, I turned the burner up too high and burned them.

 I also made fudgy brownies. I didn’t cook those enough and the middle was a little too fudgy.

I spent most of my day in the kitchen and the kids had ramen noodles with frozen vegetables, sliced raw apples, and the outside edge of brownies for dinner.

The moral of the story? When life hands you apples, make compost.

I love a good experiment. Science is a friend of mine. I’ve always supported many forms of scientific research, even when it’s been questionable. Now I have a good idea for an experiment and it could make us rich.

There are about 10 billion dollars of uranium deposits hidden below the surface in the Piedmont area of Virginia. Even though many areas of Virginia are densely populated and prone to generous amounts of rainfall, resulting in washouts and flooding, it’s the perfect place to mine radioactive materials.

Even if there was a problem and the water supply was contaminated at some point in the 1000 years it would take for the uranium waste to become inactive, who really cares? How many people in the area around Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Virginia Beach would be affected anyway? As for the area being a watershed to the Chesapeake Bay, we all know the bay’s almost dead already. No need to worry about that either.

I know that there are adequate supplies of uranium from decommissioned warheads and reprocessed materials to supply our power plants but I’m thinking much bigger. We could base our company outside the USA and sell our uranium to the highest bidder! I hear there are plenty of people that could put our uranium to good use, once it’s refined properly.

Remember back in the 80’s when our parents’ generation opposed uranium mining in VA. The Virginia General Assembly put a moratorium on it. Those crazy hippies, they were citing something about public health and a safe environment for their children. There’s no reason to worry about that now. Our generation is too busy and apathetic for that foolishness. We could just sneak a mining permit or two right through. No one will notice.

When it’s all said and done, we can shut down our company and leave the mines. Let the Federal Government deal with it. Like they did with the old pyrite mine. Personally, I think having a creek with the pH of vinegar is beneficial. Especially if you like to pickle cucumbers. I’m sure a radioactive water supply could be useful too. No use in wasting our foreign corporate millions in profit on cleanup.

So how about it? Let’s build us a Uranium mine!

Piedmont Environmental Council
Virginia Conservation Network

Her hair was bed-tousled and her eyes were barely open when a welcome little body in sponge bob pajamas came walking into my room. She was rubbing her eyes as she crawled into my bed. I snuggled her close for a minute then she asked.

“Obama won the election,” I told her.

She thought about it for a minute then she told me that she thought McCain would win. She wasn’t excited or disappointed. It was just how it was. Politics mean nothing to her. We got up and had breakfast and I wondered if I should explain the significance of this election. History had been made. I needed her to know that what happened last night would not have happened when I was her age. I wanted her to feel what I felt.

She ate her corn flakes as I thought about how to explain all this to her. She’s led a sheltered life. We’ve protected her. We’ve worked hard to make sure the harmful attitude and hateful words that were so much a part of our childhood had no place in hers, even when it was hard for us. I didn’t even know where to start but I wanted her to know.

She was combing her hair and I looked into her eyes. They were now full of energy and ready to take on the new day. I saw innocence and excitement and her wonderful sense of humor. She was mumbling to herself.

“McCain is insane and Obama ate your llama!” She shouted.

I saw a child that was far more concerned about finding the proper rhyme for the name Obama than making the color of his skin significant. I saw a sweetness that only exists in innocence. I saw what could be the future and it was beautiful just the way it was. I grabbed it and I kissed it right between the eyes. Then we went out to enjoy the leaves on a beautiful fall day.