It's ironic, but these things go in fads. Beer, if it's made properly, is actually a good source of calcium, and the reason it probably has a high level of radiation in many brands is, as I think Olympia's and up here Kokanee's, slogan puts it, "it's the water." You're right about cooling water, which never comes in contact with any isotopes, but only with the outer surfaces of hot containment areas, which are radiation-free -- they have to be for the sake of the workers, who otherwise would get too much career-long exposure. There are several ways of measuring radiation, and I won't get into the details here, but let's just say that A x B = C, where C is your total load, and it's what you should be concerned with. A is the amount of radiation at any given time, and B is the length of time, cumulatively, that you get exposed to. And water from glaciers and mountainous areas tend to have a higher level of radiation. Radium Hot Springs is a resort town on the BC-AB border -- it used to be believed that a small amount of radium was actually curative (er, no pun intended).
Some very common sources of radiation exposure that most people don't know about, which are far more dangerous than living near a nuclear reactor (all things being equal) are: * #1 by far is airplane travel. Airplanes typically cruise at 10 000 metres, where there is less atmosphere and therefore less protection against high-energy, ionizing radiation from the sun and from the delta quadrant (joke; space in general -- cosmic rays). * Living in Salt Lake, Calgary or Denver, or any other high-altitude city. Same as above, only not as bad, but you spend more time in your bed, playing with the kids, wasting your life in chat rooms and eating at the table, than on planes and remember the B factor as per A x B = C. * Going into your basement (that lets off the Californians ;-)) where your chances of being exposed to radon is higher. Radon is, a radioactive gas which is a naturally occurring element that comes from trace amounts of various isotopes in the soil and the concrete around you. * Smoking. Tobacco leaves often contain isotopes for some reason which I've long forgotten. So if the tar and the nicotine don't get you, dayglo lungs will. * Living anywhere near an iron, nickel, silver or gold mine or in either a mountainous region or on pre-cambrian rock (as in the vast Laurentian Shield that protects us here from Toronto's effusions, but which extends well into New York state and Michigan and Minnesota and Wisconsin). More radioisotopes which occur naturally. There are areas near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where naturally occurring uranium deposits, which tend to occur near nickle/cobalt deposits for geological reasons, where there's evidence of prehistoric fission reactions having occurred. I could go on, but those are the worst ones. Oh, I suppose I should also mention mother's milk. Because mammary glands are actually modified sweat glands, they tend to produce milk in a way that's similar to how the body produces sweat. What they have in common that's relevant here is that toxins tend to build up in both sweat and mother's milk, so if you've ingested radioactive substances as a mother, your milk will tend to concentrate them. Have I gotten everyone in a real tizzy yet? Our problem is we're not good at evaluating actual risk. We tend to put far more risk on unknown factors, rather than those which are probably more dangerous, but which are known quantities, and therefore familiar to us. The frightful mien again. Jon Spencer wrote: > If any level of radiation will kill us, then you need to move near a nuclear > power plant and stay away from beer. it seems that there is 13 times more > radiation in beer than there is in the cooling water coming out of the Nuke > power plant I can see from my house. > > So you see, the word of wisdom was clearly correct in warning us against > beer but not against nuke power plants. > > Jon > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Cobabe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 2:08 PM > Subject: RE: [ZION] Taliban in Pakistan > > > > > Jon Spencer wrote: > > --- > > Of course, with all the hysteria over nuclear power that the > > envirowackos have stirred up, the emotional damage would be much > > greater. > > --- > > > > Creating terror is the real objective of terrorism, isn't it? What does > > it matter that dirty bombs are ineffective at inflicting casualties, if > > it puts your enemy in a panic crises? Everyone knows that any level of > > radiation will kill us all instantly, or cause us to die of cancer > > within a few months. Even the people who live in the neighborhood of > > the Three Mile Island reactor disaster are still trying to sue because > > they all have cancer. The recently completed study indicating that > > there is no greater risk of cancer in that area means nothing. > > > > Spreading fear and panic was also the point of the anthrax attacks last > > year. Of course it is seldom recognized that anthrax is a common > > organism in nature. Many of us have fairly frequent contact with > > anthrax vectors. There are even occasional infections. But nobody > > seems to feel too scared about that. Probably because, as with "dirty > > bomb" contamination, the most effective prophylactic measure is > > attention to regular bathing habits. > > > > I remember when the Denver airport was shut down last year because > > someone discovered a white powder leaking from a package. It turned out > > to be vanilla pudding mix. > > > > --- > > Mij Ebaboc > > > > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > / > > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > / > > > > > > > > ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland �Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on� � Winston Churchill Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author�s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
