As much as I love skiing at Colorado's resorts, I think I'm forever spoiled after our backcountry hut trip south of Breckenridge this weekend. Not only did we wake up to this explosively colorful sunrise this morning (picture taken from my bedroom window) but we then scouted out prime turf for a kicker and jumped for a few hours in lush creamy powder right outside our door. NOONE for miles, and no sound but the melody of our cheers and wipe-outs. Then we skied back down to the trailhead through a thick, narrow channel surrounded by pine. Not to mention the joy of playing Liar's Dice, Uno and A$$hole last night while sipping Franzi, hot chocolate and schnapps and feasting on gourmet hut tacos.

Retail Therapy or Snow Therapy

In light of Christmas season, I'm keeping a notepad dedicated to holiday ideas with me at all times, kind of like a journalist is supposed to keep an idea pad constantly at the ready. Normally I hate Christmas catalogues, but I riffled through Target's today and it was quite inspiring. On those glossy pages, the stuff even looks classier than it does in the superstore.

And speaking of Christmas, today was the first big snowstorm of the season, which for some reason puts me in the mood for Christmas STAT! There are 6 inches adorning our porch and my roommate's bike is covered in soft fluffy pillows of powder. Signing off for now ...

Midnight Rules

I know exactly how George Bush feels. With so little time left (in the semester) you really just want to make your mark before it's too late. So no wonder the President is busy obstructing the green revolution: getting rid of environmental review in relation to fishery management, cutting slack for coal-mining companies who blow up mountians, letting factory farms ignore the Clean Water Act, neutering the Endangered Species Act, and circumventing the part of the Clean Air Act that forces utilities to update pollution controls on every new or renovated plant. Wow! As if hating on the earth weren't bad enough, he's also got some anti-labor rules up his sleeve, making it more difficult for the gov't to limit employees' exposure to toxins and tougher to take sick or medical leave. The New Yorker sums it up best:

"What distinguishes this Administration in its final days—as in its earlier ones—is the purity of its cynicism. White House officials haven’t even bothered to argue that these new rules are in the public interest. Such a claim would, in any event, be impossible to defend, as just about every midnight regulation being proposed is, evidently, a gift to a favored industry."

On second thought, I guess I have the luxury of not being indebted to special interests and not suffering from megalomania. My own midnight rules are more like: try to get 8 hours of sleep, don't blow off final exams to go skiing, shoot for at least one A and don't eat too many Christmas cookies!

Great Grandma's Christmas Cookies

For those of you who make iced sugar cookies over Christmas, you can appreciate my story. During an intense cookie-session tonight, the dough was a bit soft (high altitude?), the frosting was a bit runny (I poured too much half-and-half in) and excessive finger licking landed me with a stomach ache. But it was totally worth it. Oh yeah, if you haven't made the mitten-shaped Christmas cookies, you really should. You can get super creative with the detailing. I do miss the unique flavor of the sleigh, Santas, bells, holly leaf, and star. Still, a great way to toast a month full of yuletide!!

Fairbanks Republican Mayor Speaks at Democratic National Convention in Denver

Fairbanks borough mayor crosses party lines at Democratic convention

Molly Rettig/For the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Published Wednesday, August 27, 2008

DENVER — Before an audience of more than 10,000 and in front of towering digital screens flashing stars and stripes, a Fairbanks leader took center stage at the Democratic National Convention. Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker, a Republican, voiced his support for Barack Obama and party unity for about five minutes Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.

His speech, which he was asked to present less than a week ago, was part of the night’s high-voltage lineup that led up to a crowd-rousing speech from Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Whitaker agreed to speak because he wanted to follow through with his choice to support Obama, he said.

“I was either going to truly support the person I was endorsing, or I would do it halfway,” he said in a phone interview earlier that day.

He cited the nation’s economic, energy and national security challenges as several key reasons for endorsing Obama. These hurdles are more important than party lines and even state lines, he said.

“I don’t think I’m here to represent Alaskans. I’m here to represent one person who is exercising their vote,” he said on the phone. “Every Alaskan is entitled to do the same.”

A crowd of media, politicians, delegates and supporters swirled around the Alaska delegation on the floor of the grand hall. About 20 spirited Alaska delegates, wearing white jackets embroidered with their state name and contour, filled two rows and stood waving state flags during Whitaker’s speech.

“I’m very proud of him,” said Fairbanks delegate Elyse Guttenberg.

Guttenberg said Obama was the first presidential candidate to pay this much attention to Alaska, especially when it came to energy, education and health care issues.

Cindy Spanyers, a delegate from Juneau, said the mood of the convention was full of hope and change.

“There is so much hope here it’s almost spiritual,” she said.

Seeing an Alaskan on the podium only enhanced that, she said.

“It’s so great to see an Alaskan speak,” said Rex Okakok, a delegate and whaling captain from Barrow.

The animated Inupiaq man expressed a bit of culture shock at the surrounding melee. He said his first trip to Colorado had been eye-opening.

“They’re having the same problems we have in rural Alaska,” he said of the energy and social issues emphasized by speakers. “I feel like I’m just part of the average American, not just an Eskimo.”

Angela Cox, another delegate from Barrow, also said she could relate to others at the convention.

“In many ways, the people here are so diverse and we don’t agree on a lot of things, but we do agree on who should be the next president,” she said.

Controlling off-shore development and facilitating the natural gas pipeline were a couple of issues Cox trusted Obama to help govern.

“He’s not going to give in to the pressure of Big Oil,” she said.

The Fairbanks contingent made time for fun, too.

“I can barely talk because I’m so hoarse from last night,” said Fairbanks delegate John Davies. “We went to Invesco Field at 9:30 for a Willie Nelson concert.”

Whitaker too was amazed at the size of the event and the intense security at what was his first national convention, he said.

Even though Denver was hot and congested, he didn’t feel like a fish out of water, he said. Rather, he seemed in his element as he drove home his message of America’s need for change.

“Democracy is a fun thing to watch. It’s even more fun to be a part of.”

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - oh yea!

Fasten your seatbelts. Below is more than you ever wanted to know about the process of uranium enrichment and reprocessing. Though the U.S. doesn't currently reprocess spent nuclear fuel, there is a movement to begin doing so. It's coinciding with the growing potential of nuclear as a renewable energy source, and the Department of Energy is all for it. It's also pinned to the Yukka Mt. dilemma, which is the long-term geologic repository for radioactive waste from nuclear reactors that's still....not.....open. Over 100 reactors in the U.S. are storing their nuclear waste on-site, waiting for Yukka to open its underground doors to unwanted nuclear fission materials. Except that the nuclear waste is full of more fissionable energy and can be recycled (reprocessed) to convert into electricity. France, Russia and Germany reprocess spent nuclear waste into new fuel. 

Nuclear enrichment is increasing the concentration of the fissile U-235 in uranium supply. Uranium ore is .72% U-235 and roughly 99% U-238 (does not fission). Fuel rods for nuclear reactors is made from uranium enriched to about 4% U-235.  There are two significant processes - gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuge.

Diffusion was developed during the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. It converts uranium into UF6 -uranium hexafluoride - gas. Gaseous UF6 is fed into 100s of porous membrane barriers and the lighter U-235 molecules penetrate microscopic holes in the barriers, whereas heavier U-238 molecules are left behind. This creates a more concentrated stream of U-235, which is further enriched in the next stage, and a depleted stream of mainly U-238, which is re-harvested for more U-235.

Gas centrifuge uses many tall rotating cylinders that are interconnected in cascade formations. Simple, eh? Gaseous UF6 is fed down into the rotor, which is surrounded by evacuated casing, and spinned at a tremendously fast speed. Faster than your mind is even processing this. The centrifugal force causes the gas to move towards the wall of the rotor. The heavier U-238 molecules move closer to the wall, leaving lighter U-235 molecules in the center. The U-235 stream is withdrawn and fed into a higher stage. Centrifuge enrichment requires many cascade stages, but has a short equilibrium time and enriches faster. The plants are less cumbersome to develop but also to detect. Iran is using centrifuge technology and we have no idea how far along the enrichment process they are, do we? 

The political and moral question is this: how do you encourage the development of nuclear energy, which requires uranium enriched to 4%, and prevent the construction of nuclear warheads, which use uranium enriched to 90%? 

There's no time to discuss reprocessing today, but we'll get to that. Before the U.S. does. Maybe. 

Boulder City Council meeting, Oct. 2, 2007

Burke Lake Not to be Restored by Spring

Oct. 3, 2007

Boulder County Courthouse

 

Burke Lake has long been an amenity to residents of Frasier Meadows retirement community in south Boulder. Not many parks in Boulder come with lakes to stroll around.

 

Community members have bleakly watched it dry out and scum over for the past five years, and now they’re fighting to get their lake back.

 

 “It’s a green, scummy mess,” said Ray Joyce, a retiree who served Boulder’s city council from 1966-1970 and Northern Colorado’s Water Conservancy District for 26 years.

 

“The only thing the residents want is to have the lake restored to the way it used to be,” Joyce said.

 

Joyce and his wife Dotty have lived at Frasier Meadows for seven years. The man-made lake once sparkled as the jewel of Admiral Arleigh Burke Memorial Park; now it’s hardly visible from the walking path. Joyce officially asked the city’s Parks and Recreation Department yesterday to dip into emergency money now and restore the lake so the community can have something to enjoy this spring.

 

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, Boulder City Council decided to put the lake’s repair on hold until spring, when they knew what it would cost. Though all councilmembers voiced concern at the state of Burke Lake, Mayor Mark Ruzzin repeatedly said they needed a more complete analysis of the methods and cost of the restoration.

 

During more than 1 hour of debate over the fate of Burke Lake, Councilman Ken Wilson pressed his colleagues for more urgent leadership and funding. He said the lake would only be more “mosquito-infested” and swamp like if they waited six months. The money would come out of parks and recreation’s budget, and Wilson recommended an approved budget line to secure the lake as a priority.

 

“If they need to reduce some other budget lines to do that, fine,” Wilson said.

 

Those who live near the lake would’ve trumpeted this idea. At a neighborhood meeting with the city’s parks officials last week, Joyce and about 180 other neighbors showed up to prove how much this meant to them. Joyce said the meeting was attended by all ages, as Burke Park borders Frasier Meadows and Horizon elementary school.

 

Councilwoman Crystal Gray recently visited Frasier Meadows and spoke to residents who worried that they may not live to see the lake be restored. She has seen it growing steadily worse and marshier.

 

“I look at this as a ticking time bomb,” Gray said.

 

But there was no consensus that Burke Lake was a top priority in a litany of problems feeding on parks and recreation money, including replacement of playgrounds, park shelters, and drainage in Chataqua Park.

 

“We are behind the eight ball in terms of our repair and maintenance,” said Deputy Mayor Suzy Ageton.  “We have to make choices.”

 

The councilmembers made the choice to stick with original priorities now, but to return to the Burke Lake issue with a plan of attack. City Manager Frank Bruno was asked to identify costs and impacts of a work program that would restore the lake this spring.  There was no dissent.

 

Councilman Richard Polk said, “It’s a manmade lake. It used to be beautiful, it’s not beautiful now. We’d like it to be beautiful again.”