@enhydra lutris

on background radiation are very, very real. However, dosimetry is a very arcane topic, and comparisons of dose rates are very difficult to do in any meaningful way. But I'm not going to let that stop me... (;-)

I've been running a little solar/terrestrial radiation observatory here as a hobby for a number of years now. Here at 6700 feet, we have a much higher background radiation level than sea-level folks. And, being above so much of the atmosphere, it lets me easily record the radiation bursts from solar flares: there is much less attentuation due to the atmosphere.

The average background radiation dose rate I observe here is ~162nSv/hr, gamma-only, or 1.42mSv/yr. But that gamma contribution is relatively small potatoes: the overall dose here from all sources (alpha+beta+gamma) comes out to about ~11mSv/year, which is a little more than double what you'd get at sea level (~4.5mSv/yr).

The bulk of the dose we get here, like everywhere else close to the ground, is dominated by inhaled Radon and Thoron gases (222Rn and 220Rn): cosmic sources (all gamma) only contribute about 1/3 here, whereas they'd be about 1/10 at sea level.

In an airliner at 35,000ft, the solar/cosmic gamma rate would dominate by far: ~2380nSv/hr, a factor of 20 higher than here. And since they are heavy gases, there isn't much 220/222Rn floating around up there. As a result, the average annual additional dose rate for aircrews is guesstimated at ~2.19mSv/yr, all gamma. So the additional dose is about half of what you would get at sea level as a total from all sources, handwave handwave.

The difference, of course, is that we high-altitude folks are always here, soaking up all that beautiful Radon and Thoron as it blows out of the valleys of the Rockies 24/7- whereas you can only be at 35,000 ft for relatively short periods of time. And the contribution from the Radon and Thoron is primarily alpha and beta, which is applied directly to the tissues of the lungs by inhalation- as opposed to gamma, which goes wherever it damned well pleases.

Anyway, when they nukes start flying, I intend to be in a position to record the arrival and passage of the plumes- assuming that I haven't assumed the plasma state myself in the process. I'll report back.

https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-sources-and-doses , for the interested student.

I guess my favorite talking heads songs are Burning down The House and Life During Wartime. They're one of those groups that isn't really good radio music because the visuals are important to their act, so they probably don't get as much air time here as they should.

Fear of Flying: There are folks who are radwaste and radleaks apologists. Whenever there are news items concerning such things they always pooh pooh them and their significance with a ton of pseudo-scientific probabilistic blather about risks of harm from radiation, allowable exposure limits in millirems, dosimeters, and such, quite often including snarky statements that those harboring "excessive" concern about radiation shouldn't fly because of increased radiation incidence at those altitudes, Heh, turns out that they are right.

New study links cosmic radiation to higher cancer death risk in flight crews
Among over 500 occupations, flight attendants had the highest percentage of deaths from radiation-related cancers, and pilots were second

cmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3364496/new-study-links-cosmic-radiation-higher-cancer-death-risk-flight-crews?module=top_story&pgtype=section

(Insert chorus of "Rocky Mountain High" here). There is, of course, no such thing as an absolutely safe level of radiation, it's always a crapshoot.

In other news,

Another Suspect in Nord Stream Blast Case Detained in Croatia — German Prosecutor's Office

sputnikglobe.com/20260819/another-suspect-in-nord-stream-blast-case-detained-in-croatia--german-prosecutors-office-1124602761.html

The suspect is a Ukranian diver named wither Vladimir Z. or Volodomyr Z. who was bagged in Croatia pursuant to an international warrent of some sort.

be well and have a good one

edit, fixed link, I think

@Cassiodorus Unfortunately, Mr. Byrne is blessed/cursed with a bit (?) of over sized ego. Unless one of the senior citizen aged members of Talking Heads is dying of cancer, etc., there is no reason why he can't wise up, smoke a peace pipe, and play once more with the three people who helped put his/their names in lights.

https://www.amazon.com/Remain-Love-Talking-Heads-Club/dp/1250209226/ref=...

Younger David Byrne was quite neurotic, and pretty much beginning with Speaking in Tongues Byrne decided to pretend to a significant extent that he was happy. And when Byrne dissolved the Talking Heads in 1991, without negotiation, he pretty much disowned all of his Talking Heads contacts. Older, wiser David Byrne more recently expressed some small degree of regret for the attitudes of younger David Byrne. It must be argued, however, that if they turned down $80 million to stage a reunion tour, that younger David Byrne must still be alive and well. It's not like any of these people had anything so pressing in their lives that they couldn't have just grabbed the cash, done the tour, and broken up again.