USPS: glowing by leaps and bounds
Irradiation equipment is being considered for mail processing, heard both over NPR's Morning Edition, and referenced in a story posted to Yahoo!: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ksat/20011022/lo/932238_1.html KSAT Monday October 22 08:39 PM EDT Safety Concerns Grow Among Postal Customers, Inspectors [...] The U.S. Postal Service said Monday that it is looking into a technological method that could block the movement of anthrax in the mail. Postal Inspector Doug Turner said the postal service has studied how radiation equipment used to kill bacteria in foods could help against the germ threats. "The radiation would kill the bacteria that might be involved with the mail," Turner said. But there is no official word on whether the irradiation equipment would make it's way to San Antonio. [...] I would hope that relatively short-term leases are being considered. Or is this going to be a long-term threat? Any pointers on packaging for photographic and/or magnetic media through mail to survive irradiation equipment? How about the magstrips on all those credit cards issued through the mail? Peace. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Home of the brave http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ Land of the free Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org Geek for Hire http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
At 04:23 AM 10/23/01 -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
Any pointers on packaging for photographic and/or magnetic media through mail to survive irradiation equipment? How about the magstrips on all those credit cards issued through the mail?
Forget that, how about seeds and seedlings? What will Burpee do?
on Tue, Oct 23, 2001 at 08:31:38AM -0700, David Honig (honig@sprynet.com) wrote:
At 04:23 AM 10/23/01 -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
Any pointers on packaging for photographic and/or magnetic media through mail to survive irradiation equipment? How about the magstrips on all those credit cards issued through the mail?
Forget that, how about seeds and seedlings? What will Burpee do?
OTOH, futures for nuclear winter wheat are strong. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Home of the brave http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ Land of the free Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org Geek for Hire http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
Shit, so much for ordering mushroom spores by mail! Hopefully UPS and fedex won't follow suit. -- Harmon Seaver, MLIS CyberShamanix Work 920-203-9633 Home 920-233-5820 hseaver@cybershamanix.com http://www.cybershamanix.com/resume.html
On Tue, 23 Oct 2001, Harmon Seaver wrote:
Shit, so much for ordering mushroom spores by mail! Hopefully UPS and fedex won't follow suit.
you should be aware that FedX now carries a large (majority?) portion of the US mails, under contract. This is the reason that FedX drop boxes were just put in your local post office. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------
At 04:23 AM 10/23/2001 -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
Irradiation equipment is being considered for mail processing, heard both over NPR's Morning Edition, and referenced in a story posted to Yahoo!: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ksat/20011022/lo/932238_1.html ...
Adds new meaning to a "glowing letter of recommendation" :-)
I would hope that relatively short-term leases are being considered. Or is this going to be a long-term threat?
This isn't the kind of thing you back off on, once you've started, because the potential threat of muckers out there doesn't decrease over time, thought the number of wannabees and copycats may be temporarily high. The real question is how much does the government want to either scare us about the threats or reassure us about how well they're protecting us, or both - given that they've been waving the anthrax flag for four or five years now, I'd expect this is long term.
Any pointers on packaging for photographic and/or magnetic media through mail to survive irradiation equipment? How about the magstrips on all those credit cards issued through the mail?
Magnetic media shouldn't be bothered - you need to be careful around X-ray machines, but that's because of electromagnets, not radiation. Unexposed photographic film could have a real problem with this, depending on quite what they're using. I'd worry more about medicines and other biologicals and foods - obviously you're not going to ship a live-culture vaccine through this...
At 09:31 AM 10/23/01 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
At 04:23 AM 10/23/2001 -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
Irradiation equipment is being considered for mail processing, heard
Yep, nothing like placing canisters of radiological materials everywhere. Mmmm, smell that? Cobalt 60. Smells like... victory. If plastique can be stolen from military bases...
At 09:31 AM 10/23/01 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
Unexposed photographic film could have a real problem with this, depending on quite what they're using.
Enough rads to sterilize? Forget film. Interesting consequences for the evolution of radiation-resistant strains, of course. Except in kansas where evolution isn't allowed.
On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, David Honig wrote:
Enough rads to sterilize? Forget film.
What do you suppose happens to disks and other magnetic media at these flux levels? Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy - mailto:decoy@iki.fi, tel:+358-50-5756111 student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front openpgp: 050985C2/025E D175 ABE5 027C 9494 EEB0 E090 8BA9 0509 85C2
On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, at 10:14 AM, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, David Honig wrote:
Enough rads to sterilize? Forget film.
What do you suppose happens to disks and other magnetic media at these flux levels?
Nothing. Magnetic oxides and metallic thin films are not affected by mere few tens of kilorads, or even by megarads. Ionizing radiation has no particular first order effect on such films. There is much more I can write here, but won't. --Tim May "Ben Franklin warned us that those who would trade liberty for a little bit of temporary security deserve neither. This is the path we are now racing down, with American flags fluttering."-- Tim May, on events following 9/11/2001
At 10:32 AM 10/24/01 -0700, Tim May wrote:
On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, at 10:14 AM, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, David Honig wrote:
Enough rads to sterilize? Forget film.
What do you suppose happens to disks and other magnetic media at these flux levels?
Nothing. Magnetic oxides and metallic thin films are not affected by mere few tens of kilorads, or even by megarads.
Ionizing radiation has no particular first order effect on such films.
Um, Tim, I was talking about silver-halogen photographic 'films'. You do raise the question of what happens to 100-atom thick gate oxides... but that's not what *I* was writing about. Radiation can also change the color of gems --used to 'cheat' and make them more valuable--- but probably not a lot of diamonds go through the USPO, and I don't know what dosage is necessary to introduce the appropriate defect density.
On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, at 11:05 AM, David Honig wrote:
At 10:32 AM 10/24/01 -0700, Tim May wrote:
On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, at 10:14 AM, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, David Honig wrote:
Enough rads to sterilize? Forget film.
What do you suppose happens to disks and other magnetic media at these flux levels?
Nothing. Magnetic oxides and metallic thin films are not affected by mere few tens of kilorads, or even by megarads.
Ionizing radiation has no particular first order effect on such films.
Um, Tim, I was talking about silver-halogen photographic 'films'.
And I was replying to Sampo Syreeni, who asked "What do you suppose happens to disks and other magnetic media at these flux levels?" I wasn't commenting on photographic film.
You do raise the question of what happens to 100-atom thick gate oxides... but that's not what *I* was writing about.
See above about what I was replying to. --Tim May "Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" --Unknown Usenet Poster
participants (7)
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Bill Stewart -
David Honig -
Harmon Seaver -
Karsten M. Self -
measl＠mfn.org -
Sampo Syreeni -
Tim May