[Noisebridge-discuss] Mercury vapor analyzer rental

[Christie Dudley]

It took YEARS for hatters to go mad from their exposure to mercury vapor
from their use of mercury nitrate in their trade.  It was used quite
extensively in hat making for many years, leading to a well-deserved
reputation that good hat makers were well off their rocker, as characterized
in the Lewis Carrol book _Alice_in_Wonderland_.  One would think they would
have stopped using it if it prevented them from getting good with it before
they lost their faculties or keeled over from its effects - sort of an
evolutionary behavior.

Sure, mercury is dangerous.  The question is "how much matters?".  If we
sought to eliminate every potential toxin that exists in our environment,
we'd be living in a bubble.  They removed mercury from thermometers and
other household items because they found that people were pouring the
mercury down the drain when things broke, causing it to pool in the sewers,
causing the vapors to waft up over time, posing a long-term threat.

Check out the acceptable mercury levels in the fish that are sold in the
market.  There's a long-standing debate about "how much is too much" in that
regard.  Apparently, you should not eat any fish caught in the bay more than
once a week or so because the mercury levels are so high.  (There are
mercury mines down by San Jose that have runoff issues.)  Fish from other
places vary based on species and ambient mercury levels.  Most studies have
indicated that you shouldn't eat fish more than 3-4 days a week regardless
of where it's caught.


So... if you're worried about mercury exposure at Noisebridge?  Stop eating
fish.

Christie

---
Disrupting paradigms since 1967


On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 3:27 PM, <nils at shkoo.com> wrote:

> To contrast, see:
>
> http://boingboing.net/2009/04/06/cannonball-floating.html
>
> One analysis of the risks of that particular instance:
>
>
> http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/88fs1/sink_or_float_cannonball_dropped_into_pool_of/c08jp5r
>
> -nils
>
> On Wed, 1 Jul 2009, Lee Sonko wrote:
>
> >> If you want to be paranoid about it go right ahead, but if you had
> actually
> > seen the miniscule amount
> >> that was discovered this whole mercury discussion would have ended days
> ago
> > as it well should have.
> >
> > Tell that to Sai.
> >
> >
> >
> > Hey Sai, Ani says "If you want to be paranoid about it go right ahead,
> but
> > if you had actually seen the miniscule amount that was discovered this
> whole
> > mercury discussion would have ended days ago as it well should have."
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> _______________________________________________
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>
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