Basically, all legal free speech is allowed. We will assist the authorities in dealing with illegal speech. You are each other’s moderators. Have fun. And don’t forget to MAGA at nuclear levels.
Citizen U
Day 87 – FRANCIUM.
OPEN THREAD 20200201
Published
The U Tree 
I did a report on Francium in high school. Oddly it is actually considered a rare earth even though there it less than a handful scattered across the entire planet. Extremely radioactive, but like all Column 1 elements we wish we had enough of it to throw into a bucket of water just to watch it react explosively. My chemistry teach was not impressed. I was also docked points b/c I didn’t obtain a pure sample – but I wonder, did she really want me to???
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ask yourself what her reaction would be to the delivery of 20 tonnes of pitchblende in the faculty parking lot and it will tell you the answer.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Some Chemistry teachers can NEVER take a joke! 😂 😂 😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Francium is the second-rarest naturally occurring element after astatine. I should suppose that we should count our blessings, ’cause it won’t be long before the elements are entirely synthetic.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Francium’s longest-lived isotope is Fr-223, which has a half-life of 22 minutes. Measurements of its chemical properties need to be made in extreme haste.
Francium-223 normally decays to radium-223, so it would be important to correct for any chemical measurements of Fr-223 to ensure Ra-223 measurements are excluded.
Fortunately, everyone is a solid.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ah, but what does Ra-223 decay to? Radon by any chance?
Anyhow, note this is actually an isotope in the defunct-in-nature neptunium series (remainder 1 when dividing by 4) thus it’s very unlikely any of it exists in nature unless something captures a stray neutron.
The naturally occurring isotopes have half lives in the mere seconds, if memory serves.
Certainly any experimented with in the lab has to be man-made; there’s just no way to process all that pitchblende in mere minutes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(Yes, I just don’t believe the late-night Ronco Pitchblende-o-matic ads.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
And, here, I just ordered one…..they said that if I ordered before the Superbowl, mine would be hand-signed by Marie Curie.
LikeLike
There are no commercial uses of francium beyond the production of research papers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s particularly well-suited toward research papers produced during all-nighters — every observation is obsolete in 22 minutes, anyway.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Musical interlude #1
When people are fiddling with knobs more than changing keys…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Second musical interlude — you don’t suppose there were any drugs involved, do you?
LikeLiked by 1 person
In case you’re wondering about the Hawkwind/Motorhead connection — it’s this guy, bassist for both.
RIP. Gone too soon. Lemmy Kilmister.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One day, Bill complained to his friend that his elbow really hurt. His friend suggested that he go to a computer at the drug store that can diagnose anything quicker and cheaper than a doctor. “Simply put in a sample of your urine and the computer will diagnose your problem and tell you what you can do about it. It only costs $10.”
Bill figured he had nothing to lose, so he filled a jar with a urine sample and went to the drug store. Finding the computer, he poured in the sample and deposited the $10. The computer started making some noise and various lights started flashing. After a brief pause out popped a small slip of paper on which was printed: “You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water. Avoid heavy lifting. It will be better in two weeks.”
Later that evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was and how it would change medical science forever, he began to wonder if this machine could be fooled. He mixed together some tap water, a stool sample from his dog and urine samples from his wife and daughter. To top it off, he masturbated into the concoction.
He went back to the drug store, located the machine, poured in the sample and deposited the $10. The computer again made the usual noise and printed out the following message: “Your tap water is too hard; get a water softener. Your dog has worms; get him medicine and vitamins. Your daughter is using cocaine; put her in a rehabilitation clinic. Your wife is pregnant with twin girls — they aren’t yours — get a lawyer. And if you don’t stop jerking off, your tennis elbow will never get better.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
A young Programmer and his Project Manager board a train headed through the mountains on its way to Wichita. They can find no place to sit except for two seats right across the aisle from a young woman and her grandmother. After a while, it is obvious that the young woman and the young programmer are interested in each other, because they are giving each other looks. Soon the train passes into a tunnel and it is pitch black. There is a sound of a kiss followed by the sound of a slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, the four sit there without saying a word.
The grandmother is thinking to herself, “It was very brash for that young man to kiss my granddaughter, but I’m glad she slapped him.”
The Project manager is sitting there thinking, “I didn’t know the young tech was brave enough to kiss the girl, but I sure wish she hadn’t missed him when she slapped me!”
The young woman was sitting and thinking, “I’m glad the cute guy kissed me, but I wish my grandmother had not slapped him!”
The young programmer sat there with a satisfied smile on his face. He thought to himself, “Life is good. How often does a guy have the chance to kiss a beautiful girl and slap the crap out of his Project Manager?”
LikeLiked by 3 people
There’s some nice logic on that one!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
None of the jokes are entirely original, but I generally rewrite them before posting. And, yes, I cleaned the logic on this one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
A Computer Engineer was asked by his five-year-old son:
“Dad, what is Windows 95?”
“Well, it’s 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16-bit patch to an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor, written by a 2-bit company that can’t stand 1 bit of competition.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Happy February!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nice self-picture.
When I momentarily averted my eyes because the fire alarm went off I thought I might have seen a pair of handguns, too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I call them the big girls…LOL
LikeLiked by 2 people
Do people refer to you in the plural?
E.g., “Pat are here.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
ah Steve, my eyes are up here…LOL
LikeLiked by 2 people
And very lovely ones
they are, too!
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
And you certainly got my divided attention!
LikeLiked by 2 people
(blush) you don’t think they’re too big…for my hands?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I fear…er, no, “hope” would be the right word…that they are too big for my hands.
LikeLiked by 2 people
LOL…
LikeLiked by 1 person