Eye Candy

The Elements

Those of us who took high school chemistry are familiar with the Periodic Table on the right. It organizes all the chemical elements, the most basic building blocks that make up all matter in the Universe. Some of these elements are so common that we encounter them in our everyday lives. Others are much rarer, some practically unheard of.

For a while now, I've been posting articles on Hansisgreat about each of the elements in the Periodic Table. As it turns out, even the most obscure elements have interesting stories and uses. Today, I'm posting on three metals...

Palladium:

Atomic Symbol: Pd

Atomic Number: 46

Palladium is part of a wider story that led to the discovery of four previously unknown elements (palladium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium) by London chemists Wollaston and Tennant. Wollaston brought most of his palladium to a jewelry store in 1803, where it was sold as "new silver", costing six times as much as gold. Attempts were made to popularize the metal as an untarnishable silver, and it was often used in medals presented to royalty commemorating important events.

The metal's main industrial use is in catalytic converters for cars, which relied on platinum until 1990, when palladium was discovered to be much more effective at removing hydrocarbons from fuel exhaust. It is also added to gold jewelry to give it a bright luster, known as "white gold".

Palladium was named for the asteroid Pallas, discovered the same year as the element.

Silver:

Atomic Symbol: Ag

Atomic Number: 47

Slag heaps near ancient mines reveal that silver has been used by man since 3000 BC. When it first appeared in Egypt, it was more valuable than gold. Silver was refined by a process called cupellation, discovered by the Chaldeans and described in the Bible (Ezekiel 22: 17-22).

Medieval physicians sold silver nitrate, which they called lunar caustic, for relief of various ailments. Medical treatment with silver has its drawbacks, however: it causes grayness of the skin, hair, and eyes; a condition known as argyria.

In 1884, German obstetrician Dr. F. Crede showed that silver nitrate eye drops could be used to prevent blindness in infants by killing the microbial infection that caused the disease. In fact, silver is poisonous to virtually all microorganisms.

Photography would be impossible without silver. This is because some of its compounds are sensitive to light. Silver has also been used for centuries to purify drinking water, which explains why silver coins are found at the bottom of many wells.

Cadmium:

Atomic Symbol: Cd

Atomic Number: 48

One of the most controversial elements, because in spite of its many industrial uses, cadmium is toxic to humans and can remain in the body for as long as 30 years once it is ingested.

In spite of this drawback, nickel-cadmium batteries are quickly replacing lead-based batteries because they are much lighter, and more environmentally friendly: they can be recharged a thousand times or more and still work well. Nissan and Volkswagen are both producing electric cars which rely on these batteries, and use not a drop of oil for fuel. They are expected to be on the market in 2010.

Solar panels constructed of cadmium metal have exceptional efficiency for converting sunlight into electricity. A square meter of such a panel can generate a power output of over 100 watts.

This element is only very slightly radioactive. Out of every million cadmium atoms that date from the creation of the Universe, 15 billion years ago, only one has since disintegrated.

There's an amazing book on the Periodic Table called Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements, by John Emsley. It's been an invaluable resource for me when writing these chemistry posts, and is highly recommended for the chemistry enthusiast.

For my posts on the previous 45 elements, click here.

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This Land Is Their Land

This Land Is Their Land, by Barbara Ehrenreich

$16.32 in the Hansisgreat Gift Shop

ISBN: 0805088407

$11.95 in iTunes Store Audiobooks

Worldwide economic crisis brought on by corporate greed makes this a very timely and relevant new book by the distinguished author of Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America. It asks some very poignant questions about the excesses of capitalism and how, in a fair economy, someone can make an $800 million salary as CEO of a company that pays its employees less than $10 an hour. What's the story behind America's concentration of wealth in the hands of 2% of the population?

For example, Robert Nardelli was CEO of Home Depot during a period when the company's stock price fell from $50 per share to $41. Stores were closed, employees were laid off, and Nardelli was given a $300 million bonus in addition to his $64 million a year salary. As the company tanks, those at the top are getting richer than they'd ever been before.

Several of the people on Forbes list of the richest Americans are from the Walton family which owns Wal-Mart, boasting a combined 

fortune of over $65 billion while breaking up unions and paying employees $7-10 per hour. These are second and third generation Waltons who inherited their money and played little to no part in Wal-Mart's growth, yet they have more money than the poorest third of the country combined.

Ehrenreich also gives examples of how the wealthy elite gouges the poor. For example, a routine appendectomy costs insurance provider AIG $6,783. Don't have insurance? The same operation costs you $29,000; four times the cost to the insurance giant which was recently bailed out by the government days before the executives took a $400,000 spa vacation. Meanwhile 18,000 Americans die each year without health insurance. That's 9/11 times six.

The super-rich are absorbing an ever larger share of our national income while the companies they run fall into ruin. This flouts the very principle of capitalist exchange, that what you get paid should in some way reflect the work that you've done or the "value added".

There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about corporate greed. Ehrenreich did a lot of research for this book, but leaves the reader to reach their own conclusions once the facts are stated. This Land is Their Land is deeply relevant to our time, highly informative, and even quite entertaining. Prepare to be outraged.

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The History of Civilization

Chapter Sixteen: Greece Commits Suicide

One of the great tragedies of ancient history is the collapse of Hellenistic civilization just a few decades after Greece united to expel the Persian invasion, developed the world's first democracy, and reached the peak of cultural development described in the last chapter. For almost thirty years at the end of the fifth century BC, the Athenian Empire fought the Spartan Alliance, destabilizing Greek city-states, which ultimately weakened their capacity to resist conquest from outside.

Pericles desperately campaigned for peace while preparing for war. Meanwhile, the historian Thucydides explains much in a single sentence: "The Peloponnesus (Sparta) and Athens were both full of young men whose inexperience made them eager to take up arms.

The basic cause of the war was the growth of the Athenian Empire and its control over the commercial and political life of the Aegean.

Athens allowed free trade there in times of peace, but only with imperial permission. No vessel could sail without its consent, and Athenian agents decided the destination of every ship. Athens defended this domination as a vital necessity: it was dependent on imported food, and was determined to guard the routes by which this food came. By protecting international trade, Athens performed a real service to the peace and prosperity of all Greece, but the process became more and more irksome as the pride and wealth of the subject cities grew.

The inherent contradictions between a city claiming to be a democracy, but exercising the despotism of an empire over its neighbors ultimately led to the end of the Golden Age.

In 430, plague came to Athens, killing more than a quarter of its soldiers. During this period of weakness, the Corinthian colony of Corcyra declared itself independent of Corinth. Both Athenian and Spartan armies rushed to its aid, coming into conflict with one another.

In a moment of panic, the Athenians condemned and exiled Pericles, who died a broken man a few years later. His successors were hawks, eager to use land and sea military might to subdue their enemies.

After several costly but indecisive battles, both Sparta and Athens agreed to a fifty year treaty called the Peace of Nicias, signed in 421 BC.

Unfortunately, the treaty hadn't solved any of the issues that had led to the war in the first place. Although it allowed both sides a chance to recover and recruit new soldiers, it lasted only seven years before fighting resumed.

Persia, still longing to conquer Greece and Asia Minor, began supporting both sides hoping that they'd wear each other out in the conflict. In spite of the best efforts of a few peacemakers, the Peloponnesian War continued, and brought to the stage one of the most unusual and unscrupulous politicians in history.

To be continued...

There is an outstanding book on The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan, one of the exceptional scholars of ancient history in our time. Highly recommended both to learn about ancient warfare, and for its pure entertainment value.

For my previous posts on the History of Civilization, click here.

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Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers

$6.99 in the Hansisgreat Gift Shop

ISBN: 0545055768

This brilliant, exciting, and deeply sensitive book touches on the horrors of war, becoming a man, and the injustice of racial inequality. With heavy themes like this, it might sound like a boring downer, but Fallen Angels is from the "Teen" section of your local bookstore: full of action and easy to read, perfectly acceptable for adults who are looking for something light and amusing.

Richie, the story's hero, graduates from high school in 1967 Harlem, a bleak slum from which he has little chance of going to college and becoming a success. For this reason, he joins the army, which quickly sends him into the Vietnam War.

He finds himself under the command of Lt. Carroll, a competent and caring officer whose entire platoon was recently killed in spite of his best efforts to save them. Richie makes friends with four other boys in his unit: Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner. They've all joined the army for their own reasons, and have very different reactions when they find themselves in heavy combat.

The author usually writes about disenfranchised American youth in the inner city, but captures the carnage and horror of jungle warfare perfectly. After a brief warning about taking malaria pills and avoiding VD from the local women, the mostly teenage company is conducting dangerous night raids and pulse-quickening reconnaissance missions.

Throughout his tour of duty, Richie contemplates some of the injustices about the Vietnam War. He quickly notices that squads of black soldiers are often given the most risky missions, inequality in the army the same as what he had experienced back in Harlem.

He also develops a striking empathy with the Vietnamese, even as he watches his own American friends being killed around him. It's very sad: he and his teammates make friends with a little Vietnamese girl when they first arrive, but soon they witness the killing of innocent children in a country they realize they've unrighteously invaded.

Most of Myers' books are marketed to teenage boys who don't normally like to read. He strikes a perfect balance: there's lots of violence (which boys generally love), but it doesn't get inappropriately gruesome or needlessly sadistic. 

It's an outstanding novel about the hardships of adult life, with all the excitement of war coupled with the bitter pang of racial and political injustice. Intricate social commentary is not usually an easy sale to teenagers, but Fallen Angels accomplishes it with grace and style. This book is the model of cool; a great choice for the kid in your life, or an adult looking for an easy to read thrill ride.

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Quotations

To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold.

Archibald MacLeish (1892 - 1982)

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

When a thing is done, don't look back. Look forward to your next objective.

George C. Marshall (1880 - 1959)

I pay no attention whatever to anyone's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

He who boasts of he ancestry is praising the deeds of another.

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy.

Samuel Goldwyn (1882 - 1974)

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.

W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)

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The Wordy Shipmates

The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell

$15.77 in the Hansisgreat Gift Shop

ISBN: 9781594489990

The conditions under which a country is founded affects its entire history. Australia got the convicts, and we here in the United States got the religious separatists. America has long considered itself a nation of strong religious values founded on Christian principles. In this clever, thought-provoking, and surprisingly funny new book, Sarah Vowell examines exactly what these values are by considering the Puritans who first settled in Massachusetts.

Our story begins as noted Puritan minister John Cotton delivers a sermon to a group of settlers about to board the ship Arbella in 1630, bound for Cape Cod and the first of many long, hard winters digging tree stumps out of the frozen ground. He compares this group to the ancient Israelites crossing into Canaan, an especially appropriate metaphor since the wholesale slaughter of the Native Americans will shortly follow, much like King David's brutal conquest 

of the Philistines.

In fact, when Smallpox decimates the Indian population, it is said that God used the plague to clear the heathens off the land as the settlers arrived. A lovely sentiment, delivered by John Winthrop, the leader of the Arbella settlers. His particular brand of zealotry would cast a dark,paranoid, and egomaniacal shadow over events in the colony's future. Winthrop's sermons would influence politicians such as Ronald Reagan, and our own George W. Bush.

More than two-thirds of this desperate group of pilgrims would die during the first difficult winter. Soon the area would descend into the chaos of the Salem Witch trials.

It is interesting to note, as Vowell does, that most of our knowledge of the Puritans comes from TV sitcoms. The Brady Bunch produced an episode in which Greg filmed a home movie about them, using his family as the actors. Happy Days produced a similar episode, in which Fonzie wins the support of the Native Americans. Clearly we feel more deeply connected to the TV Puritans than those who actually founded our country.

So who were these people, really? Were they just a bunch of generic, boring, stupid, judgemental killjoys? Why did they leave warm, comfy England to live in terror in uncharted territory? This is a very light, easy to read introduction to the founding of our country, and a delightful musing on what "American Values" really are.

Eye Candy

Hans Returns

For various reasons, I haven't posted in more than a month. A lot has been happening in my personal life, and even more in the news here in the United States. Although it isn't usually my area, I decided to resume posting at Hansisgreat with a few comments on current events.

At least thirty other countries have held elections of some kind this year, but few have attracted as much attention and controversy as the 2008 US presidential race. The current president, George W. Bush, inherited a $300 billion surplus from President Clinton in 2000, and leaves office soon with $10 trillion in debt, a crumbing economy desperately in need of bailouts, and soaring rates of unemployment and foreclosures. In addition, we are involved in a long, bitter war. 

How could he be so irresponsible?

The Republican Party is running Senator John McCain, a man who seems very similar to President Bush. Their vice-presidential candidate is Governor Sarah Palin, who would be a perfect choice to co-star on a TV show with McCain, but whose qualifications for vice president are extremely questionable.

The Democrats have nominated Senator Barack Obama. I first became aware of him when he made a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, when John Kerry was running. This was years before he was being considered for president, and even then I remember thinking, "Man, this guy is really sharp." If you haven't heard the speech, and are curious about Obama and who he is, you can watch it here. Highly recommended.

His running mate, Senator Joe Biden, has been in the Senate for decades and held the two most important jobs: Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

This economic crisis we're experiencing is very confusing if you're not a financial person (I'm not), but very frightening. With thousands losing their jobs and homes, it's obvious that it could happen to me as easily as anyone. I manage a bookstore: a respectable job, but not necessarily secure in turbulent economic times. 

They keep comparing this thing to the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted for several years. Breadlines and soup kitchens, living in cardboard shanty towns? No, thank you!

Obviously, no one man is responsible for this nightmare: it represents the failure of an entire administration and ours is a complicated and rapidly advancing planet. Likewise, no one president will be able to get us out of this mess. Still, anxious but with hearts full of hope we look to our next leader for positive change on the economy, development of clean alternative energy, and a brighter future in a world of peace and enlightenment. If you are American, please keep informed and make an intelligent decision this election year. For the rest of the world: please be patient with us. Better times are coming.

It's good to be back at Hansisgreat. Thanks for waiting.