Columns

Letter to the Editor: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Los Alamos

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By Joel M. Williams
Los Alamos

What’s the chance that the “Branding of Los Alamos” will be some version of “Virginia is for Lovers”?

I like “How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Los Alamos.”

We could use a Los Alamos/Rio Grande landscape in the background with one of our local councilors (updated every year to give max visibility to the elected) astride.

“Get to know” Los Alamos, where discoveries are made!” is touted by BuffaloTours LA. The latter portion (in bold) is already splashed around on the web (on tourist sites like Read More

Hannemann’s Music Corner: Changing a Tenon Cork

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Hannemann’s Music Corner: Changing a Tenon Cork
By RICHARD HANNEMANN
 
Clarinets come in sections. Each section attaches to the other by means of a tenon and sleeve joint – one section has the sleeve, the other has the tenon which protrudes from the body of the section.
 
There is a cork on each tenon which allows a snug, and most importantly, air-tight fit.
 
Cork is wunnerful stuff. But it doesn’t last forever. Eventually it mashes down and wears out and then the joint gets wobbly, leaks air, and your instrument won’t play right. Time to change the tenon cork.
Read More

Money IQ: The Fiscal Cliff

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Money IQ
By ERIC LOUCKS
 
The Fiscal Cliff

The so called fiscal cliff is a series of tax increases and spending cuts that were due to come on line at the start of 2013 that were temporarily averted given a last second deal between the Republican led House of Representatives and the Democratic led Senate.

The compromise, known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, is not the grand solution to address our nation’s surging debt issues that many had hoped for.

Rather, it is more of a temporary band aid that resolves the revenue tax elements of the fiscal cliff, but delayed addressing the tougher Read More

Column: Rebranding Los Alamos … Krogerville?

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Rebranding Los Alamos … Krogerville? or, who speaks for me?
By KHALIL SPENCER
Los Alamos
 
Apparently, someone — see video on KRQE: Los Alamos does not want to be known as the “atomic city” anymore. The county is trying to create a new brand for the northern New Mexico community. Los Alamos is spending $50,000 to do it and have hired a company out of Tennessee to help. The company will meet with county leaders, business owners and community members to learn what makes Los Alamos distinctive, besides the building of the first atomic bomb — has the great idea to spend 50 grand of our money
Read More

Column: ‘Why People Do Not Go to Church?’

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“Why People Do Not Go to Church?”
By Sr. Pastor Paul Cunningham
First Baptist Church of Los Alamos

A strange subject for a pastor to explore, but one that even this pastor, lived for 10 years. It’s a cultural phenomenon not limited to Los Alamos but spans across the Atlantic, into the very seat of modern Christianity.

According to one report by the North American Mission Board, Los Alamos has the highest percentage of church-attendance of any county in New Mexico – 9.5 percent! 

But still, ‘why do people not go to church?’

This is what I have seen, heard and felt:

  • #1 Objection: Time; that does not
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Kendall: 2013 – A Fuller Lodge Oddity

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Update: The green electric box to the right below is new and much larger than the green transformer box that was previously in this location.   You may view the previous electrical setup by clicking HERE.

New electrical boxes have been installed in front of Fuller Lodge on Central Avenue. View facing west from the bronze statues of Oppenheimer and Groves. Photo by Greg Kendall/ladailypost.com

New electrical boxes in front of Fuller Lodge on Central Avenue. View facing east. Photo by Greg Kendall/ladailypost

Column by GREG KENDALL
Los Alamos

As part of an electric upgrade project Read More

Yang: Smaller Bag Is Smaller Than Bigger Bag

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Smaller Bag Is Smaller Than Bigger Bag
Column by ELENA YANG

Allow me to have some fun with the following announcement … otherwise, I’d have to cry. 

“Date Published: February 22, 2013

Publisher: URS CH2M Oak Ridge

When double bagging radioactive and/or asbestos wastes, consider using a smaller bag as the inner container and larger bag as the outer container to make an easy fit for the double bagging operations while minimizing the risk of contamination spreading.” 

Seriously?!

Of course, my first reaction was the usual, “No s*#%, Sherlock!” I realize that handling radioactive materials Read More

Izraelevitz: Passover, Glazed Donuts and Graduate School

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Passover, Glazed Donuts and Graduate School
Column by DAVID IZRAELEVITZ

Passover, glazed donuts and graduate school do not mix well. This is a fact that I encountered, for five consecutive years, when I was a graduate student working on my doctoral degree.

Full appreciation of this physical law requires some background, so please bear with me for a paragraph or two.

Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is the Jewish week-long holiday celebrating the Biblical Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

There is a ceremonial dinner, called the Passover Seder, that begins the week of Passover and introduces the observance Read More

Thoughts From the Big Chair: TV’s Late Night Talk Shows and Johnny Carson – A Quantitative Analysis

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Thoughts From the Big Chair
Comments on Television and Associated Media From a Lifelong Addict.
Column by RALPH E. CHAPMAN

TV’s Late Night Talk Shows and Johnny Carson – A Quantitative Analysis

Part I – Grading the Shows

As with the TV drama that I talked about in my last column, we are also in a special time when it comes to late night TV talk shows – we, again, now have an embarrassment of riches and many options for our watching pleasure.

As in my previous columns, you’ll get my take on it through commentary, but I’ll give you an added bonus in Part II. I’ll demonstrate for you in a quantitative, i.e. measurable, Read More

Column: The Real Fiscal Problem

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The Real Fiscal Problem

Column by T. JACKSON KING
Los Alamos

The problem with the federal budget is not too much spending. It is too little tax income.

Now I hate taxes as much as anyone. Also, being born in Texas, I am more skeptical of government rationales than most people.

And having worked many years for five federal agencies, I agree there is some wasteful spending, un-needed spending and even unnecessary agencies.

But facts are facts.

Our annual federal budget over the last five years has ranged from 3.5 to 3.8 trillion dollars in 2012. Not billions—trillions! The federal deficit each year, Read More