Last week, my Blog addressed a 148 page dynamo book originally written in German by Hans Berger and then translated in 1966 to English by Professor Ralph Oesper of the University of Cincinnati on the historical use of asbestos in plastics and rubbers. Today, we move back three years to 1963 and we broaden the…
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I remember a meeting with a friend sometime during 2010ish in which he stated “What do you mean using asbestos in plastics? That never happened.” My response was “I have a book from 1966 entitled Asbestos with Plastics and Rubber which begs to differ with you.” After he read the book, opinions gave way to…
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As I previously mentioned, my research into the Challenger Disaster has been aided by a Clark-Yudkin Research Fellowship from the US Air Force Academy Library, Special Collections. As I used their resources this week, let me tell you about a kid in a candy shop. First, you may ask, is why would this Library have…
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This Blog is Chapter 2 in our discussion on the January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Chapter 1 was the most widely viewed Blog since I began blogging in December 2020 and I appreciate the feedback and comments. Given the passage of time, you may be wondering why the putty is even an issue…
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The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion was so grievous that many of us remember our exact location on January 28, 1986 at 11:38 a.m. EST; for me, that was in a restaurant next to the Union Bank Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a bunch of the attorneys watching the launch on a big screen television.…
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The International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMig) held a virtual conference on May 7-9, 2021 discussing all things medical (plus a little more) about Mesothelioma and other asbestos related illnesses. The scope and depth of the discussions by doctors and medical researchers around the globe was staggering; in fact, overwhelming for those of us who are…
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Ship Breaking means what visually comes to mind: breaking old ships into pieces for disposal or recycling. One of the primary areas in the world that specializes in Ship Breaking is Chittagong Ship Yards in Bangladesh. This link provides a good visual as to how this occurs. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2012/may/06/shipbreaking-yards-chittagong-in-pictures. As discussed in the link, the workers…
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As a change from my normal historical based weekly Blog, let’s discuss Mesothelioma and other asbestos disease related research. As the diagnosis lag from exposure to asbestos is generally 30 to 40 years, literally millions of currently living ill fated people will be diagnosed with, and die from, an asbestos related disease who are already…
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As my weekly Blogs focus on history, I decided that we needed one which discusses the historical use of asbestos in electrical products. Electricians are one of the trades with a long history of exposure to asbestos, whether in the U.K., https://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/years/2020/81-july-2020/asbestos-guidance-for-electricians/, the United States, https://www.ecmag.com/section/safety/asbestos-workplace, or elsewhere. As mentioned in the articles, electricians are…
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Last week, we discussed the yearly publications on asbestos by the USGS side of the United States Government. In this Blog, we will go instead to the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the geology history side of asbestos, with a focus on where it is naturally located and the risk of inhaling those asbestos fibers.…
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