Thursday, July 21, 2011
T.D. and the Tater in Radio Land
I'll be reading from T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County at 5 p.m. July 25 on WMMT-FM. I'll be on Appalachian Attitude with host Jim Webb. The station is at 88.7 FM, and streams live on the Internet at Live365.com.
Monday, July 11, 2011
T.D. -- The Kindle edition
The Kindle edition of T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County is available now on Amazon at http://amzn.to/oITV5R
Friday, July 08, 2011
T.D. and the Tater in serial
I will be posting T.D. and the Tater, the title story in my new book, T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County, on my Facebook page and on Twitter in serial format. The first posts went up today. The story will be posted a piece at a time each day until the entire story is published online.
The story can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Adams-Reports/162246950468946 and at http://twitter.com/SamAdamsKY. To read everything posted until now on Twitter, search for #TDAnd.
The story can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Adams-Reports/162246950468946 and at http://twitter.com/SamAdamsKY. To read everything posted until now on Twitter, search for #TDAnd.
Monday, June 27, 2011
T.D. and the Tater is here!
My new book is out! It's called T.D. and the Tater, and Other News from Augusta County.
T.D. and the Tater is a collection of short stories about the misadventures of T.D. Duff, the only reporter at the only newspaper in the postage-stamp town of Wakefield.
When he inherits the newspaper from his editor, he has to deal with the eccentric residents of Augusta County all by himself. There's Clarence (with one syllable), proud owner of a potato that looks like Tom Selleck; Nosh Jones, who is locked in mortal combat with rival snakehunter Roger Shepherd for the title of Most Famousest Snake Hunter in Augusta County; and Kyle Pelphrey, one of T.D.'s best friends and a game warden who encounters the meanest possum ever.
You can buy it at http://www.bodminbooksltd.com/catalog.html. The Kindle edition is coming soon!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
New book set for May publication
The past few months have largely been taken up with preparing for publication of my next book.
T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County (2011, Bodmin) should be available in bookstores by early May.
T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County (2011, Bodmin) should be available in bookstores by early May.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Chromium-6 found in 31 water supplies
A new report released Monday says a suspected cancer-causing form of chromium is contaminating the water supply in at least 31 U.S. cities.
The report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found chromium-6, also known as hexavalent chromium, in the public water supplies of 89 percent of the cities it sampled.
Chromium-6 is the same chemical discovered by legal researcher Erin Brokovich in the water supply of Hinkley, California. That discovery led to the largest medical settlement in history paid by Pacific Gas and Electric.
The EWG report is the result of laboratory tests of tap water in 35 cities across the U.S. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires water utilities to test for total chromium, which includes chromium-3 or trivalent chromium, and chromium-6, but does not require tests specific for Chromium-6.
Chromium-3 is a naturally occurring chemical often found in runoff from surface disturbances such as construction, road building and mining. It is not thought to be carcinogenic. Chromium-6 can occur naturally in some geologies, but is typically the result of human activities. It is an ingredient in industrial lubricants and degreasers, and has been shown to cause intestinal tumors in laboratory animals in some studies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet made a definitive statement that chromium-6 causes cancer.
In my own community of Letcher County, Kentucky, hexavalent chromium was found in three streams during initial tests in 2005. Retesting in 2007 did not show hexavalent chromium, though chromium-3 was still present. The tests were conducted by Headwaters Inc., a nonprofit watershed group on whose board of directors I serve.
Tests on tap water for Letcher County were not immediately available.
The report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found chromium-6, also known as hexavalent chromium, in the public water supplies of 89 percent of the cities it sampled.
Chromium-6 is the same chemical discovered by legal researcher Erin Brokovich in the water supply of Hinkley, California. That discovery led to the largest medical settlement in history paid by Pacific Gas and Electric.
The EWG report is the result of laboratory tests of tap water in 35 cities across the U.S. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires water utilities to test for total chromium, which includes chromium-3 or trivalent chromium, and chromium-6, but does not require tests specific for Chromium-6.
Chromium-3 is a naturally occurring chemical often found in runoff from surface disturbances such as construction, road building and mining. It is not thought to be carcinogenic. Chromium-6 can occur naturally in some geologies, but is typically the result of human activities. It is an ingredient in industrial lubricants and degreasers, and has been shown to cause intestinal tumors in laboratory animals in some studies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet made a definitive statement that chromium-6 causes cancer.
In my own community of Letcher County, Kentucky, hexavalent chromium was found in three streams during initial tests in 2005. Retesting in 2007 did not show hexavalent chromium, though chromium-3 was still present. The tests were conducted by Headwaters Inc., a nonprofit watershed group on whose board of directors I serve.
Tests on tap water for Letcher County were not immediately available.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
The science of getting to the climate conference
So, a funny thing happened on the way to the climate talks. Actually several funny things, and some not so funny, and these things promise to continue through the end of the COP16 because, well, people are stupid.
I’ve written a lot about the logistics of this place, and they really are horribly, horribly bad, but to be fair to the United Nations and the 194 separate countries participating, it’s not all their fault. Much of it is the fault of the people, many of them my brothers and sisters in the media.
Take passing through security. It’s difficult, but I haven’t seen a single full-body scanner, no one here is “touching my junk.” I feel like I should moo every time I start through the line, but it’s really not an onerous process.
Unless there’s someone in front of me who just doesn’t get it.
Here’s a hint, if you want to pass through a security line quickly, stop talking on your cell phone and put it in the tray. You know, the plastic thingy that the security guard is gesturing wildly at, while you continue to be oblivious to the fact that he’s even there.
This isn’t rocket science, especially for people who travel. Of course some of the people doing it aren’t rocket scientists either.
I was behind a woman television reporter a couple of days ago who hasn’t learned this lesson. She wobbled along the tiled portico toward security on impossibly high heels, with a short skirt, carefully quaffed (blond) hair, and strong evidence of a plastic surgeon with a dirigible fixation.
As I waited impatiently to pass through and board the bus to the conference room, she stood in front of the metal detector, blocking the way, and continued to giggle into her I-Phone in a language I didn’t recognize. (I’m not sure what country she was from, but I think if was Brassiere.)
Finally recognizing that walking and talking are in fact possible at the same time, she walked through the detector with the phone still pressed to her head.
Buzzzzz. Wrong.
No, the security guard told her, motioning for her to go back. On the third try, she placed the phone on the x-ray belt and walked through again, her name tag with the large metal clip on it still around her neck.
Buzzzzz. Wrong again.
After two more tries, neither of which included removing the name tag that the guard was pointing at, the weary man finally waved her onward and I was able to pass through the machine. I’m only glad that the machine wasn’t capable of detecting silicone. I might never have gotten to my press conference.
I’ve written a lot about the logistics of this place, and they really are horribly, horribly bad, but to be fair to the United Nations and the 194 separate countries participating, it’s not all their fault. Much of it is the fault of the people, many of them my brothers and sisters in the media.
Take passing through security. It’s difficult, but I haven’t seen a single full-body scanner, no one here is “touching my junk.” I feel like I should moo every time I start through the line, but it’s really not an onerous process.
Unless there’s someone in front of me who just doesn’t get it.
Here’s a hint, if you want to pass through a security line quickly, stop talking on your cell phone and put it in the tray. You know, the plastic thingy that the security guard is gesturing wildly at, while you continue to be oblivious to the fact that he’s even there.
This isn’t rocket science, especially for people who travel. Of course some of the people doing it aren’t rocket scientists either.
I was behind a woman television reporter a couple of days ago who hasn’t learned this lesson. She wobbled along the tiled portico toward security on impossibly high heels, with a short skirt, carefully quaffed (blond) hair, and strong evidence of a plastic surgeon with a dirigible fixation.
As I waited impatiently to pass through and board the bus to the conference room, she stood in front of the metal detector, blocking the way, and continued to giggle into her I-Phone in a language I didn’t recognize. (I’m not sure what country she was from, but I think if was Brassiere.)
Finally recognizing that walking and talking are in fact possible at the same time, she walked through the detector with the phone still pressed to her head.
Buzzzzz. Wrong.
No, the security guard told her, motioning for her to go back. On the third try, she placed the phone on the x-ray belt and walked through again, her name tag with the large metal clip on it still around her neck.
Buzzzzz. Wrong again.
After two more tries, neither of which included removing the name tag that the guard was pointing at, the weary man finally waved her onward and I was able to pass through the machine. I’m only glad that the machine wasn’t capable of detecting silicone. I might never have gotten to my press conference.
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