Zippers have all the fun

On Boingboing, they are having a discussion about tritiated zipper pulls mostly concentrating on legal issues.

Maybe one could buy up a bunch of these (and rifle scopes, etc.), burn them up, and condense out the heavy heavy water?

Wrist reactor

I'll be very disappointed if the PU on this item does not stand for Plutonium.

And I think all the apparel by this manufacturer should have at least a gram or two of deuterated or tritiated moisture, for truth in advertising.

As befits the name

I feel a little bad for people who stumble on this blog searching for things like sf fashion heavy water and heavy water clothing only to find a almost complete lack of deuterium or tritium oxide content. No doubt they leave in disgust, never to return again. So I have decided to put up one modest heavy water posting by way of appeasement.

You can buy jewelry that contains ordinary water (broken link) or holy water. From the right sources, it is possible to buy D₂O, at least in bulk, so by adapting the instructions on how to make a DNA necklace of your own, it should be possible to make a isotopically correct heavy water jewelry, the perfect gift for your own physics geek. Caution, deuterium oxide is reported to be poisonous in large quantities, so don't be swilling the stuff in mixed drinks, despite anything I may have written in the past. As for tritiated water, you will have to work a little harder because the world demand, the radioactivity, and the proliferation aspects limit worldwide shipments to only about 100 grams annually, so one would be hard-pressed to obtain enough T₂O to supply a good-sized jewelry operation. I am not sure it would be a good idea to encapsulate the stuff in a thin layer of glass, because it is something you probably do not want to ingest, any more than one would go around wearing mercury-filled jewelry

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This may be the second scifaiku I ever wrote, back in 1998:

to impress
they spike cocktails with
heavy water

And so the circle is completed.

Gift idea #5: Da bomb

Medium-sized nuclear warhead,
originally uploaded by cowgirlmelissa.

If you have a trawler and the time to devote, maybe you could help locate one of the thermonuclear devices the US has lost over the years. It's got to be better than leaving it out there to rust, right? Put a big red bow on it, like on those Lexus commercials, and watch how their eyes will light up when your friend or loved one finds one of of these on Christmas morning (or any Hanukkah night).

Gift idea #1 - vaseline glass

Vaseline glass in Hawley, PA...,
originally uploaded by NJ Artist.

[This is the first in a planned series of holiday gift-giving suggestions.]

The picture shows one of the largest vaseline glass in the country. The glass gets its characteristic yellow-green color from uranium oxide, and, as a consequence, is mildly radioactive. What better way to tell your loved ones how much you esteem them than to give the gift that emits alpha particles for years and years? And such a topical gift as well! Especially thoughtful if the recipient owns his or her own geiger counter.


Update: Neatorama posted a very similar item the same day I did. I swear I didn't steal the idea!