non-food items, fields, and radioactive paint

Today I learned that the same dairy supplies organic milk for multiple grocery store brands, including those of Safeway and Wild Oats (which will turn into Whole Foods in about two weeks), and the milk wasn't exactly organic. This information could explain why a friend of mine said she tolerates cheese just fine but seems to have trouble with milk. If the cheese comes from another supplier, that would be another mystery solved.

In other news, we borrowed a friend's electromagnetic field meter and found out that while the 22 inch monitor we have puts out over 100 mG (milligauss) at the screen, by about a foot away the field drops to 3 mG, and after that it's nothing. The microwave, however, has a similar field while it's just sitting there telling you what time it is, but when you turn it on, the field doesn't drop off below 20 mG until you've backed off probably 10 or 12 feet. I see now why people with electromagnetic field sensitivities will sometimes decline to enter a house with a microwave in it.

In other nerdy news, you can corral beta radiation from tritium in a lot of phosphor-coated microspheres and have yourself a thing that'll glow in the dark non-stop for 12 years. People envision using this stuff for safety equipment or even on bike frames, but I think a keychain you could find by turning off the lights could make them millions.