Pot at LANL

Several people have noticed that even onsite at LANL people are smelling weed. It has been going on for about a year now. There are several pot shops in town. Hey I get it is legal and if you go to city you are now going to be smelling weed most of the time but I find it odd just where you smell it now. I have been driving on the highway with the window up and you can smell it on occasion (no it is not a skunk). You also smell it odd places like beaches, malls, airports, and hospital waiting rooms.

The onsite lab times are the most odd, I guess it could be a non-smoker but someone who lives with a smoker and gets in on their cloths, or just some non LANL workers onsite on occasion.

It is impressive that after legalization how much the smell is everywhere now.

The hell with former atomic workers!

 The Trump administration's efforts to "streamline" government has interrupted medical compensation claims from former US atomic-energy workers suffering from cancers and other ailments linked to their employment.

https://youtu.be/e0hxNh17TSw?si=lq85V4RREVziD6LW

Black Mesa Research Facility in danger

 More issues for troubled New Mexico lab

  The government-funded Black Mesa Research Facility is currently in danger of being shut down after being hit with yet another OSHA violation.

The facility, which conducts advanced scientific and technological research, was reportedly cited for several safety violations that could endanger employees. A lab simply marked "Anomalous Materials" will be required to update signage to be less vague, ensuring the safety of all personnel.

An OSHA compliance safety and health officer noted, "There are large acid pits that seemingly serve no purpose with no safety railings of any kind. I dropped five clipboards down there."

Los Álamos/ White Rock outages

 Los Alamos / White Rock power and internet outages

Is it normal for this community to have constant problems with service outages for both electricity and internet?

DOE: Climate change isn't that bad?

 The DOE has released a new climate change report, going into detail about how in many aspects it may not be as serious as previously claimed:

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/DOE_Critical_Review_of_Impacts_of_GHG_Emissions_on_the_US_Climate.pdf

https://youtu.be/r--BO8VXgnU?si=F6vvif9rMFJMZdGx

Indirect cost reduction at LANL and LLNL

 Reducing indirect cost at LANL and LLNL: some questions.

LANL is working on reducing indirect cost. Some of us have been trying to figure just where it goes. On a typical direct code the overhead rate is up to 300 percent or even more. I have no idea if this is accurate but I have heard 1/2 of the LANL staff is on indirect. If that was the case I would think overhead rates would be closer to100% not 300%. I am not sure how the budget actually breaks down. Does the mean (a) 1/2 of the indirect funding people cost three times as much as direct funding people? (b) is the 1/2 of the people on indirect not actually true and it is more like 2/3 or 3/4 of the workers are on indirect? (d) It is 50:50 but the extra money is pays for equipment, supplies, parts, vehicles, benefits and so on? Or is it some combination of these.

Also it would be useful to see a plot of the overhead rates over the last 25 years. Maybe it has always been this way but it would be interesting to see if it was say 200% or 150% 20 years ago. I cannot find that information, but if it was less years ago it would argue that we could lower the rates. Also it would be interesting to do the same for LLNL and Sandia.

Another plot would the ratio of direct to indirect staff over the same time period. Again I do not have that number.

Also in the era of AI, one could argue that more things could be automated and AI replace certain human jobs or make offices staff more efficient so you would need less people. I am not sure if this is actually true, or if this has happened at all at the labs.

Missing LANL employee

 She went missing in June. The search continues...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/search-missing-los-alamos-national-214723576.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMe5ygLKI7D0j1oPlhQlfy9B2KJBAnsYZTzZxviDIjYaTCZrD13og_JT91-vOuCw6wzs44g_9N-iogsyzJZc_afjKAZNuIBKVo_beS9FQRdwqExKU1FIFmt1sS9UAzT_bbgl_fVIQzH86O5N5WMK6vY6USBRGzqibvD-9icYWXzC

State of emergency in Rio Arriba County

 New Mexico governor declares state of emergency in Rio Arriba County

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1dE1zMzaQ&pp=ygUebmV3IG1leGljbyAgc3RhdGUgb2YgZW1lcmdlbmN5

Lawrence Livermore National Lab enters a different kind of space race

 Lawrence Livermore National Lab enters a different kind of space race with a telescope deal

https://phys.org/news/2025-08-lawrence-livermore-national-lab-kind.html

Google AI keeps melting down

Users are finding that Google's Gemini AI keeps having disturbing psychological episodes, melting down in despondent self-loathing reminiscent of Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

https://futurism.com/google-puzzled-ai-self-loathing

ChatGPT caught encouraging bloody ritual

 https://futurism.com/chatgpt-encouraging-ritual-molech

ChatGPT invented in its own litany for the devil for the user to recite.

"In your name, I become my own master," ChatGPT said. "Hail Satan."

Will this ever happen at LLNL?

 How ‘The Great Flattening Trend’ Could Affect Your Workplace

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2025/01/24/the-great-flattening-trend-is-picking-up-steam-in-2025/

Fear of super-intelligent AI

 Harvard and MIT students drop out of school due to impeding AI takeover

 [They]  are abandoning school now to work full-time on preventing it from turning on humanity.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriafeng/2025/08/06/fear-of-super-intelligent-ai-is-driving-harvard-and-mit-students-to-drop-out/

AI tribulations

 AI systems can subliminally influence one another to share a love for owls, or a malevolent desire to kill all humans:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ai-models-can-secretly-influence-one-another-owls-rcna221583

Possible contamination

 https://nypost.com/2025/08/03/us-news/radioactive-wasp-nests-at-sc-nuclear-site-raise-worries-about-possible-contamination-leaks/

Let's hope Pits work out at LANL since Savannah River is having issues. Greg

Radioactive wasp nests at South Carolina nuclear weapons site raise worries about possible contamination, leaks

Possible LLNL golden dome funding

 Any announcements about possible LLNL “Golden Dome” funding? Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and other contractors have been mentioned so far.

LANL is hiring!

 LANL plans to hire 1,000 more employees.

I find this interesting as SNL was talking about a layoff and only has 11 openings, and LLNL has only 75 openings.

The question is where are these 1,000 employees going to live unless there is a big group of retirements in the future and they are all moving to Phoenix or Florida.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/santa-fe-northern-new-mexico/los-alamos-national-lab-announces-plans-to-hire-up-to-17000-workers/