Hi! I started playing whistle last Christmas (found a Clarke C in my brother’s room and promptly ‘confiscated’ it after finding out online what it really was ) and just started attending sessions at a coffee shop down the street from my campus (not without snatching a Freeman tweaked Clarke D first! Thanks Jerry!!).
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how things turn out) I have to leave for Batavia, IL in a few days and won’t be able to make it to any more sessions in Pittsburgh until mid-August.
So:
I’m writing to find out if there is anybody out there who knows of any regular Irish music happenings in the Batavia/Chicago area. I’m living near Fermilab (a big particle physics research center and particle collider) in “Fermilab Village”.
Also, I’d just like to say that I am amazed at the community that has developed through these forums – almost all of the help I’ve received so far can be attributed to them. Not to mention the fact that they are interesting and wacky enough to keep me up until four a.m. reading them… yawn.
I can’t remember quite where Batavia is, but I think it’s in the general direction of Willowbrook–west of Chicago. The Kerry Piperhas sessions, even for beginners, as I recall.
Thanks guys. I also just got an email back from the official Scottish Barn Dance Group of Fermilab (how many Scottish Barn Dancing Physicists do you know??!!!) with some tips for finding sessions in the Chicago area (and, of course, an invitation to come Scottish Barn Dancing on Tuesdays ).
If I can’t find any sessions, then I guess I can just play with the cows (whistle, that is…).
I go to the Kerry Piper sessions. Drop me a PM if you’d like.
I think the best thing for you would be to check out the KP’s slow session, then ask the other regulars there about other sessions. There are plenty of high-level sessions in Chicago, and there are probably a couple other beginner sessions around too, but i’m not the most well-informed person around.
I was under the impression that Fermi II (cdf II) was an upgrade from Fermi I to add neat stuff like a silicon vertex detector, but I have apparently been mislead!
Does it have anything to do with mad scientists? (I hope it does!!)
Or am I way off base?
whimsby_B this is what happen to Ferm I, and was the originator of the “China Syndrome” phrase:
Fermi I Breeder Reactor
The Fermi I reactor was a breeder located at Lagoona Beach, 30 miles from Detroit. On October 5, 1966, high temperatures were measured (700 compared to normal 580¡F) and radiation alarms sounded involving two fuel rod subassemblies. The reactor scrammed and there was indication of fuel melting. After a month of sweating, they tested out enough subassemblies to limit the damage to 6 subassemblies. By January 67 they had learned that 4 subassemblies were damaged with two stuck together, but it took until May to remove the assemblies.
When they had checked the sodium flow earlier, they had detected a clapping noise. In August 67 they were able to lower a periscope device into the meltdown pan and found that a piece of zirconium cladding had come loose and was blocking the sodium coolant nozzles. The zirconium cladding was part of the lining of the meltdown cone designed to direct the distribution of fuel material should a meltdown of the fuel occur. Such structures are necessary in a breeder reactor because of the possibliity of molten fuel reassembling itself in a critical configuration. This is not a possibility in an ordinary light water reactor because of the low level of enrichment of the uranium, but a fast breeder reactor is operated with a much higher level of enrichment. The phrase “China syndrome” was coined in regard to this accident as they were contemplating the possibilities should a meltdown of fuel with critical reassembly take place. The uncontrolled fission reaction could create enough heat to melt its way into the earth, and some engineer remarked “it could go all the way to China”.
With ingenious tools designed and built for the purpose, the piece of zirconium was fished out in April of 1968. In May of 1970, the reactor was ready to resume operation, but a sodium explosion delayed it until July of 1970. In October it finally reached a level of 200 Mwatts. The total cost of the repair was about $132 million. In August of 1972 upon denial of the extension of its operating license, the shutdown process for the plant was initiated.
I am also 3o miles from Fermi II where once stood Fermi I, I live just across from Detroit.
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer
Lead us lest too far we wander
Love’s sweet voice is calling yonder
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer
Hey, there don’t get dimmer, dimmer
Light the path below, above
And lead us on to love!
Glow little glow-worm, fly of fire
Glow like an incandescent wire
Glow for the female of the species
Turn on the AC and the DC
This night could use a little brightnin’
Light up you little ol’ bug of lightnin’
When you gotta glow, you gotta glow
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Glow little glow-worm, glow and glimmer
Swim through the sea of night, little swimmer
Thou aeronautical boll weevil
Illuminate yon woods primeval
See how the shadows deep and darken
You and your chick should get to sparkin’
I got a gal that I love so
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Glow little glow-worm, turn the key on
You are equipped with taillight neon
You got a cute vest-pocket Master
Which you can make both slow and faster
I don’t know who you took a shine to
Or who you’re out to make a sign to
I got a gal that I love so
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Glow little glow-worm, glow
Hey there whimsby_B. Where in Pittsburgh do you go to play? I just got started on the whistle over the summer, but I would like to go to some sessions, and i go to Duquesne. Just wondering what the scene there is like.
Hi Steve-o! The Kiva Han coffee shop at the intersection of Forbes and Craig near CMU hosts a session every Thursday at 7:30 PM. The first Thursday of the month is a slow session. Usually there are a few more people at the slow sessions than at the normal ones.
Really nice folks, you should play with them sometime! And they are quite beginner-friendly too. Hope that helps,
) and just started attending sessions at a coffee shop down the street from my campus (not without snatching a Freeman tweaked Clarke D first! Thanks Jerry!!).
.
