Funny sign from a large industrial plant

Found this sign at a steam/coal powerplant, right outside the Penthouse (top level of a twelve level industrial boiler). I laughed (thinking other things that it could relate to...husbands...zombie brains...whatever), snapped the picture, and got the heck out of there.  

Banekus = Haikus by Bane

Disclaimer: this post is not IH-related. Spouse and I are nerds. We are especially fond of Christopher Nolan's Batman adaptations, the most recent of which is The Dark Knight Rises. While I was procrastinating the actual "sit down and write" part of being an aspiring novelist, I realized something weird:

Lots of Bane's lines in the movie fit very nicely in Haiku format.

Photo courtesy of Time Warner and Entertainment Weekly

Check it out...

They were mistaken
You fight like a younger man
With nothing held back

(That one is from the spouse.)


Haikus (American-style ones, anyways) follow the 5 syllable-7 syllable-5 syllable, three-line format.

Here's some more, while I was trying to "get in the head" of the character Bane.

It was a mistake
To make me your enemy
You will feel your death

They are my servants
I am the League of Shadows
Join me and serve me

Do you feel in charge?
You will watch your city burn
I have broken you

I always feel it
Pain lets you know you are alive
You can't hear me scream

I tried to save her
Innocence did not belong
Escape from the pit

They breed corruption
Someday they will understand
Death before rebirth

And just to round it out, here's one for Batman:

Rise and face your fear
Life is not just beating death
Climb without the rope

Hope you like them! I have some more unfinished ones, but I am keeping them to myself.

The Banekus also work if you mix and match, i.e.:

I have broken you
I am the League of Shadows
Death before rebirth

Let's see what you can come up with.

I have returned from the dark side! (with slight corrosion)

May was a crazy month for me - I passed the Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) exam on May 17th, and received my diplomate certificate from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) a few weeks later. I was also fortunate enough to walk at the Arizona State University College of Environmental Technology and Innovation graduation ceremony for my Master of Science in Technology - Environmental Technology Management degree.

And if that wasn't enough, I also published a book review on Jordan Tama's National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (JHSEM) in May.

I am working on an article with two of my professors from Arizona State University about my graduate research on hospital compliance with the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS). It should be finished in a few weeks and then it goes to JHSEM for review.


Caution: Corrosives ... No, really?

In the vein of chemical safety (and corrosion!), I found these photos from one of the surveys I conducted at a local hospital for my CFATS research.

I loved this picture because there are so many things wrong with it!

This was next to several cooling towers. No one from the Facilities Department seemed to have a problem with the cabinet. :)




When I asked the safety coordinators from many hospitals in the Phoenix area about CFATS and their compliance level, I got a bunch of blank stares and hedging. So I decided to make it my graduate thesis research.


This is the base of the Caution: Corrosives cabinet.


The Facilities Department said that there wasn't anything in the cabinet, but I didn't have the proper personal protective equipment with me to check. It was also outside the scope of my survey.

I presented the results of my research to the American Society of Safety Engineers - Arizona Chapter Healthcare Section in 2010.

I look forward to sharing the link to my upcoming article when it is published by JHSEM.

Next week I plan to post about heat stress, since it is ~ 107 degrees Fahrenheit here in the sunny Southwest.