My esteemed colleague refers to another of the half fractional elements,
Elbanium 55.5 (El), which is very similar in properties to Cesium, which is
what threw me off originally.  El has a +2 valence state and is highly
reactive with oxygen, which is why you have to store it in either argon
(preferred) or kerosene.  The element was first identified in 1782 by Dr.
Salvatore Pastafazoule at the University of Italy – Elba at Fornestali.
Don’t bother looking for it, as it no longer exists.  The present island of
Elba actually used to be two islands if you look at the maps of
antiquity.   Fornestali was on the second island.   Salvatore found that
there was an odd material found in local geodes.  He had learned
(painfully) to only crack open the geodes under low oxygen conditions.
Unfortunately, in excavating for higher amounts of the El, he accidentally
cracked open an immense geode with a high amount of Elbanium in it.  The
resulting explosion rivaled that of Krakatoa, leveling the island and
killing thousands.  The only survivors were Salvatore’s brother Peter and
his son Paul.  They both decided to emigrate to the new world, settling in
Manitoba.  Unfortunately, they brought along a single geode from Elba and
broke it open in Manitoba.  The explosion killed them both and started the
Great Manitoba Wildfire of 1793, in which millions of acres burned and it
killed 248 meese.  Tragic.   Happily, researchers at the Mao Clinic in
Minnesota, have found a way to safely refine the material and use it to
treat brain tumors, especially for those who seem to have oxygen-deprived
brains (like politicians).  The application in gas cell clocks is a little
debatable.  Such clocks only seem to run in a 1 to 7 ratio, which is why a
day in Manitoba feels like a week.



So, what did I win Dave?




Doug Pauls
Principal Materials and Process Engineer
Rockwell Collins

On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 9:24 AM, David Hillman <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Here is the Element Quiz Question:
>
> The Question:
> This element is a major fire hazard and must be stored in kerosene or an
> inert atmosphere. It will ignite and burn if it comes in contact with skin.
> This element, in its gas form, can be used to make a very accurate gas cell
> clock for GPS applications. This element is produced from ore found
> primarily in two geographic locations: the Italian island of Elba and
> Manitoba Canada. This element is used in brain tumor treatments. Which
> element is being described?
>
> The winner of the quiz will get the services of Clumpy and Kloumpios for
> the week.
>
> So far Clumpy and Kloumpios have done the following:
>
> Past Quiz winners/tasks:
> Week 1 Ravinder Ajmani, Western Digital
> Week 1 Ron Feyereisen, SigmaTron Intl.
> Week 2 Louis Hart, Compunetics
> Week 3 Mark Kostinovsky, Schlumberger Ltd.
> Week 3 John Burke
> Week 4 Drew Meyer, Benchmark Electronics
> Week 5 No Winner - no correct responses!
> Week 6 Bhanu Sood, NASA
> Week 7 Keith Calhoun, Sopark Corp
> Week 7 Ian Fox, Rolls Royce
> Week 8 Leland Woodall
> Week 8 David Bealer, SMT
> Week 9 Tom Carroll, Boeing
>
> Week 10 Louis Hart, Compunetics
> - Dave, this victory is the capstone, the gilding on my career...end of
> this month I'm officially retiring. Clumpy and Kloumpios help will be
> welcome in clearing out the office. Not sure if I will stick on TechNet or
> not...it's been a big part of my life for most of the past 20 years but I
> may go on to do something completely different.
>
> Week 11 Tom Carroll, Boeing
> - Sorry for the late reply but I was busy showing Clumpy how to perform an
> FAA Test Setup Conformity for an explosive atmosphere test and then Clumpy
> started to tell me about the new dimensional transport system attached to
> his John Deere tractor. Clumpy said explosive atmospheres were the least of
> their problems during development this new technology. I can report that
> everything is working well with the new transport system. Clumpy arrived
> with a "Poof" in my backyard and he immediately started fishing off my back
> deck, explaining that the new transport system makes him very hungry
> whenever he uses it. Clumpy says that he hopes Kloumpios is having a good
> time with Scott Decker, wherever he is, and that he hopes to stick around
> here for a while since he likes watching new technology being tested.
>
> Week 11 Scott Decker, UTAS
> -   Sorry for the delay also. I was in a global even for our company and
> also working with Clumpy and Kloumpios to keep them working on the board
> designs I was doing before the event so I could stay in the event. It’s
> never a dull moment in our company and as it turns out, I still needed to
> help them out, but they did get me through until today, Friday so it was
> still all worth it! J It’s pretty amazing that they can adapt to so many
> jobs that they get sent to, I wish I could do everything as well as they
> do, I could be a star! However, that said, I try to under achieve since
> that keeps me out of the lime light and not the spot light or cross hairs…
> :-/
>
> Week 12 Matthias Mansfeld, Mansfeld Elektronik PCB Design and Assembly
> - The boys can help me to compare a reverse-engineered old multilayer
> layout
> against the x-rays from the original (no data, no schematics, no gerbers at
> all available, but the urgent need for some spare units....), can coil some
> dozens RF toroids and last, but not least (if they aren't allergic against
> cats) can entertain our tomcats* (who are not amused at the ugly wet wet
> thaw here...). I've heard Clumpy and Kloumpios can meanwhile apparate and
> disapparate like Harry Potter, thus there is no need to pick them up from
> the next airport (would be MUC)?
>
> Week 13 No Quiz, the boys were helping Doug Pauls, Rockwell Collins, with
> his IPC Hall of Fame Award
>
> Week 14 ????
> - assisted with ????
>
>
> I hope everyone has a awesome week!
>
> Dave Hillman
> Rockwell Collins
> [log in to unmask]
>