A/V Geeks Lunch 3-24-22

so so so so so so hi everybody this is skip alzheimer welcome to the ev geek sponge trying streaming show um i'm feeling better i'm just not sounding better i still have a nagging cough and i'll try to be better about muting myself when i cough it's kind of rude on my behalf i apologize um anyways behind me outside is a uh crazy rainstorm um but that does not keep us from showing old 16 millimeter films here um i'm at my house not at the archive uh but i have a bunch of films that i've digitized over the years thousands of films and so that's how we're able to watch stuff uh and i'm eager to show you new stuff that we haven't seen before and so that last film was better tennis uh made in the 30s uh i believe maybe maybe even late 20s and um the the interesting thing about that is it's it's obviously made for women um because you have a woman tennis player who's demonstrating now it's possible that you could use that for either gender but um [Music] back in the day you know i have a lot of films even from the 50s and 60s volleyball for boys volleyball for girls archery for boys archery for girls uh and so the fact that you have this uh with a woman tennis player is telling me that that's the audience um which is interesting uh you know to have a sports instructional film that early on um and you know i'm thinking that the very rich were the ones i got to watch and show this film because they had the equipment to do it uh all right so uh the next film that we got set up is our good old friend at uh encyclopedia britannica no actually let me let me uh skip over that um let's do uh this next film which is based in the south the gritty dirty smelly stinky south and this talks about the importance of dumpsters and sanitary landfills it's called the green box and i should say that in other countries um dumpsters are called skips so enjoy saying retired [Music] charlie gay the county sanitarian took these pictures made up a slideshow showed it all over the county and just raised hell [Music] the summers are hot in alabama and the garbage from 26 000 people just sat and simmered in the sun this is in the look today [Music] when charlie made his let's clean up chilton county speeches he'd mention swarms of pesky flies rats it turned out there were eighteen hundred of them at the clanton city dump smoke and air pollution and one other matter self-respect [Music] the problem was very difficult door-to-door pickup throughout chilton county's sparsely settled 700 square miles would have been far too expensive and so some civic leaders thought up the idea of the green box [Music] locate them at convenient places along highways so they would be as close or closer than the nearby open dump mechanically pick up the refuse every other day with a big packer truck then establish a carefully operated centrally located sanitary landfill and close the county's 40 major unauthorized open dumps and the hundreds of smaller ones the bureau of solid waste management of the department of health education and welfare awarded a demonstration grant the objective to determine if such a container collection system would be a practical solution for rural solid waste management problems which exist all over the country [Music] the town of clanton the chilton county seat already had a good house-to-house collection system as did the three other municipalities of jemison maplesville and thursby these collection programs were continued unchanged but the refuse was no longer taken to their four dumps but rather to the new sanitary landfill these communities approved of the new system because smoke and odor had always been a problem and all of their dumps were nearly full county sanitarian gay discovered to his sorrow that there's no simple formula for assessing rat populations and exterminating them with the help of the alabama department of health and the united states public health service the rats were exterminated and the dumps covered with clean earth during 1969 nearly every house in the four incorporated towns was visited one or more times to explain the new solid waste disposal program and potential benefits of rat and mosquito eradication both at the old dumps and in town the key element of the clean and green project is the new sanitary landfill located on county property near the intersection of two major highways the use of a single centrally located fill site would increase hauling costs somewhat but proved to be much more economical than operating multiple landfills with duplicate equipment and personnel the project director and the project consultant designed the landfill after taking borings determining soil types and drainage conditions and making a thorough study of the site the new landfill manager attended the one week training course sanitary landfill principles conducted by the bureau of solid waste management in cincinnati let's face it after all we were forced into the garbage collection business judge thomas hayes of the board of revenue and control we were using the open pit system all over the county which didn't work out successful at all because the people would not go to the pits and dump it so we decided that we would go to a county-wide garbage system because we knew this gonna be a success we had to get the people of the county to use it so by the means with the help of the extension service our health department and other civic organizations we started talking cleaning green and you know the funny thing was when we first started putting out these cans the telephone would ring say judge get that can away from my place i don't want our garbage place in my front door so we like to wear out the first cans we got moving them from one place the other but you know after six months the telephone quit ringing then the next three months it went to ringing judge bring a ken over here to my place we need one the novel part of project clean and green is the green box its use could convert an uncontrollable solid waste problem into an orderly system if it worked because of the extensive mileage to be traveled a large packer was selected which however would not exceed highway load limits it has a load lift capacity of forty five hundred pounds and a capacity of 30 cubic yards the container collection system has proved so successful that there are now 90 boxes and each one is being emptied every other day [Music] most of the containers are situated along highways it soon became apparent that during wet weather the packer truck and people using the containers were inconvenienced by mud thus a paved area was provided to facilitate all weather access [Music] no use having a system of containers if people don't use them so an intensive user education program was undertaken the county extension chairman of the county sanitarian gave talks to civic clubs and church groups the new project was promoted by the local newspaper and radio station and even on television many door-to-door visits were made however people don't always react favorably no matter how good the engineering proposals may be or how intensive the salesmanship here is cletus ingram pastor of the walnut creek united methodist church with his comments when i heard that the landfill was going to come to clanton and be located right across the highway from the walnut creek united methodist parsonage and church i was very much opposed because i had seen the various dumps across the country with all of the rats and the flies and the smells but now that we have the landfill we can see that it's clean chilton county up and i'm very much in favor of it because it does keep us clean and green project director robert alexander after learning that it would be my responsibility to take care of the clinton landfill here in children county i decided that i would look at several landfills and i went to several over the state and out of the state also and mostly what we saw was a combination landfill and dump we were determined to try to have an ideal landfill here in chilton county as a result we have what i think is one of the cleanest landfills in the country mr bob is the county engineer and supervises the whole project which operates seven days a week he's hired four full-time men the landfill manager weighs and records the loads brought for placement at the fill the landfill tractor operator is almost wholly occupied with the daily placement compaction and covering of the wastes the rural collection truck driver collects rural wastes and maintains his packer truck and a utility operator substitutes for other personnel and is responsible for maintenance of wholesome environmental conditions at the sanitary landfill site titan alabama has a population of 5 800 people it's what damn yankees call a sleepy southern town [Music] but clatton is just like any community in one respect if you look there's always someone who doesn't relish the thought of higher taxes any new and improved public work system has to cost more than the inferior system it replaced so let's look at the politics of this situation and visit the board of commissioners in the chilton county courthouse gentlemen next order of business will be our clean and green project jim as you know our clean and green project now is right at two-year-old and the board would like to ask some questions pertaining to this project such as do you think it's doing a good job of cleaning our bridal waves also we like comparison with the other systems being used over the country and we'd like to know pertaining to the cost of this project we are we getting our money's worth or anything else that you might bring us up to date on our clean and green prizes george it's a real pleasure to give you a report on project clean and green the public acceptance of our project has been most encouraging the job that has been done of cleaning up the county is phenomenal the costs that have been incurred are reasonable and the real clincher is that there have been four other counties in the state of alabama who have adopted the system after visiting our project now during this two-year period we've implemented the system of containers for storage of rurally generated waste we have operated the sanitary landfill in a way that is much better than any i've seen in operation anywhere we have taken all of the solid waste from the municipalities in the county and we have taken care of the solid waste generated by the industry in the county the series of containers that i mentioned these four cubic yard containers that you're each very familiar with from having driven past many times and having seen them in use we had placed at about 43 container sites by november of last year now these 43 sites had on them 57 containers and they were arranged so that 50 percent of the people in the county lived nearer to one of these than 1.6 miles and 90 percent of the people lived at least as close as 3.7 miles to a container as a matter of fact 95 of the people were nearer than 4.8 miles so that these containers have been located to serve the people and the people have respected the containers they have used them and have maintained them we have some cleanup that is necessary at the container site but we don't have a large amount the people appreciate the fact that there's a system for disposal of their waste if a public works system produces good results and is economical it is a good system but if it produces good results and is expensive lots of people will say it is a poor system accordingly the project is being carefully evaluated every ton of refuse is weighed and functional unit costs are being compiled for the final report while costs will vary widely in other parts of the country this landfill is handling 800 tons a month at about two dollars per ton including equipment amortization project consultant dr jim walters of the university of alabama gives us more financial data judge responding specifically to your question on cost it was april of may of last year before we got the entire operation to a point where we thought it was representative during may of last year in our rural collection system we collected 116 tons at a unit cost of 10.17 per ton now during the may of this year we collected 184 tons and the unit cost on that amount of waste was down to 6.75 per ton a much more reasonable cost as a result of handling more waste during the same period for the similar period this year our sanitary landfill operations cost us two dollars and six cents per ton of waste disposed so that this is within a reasonable cost figure a few additional developments occurred during the project the tendency of container lids to stand open proved objectionable nearby cusa county which is adopting the system has procured boxes which are not as high and have a sure closed lid [Music] operating experience has indicated the need for periodic site and container cleanup regular personnel operate this steam cleaning equipment to sanitize the boxes which have drainage holes in the bottom no sanitary problems have been experienced from steam clean out the county system of mobile radio communications is used to call prompt attention to trouble spots the container system has replaced the expensive county program which previously cleaned up highway right-of-ways and stream channels rapid maintenance prevents a small nuisance from becoming a large one and psychologically reinforces the public's memory that the container sites are not dirty disagreeable places [Music] will the green box work in your county that depends on whether this is the right system for you on your technical skills and local leadership if you're interested in reading the project report contact your regional office or the office of information of the bureau of solid waste management clean and green is not much physically just 90 green boxes a packer truck a crawler tractor a new landfill four employees and lots of clothes dumps and dead rats really it's a state of mind the determination to act and cooperate the initiative to devise a new and effective system the engineering skill to make it work and the human relations ability to solicit the essential public support clean and green is sanitarian charlie gay who originally raised a rumpus judge hayes who didn't cave in when people objected pastor ingram who thought badly of it and then changed his mind jim walters who worried about the technical details mr bob who runs it and is proud of it and many others the green box promises to go to work all over the country but it all started in chilton county alabama [Music] [Applause] so um stuart findlay is a company made a bunch of films that i have um that deal with public waste there's day at the dump there's uh 5000 dumps um there's a couple of films on recycling uh both on a personal level but also on a more um industrial level um so these are all films that came out in probably the early 70s and uh you know are trying to clean up america um in in different ways and certainly sanitary landfills are not great places to visit but they're better than dumping um just roadside dumping which is still a problem at least in north carolina um and even in raleigh where there's you know if there's a place where there's nobody living suddenly a couch will show up or um you know chester drawers excuse me oops forgot to mute anyways uh let's learn about um home cookery of fish from our old friend at encyclopedia britannica enjoy fish is an excellent source of protein and everybody needs protein to build and repair body tissue because of refrigerated transportation a great variety of fish is available in fish markets all over the country the fish come from the sea and from inland lakes and rivers here are stakes from north pacific halibut here are white fish from one of the great lakes cleaned and dressed for marketing and here are frozen fillets from north atlantic cod in this film we'll see how to boil a cod fill it how to broil a halibut steak and how to stuff and bake a white fish let's watch mrs clayton she left a frozen cod fillet outside the freezing compartment so it would thaw a fillet is the meaty side of a fish it is practically boneless because cod has very little connective tissue it tends to fall apart particularly when boiled to keep the flesh from falling apart mrs clayton cooks the fillet on a plate around which she ties a piece of cheesecloth this is a convenient way to handle the fillet it will cook by direct contact with hot salted water now the water is boiling so into the kettle goes the cod fillet mrs clayton lowers the heat so that the water just simmers this one pound fillet will simmer for 10 minutes to make the boiled cod even more appetizing mrs clayton is preparing an egg sauce when the white sauce has thickened she adds chopped hard cooked eggs now the sauce is ready how about the fish it's been simmering for 10 minutes that means it's done so mrs clayton removes it promptly if she overcooked the fillet it might fall apart or lose nutritive value let's see how it looks perfectly cooked the pieces intact this is enough for two generous servings the combination of the sauce with the boiled cod reminds us that there is no ground for the old superstition that fish and milk may not be eaten together from an egg yolk saved for garnishing golden flakes are grated onto the top of the sauce to increase its eye appeal parsley sprigs add an interesting accent as well as precious vitamin a properly cooked and attractively served what a delicious fish treat a boiled cod fillet makes this is mrs young she's getting ready to broil a halibut steak for the protein part of her dinner first salt then a dash of pepper and now oil because halibut is a lean fish a steak is a cross-section slice from a large fish there's not much bone in a fish steak actually only a small part of the backbone onto the rack of the broiler grease to prevent sticking goes the halibut stake it broils best about two inches below the flame mrs young notes the time she knows that after eight minutes one side of the steak will be done because halibut tends to dry out during broiling she bastes it on both sides oil melted fat or drippings may be used basting keeps the fish moist and helps to bring out its delicious flavor he prepares her garnishes while the steak is cooking after a final seven minute period the steak is thoroughly cooked on both sides mrs young is very careful not to break the stake while she moves it to the hot platter now garnished and ready for the table the broiled halibut has both eye and flavor appeal mrs dudley is preparing to bake a white fish she salted inside and outside with a dressing made from breadcrumbs celery onions fat and seasoning she stuffs the white fish loosely to allow for expansion of the dressing during baking skewers close the opening and keep the dressing from spilling out a string holds it all together now the skin is sliced several times to allow for shrinkage that will occur while the whitefish is cooking finally the whitefish is basted with melted fat to keep it from drying out and also to bring out its flavor note that the back fin has been removed entirely now the fish is ready for the oven mrs dudley has already heated the oven to a temperature of 350 degrees whitefish is cooked for 12 to 15 minutes per pound this four pound whitefish will therefore require about one hour potatoes are baked at the same time so as to utilize the same heat unit about 20 minutes before the fish is done mrs dudley puts in stuffed tomatoes to complete the main course of her baked fish dinner whether lean or fat fish should be basted several times during baking because whitefish is fat its own juices provide bastings strips of bacon added at the same time improve the flavor of the fish mrs dudley uses the last few minutes of baking to prepare the garnish which should be fresh crisp and tender now let's see the tomatoes and the potatoes are done the white fish is brown and tender overcooking it would dry it out and toughen it now the baked fish dinner is ready to be assembled for the table mrs dudley is very careful when she removes the white fish she doesn't want it to break now she removes the metal skewers and the string the tasty dressing has been moistened and enriched by juices from the fish the gay and well-composed arrangement of tomatoes lemon slices and chicory provides a pleasing and nutritious frame for the savory baked whitefish uh that narrator of course was james brill james brill did a bunch of uh narration for erp films uh which eventually became encyclopedia britannica and then you did a bunch for them um we have some films where you actually get to see what he looks like just a kind old white guy now what i think is interesting about that film is and i kind of talked a little bit before about better tennis is who's the audience for this film uh again it's women um so it's interesting that they used a male narrator in most uh films that we have uh oh excuse me home economic films um it's a woman narrator because it's talking to mostly uh a female audience and generally you tend to identify with the gender i mean that that's this could be bogus but that's the thinking um is that uh women want to hear other women imparting wisdom about how to prepare food or how to do things around the house or other advice um men want to hear other men um that could be just all anecdotal there might not be any truth to it but in general that's the way it runs with educational films um but james brill was so installed at irpi as the narrator i don't think there is any other narrator at uh herpe or early encyclopedia britannica besides him so he was talking about you know mrs dudley um and see what she's doing and she's doing this and she's doing that whereas most educational films may be made five years later ten years later would have a woman voicing mrs dudley um and you know talking about things in first person uh anyhow uh this next film that we have is another encyclopedia britannica film oh let me say thank you uh bucky for the uh coffee you can buy us coffee at ko-fi.com av geeks uh caffeine is one of the the things that we use uh to keep our brains going our nervous systems percolating and so thank you for that support but this next film is another encyclopedia britannica film made in the 70s and this features another um narrator that you might recognize it's not peter thomas who you guys love to recognize it's not alexander scorby but can you name this narrator i don't think he gets a credit in here but i could be wrong um these educational films they are wildly different now they credit people so this is energy for the future see if you can guess who it is talking enjoy [Music] fossil fuels they were produced in the depths of the earth over a period of millions of years yet in little more than a century our fuel-guzzling society of movement comfort and prosperity has begun to deplete the supplies petroleum will remain our most important source of fuel for the immediate future but as the reserves of readily available oil and gas dwindle we search for alternative sources of energy geothermal energy the heat of the earth cell nuclear power to tap the awesome energy of the atom less polluting and more efficient methods of using coal oil shale a new source of fossil fuel even the power of the wind and the energy of the sun these are some of the energy sources for the future the energy of the sun stored beneath the earth in the form of coal and late night is now being exploited with renewed enthusiasm coal is by far the most abundant of our fossil fuels and much of it is accessible to existing mining techniques exploration and mapping of geological resources discloses that many billions of tons of coal lie beneath the united states landscape unfortunately the use of coal has involved serious consequences for the environment strip mining techniques used to uncover coal have at some locations laid millions of acres of land to waste the unfiltered burning of coal has released tons of toxic gas into the atmosphere now the demand for energy and the passage of clean air laws have encouraged a new look at how coal is produced and consumed this installation in chicago illinois is an experiment in a technique called coal gasification the process converts coal into a clean burning fuel synthetic natural gas in the future it may enable us to exploit fully our abundant coal reserves without jeopardizing the quality of air another potential source of fossil energy is found where ancient seas deposited layer upon layer of sediment this rock rich with the remains of tiny marine organisms is oil shale to the ute indians of the american west it is known as the rock that burns it can be mined and processed to produce crude oil and gas geologists have found many large oil shale deposits in the united states in total these deposits are thought to hold more than six times our known reserves of crude oil not all of the shale can be exploited economically but mining and processing of the rich rocky mountain deposits are already underway on an experimental basis the techniques of oil shale processing have been known since the 1800s actually the rock is not shale at all and it does not contain oil it is moral stone that contains a solid organic substance called kerogen this apparatus simulates a commercial retort in which shale oil is processed heating crushed rock fragments causes the kerogen to vaporize oil vapors and gas rise to the top of the retort and condense the end product is a thick liquid crude shale oil commercially valuable byproducts such as hydrocarbon gas minerals and a variety of chemical compounds can also be produced in the process oil shale may be an important source of fossil fuel in the years ahead but mining oil shale could scar the land and because its volume actually increases during processing waste disposal will be a serious problem in addition like all fossil fuels oil shale is an exhaustible resource a source with longer range potential is the energy of the atom nuclear fission reactors are supplying increasing amounts of our electric power and by the turn of the century they may be supplying as much as one-fourth like coal and oil fuel used for nuclear fission must be extracted from the earth [Music] uranium more than 30 million tons of accessible uranium ore are thought to exist in the western united states enormous quantities of this ore must be mined because the fission process requires a rare isotope of uranium uranium uranium-235 one kilogram of this high-grade ore will yield only about seven grams of uranium-235 but those seven grams will be capable of producing more electric power than 3 million times their weight in coal some experts predict that by the year 2000 high-grade uranium war will become scarce and its cost will be prohibited nuclear physicists are currently working on a solution to this problem the fast breeder reactor which can transform the abundant supplies of regular uranium into a fissionable fuel called plutonium like all fission reactors however the breeder reactor presents environmental dangers the potential for a nuclear accident and the production of highly poisonous radioactive wastes another nuclear energy alternative is the control fusion reactor this is silac an experimental nuclear facility in los alamos new mexico here scientists are attempting to create a fusion reaction that will produce no waste and use common sea water as its fuel the circular array of electromagnets will be used to contain a plasma of deuterium atoms which are extracted from the seawater [Applause] tremendous temperatures are applied to the plasma to induce a fusion reaction the same process by which the sun produces energy if fusion reactions can be produced and controlled the oceans of the world will be an almost limitless supply of fuel but even today there are energy sources that require no fuel at all this power plant produces electricity from the natural heat of the earth's interior it is part of the geiser's geothermal power facility near san francisco nestled away in a quiet wooded area of northern california the geiser's complex is unknown to the many who think geothermal power to be a dream of the future but it has been in operation since 1960 and eventually it will generate enough electricity to serve the needs of more than 4 million people magma within the earth heats groundwater and causes it to rise to geysers or steam vents wells are drilled to intercept this water and carry it to the surface there it vaporizes into steam which drives electricity generating turbines mapping of hot spring sites shows that many areas of the united states may be suitable for this type of geothermal exploitation and experiments are now underway that will if successful make geothermal power available to an even greater number of regions in new mexico engineers are using oil drilling techniques to sink a well into the interior of the earth their objective is not to find oil but to reach the heat of an extinct volcano pipes will be sunk to a depth of about 2 400 meters where geologists estimate temperatures to be as high as 500 degrees celsius water pumped through the pipe will be heated and will rise naturally to the surface through a second well hot rock is known to exist fairly close to the surface at many sites in the western united states dry geothermal power could become an important regional supplement to fossil fuel and nuclear plants in the near future the motion of the atmosphere is one of our most diffuse energy sources and at oklahoma state university research is now underway that may result in the large-scale use of wind for generating meteorologists have mapped several regions of the united states where wind is strong and consistent enough to make large scale wind farming a possibility this prototype equipment includes a special field generator that overcomes one of the biggest obstacles to wind farming as wind speed fluctuates the frequency of wind-generated current fluctuates along with it but with the perfection of the new generator the current frequency can be kept constant this current can be fed into transmission lines to supplement conventional power sources the use of the wind is in effect an indirect use of the earth's most valuable energy source the sun this solar furnace a device for the direct use of the sun's energy was developed at the university of florida's solar laboratory here it is being used to make synthetic crystals a process that requires enormous amounts of uncontaminated heat energy the parabolic reflector concentrates sunlight at a focal point where the furnace produces temperatures in excess of 3 800 degrees celsius in contrast to this solar cell which uses the sun's light energy to produce electricity and is at present far too costly for widespread general use the heat energy devices at the university of florida lab are simple and economical these solar panels are constructed of copper plates and coils of copper tubing through which water circulates the plates and tubing are painted flat black and are enclosed in boxes with glass faces the glass lets the sun's energy in but does not let the infrared radiation reflected by the black surface out this energy heats the circulating water providing space heating hot water and electricity for small appliances in this house which has been operating on solar energy for the past 20 years the potential solar energy resource is greatest in the southern united states and most of the country receives enough heat to at least supplement conventional energy sources 1200 kilometers north of gainesville near baltimore maryland an entire wing of the timonium elementary school is heated by solar energy the system which can store enough heat to last from four to five days is saving about 200 liters of fuel oil every day entire communities are now being planned and developed to make maximum use of the sun's energy the zone works complex in albuquerque new mexico is a model community that depends on the sun for all its heat and hot water needs the technology of zoom works is elegantly simple water is pumped from the ground by a conventional windmill to be heated in a solar panel the walls of the structure can be lowered to expose large drums of water which collect heat from the new mexico sun and pass it to interior living spaces in summer the walls are kept closed and the same drums provide a natural air conditioning system insulating the interior from outside heat like the fast breeder reactor the wind farm and the dry rock geothermal power plant zone works is a prototype for the future in the present even as we search for new sources of fossil fuel and attempt to conserve the supplies that remain we must explore fully these energy alternatives the era of cheap readily available fossil fuels is coming to an end [Music] so no credit for the narrator for that one um that was of course as many of you recognize ken nordin who uh narrated a bunch of stuff uh he did do uh stuff for coronet um he also did uh tv shows documentaries a bunch of tv commercials including some pretty great ones for uh levi's um in the in the 80s i think had a very stylized voice released uh several albums um kind of word jazz types of things him reading um very distinctive voice i think i remember seeing a either 60 minutes or a cbs sunday morning piece about him back in the day probably 30 years ago um but yeah it's great to hear his voice pop up in some of these films and that's you know just like with uh uh seeing actors actresses maybe a filmmaker whose name will pop up related to these that's why i like these educational films is that they uh were regionally made and so they often use talent from those areas uh ken nordin was probably in chicago uh doing various things and uh got hired to do this so he shows up on this work um pretty great but uh thank you for tuning in today um hopefully tomorrow i'll be feeling even better and maybe i'll be back at the archive um [Music] but i appreciate your kind words and tuning in and enjoying you know the films that we showed about dumpsters and cooking fish and uh you know that's uh you guys are pretty special for uh uh watching that and digging in as much as i do so thank you for that and uh everybody have a great rest of your day and we'll be back again tomorrow um take care goodbye you