Swarfblog

Rare Earths Aren’t Rare, with Julie Klinger-Ep. 254

“Rare earths aren’t actually rare, nor are they earths,” Julie Klinger told me. Julie is an associate professor at UW Madison and literally wrote the book on rare earth elements—Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes. I interviewed her last week, the day after Trump signed a rare

Read More »

Profilometer

I’m writing this blog in my new favorite Starbucks in Flossmoor, Illinois. All of the employees are African American women. I am one of three

Read More »

Rocket Men

I’ve always thought space travel was cool and interesting, particularly as a kid, but I seldom romanticized it like so many other people do. I

Read More »

Current Change

How do you deal with change? I’m talking BIG CHANGE. Existential change in the way you do business. We are witnessing it being played out

Read More »

A Patient’s Perspective

Today I get to do my twenty-first straight day of radiation treatment. Don’t feel sorry for me at all, this is my fortunate opportunity to

Read More »

Man of Steel?

The tariffs being imposed by the Trump administration on foreign steel and aluminum are an intriguing bargaining chip from a macro economic standpoint, but a

Read More »

32 Pounds Ago

I have lost 32 pounds over the last four months, and I am stunned. It has not been that hard to do once I decided

Read More »