Monday, November 04, 2013

Playing it safe

I am at Narita airport about to leave for screenings of my film 'A2-B-C' in Poland and the Ukraine (INFO).  In addition to attending the festivals and working to raise awareness about the situation of the children in Fukushima, I will also be collecting radiation data with the help of my friends at Safecast (WEBSITE).


Safecast, recipient of the 2013 Good Design Award (congratulations!) makes affordable and reliable Geiger counters and, most importantly, is providing reliable and accurate data regarding radiation levels.  Want to know more?  Check out this AWESOME documentary by my good friend and fellow filmmaker Uchujin (WEBSITE):

http://vimeo.com/51823402


Pieter Franken (pictured below) was kind enough to lend me one of his babies and give me a crash course in how to use it.  This is going to be a baptism by fire as I use it to measure radiation levels, upload the radiation readings and GPS data, and work with an interactive app of world-wide Safecast data.  But these guys didn't receive the Good Design Award for nothing: they had technology-illiterate people like me in mind when they designed it, so this should be cake.  I hope.


I'll be taking radiation readings as I travel to Poland and the Ukraine and will be uploading my findings as I do.  But first things first: outside on the observation deck of Narita airport...


2 comments:

maggietext said...

Thank you for making important use of your travels, Ian. It would be great if more people could do this as they travel the world. I have a friend who travels all over (international wine sales). How much is one of those counters? Thank you for your work!

Ian Thomas Ash said...

Maggie,

Thank you for your words of support! All the information about the bGeigie Nano can be found on the Safecast website http://blog.safecast.org/

Peace,
Ian