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Thursday, October 9, 2008

New Thing #272--Get The Lead Out

I'm not a big fan of the History Channel, but occasionally a show will catch my attention. That's what happened tonight when I watched a show that showcased the company my husband works for.

The show was Modern Marvels, and tonight's episode was entitled Lead. The summary of the show, according to the History Channel Website:
A versatile yet toxic metal, lead has served mankind for 6,000 years. Explore the vast mines where heavy machinery extracts and refines lead. Visit a car battery factory that makes a superior battery from pure lead. See how a team of experts safely remove harmful lead products from homes and businesses. How can a metal as dark as lead make lead crystal not only sparkle, but manage to stay transparent?
It was a very interesting hour that discussed lead from a historical standpoint and in the present day. Some of the program was was shot at the company's facilities, and described how the company mines, processes, and recycles lead. It also had segments on things I knew contained lead, like car batteries and lead crystal. However, they also talked about some lesser-known uses of lead, such as stained glass windows (lead strips hold each piece of glass in place) and pipe organs (lead helps give the pipes their unique tone).

Tony and I watched the show together. He pointed out the people and places he knew as the show went along.

1 comment:

  1. I love the History Channel [though the Canadian one is slightly different from the US one - same with all those types of channels]! Though, they are rather into Nazis...which is not so interesting. Our History Channel showed the HBO show Rome and they also have a neato show called Dogfights which is about WWI and WWII air battles.

    But that's cool that your husband's company was on - I like learning shows!

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