Join the Global Radiation Monitoring Network

uRADMonitors are shipped globally to create a new Global Radiation Monitoring Network at http://www.uradmonitor.com/

Aquarian Bath and SolarNetOne are joining a new Global Radiation Monitoring Network, and you can too. This network was designed as an alert system for monitoring radiation level spikes. You can see that currently Europe, parts of the United States, Australia are represented. Each point on the map represents a special Geiger counter designed by Radu Motison. In the Orlando area radiation levels are low today, however we are interested particularly in monitoring our area since there was a recent spike in radiation levels in Miami.

Screen shot of map from September 6, 2014

Radu is trained as a software engineer, with a masters in Computer Science from West University of Timisoara.  Electronics started as a hobby during Radu's childhood. Radu started the Global Radiation Monitoring Network to give something useful to the community. The project began with a single monitoring station for his personal use Radu explains. "Then it became clear that having multiple stations across the Globe would provide interesting insight to background radiation fluctuations and possible causes. Also in case of nuclear incidents, the distributed units would be able to pickup any raising trends and sound an alarm for seeking additional information on the event." Radu designed, built and tested his new uRADMonitor with the testing help from beta-testers who are currently on the network map. 

uRadMonitors use the same detector tubes calibrated against a common reference.

I asked Radu how is his network better than existing crowd sourced radiation monitoring networks or government networks. 

It's open, so everyone can see real time, unaltered data. It's using the same detectors, calibrated against a common reference. Thus, the numbers displayed on the portal are easily comparable. It's easy to use, and it only takes one look to see where the "hot" spots are. See for example the unit in the Ceska Cermna: http://www.uradmonitor.com/?open=1200000F that is almost the double of the average readings of the entire network. This is due to naturally occurring thorium and uranium under the soil where this unit is located. And uRADMonitor was able to detect this phenomenon right away. It is probably the first global network of this kind. The data collection is safe as it resides on the server side. The data transmission is protected to a certain degree using a security code.

How easy is it to set up?  Can anyone do it?

It's the simple to set up your uRADMonitor Geiger counter. uRADMonitor must be mounted outside, but not directly in the sunlight. Ideally uRADMonitor should be mounted 1 meter above the ground level. The units are rainproof if mounted with the cables facing down.You will need to connect it to power, using the power adapter included with the unit, and to the home internet router using the included network cable. The device does everything by itself: gets an IP address in the local network, and starts transmitting real time measurements. On the server side the location is approximated and the new unit appears on the map, showing the radiation readings in real time.

uRAD monitors are shipping from Romania at this time, and are available either on Ebay or by emailing Radu.  

The Best Shampoo Bars to use with Hard Water

Our Key Lime Eucalyptus shampoo bar worked well in hard water conditions.

Thanks so one of our awesome Aquarian Bath customers, I am happy to share our top shampoo bars to use with hard water. Kimberly had initially used one of our shampoo bars (Rose hemp) while on vacation in Florida with great results. Her hair type is long with natural henna-dyed hair. When she returned home and used the same bar, she experienced a build up in her hair. Apparently her city water was exceptionally hard, so much so that the water had a dirty smell. Even some laundry wasn't coming 100% clean, and had the same dirty smell. Hard water is water that has a high mineral content, and some minerals can give an off smell. Kimberly ordered different sample shampoo bars to try out, and I also threw in a 2 or 3 additional sample bars for her to try. I'm thrilled she tested all of the ones she received and provided great feedback for me to share with everyone.

Here are is Kimberly's detailed feedback and special tips for shampooing with hard water:

With hard water you have to use more soap then you would have to with soft or normal water. So two things I started doing are using more shampoo. This seemed to really help and also I started combing my hair as I rinse the shampoo out, in hope that no minerals would get stuck in the tangles. I tried each bar at least once with combing when I rinse and once without combing, and I found the combing did make some difference. What I think worked best for my hair would be Aloe Lavender Rosemary Mint and the Key Lime Eucalyptus. They made my hair very shiny and lay very smooth. The Neem and Vanilla Lavender both worked on my hair but gave me more volume and less shine.

Lavender Rosemary Mint Aloe shampoo bar was the other top pick.

Best results with Hard water:

Key Lime Eucalyptus Shampoo Bar

Lavender Rosemary Mint Aloe shampoo bar  (also available in Lemon Vanilla)

Lavender Vanilla Shampoo Bar

Neem Oil shampoo bar

update 11/7/14 reformulated Tea Tree Eucalytpus shampoo has same formula as Key Lime/Euc

Update 3/15 Carrot Top Shampoo formula now same as Key Lime/Euc

Worst results with Hard Water:

Rose Hemp Shampoo Bars

Orange Lavender Shampoo Bar

update 11/7/14 other hemp shampoo bars

I think that these results may have something to do with the concentration of Jojoba oil which is used in our formulas, though not all of our bars were tested. The bars that had the best results had no Jojoba, with the exception of Neem, which has only 1 percent Jojoba. The two other bars that gave poor results have a higher concentration of this liquid wax. This was a bit of surprise, because Jojoba is generally considered a luxury oil for hair care. The Rose Hemp bars also are scented with a Bulgarian rose wax, which leaves no residue in normal water.

Do you have experience with hard water and using any of our shampoo bar formulas? We would love to hear your feedback, because as you may have noticed not every bar was tested.  I will post any more relevant feedback about hard water and our other shampoo bar formulas to this blog post.