This Donald thing is starting to blow up.

[40degreesflaps]

112. We Live About Twenty Minutes...

...from the labs in Livermore. The other night a retired research scientist at my favorite watering hole in Alamo told me what Trump is saying appears to be true. This stuff about downsizing DoE is bullshit. Our nuclear stockpile has been in need of a refresh for some years running and I suspect he's going to use that as a means of job creation. LLNL (otherwise known as Larry Lab) will see some impact from it but Sandia's work is almost exclusively weapons related and they'll get a big boost. They aren't even a real lab anymore, having been absorbed into Lockheed Martin a few years ago. You still need the Q clearance there but they work on DoE contracts where the other lab is more of a research entity. San Ramon Valley is loaded with retired "labbies" as we call them. The amateur radio club where I volunteer is peppered with them. I've never seen so many brilliant fat guys in once place in my life. Next to them, I look like Cary Grant.

Berkeley Lab is still here but no longer does weapons research of any kind. It's prohibited by law. It's still DoE but you don't need clearances to work there. Given that it's part of UCOP, I don't even think they drug test. Most people there could not pass one. I never needed one for UCSF when I did large systems work. It's San Francisco.