Who, Me? Lab worker built a fake PC to nuke his lunch

"We understand they're gadgets that use very short half-life isotopes that emit just enough radiation it's possible to measure the backscatter. According to the World Nuclear Association this is helpful to measure the level of coal in a hopper, or the thickness of paper! Like many workplaces, the lab Ray worked in had a microwave oven staff could use to warm their lunches, and a coffee machine too."

"The difference in this lab was that the appliances lived next to a sink used to wash the nucleonic kit. Ray's manager decided that posed a risk to workers' health - which it didn't - so insisted the Microwave and coffee machine go elsewhere. Ray's solution was to screenshot his PC's desktop, print it onto A3 paper, and laminate it."

""The screen looked very realistic without requiring a backlight," he said. So Ray moved it into an unused office and put a keyboard and mouse in front of it. He also found the coffee machine a new home where the manager wouldn't go looking. "They were both still in use when I retired three years later," he told Who, Me?"

A worker in a research lab repaired nucleonic instruments that used short half-life isotopes. The lab had a microwave oven and coffee machine near a sink used to wash the instruments. The manager claimed the setup posed a health risk and ordered the appliances to be moved elsewhere. The worker avoided the restriction by taking a screenshot of his PC desktop, printing it on A3 paper, laminating it, and placing it in an unused office with a keyboard and mouse. The worker also moved the coffee machine to a location the manager would not search. Both setups remained in use until the worker retired three years later.

Read at theregister