Just an update - all that worry, and the treadmill part was so easy I could not believe it. I was a little short of breath when they finished and said I had reached my target heartrate. I was amazed, as I am very out of shape. Clothes did not matter there -The second worst part was having to wear this huge gown, no bra, pretty open in the front for all the wires although they did tape it for me - the armholes were so big you could see every thing anyways. The very worst part was when the technician kept jamming the ultrasound wand under & into my breast before and after the treadmill. I had to brace myself on the table she was pushing it in so hard, I thought she would push me off. Something was really pinching into me when she pushed, Not sure if it was a probe with a wire attached that was being pushed in by the wand or just the tip of the wand. THAT really hurt, almost as bad as the mammo. I had a mammo and the stress test back to back, but it was done quick so I had time to treat myself on my half day off to some shopping, but I got dizzy halfway thru the store so did not buy anything. I must say, This was the very worst (painful) mammo I have ever had too. Also,the blood pressure monitor for the stress test, wow, I have never had anyone cuff me so-o-o-o tightly before(three times!). She said something about the "lower your pressure is the tighter they have to wrap..." or such - never heard that before. No doctors were present when I was there, just the technicians, who were quite nice. Well, wonder when I will see the results. (Last time it took a month to hear from Dr. on my mammo, then another month to get an appt, then another month to get a referral for breast ultrasound, then same for a needle aspiration..)

I hate to waste peoples' time while I'm learning. You can test your attempts by using the "Preview Message" function. You can preview your attempt, and then don't post the final message. I'd like to learn to quote people too. This is also done with angle brackets -- these things . Here's how. 1. Highlight the part of the text you'd like to quote. 2. Right click. 3. Click on "copy". 4. Then type two italic commands, like this: [i][/i] -- EXCEPT that instead of square brackets, use angle brackets. You'll notice that the two commands are the same, except that the second command has a slash. The first command starts the italic, then second command ends it. 5. Place your cursor between the two italic commands. 6. Right click. 7. Click on "Paste". This will paste your text between the italic commands. The command will look like this: [i]I'd like to learn to quote people too.[/i] EXCEPT that you will have angle brackets, not square brackets. 8. Click on "Preview Message". 9. You will now see your italics, like this: I'd like to learn to quote people too. This system also works with underscore commands (use a "u") and boldface commands (use a "b") and strikeout commands (use a "s").

In our turn of the century house, we found a 1902 penny in a bedroom wall. We also found a newspaper clipping from I think the 1980's inside the wall of a shoddy addition to the kitchen. In the attic we found a mailer tube with curtain rods the homeowner had ordered from Sears -- I forget what year it was but the postage on it was something like 5 cents. But the real gem we have is a book that a local gave to us. The original homeowner (the wife) -- her dad had given her mom a book before they were ever married - the inscription is dated 1877 -- the book has come full circle back to this house. We also have another book that belonged to the original homeowner -- it's a dictionary, but she tucked some clippings into it and jotted down birthdates inside the back cover and made other random notes in it. They are both gems to have and it's neat that they came back to this house in a very random manner. Someone gave us a box of old books because we turned one of the rooms into a library. It was just random luck of the draw that two of those books had ties to this house. It was meant to be.

Well, looks like we have one consumer that wasn't buffaloed by the personal attacks, and more remarkably, she had the guts to stand up for her right to know about any risks. Paulines, Bill Vincents, and a few others seem to like to proclaim each others crediblity on this issue. How convenient. Paulines, I wouldn't put myself in the same leauge as Bill, he no doubt is a very talented tile guy, but doens't know much about radiation or granite. Like you, he has a reputation to uphold, and like you he participated in the installation of a lot of granite over the years. Opposition to this testing effort is all about the money and loss of reputation. After all, what expert wants the public to find out that they really didn't know everything about what they were selling or installing? Paulines want to whine about baselines, but measurements are measurements. The simple fact is that today I was measuring a slab that averaged around 5 mR/hr and had hot spots over 10 mR/hr. Think about that, a chest xray is around 20 mR... two hours on a hot spot or four hours just using the kitchen countertop gives you the same exposure. There is a difference though, the chest X ray is used to protect your health, there is public good in exchange for the exposure. A hot granite countertop is not any prettier than a low level one of the same type. Where is the benefit? And Paulines, Dr. Llope and I stay in touch constantly either through email or the rad forum I got him hooked on. The guy has become a friend of mine and I can tell you that people like you, Kevin, Bill, and Sue are the ones that made him stop contributing. He won't likely come back till comments like your side makes on a constant basis are stopped. Bill, I still see you as misguided, but basically a decent man on the wrong side from lack of information. Problem is is that you refuse to consider any info but what fits your world view, so there is no help for it. Split hairs if you must, but installing and selling isn't much different. I'm not knocking you for what you didn't know before, but from last year on, you should have educated yourself on the issues instead of spending the time and effort to try to squash the discussion. Bill, Geiger counters are go/no go devices. They won't give you a extremely accurate reading because of the inefficiencies of the small units, but they are designed to be portable and fast. Designed for the aftermath of a nuclear war, testing food and water for safety didn't require exact levels, just good or bad. That is what they can do for the fabricator. The EPA stance is not up for interpetation. Prior to mid May, they said not to worry about radiation or radon from a granite countertop. Now they say they don't really know, that some granite can have high levels, that if you have a granite countertop, you ought to test your home for Radon. That is not a 180 but it is a 150 degree turn. Once Dr. Llope gets done testing and publishing, the other 30 degee turn will happen. NORM regulations are in 33 states, from 5 uR/hr to 30 uR/hr, and I can take any fool that still wants to debate to a slab yard and find two dozen granite types that will be higher than the highest state NORM level. Lisagraz, thank you for having the courage to stand up to the bullies. There are plenty of safe granites out there, I have reported on some on both here and stone sites, but the other side doesn't dare admit that or they would lose their only effective weapon against the testing effort, using personal attacks to attempt to destroy the messanger. You see that Revans1 and I are way closer on the facts than the others, but he can't admit it or the others will stop listening to him as well. The facts are that somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of all granites are a problem. Revans1 gets this, spent time educating himself on the issues, and is now on the opposite side he was last year. It is a wonder the others haven't attacked him more than they have already. arda, will you ever understand that that cartoon is about electomagnetic radiation not ionizing radiation? Electromagnetic has not been proven dangerous, a small fringe thinks so, but it hasen't been proven. But today I worked cutting samples from a top that was 40 times background radiation, and BEIR VII said that even background radiation caused some cancers. It is open and shut on that issue. Luvmyguys, it isn't a mess to the stoners, they want this to be a mess. They will continue to smear anyone that dares mention the issue and post distortions along with their personal attacks. It is the only weapon they have cause the facts are against them. Bill, again microwaves are not ionizing radiation. Saying that they equate to ionizing radiation from a granite countertop is just plain ignorant. And as always, your argument is that it is too expensive to make sure granite is safe, better to let the consumers take the risk than the stone shops lose a few bucks. And some quarries are testing now, and some importers. All the chinese importers brag about their class A granite rating. Really, does anyone that has read the posts believe that one side of this debate is not only endangering consumers for personal gain, but has resorted to personal attack and outright lies despite haveing seen data to the contrary? And don't think for a minute that when this thread is gone that will be the end of it. People will continue to ask questions, are you going to riducle all of them?