The reflection of the x-rays is actually greater for skin than metal due to the elements--hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon shine brighter than iron. That's the basic trick used, to be able to see through higher number elements such as metals by looking only a type of relection called Compton Scattering. I did some more reading and I was _wrong_ about the penetration of the skin. The reason the risk is low is just that not much x-ray is used.

At the risk of being lost in the noise... Not the same at all. X-rays pass through you and leave some deposited energy inside. (The least dose would be from an X-ray tuned so far up the spectrum that you appear totally invisible.) Gamma and other things from space that you're exposed to when you fly do essentially the same. However, the backscatter X-rays are so soft that they only penetrate clothing and not very far (epidermis? dermis?) into you. If they deposit no energy inside the cells, there is no known mechanism that leads to damage (cancer, birth defects, cataracts, general life-shortening, etc.)

Is the site melting or do I just need Chrome?

Oh please. I am a radiation expert in real life. I have been to Chernobyl. It is no more "eerily silent" there than it is in the non-contaminated areas. The surrounding area is mostly farmland and was cleared many years ago. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the plants and animals are just not as sensitive to radiation as the movies and sci fi shows suggest. That plus the fact that most of the isotopes released (iodine-131 for example) have long decayed away. Humans are more sensitive to the effects of radiation than most other creatures. When we protect humans we end up protecting the environment. That said, even though I full expect the plants to grow healthy in the downwind zone, I would not eat them for fear of further concentrating any remaining contamination they contain and raising my risk of cancer. But I don't smoke, either, for similar reasons.

Buzz Off?

What about Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon? Neither has had a movie or show that lived up to the original newspaper comics for originality or imagination. (Yes, I see the oxymoronic combination of 'reboot' and 'originality'.)

I appreciate and agree with his point, at least as far as I can tell. There are way too many articles out there to read. That's why I use the nonpersons to filter for topics that I care about and use the crowds or quick and sloppy readers to provide perspective and technical intrepetation. For example, I doubt that I would be interested in this book. Many thanks to the quick and sloppy readers for saving my time!

Y2K+X? MMX is trademarked by Intel.

Hopefully, we'll be over this binary fad by then and on to some serious storage capabilities.