RUSTED

(8/22/2007 21:45) Rust Genesis

If you're like most people, you've probably always wondered what the fastest and most efficient method was for producing rust at home. Thanks to these kind souls you now have a step-by-step video guide. Rust acceptance marches on! In

(4/16/2006 20:51) Disaster!

For those strong of heart, go here and be horrified.

In short, the car industry is quietly claiming victory in its "War on Rust". Soon you will not be able to purchase a vehicle with nature's paint job! Rust-oppression is never a pretty sight, but this is an exceptional case.

(1/13/00:51) Nobel-Winning Rust

Season by Wole Soyinka.

Rust is ripeness, rust.
And the wilted corn-plume.
Pollen is mating-time when swallows
weave a dance.
Of feathered arrows
Thread corn-stalks in winged
Streaks of light. And we loved to hear
Spliced phrases of the wind, to hear
Rasps in the field, where corn-leaves
pierce like bamboo slivers.
Now, garnerers we,
Awaiting rust on tassels, draw
Long shadows from the dusk, wreathe
The thatch in wood-smoke. Laden stalks
Ride the germ's decay-we await
The promise of the rust.

(1/11-22:55) A Very Special Rusted Guest

An expository on one of rust's many fine qualities, submitted by a special guest writer:

Rust: How to use it to your advantage:

A few years ago I moved from Bozeman, Montana to Madison, Wisconsin. In Montana, the state Department of Transportation has officially adopted a laissez faire attitude toward snow. Motorists are left to their own devices. Many people buy "snow tires", "chains", or simply "drive carefully" when it snows. In Wisconsin, to my surprise, the state wages an annual war on winter, dumping huge quantities of salt on the snow in an effort to hasten the coming of spring. This salt, in combination with the disgustingly moist air caused by the enormous numbers of people breathing in and out, in and out, all day long, has the unintended consequence of hastening corrosion. Controlled experiments show that, under typical rust belt conditions, the average car, in an average winter, loses 10 pounds of sheet steel to the oxidation process commonly known as "rust". (Oxidation, of course, is the process by which oxygen atoms bond to the iron in the steel, releasing free electrons and substantial amounts of energy. It also eats large holes in everything it touches.

One snowing winter evening, while shivering behind the wheel of my pathetically underheated '67 Deluxe VW Microbus, as I followed slowly behind a large truck pouring salt onto the road, listening to the sound of moist salt crystals spraying off my tires up onto the floorboards, a rare thought came to me. "Isn't there some way to use this to my advantage?" I asked. Having asked the question, the answer was obvious. The next day I decided to take a little time off from my dissertation research on cold fusion and work out a solution.

A quick trip to a unguarded construction site provided me with the raw material for my invention: 200 feet of zinc galvanized chain link fencing. I strapped this to the underbody of my bus, using approximately 40 pink plastic coated coat hangers from Wal-Mart to ensure complete electrical insulation. Then for the crucial link. Using jumper cables (Although I never need a jump, I always keep these cables in the bus so that I can help those unfortunate others with less reliable vehicles) I completed the electrical connection between the fencing and my left rocker panel. Instantly, sparks flew, as the formerly wasted electrons from the rusting rocker panel coursed thru the cables. I then completed the final step, routing the jumper cables up through a conveniently located rust hole in the floor and then clamping them onto an old GE toaster oven, which I had mounted under the dash. Now, the more salt the state puts down, the warmer I get. On especially good days I can even have toasted bagels by the time I get to school.

Corrosion has become my friend. It can be your friend too. As an aid to other midwestern car owners, I am willing to sell the complete plans for my "CorrosoHeater" for only $49.95.

(10/8-18:27) Forums Are Up!

There are now forums up and running here. Go and show your support for rust! It would be particularly interesting to learn where everyone is from, and how they learned about RUSTED and the ISRP.

Live the Rust!

(10/8-17:05) Rust Afficianados

I'm happy to report that the number of people coming to love and learn about rust has increased tremendously in the past week. International rust awareness is higher now than ever before, but we must not be complacent. This is the time to redouble our rusted endevours, and to ensure that no person is left with ignorance and baseless negativity towards one of nature's finest creations.

Towards this end I propose the creation of the International Society for Rust Preservation. The Society will consist of a diverse collection of like-minded individuals seeking to stamp out negative and harmful misinformation about rust. If you are interested in doing your part to improve the world, however incrementally, join us. Hopefully I will have forums running shortly, and a monthly email update is available for all who are interested. If you would like to participate, on any level, send a message to rustworld@gmail.com. Indicate explicitly if you would like to be included on the ISRP mailing list.
(Your address won't be published, spammed, shared, sold, traded, lost, misplaced, abused, frowned at or otherwise have anything bad happen to it.)

(8/28-10:45) Rust as Rebirth

I think it's curious that rust is not thought of more in a regenerative manner. People always associate rust with decay, destruction and finality. But really, rust is partt of beginning and growth. Rust forces people and things to move on, by eliminating the current wave of exxistence. Rust causes things to disapppear, and to replaced by something new and better.

Boy, am I thankful for rust.

(7/26-22:31) Multilingual Rust

If you're like me, you spend a large fraction of your day thinking about the marvels of rust. The word "rust" goes through my head probably 300 to 400 times per day. And truly, rust is a fine word. But I started wondering, is it the best word for the fine natural exhibit to which this site is dedicated? Is there another, more glorious name out there for the corrosion we all know and love? Thus I have started my quest for the perfect word for rust. I've started by looking up "rust" in several other languages. In no particular order:

Portuguese: Oxidação
Japanese: Sabi
German, Swedish: Rost
Chinese: Xiu
Spanish: óxido
Italian: Ruggine
French: Rouille
Hindi: Jaṅga

If you know of other even more beautiful words for rust, please let me know.

(7/24-18:35) The Three Samurai

Three samurai, one young, one middle-aged and one elderly, stood together beside a shallow river. The young samurai, wishing to impress the others, pulled his sword from its scabbard and threw it into the middle of the river, where it stuck upright in the riverbed.. He then removed a ssilk scarf from his sleave and threw it into the river upstream from his sword. The young samurai's blade was so sharp that the scarf was split in two as it drifted into the sword.

Not wishing to be outdone, the middle-aged samurai drew his sword and threw it into the river, where it stood alongside the first sword. He then removed his own silk scarf and tossed it into the river, just as the young samurai had done. So sharp was his blade that after the silk wass cleaved the pieces remained touching, their seperation undetectable.

Finally the old samurai stepped forward. With great effort he pulled his sword from itts aging scabbard. His blade was badly chipped and rusted from years of use followed by years of neglect. He threw his blade out into the river, where it joined the first two standing upright in the riverbed. He then removed his own piece of silk and threw it onto the water. His blade was so warped and corroded that it caused the water to be frothy and turbulent as it flowed by. As the old samurai's cloth approached his sword the agitation in the river caused the cloth to pass cleanly around the sword without contacting the blade. The old samurai then rambled down to the river bank, retrieved his scarf and walked away. Once again, rust rules the day.

(7/22-19:29) Your Rusted Vocabulary Lesson

As it turns out, the term "Rust Belt" qualifies for that fanciest of linguistic terms, "neologism". Wikipidia defines a neologism as any,

word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context.

The term Rust Belt was coined in the 80's by Walter Mondale's presidential campaign, thus qualifying it for current neologistic fame. Sadly, Rust Belt's status as a linguistic superstar cannot last. Soon, just as has befallen its subject, it will age and become another dated relic. Cherish it while it lasts.

(7/21-20:10) Rust != Tetanus

Yet another piece of false anti-rust propoganda. Despite what your mother always told you, rusty nails do not cause tetanus because they're rusty. They cause it because they are long and pointy.

Tetanus is present on virtually all objects (including you) at all times. If you step on a nail and get a tetanus infection, it is due to the depth of the puncture wound you receive. Tetanus is an anaerobic bacterium, meaning it thrives in the absence of oxygen. Deep puncture wounds tend to heal on the surface first, trapping anything inside in an oxygen-free bacterial playpen. The happy little tetanus colonists can found a little village in your foot, grow like crazy into a happy big tetanus metropolis and pump out loads of tetanospasmin. Thats the stuff that gives you lockjaw.

Rust's involvement:
None.

Moral of the story:
Don't step on rusty nails. But if you do, and you get tetanus, don't blame the rust.

(7/20-18:09) Some good rust info

There's a very handy step-by-step explanation of rust and its causes here.

(7/19-22:33) Why a site about rust?

All my friends have been asking me that lately. They can't begin to grasp why anyone would want to visit, let alone create an entire site dedicated to nothing more than rust. So why did I do it?

Rust is underappreciated.

Literally and metaphorically, rust is a very important force of nature. It is the agent chasing technological progress, ensuring the new always becomes the old.

Rust converts the smooth, the stable and the strong into the warped, the weary and the weak.

Rust is a sign of age. It is a sign of time passing and events transpiring. Italians say that bronze statues develop the "noble rust" as they green with age. A nail's nobility is dimished as it rusts, but its corrosion is no less profound. Rust makes things into something new, even as they become old. Rust changes stuff.

Thats why.

Have you hugged some rust today?

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