Author Topic: A thread about nothing at all....  (Read 671236 times)

Offline Boomer

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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3401 on: August 28, 2020, 08:45:39 AM »
Beats me? I do not know how long steel can stay radioactive? Certainly most or all of the radioactive materials that would have been on the ship are gone as you say and I <suspect> that is the bulk of radioactive contamination, the materials liberated in the blast actually coating things.

Brian

Interesting  ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TihHZAaop2o

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Not going to be very radioactive after being washed by the sea for the last 74 years.
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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3402 on: August 28, 2020, 03:40:17 PM »
And speaking of the Bikini Atoll.....

So once the US learned how to make atomic weapons, and especially atomic weapon fuel (the really hard part), the only thing left was to make them 'better'. This includes making them smaller in size / weight, larger in output and if possible, cleaner.

The first efforts were to refine the relatively straight- forward weapons developed during WWII of course. But before too long it was time to take the next step and move from fission (where very heavy elements are split into two or more lighter elements) to fusion (where two light elements are fused into one single, heavier element). The theory was developed at the same time the first atomic weapons were being designed but it was considered the proverbial bridge too far and was basically ignored for a few years. But the key person in the development of 'Da Zuper' as Edward Teller called it (he was from Hungary and spoke with a significant accent in English). Together Edward Teller and Adam Ulam conjectured up the Teller- Ulam design for a hydrogen fusion weapon. The first hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb was absolutely huge in size and weight, and used a form of hydrogen called deuterium in liquid form. It was only liquid because it was kept extremely cold. This thing was gigantic and required all kinds of external hardware to allow it to work; in short, it was simply not practical as any kind of deliverable weapon. But it did fuse and that was more than enough at the time. Work continued with the goal of making thermonuclear weapons portable; this meant not requiring any external support equipment as well as reducing the overall size and weight (the first ones were truly massive) and that entailed using different fuels so that the products could be carried in airplanes.

Eventually, a test of a new fusion weapon that was self- contained and unsupported by external devices was built and tested starting with a test- firing of Castle- Bravo, again at the Bikini Atoll. It worked great..... kind of. Mostly. Well, actually a little too good. The designers used the third element, Lithium, as the fuel to allow the bomb to be made with relatively stable parts that would not require extreme cold, extreme pressure or anything else. Now Lithium is usually found in two forms, Lithium 6 and Lithium 7, the difference being L-7 has an additional neutron over L-6. Lithium 6 is fusible while Lithium 7 is not, or so it was thought. So the fusion fuel was a little under 40% L-6 with the balance of the Lithium being -7, an 'inert' type.

As usual, targets were set up, markers placed where the weapon's limits would be, very accurate estimates of output, radiation and so forth calculated and finally someone too Wiley Coyote's job and lit the fuse on the damned thing. It was supposed to have a yield of 6 megatons of TNT, relatively huge compared to earlier fission weapons. But what the scientists did not yet know was that L-7 spits a neutron (technical term) when heated sufficiently and BECOMES Lithium 6. Yep, more fuel. So the yield was not the expected 6 megatons of TNT but 15 megatons of TNT. All the calculations as to yield, damage radius and radiation output were off- way, way off. The radiation swept all the way around Earth eventually and poisoned quite a few people and a vast section of the Pacific and islands there. It also literally vaporized a significant area of the Bikini Atoll, and the resulting crater can be seen to this day. Yep, them managed to leave a divot in the planet we live on. As a result of the Castle Bravo test, the Atoll had to be evacuated of its native population and remains uninhabited, at least continuously, to this day. Opps! This remains the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated by the US, and current nuclear testing bans pretty much guarantee that it will remain the largest.

Of course the Soviets figured out how to make both fission and fusion weapons too. Well, if not figured out, then stolen but at any rate, they eventually had both. US weapons testing reached its heyday (was it really a heyday?) in the 1950's, with the Castle Bravo test being in 1954. The Soviets would plow ahead and eventually design and build a three- stage nuclear device (the US's were all two stage) that they called the Tsar Bomba, or King Bomb. And it really was- dropped from a plane just to prove it was deliverable, it had a nominal yield of 50 megatons of TNT. Detonated above an island in the far north of the Soviet Union in 1961, scientists the world over watched the shock wave circle the Earth three times. If it was not obvious before, this was clear the symbol for M.A.D. or mutually assured destruction in the event of any nuclear exchange by the super powers. Theoretically, one side could 'win' but only at the expense of the reality of both sides losing; no nation would have survived a full- on delivery of our combined stocks of nuclear weapons. And I guess in a sort of left- handed way it worked as there have not been any major wars since WWII.

Brian
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3403 on: August 28, 2020, 03:44:34 PM »
And to go along with the last post:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-releases-1961-footage-nuclear-165719017.html

Tsar Bomba, as filmed by the people who built and deployed it.

Brian
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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3404 on: September 01, 2020, 02:19:46 PM »

He thought his speech was poorly received and did not make a good impression on the audience. There was only a smattering of applause not only because, he believed, it was not well received but also because it was so short. While the main speaker for that event, a renowned orator named Edward Everett had spoken for two full hours, his remarks barely lasted three minutes; even his invitation to speak at all was something of an afterthought.

Other sources felt it was a poor oration as well, with one newspaper opining: “We pass over the silly remarks ….” Oramel Barrett wrote in his newspaper. “For the credit of the nation, we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”  Chicago Times printed “The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly flat dishwatery utterances…..”

In fact, the author of the speech himself stated in that very speech “The world will little note nor long remember what was said here….”.
All of this proved to be false and the speech would soon be famous and a little later accepted as one of the greatest pieces of oration in the history of English. The author and speaker, a man with relatively modest formal education and coming from the very bottom of society, would eventually gain lasting notoriety for his speeches and this one would be seen as among his best.
The author and speaker was Abraham Lincoln of course, and his ‘few remarks’ would become known as the Gettysburg Address. Accounts vary and there is no agreed- upon version of the speech that is known to be the actual version delivered in Pennsylvania that day but all of the different versions are close enough to allow us to appreciate it, at least in my opinion.

Delivered Thursday, 19 November, 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

[this is the last known version to be written by Lincoln, and the only one A. Lincoln signed that survives]

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

In a letter written to Lincoln the following day, E. Everett sums up his own thoughts on Lincoln’s speech: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes." Lincoln replied that he was glad to know the speech was not a "total failure".

Not a total failure indeed.....
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3405 on: September 07, 2020, 01:29:14 PM »
This is a pretty well known logo for the band Crosby, Stills and Nash.



What is surprising about it is who designed it- Phil Hartman. Yep, Phil Hartman of SNL and The Simpsons fame ('You may remember me from such films as.....'). Mr. Hartman had a successful career as a graphic artist before he started to experiment with comedy and improv.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3406 on: September 07, 2020, 02:10:21 PM »
Wow!
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Offline gPink

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3407 on: September 07, 2020, 04:02:04 PM »
I don't think I've seen that logo....must not have made it to flyover country.

Offline maxtog

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3408 on: September 07, 2020, 05:28:20 PM »
This is a pretty well known logo for the band Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Funny you should mention them- I like lots of their songs.  Just last weekend, I decided to listen to everything that Stephen Stills did, solo (99% of it for the first time; thanks, Spotify).  His earlier stuff was "OK" but nothing I would really want to listen to.  His later stuff was even less interesting.

I will give David Crosby solo stuff a chance next, although I am not expecting much.

Let's not forget about Neil Young.  His solo work was far more interesting, and I did seek out a good amount of his work.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3409 on: September 07, 2020, 05:47:41 PM »
All of them did both solo work as well as fronting for other, pretty popular and well known groups. Check out Stills in Buffalo Springfield.

That said, I personally like their work together the best, especially CS&Y (Neil is optional with me). Like Simon & Garfunkel, they simply harmonize together fantastically well.

Neil Young is probably my personal favorite as a solo act though still not all that wonderful IMO. But he is extremely skilled and best approaches the fabled one- man band.

Funny you should mention them- I like lots of their songs.  Just last weekend, I decided to listen to everything that Stephen Stills did, solo (99% of it for the first time; thanks, Spotify).  His earlier stuff was "OK" but nothing I would really want to listen to.  His later stuff was even less interesting.

I will give David Crosby solo stuff a chance next, although I am not expecting much.

Let's not forget about Neil Young.  His solo work was far more interesting, and I did seek out a good amount of his work.
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Offline Strawboss

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3410 on: October 01, 2020, 08:13:17 PM »
Advil slows your kidney function.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3411 on: October 02, 2020, 08:00:45 AM »
Didn't know that.  Good thing I don't use it all the time.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3412 on: October 02, 2020, 01:50:13 PM »
Most of us have associations between certain groups of people and certain things. For example: Native Americans and horses, Italians and tomatoes (tomato sauce), Irish and potatoes. And these are pretty deep seated ideas in that we tend to think these items originated with these people.

Horses, tomatoes and potatoes may not have the origins we associate with them.... Tomatoes and potatoes are a New World plant and did not appear in Europe until the first Europeans visited North America and brought them back to Europe. OK, the second Europeans to visit North America after the Vikings vacationing in Canada back around 1,000 AD. And horses are not indigenous to the New World but came over with the European explorers again from Europe. Which is all find and well but it does make a person wonder 1) What did the Irish eat for the preceding centuries? 2) What the hell did the Italians spread over their pasta? I guess American Indians just sort of walked around.
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Offline Boomer

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3413 on: October 02, 2020, 05:09:30 PM »
1) Oatcakes and a lot of dairy.
2) Beans, olive oil, pesto, carbonara.
As for the Native Americans, mostly shanks pony.  :D
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3414 on: October 02, 2020, 05:24:45 PM »
Sorry but none of this post is making it to Colloquial English. ?? ?? ??

1) I do not know what 'Outcakes' are (or is). Dairy I follow.
2) No idea about this reference. ??
3) Shanks pony has no meaning to me. ??

I am reminded of the famous quote: (which I paraphrase because I cannot remember the actual quote) 'Two countries separated by a common language'.

Brian (Colonist, perhaps too far removed from the Crown)

1) Oatcakes and a lot of dairy.
2) Beans, olive oil, pesto, carbonara.
As for the Native Americans, mostly shanks pony.  :D
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Offline tweeter55

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3415 on: October 02, 2020, 06:38:32 PM »

Noun. shanks' pony (uncountable) (idiomatic, Britain, Australia, New Zealand)
One's feet or legs, regarded as a means of transport.

I cheated. Had to look it up.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3416 on: October 02, 2020, 07:59:50 PM »
That's only the Plains Indians.  I don't think the ones on the East or West coasts used horses...much.  I associate Indians with bows and arrows and sneaking up on you.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3417 on: October 02, 2020, 08:15:48 PM »
I associate Indians with bows and arrows and sneaking up on you.

I associate Indians with turbans and Hinduism.
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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3418 on: October 03, 2020, 05:38:11 AM »
That's interesting as when I hear the work Indians, I think of our indigenous populations, not the ones external to our country.  Yet another word's meaning that has morphed somewhat.
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Offline Boomer

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #3419 on: October 03, 2020, 06:04:53 AM »
The Irish ate oatcakes (pancakes made from oats) as their staple carbohydrate prior to potatoes.
They also ate a lot of dairy produce, cheese, butter, sour milk.

Prior to tomatoes the Italians put beans, olive oil, pesto (basil) and carbonara on their pasta.

Shank - a person's leg, especially the part from the knee to the ankle.
Riding "Shanks pony" means to walk. 😁
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