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           After the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, the Japanese still would not surrender according to the Potsdam Declaration. Kokura had been selected as the primary target with Nagasaki as a backup target for the plutonium based Fat Man bomb. Nagasaki was a major Japanese port and was very important to the Japanese war effort due to the production of ammunition, ships, military equipment and other war supplies. Nagasaki was primarily constructed of wooden buildings and, due to a lack of decent building codes, allowed buildings to be crowded together. Some of the inhabitants of Nagasaki had been evacuated before August 1945 because a few conventional bombs had been dropped on the city.

          The bombing schedule was moved up from August 11, 1945, to August 9, 1945, because of a bad weather. On the morning of August 9, 1945, the B-29 Superfortress bomber Bockscar piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney took off carrying the Fat Man bomb. After the Enola Gay and another B-29 flew over Kokura and reported cloud cover that would make bombing difficult, Nagasaki was chosen as the target for Fat Man and the Bockscar and its two escorts flew on to Nagasaki. If Nagasaki was also cloudy, Bockscar was going to divert to Okinawa and drop the bomb in the ocean to dispose of it.

          When two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted in Nagasaki around 11 AM, no alarm was given because it was assumed that they represented a reconnaissance mission and no bombing threat. There were clouds but a break in the cloud cover allowed the bombardier to sight the target. The Fat Man bomb with about fourteen pounds of plutonium was dropped and exploded about fifteen hundred feet above the industrial district of Nagasaki. The bomb was about two miles off target. The explosion was equivalent to twenty one tons of TNT. Most of the destruction was confined to Urakami valley. Hills inside the city protected some of the other areas. Immediate casualties were around sixty thousand and ultimately over eighty thousand died by the end of 1945. The radius of total destruction was about one mile with fires and damage spreading out another mile.

          Plans were made to manufacture and drop more atomic bombs on Japan if they did not surrender. There was a debate about whether each bomb should be dropped as soon as it was ready or whether they should be stocked piled and then dropped together in a short period. Several more Fat Man bomb assemblies were readied and plutonium cores were to be shipped to Tinian in the Marianas on August 12, 1945, three days after the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki.

          On August 9, 1945, the Japanese war council met and received the instruction from the Emperor to contacted the Allies and accept their terms for surrender. Part of the reason for the quick capitulation was the fact that the Russians had just declared war on Japan and had begun mobilizing for an invasion. One condition the Emperor requested was that his status as Supreme ruler not be challenged and this was apparently accepted by the allies. The Japanese officially surrendered to the Allies on August 10, 1945.  

Nagasaki after bombing from nuclearfiles.org:

Nagasaki.PNG

In the election-before-last, Washington State's Liquor Control Board took a big financial hit. Washington State voters decided that it was finally time to shut down the state liquor stores, and give privately owned businesses the ability to sell hard alcohol. Now that the state liquor stores are closed and you can buy vodka at Safeway, the Liquor Control Board is losing a huge cut of the financial pie by not being able to sell liquor itself. 

For many of us, the demands of day-to-day life (kids, career, volunteering responsibilities and household needs) make a return to college an unsavory option. If you're like me, you may not even feel the urge to go back for a second degree or to advance an existing one. Honestly, I have no need for a doctorate in my career field and I have no intentions of switching fields.

Yet at the same time, I do want to know more. Learning and discovering new things is both enjoyable and it adds to the quality of life. Since I don't care about a new fancy degree or need transcript credit for classes, I have chosen instead to spend some of my free time pursuing education for fun. You know, as a hobby.

For example, I struggled with math in high school and college. I took the minimum number of credit hours and called it good. Now that I'm helping my older son with math, I am finding it easier and more enjoyable. This lead to an urge to understand more. Thanks to Khan Academy, a free online education initiative, I am reviewing my algebra and getting ready to move into pre-calculus.

I'm also taking an astronomy course for free through Coursera. I love Coursera. There are tons of courses, on almost any subject, put together by professors from top schools. Many classes are self paced although a few are instructor led so you must study the material and turn in assignments on time.

Another awesome and free self-education option is MIT's EdX program. Although still in the beginning phases, you can take free instructor-led courses online. For a small fee, you can even get a certificate of completion. Learning really is a lifelong proposition!

I hate toy catalogs, flyers and Sunday newspaper inserts. All they do is give my children a group of false wants and a bad case of the “gimmes,” which is exactly what the savvy marketers want. My kids aren't generally greedy. We have family in far-flung places, so they do begin their Christmas lists early, usually sometime after Halloween. This isn't out of greed but necessity since family members request it early so they have time to shop and ship.

I begin shopping even earlier and I am one by December 1^st. Those last minute “I wants,” fueled more by a glossy ad than the actual wants of the child, just set the boys up for disappointment. The kids know they only get four gifts (three from mom and dad, one from Santa), and then the four or so others that trickle in from the extended family. Although they know the shopping is done, they can't help but hope the newest fad item will be sitting under the tree.

Well, it won't be. We used to try and do one of those last-minute fad items. Sure, the kid was ecstatic Christmas morning, but my January first the toy was gathering dust because it was just an artificial want.

Plus, so many of those items are just boring. They only do one thing and they don't leave much room for creative play. My youngest has finally learned that he doesn't like action figures, after years of obsessing over the latest one. He admitted they are boring and that he just wants them to have them, not because he wants to play with them.

So this year, I have banned the catalogs. I toss them into the recycling bin as quickly as they enter the mailbox. I've limited TV to Netflix and prerecorded shows so we can skip commercials. The kids' lists have remained constant this season, with no signs of green and no bad case of the “gimmes.”