Nuclear Weapons 7 - Manhattan Project 6 - Fat Man
After the successful test of a plutonium implosion device in July of 1945 at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the Manhattan Project proceeded with the design and construction of a plutonium bomb to be used as a weapon. The code name for the device was “Fat Man”, homage to one of the characters in the movie “The Maltese Falcon.” The name came to be used for the whole class of nuclear bombs based on the same design.
The original Fat Man bomb was about ten feet long and about five feet in diameter. It weighed over ten thousand pounds. As with the Gadget, the device tested at Trinity, a subcritical sphere of plutonium was surrounded by both fast and slow explosives. When the explosives were triggered, they would compress the plutonium into a supercritical mass which would then explode in a nuclear blast of enormous power.
The bomb was designed so that the plutonium pit could be inserted as late as possible. A Duralumin sphere of about one and one half feet was constructed with a hole left to insert the pit. Inside the aluminum sphere was a nine inch sphere of U-238 with a thin boron shell. The U-238 sphere had a five inch cylindrical hole running through it. When it was time to arm the bomb, a cylinder of U-238 with a three and one half inch sphere of plutonium was inserted into the spherical assembly. At the center of the plutonium sphere was a polonium-beryllium initiator that would give off a burst of neutrons when triggered. An outer shell of specially shaped charges of fast conventional explosives surrounded an inner shell of slow conventional explosives which contained the Duralumin sphere. On the outside of the shell of charges were arranged detonators in a precise configuration. The charges had to be triggered in just the right way to compress the plutonium correctly.
The completed bomb was housed in a steel container that also contained four contact fuzes in the nose. This type of fuse triggers the bomb when it hits a hard solid surface. There was also a radar altimeter, batteries to power the detonators for the conventional explosives, baroswitches that trigger based on air pressure and timers. The whole assembly was to be housed in a steel teardrop shaped container that had a boxy tail piece to assure that the bomb would fall nose down when released. In August of 1945, all the components were sent to Tinian Island in the South Pacific and assemble for deployment.
This was the third nuclear bomb to be constructed and the second bomb to be used in warfare. Later generations of bombs were based on the Fat Man design with additional features to make them more reliable, safer, more efficient, etc. When the Soviet Union built and tested its first nuclear bomb on August 29, 1949, the design was based on the plans for the Fat Man bomb which had been stolen by spies from the United States.
More details on the big Hurricane Sandy relief concert are out.
I've got some great news for those of us who know we can't even try for tickets to the upcoming Hurricane Sandy relief concert. The entire thing will be televised! And not only that, apparently the show will also stream online and be broadcast via radio as well. So there you go: You have no excuses not to watch or at least listen to this outstanding charity concert!
Tickets for the December 12, 2012, Hurricane Sandy benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City go on sale on Monday via Ticketmaster, by the way. If you get one, let me know -- I'll be in awe of your ticket-pulling abilities!
Now, back to the Sandy benefit show for the rest of us: According to Variety, the concert will air on at least four major networks: HBO, Showtime, AMC and the Sundance Channel. More networks might participate, but those are the four we know right now. Also, Variety reports that the Hurricane Sandy benefit will be streamed on Hulu, Yahoo and AOL.
All I can say is thank goodness. With the lineup growing each day (new additions include Dave Grohl, Jon Bon Jovi and Eddie Vedder), I was starting to worry that we'd wind up missing out. I plan on making another Sandy donation if possible, but there's no way I could afford big bucks if they'd gone the pay-per-view route.
I have to tell you, given the specific lineup for this show, the 12-12-12 concert might wind up being my favorite charity-related all-star show in recent memory. You can see the full bill for the Sandy concert on the official website here.
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 26, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 26, 2012
Ambient office = .116 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .046 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .052 microsieverts per hour
Asparagus from grocery store = .100 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .096 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .073 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 25, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 25, 2012
Ambient office = .104 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .091 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .080 microsieverts per hour
Granny Smith Apple from grocery store = .093 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .083 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .067 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 24, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 24, 2012
Ambient office = .079 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .125 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .053 microsieverts per hour
Fresh cranberries from grocery store = .084 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .072 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .067 microsieverts per hour
What happens when a celebrity slams their own show?
I've always wondered what kind of contracts celebrities sign when they start on a new TV show and/or movie. What if that show or movie is just terrible? My suspicion is they've got clauses in their contracts forbidding them from slamming the production, no matter how awful it is.
Either way, it's extremely rare to see a major Hollywood celeb come forth and declare that their own TV show is utter junk, but that's precisely what Two and a Half Men star Angus T. Jones did earlier this week.
In a shocking YouTube video interview with the online religious group Forerunner Chronicles, Angus T. Jones, aka the "half" part of Two and a Half Men, calls his own show "filth" and flat out tells people not to watch it. Wait, what? Yes, he does. The show that made Angus T. Jones a star (and a very wealthy one at that), is being dissed? After nearly a decade on Men, you would think he'd be more grateful for his success.
The whole situation is extremely bizarre. And no, it's not nearly as strange as Two and a Half Men ex-star Charlie Sheen's meltdown, but it's definitely a head shaker. The guy seems like a religious zealot. I could be wrong. Watch the video clips and you tell me what you think, okay?
Now here's the thing: I respect Angus T. Jones' religious views, whatever they may be. I don't have a problem with whatever he chooses to believe personally. However, I do have a problem when he's still ON the very television show he's just called "filth." If he's that against it, he needs to quit. Maybe he's locked into a contract, and this is his way of quitting (otherwise known as Possibly Being Fired by CBS)?
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 23, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 23, 2012
Ambient office = .074 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .099 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .090 microsieverts per hour
Granny Smith Apple from grocery store = .099 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .100 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .087 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 22, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 22, 2012
Ambient office = .068 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .088 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .079 microsieverts per hour
Carrot from grocery store = .101 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .077 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .065 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 21, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 21, 2012
Ambient office = .040 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .125 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .108 microsieverts per hour
Granny Smith Apple from grocery store = .106 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .109 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .089 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 20, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on November 20, 2012
Ambient office = .078 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .090 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .112 microsieverts per hour
Granny Smith Apple from grocery store = .146 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .106 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .101 microsieverts per hour
