21–30 of 204 posts
For those that have not read it, the Richard Rhodes book is one of the finest pieces of science/engineering writing I have read: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-Rhodes/dp...
I wonder if any of the guys in the photos realised to what extent they were (helping) rewriting history that day...
Implosion Sphere for Fat Man nearly assembled and about to be placed inside it's casing. "Its casing". Why do people have such a problem with it's and its?
Because it's backwards of how apostrophes normally work. In all other cases, it is the right place to use an apostrophe: * ...about to be placed in Fat Man's casing. * ...about to be placed in the bomb's casing * ... about to be placed in its casing. One of those is not like the others.
My, His, Hers, Ours, Yours, Theirs, Its.
Not Me's, He's, She's, Us's, Your's, Their's, It's.
English is an easy language. Most languages use a lot more words than all that to convey all that. English speakers don't have to deal with the singular second person, with a separate objective noun for you/he/she, with neutrals (heck, barely at all with the feminine), and so on.
So make an effort. Get its right :)
Implosion Sphere for Fat Man nearly assembled and about to be placed inside it's casing. "Its casing". Why do people have such a problem with it's and its?
Because it's the opposite of how you deal with possessives in other situations. ...inside Fat Man's casing... I assume you knew that though and were just being an ass.
If you remember (and care) that its and it's are two separate words, then you should be able think your way through it. It's could legitimately be possessive or a contraction, but its can only be the possessive.
Anyway, I agree with you that it's tricky enough that we shouldn't be assholes about it.
Wondering why the staff are not wearing any protective clothing while handling nuclear devices ?
I find it weird that most of them aren't wearing shirts at all.
I found out a few weeks ago they made a bunch of those bombs, minus the nuclear elements, for training. They even dropped some on Japanese targets and found they were fairly effective just from the explosive content. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_bomb
They cost between 13k and 26k a piece in 2014 USD. That is truly amazing. EDIT: Even more amazing when you consider that they weighed about 10k pounds.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given the secrecy surrounding the bombs, it is highly likely that not one of them had any idea what it was they were assembling/loading into the plane. All they likely knew was that it was "some kind of new, secret, bomb". It is questionable whether the "high ranking officials" referenced in the plane alignment photo caption even had much knowledge of just what this "new, secret, bomb" really was.
At least one of them [1] knew exactly what it was, I would guess that the others were working for him and had a pretty good idea too. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sterling_Parsons
What they were ignorant of, I'm pretty sure, was the actual magnitude of the destruction caused by the devices. My father was about 10 yrs old at the time, he was deeply effected by news reels at the time. The tragedy was horrific.