Happy Birthday, Betsy!

An article in Modern Mechanics blog on a 1939 article on "splitting the atom" - i.e. nuclear fission: [link]

Commentary in the blog entry:

This is pretty amazing. It’s a Scientific American Article from 1939 describing the splitting of the atom. It was written just after Einstien had written his famous letter to F.D.R and before the initiation of the Manhattan Project, yet it is obvious that scientists were well aware of the potential uses of atomic fission...

Interesting to read in that this was a phenomena that had just been discovered (by German scientists). The final four paragraphs are the money quote:

Joliot, as well as groups of physicists at Columbia, the Carnegie Institution, and Cambridge University, have concentrated on the study of secondary neutrons emitted at the moment of fission and in later reactions.

The latter problem brings up an interesting and rather disturbing aspect of the case. These secondary neutrons constitute a fresh supply of “bullets” to produce new fissions. Thus we are faced with a vicious circle, with one explosion setting off another, and energy being continuously and cumulatively released. It is probable that a sufficiently large mass of uranium would be explosive if its atoms once got well started dividing. As a matter of fact, the scientists are pretty nervous over the dangerous forces they are unleashing, and are hurriedly devising means to control them.

It may or may not be significant that, since early spring, no accounts of research on nuclear fission have been heard from Germany — not even from discoverer Hahn. It is not unlikely that the German government, spotting a potentially powerful weapon of war, has imposed military secrecy on all recent German investigations. A large concentration of isotope 235, subjected to neutron bombardment, might conceivably blow up all London or Paris.

It has been impossible, even in this long article, to mention all the thousand aspects of this fascinating phenomenon, or name many of the able contributors to the sum of information amassed since last January. But the fact remains that nuclear fission is the most important scientific discovery of the year, and holds who knows what promise for the future.

Speaking of fission, I just came across a review of a local florist that said, in part:

WHAT A COLORFULL BLAST OF WORM CHEER

Nellie’s Flowers is a truly delightful old fission neighborhood florist

Some of it seems like spellcheck mishaps, but not "colorfull."

It's gorgeous here. I spend part of the afternoon wandering around the arboretum. A lot of other people had the same idea, and it was lovely to see all sorts of different people and families. Because the weather has been so whacko, we're not getting the full on spring explosion. Stuff is still blooming, but on different schedules. Azaleas are just barely starting, the tulip trees are finishing, the fruit ones have been stopping and starting...oh, but the tulips are in full bloom and were really lovely. The regular trees are...confused.

I'm home and completely INSANE. I'm in an apartment with no functioning a/c, it's probably 78 inside and maybe the same outside and so what am I doing? Roasting meat at 400 F.

At least the oven fan seems to being a good job of pulling the heat of the oven out.

Hey, I'm sure worms get down sometimes too you know.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile was fun, if cheesy. Crush actor was cute, Einstein actor was hilariously unkempt, and we entered through a door in the stage and could order drinks from the bar before showtime.

I also did good by walking about 2.5 miles in the park before the lack of public restrooms cut my exercise short. Turns out I did get sunburned yesterday, but it didn't hurt or itch until I took a shower this morning.

Why do women's shoes hurt? I just bought THE cutest pair of shoes, canvas flats, you'd think they'd be comfy, right? But after 20 minutes of wearing them, they've just about worn a hole in both feet from where the "comfy" elastic was sewn into the vamp, creating a hard lump on the inside right above the little toe and the base of the big toe. This is just stupid. These are fairly pricey shoes from a upscale maker. Why the hell would they make them like this? There are no feet that would not be punctured by these things. I'm mad; they're so cute, but I have to send them back.

Rant over. Carry on.

I sympathize, Zenkitty. I just had a pair of danskos wear a hole in my heel (my fault for waring them barefoot, I guess.

Weirdly, though, some of my foot problems have gone away since I started taking the bus-- I no longer have symptoms of plantar fasciitis, for example (or at least my heel doesn't kill me with every step I take. My boss, a for ortho NP thinks it is just a coincidence, but the assistant director, who is both a nurse and a PHd in Anatomy and is sort of a freaky genius, thinks maybe it was how I held my foot when driving that was aggravating the condition.

Wow. I just got a performance report for one of my shows. It was the 100th performance! In celebration, bagels and bacon were had by all!

I have a billion bagels , but no bacon. bacon would be good. Happy 100th show day, aurelia!

I am guessing the nurse is right. I also think with a little more walking and standing, you are stretching your foot naturally.