Crabs and Beer!

On this day in 1946, Louis Slotin accidentally triggered a supercritical nuclear chain reaction, which released a burst of hard radiation. He was rushed to the hospital and died nine days later on 30 May. Slotin had become the second fatal victim of a criticality accident in history, following Harry Daghlian, who had died of a related accident with the same plutonium “demon core” the previous year.

The demon core was a sphere of plutonium–gallium alloy. It was a subcritical mass that weighed 6.2 kilograms (14 lb) and was 89 millimeters (3.5 in) in diameter; the core was prepared for shipment to the Pacific Theater as part of the third nuclear weapon to be dropped on Japan, but when Japan surrendered, the core was retained for testing and potential later use in the case of another conflict.

The core, once assembled, was designed to have only a small safety margin against extraneous factors that might increase reactivity, causing the core to become supercritical, and then prompt critical, a brief state of rapid energy increase. the addition of more nuclear material, or provision of an external reflector which would reflect outbound neutrons back into the core would lead to supercriticality.

he experiments conducted at Los Alamos leading to the two fatal accidents were designed to guarantee that the core was indeed close to the critical point by arranging such reflectors and seeing how much neutron reflection was required to approach supercriticality.

On May 21, 1946, physicist Louis Slotin and seven other personnel were in a Los Alamos laboratory conducting another experiment to verify the closeness of the core to criticality by the positioning of neutron reflectors. It required the operator to place two half-spherical shells of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around the core to be tested and manually lower the top reflector over the core using a thumb hole at the polar point. As the reflectors were manually moved closer and farther away from each other, neutron detectors indicated the core’s neutron multiplication rate. The experimenter needed to maintain a slight separation between the reflector halves to allow enough neutrons to escape from the core in order to stay below criticality.

On the day of the test, Slotin used a screwdriver to keep the two halves of the reflector slightly apart. Slotin’s screwdriver slipped outward a fraction of an inch while he was lowering the top reflector, allowing the reflector to fall into place around the core. Instantly, there was a flash of blue light; the core had become supercritical, releasing an intense burst of neutron radiation. Slotin quickly twisted his wrist, flipping the top shell to the floor. There was an estimated half-second between when the sphere closed to when Slotin removed the top reflector. The reaction in the room was one of immediate, somber realization. Slotin received a lethal dose in less than a second. While the position of his body over the apparatus shielded the others from much of the neutron radiation, his own exposure was irreversible. Slotin reportedly turned to his colleagues in the hushed room and famously uttered the remark, “Well, that does it.” He died nine days later from acute radiation poisoning.

More details

Louis Slotin’s Los Alamos badge mugshot

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When you want to rough it by going camping…

Today is the birthday, in 1955, of Stan Lynch, American musician, songwriter and record producer who was the original drummer for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, (1977 single ‘American Girl’, 1989 UK No.28 single ‘I Won’t Back Down’, 1991 UK No.3 album ‘Into The Great Wide Open’). He partnered with longtime friend Don Henley to help put together Eagles’ reunion album Hell Freezes Over and as a producer and writer, Lynch has worked with a diverse array of acts, such as The Band, Eagles, Don Henley, Jackopierce, Joe 90, Scotty Moore, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Jeff Healey Band, Tim McGraw and Ringo Starr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlTJrNJ5lA

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. Under it, an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than 160 million acres (650 thousand km²; 250 thousand sq mi) of public land, or nearly 10 percent of the total area of the United States, were given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi River.

An extension of the homestead principle in law, the Homestead Acts were an expression of the Free Soil policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave owners who wanted to buy up large tracts of land and use slave labor, thereby shutting out free white farmers.

The Homestead Act of 1862 opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the federal government of the United States could apply. Women and immigrants who had applied for citizenship were eligible. Most homesteading occurred during the period of 1900–1930. As of 2017, around 93 million Americans were descendants of people who received land through the Homestead Acts.

Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed 270,000,000 acres (420,000 mi²) of federal land for private ownership. This was a total of 10% of all land in the United States. Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986. About 40% of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homesteaded land after paying a small fee in cash.

Elizabeth (Betty) Clouse-Smith was the last woman homesteader to successfully prove up land in her own name. She was among a group of people, including her son William J. Smith, who filed for homestead west of Big Delta, Alaska. On October 18, 1984, she received a patent for her 116-acre claim (47 ha).

The last claim under this Act was made by Ken Deardorff for 80 acres (32 ha) of land on the Stony River in southwestern Alaska. He fulfilled all requirements of the homestead act in 1979 but did not receive his deed until May 1988. He is the last person to receive a title to land claimed under the Homestead Acts.

Norwegian settlers in North Dakota, 1898

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Sometimes a simple solution is the best…

Used that ‘no-name’ tape…

BADA BING!!

Swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ON A BIBLE is one of life’s great ironies.

PROBLEMS THAT WERE OVERBLOWN: · quicksand, people offering me drugs, getting lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

PROBLEMS I WAS NOT SUFFICIENTLY WARNED ABOUT: arguing with robots about unexpected items in bagging areas, remembering all my passwords, existential dread

This, too, shall pass. It’ll pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.

I used to have this mental illness where I thought logical arguments would change someone’s mind.

Antivaxers really be like, “You’re just gonna listen to doctors who studied medicine for 10 years? Wow enjoy being sheep, I’m gonna listen to a stay at home moms Facebook page cause I’m an independent thinker”.

I think billionaires should pay throttlingly burdensome taxes, not to improve society, but because it makes them sad.

It turns out a ceiling fan will not cut a bagel in half even on high speed. I also need a new window.

THAT’S A HORRIBLE IDEA. WHAT TIME?

I LOVE BEING TOLD THAT I HAVE AN “IRRATIONAL FEAR” OF A DEADLY VIRUS BY PEOPLE WHO ARE SCARED TO DEATH OF IMMIGRANTS, LGBTQ PEOPLE, BROWN PEOPLE, BLACK PEOPLE, WORKING WOMEN, WIND MILLS, CELLPHONE ANTENAS, VACCINES, ELECTRIC CARS, VOTING BY MAIL, UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS, PLANT-BASED FOOD, HIGHER WAGES, AND FACE MASKS.

Old age is when your body gives your brain a list of the things it’s not going to do any more.

I have been lying to my cat for years. Anytime he meows at me, I say, “I know, I know!” But I don’t. I don’t know.

I was born male, identify as male, but according to Stouffer’s Lasagna, I’m a family of four.

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Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Cherilyn Sarkasian, (Cher), American singer and actress, one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher who had the 1965 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Got You Babe’. She became a television personality in the 1970s with her show The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run. Solo hits include the 1991 UK No.1 single ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’, 1998 UK No.1 & 1999 US No.1 single ‘Believe’, plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSZwEwl_1Q

On this day in 1921, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act. The Act was formulated mainly in response to the large influx of Southern and Eastern Europeans and restricted their immigration to the United States. Although intended as temporary legislation, it “proved, in the long run, the most important turning-point in American immigration policy” because it added two new features to American immigration law: numerical limits on immigration and the use of a quota system for establishing those limits, which came to be known as the National Origins Formula.

The Emergency Quota Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country annually to 3% of the number of residents from that country living in the United States as of the 1910 Census. That meant that people from Northern and Western Europe had a higher quota and were more likely to be admitted to the US than those from Eastern or Southern Europe or from non-European countries.

Based on the new formula, the number of new immigrants admitted fell from 805,228 in 1920 to 309,556 in 1921–22. The act did not apply to countries with bilateral agreements with the US or to Asian countries listed in the Immigration Act of 1917, known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act.

Immigrants on a ferry – 1910

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Who picked the name???

Look at that Van Gogh!!

(Thanks, Debra)

Today is the birthday, in 1949, of Dusty Hill, bass, keyboardist, and co-vocalist with ZZ Top, who had the 1984 US No.8 and 1985 UK No.16 single ‘Legs’. ZZ Top has had global album sales in excess of 50 million as of 2014. Along with his brother Rocky Hill and future fellow ZZ Top member Frank Beard, Hill played in local Dallas bands the Warlocks, the Cellar Dwellers, and American Blues. He died on 28 July 2021 at his home in Houston, Texas, at the age of 72. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae829mFAGGE

On this day in 1900, the United Kingdom proclaimed a protectorate over Tonga.

The Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km² (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km² (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Tonga was first inhabited roughly 2,500 years ago by Polynesian settlers who gradually evolved a distinct and strong ethnic identity, language, and culture as the Tongan people. They quickly established a powerful footing across the South Pacific, and this period of Tongan expansionism and colonization is known as the Tuʻi Tonga Empire. From the rule of the first Tongan king, ʻAhoʻeitu, Tonga grew into a regional power. It was a thalassocracy that conquered and controlled unprecedented swathes of the Pacific, from parts of the Solomon Islands and the whole of New Caledonia and Fiji in the west to Samoa and Niue and even as far as parts of modern-day French Polynesia in the east.

n 1845, an ambitious young Tongan warrior, strategist, and orator named Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into a kingdom. He held the chiefly title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but had been baptised by Methodist missionaries with the name Siaosi (“George”) in 1831. Tonga became a protected state under a Treaty of Friendship with Britain on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs unsuccessfully tried to oust the man who had succeeded Tāufaʻāhau as king. The treaty posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British consul (1901–1970). Under British protection, Tonga maintained its sovereignty and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government. The Tongan monarchy has an uninterrupted succession of hereditary rulers from a single family.

The Treaty of Friendship and Tonga’s protection status ended in 1970 under arrangements that had been established by Tonga’s Queen Salote Tupou III before her death in 1965. Owing to its British ties, Tonga joined the Commonwealth in 1970 (atypically as a country that had its own monarch, rather than having the United Kingdom’s monarch, along with Malaysia, Brunei, Lesotho, and Eswatini). While exposed to colonial pressures, Tonga has always governed itself, which makes it unique in the Pacific.

Tāufaʻāhau, King of Tonga (1845–1893)

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Daily Affirmation…

Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EltgrumKJfk

On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury. She was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

Anne was maid of honour to Henry VIII’s wife, Catherine of Aragon. Early in 1523, Anne was secretly betrothed to Henry Percy, son of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, but the betrothal was broken off when the Earl refused to support it. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey refused the match in January 1524.

In February or March 1526, Henry VIII began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress, as her sister Mary had previously been. Henry focused on annulling his marriage to Catherine, so he would be free to marry Anne. After Wolsey failed to obtain an annulment from Pope Clement VII, it became clear the marriage would not be annulled by the Catholic Church. As a result, Henry and his advisers, such as Thomas Cromwell, began breaking the Church’s power in England and closing the monasteries. Henry and Anne formally married on 25 January 1533, after a secret wedding on 14 November 1532.

Anne was crowned queen on 1 June 1533. On 7 September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed to have a daughter, but hoped a son would follow and professed to love Elizabeth. Anne subsequently had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour.

Henry had Anne investigated for high treason in April 1536. On 2 May, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was put on trial before a jury, including Henry Percy, her former betrothed, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. She was convicted on 15 May and beheaded four days later.

King Henry and Anne Boleyn Deer shooting in Windsor Forest by William Powell Frith, 1903

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Today is the birthday, in 1943, of American songwriter, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor Freddie Perren. He co-wrote and co-produced songs including ‘Boogie Fever’ by the Sylvers, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, and ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’ by Peaches & Herb. He died on December 16, 2004. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dYWe1c3OyU