Historic Eve

I was aware of the day, about 20 days ago. I did not mention it. I remember things like this for some weird reason. I live in a historically important area. In the early days of WWII the town of Hanford was uprooted and its residents sent elsewhere for the war effort. By 1944, the area was exceptionally well inhabited and VERY active. By 1945, it was the home of the atomic bomb. The A-Bomb. The local high school team is the "Bombers."

In the wee hours of the morning on July 16, 1945 the sun rose twice. Depending on where you were it may have risen once in the west. At 5:29 and 45 seconds the firing circuit closed and the atomic age began. Near the town of Alamagordo, New Mexico, at a site named Trinity, the world's first atomic bomb was tested. It was an implosion device. It compressed a non-critical mass of plutonium into a critical mass which caused the atoms of plutonium to split at GREAT speed. It caused a gigantic fireball, so hot that the desert sand was fused into a green glass called Trinitite. It presaged the end of World War II.

It was a technical marvel, which is a term TOO often used in description of the Manhattan Project, but none-the-less true. The amount of scientific, mechanical, and constructional know-how necessary to bring this fine feat of physics to being was fantastically phenomenal. (sometimes I feel the need for alliteration) Tomorrow, I will post a considerably longer...err... post, concerning the atomic bomb and its use. I will post a technical one on my other blog. It is more the technical aspects that interest me than the maming aspects, and I do not discount the loss of the thousands who perished in the only two atomic bombs used directly against an enemy.

As to my day it passed without interest and only minor inconvenience. Others, I now know, enjoyed their first day back in school...ahh, the pleasures of being on the RIGHT side of the desk. I hope all who returned to school today had a good day! We have a few more weeks. Ahh, summer is drawing steadily to a close...dammit.