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The first successful use of a toilet air freshener?
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. – The Teachings of Don Juan
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While I wish that Jarrod's answer was the correct one, Steerpike gets the win.
Ivy Mike was the code name for the US's first nuclear test of a fusion device – the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb. It was detonated on November 1, 1952, local time, on the island of Elugelab in the Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
The "yield" of the bomb was estimated at 10.5 to 12 megatons, and created vast amounts of fallout.
The fireball was approximately 3.25 miles (5.2 km) wide, and the mushroom cloud rose to an altitude of 57,000 feet (17.0 km) in less than 90 seconds. One minute later it had reached 108,000 feet (33.0 km), before stabilizing at 136,000 feet (25 miles or 37.0 km) with the top eventually spreading out to a diameter of 100 miles (161 km) with a stem 20 miles (32 km) wide.
The blast created a crater 6,240 feet (1.9 km) in diameter and 164 feet (50 m) deep where Elugelab had once been; the blast and water waves from the explosion (some waves up to twenty feet high) stripped the test islands clean of vegetation, as observed by a helicopter survey within 60 minutes after the test, by which time the mushroom cloud and steam had been blown away. Irradiated coral debris fell upon ships stationed 30 miles (48 km) from the blast, and the immediate area around the atoll was heavily contaminated for some time. Produced from intensely concentrated neutron flux about the detonation site were two new elements, einsteinium and fermium.
Below are the before and after photos of the portion of the atoll where Elugelab was before the blast, and wasn't after.
[Image Can Not Be Found]
All credit to Wikipedia.
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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Thanks Spike - and sorry Fink for the high speed of my typing fingers. Never trust a radiation symbol avatar when asking a thermonuclear question!
We'll stay on this theme. Meet Castle Bravo:
Bravo introduced many firsts and superlatives to the world of thermonuclear weaponry: first "dry" lithium deuteride weapon, first test in the Castle series, first deliverable fusion weapon in the US arsenal, first dry thermonuclear (ie, mostly fusion) device to be weaponized.
The test, which took place on March 1, 1954, produced an unexpected effect. What was that?
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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The birth of a terror (me) exactly 14 days later. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Powered by PMS ™
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Must. resist. making. Toger. Zone. joke. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Was that the test where a fingerprint protected a metal test plate?
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Toger said:
The birth of a terror (me) exactly 14 days later. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Well, well, Toger. I had you pegged as at least 10 years younger than I am. Now I don't feel so old. [Image Can Not Be Found] It's good to have so many old broads here. BUT...has anyone noticed that although we have a goodly complement of "seasoned" women here at TAP, the more "seasoned" men have gone away. At least I think that is so. Hmmmm. Older women. Younger men. Who's got the best of that deal??!!
And your Ides of March birth augured good stuff.
I will answer the trivia question later. Now I must go away because I am all-a-flutter.
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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I just wish I'd been able to hold onto some of those seasoned women in the writing staff. They couldn't wait to pound to the exit once I said there was a door. Now the place is packed with dudes in various states of seasoning and it's beginning to smell like a locker room.
As for our seasoned men leaving, well, I actually drove them off too. So I'm a god damned win-win.
My saintly mother was born on the Ides of March (though some years earlier than Toger's Terror). I keep telling her she'd find kickass companionship on the Tap forums but she won't take the plunge.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Spike, lots of people peg me for younger. It's that whole "acting my shoe size instead of my age"
Steerpike, we warned you this place would begin to smell once we left. If you guys would stop marking your territory, the smell would go away. Has anyone else noticed that the women hold reign over the forums, while the "Testosterone Clean-up in Aisle 5" is relegated to the blog? [Image Can Not Be Found]
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Toger, frankly I think a lot of people are frightened by Bollocks when they see some of the essays you and Yap have left in there. [Image Can Not Be Found]
It's funny how all the guys argue on the "front" page, if you will, about feminism, while all the gals hide in here. [Image Can Not Be Found]
If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever
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I noticed that and just assumed all the girls were too sensible to read 10,000 words by me.
Steerpike, we warned you this place would begin to smell once we left
Yes, but Toger, I didn't ask anyone to leave so much as they were all "get me the F out of here," weren't they? Dudes mark their territory. It's what we do. The silo is a mess.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Next time I was up to ask a question, I was going to ask why silos are round. Answer: stuff rots in the corners. [Image Can Not Be Found]
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Did that explosion create a sonic boom? Did it cause rain to fall?
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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Nope, nope. It got their attention, that's for sure.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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xtal said:
Toger, frankly I think a lot of people are frightened by Bollocks when they see some of the essays you and Yap have left in there. [Image Can Not Be Found]
It's funny how all the guys argue on the "front" page, if you will, about feminism, while all the gals hide in here. [Image Can Not Be Found]
We frighten ourselves with those missives. [Image Can Not Be Found]
And we're not hiding, we're just staying upwind of the testosterone spillage/gym socks smell.
You're right Steerpike, you didn't ask us to leave. You made the mistake of leaving the door to the silo unlocked and we made a break for freedom. WOLVERINES!!
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Indeed, my presence and management method alone is sufficient to drive wolverines to the hills. Their frantic get-me-outta-here scurrying is somewhat salient to the trivia challenge I presented.
I can rephrase: What did Castle Bravo, with its new detonation technology, do that its testers did not expect?
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Was it a Teller design? Some of his had unintended consequences like first nuke too small to explode.
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Did it produce a cloud larger/wider/taller than expected?
Did it block out the sun for some time?
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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Spike is close, but not quite there.
It was a design based on the Teller-Ulam Principle, but as the first dry device it went beyond their initial theories. The Castle Bravo test was remarkable for many reasons, and I'll accept any of them.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Hm. I should know this. By this period Teller was well into his obsession with making the smallest possible nuclear weapons but that picture's obviously not Mosquito or BB.
Was the yield higher than intended? If so, give it to Spike. Higher yield -> larger cloud!
I've already blown my silo.
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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