Yesterday, I Learned…

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That the Nazis attempted to design a plane capable of reaching the United States (specifically, New York City) from Germany. The project, called Amerikabomber, resulted in five prototypes, but no operational aircraft. The plane would have needed to be able to make the 7,200 mile round trip without refueling.

In addition to New York City, the Nazis had twelve other targets in mind, including La Porte and Indianapolis, Indiana. Both cities had factories important to the American war effort. La Porte is about 26 miles from where I grew up.

I learned this because I’m finally working on a timeline of nuclear weapons development and was looking for information on the German V-2 rocket since it was the first long-range ballistic missile and the precursor to Cold War nuclear missiles.

I’m also reading a 1986 monograph on American civil defense from 1945 to 1984 and adding in those dates as well. It’s giving me some interesting information to mull over. I’d quote some, but I’m writing this on my phone and I am lazy. Besides, it deserves a longer piece.

Field Trip Tuesday

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We went to the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Tuesday, for a quick look around. We found out they’ve expanded some of the exhibit galleries – the Cold War is now it’s own building – and that they do guided tours. We’re planning on going back to take those in. The mission Tuesday was primarily to hit the gift shop, because I was after a copy of Nuclear Weapons of the United States: An Illustrated History by James Norris Gibson, which is exactly what it says on the tin. The book was published in the late 90s, so it’s dated but perfect for my needs and has been a wealth of information.

I’m going to be working toward finishing up a timeline for nuclear weapons and hope to have it ready to post by the end of this month.

Getting Back On the Horse

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The other day, I managed to forget to post on a Sunday. To the best of my knowledge, that was the first time I’d accidentally skipped a post since sometime in 2020. From there, I took the next couple of posting days off because I honestly couldn’t think of anything to post and I kind of just needed some time off.

I don’t really have much of anything to say today but I’m posting so that ‘taking a break’ doesn’t turn into ‘never posting again.’ I’ve got a lot of figures and ideas about things I want to work on but right now, my brain is just not letting that happen. I think it’s a combination of adjusting to the new work schedule/situation and to some new meds. Plus the weather around here has been wonky even for the Midwest in spring.

I’m making plans to work on something substantial for the rest of the night – at least doing some journalling and such toward that end. I don’t know if I’ll post anything on Sunday but I am going to try and have something for next Wednesday.

Have a good week!

Second Weekend?

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Yup! I managed to have two weekends this week and I’ve done a grand total of Not Much, other than binge watching Corner Gas & Corner Gas Animated. It’s a Canadian sitcom set in a tiny town in rural Saskatchewan, 40 miles from nowhere. The live action show ran for 6 seasons and the animated version went for 4, plus there’s a movie I haven’t seen yet. The show follows the antics of the people of Dog River, centered on the local gas station and cafe. It’s available on FreeVee and definitely worth checking out

Quick Reviews:

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Due to changes in my work schedule, I’ve had a lot more time to read. I used the library app Hoopla, I’ve started downloading comics to read. Toward that end, here’s a few of my favorites:

American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today, edited by Robyn Chapman – a non-fiction title from 2021, this anthology comic talks about fringe religious groups from American history from the obvious (Charles Manson’s family; Jonestown) to the obscure (the Fruitlands utopian group that Louisa May Alcott’s father joined; the 17th-century mystics who lived in the woods outside Philadelphia).

Saga, created by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, I checked out the massive omnibus edition of the first 54 issues, which runs to around 1,400 pages and was a lot easier to read on my tablet than trying to hold a solid brick of a book likely would have been. Then, I got a collection of issues 55-60, and finally checked out the most recent issue #61 — so, now I’m all caught up and have to wait for more to come out. So…yay/boo!

Saga has been described as “Romeo and Juliet meets Star Wars meets Game of Thrones.” It’s an original fantasy series that takes place in space, has all kinds of really weird aliens, love, romance, war, betrayal, the healing power of mediocre fiction, talking cats, cute seal-aliens, TV-headed robots, magic, super science, family, death, victory, adventures, excitement and really wild things. It’s an amazing story, albeit not one for the younger set.

Resident Alien: Omnibus Volume 1 by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse – I’d watched the TV series on Syfy first because I love Alan Tudyk and figured I’d check out the comics the series is based on. The series differs from the comics in a few key ways, but the basic premise of “alien stranded on earth gets roped into helping police in a small town investigate a murder” is still the same.

Math Accomplished!

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I finished my calculations for the scale models of nuclear blasts, so now I’m going to be working on setting those scale measurements against Soldier Field. I’ve also figured out scale measurements for the atmosphere. I’m expecting this part will be easier, since it’s going to be less math and more map reading and such.

I also started taking notes on The Zone again. The book is still awful, but there’s not much of it left. I haven’t done much journaling, but I am going to endeavor to change that.

For now, it is once again time for sleeping.

So Many Numbers!

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Still working on figures for the nuclear blast scale model project. I went through and took down the measurements I got from NukeMap, then converted those to 1:120 scale (wherein 1 inch equals 10 feet). Now, I’m converting inches to feet which is a lot of dividing by 12. For the area measurements, I’m using a calculator app that converts square inches to square feet because I am not as confident in my math skills for that.

Then, it’s comparing the scale measurements to Soldier Field and other football and/or Chicago-themed things.

Moderate Success!

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I still haven’t tracked down exact measurements for the stadium at Soldier Field, but I have found figures that are close enough for my purposes, thanks to CalcMaps – Maptools. Using their distance tool, I was able to put points on a satellite photo of the stadium itself and get a rough estimate for length and width.

It’s honestly shocking to me how hard it is to find out what I’d thought would be a simple fact. I looked up books at my local library. I did Google searches for scale models, hoping to get a scale ratio and some measurements I could use to reverse engineer figures. I called Soldier Field and got no answer, mainly because I couldn’t get through to a live person. I contacted the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress and the Chicago Public Library with no success – ditto for calling the Chicago Parks Department and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. Nobody apparently knows how long, wide or tall Soldier Field is. Or, perhaps as a librarian I talked to put it, nobody cares.

I will say this – everyone I talked to did try to help and we’re just as surprised as I was that you can’t just ask Google and get a simple answer. I’ve got a couple last-ditch ideas that I may try later, but for now, I’m happy with the good-enough-for-now figures I found using CalcMaps.

On the other hand, I’ve learned a lot that I didn’t know about Soldier Field. I found out the Chicago Tribune insisted on referring to the stadium as Soldiers’ Field from 1925 to the 1970s, finding the actual name obnoxiously ungrammatical. I know that the first Special Olympics was held there in 1968. And that the Chicago Bears didn’t make it their home until the 1970s.

I did find a few measurements for the stadium but it took a deep dive to do it. A report from the construction company that did some of the steel work told me that the original colonnades are 600 feet apart. Because the colonnades were preserved during Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation, construction was tricky because they had to fit a new interior inside the original exterior. This reconstruction was so extensive, it led to the stadium losing its status as a National Historic Landmark status in 2006.

So, now that I’ve managed to settle this issue to my satisfaction, I can get on with rechecking my scale ratio figures and then I’ll actually start putting it all together into something sensible!

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A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time. Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80. Or you can do all of the above!

Checked Out

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Good news: my colonoscopy came back negative! This means I don’t have to have another one for ten years — hopefully by 2033 medical science will have advanced enough to create a colonoscopy prep solution that doesn’t taste like sadness and misery. Or, barring that, at least comes in a smaller portion.

Otherwise, I have been playing around with numbers and vaguely working on my scale model of nuclear yields. I’ve got something like 42 different data points though I’m not going to be using all of them. Instead, I’m going to focus on the extent of damage caused by the blast itself (the shockwave), the thermal radiation (heat) and ionizing radation (short and long term).

I’d started this sub-project intending to use an American football field as a basis for measurement, since it’s something easy to wrap one’s head around. Because I think some of the larger yields might reach beyond the bounds of a football field, I decided to use a football stadium since that will add more flavor. So, I’ve chosen to use Soldier Field in Chicago as my stadium because while I don’t know or care much about football, I grew up near Chicago so when I think of football, I think of Da Bears.

And, after doing some Googling, I found out that Soldier Field is really close to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium — all of which I do know something about since we used to go to one or all of them at least once a year when I was a kid.

So, being me, I am now in the process of researching Soldier Field and its environs so I can get my measurements right. I’ve found a couple books at the library and I’ve been doing online searches and checking on Google Maps.

As for my other goals – such as notetaking and journalling, I haven’t done much of those this week. I lost a couple days due to the colonoscopy prep and the colonoscopy itself and then, I started my work week, which cut into my brain power. This week, I’m going to make more of an effort to do some more notetaking and journal at least an hour or two, in between checking my math and trying to find out how far it is from the sidelines of Soldier Field to the various parking lots. I mean, somebody’s got to have that information out there, somewhere. right?

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Boilerplate Links:

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time. Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80. Or you can do all of the above!

Not Doing Nothin’ Today

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Except prepping for a colonoscopy. Which leads to the question of the day: why the hell does the prep stuff have to taste so damnably foul? I mean, is there a medical reason for it or what?!

So far, other than having to choke down the first round of the Awful Stuff – and not looking forward to Round Two in the wee hours – the prep hasn’t been so bad. I’ve been loafing in bed, listening to audiobooks and avoiding YouTube because I like a lot of cooking channels…

I’ve been working on the scale models of nuclear explosions and have finally picked a spot to use for comparisons, but I’ll talk more on that later. For now, I’m going to dose and try not to think of food.

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Boilerplate Links:

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time. Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80. Or you can do all of the above!

More Adventures with Stupider Big Numbers

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I’ve been continue playing with ridiculously large numbers, particularly as relates to explosive yield. I made a spreadsheet to relate explosive yields in terms of tons of TNT equivalent versus how many pounds of TNT that yield would represent (i.e. 1 ton of TNT equivalent equals 2,000 pounds of TNT, 1 kiloton is 2 million pounds of TNT, 1 megaton is 2 billion pounds of TNT, and so on). And, being me, I took this spreadsheet to what I’d thought was a ridiculous extreme (look for the bit about 100 quettatons of TNT equivalent being equal to the mass of over 45,500 Suns).

So, today? I went past the ridiculous extreme because I figured “Hey, I wonder how a 100 quettaton explosion would compare to something like, oh, the Big Bang? It’d have to be pretty close right?”

Wrong. It’s not even close. 100 quettatons is equivalent to 200 decillion pounds of TNT (2 followed by 35 zeros). According to some estimates, the Big Bang (which technically wasn’t actually an explosion), released energy equivalent to 1 septendecillion megatons of TNT – a 1 followed by 54 zeros. Which is a big number, but isn’t quite accurate since it needs to be multiplied by one thousand to get the number of actual tons – that adds another three zeros, making the number a one followed by 57 zeros. Or one octodecillion.

But wait, the number gets even bigger since we need to multiply that one octodecillion by 2,000 to get the number of pounds of TNT – which adds another three zeroes, giving us the final figure of two novemdecillion, or 2 followed by 60 zeros.

So, while 100 quettatons is equivalent to the weight of 45,500 suns (and change), 2 novemdecillion pounds of TNT is several orders of magnitude greater than the mass of the entire observable universe.

And on that note, I’m going to go eat some Oreo cookies, go to bed and try not to second-guess my math.

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Boilerplate Links:  

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time. Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80.  Or you can do all of the above!

Adventures in Stupid Big Numbers

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As I mentioned in my Goals Post back on Monday, I’ve been working on a way to create scale comparisons of nuclear blast yields. I’d already created a couple spreadsheets full of figures for yields between 1 ton and 100 megatons for surface blasts and airblasts and I’d even created a scale where 1 foot = 30 feet but that led to a model that was too large. Especially since I’d wanted to compare the blasts to an American football field. So, I revised my scale to 1 inch equaling 10 feet and that gives me figures that are a lot easier to work with re: a football field.

So, yesterday, I started plugging my revised scales into my spreadsheet and I’m definitely liking my new numbers a lot better. I finished updating the spreadsheet. Now, the next step is to start comparing the various directions to each other. I’ve got 42 different measurements but comparing all of them seems a bit overkill, so I’m going to focus on just a few – the radii of air pressure damage, fire damage and radiation risk as well as the height of the mushroom cloud. The tricky thing is going to be finding a way to visualize things so they’re actually interesting to look at. Especially since my art skills are…well, ok, they’re not quite non-existent but they are shaky.

Additionally, I’ve done some math for updating my comparison of explosive yields to food calories which led me to make another spreadsheet where I went absolutely bonkers and figured out how many pounds of TNT equals everything from a ton up through kilotons and megatons and even went beyond to create a -ton for every metric prefix there is, including two new ones that were coined just last year. This is a bit of fancy on my part since the largest nuclear explosion, the Tsar Bomba, was between 50-56 megatons but there’s something fun about making stupidly big numbers. Plus, the bigger figures may come in handy when trying to explain larger, naturally occurring exposions like volcanos and asteroid strikes.

For the record, a 100 quettaton bomb would equal 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds of TNT.(that’s 2 with thirty-five zeros after it). Or roughly the weight of 45,610 suns, according to the Weight Converter at Omni Calculator. By comparison, 50 megatons of TNT is equivalent to 1 trillion pounds of TNT or the weight of 75 Great Pyramids of Giza.

Because of real-world obligations, I haven’t had a chance to do anything toward my other goals, like journaling or notetaking but I think I’m going to give one or the other (or maybe both) a go once I get this posted. And, I’m posting it from my new desk setup! It’s small and it’s humble but for now, it’ll do the job!

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Boilerplate Links:  

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time. Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80.  Or you can do all of the above!

New Year, New Challenges – AROC80 Goals Post – Round 1 2023:

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Good morning! I’m taking the opportunity to post this before work because I have other stuff I’m going to have to do this evening and I don’t want to miss the first A Round Of Words in 80 Days check-in for 2023! The challenge is doing things a little differently this year, launching The ROC80, a Round of Creativity welcoming wordsmiths and artists of all types is an 8- day challenge to offer that little extra connection in these socially disconnected times while challenging its participants to make real progress toward their creative goals.

Just like with AROW80, you don’t need much to start ROCing – just a measurable goal (which you can change if it isn’t working) and a way to let others participating in the challenge know what that goal is – and how you’re progressing on it. AROW80 is the reason I started this blog and it’s part of why I’ve been able to maintain a fairly consistent posting schedule for the last few years.

AROC80 Goals: Once again, I’m sticking with my Nuke Opera 2020 project, wherein I’m doing a deep, deep dive into 1980s post-apocalyptic men’s adventure novels. I’m still taking notes on books that I am going to write about and trying to come up with a solid definition of the subgenre. I’ve also been touching on Cold War history, the science of nuclear weapons and other works related to nuclear war and its aftermath. Toward that end, my goals for this quarter are:

  • Keep taking notes on the books I want to cover with an eye toward finishing the list off — since this can be a time consuming process, I’m going to try and spend at least 6 hours a week working on note taking.
  • Start working on articles/reviews of the books I’ve already covered – I’ve started keeping a journal where I write about whatever, so I’m going to try and spend 1-3 hours a week writing ideas and/or drafts of articles. Additionally, I’m also going to use this journaling time to review articles I’ve already written and see where I need to add additional information.
  • Define the subgenre of Nuke Opera for real and true. – this may actually be something that won’t be fully finished until I’ve taken notes on all the books I want to cover; however, because I’ve identified ancestral genres that tie into Nuke Operas, I’m going to work on defining their relationship to the sub-genre. Going to give this an hour or so a week of journaling and drafting.
  • Update a couple of my science articles because I found out I was using incorrect data (specifically, I had the wrong Calorie count for a Hershey’s bar…) – I’m planning on rewriting the article to update my figures and include more information. Hoping to start working on the revisions starting today and have something ready to post within the next two weeks.
  • Write up something about scale comparisons of nuclear blasts. – Because I have trouble grasping distances and because I love those scale-model solar systems, I’ve decided to do something similar for nuclear blasts. Using information gleaned from Alex Wellerstein’s NUKEMAP and an online Scale Calculator from Omni Calculator, I’ve managed to figure out a scale where 1 inch equals 2.5 feet that I think will work very well for my purposes and let me plot various impacts against an American football field for comparison. I’ve started work on this and expect to spend another 8-10 hours figuring things out over the next week or so.
  • Read and research – I’ve got a lot of books I want to read that are relevant to this project and I want to spend at least a few hours a week on that – either reading the books or listening to them as audiobooks.

Because of changes in my work schedule, I’m hopeful that I will have more bits of free time in which to work on these things. Also, I’m hoping that by setting down ideas for how to accomplish these goals instead of just what I want to get done, I’ll be setting myself up for success.

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Boilerplate Links:  

A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. If you want to join, you can at any time.Set the goals you want to accomplish and get and give encouragement to fellow ROWers. Feel free to join us on Facebook at ROW80 or follow us on Twitter at#ROW80.  Or you can do all of the above!

It’s The Final Blog Post…of 2022

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I’ve been spending the last couple days watching old episodes of Columbo, because I have a major soft spot for the bumbling detective. Watching him take down elitist creeps is just soothing – also, it’s fun to check early 1970s prices against an inflation calculator.

I also started watching a British series called New Tricks, which features retired officers being brought in to rework cold cases. While I get the occasional twinge when cases from the early 1980s are referred to as “old,” I enjoy the contrast between the older officers’ methods and modern day policing.  Also, the characters are flawed in ways that make them feel like people.

I’ve been taking a break from taking notes on The Zone #1: Hard Target, which is quite possibly the worst book I’ve read this far.  There isn’t a single likeable character in the bunch, except maybe the tank they’re riding around in (it’s called the Iron Cow, which amuses me).  Or the guy who is in a near coma, since all he does is scream and bleed. Everyone else is either dull as dishwater-soaked cardboard or actively disgusting individuals whom I don’t much care about.  Fortunately, I’m close to the end.

Instead, I’ve been reading and taking notes on Cold War Space and Culture in the 1960s and 1980s: The Bunkered Decades by David L. Pike. It’s got a chapter about what Pike calls “post-apocalyptic men’s action fiction,” and what I call Nuke Operas. It’s interesting reading and it’s giving me a good deal of food for thought.

Snuggled In

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Since it’s supposed to be cold as hell the next few days, I’ve made the bed with nearly every blanket we have and am preparing to sleep the cozy warm sleep of the well tucked in.

In other news, I’m playing around with creating a way to better compare nuclear explosions to make the damage and destruction they can cause easier to wrap my head around. This will involve fiddly bits of math and likely a spreadsheet or two. Looking forward to it

Progress!

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Not so much with notetaking, but as far as cleaning the house goes, I’ve made some actual progress! Like, I’ve found areas of floor we haven’t seen since…well, longer than I like to admit. Depression + Pandemic+ Lack of Motivation = Auuugh!!

But, we’re on our way to actual living space! Yay!

Stuff I Found Out…

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I did some reading about the history of the survivalist movement, since that’s cromulent to my interests.   I thought that survivalism had its  roots in civil defense preparations for nuclear war. Turns out, it originally sprang from fears of economic collapse in the 1960s and especially in the 1970s. Nuclear war became a concern in the 1980s, due in part to increased tensions between the US and the Soviet Union. 

Granted, this research stems from articles on survivalism from Wikipedia and RationalWiki, so there’s likely a lot more to it than that, but it does make sense and is giving me food for thought.

I’m also looking at the history of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems because I have a theory about how that helped fuel a move from community civil defense to individual civil defense.

But first, I’ve got some literal housecleaning to work on.