Picture of the day

Sharps '63 said:
I wonder how many suffered the effects of gama radiation?
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Can't remember where I read it, but I seem to recall that the long term cancer rate for all the soldiers who participated in those tests was close to 100% - but the US military obfuscated it by pointing to how many were smokers and other "contributing" factors, etc.
 
Over the summer, I took a stroll through Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima. Very good reading for anyone interested in how folks have buggered up the whole atom-smashing business over the years. That led to looking into the Bikini / Crossroads Able and Baker shots, and from there to the fate of the Prinz Eugen, currently still available for public viewing, capsized on Kwajalein Atoll...

5503611-R4-032-14A.jpg


Damned internet ate up a whole afternooon on me.

[youtube]KJjx2-XmwW0[/youtube]

Ow.
 
Ok... Here's some nice looking lasses, who are sacrificing more than they realize for the war effort. I'll poke around and see if I can find a wooden nickle to send to whoever can guess why these gals are in extreme danger in this photo:

http://www.pocke####chrepair.com/watch_resources/co_graphics/ingersoll_workers.jpg
 
grelmar said:
Ok... Here's some nice looking lasses, who are sacrificing more than they realize for the war effort. I'll poke around and see if I can find a wooden nickle to send to whoever can guess why these gals are in extreme danger in this photo:

http://www.pocke####chrepair.com/watch_resources/co_graphics/ingersoll_workers.jpg
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Painting radium dials on instruments?
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
If you're ever tired of sleeping, read up on "radium jaw". Nasty business, that, and something I had no idea existed until I read Atomic Accidents.
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Vaguely familiar with the syndrome. The dial painters were taught to lick their brushes to keep them nice and pointy so they could paint fine, clean lines on the dials.

Saddest part about the whole thing was that there was at least an awareness of the problem dating back to the mid 20's, but nothing really changed, in terms of workplace safety practices, until after WWII.
 
The girls had no idea how dangerous the stuff was, and would paint their fingernails, eyelashes, and skin with it. Radium is taken up by the body in the same way as calcium, so any fast growing bone (like the jaw) absorbs gobs of it and it starts doing its thing.

You get enough of it for long enough, and it makes your bones all crumbly, which hurts about as much as you'd think it would. Nasty goop, radium.

Here's a slightly happier thought - name these tanks, rolling gleefully along in Oslo:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L03744,_Norwegen,_Oslo,_Deutsche_Panzer_im_Hafen.jpg


Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-761-221N-06%2C_Norwegen%2C_Panzer_%22Neubaufahrzeug%22.jpg
 
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grelmar said:
Vaguely familiar with the syndrome. The dial painters were taught to lick their brushes to keep them nice and pointy so they could paint fine, clean lines on the dials.

Saddest part about the whole thing was that there was at least an awareness of the problem dating back to the mid 20's, but nothing really changed, in terms of workplace safety practices, until after WWII.
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Even trained people can become complacent about this over time as radiation cannot be seen or felt, but dosages do accumulate as a result of ongoing exposure. This is why people who work around radioactive emitters wear a film badge or carry a personal dosimeter to monitor their level of exposure and accumulated dose. I was on a radiation monitoring and hazard control course 45 years ago which resulted in all of us, as well as some of the instructional staff, exceeding our maximum permissible dose. It was basically a matter of complacency and sloppiness by the instructors who knew better. Some of them were disciplined and posted out after this.
 
Panzerkampfwagen V

Sorry, can't recall the Sonder Kraftfahrzeugnummer offhand.

Total production 5 units; all 5 were sent to Oslo.

It is the REASON that German PzKpfw numbers advanced from IV for the Mark IV to VI for the Tiger I.

PzKpfw V "Panther" came later. Each had a different Sd Kfz number.
 
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purple said:
Even trained people can become complacent about this over time as radiation cannot be seen or felt, but dosages do accumulate as a result of ongoing exposure. This is why people who work around radioactive emitters wear a film badge or carry a personal dosimeter to monitor their level of exposure and accumulated dose. I was on a radiation monitoring and hazard control course 45 years ago which resulted in all of us, as well as some of the instructional staff, exceeding our maximum permissible dose. It was basically a matter of complacency and sloppiness by the instructors who knew better. Some of them were disciplined and posted out after this.
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Much the same as any form of toxin exposure. If you don't notice the immediate effects, you shrug and move on.

If I live long enough for the ciggies to take me out, I'll consider it a victory - my dad's partner died of cancer, my dad's been bitten twice, but is just too cranky to give in to it. I worked with them for years, exposed to the same lame, really common toxin that most people don't even realize is poisoning the countryside. But that's a whole side story.

Anyway, happy pics. A classic that's probably been posted around here somewhere before, but that time of year approaches:

b97feb056ad0da2860_a1m6b9ax0.JPG
 
grelmar said:
Can't remember where I read it, but I seem to recall that the long term cancer rate for all the soldiers who participated in those tests was close to 100% - but the US military obfuscated it by pointing to how many were smokers and other "contributing" factors, etc.
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Another casualty of the atomic bomb testing was Hollywood actors. It seems many movies were filmed adjacent to to bomb test ranges and as a result many 50's and 60's era actors died of cancer. Agnes Moorhead (the mother-in-law on Bewitched) is one that comes to mind. John Wayne is another.
 
During a NBCW training session in Germany in the 1970's, we were all gathered around a Roentgenometer (geigercounter) that was going berserk. Turned out that the instrument was reacting to our hand painted watch dials, done up for us by a local German watchmaker. They literally glowed in the dark after exposure to strong light.

We were all wearing personal dosimeters that did not react.

We had to turn our issue watches into QM, issued new watches and ordered not to have the dials painted again. Who knew .... ?
 
bogusiii said:
Another casualty of the atomic bomb testing was Hollywood actors. It seems many movies were filmed adjacent to to bomb test ranges and as a result many 50's and 60's era actors died of cancer. Agnes Moorhead (the mother-in-law on Bewitched) is one that comes to mind. John Wayne is another.
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Interesting comment, Bruce.

I was exposed to Agent Orange and possibly Purple during an FTX in Gagetown 1966.

A class action suit failed to provide any remedy.

So, I'm still sure that I was affected but Big Brother won out.
 
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