Atomic Day

Of those five interesting facts yesterday, one of them was that the U.S. was going to detonate an atomic bomb on the moon - just to prove it could.  I usually feel compelled to reference an article on stories like this as they are so bizarre that they seem to be fiction.   Here is the Wikipedia entry on this:  Project A119, also known as A Study of Lunar Research Flights, was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy and astrogeology. If the explosive device detonated on the surface, not in a lunar crater, the flash of explosive light would have been faintly visible to people on earth with their naked eye, a show of force resulting in a possible boosting of domestic morale in the capabilities of the United States, a boost that was needed after the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race and was also working on a similar project. The project was revealed in 2000 by a former executive of NASA.  Carl Sagan was on the team responsible for predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in vacuum and low gravity. The government has never officially recognized the project.  And what day is today? The 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  The after effects of the radiation continue: the list of those who died was updated since last year's anniversary. Do you know that there were people in both atomic blasts?  It was thought that perhaps as many as 200 people from Hiroshima sought refuge in Nagasaki.  The Japanese government officially recognized Tsutomu Yamaguchi as a double "hibakusha". He was 3 km from ground zero in Hiroshima where he was badly burned, then arrived at his home city on August 8th, the day before the bombing.  He was at his place of work during the second bombing.  His remarkable story is HERE.   There are two stories in our images today - the first a wonderful sidewalk into a Summer Street Buffalo Garden, and the second a solitary confinement cell at Kingston Penitentiary.