I never knew that!

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

I never knew this: http://www.radiationworks.com/sl1reactor.htm

Yes, It was part of Naval Nuclear Power School Training back in the '70s.

The accident was a result of too rapid a change of reactivity when the control rod came unstuck from being "yanked" loose, instantly causing it (the shutdown reactor) to go supercritical, and I emphasize "instantly". Hence the reason for the training was to emphasize NOT to withdraw control rods too fast.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the only nuclear accident (to date) in the U.S. that directly resulted in deaths.

[McBeck]

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

Yes, It was part of Naval Nuclear Power School Training back in the '70s.

The accident was a result of too rapid a change of reactivity when the control rod came unstuck from being "yanked" loose, instantly causing it (the shutdown reactor) to go supercritical, and I emphasize "instantly". Hence the reason for the training was to emphasize NOT to withdraw control rods too fast.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the only nuclear accident (to date) in the U.S. that directly resulted in deaths.

Yes, its a little known fact. Most people remember Three Mile Island.
However, during the Manhatten project, a few people died due to a core and cover of fisile material accidential getting too close during an experiment.
They used a screwdriver to keep them appart and it slipped. (Thats how I remember it and may very well be mistaken). One quickly pushed the materials appart, but depending on how close you were, you got a certain dose. I think they called it "tickling the dragons tail"...

I think its this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin

[Jimbuna]

Bear Bryant was once asked to contribute $10 to help pay for a sportswriter's funeral. According to legend, he said, "Here's a twenty, bury two."

[Eichhörnchen]

The Tuberous Bush Cricket has plums which make up a whopping 14 per cent of its body mass:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1109191752.htm

How it manages to hop from one plant to another with these monstrous manjigglies hanging down, I just can't think. If Reece's love spuds were this big, he'd have to stuff them in the panniers when he rode his motorbike

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by McBeck

Yes, its a little known fact. Most people remember Three Mile Island.
However, during the Manhatten project, a few people died due to a core and cover of fisile material accidential getting too close during an experiment.
They used a screwdriver to keep them appart and it slipped. (Thats how I remember it and may very well be mistaken). One quickly pushed the materials appart, but depending on how close you were, you got a certain dose. I think they called it "tickling the dragons tail"...

I think its this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin

^Nope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian Slotin was not the first in the incident involving the seven men in the room, in 1946, in the 'tickling the dragons tail'. The first fatality was Haroutune Krikor "Harry" Daghlian Jr. who accidentally irradiated himself fatally on August 21,1945 from the same fissile pile, "During an experiment on August 21, 1945, Daghlian was attempting to build a neutron reflector manually by stacking a set of 4.4-kilogram (9.7 lb) tungsten carbide bricks in an incremental fashion around a plutonium core. The purpose of the neutron reflector was to reduce the mass required for the plutonium core to attain criticality. He was moving the final brick over the assembly, but neutron counters alerted Daghlian to the fact that the addition of that brick would render the system supercritical. As he withdrew his hand, he inadvertently dropped the brick onto the center of the assembly. Since the assembly was nearly in the critical state, the accidental addition of that brick caused the reaction to go immediately into the prompt supercritical region of neutronic behavior. This resulted in a criticality accident. Daghlian reacted immediately after dropping the brick and attempted to knock the brick off the assembly without success. He was forced to disassemble part of the tungsten-carbide pile in order to halt the reaction." He died 25 days later: This core, subsequently nicknamed the "demon core": was later involved in the death of physicist, Louis Slotin. He died nine days after saving the others in the room...not the way to go in either case...The courage of the two physicists in preventing greater damage at their own lives' cost is remarkable.

[Jimbuna]

Kool-Aid was originally marketed as "Fruit Smack."

[McBeck]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

^Nope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian Slotin was not the first in the incident involving the seven men in the room, in 1946, in the 'tickling the dragons tail'. The first fatality was Haroutune Krikor "Harry" Daghlian Jr. who accidentally irradiated himself fatally on August 21,1945 from the same fissile pile, "During an experiment on August 21, 1945, Daghlian was attempting to build a neutron reflector manually by stacking a set of 4.4-kilogram (9.7 lb) tungsten carbide bricks in an incremental fashion around a plutonium core. The purpose of the neutron reflector was to reduce the mass required for the plutonium core to attain criticality. He was moving the final brick over the assembly, but neutron counters alerted Daghlian to the fact that the addition of that brick would render the system supercritical. As he withdrew his hand, he inadvertently dropped the brick onto the center of the assembly. Since the assembly was nearly in the critical state, the accidental addition of that brick caused the reaction to go immediately into the prompt supercritical region of neutronic behavior. This resulted in a criticality accident. Daghlian reacted immediately after dropping the brick and attempted to knock the brick off the assembly without success. He was forced to disassemble part of the tungsten-carbide pile in order to halt the reaction." He died 25 days later: This core, subsequently nicknamed the "demon core": was later involved in the death of physicist, Louis Slotin. He died nine days after saving the others in the room...not the way to go in either case...The courage of the two physicists in preventing greater damage at their own lives' cost is remarkable.

I read that too, but misread the part about when he died. I read years when it in fact states days

[Jeff-Groves]

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

[Jimbuna]

Only female mosquitoes will bite you.

[u crank]

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by u crank

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

Source?

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by u crank

We can only directly see 4 percent of the universe.

Really? these people may disagree with that.

As technology has evolved, astronomers are able to look back in time to the moments just after the Big Bang. This might seem to imply that the entire universe lies within our view. But the size of the universe depends on a number of things, including its shape and expansion. Just how big is the universe? The truth is, scientists can't put a number on it.

http://www.space.com/24073-how-big-is-the-universe.html

[Tango589]

Hyphephilia are people who get aroused by touching fabrics

[Jimbuna]

As part of David Hasselhoff's divorce settlement, he kept possession of the nickname "Hoff" and the catchphrase "Don't Hassle the Hoff."

[Eichhörnchen]

I haven't checked this out yet but I just heard on the radio (Frank Skinner's "The Rest is History", R4) that Attila The Hun died of a nosebleed. They said he was asleep in bed and drowned in his own blood.