#atomic

psychmesu@diaspora.glasswings.com

https://kolektiva.social/@MikeDunnAuthor/112462817309471639 MikeDunnAuthor@kolektiva.social - Today in Labor History May 18, 1979: An Oklahoma jury ruled in favor of the estate of atomic worker Karen Silkwood. Kerr-McGee Nuclear Company was ordered to pay $505,000 in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages for negligence leading to Silkwood’s plutonium contamination. On appeal, the court reduced the settlement to a pitiful $5,000, the estimated value of her property losses. In 1984, the Supreme Court restored the original verdict, but Kerr-McGee again threatened to appeal. Ultimately, Silkwood’s family settled out of court for $1.38 million and the company never had to admit any wrongdoing.

Silkwood first started working at Kerr-McGee in 1972. She joined the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers union and participated in a strike. After the strike, her comrades elected her to the union’s bargaining committee. She was the first woman to attain that status at Kerr-McGee. In this role, one of her duties was to investigate health and safety issues. Not surprisingly, she discovered numerous violations, including exposure of workers to contamination. The union accused Kerr-McGee of falsifying inspection records, manufacturing faulty fuel rods and other safety violations. After testifying to the Atomic Energy Commission, Silkwood discovered that her own body and home were contaminated with radiation. Her body contained 400 times the legal limit for plutonium contamination and she was expelling contaminated air from her lungs. Her house was so contaminated they had to destroy much of her personal property.

Later, she decided to go public with documentation proving the company’s negligence. She left a meeting with union officials in order to meet a New York Times journalist. She brought a binder and packet of documents supporting her allegations with her. However, she never made it, dying in a suspicious car crash. The documents were never found. Some journalist believe she was rammed from behind by another vehicle. Investigators noted damage to the read of her car that would be consistent with this hypothesis. She had also received death threats shortly before her death. However, no one has yet substantiated the claims of foul play.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #silkwood #union #atomic #nuclear #radioactive #contamination #murder

psych@diasp.org

Verrrry interesting.... with several links to further deep-wormhole explorations.
Seen posted on Post with the intro: Caution: More interesting links than you expect. =>

Albert Einstein Appears in Remarkably Colorized Video & Contemplates the Fate of Humanity After the Atomic Bomb (1946)

Fascinating time-travel to some conversation with / thoughts by #AlbertEinstein (colorized!).

We lived in one world before August 6, 1945, and have lived in another ever since. Nobody understood this more clearly than Albert Einstein, who had advocated for the research that culminated in that day. “A letter from Dr. Einstein in 1939 informed President Roosevelt that the Germans were engaged in the development of an atomic bomb and urged that science and technology in the United States be mobilized on a similar effort,” says a 1946 New York Times article. “This [1939] letter gave the first impetus to the development of the Atomic Bomb.” This story was included by way of context of a new call to action by Einstein and other prominent scientists, one meant to secure humanity’s future in a world with the bomb.

Einstein wrote that “I made one great mistake in my life — when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made.” It’s one kind of ambition to change the mind of a politician, and quite another to change the mind of humanity.

" I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth -- rocks!" - Albert Einstein

#atombomb #atomic #Einstein #physics

escheche@diasp.org

A Climate of Betrayal

https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-climate-of-betrayal.html

“All grimly true, but they can be sure that they won't be recorded for their crimes in history –
because there won't be any history” (Noam Chomsky)

According to the #clock of the #atomic #scientists it is 90 seconds to midnight.

#andrewglikson #video #climate #betrayal #climatechange #environment #earth #globalwarming #fossilfuel #emissions

petitpain@diaspora.psyco.fr

L'écologie n'existera jamais, et encore moins sans la reconnaissance de l'écocide
Nous sommes une civilisation de détritus.
Un exemple parmi mille, bon appétit.
Océans Poubelles - (2013) - 52'
#atomic #dechet #ocean #ecocide
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x69y1a0
L'écocide ce n'est pas seulement l'interdiction de... la punition, mais aussi la réparation des préjudices.
ce qui invoque l'internationalité des procédures et la mise en commun de fonds monétaire incommensurable pour dépolluer et cela pour intervenir sur notre passé, dès le début du xxème siècle au sortir de la première guerre.

dkkhorsheed@diasp.org

#Remembering #Hiroshima #Nagasaki #Japan #Atomic #Bombings #Nuclear #Weapons #Devastation #LittleBoy #FatMan #US #WorldWar11 #August01945 #August091945 #Death #Never_Forget #Our #Sad #World

Never Forget / Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 06 - 09, 1945

August 6th 1945 was just a regular day. Little did the citizens of Hiroshima know, but for thousands of them, life was about to come to an end. Hiroshima had been selected by the United States as the very first atomic bomb target. Nobody knew for certain what the effect would be. The single atomic bomb weighed 4 tons, which is 3,600 kilograms. The person who dropped the bomb was Major Tom Ferebee from the aircraft, the “Enola Gay”. The pilot who was flying the “Enola Gay” at the time was Colonel Paul Tibbets. The dropping happened just after 8:00 a.m. Less than a minute after the dropping, the atomic bomb exploded. The explosion produced a temperature of 5,400 Fahrenheit, which is twice as high as the melting point of iron. Victims' skin began to peel off their faces, hands, and arms. It has been estimated that people living within 1,100 yards (1km) of the bomb site burned to death. Survivors were in a state of shock. Dead and dying people lay all around Hiroshima. Hiroshima used to be a city of 245,000 people with only 150 doctors and 1,780 nurses. 65 doctors were killed and the rest were wounded, and 1,654 nurses were dead or wounded. At the biggest hospital, only 1 doctor out of 30 was uninjured and the nursing staff of over 200 was down to 10. Nobody knows the exact number of people who died in Hiroshima. Official figures estimated 100,000 died. However, due to radiation sicknes the estimate rose to 140,000 by the end of 1945. After the bombing, Japan rejected the United States’ ultimatum to surrender unconditionally, so America dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. It is estimated that the bomb killed 80,000 people. Japan surrendered to the United States on August 14, 1945, eight days following the first bombing.

Photo: Victims of the Hiroshima Bombing, Japan / August 06,1945