[FRIAM] for our psychonauts

[Steve Smith]

Nick, et al. -
> Reminds me of that period in which people were desperately looking for something to do with nuclear explosives other than kill one another. Like:  "Let's blow a new hole in the Isthmus of Panama!"  Project Plowshares, it was called. 
>
> Nick Thompson

And don't forget ( on this auspicious very day known as /Hiroshima Day/
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki>
) the Soviet program  ( PNE - /_Peaceful Nuclear Explosions_///Program
6/Program 7 /) believed to be several times as large as Plowshares.  
The were not only more prolific but more extravagantly diverse.  

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_National_Economy

One of the myriad Soviet uses was to stop the runaway venting of gas
wells, one in particular having been venting for 3 years at the time. 
FWIW (another old man story here), I grew up with a girl who ended up
marrying Red Adair's son Jimmy who followed in his father's footsteps
until his own death only a couple of years after his father.    John
Wayne fans (not me) may remember his portrayal of Red hisself in the
late 60's "Hellfighters <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063060/>" movie
(never saw it).

I don't know if elderBush tried to prescribe nukes to put out the Kuwait
blazes left from the occupation/re-occupation/retreat, but the Adairs
ended up going straight to Congress to testify about their own solution
which ended up including using the pipeline infrastructure built to move
oil to tankers in the gulf to run backwards, carrying 1.5b gallons of
seawater to aid in quenching the fire(s).  It apparently worked.

Complementary to the Soviet canal projects ( I don't know that we ever
seriously considered doing something in Panama?)  were their own
Artificial Harbor projects and our own Operation Chariot in the newly
beStated Alaska (1960?) which was never actually executed, yet lead to
radioactive contamination from the tests (distributing nuclear waste
from the Nevada Test Site to estimate the environmental effects).   An
aluet or inuit harmed by this contamination as a child has a significant
presence in one of Neal Stephenson's early CyberPunk books (Snow
Crash?).   The nuke fracking tests (some/all?) were carried out in our
backyard (4 corners).  Astronomy/Bolid-Impactor fans might remember (or
appreciate) Project Sedan <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_Crater>.

BTW: Happy Hiroshima Day... 

... as long as I am on a tear...  in about 1993 I was invited to meet
with a group of children (then adults) of Habakusha
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Birth_defect_investigations>
touring the US.   In spite of the studies that apparently show
low/insignificant birth-defect/long-term consequences of the type of
radiation exposure in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki context(s), this contingent
had demonstrable birth defects and claimed their parents were definitely
present near the Hiroshima blasts.   Another old-man-story detail that
might be of vague interest to someone was that I was in those days
wearing the flight jacket one of my uncles (both were WWII pilots)
bequeathed me.  Complementing the fur collar, it had the silk lining
with a map of the western Pacific (in case of ditching and needing to
catch a current back to friendly territory?) which fascinated them,
something they were unfamiliar with.   I was the only person at the
gathering from LANL, though Jerry West
<https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/dreaming-his-dreams-painter-jerry-west/article_92b6f2b6-b79d-11e8-b2b0-436e7843d668.html>
(nod to Frank's NM roots/generation) told a fascinating story about his
own family being displaced from the Los Alamos Area for the Manhattan
Project and his father joining many other out-of-work
cowboy-homesteaders who became guards at the Japanese Internment Camp in
Santa Fe (W. Alameda where the Solana shopping center now stands).  
According to West, the Santa Fe camp was designated to receive the
"religious leaders" (Buddhist Monks) as well as other highly educated
and trained individuals (also members of the Samurai class/tradition?)
from around the country from each Japanese Community Interned (near
home) to undermine any "uprising" having such leaders in place might
yield.   It backfired a bit, as these spiritual (rather than religious)
leaders were important for helping these displaced/interned communities
maintain their spiritual sanity and removing them likely lead to a lot
more unrest.   As a side effect (anecdotally) these monks brought their
myriad skills to Santa Fe, including, especially not only gardening
skills but also seedstocks.   Apparently there are myriad garden-plant
species found in Santa Fe which are acclimated/habituated to our
bioregion from them.   According to West, the "camp" had no perimeter
sections that were more than 3 strand barbed wire around the perimeter
and while his father and other guards were armed (six-shooters on their
hips), they quickly became quite enamored of these monks and became
friends (as much as one can in such a situation?).   He did NOT discuss
the uprising that happened there near the end of the internment period
(lead/carried by several hundred recent arrivals?). 

Others here may have a much more complete/grounded understanding of this
period (Carl?).

oh wait, and there's more!   Project X-Ray
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb> acutely inhumane to bats and to
humans, had the weapon been deployed, was also a product of NM.   There
has been speculation that the project was declined to be deployed in
favor of the more spectacular nuclear weapons.   Bat-carried
incendiaries were a serious threat to the paper and bamboo cities of
Japan, but not so much for the Soviet cities we apparently thought we
needed to telegraph our military supremacy to at the time.  Holy Bat Caves!


mumble/ramble/grumble

- Steve

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