If you don’t think the ‘50s were the greatest decade, you might think again. This was the era of almost monthly atom bomb tests, many of them in Nevada, just an hour’s drive north of Vegas. The bus schedule on this flyer hints that there must have been at least a couple of big booms to watch every week, although that seems doubtful. Remember too, this was an era during which we grade schoolers had monthly drills in the classroom to see how fast we could get into the proper cowering position under our desks waiting for one of these things to go off somewhere in our vicinity. Atomic bombs were much more real to us then than now. We were prepared for them!
So would you have gone to witness the Big One? Just think of all those atoms being split to smithereens right in front of you. As the awe struck gentleman pictured here testifies, it was an event worthy of dressing up and putting on a tie for! But still, was it really worth $3 and a 65 mile bus trip into the Nevada desert? As I spent a lot of time in my childhood playing with firecrackers and cherry bombs, I would have given you a resounding “Yes!” for sure. And I probably would have taken my Geiger counter with me as well. Note too, that the atoms being blown to even tinier bits were “genuine”.
By the way, we can thank the Irish for “smithereens”, which comes from their word “smiddereens” or small fragments. And you can thank Greetings from Other Worlds for THIS
New Old Photo of the Week
I’m now working on Australia and beyond, looking for old gems in the archives of yesteryear. Let’s see what I can find!
Northern Territory ©2020 David Ryan
The 2-Sentence Novel
© David Ryan 2023
Bob’s Museum
Robert graduated with a degree in curation.
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