Tomorrow Last Thursday, August 6th, marks 64 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the United States at the end of World War II. Targeted for military reasons and for its terrain (flat for easier assessment of the aftermath), Hiroshima was home to approximately 250,000 people at the time of the bombing. The U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian Island very early on the morning of August 6th, carrying a single 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) uranium bomb codenamed “Little Boy”. At 8:15 am, Little Boy was dropped from 9,400 m (31,000 ft) above the city, freefalling for 57 seconds while a complicated series of fuse triggers looked for a target height of 600 m (2,000 ft) above the ground. At the moment of detonation, a small explosive initiated a super-critical mass in 64 kg (141 lbs) of uranium. Of that 64 kg, only .7 kg (1.5 lbs) underwent fission, and of that mass, only 600 milligrams was converted into energy – an explosive energy that seared everything within a few miles, flattened the city below with a massive shockwave, set off a raging firestorm and bathed every living thing in deadly radiation. Nearly 70,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 70,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950. Today, Hiroshima houses a Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum near ground zero, promoting a hope to end the existence of all nuclear weapons. (34 photos total)

The Boston Herald reported on the new site today:

Families crowded around black-and-white television sets in 1969 to watch Neil Armstrong take man’s first steps on the moon.

Now, they’ll be able to watch the Apollo 11 mission recreated in real time on the Web, follow Twitter feeds of transmissions between Mission Control and the spacecraft, and even get an e-mail alert when the lunar module touches down. Those features are part of a new Web site from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum commemorating the moon mission and Kennedy’s push to land Americans there first.

“Putting a man on the moon really did unite the globe,” said Thomas Putnam, director of the JFK Library. “We hope to use the Internet to do the same thing.”

The Web site — WeChooseTheMoon.org — goes live at 8:02 a.m. Thursday, 90 minutes before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will track the capsule’s route from the Earth to the Moon, ending with the moon landing and Armstrong’s walk — in real time, but 40 years later. Internet visitors can see animated recreations of key events from the four-day mission, including when Apollo 11 first orbits the moon and when the lunar module separates from the command module, as well as browse video clips and photos and hear the radio transmission between the astronauts and NASA flight controllers.

It’s history in real time. It’s a glimpse into one of the most open and most private homes in the world. And best of all: the photographs are made by official White House photographer Pete Souza who also shot the president during Regan’s years. He knows where to be, how to be there, and knows history when he sees it.

Great signature, too.

[A Holocaust survivor's son] told the story of a college freshman in Southern California who stood up during a presentation his mother was giving and said she’d never heard of the Holocaust.

What are they teaching in history classes nowadays?

He added, “The West is afraid to be accused of being neocolonial, as Mugabe accuses it of being. But this is not what is happening. What is happening is that twelve million people are under siege by a purported liberator.” Mudzuri concluded, “Why is it O.K. to help Iraq and fund everything there, but wrong here? To leave Africa to the dictators and the looters doesn’t help you. Where is Big Brother? He is not here.”

I’m not sure how long The New Yorker archives their essays online, so here’s a PDF for download.

When Spain commissioned Ferdinand Magellan to find a westward route to the Spice Islands in 1519, the explorer commanded five ships and 240 men. Six years later, nearly every member of the expedition, including its commander, was dead. When the American writer Jack Kerouac tried in 1951 to find the words to convey his wayward journey through the United States and Mexico, he commanded a typewriter and a massive stash of Benzedrine. After a few weeks, the first draft of On the Road was completed. These are just two of the journeys that have left indelible marks on our collective maps, and are endless sources of fascination. Here is compilation of some of the most famous jaunts of all time—both factual and fictional—that show us how far we’ve come, and where we might go next.

The maps are really cool.

(via Kottke)

ZWNews.com reports:

Politburo [Zanu-PF's decision-making body] members argued that the eviction of more farmers would bring the economy to its knees because they were the ones providing the little supplies that were still trickling onto the market.

No shit! They couldn’t have guessed this was going to happen before they started systematically kicking 4,000 farmers off their land?

The website continued:

[The members] further argued that the [reform act] was driven by nothing other than racism since swathes of land were lying idle following the emotive fast-track land reform programme.

Did anyone argue these land grabs were anything other than racism to begin with when they started back in 2001? Of course not. Africa is all about right now. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Not even about this afternoon. Right now.

My favorite argument of all:

“Other [Politburo members] pointed out that a further purge of white farmers would cause an unnecessary international outcry.”

Translation: Sssh. Don’t tell anyone — especially anyone outside our crumbling country — we’ve screwing this up big time!!!

Some revered him as a hero for potentially saving millions of American lives. Others called him the “world’s greatest killer.”

Whatever you believe and whichever side you’re on, a piece of history is gone.

There is one thing more wicked in the world than the desire to command, and that is the will to obey.

Ralph R. Reiland writes about Robert G. Mugabe’s actions — with a little Russian and Chinese history tossed in — for ZWNews.com.

And, as if murder and corruption weren’t bad enough, Harare’s director of health services told Reuters over 900 cases of diarrhea are recorded every day in the city’s 60 free clinics. Why? Zimbabwe’s infrastructure is failing; sewer pipes are bursting, water is contaminated and the power company, ZESA, is broke.

In the 1950′s, Alfred Lansing, author of Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, penned 288 of some of the most gripping pages I’ve read. For the uninitiated, the back cover of Lansing’s paperback reads:

In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off aboard the Endurance bound for the South Atlantic. The goal of his expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland, but more than a year later, and still half a continent away from the intended base, the Endurance was trapped in ice and eventually was crushed. For five months Shackleton and his crew survived on drifting ice packs in one of the most savage regions of the world before they were finally able to set sail again in one of the ship’s lifeboats. Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage is a white-knuckle account of this astounding odyssey.

Through the diaries of team members and interviews with survivors, Lansing reconstructs the months of terror and hardship the Endurance crew suffered. In October of 1915, there ‘were no helicopters, no Weasels, no Sno-Cats, no suitable planes. Thus their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity. If they were to get out–they had to get themselves out.’

This book is actually so much more. In fact, leadership training schools and outdoor survivalist training courses use Ernest Shackleton as a model for how to act and react in times of absolute desperation. And how to come out on top or simply alive. “How Shackleton did indeed get them out without the loss of a single life is at the heart of Lansing’s magnificent true-life adventure tale.” Don’t miss a chance to read this; you won’t put it down until you’re done. And when you are finished, you’ll think twice about the things you complain about when it’s cold outside.

Next up: Mark Twain’s tale of his 1895 journey around the world in Following The Equator.

These photos just released by the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Project show the glacier covering Greenland has receeded enough to reveal the world’s newest land mass, Warming Island.

CNET News.com reports “Scientists are concerned because the glacier on Greenland contains enough water to raise global sea levels by about 23 feet.”

I say you are wrong.

In his most recent post, Zeldman offers:

“Over 12,000 people filled out The Web Design Survey during its first 24 hours online. Average completion time was 8 minutes, 45 seconds. Not a bad start. Keep spreading the word.”

Bush to Seek Cutback in Gas Consumption

Get inspi(red). Join (red) and stand as one. You would be surprised how little it actually takes to help someone so much.

Come here directly? Don’t miss the new home page working “inspi(red)” page..

This is a colossal moment in this nation’s history. In 1967, the U.S. population was a mere 200 million and it’s only taken 39 years to reach a third of a billion. CNN, the New York Times, and many other prominent news agencies published editorials discussing the growing population and the shrinking landscape all asking one simple question: where is everyone going to fit? Like many, I certainly don’t have the answer, but some of that wide-open farm land in the west is looking mighty tasty.

In today’s world there’s living and dying. And, for some, it’s not all it should be. See below in this edition of Monday’s links:

This American Life: Then & Now

By the numbers, with pictures. CNN.com

Bono launches U.S. Red campaign for AIDS in Africa

Red iPods, cell phones, t-shirts, shoes and more. All for the fight against AIDS.

To Be Married Means to Be Outnumbered

I’m married, and I love it. But for the first time ever, us folks who are hitched are in the minority.

A Soldier comes home, too early yet too late

The war in Iraq reaches all the way to the farthest stretches of the U.S., in Barrow, Alaska

If you’re a Boston sports fan, you’ve gotta take 10 minutes and read this. Edge: Bill Simmons.

New York. 1883. The Brooklyn Bridge opened and immediately hailed as The Eighth Wonder of the World.

So, what makes something wonderful? Is it in the eye of the beholder, or the creator, or is it just so? The ice cream cone was invented on this day in 1904. To me, that’s pretty wonderful. My wife’s laughing at me. “C’mon though, that’s just an ice cream cone”, she says. I’m fairly sure that had Charles E. Menches never thought of it, someone would have. But what for the things in this world that everyone sees as wonderful?

Wikipedia has a great write-up on The Seven Wonders of the World. The ancient, modern, technological, underwater, and natural wonders are all covered. Of the items that made the lists, which have you seen? And do you think they’re worthy? Cast your vote to weigh in.

My wife and I have been very lucky to have been able to visit some of the places on the handful of Seven Wonders lists, and I gotta tell you, they’re really something. We’ve stood alongside the edge of the Zambezi River as its waters roared over Victoria Falls (and even chanced our lives rafting the most dangerous rapids in the world). Not a rain cloud in sight, but a slicker very much required. We’ve raced through the English Channel Chunnel on the Eurostar a few times—London, Paris; Paris, London. I’ve climbed to the top of the Empire State Building for a great view of the second greatest city in the world (sorry NYers, I was born in Boston). We’ll cross the Golden Gate Bridge this year November, and aim to knock a few more off the list before we call it quits.

But I can’t help think of the places we’ve traveled to which aren’t on any wonders lists, and maybe should be. I’ve stood inside the Sistine Chapel and stared at the ceiling so long my neck hurt. I’ve hopped out on a few rocks at the southern-most tip of the African continent soaking my feet in the water where the Indian meets the Atlantic. I’ve seen a bull fight in Madrid, drank warm whisky in freezing Scotland, covered my eyes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, spent a day at Ikea in Quebec, walked The Louvre end-to-end, drove across the highest paved road in Colorado’s Rockies, and seen the world’s largest clock face in Zurich. I’m very fortunate to say the list goes on. But of these few, I certainly consider them wonders in their own right. And my list is growing longer everyday. Should some of these be “wonders”? Maybe just for the two of us. Maybe for others as well. I was thrilled to see the New 7 Wonders organization holding an open vote on the topic. Now our wonders have the chance to become wonders for others.

I wonder if Washington Roebling thought his Brooklyn Bridge—”the 8th wonder of the world”—would be outdone by this long list of other bridges? Because they’re pretty wonderful—especially the Millau Viaduct in France.

This is the 204th day of 2006, and there are 161 days left in the year. What else happened today?

So, take a few minutes and poke around. You’ll find articles written often daily, photography, details about my freelance work, and a list of some pretty amazing things. I hope you enjoy your stay, come back often, and feel free to comment on any articles.