Show Notes Episode 517: Atom Bomb Baby

This week Host Dave Bledsoe goes into his laboratory to work on his experiments. (His lab is a bar and he is mixing toxic cocktails to drink alone. Again.) On the show this week we examine the second leg of the Boomer Tripod, which explains why Boomers are the way they are. (Standing in line at the Walmart return counters muttering racisms at an audible level.): The Atomic Age.

Along the way we learn WAY TOO MUCH about Dave and his youthful “nocturnal emissions”. (Eew. Just Eew!) Then we dive right into those heady years following World War Two when America was in love with the Atom.  We explore all the ways people tried to make the bomb work in civilian applications and all the things people imagined we would power with a nuclear reactor.  (We could have had atomic cars!) Then we take a look at the atom in pop culture.  From atomic beauty queens to atomic labs under the Christmas tree, the atom was cool until it wasn’t. (Funny how nuclear war can ruin a good time!!)

Our Sponsor this week is The Junior Manhattan Project Home Set, the future bright because it glows from atomic radiation! We open the show with a little cartoon explaining the atom and close with Unexpected Visitors who sing us a little love song!

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

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Closing Music:https://youtu.be/FNYCq452aEA?si=zjYQBx7QQf_ZKFr2

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Citations Needed:

The Manhattan Project an Interactive History

https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945-present/public_reaction.htm

The Atomic Automobile

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/

America’s Crazy Attempts to Build Nuclear-Powered Aircraft

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/americas-crazy-attempts-build-nuclear-powered-aircraft-13352

Atomically Bad Ideas for the Atomic Bomb

https://www.ripleys.com/stories/atomic-bomb-ideas

How Uranium Fever Shaped the 1950s Southwest

https://yesterdaysamerica.com/how-uranium-fever-shaped-the-1950s-southwest/

4 Atomic-Themed 1950s Beauty Queens

https://www.mentalfloss.com/culture/fashion-beauty/4-atomic-themed-1950s-beauty-queens

Comics and the atomic bomb from 1945 to 1955

https://www.tcj.com/comics-and-the-atomic-bomb-from-1945-to-1955/

Pop Music and the Bomb

https://thebulletin.org/2018/12/pop-music-and-the-bomb/

Toy Geiger Counter by Bell Products (1955-1956)

https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/toys/bell-products-geiger-counter.html

7 Retro Toys From the Atomic Age

https://www.mentalfloss.com/fun/toys/retro-atomic-age-toys

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