Atomic Bombs   were exploded over Hiroshima ( right ) and Nagasaki to end World War 2. Nagasaki's Fat Man was 40% more powerful than Hiroshima's Little Boy.  The Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union, a hydrogen bomb, was 3500 times more powerful than Fat Man. Watch this fascinating  video of how much destruction these weapons would cause . Comparison with other bombs, height of Mount Everest and altitude of commercial airliner. It is reported, that Soviet scientists were worried about this H-Bomb being, perhaps, too powerful, so they decided to limit the size to 50 Megatons, but instead got 57 MT of TNT.  They could have brought it up to more than 100 MT. Can a more powerful bomb be built?  Yes, an  anti-matter bomb.  Watch this video. Theoretically, should be 100 times more powerful than a Tsar Bomba. Just half a gram of anti-matter reacting with half a gram of ordinary matter would produce the equivalent of the Nagasaki A-Bomb. A ton of anti-matter ...

Wednesday is my sci-tech day.  With the recent passage of   Richard Garwin,   I'll assess where we are today on the Hydrogen Bomb, for he was the individual who was in charge of building the first one in 1951, at the age of 23.  Yes, he lived to be 97. My only link to nuclear energy is that I twice worked under Edward Teller at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  But this was in the 1970's, and for half a century I haven't done much in this field.  In any case, at LLNL I was with the laser fusion program.  Teller was not only the father of the Hydrogen Bomb, he also was director of this lab, where  John Nuckols  had developed a process to use a laser to produce fusion for power. Teller came to Hawaii in the 70's, proposing a bank of wind turbines at the top of the Koolaus.  This was so long ago that Google can't find that photo, which was on the front page of one of the local newspapers.  While there, I joined him and Momok...

To follow-up on the Kamala Harris - Tim Walz ticket, some humor.  Read Laura Yuen's op-ed,  No, Walz isn't old.  He's 60 (which is the new 40 ).  To quote. Joe Biden is old. Now that he’s dropped out of the race, we all can agree Donald Trump is old. Kamala Harris looks youthful. Tim Walz appears oldish, but he’s only about six months older than Harris. Our governor, who was announced as Harris’ vice presidential running mate, acknowledges the disparity. The former teacher attributes his graying appearance to having supervised a high school lunchroom for 20 year s. Retorted Walz:   You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me . By the way, Brad Pitt is also 60.   Photo taken this year , in an article that says he is worth $400 million. Yuen also had a dig at Trump:   The lines on his face come from the worry of protecting Minnesotans during COVID-19, and the glee from being swarmed by schoolkids when he signed a free-lunc...