Ok, so maybe talking about Godzilla is not in good taste these days however NPR ran a story recently about how days after the Fukushima incident began in Japan, he became a trending topic on Wikipedia. That's....just odd.
One thing that really caught my attention during the story was a real event inspired the movie. Namely, the Castle Bravo test on Bikini Atoll in 1954. It's just impossible to imagine anyone thinking it would be acceptable to detonate a nuclear weapon-much less a hydrogen bomb-above ground although both the US and the Russians obviously have long histories of that. The yield was 15 megatons which was over double what they anticipated. In the process, they irradiated a Japanese fishing boat and their entire cargo of fish. At least one sailor died as a direct result. Even worse, after the US tried to cover it up, they later admitted around 100 additional fishing boats had been exposed and some of the Marshall Islands had to be evacuated. This story has some Chernobyl-esque touches to it, no? Fucking assholery. I don't even know who to blame so I've decided to hate on the late Edward Teller (the man Carl Sagan blamed for the hydrogen bomb and a whole lot of bullshit that followed.)
Curious about the crater? Naturally, someone has mapped it.
I'm tempted to end on a positive note and mention my favorite Godzilla movie. I wonder if that's in bad taste.
Well, fine. It's Godzilla Versus Ghidrah, the Three-headed Monster From Space-which I am a proud owner of thanks to the Friends of the Library discard sale. My second favorite is that Arrested Development episode.
In which I engage in shallow discussions about books, movies, science, history and whatever else I'm thinking at that moment. And have beers with Captain Howdy.
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