The story of the Swedish man who built an atom smasher in his apartment made me think of this little educational gem created by General Electric to introduce and educate American students in the wonders of atomic power. It’s animated so that it would captivate the kiddies and just long enough so that the teacher could suck down a couple of Chesterfields in the teachers’ lounge while it was playing.
I caught this little wonder from a bygone era on the Pub-D-Hub channel via my fabulous Roku player. It was nice being re-introduced to sub-atomic particles, and I actually learned some things about the mechanics of fission. Not enough to build my own atom smasher, but I really dug the madly dancing atoms like the one pictured above. That must have killed them in the fifth grade!
So settle down, class while Herbert threads the projector. Susie, get the lights. Children, behave. I’m leaving Bobby in charge. I have an important meeting in the Teachers’ Lounge. Sit quietly and let’s all learn about Atomic Energy…
Speaking of atoms and matinees, have you ever noticed that in virtually all of the 1950’s sci-fi flicks, that EVERYONE has a Geiger Counter ?
Have you ever actually seen a Geiger Counter ?
Neither have I.
I’ve never met anyone named Geiger, either.
Would you need a Geiger counter or a census taker?
Your comment has given me a GREAT IDEA !
Why not a census taker that CARRIES a Geiger Counter ?
And has a bomb sniffing dog as a sidekick, and wears x-ray/night vision goggles, and a laptop with EVERYONE’S personal info(or facebook page), and has an overdeveloped sense of smell to detect drug houses, meth labs and pet hoarders.
And he could deliver the mail, serve subpoenas and repo cars on the side.
And of course, wears rubber gloves in the event he or she has to check for contraband or polyps.
This could be yet ANOTHER job that Americans don’t wanna do.