I think it’s interesting Mikhail Gorbachev is still alive, he’s eighty-eight. He looked old back in the Eighties. Huh, lots of “eight” references in this short bullet point.
Not many people realize that Chernobyl kept three reactors operating in the wake of the meltdown — nearly 14 years altogether.
Unit 2 shut down in 1991 after being damaged by a fire. Unit 1 closed in 1996 amidst international outcry about the health effects radiation poisoning, including elevated rates of thyroid cancer among children. The last unit, Unit 3, operated until 2000, when international negotiations finally shut down the plant for good.
The story reminds me of my middle school principal who later became my high school principal and later became mayor of my hometown. He told us if two students were ever so upset with each other that they wanted to fight, he would provide the gloves and referee the match. He said he would rather students fight in a controlled environment than disrupt class or others and be a distraction. I don’t recall it ever happening, but I do recall a few friends trying to work up the courage to talk to him about it.
I often wonder how news organizations will select a profile picture of a politician or celebrity for a story. For instance, there are thousands of pictures of a president, but how does someone decide to choose one singular photo to appear above a news anchor’s shoulder for a 20-second story? That came to mind recently when I saw a local story on the possibility of Senator Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez teaming up to draft legislation. CBS11 used a smiling portrait of Cruz with a U.S. flag as the backdrop (like an official Senate portrait). Next to that Cruz’s portrait was a stern-looking AOC with reading glasses at the tip of her nose and a microphone placed on a table, like something out of a committee hearing. The local news amuses me sometimes.
Not many people realize that Chernobyl kept three reactors operating in the wake of the meltdown — nearly 14 years altogether.
“Nearly 14 years!”