Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site tekecs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!orca!tekecs!mikes From: mikes@tekecs.UUCP (Michael Sellers) Newsgroups: net.rumor,net.sci Subject: Re: 2 rumors/anecdotes (not computers :-) Message-ID: <7205@tekecs.UUCP> Date: Mon, 14-Apr-86 01:03:40 EST Article-I.D.: tekecs.7205 Posted: Mon Apr 14 01:03:40 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 17-Apr-86 04:44:50 EST Distribution: net Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 34 Xref: watmath net.rumor:1880 net.sci:724 Sorry, I *did* say *2* anecdotes, didn't I? The second one involves your friend and mine, plutonium. This I was told by a psychologist friend of my dad's, who was at the U. of Illinois (or wherever; in Chicago) when the first atomic pile was built. Its been a few years since I heard this, so its a little vague... It seems the janitorial staff had been told time and again that the area around the court (where the pile was) had to be kept scrupulously clean. So, one night when cleaning up, this janitor noticed a beaker filled with a blue-gray sludge sitting on a bench. "Yuck", he said. So, being cleanliness-minded, he promptly poured the gunk down the drain... Next day, the staff comes in, and pretty quickly notices the empty beaker. They figured out what had happened after a while, and then figured out that they were going to have to get the stuff back out of the water system (of *Chicago*!). It fell to one of the more senior staff members (don't remember who, but it wasn't Fermi) to call the President (FDR?) and tell him what had happened. The first words out of the President's mouth were "Well I'll be damned." It turned out that the sludge had kept pretty much together in the pipes, and they found it lodged with some leaves from the storm drains a few hundred yards outside the stadium. But just think if it had gotten further... As it was, I was told, there was some awfully fast talking done at the University as to why they were going around with geiger counters pointing at the ground. I can't confirm this, but the guy who told me *was* there... Mike Sellers "It could be worse...it could be raining"