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From: mrl@oddjob.UUCP (Scott R. Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.rumor,net.sci
Subject: Re: 2 rumors/anecdotes (not computers :-)
Message-ID: <1301@oddjob.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 19-Apr-86 02:50:08 EST
Article-I.D.: oddjob.1301
Posted: Sat Apr 19 02:50:08 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 21-Apr-86 04:54:25 EST
References: <7205@tekecs.UUCP>
Reply-To: mrl@oddjob.UUCP (Scott R. Anderson)
Distribution: net
Organization: University of Chicago, Department of Physics
Lines: 25
Xref: watmath net.rumor:1961 net.sci:740
Summary: 

In article <7205@tekecs.UUCP> mikes@tekecs.UUCP (Michael Sellers) writes:
>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...
>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...
>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.

I heard a rumor that the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction
occurred at the University of Chicago... right across the street
from the very building I am sitting in (about 100 yds., in fact :-).

A couple of years back, the interiors of several buildings on campus
were replaced because they contained unacceptably high levels of
radiation, left-over traces of materials used in the Manhattan
Project.  The reason it took so long is because the acceptable
maximum was recently lowered below the measured levels.  They
didn't say anything about replacing the sewers, though :-).
-- 

					Scott Anderson
					ihnp4!oddjob!kaos!sra