Just the Facts?: Rare Photo of Hiroshima Blast -- Stampeding Dolphins -- New Island Emerges Off German Coast

Rare Photo of A-Bomb Cloud Found in Hiroshima

A long lost image from the Hiroshima atomic bombing has been discovered at a Japanese elementary school.

The black-and-white photograph shows the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima split into two distinctly separated parts, one on top of the other.

The rare image was found at the Honkawa Elementary School in Hiroshima city, in a collection of about 1,000 articles on the WWII atomic bombing. The material was donated by a late survivor, Yosaburo Yamasaki, in or after 1953.

According to the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, a memo on the back of the photo says it was shot near the town of Kaitaichi, some six miles east of ground zero, two minutes after the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945.

Historians knew of the existence of the picture as a copy originally appeared in a Japanese-language book published in 1988.

The book reported that the photographer is “unknown” and that the image was shot “20-30 minutes” after the bombing.

“Studies by the Imperial navy and others have already discovered that the cloud separated, but the photo confirms it and is thus valuable,” a curator from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum told the daily Japan Times.

The best-known pictures of the bomb’s immediate aftermath were taken from the air by the US military.

Codenamed “Little Boy,” the five-ton bomb dropped on Hiroshima was carried by the U.S. warplane known as Enola Gay. The blast killed or injured with horrific burns at least 140,000 people.

Three days later, another mushroom cloud appeared over the city of Nagasaki. Named “Fat Man,” the bomb killed another 70,000.

Photo: The image showing the mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima split into two parts. Credit: Honkawa Elementary School. - Discovery

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New island emerges off German coast

Despite its youthful age the sickle-shaped island lying 16 miles off the coast of the German state of Schleswig Holstein is already home to around 50 different plant species and proved popular with sea birds such as herring gulls and oyster catchers, eager to take advantage of its unspoilt and pristine environment.

Formed over just 10 years, the rapid appearance of the island has surprised scientists familiar with the strong winds and shifting shifts that characterise Germany's North Sea coast.

"The fact that in just a few years a new island is formed is very impressive," said Detlef Hansen, who works at the neighbouring Wadden Sea National Park. "For conservationists this is anything but ordinary."

The formation of new sandbanks in the shallow waters of the Wadden Sea park are not uncommon but scientist said it is rare for one to survive the winter storms and establish itself as an island. The new land mass now boast dunes as high as four metres, and the grasses and other plants emerging from its windswept surface have provided it with a certain resilience to the eroding hand of nature.

Given the name Norderoogsand, the island has also benefited from lying in a position sheltered by other islands and from the fact that over the past decade there have been few high storm surges. - Telegraph

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Cosby selling Texas Instruments home computers

NOTE: remembering MS-DOS, floppy disks and key punch. My first data storage was just a simple magnetic tape recorder. Ah...those were the days. Lon

I had to chuckle when I saw this...

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Car chase driver was 'escaping aliens'

A driver who has schizophrenia rammed a police car during a chase across Exeter to escape from aliens, a court heard.

Police were alerted to Brett Webber's bizarre driving after he almost knocked a motorcyclist off his bike in the city centre last January.

Exeter Crown Court was told the 48-year-old, of Venny Bridge, Exeter, believed aliens "were out to kill him".

Webber admitted dangerous driving and the case was adjourned for a psychiatric care plan to be prepared.

Mr James Taghdissian, prosecuting, told the court when Webber was eventually detained he was singing "doh, ray, me" to ward off aliens he perceived to be threatening him.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, defending, asked the court to pass a community order which would allow her client to be treated for his mental disorder, but Judge Phillip Wassall said he could not see a "viable and workable option" to punish Webber properly in the community for what was a "very serious offence".

"I am adjourning this case to give more time to come up with a plan which will give the court a possible way of avoiding what would otherwise be an inevitable prison sentence," he said. - BBC

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Rare Dolphin Stampede Overtakes Whale Watching Boat

Video - Dolphin Stampede Overtakes Whale Watching Boat

Passengers on board Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari tour boat were treated to a rare sight this past weekend when around 1,000 common dolphins began to stampede off Dana Point in Southern California.

The unusual event happened on Saturday and then on again on Sunday, from when the video below was filmed.

Dave Anderson, the boat's owner, told The Los Angeles Times that throughout his 10 years in business he's almost never seen a pod of dolphins this large charging through the waters at full speed.

"It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of beautiful and interesting things," Anderson said.

It's not clear why this happened, but Anderson guesses that the marine mammals may have been chasing something or were spooked.

"We don't know. I know they're not running away from the boat. It seems like they're responding to something but I just don't know what it is," he told the website.

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