19 Comments

  1. Not bad. A bit long. Some of the sync is off a bit at times. But not bad.

    Minor point: most of the UV spectrum is ionizing. UV is the border when it starts to get ionizing. Both UV-a (longer wave) and UV-b (shorter wave) are ionizing. It’s actually very dangerous because the damage is concentrated on the top layer of the body, the skin. It’s why the sun is the biggest cause of skin cancer worldwide. The yearly size of the kill zone is far bigger than Chernobyl will ever total, though for some reason people go out and sit all day on beaches with sparse clothes to protect against the carcinogenic rays.

    1. I said it had the splinters sanded off and a slapdash coat of lacquer, not that it was polished.

      I wrote it mostly to show that you can actually write about such things in something other than turgid, plodding prose and even throw a little humor in it.

  2. So what would happen to you, if a nuclear plant is damaged?
    Like in Fukushima, where the plants’ safety was not well managed?
    There were explosions and smoke and the place looked a mess,
    How much radiation was released? Was it anyone’s guess?

    Not anyone’s guess, since nuke’s are designed,
    with even such extreme catastrophe’s kept in mind.
    So experts expected radiation would be mostly contained,
    despite the facilities having been broken and maimed.

    Measurements taken since have proven them right.
    Although radiation was increased, there’s no reason for fright.
    Even if the locals had ignored the accident and stayed,
    There would have been no reason for them to be afraid.

    The radiation dose they would have received,
    Would have been low enough for them to be relieved.
    Far less than nuclear workers are allowed to get,
    And far, far less than would have actually caused regret.

    Alas, the safety of the citizens was not well protected,
    The lessons learned from Chernobyl were neglected.
    Fear and panic were the major cause of suffering then,
    And in Fukushima, the same mistakes were made again.

    The population was evacuated in a hurried way,
    not even the elderly or hospitalized were allowed to stay,
    Traffic accidents and the stress of being forced to flee,
    Ended the lives of 1000 people like you and me.

    Nuclear power did not cause those people to die,
    Those who claim it did are telling a lie.
    It was unjustified fear spread by rascals on TV.
    That alone causes loss of life and prosperity.

    1. So experts expected (any) radiation would mostly be confined,
      despite the facilities largely being broken and maligned
      (?)

      James Greenidge
      Queens NY

  3. Nuclear has found its Homer, and I don’t mean the safety inspector at Springfield NPP.

    Joris wins Best in Show for a Non-Native Speaker.

    Now let’s see some limericks, preferably not involving Nantucket.

    1. Nuclear has found its Homer, and I don’t mean the safety inspector at Springfield NPP.

      What?!  Bart’s father has done more to shape the public image of nuclear power since… uh…

      Now let’s see some limericks, preferably not involving Nantucket.

      Iambic septameter’s no trick
      When you’re spending half your time home sick
      But this AtomikRabbit
      Wants to change my habit
      And get me to write him a lim’rick!

      No.  No, sir.  Never, and that’s final.

    2. What about a haiku instead?

      Wall of water hit.
      Hurt a nuke to the core, still,
      its containments held.

      Or,

      Undue fear of rads;
      so many people did flee
      into disaster.

      1. I’m glad somebody else started the haiku/senryu trend.

        Massive wave hit shore
        Twenty thousand dead from it
        Atoms rule the news

  4. Bravo! What a lovely fusion of art and science here. The end result is effective and entertaining communication- Great work to all involved!

  5. He … uses a picture of William Shakespeare as his commenting icon.

    That’s ol’ Bill with a pocket protector.  A pocket protector which he would have been proud to wear had he also gone through engineering school… which, given his polymath-level vocabulary, he might well have done had he lived in the 20th century.

  6. What a great set of poetry. I seem to recall stories of this form introducing me to other basic physical phenomena and scientific knowledge back when I was just a scamp. Keep it up all! What you do is very important.

  7. Precious Poem! Could tell you did serious overnighters getting it right! Kudos! Why not send it to nuclear education sites, and even more, try hawking it to some mainstream media outlets and see their reaction?

    Good job!

    James Greenidge
    Queens NY

    1. Could tell you did serious overnighters getting it right!

      Right?  Right?!  If I tried to get it right, I wouldn’t have been done with it this year.  This is comic poetry, not serious “art”.  Too serious is no fun.  I’ll throw overnighters at technical stuff, but this… I can’t burn midnight oil on it because I have to be smiling the whole time.  Life’s too short.

      Why not send it to nuclear education sites

      Because that’s too much like work, and you’re free to flog it on my behalf or even hack on it yourself; that’s what Creative Commons is about.

  8. First congatulations to Poet Engineer and Joris
    And Rod for his support.
    Here is my poem/song already once mentioned by Rod in the past
    but think it’s relevant

    Support a Nuc​-​Nuc​-​Nuclear

    The radiant cosmic forces reigned upon us ever since the bang
    All the elements held promise. How the Alchemists have sang.
    The God called Thor was destined more than thunder to his name.
    The power of Thorium.

    What was in Curie’s pocket? What was Einstein’s M-C squared?
    With Rutherford’s experiments the groundwork was prepared.
    But greed and lust for power near annihilation spared.
    The Nuclear Quest rolled on.

    Support a Nuke support a Nuc Nuc Nuclear support a nuke.
    Please contribute and make it clear. We ain’t got nothing more to fear
    Support a Nuke you can’t dispute the weather patterns don’t compute
    Support a Nuke support a Nuc Nuc Nuclear.

    The ice caps are all melting, as the water levels rise
    The ocean’s getting sicker. Hear the bird and mammal cries.
    The Green’s and Anti Nukes have a field day with their lies
    But the truth is marching on.

    Support a Nuke support a Nuc Nuc Nuclear support a nuke.
    Please contribute and make it clear. We ain’t got nothing more to fear
    Support a Nuke you can’t dispute the weather patterns don’t compute
    Support a Nuke support a Nuc Nuc Nuclear.

    Listen here

  9. Wow! Engineer-Poet and Joris are awesome! Thank you Rick Maltese, too.

    While I am trained in “Radiation Safety” and was directly responsible for “Personnel Protection” in environments with lethal doses of ionizing radiation delivered in a few seconds, I was impressed by the level of scientific comprehension.

    Cyril R pointed out that UV is ionizing radiation but I am sure our poets are well aware of that.

  10. Congrats to EngineerPoet, Joris and all poetic contributors… good work.

    I’d normally be in the scrum with this – not sure how I missed it. Call it post-Christmas fatigue.

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