>> ^xxovercastxx:

According to wikipedia he was in Hiroshima for a 3-month business trip and the bomb fell on the last day he was there. He was in the process of leaving when he realized he'd left his signature stamp back at the office and went back to get it. The bomb fell as he was leaving the office once again.
So not only did he get caught in the blast on the last day he was there, but possibly only because he went back to get his stamp.
After getting caught in the first bomb; having his eardrums ruptured, being temporarily blinded and suffering serious burns on the left side of his torso; he rested for a bit and then went out to find his friends. Finding them, he spent that night in an air-raid shelter and returned home the following day.
Back in Nagasaki he got treatment for his injuries and went to fucking work on Aug 9th, placing him less than 2 miles from ground zero for the second bomb which fell as he was describing the events at Hiroshima to his supervisor. He was uninjured in this attack.
This guy was a Hollywood action movie caliber badass.


Here's to you, Mr. Badass 20th Century Samurai Warrior.

Was there a 'fridge involved?>> ^xxovercastxx:

According to wikipedia he was in Hiroshima for a 3-month business trip and the bomb fell on the last day he was there. He was in the process of leaving when he realized he'd left his signature stamp back at the office and went back to get it. The bomb fell as he was leaving the office once again.
So not only did he get caught in the blast on the last day he was there, but possibly only because he went back to get his stamp.
After getting caught in the first bomb; having his eardrums ruptured, being temporarily blinded and suffering serious burns on the left side of his torso; he rested for a bit and then went out to find his friends. Finding them, he spent that night in an air-raid shelter and returned home the following day.
Back in Nagasaki he got treatment for his injuries and went to fucking work on Aug 9th, placing him less than 2 miles from ground zero for the second bomb which fell as he was describing the events at Hiroshima to his supervisor. He was uninjured in this attack.
This guy was a Hollywood action movie caliber badass.

According to wikipedia he was in Hiroshima for a 3-month business trip and the bomb fell on the last day he was there. He was in the process of leaving when he realized he'd left his signature stamp back at the office and went back to get it. The bomb fell as he was leaving the office once again.

So not only did he get caught in the blast on the last day he was there, but possibly only because he went back to get his stamp.

After getting caught in the first bomb; having his eardrums ruptured, being temporarily blinded and suffering serious burns on the left side of his torso; he rested for a bit and then went out to find his friends. Finding them, he spent that night in an air-raid shelter and returned home the following day.

Back in Nagasaki he got treatment for his injuries and went to fucking work on Aug 9th, placing him less than 2 miles from ground zero for the second bomb which fell as he was describing the events at Hiroshima to his supervisor. He was uninjured in this attack.

This guy was a Hollywood action movie caliber badass.

The general Japanese civilian population at the time was poor, starving and consisted mostly old men, women, and children. All males of 'fighting age' or capacity were either dead, or in the military. The citizenry's weapons of choice that were available to them were... brooms, shovels, and sticks. This doesn't overshadow the threat the emperor, the empire and his military machine posed. However, this doesn't negate the fact that the country was already defeated by the time the A-bombs were dropped. The majority killed by the A-bombs were civilians. Old men. Women. Children. The city of Nagasaki was a historical 'symbolic' international trade port for Japan for hundreds of years. Nagasaki even had a 'foreign quarter' reserved 'gaijin'. At the time the A-bomb was dropped, there was a POW camp in the city. Populated with both American and Australian POWs. Most were killed by the A-bomb. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were symbolic targets. Not only was it to signal a thorough and resounding crush of a defeated foe, it was a symbol to the world stating "don't tread on me".

I am not making a pro/anti A-bomb point here. I am just expressing known historical fact. War in all it's forms is horrible. It is not a game. People die. Innocent people die. It isn't a video game. No one should ever rush to war. Nor should anyone run an empire based on an ideology of military domination such as was seen by both German and Japan.

The US should learn from history and remember it's past. Hubris is what is the greatest threat to US power now. Not 'terrorism'.. yet most are still too blind to realize this.

>> ^redyellowblue:

Take away the 2nd and 3rd nuke and I'm gona guess the death toll was near nothing over all those years, because they were tests... in a desert.. or remote area.
If each of those nukes were aimed at a populated city containing stuff people care about and infrastructure. It would be "yabba dabba doo time"


actually death toll from the radioactive fallout around those test sites and in general all around the world is probably much higher than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
i know my grandfather died from radiation exposure complication after his battalion was deployed to an area near an atmospheric nuke test site. they weren't told why they were deployed there and govt continues to deny that they there were any experiments involving army personnel.

From youtube:

"Here is the roster of the Ebisu Muscats: Aika Ando, Sora Aoi, Yuma Asami, Megu Fujiura, Minori Hatsune, Kasumi Kaho, Risa Kasumi, Ena Kawamura, Rika Kawamura, Erika Kirihara, Jessica Kizaki, KONAN, Mihiro Taniguchi, Miyu Misaki, Airi Nagasaki, Shou Nishino, Asami Ogawa, Haruka Ogura, Tina Yuzuki/Rio, Rin Sakuragi, Kokomi Sakura, Ai Sayama, Kaera Uehara, Manami Yamaguchi, and Akiho Yoshizawa."

>> ^MaxWilder:

LarsaruS, you are ignoring context. This was a geometry lesson, not a socio-politcal discussion. It was not intended to raise a topic for thoughtful debate. When you put together a word problem for a math lesson, you are implying that the content of the problem is something you might have to consider in real life, and in a fairly trivial manner. It is not appropriate to use immoral acts as the content of school lessons, no matter what the specific act may be. For instance, you would not want a teacher who used an example of how much children eat daily, and how much less they would need if you drowned some of them. You would not want to use the example of how many slaves you would need to buy to get a certain amount of acreage harvested. GeeSussFreeK's example above is funny because of how totally inappropriate it would be in school.
It doesn't matter whether it is a hypothetical. The context implies approval of the activities specified.


Ok, I have a couple of issues with your post.

1: "When you put together a word problem for a math lesson, you are implying that the content of the problem is something you might have to consider in real life, and in a fairly trivial manner".
1.1: No, that does not have to be the case. I never considered word problems in any lesson as something I might have to do in real life (anecdotal evidence but still). There is a skill called critical thinking, you use it to see what the lesson is about, here angles and probably Pythagoras, and learn that not just what the problem's solution is. That way you can apply what you have learnt on many things as you get the principle for how to solve all similar problems.


2: "It is not appropriate to use immoral acts as the content of school lessons, no matter what the specific act may be"
2.1: Umm, what? Not being able to use immoral acts as content of school lessons at all? Seriously? And who decides what these immoral acts are? (Hint: lobby groups) For some being homosexual is an immoral act as it is a choice/lifestyle, ergo no teachers are allowed to talk about HBTQ rights. Equality is therefore gone in school education. For some talking about evolution is immoral so good bye science. The list goes on. If you have an "Immoral list" you can always add more things to it as you see fit until only the things that the people in power wants to be taught can be taught and in a couple of generations all other knowledge will have vanished as the people who learnt it die off.

Also school is to prepare children for adult life. Adult life is filled with "immoral" actions and people. Sending kids out into the real world with a distorted world view is the most immoral act I could ever think of as they will be completely unprepared for real life and hit a lot of pitfalls that otherwise could have been avoided. "Everybody in the world is super nice and you are super special too!" so go with the man who has a rabbit in his cellar that he wants you to see...

2.2: What about classes about law or history? Lessons where criminals, or criminal acts, are discussed would have to go. For instance, lessons about the eradication of the Native Americans would have to go, No Nürnberg trials, no Pearl Harbour or nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki... the list of things which can be considered immoral or that contains immoral acts is endless. We are a violent species.


3: "For instance, you would not want a teacher who used an example of how much children eat daily, and how much less they would need if you drowned some of them. You would not want to use the example of how many slaves you would need to buy to get a certain amount of acreage harvested."
3.1: Kids and food problem: See this.
Also it is simple arithmetic. Example: "You have X food and Y people. Every person Needs Z food per day and you can add F food per day that can be harvested from your farms. How many people can you have without them starving?" What is the problem with a problem like this? Basic civilization survival is based on this formula. Natural resources - consumption/person = Sustainability/Starvation

3.2: Slave problem: Obsolete as slaves are inefficient compared to modern automated machines. Who would use slave labour when you could use a robot that never fucks up (unless you use Windows ofc.), never needs to sleep, never demands pay and never complains? Technological progress FTE (For The Emancipation )


4: "The context implies approval of the activities specified"
4.1: What context and why would it imply approval? That it was a lesson in a school? So if I bring up the attack on WTC in a lesson and how it was executed it means that I approve of the actions? (I guess that Nicolas Cage and a lot of other people who were in the movies about the attacks all support it then?) If I let my students calculate the forces that were subjected on the buildings from the planes mass M and its speed V + the force of the fuel exploding or the McVeigh bombing and the force that X amount of explosives generate I approve what they did? I abhor all use of violence but if I use these examples I approve of them? That makes no sense to me.

One of the best things you can do as a teacher is to ground your lessons in reality and real life events as that increases the motivation and curiosity of the students IMHO.


5: "This was a geometry lesson, not a socio-politcal discussion. It was not intended to raise a topic for thoughtful debate."
5.1: As a teacher, no matter what your subject is, you have to be able to lead discussions on tough subjects as students can come in from recess and something horrible has happened and they need to process it and be "debriefed", think every classroom in the US the hours after 9/11 or after Columbine. If a student is assaulted/gets hit by a car/whatever you have to be able to have a discussion about it.

5.2: If a meaningful debate emerges from any lesson that interests your students you run with it. Simple as that. Learning and developing a lust for learning is the main goal of any teacher worthy of that title in my book.

Wow, that was a serious wall of text. Congrats on getting through it!

*edit for getting the + to show... forgot to put in extra blank spaces...

That's actually right on the money. The Anime/Manga and Film/TV industries of Japan saw a huge boom in terms of artists/directors in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years following the bombings. The children who were very young when it happened grew up in a post-nuke society and in the late 60's and 70's began to express themselves and the dystopia-oriented themes that were happening following the recovery. A lot of the visionaries involved in the field who would be considered as creating that "strange Japanese sense of entertainment" had direct involvement in some form or another in the bombings. It's what happens when you grow up in a post-apocalyptic minded society. So in other words, the nukes are actually a large reason why these forms of entertainment evolved into what they are today.

>> ^gwiz665:

If you look at japanese tv shows, it's fairly obvious that the two nukes already screwed them up pretty bad...

I've been to all those places and then some. The wife and kid are going to Japan to see the wife's family this week and staying for some 3 weeks. I was to go, but had to cancel due to work obligations. I am rather upset about it actually.

If you get a chance. Go. Miyajima is very beautiful. If you time it right, you can see some amayzing 'No' plays. Go up the big hill there to see the monkeys. I spent a night in the area. It is worth it. Easy access to Hiroshima across the water. See the war museum (a humbling experience). Try Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki for lunch. Great stuff.

Fuji was also a wonderful trip. I spent 4 days at a Ryokan. Amazing traditional food. Bathhouse, and everywhere in was views of the mountain. From the room, the bathhouse, everywhere. Expensive, but worth every single darn penny. Also went up Fuji for some CRAZY panoramas. You do not have to go to the top to get amazing views. Easy to get a bus ride up to about the half way mark. Great for the young or old, or those who cannot hike the mountain. Shelter and services are there. Don't be fooled. It is a HUGE mountain you will be above the cloud line most likely. See the sunrise. It is something to not be missed. Scream banzai as the sun rises (leave the old WW2 movie prejudices behind.. shouting banzai has nothing to do with dive bombing).

Other places to see. Kyoto (temples, Maiko dance), Himeji (amazing castle), Nara (giant Buddha, temples, and wandering deer). If you can.. go west towards Beppu and Nagasaki. The Kyushu area has the best natural hot spas. Nagasaki has great seafood and fusion with Chinese and Dutch influences. The war museum is also a must stop. Learn a bit about the US and Australian POW's interned in a camp there that were killed by the 'bomb', which we in the west simply do not learn about in school.

Learn a bit of the language, absorb the culture. Have fun. It is easier to get around Japan than you realize. Most major train lines and roads in the larger cities have English lettering to help tourists.

Food isn't that expensive, and bargain hotels can be found easily enough. Even better if you know a local to tour you around!

Two things I 100% agree on here, and have made as points myself before -

Truman committed genocide, there's no way about it. An offshore demonstration of the power of the atomic bomb would have sufficed. The second bombing on Nagasaki just 3 days later was also utterly inexplicable given the declaration of war on Japan by Russia following the first bombing and the seeming inevitability of surrender.

If the barometer for torture either by waterboarding, walling or stress positions or sleep deprivations is whether it may save American lives, then let all the proponents of it agree to incorporate it into the domestic legal system. If not they're hypocrites at best and racists/xenophobes at worst.

>> ^chilaxe:
I think the difference he's looking for between Afghanistan and Washington is that Washington doesn't target civilians, and is a democratically elected government.
Society draws a line between military actions that try to minimize civilian casualties when possible and military actions that try to maximize civilian casualties.


Washington does and has targeted civilians, they torture innocent men, imprison people without any chance of justice, send random people off to third world countries to be tortured. If you think the strategies employed by the US military are designed to minimize civilian casualties think again, more reporters have been killed by US fire in Iraq than have been killed by anyone else.

Not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that's not targeting civilians? Hitting major population centres with nukes? The US of A has killed more civilians than any other power with the possible exception of Nazi Germany and maybe the USSR (and are you really proud to be in the running for that prize?).

One of only two countries in the world that routinely executes children and retarded people.

Yeah you're so civilized you can pass judgement on everyone else can you?

Oh, and how about starting the 910 project, where we go back in time and stop bin Laden from carrying out the acts of September 11th? Or maybe other projects where we stop the USS Cole bombing, or the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, or Lebanon...or Hiroshima and Nagasaki...or the Civil War...or...

That's why Japanese TV is great, I watch this every week. The one where they showed that no one in Nagasaki could ride a bike, or the city where all schools have tea coming out of the faucets was pretty weird, as well. Osaka should be its own country, though...

Wright has the dates WAY off, and BillO didn't correct him on the year (at least he got the month, August, right). From Wikipedia:

"The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and 9, 1945. After six months of intense fire-bombing of 67 other Japanese cities, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed on August 9 by the detonation of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. These are to date the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare"

I personally don't agree with Wright's POV on this, but there are plenty of others who argue that the nuclear bombings were ethically wrong. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Debate_over_bombings

Finally, I'm a little surprised at how restrained BillO is in this clip.

>> ^Memorare:
American Cowards, American Babykillers.
If there is a god and a hell i pray that the crew of the Enola Gay writhes in screaming agony for all eternity.
9/11 is just the first installment on the Payback for the unspeakable abominations that you have inflicted on the world over the last 200+ years.
The world will cheer at your demise.


Firstly there is no god, only the tyranny of evil men.

Secondly I agree with joe dirt, the Allies will always try to cover their asses for such a dasterdly use of the bomb to show stalin their true power.

Which russia would take steps further to drop the worlds largest nuke called the tsar bomba - King Bomb with 50 megatons.

Lets put it into perspective.

Little boy was 13 - 18 kilotons
fat man was 21 kilotons

Tsar bomba was 50 Megatons. the two little ones don't even come close to the big one.

The bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were little compared to the monstrosities that we have stocked up today.

What was it for? Its all a waste.