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"The Famous Photo" - it's not famous. "Most dangerous radioactive material" - All radioactive material is dangerous given enough Roentgens. "Selfie" - Anachroni

by barce 8y ago

"The Famous Photo" - it's not famous. "Most dangerous radioactive material" - All radioactive material is dangerous given enough Roentgens. "Selfie" - Anachronism and misapplication. I feel like there should be a machine learning like filter that can be applied so this stuff doesn't get posted here anymore.

darkpuma 8y ago
It's sufficiently famous that I knew what photo the article is about just from reading the headline.
classicsnoot 8y ago
It is absolutely famous, but its fame is somewhat cloistered. The Elephant's Foot is a gateway to the Chernobyl rabbit hole for so many people. A geological, cataclysm celebrity; a fucking rock with a documented kill count and it sits still. Fascinating. This picture led me to reading all about Chernobyl, Pripyat, glasnost, and the collapse of the SSR in the context of logistics and energy infrastructure. The whole chibang was the result of good intentions, poor planning, and an intellectual environment experiencing a death spiral. During this process, I watched a documentary on the Chernobyl clean up effort. Chernobyl was the largest military deployment by Russia since their "Great Patriotic War." I digress. This picture could be accurately portrayed as a perfect metaphor for the scientific endeavors of the 20th century; unique brilliance, unfettered intention, bureaucratically fettered investment, unintentional disaster, Herculean effort at recovery, and all of it flushed down the memory hole.
ams6110 8y ago
It's a famous enough that I've seen it before, and I don't have a particular interest in the history of nuclear accidents.
- barce 8y ago
  I've read almost every photo book at the Mechanics Institute... if there are gaps in my reading it's pre-20th century stuff. I guess it's famous if you say it is. Four downvotes. What a way to start a Saturday.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - zapzupnz 8y ago
    The downvotes come, I assume, from your parading how wonderfully clever you are, how much reading you've done, etc., as though the rest of the world should measure itself against your level of knowledge with a particular domain. That would be my interpretation of your original comment and the reply to which I am replying, and I'm sure it wouldn't be too far off what others are reading, too.

by barce 8y ago

darkpuma 8y ago

It's sufficiently famous that I knew what photo the article is about just from reading the headline.

classicsnoot 8y ago

It is absolutely famous, but its fame is somewhat cloistered. The Elephant's Foot is a gateway to the Chernobyl rabbit hole for so many people. A geological, cataclysm celebrity; a fucking rock with a documented kill count and it sits still. Fascinating. This picture led me to reading all about Chernobyl, Pripyat, glasnost, and the collapse of the SSR in the context of logistics and energy infrastructure. The whole chibang was the result of good intentions, poor planning, and an intellectual environment experiencing a death spiral. During this process, I watched a documentary on the Chernobyl clean up effort. Chernobyl was the largest military deployment by Russia since their "Great Patriotic War." I digress. This picture could be accurately portrayed as a perfect metaphor for the scientific endeavors of the 20th century; unique brilliance, unfettered intention, bureaucratically fettered investment, unintentional disaster, Herculean effort at recovery, and all of it flushed down the memory hole.

ams6110 8y ago

It's a famous enough that I've seen it before, and I don't have a particular interest in the history of nuclear accidents.

barce 8y ago
I've read almost every photo book at the Mechanics Institute... if there are gaps in my reading it's pre-20th century stuff. I guess it's famous if you say it is. Four downvotes. What a way to start a Saturday.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- zapzupnz 8y ago
  The downvotes come, I assume, from your parading how wonderfully clever you are, how much reading you've done, etc., as though the rest of the world should measure itself against your level of knowledge with a particular domain. That would be my interpretation of your original comment and the reply to which I am replying, and I'm sure it wouldn't be too far off what others are reading, too.