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Ballroom on the back side of the James River Pumping Station, Richmond, VA.

Ernest Hemingway feeding corn on the cob to one of his cats.  He referred to them as “purr factories” and “love sponges.”  This is a true fact.  

(Source: hemingwayscats.com)

(Source: everyhalloffamer)

J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves Jr. at ground zero of the Trinity test in Los Alamos, New Mexico, September 1945.

The physicists of the Manhattan Project took bets as to whether this first test of an atomic bomb would actually work.  A large majority were skeptical.  It worked far beyond their imaginations.  The white wraps on their shoes protected Oppenheimer and Groves from the still poorly understood nuclear fallout sticking to their shoes.  The makeshift bomb of the Trinity test was quite different from the two different types of bombs that would be dropped on Japan soon after.  Those designs were equally untested and a number of the Manhattan Project scientists doubted they would work.  Yet, none of them could now be unaware of what would happen if they did.

Say what you will about Star Wars.  This is a gorgeous shot.

stickypapercut:

richmond, va

one interesting scary day.

Perry Miller, Roger Williams: His Contribution to the American Tradition, 1953.