Is there a radioactive grave at Arlington National Cemetery?

President’s Day.

A holiday that exists to combine two holidays.

When I was a kid, we had Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday, and that meant if they fell during the week, we had each day out of school. But then somebody decided we should honor all presidents, and combine those two birthdays into one holiday—and put it on a Monday so everybody gets a three-day weekend.

I don’t mind that, but I’m not sure we should be recognizing every president. After all, what has Chester Arthur done for you lately?

My point is made.

Instead of dwelling on useless presidents, let’s dwell on something else that’s useless—this week’s trivia!

Did you know…

…irony can be very strong? Astronaut Harrison Schmitt (born 1935), who walked on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, turned out to be allergic to moon dust. (Of course, he didn’t notice it until after he’d taken off his space suit, but still…)

…you will never see a former President of the United States behind the wheel of his own car on a public road? Former presidents are not allowed to drive at all. If they have to go anywhere, a Secret Service agent drives them. (I guess after driving half the country crazy, they don’t need to drive anymore.)

…an operation on one person actually led to the death of three people? In 1847, Dr. Robert Liston (1794-1847) was amputating the leg of a man and wanted to do it quickly. He did, too, finishing the procedure in about 27 seconds. Unfortunately, his skill was not commensurate with his speed, and while removing the patient’s leg he also cut off several fingers from his young assistant. Both the patient and the assistant developed sepsis and died—common, in those pre-anesthetic and pre-antiseptic days. A third person, watching the speedy operation, collapsed and died from fright after Liston’s fast-moving saw slashed his coat tails, causing the man to fear he had been injured. Liston’s record-setting amputation is thus the only surgery in medical history to have had a 300% mortality rate. Liston himself died of an aneurysm not long after the record-setting surgery. (And the medical malpractice insurance industry was born.)

…the grave of a soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is radioactive? On January 3, 1961, the only nuclear accident to ever befall the U.S. Army took place. At an experimental Army reactor in Idaho, Specialist 4 Richard L. McKinley (1933-1961), for reasons still unknown, took it upon himself to quickly move the control rod of the reactor by hand. McKinley moved it 50 centimeters, and in so doing absorbed enough radiation to kill him several times over. That wasn’t the end of it, however. Moving the control rod more than 40 centimeters was enough to send the reactor into a critical state, and when the rod passed that point, the reactor did indeed go critical, causing the nuclear fuel to melt and producing a violent explosion of steam that made the core rise three feet into the air and killed two other nearby workers, Army Specialist 5 John Byrnes (1938-1961) and Navy Electrician’s Mate First Class Richard Legg (1934-1961). The bodies of all three had to have special treatment before burial because they had absorbed so much radiation. Each man’s body was placed in a lead casket, covered in concrete, and then sealed in a metal container, which was buried extra deep and covered again with concrete. Byrnes and Legg were buried in their hometowns, and McKinley was buried at Arlington. Each grave still gives off measureable (but not dangerous) amounts of radiation, and their bodies cannot be moved without permission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Additional trivia note: The reactor the men were operating was of a design that had only one control rod. Subsequent designs required the use of several control rods, none of which moving alone could cause such an accident to happen again.

…the law in Idaho Falls, Idaho, makes it illegal for anyone over the age of 88 to ride a motorcycle? (You have to wonder why they chose the arbitrary age of 88, don’t you?)

…centipedes and millipedes are completely different? A centipede has one pair of legs on each of its body segments, while a millipede has two pairs of legs per segment. (Imagine having the shoe concession for those guys.)

…only one kind of bear is a true carnivore? Most bears are omnivores, eating meat as well as plants. But the polar bear is a true carnivore, eating only meat. Plants do not grow in abundance in the habitat area of the polar bear. (This does, however, explain why Yogi Bear liked pic-a-nic baskets.)

…dry ice does not melt? It evaporates, because it is frozen carbon dioxide. The popular idea that touching it “burns” you is incorrect; what it actually does is freezes the skin, which your nervous system interprets as a burn. (That’s cold.)

…a book was published once with a sandpaper cover? “Memoires by Guy Debord” (1931-1994), a French Marxist theorist, was published in its first edition with a jacket covered in sandpaper. Debord’s idea was to destroy any books placed next to it. (That’s one way to get high sales, I guess.)

…temperature can affect your appetite? Researchers say a cold person is likely to eat more food than a warm person will. (And that explains why it’s always cold in restaurants!)

Now … you know!

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