#thermonuclear devastation

[ponku-po]

notfocks

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Onslaught  –  Thermonuclear Devastation

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"...FROM ROOTS IN THE UK82 SCENE..." -- BEFORE THE POWER OF HELL WAS HARNESSED AND UNLEASHED AS THRASH.

PIC(S) INFO: "Protest, but who said you’ll survive?" -- Spotlight on pre-crossover thrash metal-intensified ONSLAUGHT, performing live at Malvern, UK, during the band's early UK82 era, c. early 1980s.

PIC #2: ONSLAUGHT -- Dick (bass) and Roger (vocals) live in Bristol, UK, c. 1983.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "Coming from Bristol, England, Onslaught burst onto the scene in the mid-1980s. From roots in the UK82 scene, which included a demo sent to Riot City Records, they evolved to a faster, heavier, and more aggressive sound at the perfect time. Onslaught were one of the first bands in the U.K. to take influence from the thrash sound coming out of the US from bands like Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth and incorporate it into their own style. And they were one of the very few British bands to incorporate those influences successfully."

-- NEGATIVE INSIGHT, "Power From Hell: How Onslaught Evolved From UK82 Beginnings To A Blazing Thrash Legacy," c. March 8, 2020

Source: www.picuki.com/media/2274042010591379765 & www.negativeinsight.com/niblog/power-from-hell-the-story-of-onslaught.

[assumptionprime]

I need to rant about the Fallout show

Because this is the person I am. Full spoilers, so I’m putting it behind a Keep Reading:

I’m a huge sucker for Fallout (yes even 3&4). And I went into the Fallout show with some… trepidation. Amazon has been a mixed bag on adaptations, we could have been blessed with a Good Omens, or cursed by a Rings of Power. But early buzz and reviews seemed positive, so I slammed the whole thing in one night with my spouse (we were staying at my in-laws house and they have Prime. Time was a factor.)

And y’know? I was really enjoying it! The characters were fun, the plot was engaging enough, and the costumes and visual design were extremely on point. There were some minor lore quibbles to be had: Ghouls needing some kind of medicine to not go feral. Really, more Enclave holdouts? Timeline and date whoopsies. Wait are they in California? Where the hell is the NCR?

I made a face at Shady Sands being bombed and the NCR collapsing. But I wasn’t completely out of the story. Based on what I had seen so far, I thought it was building to a reveal that the Brotherhood had done it. That the more zealous turn they took in Fallout 4, which has clearly carried to how they are portrayed in the show, lead them to bombing the NCR. War never changes, as they say. Maximus even says when asked what happened to Shady Sands: “The same thing that always happens.” Yeah, it leans into Bethesda’s weird desire to keep the Fallout world in a state of perpetual wastelands full of raiders and no civilization, but it wasn’t so terrible that I couldn’t still enjoy the show.

But then.

BUT THEN.

Episode 8, and the reveal of Vault-Tec apparently being the ones who dropped the first bomb in the Great War.

I was surprised to hear that some fans have apparently been debating over who fired first? Some even asked Tim Cain about it?

That’s really odd to me because, in the games, there is already a pretty definitive answer to which side sparked the Great War:

Who fucking cares?

The world ended. What does it matter who shot first?

There is no China, no United States, no communists or capitalists left to fight about it. 

It's a powerful little bit of lore.

For all the posturing, all the promises from each nation that their way is the true way, all the nationalism, the militarism, and blind loyalty to flags over humanity, they both lost. Everyone lost. All that remains of the ideologies and nations that were so important to the people of 2077 is faint echoes over vast expanses of radioactive ash.

Who started the end?

No one knows. No one cares.

It only matters that their conflict was so bitter, so all-consuming, that one of them dropped their bombs, and the other dropped theirs in return.

The truest legacy of the old world is the devastation left by their final, most horrific war.

Can we do better?

Then the show says "Nah, Vault-Tec did it. It's not a commentary on human nature and the futility of self-destructive conflict, it was actually these guys, these mustache twirling villains huddled in a darkened room literally plotting to end the whole world so they can rule what's left."

And I can see the attempt to make this a critique of capitalism. I actually paused the show to praise a bit of writing when Coop is talking with Charlie before the war, when Charlie tells him that the “cattle ranchers are in charge” to illustrate how capitalism and corporations hold too much sway over the government, it felt very in line with how in New Vegas one of the recurring critiques of the NCR is that all the real power is in the hands of the “brahmin barons.” Nice parallel, spot on!

But “we’ll set off total thermonuclear war so we can rule the ashes and have a True Monopoly” isn’t capitalism. It’s just dumb “we’re the baddies” writing.

And then Shady Sands was also Vault-Tec?! Forget any meaning in the NCR falling to the same corruption and/or factional fighting that consumed the old world, they were literally just bombed by the evil shadow conspiracy that apparently also killed the old world. Hank gives this speech about factions fighting and the futility of it all while we see the Brotherhood fighting Moldaver’s NCR remnant, and like, no! You can’t say that when you’ve made it so neither the old world or the NCR fell to war with another faction! It was you! You and your band of cryogenic supervillains!

I don't care that they changed it. Timelines and dates and little retcons don’t bother me all that much. I care that they changed it to something so much worse.

[ranahan]

Planet Mandalore, after being glassed by thermonuclear weapons. Here’s a closeup:

So that’s similar to real-life Trinitite (glass formed by the heat and pressure of atomic bombs), like this:

Image by Shaddack

Now that’s from the Great Purge of Mandalore, but Mandalore has been devastated by or orbital bombardment before in the Dral’Han and I think we can assume it looked similar, if less complete.

The fandom-assigned color meaning is light green for lust for peace. The peace movement on Mandalore rose in response to the Dral’Han. What’s the chance they picked that color to symbolise the devastation that war had brought to Mandalore?

Maybe I’m slow and this is obvious, but I just blew my mind by realising it. Not sure if teal for healing is related or not.

Mando’a word for light green wouldn’t be something like “spring green” or “jade green” but something like “desolation green.” Ahan’vorpan, maybe.

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Fallout Season One: Starts Off With an Explosive Bang.

In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants, and bandits.

“Flash, bam, alakazam. Out of an orange colored sky” are the opening words to Nat King Cole's song “Orange Colored Sky”, which describes his feeling of falling in love. But Prime Video’s adaptation of the beloved game franchise, Fallout, it takes a much more sinister and literal meaning as that Orange Colored Sky marks the beginning of the thermonuclear apocalypse and the ends of the world.

I have not played the Fallout games, but I am familiar with the franchise as I have watched some gameplay and lore videos regarding Fallout. The games don’t really have a story structure as they are an open-world RPG, where the player can do whatever they want in a nuclear wasteland. It is filled with unique worldbuilding as the aesthetics are a mix of what the 1950s thought the future would be and a thermonuclear apocalypse. Furthermore, the series' iconic dark humor and brutal violence add to the fun nature of the games. So adapting this franchise into a television series was going to be very interesting as Amazon’s history with adaptations have either been massive hits like The Boys and Invincible, or massive clusterfucks like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time. Thankfully, Fallout is a masterful adaptation of the video game franchise that sticks true to the games while also being accessible and fun to those unfamiliar with the franchise. 

Fallout flawlessly captures the essence and look of the franchise right down to the last bottlecap. The costume and production design swiftly transports viewers into a world of stark contrasts. From the pristine, utopian 1950s aesthetics of the vaults to the radioactive Wild West of the surface is meticulously rendered. Furthermore, it nails the game's twisted and dark humor as well as the horrors of thermonuclear warfare. Now some lore changes will make some purists unhappy, but Fallout is a faithful adaptation of the game. 

The series' narrative simplicity proves to be both its strength and its weakness. Centered around three characters vying for a MacGuffin, with two intertwining subplots—one set in the vaults and the other as a prelude to the nuclear devastation—the storyline is straightforward yet interconnected. Each subplot offers vital insights into the others, weaving a compelling narrative without resorting to misleading twists. However, despite its apparent simplicity, the storyline occasionally feels contrived and lacks consistent internal logic. It's unexpected for such a straightforward plot to stumble over basic storytelling elements. However, this flaw can be readily forgiven given the impeccably crafted characters. 

Our trio of main characters is exquisitely portrayed, with performances worthy of acclaim, possibly even Emmy-worthy. Ella Purnell's portrayal of Lucy is particularly remarkable; she brings depth to a character archetype that might have easily fallen flat in less capable hands. As the moral compass of the show, Lucy is portrayed with a blend of bubbly naivety and genuine kindness that never veers into caricature thanks to Purnell's natural charisma. Witnessing her gradual transformation into a hardened survivor as he learns from her mistakes and takes advice from others without compromising her core values is both riveting and emotionally resonant.

Aaron Clifton Moten, a veteran of the industry for nearly two decades, delivers a breakthrough performance in Fallout as he embodies every gamer's fantasy by donning the Armor of The Brotherhood of Steel. His portrayal of a sheltered man-child who is trying to do the right thing when he realizes the religious military cult he grew up in views him as expendable. To see him try to break away from the cult while also battling his inner designer for power is a fascinating character development. As he navigates his character's journey alongside Lucy, offering guidance on the harsh realities of the wasteland, Moten's performance is both poignant and subtly humorous, showcasing his impeccable comedic timing.

However, the biggest standout performance of the series is Walton Goggins as Copper Howard and The Ghoul. These two characters are on opposite sides of the moral spectrum. When he is Cooper in the past, he is a morally righteous character who slowly realizes that he might have sold his soul to the devil by promoting Vault-tec. To watch his slow realization of the evils of not only the company he has associated with, but the woman he has married is a powerful moral reckoning. Then his transformation into the hardened, badass, Ghoul with no moral code has a tragic undertone. To see a man become the very thing he hates is tragic. Yet watching him slowly regain his moral code while interacting with Lucy is powerful. This is a layered performance from Goggins that is centered entirely on moral conflict. If he does not receive an Emmy, I am going to riot. 

To watch these three characters learn and grow from one another is a testament to the power of writing excellent characters with fully realized arcs. I can’t wait to see where these characters go into their future seasons. Will they keep to their ways or will they realize they have a common enemy? 

In conclusion, Fallout emerges as a compelling adaptation of the successful game franchise. It understands and respects not only the source material but also the fanbase as the series is clearly made for them. I can’t wait to see what lies in the next season, but I know that I am excited to see New Vegas. 

My Rating: B+

[corvidist]

Located on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife today is the territorial capital and largest city of the Northwest Territories of Canada. This is not the story of that city, but rather of what comes after.

(PA stands for Post-Anthropocene. It is not the system used by Directors for measuring time.)

1 PA

The city of Yellowknife, prior to the war, was growing at an exponential pace. Its stable climate, ample water supply, and the relocation of many important government functions eventually led to its population surpassing 200,000 by the time a one-megaton thermonuclear warhead, launched from western Gansu province, landed just south of its primary airport. The city's fairly compact layout, combined with the yield of the device, led to total devastation, the first days seeing the deaths of over half the city's residents.

One year later, a global nuclear cooling effect has taken hold, and the charred ruins of Yellowknife lay empty. Some Human survivors remain on the outskirts, however the city as a whole is largely devoid of complex life. There are more survivors however, both Human and nonhuman, within the fallout radius, and elevated radiation levels will lead to increased rates of genetic mutation among the next generation. While typically leading to death or chronic illness in those impacted, among dwindling nearby Raven and Crow populations two mutations will actually prove mildly beneficial. A slight change in beak shape, and a growth abnormality in the right set of talons.

At a time when most edible plant and animal life is dead, and what remains is often small and burrowed, these chance mutations will forever alter the course of Earth's history.

1000 PA

Around this time, somewhere in Tierra Del Fuego, the last Human takes their final breath. While the effects of nuclear cooldown are long forgotten (at least at the superficial level), the destruction of nearly 80% of the ozone layer proved far more consequential in the long run. Even as industrial greenhouse gas emissions were suddenly and violently halted, the amount released by the firestorms that engulfed much of the Earth at the end of the Anthropocene led to further runaway warming, picking up around 20 PA.

By now only small pockets of large plant life remain, much of it in areas too hard-hit by the initial nuclear exchange for Humans to take advantage of before the end. Much of Earth's plant life is comparatively smaller, hardier shrubbery and root organisms that can survive drastic weather changes and high UV exposure. This is an improvement from the first 100 years, however, is a very difficult environment for land organisms much larger than coyotes to survive in.

Amidst the desolation, events unfold in the North American Arctic. With populations at a level that Humans would have long ago considered critically endangered, Crows and Ravens in this region, low on options, begin to crossbreed, leading to the first early "Directors". Still, without the caloric intake necessary, this new species remains, like its ancestors, at a level of only basic sapience for the time being.

100,000 PA

It's been 99,000 years or so since the death of the last Human, a little less since the hatching of the first members of a species that could vaguely be described as Directors. In that time, tool use, especially among those individuals, has diversified significantly. Use of large rocks to hunt creatures from the air, early harnessing of gathered fire, spears to reach deep into burrows, and stone shovels for digging out root plants. Still, the overall cognition of this species lacks certain important complexities.

Around this time, that is quickly changing. As the species has been psychologically driven for millennia to find, gather, and consume any food they come across on account of its sparse availability, the steady return of an ample food supply has led to the consumption of higher-than-necessary quantities. This, combined with improving tool use and the occasional harnessing of captured fire, will, given enough time, lead to the dawning of Earth's second technological society.

For now, however, the average life of a Director wouldn't look remarkably different from the life of any typical Crow or Raven of the present day. A few more tools, a little more complexity in communication and games, but all in all nothing that would get one whisked away to a research lab by today's Humans.

300,000 PA

Amid the treetops, an endless expanse of wilderness stops only at the side of a fantastic lake. As winter ends, in rudimentary language a group of avians discuss an idea to help one another tend to their nests. Soon, most of the roost disperses, but a few members stay behind. Together they craft tools, collect food, make art, and otherwise watch out for one another.

It works out well.

It works out very well.

As the next winter comes around, more decide to join them.

The first permanent communities constructed by Directors are only as large as the surrounding environment permits, and in the warm season, most continue to break off into smaller family territories. Still, these year-round communities wait for them upon their return, and as they have for millions of years, prove vital in the exchange of information.

Each warm season the communities grow, and understandings of everything from food acquisition to the inner workings of nature grow with them. The first instances of selective breeding can be recorded in this time period, particularly among grasshopper species and, of all plants, sunflowers, an odd final "gift" from the last Human survivors in the region being their ample presence.

One year, a casual game causes sparks to erupt on the shoreline of the lake, the right stones dropped on top of one another from just the right altitude. It lights a small fire in nearby brush, which quickly goes out on its own.

400,000 PA

An ominous orange glow rises in the distance. Far from the permanent community, though if the winds change moving it won't be too difficult, at least at this time of year. They can always make a new one, and the controlled burn serves a purpose too important to not carry out. As Directors are too small to adequately clear land, at least on their own, a complex system of agroforestry has developed instead. This region's culture, now harboring one of the post-Anthropocene world's first new writing systems, uses it to manage forests and encourage the growth of edible plant life. Much of it involves introducing plant species selectively bred for nearly 100,000 years, to a point unrecognizable from its original form. Each year, on top of the tried and true, they tinker with new methods and record the results. All part of a more complex, more widespread ideology that has begun to blossom.

As a generalist species with fairly short lifespans, early Directors have a better sense of the cycles of life and death than early Humans and are more prone to consider the impacts of their actions outside of their own lifespan. Much more than us, they live on through their offspring. To an extent, this culture, like many others, believes in integration with nature rather than dominance.

Despite this, what is said is not always done, and language tends to focus more on avoiding annihilation rather than alteration, though the hypocrisy of some of these sentiments will become increasingly important as technology advances. For now, the first large communities have begun to pop up around these controlled burn sites, sedentary agricultural hubs, and rudimentary fisheries along the coast. They feature a one-level layout among the tree canopy, largely for waste management, with everything from basic trade workshops and artistry to storage areas, even archives or libraries in the largest communities. However, unlike early Human cities, these possess no leader, no monarch to give orders, and no currency.

This will become a running theme as Directors progress further into their development.

490,000 PA

Is City of North Winds in the distance, a group of Directors works together to pull an early lighter-than-air craft. It carries a variety of items belonging to their rural community, now migrating to the city for easier access to food and resources amidst lowered global temperatures following an unknown volcanic eruption.

The city in the distance has a population of over two million, the largest city on Home at the time. Its most densely populated section has been under construction for thousands of years, trees selectively bred to grow taller and more resistant to flame, their branches sturdier, reaching high above the forest canopy. Recently developed bioluminescent lanterns seem to hang across every surface, and everything from tapestries and streamers to chimes and windmills adorn the exterior. Within the branches and cavernous clearings of this city, the region's culture blossoms, as does a (somewhat) new system of labor organization.

First originating on the Island of currently plentiful shrubbery, known in the Anthropocene as Baffin Island, the collective system arose in response to a need for accounting of who was doing what at any given time as the population grew. In order to do this, collectives were formed, loose groups of individuals coming together to complete needed tasks for a community. These groups were and continue to be open to join and leave as an individual wishes, with no structure or hierarchy within them save for systems of apprenticeship that were established as certain forms of labor complexified. It takes Is City of North Winds by storm, as although there is no force by which to drive people to personally adopt the system, the cold has everyone on edge.

More confined than usual, amidst the city's interior its residents watch as much of the livestock that couldn't be brought inside, some of it entirely immobile as a consequence of millennia of alteration, ends up succumbing to the extreme cold. Debate, long engaged in but seldom at a societal level, over the ethics of many of the selective breeding practices being engaged in begins to rage. It will lead to the three lakes' culture's slow disillusionment with many of their practices, which will take root, vanish, and reappear over hundreds of generations. It will take over 9,000 years for this undercurrent of discontent to finally be put to rest.

498,000 PA

In a smaller auditorium at the edge of the community, a crowd gathers before a group of travelers from far southeast. Outside, an already-operating windmill is wired to produce a small amount of energy, just enough to power three models of a strange new contraption. The audience is intrigued. While aesthetically displeasing, the increasing number of ways to harness this energy poses unique opportunities in dozens of fields, and the crowd can't help but speculate.

499,000 PA

Solstices ago, a research collective in the underground section of the city received a design for a device via mail. It comes once again from the southeast, where a thus far unwieldy technology has slowly become better understood in spite of limited general interest. Now, it bears fruit. The world's first electron microscopes in nearly 500,000 years, small towers compared to their operators. Within 200 years, laboratory gene editing will be commonplace. Within 500, society as they know it will be nearly unrecognizable.

500,000 PA

Night falls on Was, Is, and Shall Be City of North Winds. The glowing, immensely decorated mountain of sorts rises high above the forest canopy, surpassing even the monolithic posts of airship docks.

Society has changed in so many aspects over the past thousand years that it is somewhat pointless to try and list everything. Still, perhaps the most significant among these changes is what has occurred on the cultural level. To the residents of this community, and indeed to most of First Home's cultures, the development of direct genetic modification was a turning point beyond anything in the history of the configuration. Technologies that would have otherwise taken incredible spans of time to direct to fruition now took a few solstices. And, importantly, most could be done utilizing only stem cells.

As part of a wider societal craze, many ancient ethical debates had the equivalent of a sledgehammer taken to them as communities unified around a new goal, preached but not truly practiced by cultures since the beginning of their civilization. That goal, the recognition, and more importantly treatment of all complex life as being inherently equal to their own configuration, was perhaps finally within reach.

Far from the city, a grasshopper lands on a well-positioned sunflower, one of many that grow freely in the wilderness of the central north. They do not consider the balloon rockets departing in the west, or, at least not strongly, the nature of the airships passing in the distance. Still, it is because of their sacrifice that they fly, and now it is for them that they will continue.

[blowflyfag]

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION MAGAZINE : AUGUST 1993

Transcript Below!!!

PERSONALITY PROFILE

ADAM BOMB

FROM: THREE MILE ISLAND BIRTHDAY: UNKNOWN WEIGHT: 292 LBS.

HEIGHT: 6’6”

FINISHING MOVE: THE MUSHROOM CLOUD

In the wake of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown in 1980, residents of nearby Pennsylvania communities claimed that organic life grew to abnormal proportions. Laymen,

Scientists and nuclear physicists believed that the large amounts of plutonium released from Three Mile Island likely caused the dramatic growth in vegetation, trees, and even in animals. 

IN fact, some farmers in nearby communities reported to local and national newspapers that tomatoes grew to the size of small pumpkins and strawberries grew to the size of Granny Smith apples.

These same unusual growth patterns also occurred following the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in the now-defunct Soviet Union later in the decade. 

One possible product of the Three Mile Island disaster is making his presence known in  the World Wrestling Federation. His name is Adam Bomb. Adam, who tops the scale at a rock-solid 292 pounds, grew up near Three Mile Island and was of normal height and stature as a kid. However, things changed big-time between 1981 and 1987. Adam experienced incredible increases in size and strength during his adolescent years without ever touching a weight or consuming a protein shake. He was brutally strong for his age. 

In addition, Adam also developed a volatile disposition, and as a hobby, he read about the production of firecrackers, dynamite, plastic explosives and thermonuclear weapons.

As an avenue for his increasing aggression, he was encouraged to play football and wrestle in high school. It didn’t pan out. He was given his walking papers in both sports for breaking bones of teammates during scrimmages and intersquad sparring sessions on the mat.

His high school wrestling coach, who requests to remain anonymous because he fears reprisals, says that Adam Bomb was and is a “walking nuclear reactor.”

“He is just like a nuclear reactor on the verge of meltdown, just like the Island,” the coach tells this magazine. “He has always burned with rage and intensity, and as he grew physically stronger and became more aggressive, he fed off of his own intensity until a certain point was reached within. At that stage, he usually went haywire, and everything he touched within a certain radius, he destroyed.”

Adam Bomb is doing just that in the Federation. Since exploding into the ranks in late May, Adam Bomb has Blown away his adversaries. In his wake, Adam is leaving many wrestlers devastated physically and mentally, and some, unfortunately, devastated on a permanent basis. Adam, who has been called the “product of the nuclear age,” says he will cause a “nuclear Armageddon” in the World Wrestling Federation. 

JOHNNY POLO, HIS MANAGER

Johnny Polo, Adam Bomb’s snob of a manager, is the kind of guy you always wished you could punch in the face but never had a chance to do so 

Polo, who was raised in the comfortable countryside near Palm beach, Florida–which is one of America’s most affluent communities–has had it all. Pampered as a child, his parents and their entourage of servants gave the brat anything he wanted. 

When he turned 11, for example, “Mommsy and daddums” bough Johnny a 60-acre piece of land not far from their home where the boy learned to play polo, a sport traditionally reserved for the financially elite. But Johnny gave the sport a bad name. He often cheated in matches and used his mallet to whack other players rather than smash the ball across the playing field. He was subsequently barred from every polo club and organization from Palm Beach to Beverly Hills, California. 

Johnny has now focused his talents on the area of sports management and promises he will take Adam Bomb to the top of the Federation.

“It’s only fitting,” remarks the brazzen brat. “Johnny Polo was at the top of the list in the polo game [probably the most hated among  fellow competitors], and now I’ll take Adam Bomb–my creation of devastation– to the top of this organization. With my mind and Adam's muscle and madness, there’s no telling where we can go or what we can do.”

[denimbex1986]

'Among the captivating characters in Christopher Nolan’s recently released film, "Oppenheimer," one who has notably captured the audience's attention is Lewis Strauss, portrayed by Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr.

The post-World War II era witnessed intense animosity between Strauss, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and renowned scientist J Robert Oppenheimer. Strauss, in his real-life role as Oppenheimer's nemesis, seemingly went to great lengths to undermine the scientist's career.

So, who was Lewis Strauss? Born in 1896 to Jewish emigrant parents in West Virginia, Strauss initially aspired to study physics but found himself working as a shoe salesman to support his father's business. Eventually, he became an assistant to Herbert Hoover during World War II.

After the war, Strauss rose to success as an investment banker and played a key role in securing financing for renowned projects, such as the Polaroid camera. He also served as a naval officer during World War II. In 1946, he was appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), where he fervently advocated for the development of thermonuclear weapons, including the Hydrogen bomb.

This stance put him at odds with Oppenheimer, who played a pivotal role in designing the atomic bombs that devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While Oppenheimer expressed remorse over the destruction caused by his inventions, Strauss championed the development of even more powerful weapons, such as hydrogen bombs.

Strauss vs Oppenheimer The clash between Strauss and Oppenheimer revolved around their differing perspectives on nuclear weapons. Oppenheimer favored halting their development and sharing nuclear data with the United States, whereas Strauss sought to keep more sinister biological weapons data classified.

Strauss suspected Oppenheimer of being a communist and leaking sensitive information to the Soviet Union. This suspicion intensified after Strauss assumed the role of Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.

Why was Strauss so miffed with Oppenheimer? The roots of Strauss's resentment against Oppenheimer can be traced back to an incident in 1949 when Oppenheimer publicly humiliated him for selling radioisotopes to foreign nations.

Additionally, a scene depicted in the movie, where Oppenheimer seemingly made a dismissive remark to Albert Einstein while ignoring Strauss, further fueled Strauss's animosity. However, it was later revealed in the movie that Oppenheimer's comment was not directed at Strauss.

In 1953, Strauss requested FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to investigate Oppenheimer, leading to illegal phone tapping to build a case against him. Strauss also initiated a separate security proceeding within the AEC, alleging Oppenheimer's communist affiliations, which eventually led to the revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearances. Strauss accused him of being a Soviet agent.

While Oppenheimer's security clearance was permanently revoked due to his involvement in communist activities, Strauss failed in his quest to completely terminate the scientist's career.

The movie Oppenheimer The film "Oppenheimer," a biological thriller drama written and directed by Nolan, draws inspiration from the 2005 book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer."

The movie delves into various aspects of Oppenheimer's life, portraying his internal conflict and regret over having designed nuclear weapons, which caused immense destruction during World War II.'

[hootsewers]

I've spent most of the day today organizing a lot of my headworld stuff that was in various disparate locations to all be in ONE scrivener document because im literally insane and I like being able to jump back and forth between projects like that lol

This whole task (as well as recent admiration of a bunch of artists on here) has led to me REALLY getting the itch to start like. actually posting headworld content and lore. So like...obv tumblr doesn't have a poll function but based on description & name alone which setting should I start with lol

🌟 Astrozoda: High fantasy af, mid-1800's technology level, what with the humans and elves and Established Gods and all that. This is the one where I have like 20+ pages of dragon lore and biology that I wrote before I knew I was autistic lol

🌟 Grandwyld: Science-fantasy I guess?? Lot of speculative evolution & in-depth cultural notes. Little bit of wizard battles and eldritch horrors, little bit of laser guns and thermonuclear devastation. This setting has the greatest volume of material because I've been writing it since I was literally 12 lmao

🌟 Uurth: Like Earth but a little fucked up. The concept is basically that it's a timeline that is closely parallel to ours, but the thread of it is...y'know, a little wonky. There's some new animals. Neurotypes are an established biological mechanism of humans. Cryptids also. I have the least amount of written lore for this setting, and yet somehow the most stories, like four stories take place in the "modern" version of Uurth and two take place in the distant future lol

Anyways if one of these tickles your fancy leave a comment or an ask or whatever bc when I am faced with decisions I simply Do Not Make Them lol

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

Onslaught - Thermonuclear Devastation

[lyrics365]

Thermonuclear Devastation

It steps out of its vessel and stares in horror This planet stinks it stinks of death CHORUS: Thermonuclear devastation of the planet earth Piles of rubble where cities once stood Flesh decaying where men once fell CHORUS A last glance the barren waste Artificial disease strikes the visitor down

[nicklloydnow]

“In the first fraction of a millisecond, a flash of light superheats the air to 180 million degrees Fahrenheit, incinerating people, places, and things, and absorbing a once bright, once powerful, once vibrant city center in a holocaust of fire and death. The fireball from this 1-megaton nuclear weapon that strikes the Pentagon is thousands of times more brilliant than the sun at noon. People from Baltimore, Maryland, to Quantico, Virginia, see this flash of light. Anyone staring directly at it is blinded by it.

In this first millisecond, the fireball is a 440-foot-diameter sphere. Over the next ten seconds, it expands to 5,700 feet in diameter, more than one mile of pure fire—nineteen football fields of fire—obliterating the nexus of American democracy.

The edges of the fireball stretch all the way to the Lincoln Memorial to the north and into Crystal City to the south. Everything and everyone that existed in this space is incinerated. Nothing remains. No human, no squirrel, no ladybug. No plants, no animals. No cellular life.

The air around the fireball's edges compresses into a steeply fronted blast wave. This dense wall of air pushes forward, mowing down everything and everyone in its path for three miles out, in every direction. Accompanied by several-hundred-mile-per-hour winds, it is as if Washington, D.C., just got hit by an asteroid and its accompanying wave.

In Ring 1—a nine-mile-diameter ring— engineered structures change physical shape and most collapse. Piles of rubble left behind stand thirty or more feet high. The initial thermonuclear flash has set everything in the fireball's line of sight on fire. It melts lead, steel, titanium. It turns paved streets into molten asphalt.

At the outer edges of Ring 1, rare survivors become trapped in liquified roadways, catch fire, and melt. The X-ray light of the nuclear flash burns skin off people's bodies, leaving their extremities a shredded horror of bloody tendons and exposed bone. Wind rips the skin off people's faces and tears away limbs. Survivors die of shock, heart attack, blood loss. Errant power lines whip through the air, electrocuting people and setting new fires alight everywhere.

As tens of seconds pass, the fireball rises three miles up into the air. Its ominous cloud cap turns the light of day into darkness. Some 1 to 2 million people are dead or dying, hundreds of thousands more now caught in the rubble and the flames. "There will be virtually no survivors," the government's nuclear advisory panel has long warned of what will happen in the first ring around ground zero. "There will be nothing recognizable remaining.... Only foundations and basements remaining."

Never in the history of mankind have so many human beings been killed so fast. Not since a mountain-sized asteroid smashed into Earth 66 million years ago has so much global devastation been set in motion in a single strike.

The die has been cast.

The singular, haunting words from former STRATCOM commander General Robert Kehler come alive: "The world could end in the next couple of hours."

And now it is about to.” - Annie Jacobsen, ‘Nuclear War: A Scenario’ (2024) [p. 164 - 166]

[jcmarchi]

Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Yars Has An Interesting Characteristic - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/russian-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-yars-has-an-interesting-characteristic-technology-org/

Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Yars Has An Interesting Characteristic - Technology Org

Russia has a large nuclear arsenal and is not shy about bragging about it. Russian officials are constantly threatening the world about the use of its latest intercontinental ballistic missiles. Such as the RS-24 Yars, which seems to be a bit of a favourite of the president of Russia Vladimir Putin.

The RS-24 Yars – one of Russia’s latest thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. Image credit: Vitaly V. Kuzmin via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Russia has recently tested the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile again, which gave the leadership of the country new confidence to threaten the world with a devastating nuclear Third World War. Vladimir Putin himself in his speech at the Federal Assembly on February 29 reminded that Russia has weapons capable of striking Western countries. This, of course, is a reaction to continuous military aid flowing into Ukraine.

Ivan Timochko, Chairman of the Council of Reservists of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, said that the Yars missile has some interesting features. For example, it uses solid fuel, which is not the most obvious choice for a new weapon.

Solid rocket fuel is cheaper and easier to use than the liquid one, Timochko noted. The rocket does not need to be fueled before launch if it is full of solid fuel. On the other hand, liquid fuel gives a missile more power, but it requires more advanced technology and is a bit more tricky to maintain and operate.

“In comparison, North Korea produces missiles that use solid fuel, while the US missiles use liquid fuel. China’s too,” said Ivan Timochko. He believes that Putin is threatening the world with a missile that is essentially based on older post-Soviet technology. In other words, according to Timochko, the old nature of the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is indicated by the fact that it uses a simpler solid fuel system.

The RS-24 Yars officially entered service in 2011. The fact that Yars uses solid fuel is included in the missile’s official specifications, which also indicates that the third and fourth stages can also use liquid fuel. The Yars was first tested in 2007. It is also interesting that the Yars and the Topol-M differ very little. The Topol-M is designed to carry a single warhead, while Yars can launch as many as four independent warheads over a designated area.

Timochko claims that the Russians have about 15-20 Yars missiles. Meanwhile, Russia has more than 60 Topol-Ms in its arsenal. That is enough to destroy many of the world’s major cities. The Yars and the Topol-M have a range of about 11-12 thousand kilometres.

And it’s important to point out that just because the Yars is a pretty old-fashioned missile doesn’t mean it’s harmless and should not be taken seriously. In many ways, solid fuel systems are more reliable. Russians boast about it excessively, but even with its solid fuel system Yars could destroy the country with nuclear strikes no problem at all.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: 24tv.ua, Wikipedia

[20thpresidium]

KGB Report: Urgent action required 

28 February 1957 

From: Aleksei Pavlov, Director of Nuclear Intelligence, KGB 

Dear Central Committee, 

Urgent action is required. Through our intelligence network in the West, we have learned of an increase in nuclear tests by the USA. Recently, Castle Charlie, a successor to Castle Bravo, was tested. It is 1.5 times the yield of Castle Bravo, the largest-yielding thermonuclear weapon tested by the USA before 1956. Castle Bravo was tested in 1954, and is a high-yield thermonuclear weapon. Do note that a thermonuclear weapon has far more destructive power than a nuclear weapon.  

The Central Committee must decide on a course of action immediately, or the USA will see it as a sign of Soviet cowardice and undertake more devastating actions. 

[criticalbennifer]

LA VIDA LOPEZ

Jennifer Lopez Gives the Lowdown on Marriage, Movies, and Ben’s Big Night Out

On the eve of her wedding, Jennifer Lopez speaks out about her past few tumultuous months–from the recent tabloid furor and the Gigli debacle to romantic infidelity, the beauty business, and, of course, Ben.

By: Aaron Gell

Oct. 1, 2003

Jennifer Lopez would rather not talk about the worldwide code-red state of emergency that is her personal life – the pending nuptials, the estranged former manager, the possibly misbehaving fiancé, et cetera.

Who can blame her?

“It’s our life, its not a television show,” the actress, singer and powerhouse multihyphenate says plaintively, sitting sideways on a creamy leather sofa in a set trailer in Winnipeg, Canada, where she’s filming the romantic comedy Shall We Dance? Her nut-brown skin is flawless as usual, her hair is pulled back, and she’s wearing a pair of grey sweatpants from her clothing line, JLo by Jennifer Lopez, and a white Cosabella T-shit – all to casually devastating effect. (Her engagement ring is, for the moment, stowed in a nearby safe while she works.) “Believe me, I’d like nothing better than to sit here and shoot the s— with you,” she adds, protectively hugging a throw pillow between her knees like a plush teddy bear, “but I also want to live a happy life.”

So, no. As to the particulars of the gown or the ceremony or the centerpieces, she ain’t saying. For that matter, she’s not about to admit whether she and Ben are having a spat, either.

Lopez, who turned 33 in July, ascribes this reticence to the breathless tabloid free-for­-all – complete with expert body-language analysis, handy relationship flowcharts and extreme telephoto close-ups of the most famous ring since Frodo’ s – that surrounds the couple’s every move and had, in the weeks preceding our interview, gone thermonuclear. “Literally, there’s someone shooting into my house with cameras,” she says. “I go out, and I’m going to be followed by six cars. All day long. You say to yourself, ‘It will pass. This is not who I really am. ‘But you’ re a person, and it hurts.”

Doing the occasional interview is fine, she says, part of the job. “But if you’re in the paper every damn day, people are like, ‘Who cares?’ And then nobody goes to see your movie!” She’s referring, of course, to the ill-fated Gigli, in which she and Affleck costarred. “It’s like, ‘Why should we? We see her every day,’ and then you’re like, ‘Wait a minute! That’s the only reason I’m doing this!’ “

“So we made a decision,” she continues, shaking her tight ponytail resolutely. “I’m just not going to talk about any personal stuff.”

That’s the plan, anyway. But there’s a problem. Well, two. The first is that Lopez’s personal life has always been so thoroughly intertwined with her work that it would take a team of arthroscopic surgeons to separate the strands.

Take for example, her new fragrance, Still Jennifer Lopez, the forthcoming launch of which is the sole reason her solidly built but affable bodyguard, B.O.B., has allowed a reporter to cross the carpeted threshold of her trailer in the first place. Not only does the perfume share its name with a love song from Lopez’s latest album, This Is Me…Then, but it recalls the chorus of the record’s hit single “Jenny From the Block”: “Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got/I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block” In addition to which, the scent’s advertising tag line, “In the eye of the storm, I am still Jennifer Lopez,” is an explicit reference to her rather remarkable poise amid the flurry of activity that – now more than ever – surrounds her. And the bottle’s elaborate packaging, featuring a removable faux-diamond ring perched on its neck, immediately brings to mind the $6.1 million pink bauble, custom-designed by Harry Winston, she received upon her engagement to Affleck. While insisting that the bottle design is not a reference to her own betrothal-“Why didn’t we make it pink, then?” she asks – Lopez concedes that the similarities are striking. “It did kind of occur to us later on,” she says with a laugh.

Such interconnectedness is the essence of Lopezland, a supremely polished multi­media hall of mirrors in which every facet seems to reflect in every other, endlessly amplifying the star’s own light. To wit, her four multiplatinum albums are largely auto­biographical, brimming with direct references to her romances with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs (who also produced her debut, On the 6), Cris Judd (who danced in and choreographed her TV concert special, “Let’s Get Loud”) and Affleck (who appears in the video for ”Jenny From the Block” and is the subject of “Dear Ben”). Meanwhile, such films as Selena, The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan have-perhaps unintentionally bathed Lopez’s own oft-repeated biographical story in their fairy-tale Hollywood glow.

The second problem with the newly reticent, self-protective Lopez is that, frankly, it’s not her. She is, by nature, a defiantly unguarded person. As anyone who witnessed the sartorial game of chicken she played with that rainforest-green Versace dress at the 2000 Grammys already knows, circumspection is not really Lopez’s thing. “I push myself to the limits,” she says. “I take risks. I keep myself on edge. That’s just the animal in me.”

So, sashaying right up to the edge of her own vow of silence, Lopez eschews any direct wedding talk – refusing to confirm reports that September 14 is the big day – but seems happy enough to chat about the “major transition” about to take place for her. “I’m really excited about making more time for my personal life, and making decisions that aren’t all about me,” she says. “Just having another person; a family to consider; I am so looking forward to that in my life. I have been for a long time.”

From which one might well surmise that her relationship with Affleck is …fine? “Yes!” she affirms with a warm smile. “This relationship is the best thing in my life.”

The question has taken on some urgency of late, after The National Enquirer revealed that Affleck, who spent the summer filming a movie in Vancouver, had visited a strip club on the very night that the actor and his betrothed were seen gushing about their domestic bliss in a very special “Dateline NBC.” To be sure, ogling go-go dancers is something of a prewedding tradition. But it was the other details reported by the paper – that Ben had cheated on Jen with one (or was it three?) of the strippers, and that said dalliance might have been captured on video – that soon had People and US Weekly musing, in lemon yellow 80-point cover type, IS THE WEDDING STILL ON? and WILL J.LO FORGIVE HIM?

“For me, it wasn’t an issue,” Lopez says impassively of Affleck’s night on the town. “We talk every day. I know what he does, he knows what I do. We don’t have those kind of secrets. What they put in the paper is not what happened, so it doesn’t matter. But watching that get so blown out of proportion, I was like, Wow, so this is where we’re at: You can’t walk into a place and hang out with a couple of friends without it turning into a national scandal. It was ridiculous.”

Lopez adds that she never had the slightest doubt that the reports’ more salacious details were “straight falsehoods, straight lies,” as she puts it. “Because I knew he had gone! And I knew [the story was coming out] beforehand. He’s like, ‘Hey, the Enquirer is doing a story, and I called my lawyer today,’ and I was thinking, Oh, God. I knew it was going to be a big deal in the press, but I didn’t know it was going to be like that, the cover of eight magazines at once. It’s like, This can’t be that interesting. But I guess it was. We sat there and read the articles together and said, ‘This is just insane.’ It sounds ridiculous, if you read it. It sounds so stupid! It’s like, If you’re single and 21, you wouldn’t do things like that. It’s just crazy!”

Male infidelity has been something of a leitmotif in Lopez’s work-beginning with one of her first acting roles, on “Second Chances,” a short-lived TV drama in which she played a bride with cold feet. “I do,” she declares at the altar, waiting just a beat before adding, “have reservations.” As gasps erupt from the pews, she berates the groom: ”You slept with a stripper last night!” Likewise, her characters in both The Wedding Planner and Enough deal with cheating lovers, and any number of her songs explore the subject, most prominently her very first single, “If You Had My Love,” with the fierce declaration, “First of all, I won’t have you cheating on me.”

Despite which, Lopez scoffs at the notion that men are somehow evolutionarily wired for infidelity. “They can be faithful,” she says. “They just have to want to. I don’t think it’s natural for anyone, honestly. But it’s considered more acceptable for men to cheat. It’s like men go, ‘Oh, I can’t be with just one woman…,’ But hey, it’s hard for women too, you know? Hel-lo! It’s hard for us too! Which is why I think we give our men such a hard time. It’s like, Hey, if I can [be faithful], you can do it too. Trust me.”

That said, Lopez, who became engaged to Affleck before her divorce from Judd was final, does not consider fidelity to be the only key to a good relationship. “I think you have to be honest, more than anything,” she says. “Communication, fidelity… it’s all very important, but it depends on what kind of relationship you’re in.” Indeed, Lopez has admitted she suspected P. Diddy of cheating on her when they were together, and that she put up with it. “For a little while, yes, but not in the end,” she points out now, narrowing her eyes.

Which is not to say that there aren’t some fundamental differences between the sexes. “It’s the difference between ‘me’ and ‘we,'” she explains. “Men operate from their own universe, and women are focused on family, keeping it together. Because we’re caretakers by nature – we give birth, we have to take care of that baby – and men don’t have that experience. They have to bring home the bacon, that kind of stuff. Those are different sensibilities.”

In the “Dateline NBC” interview, Lopez set eyeballs a-rolling when she declared adoringly that “Ben wears the pants” in the relationship, but in light of the extraordinary power she exercises over her business affairs, Lopez makes no apologies for seek­ing a more traditional female role at home. “It’s about being able to feel safe somewhere,” she explains. “That doesn’t mean I’m not a strong, independent woman. But I think when you’ re in a relationship, you have to submit to a certain extent.”

That attitude is a far cry from that of Ricki, the lesbian organized-crime enforcer she played in Gigli, who jousts relentlessly about the relative merits of men and women with another hired gun, played by Affleck – before, inevitably, falling into bed with him. Given the vehement hostility the film aroused, it might not be out of line to attribute some of the response to the sexual insecurity of male movie critics (still the overwhelming majority) unnerved by the sight of a beautiful woman, in the midst of a rather suggestive yoga routine, comparing their anatomy to a “sea slug.”

Indeed, one of the few critics who dared to say anything nice about Gigli was a woman, Variety‘s Amy Dawes, who says her write-up prompted readers to flood her inbox with hate mail and her boss, Peter Bart, to relieve her of her reviewing duties. “I felt like the Dixie Chicks!” Dawes says. “It’s not like the war in Iraq, it’s a movie – but there was the same intolerance of a differing opinion.”

Lopez suspects that the media obsession with her love life had a lot to do with the film’s poor reception, something she’d feared for months. “I kept warning my mom,” she recalls. “I said, ‘Mom, we’re gonna get killed.”‘

Asked how she thought such immortal lines as “It’s turkey time-gobble, gobble” and “My penis sneezes” would go over with audiences, she laughs. “It’s genius! Look, I thought it was risky, but I also felt it was juicy,” she says. “It was tough stuff to work with.” As for playing a lesbian (albeit a wobbly one), Lopez didn’t hesitate. “It didn’t define who she was,” she explains, “so it didn’t bother me. To be honest, if I actually had to do a love scene with a woman I maybe would have thought twice about it, because I’ve never done anything like that, in real life or on film. That would have been a thing like, Am I going to be able to let go that much? But it wasn’t in the script.”

As for the final product, Lopez thinks it still hasn’t gotten a fair shake. “People are saying there was no chemistry,” she says incredulously. “That’s insane! There’s crazy chemistry! Look, I’m tougher on myself than any critic can ever be. The movie had places where it didn’t work, and that’s fine. Review that. But don’t just be an ass to be an ass, you know?

“I really think it will have a resurgence on cable!” she adds. “Now people may look at me and say, ‘She’s totally off her f—ing rocker,’ but hey, that’s my theory.”

There’s little chance the film will do lasting harm to her career, but Lopez has often admitted feeling that her Bentley convertible could suddenly turn back into a pumpkin. “This business breeds that type of sensibility,” she says. “There’s always somebody there to take your place –they tell you that the first time you walk into an audition. You’re only as good as your last this or that, and you have to have something in the can.” She does: Along with Shall We Dance?, which costars Richard Gere, Lopez will appear in Jersey Girl, again with Affleck, and in the forthcom­ing Lasse Halstrom drama, An Unfinished Life, opposite Robert Redford.

Even so, it’s hardly surprising that Lopez is feeling especially vulnerable these days. In addition to the tabloid rumors and the Gigli mess, she’s in the middle of an acri­monious split from her longtime manager, Benny Medina, whom she says called recently to check in on her. “He said, ‘I just want you to know I’m always your friend and I’m always here for you,'” she says, growing a bit misty. “With all the craziness going on, that really meant some­thing to me. Benny was one of my best friends. Right now the wounds are still fresh-for both of us. It’s a transition period for me and for him to move on to a different section of our lives without the comfort of each other. Business is not easy, but I think it was really important for my own growth to kind of let go of the crutch.”

As it happens, Medina isn’t the only casualty of recent personnel changes in Lopez’s camp. She replaced her publicity firm, Rogers & Cowan, with Dan Klores Communications, a firm known for its crisis-management savvy. And on the agency front, she has raised eyebrows in Hollywood by bouncing from ICM to Endeavor to CM and back to Endeavor in less than a year. “It’s not as complicated as people make it out to be,” she says. “I’ve been doing a little juggling. You have to put the right people in place for your team to feel good. After getting out of that comfort zone I was in for a long time, I have to be a little bit more hands-on about decisions. To be honest, I feel a little orphaned right now, but I think that’s part of growing. The people I’m working with now are really smart and good at what they do.” Even so, when asked if she’s got the mix right, she admits, “It’s too early to tell.”

Despite all the turmoil, Lopez remains a world-class superstar at the top of her game. The well-received This Is Me… Then, has spawned two Top 10 singles. Her first fragrance, Glow by J.Lo, launched last September, is a run­away success. According to Catherine Walsh, vice president of the cosmetics company Lancaster, which markets Glow, the scent is ranked No.1 globally in terms of units sold ”You don’t come across a Jennifer Lopez every day,” Walsh says. Expectations are therefore quite high for Still, which includes notes of sake, Earl Grey tea, honeysuckle and sandalwood. And the fragrances are just the beginning of an ambitious House of J.Lo beauty line, including cosmetics, skin care and hair products. (Not bad for a woman whose fragrance career started at a nondescript shack in a Bronx parking lot – “Like one of those places you see that says FLATS FIXED,” Lopez recalls-where she peddled bootleg versions of Poison and other blockbuster scents of the day.) This fall the company is introducing something called the Glow Kit, a promotional sampler based on the makeup Lopez sports in the scent’s marketing materials. “The idea is to say, ‘You can capture this look,'” Walsh explains. “It’s a way to test the waters.”

Meanwhile, after a shaky start, Lopez’s Sweetface Fashion Co. is beginning to find some traction. The company’s president and CEO, Denise Seegal, describes the line as “sexy, clean, fun, girly clothing,” adding that the recently launched accessories line is doing well and that handbags, intimate apparel, footwear and outer­wear are also on the drawing board for 2004. ”Jennifer has been so successful in the past two years, and that has added a positive halo to the total branding,” Seegal notes. “But the product itself, in order to have longevity, has to be the best. Whatever happens regarding a film or a CD, the brand has to stand on its own.”

Lopez agrees. “When you put the name J.Lo on a piece of clothing,” she says, “you have a lot of stuff that comes along with that. That wasn’t my choice. I fight it to this day. Because ultimately, it’s not about my name, it’s about the product.”

Indeed, from her point of view, the whole J.Lo thing has gotten way out of hand. “I was never like, ‘Call me J.Lo!”‘ Lopez insists. “I named the album J.Lo, but now I think I was crazy. When something sticks like that, you really just don’t quite understand it, and you want your name back. You’re like, ‘Please, call me Jennifer. I was fine with that for 20, 30 years.…’ ”

Besides, ”Jennifer” carries none of the baggage associated with “J.Lo,” which brings to mind the whole music-diva persona that has bedeviled Lopez for years. It’s a reputation her friends and colleagues say is unwarranted. “Sure, she likes her diamonds, and there’s that bling-bling side to her,” says Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who before becoming a partner at Revolution Films was Lopez’s agent at ICM. “But there’s also a side of her that’s very simple and caring and vulnerable.”

“I like dressing up and being glamorous,” Lopez says. “But for somebody like me, who really didn’t have that much, to have things is fun. It’s just really base and simple! I like looking nice. But I think people want to judge a book by its cover, and they just go, ‘Ugh, what a diva. Just look at her!'”

Notes Goldsmith-Thomas: “If being a diva is getting up at five in the morning, going to a movie set, leaving to go work on an album, then going home and doing the whole thing again, then fine. But I’ve never seen anybody work as hard as her. She worked for every opportunity she’s ever had. She wasn’t given anything.”

As a result, Lopez has an unshakable confidence in her own point of view. Goldsmith-Thomas was herself fired by Lopez after one too many disagreements (among other things, she argued strenuously against The Dress). But the two maintained a tight bond; Goldsmith-Thomas, who produced Maid in Manhattan, brought the film to her former client and still gets together with Lopez for the occasional TV night, including a recent “Mary Tyler Moore” marathon. “Jennifer will listen to other opinions,” she says, “but if you try to tell her the rules, she goes the opposite direction.”

As Lopez says matter-of-factly, “I always try to explain to everyone I’m in business with, the usual rules don’t apply to me. I’m just in a different thing, and I have to go with my gut on every specific little issue. I just make my own rules.” For the most part, the approach has worked marvelously. On the refrigerator in her trailer, Lopez has taped up a collection of supportive clippings sent by relatives over the past few difficult months. One, a newspaper horoscope for her sign, Leo, sums things up fairly well: “Your life is about to change for the better,” it reads. “You are now on the throne and will be able to rule all that you survey. Your patience has been tested, but it will be worth it in matters of love and career