[Milsurplus] HOTSY-TOTSY

[J. Forster]

Hue Miller wrote:

> > The Air Force had a problem in the late fifties and very early sixties. We
> > would spend a lot of time on Alert and the Flight Surgeon discovered that
> > some of the crew members were developing numerous  skin blemishes...
>
> Breck, that's a good story, BUT....how do skin burns from exposure to radioactivity,
> themselves become radioactive? How did their faces glow without having their faces
> painted with radium? Exposure  to radioactivity does not make one "glow".  Even
> ingesting radioactive material will not make one "glow", altho it will make one "count".

I'm inclined to think this is a myth. OTOH, some Zinc compounds are in skin creams and
scintillate with radiation. Other compounds 'glow in the dark' for a while. Have you ever
suddenly turned off the lights and seen a CRT glowing at you, with the power off? These
comments DO NOT explain how an image was formed, however. IMO, the likely cause was
ingesting a bit too much 'rocket juice'.

> BTW, i would appreciate comment on this story:  fellow i know says he attended a
> Catholic school taught by nuns.  Some student pointed out to a teacher that the
> watch she wore had a radium painted dial face. "Well that explains this", she said,
> and took off the watch. There was a watch-shaped shadow on her wrist where the
> watch had been.

You should have asked about other tan lines, like bikinis would make.  :=)))

-John