Chernobyl

[Frazod]

Just finished the first episode; I guess I'll be keeping HBO a bit longer after Game of Thrones ends.

It is fascinating, horrifying and infuriating. And spellbinding.

[O.city]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ignatenko.html

Here's some of the interview with the wife. The death of that dude sounds like the worst way to die imaginable. He was spitting up parts of his lungs and intestines.

Jesus.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Let's be mindful of what we saw in the FIRST episode also. Fomin was chief engineer. Dyatlov was a nuclear engineer also. They were in DENIAL in part because of the concept made no inherent sense to them, as well as the fact that if it were true, they were ****ed, so they didn't want to admit it even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

I think that's exactly right.

I have a coworker who is fond of saying "we don't know what we don't know" and that's the case here. These were highly trained, extremely intelligent people (though Dyatlov had some demons that I don't believe the show has explored yet) and they were simply certain that the reactor literally exploding was impossible.

A melt down? They might have considered that possibility. But the kind of incident simply wasn't something they believed could happen so they were immediately skeptical of it.

And then even when more information trickled in, they didn't want to believe it because of how dire it was. It reminds me of my favorite quote from Tom Moore. He was the OC with the Colts at the time and he was asked why Manning's backups don't get more reps: "Folks, if 18 goes down we're ****ed, and we don't practice ****ed..."

Bottom line is that they were ****ed and they didn't practice ****ed. So they simply refused to accept is as their reality until they had no other alternative.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by wazu

One freaky new thing I've learned from this series is that apparently radiation sickness is contagious. The extreme reaction to the pregnant wife having contact with her husband seemed crazy. I would think that the exposure there would be less than if she had stayed at home in Pripyat. Googled it and it does sound like the exposure to bodily fluids of a contaminated victim matters. Curious how accurate the portrayal of the radiation sickness is. Knew it was a horrible death but the full on melting is beyond what I would've imagined in my nightmares.

There are stories about guys skin simply sliding down their legs like long socks with the elastic blown out.

It has something to do with how the radiation impacts you at a genetic level. It literally changes your physical makeup. Your body stops making blood cells, your skin is fundamentally altered. Your bone marrow is effectively rendered inert. I mean the things those massive doses of radiation do to a body are beyond comprehension; in some ways they make you simply not human anymore because your biological processes just stop. You're a walking corpse and you just haven't realized it yet so you start to rot while breathing.

That's a completely different rabbit hole to go down but some of the things this disaster taught people about massive doses of radiation's impact on the body were simply staggering. I honestly believe the people that witnessed what happened to those exposed were completely unaware that it was possible.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think that's exactly right.

I have a coworker who is fond of saying "we don't know what we don't know" and that's the case here. These were highly trained, extremely intelligent people (though Dyatlov had some demons that I don't believe the show has explored yet) and they were simply certain that the reactor literally exploding was impossible.

A melt down? They might have considered that possibility. But the kind of incident simply wasn't something they believed could happen so they were immediately skeptical of it.

And then even when more information trickled in, they didn't want to believe it because of how dire it was. It reminds me of my favorite quote from Tom Moore. He was the OC with the Colts at the time and he was asked why Manning's backups don't get more reps: "Folks, if 18 goes down we're ****ed, and we don't practice ****ed..."

Bottom line is that they were ****ed and they didn't practice ****ed. So they simply refused to accept is as their reality until they had no other alternative.

That's an amazing quote. I hadn't heard that before. Thanks.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

There are stories about guys skin simply sliding down their legs like long socks with the elastic blown out.

It has something to do with how the radiation impacts you at a genetic level. It literally changes your physical makeup. Your body stops making blood cells, your skin is fundamentally altered. Your bone marrow is effectively rendered inert. I mean the things those massive doses of radiation do to a body are beyond comprehension; in some ways they make you simply not human anymore because your biological processes just stop. You're a walking corpse and you just haven't realized it yet so you start to rot while breathing.

That's a completely different rabbit hole to go down but some of the things this disaster taught people about massive doses of radiation's impact on the body were simply staggering. I honestly believe the people that witnessed what happened to those exposed were completely unaware that it was possible.

He talked about it in the last episode a bit when they were walking. It's terrifying to think about and i'm gonna go out on a limb and say pretty painful to go thru.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

He talked about it in the last episode a bit when they were walking. It's terrifying to think about and i'm gonna go out on a limb and say pretty painful to go thru.

I haven't gotten to episode 3 yet. It sounds pretty gnarly from the posts.

[Miles]

Appears HBO has a companion podcast for each episode. Anyone try it yet and worth the time?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I haven't gotten to episode 3 yet. It sounds pretty gnarly from the posts.

It is well done. It's not super over the top or anything. It's a good watch.

[MTG#10]

Great series so far. I admittedly didn't know much about the Chernobyl disaster and have learned a lot. I've probably paused each episode a dozen times googling random things about nuclear power-plants, radiation, and Chernobyl itself.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by O.city

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ignatenko.html

Here's some of the interview with the wife. The death of that dude sounds like the worst way to die imaginable. He was spitting up parts of his lungs and intestines.

Jesus.

the baby died from the effects of radiation exposure. The nurses told her that touching her husband or getting near him could kill her or her baby. She killed her baby and has to live with that forever. Plus watching her husband die such a horrible death. That has to be a living hell she is enduring.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Miles

Appears HBO has a companion podcast for each episode. Anyone try it yet and worth the time?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...t/id1459712981

In my queue but haven’t listened yet.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

the baby died from the effects of radiation exposure. The nurses told her that touching her husband or getting near him could kill her or her baby. She killed her baby and has to live with that forever. Plus watching her husband die such a horrible death. That has to be a living hell she is enduring.

Don't search "Chernobyl Children". It's heartbreaking.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by notorious

Don't search "Chernobyl Children". It's heartbreaking.

Just did that


Wish I wouldn’t have

[notorious]

Originally Posted by O.city

Just did that


Wish I wouldn’t have

So much suffering, and they are innocent.


Mother **** the USSR.

[shrlked]

There is a documentary made in 2003 called Chernobyl Heart. It won the Academy Award for Short Subject Documentary. Very interesting. I used to show it to high school chemistry students when they were learning about nuclear reactions, power plants etc. It really sobered them up for a day.