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 This video was very moving and eye-opening to witness. The lack of language at first left me confused, but it quickly made sense and I am grateful that the artist took efforts to make this video accessible beyond language. That said, I find it fascinating that this video is attributed as art, rather than an average informational video or documentary. Hashimoto is a Japanese artist and museum curator, so it makes sense from his and his peers’ perspective that this may be art, but if our class were to watch this without context, I wonder if anyone at all would suggest this is an artistic work. This is not to doubt the piece of art, but to recognise cultural diversity in the creation of art and its possibilities for a vast range of purposes. Additionally, Hashimoto was born shortly after WWII ended, so it’s even more impactful as he more than likely has familial and cultural ties to nuclear devastation. - Dillyn Scott
+In Michael Smith’s “Advertising the Atom” he discusses the integration of nuclear energy into popular culture and the “daily lives” of society. Throughout this reading I thought back to all of the regulations on nuclear energy that I have discussed in other classes which reminded me how powerful this “technology” is. Which you also see in the number of casualties from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is not surprising that big companies and other agencies attempted to frame this nuclear/atomic energy in a more positive frame due to the initial exposure people had of this energy of bombings. Through these attempts the government was hoping to change the narrative of dangerous technology to positive technology which you could arguably find necessary today with technology and human intelligence having some of society questioning the power given to artificial intelligence. -Emma Monaghan
+Page 221 of the Pursell reading describes the domestic applications of nuclear technology as shown by the 1965 film The Atom and Eve, which draws inspiration from the biblical first woman, “born into a modern-day electrical garden of Eden. As she approaches puberty, Eve acquires an expanding array of electrical appliances; she also eats from the tree of electrical knowledge (“Eve learned a new word: hydroelectricity”). “to meet Eve’s never-ending needs.” Eve’s coming-of-age culminates in her Dance of the Nuclear Light Bulb. Destined to burn for “a million years,” the bulb becomes consumer culture’s eternal flame.”” This refers to a mid-century cult of domesticity, with these domestic applications of electrical and nuclear technology being geared towards women with the aim of glorifying their place in the home. This also refers to nuclear technology’s general commercial applications, because nuclear energy was viewed at the time as having virtually infinite power and utility. – Rachel Beatty.
+In the Pursell reading I learned a lot about how the use of atomic power was basically plotted to the public as something positive and harmless. I thought that one quote stuck out to me alot and that was “The government and the nuclear power industry thus faced potentially conflicting choices: to maintain appearances at the possible risk to public confidence, or to maintain appearances at the possible risk to safety.”(Page 218) I found this to explain the problem of the use of nuclear energy perfectly. I think that the problem was that they didn't know what to do. It was a double edged sword. Do you use nuclear energy and hype it up so that people would like it knowing the possible outcomes or do you explain what it actually is and not know if the public would approve. I think that this reading really opened my eyes to the power of the government and how it can persuade the public. This isn’t only about nuclear power but a larger idea of the government and people's trust. I really enjoyed this reading and found it eye opening about what goes on behind closed doors when there is a pandora's box waiting to be opened. I really enjoyed learning about all of the acts passed and laws passed about nuclear energy because I have never even heard about any of them prior to this reading and in class. -Tory Martin
+The atomic bomb is a broad topic that has many unknowns. People either love the power it brings or hate the destruction. The destruction of the atomic bomb is not just physical, but also mentally impacts the victims of this bomb. Physically, on-going radiation and debris from the atomic bombs affect the human body by poisoning it through radiation exposure and pollution of the lungs. After the bomb is dropped, radiation lingers for long amounts of time, making these areas unhealthy to reside at. Mentally, people are affected by seeing loved-ones get injured or perish. Also, the atomic bomb effects people mentally because it gives a feeling of destruction. The thought of the atomic bomb is the thought of death, fear, and destruction.
+-Reilly Miller
+In the Pursell reading, it does delve into the thoughts that occurred with Nuclear Public Relations Campaigns that were starting in the 1980s. This was more “focused” on the whole idea of Nuclear Power Plants that brought along the key to “Understanding the Atom” that was being distributed by the ERDA (pg. 245). These campaigns brought along with them the ideas that could be used in advertising these with programs and other things to bring along Nuclear Power that wanted to be used in Nuclear Power Plants. One of the main “proposals” that was brought along with this was the Nuclear Energy Public Affairs Program that would inform the public opinion on nuclear energy and the need to implement a comprehensive public information program (pg. 247). – Hunter Dykhuis
+This chapter was really interesting about the nuclear bombs and how they were made. It also talked about how people got the news of the explosion and how it effected people. - Lauren Blouch
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 The “global” nature of this video is important as it showcases how a secret government project in 1940s America permeated not only American, but global culture - touching both military and civilian and violent and peaceful aspects of life worldwide. (==Glynnis Farleigh)
+It was a really interesting video. It took me a couple minutes to realize what it was representing and that there was no talking, then I realized that it was nuclear bomb detonations. I was really interested in watching United Kingdom and Italy since their numbers were really low.- Lauren Blouch
 At first, I was confused as to what the video was showing. However, once I discovered that it was showing all the nuclear bomb detonations I became extremely intrigued. I started paying close attention to the countries and their colors and realized that the US was always ahead and had more than anyone else, finally ending with 1032 of 2053. There were 2053 nuclear bombs set off between 1945 and 1998 making that number is so much higher than I ever thought. This video opened my eyes to the sheer amount of nuclear bombs that I had no idea existed. Certain years also had more or less than others. Between 1950-1961 the amount was virtually silent along with 1993-1998. However, in 1958 alone there were more than I ever expected. This video was published in 2003 and I am curious to know how many more have occurred since. - Haley Denehy
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 I think it's interesting to see the interaction between Russia and the USA. Whenever the US would set off a bomb Russia would also set off a couple as well. This happened vice-versa with America. It shows that both countries wanted to be seen and to put little reminders to one another to say that they were still here. -- Erin Madden
+This video shows the advancement in nuclear power  in warheads in different countries since the United States were the first country to use them in 1945. It slowly shows all the different countries beginning to develop the technology to create nuclear warheads for their military. As the years went on, there were more and more explosions happening every year. Towards the end of the video, there would be multiple explosions going off at the same time in the same country or in other countries. This really opens your eyes to how many countries developed the technology in such a short time period. - Kevin Bach
+The Isao Hashimoto animation tracks the evolution and proliferation of nuclear weapons from 1945-1998 through the 2,053 tests conducted, half of which is accounted for by the Americans. The US gets the bomb first and stays in the lead throughout the 53 years being analyzed with the Soviets trailing behind. Each new member of the nuclear club has a color and sound pitch to indicate who’s testing what. By the end of the video, seven nations in total acquire the bomb and conduct tests. At the very end, the map shows the cumulative “footprints” or “scars,” the impact of all the tests conducted, with the Americans unsurprisingly leaving the biggest scars. I recognized the video from my decade-long history with watching YouTube, and the colored lights and notes that came with every test made me think of it as a strange and unsettling song, with its melody being one of human hubris and folly, and the USA and the USSR as its lead singers. – Rachel Beatty.
+Wow, this video was very eye opening for me, I never realized how many nuclear bombs were deployed.  I was interesting to see the dates where it subsided and then the other dates where there was clearly war going on.  I thought it was very interesting to see how late some of these countries were to enter in on this. It makes you think was it because they were trying to stay out of it or did they just not have the technology yet.  From an environmental perspective, if those are all indeed nuclear bombs, no amount of recycling can help us come back from the damage and radiation we’ve put on our earth. Humans are dumb and the nuclear bomb is a prime example of why, we are so trigger happy and jump at the next best thing, that we don’t think about the long term consequences of these pieces of technology. Its truly sad to see that there were 2053 nuclear bombs from 1945-1998, 53 years and there was so much destruction. I would hate to see those numbers from since 1998. -- Claire Starke
+After watching a few minutes of the video I began to come to an understanding of what the blinking lights were representing. What was interesting to me was the little amount of tests that were done prior to the bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You would think more examination would have been done before creating that much destruction on those cities. After watching the video and seeing how many bombs were tested throughout history you would think the U.S. would have gave it a couple more goes and really saw what came about after an atomic bomb is dropped on a civilization. I also think it is interesting how the creator made an art piece out of something so destructive and depressing as nuclear weapons of destruction and make it into a tune, to an extent -Nick Bass
+The video “1945-1998” for me was a real eye opener about nuclear bombs. I thought that it was really interesting to see how after the first two bombs that were dropped there continued to be thousands of more that were dropped that I never knew about. I think that it was also interesting to see how there were different patterns in the bombings. Some years there would be many and then it would go through dry spells of none. I want to do more research into why that was a thing. Also it is interesting to see how many more bombs America dropped than the other countries. This to me shows how much more advanced and how much more America spends on its defense. I really think it is crazy that the United States dropped over a thousand bombs over the years and the only ones I knew of before this were the original two that we always learn about. This is a real eye opener to me about the dangers of how many nuclear bombs are out there. -Tory Martin
+The evolution of nuclear warfare happened throughout seven different countries, located across the globe. At the end of 1998, there were 2,053 nuclear explosions in these seven countries, 1,032 coming just from the United States. This is more than half of the explosions around the world for 1998.  This statistic is powerful because even after the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States still sees the means to use this weapon of mass destruction. Also, this video is interesting because it shows that when America tested the nuclear bombs, the Soviet Union followed suit and decided to test their weapons. The Cold War would have effected this notion because both countries are showing that they could do to the other through testing. -Reilly Miller
+The film “1945-1998” was very eye-opening for the number of nuclear explosions that happened within a 53-year time period and the surprises that occurred with it really did bring new life to the topic itself for me. The fact that the United States seemed to always be ahead by nearly 300 nuclear explosions to the Soviet Union was also a “surprise” to me as well but considering the other countries that joined the mix as well did not even come close to what the United States and the Soviet Union were doing did not surprise me. The fact that the U.S. had over 1,000 nuclear explosions by 1988-1989 was also a big surprise for me as well because I felt like it was going to be much lower but it wasn’t. This short film, like I said, has really opened up my eyes to just how far it got and the number of explosions that actually happened really is astonishing considering that the number ends with 2,053 nuclear explosions that occurred. – Hunter Dykhuis
+This video “silently” (you hear the beeps representing the bombs, but there’s not any commentary) highlighted the detonation of nuclear bombs. It was pretty remarkable to see how many bombs went off in the span of 53 years, and while many of them went off in the ocean, I can’t help but wonder what the long term implications of their dentonations are. Towards the end of the video there’s a rapid fire of all of the bombs per country, and it resembles almost an artistic firework compilation. - Elizabeth Davis