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myrdschaemI finished the Chernobyl book! It was really heart-punching, wring your heart out interviews of all sorts of people. Some who lived there, some who were drafted into helping with clean up, some scientists who were trying to get objective facts out, some local officials making choices that focused more on calming panic than protecting people. People speak very frank all throughout and that makes this book strong. The first and the last individuals both are harrowing love stories to the husbands who died in clean up. It's the sort of love that is epic and more cheesy than all other couples and sadly they proved it both when their husbands start becoming sicker and sicker, staying by their side. They brought me to tears with ease.
All of the persons in the book are worthwhile to listen to though. Another case that was fascinating is the people who stayed or who kept coming back. It's their home and that was their way of life, in a way they didn't seem like they could imagine anything else. Multiple people crossing into the forbidden area to get the potatoes into the ground because that's what has to happen. No matter that no-one should actually consume any of the products - but of course they were mixed with others and sold anyway later. Officials kept worrying about how to fulfill their five-year plans while the military had to scrape off the topsoil and bury it for safety. Bonkers.
In fact, there were regulations and recommendations for radiation exposure and everyone broke them constantly. Maybe they don't see anything getting bad right now and keep going or they are given useless radiation meters or they are all just ignored. It resonates a lot with what I experienced with the Covid policies actually. Scientific evidence that is translated into best practices was/is just ignored because no-one wants to take the responsibility of issuing unpopular orders. Hard choices like transplanting villages or not producing anything in the zone anymore were either done much later or never. Even easy stuff like giving out iodine tablets, which were in storage just in case of nuclear war (!), got skipped because they might be needed later. A lot of people suffered as consequence.
The interviews read fast and are all personal. I assumed there would be some facts between when I bought this, so I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction on the whole thing. I will track down other reading I guess. This rec comes with a bunch of triggers, specifically animal death and anything with radiation sickness, cancer and death, including of children.
In other news, I'm slightly fixating on the newly released Shin Megami Tensei V. I don't have it nor do I plan to buy it right now but the urge. I love that they just straight up fused the protagonist teenager with a buff demon to make a superior femboy. Iconic! In fact, the protector demon seems very fussy and concerned with his teenage charge, so I ship that of course. The game play looks addictive. I admit I usually go for story over cutting edge graphics or cool gaming, but SMT games make what could be repetitive turn-based rpg play fun as fuck. The demon collecting aspect is great as always. I have seen some screenshots from talking with demons that are hilarious, like asking whether the protagonist is a top, middle or bottom, demons afraid of human fans, demons asking you to step on them and more. I am hyped, honestly.
Instead of buying SMTV, I caved and bought SMT IV to scratch the itch. I have played Apocalypse, the sequel to that game, before. It works beautifully to scratch my need. I'm at least 25 hours in with a ton of resetting when a random encounter suddenly wipes the floor with me and I. Love. It. Even though it's challenging and always a danger, the whole thing is addictive. I'm happy to grind, collect demons I'm missing or trying to fuse something cool. It's the best.
All of the persons in the book are worthwhile to listen to though. Another case that was fascinating is the people who stayed or who kept coming back. It's their home and that was their way of life, in a way they didn't seem like they could imagine anything else. Multiple people crossing into the forbidden area to get the potatoes into the ground because that's what has to happen. No matter that no-one should actually consume any of the products - but of course they were mixed with others and sold anyway later. Officials kept worrying about how to fulfill their five-year plans while the military had to scrape off the topsoil and bury it for safety. Bonkers.
In fact, there were regulations and recommendations for radiation exposure and everyone broke them constantly. Maybe they don't see anything getting bad right now and keep going or they are given useless radiation meters or they are all just ignored. It resonates a lot with what I experienced with the Covid policies actually. Scientific evidence that is translated into best practices was/is just ignored because no-one wants to take the responsibility of issuing unpopular orders. Hard choices like transplanting villages or not producing anything in the zone anymore were either done much later or never. Even easy stuff like giving out iodine tablets, which were in storage just in case of nuclear war (!), got skipped because they might be needed later. A lot of people suffered as consequence.
The interviews read fast and are all personal. I assumed there would be some facts between when I bought this, so I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction on the whole thing. I will track down other reading I guess. This rec comes with a bunch of triggers, specifically animal death and anything with radiation sickness, cancer and death, including of children.
In other news, I'm slightly fixating on the newly released Shin Megami Tensei V. I don't have it nor do I plan to buy it right now but the urge. I love that they just straight up fused the protagonist teenager with a buff demon to make a superior femboy. Iconic! In fact, the protector demon seems very fussy and concerned with his teenage charge, so I ship that of course. The game play looks addictive. I admit I usually go for story over cutting edge graphics or cool gaming, but SMT games make what could be repetitive turn-based rpg play fun as fuck. The demon collecting aspect is great as always. I have seen some screenshots from talking with demons that are hilarious, like asking whether the protagonist is a top, middle or bottom, demons afraid of human fans, demons asking you to step on them and more. I am hyped, honestly.
Instead of buying SMTV, I caved and bought SMT IV to scratch the itch. I have played Apocalypse, the sequel to that game, before. It works beautifully to scratch my need. I'm at least 25 hours in with a ton of resetting when a random encounter suddenly wipes the floor with me and I. Love. It. Even though it's challenging and always a danger, the whole thing is addictive. I'm happy to grind, collect demons I'm missing or trying to fuse something cool. It's the best.
