Hivemind Times Issue #31

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

To the good people of the Hivemind Times parish, I welcome you to edition 31 with open arms. A lot has happened since we last spoke and I hope to relay in detail and enthusiasm all that has transpired. Lol imagine if I talked like that. 

What’s up gangy? Graydon your old time pal here and I really hope we can get this one together. Grant is leaving us for the weekend to the great windy city known as Chicago and we have a “special guest” in town. So a lot going on over here but I hope y'all messing with the new “guess the movie from one frame” game on unlimited and thoroughly enjoyed another classic episode of feud over on the main channel. 

This week you’ll be reading an absolute hodge podge of nonsense from your favorite quirked up dudes. As always keep a clean pair of socks at the ready, a crowbar in the crib and love in your heart. 

PS more giveaways still to go so keep referring to your friends. You guys are so great!

- Riley & Graydon

WEEKLY PLAYLIST

1 hour of soul music made in Detroit for your spring joy. Nothing really hits like a little Aretha or Marvin when the flowers are blooming.

CRONK’S UPDATE

What’s in our fridge?

Here at the office, we work hard, and this hard work has us thirsty. This week, I’ve decided to give a breakdown of our fridge in excruciating detail.

Let’s start with the classics.

Ice Mountain Water – I hate Ice Mountain, man, but Tony insists on buying this over any other water.

La Croix – These things are flying off the shelves. The go-to’s are pamplemousse, berry, and tangerine. Usually the first thing to go.

Twisted Teas – These things are the backbone of the Thursday night streams. You try listening to 60 songs without this sweet, delicious alcoholic beverage. It is critical we have these on hand at all times.

Vitamin Water Energy – A Graydon classic. This is his pick-me-up, the fuel to his creative success. Pick a bottle up, try it out.

Coke Zero – Now this is my pick-me-up, my quick fix, the backbone to mental health. The sensation of cracking one of these after completing an arduous task or after having a down day is unbeatable.

Now for some of the oddball drinks.

Pure Leaf Unsweetened Tea – A few weeks ago, I convinced myself that carbonated beverages were ripping holes in my stomach lining, so I took a brief break from them, and this was my replacement. Somehow we have a fuck ton of them still, and no one’s drinking them.

Yerbaé Mate – I looked for these at the store near the office for eight months, thinking they didn’t have them, before realizing they were just in a different aisle. It drove me mad. I thought I had to order them, but really, I’m just a dull tool in the shed.

Hawaiian Punch – Probably the only thing I’ve ever seen Tony drink.

White Monster – See, Quinn falls asleep at his desk, so we started to fill the fridge with energy drinks. He drinks them but is still sleepy.

Red Bull – Just nice to have around, not as big of a commitment as a Yerbaé.

Kroger Lemonade – Tony swears by this stuff, but we have had the same half-drank bottle for the past three months. If it’s so good, why don’t he drink it?

Misc Snacks

Meat sticks, leftovers that are potentially dangerous, and that’s it.

- Cronk

MOVIE REVIEW

Some movies that Graydon suggests you watch soon

(I just dove deep in my Letterboxd and these are ones I think are worth revisiting soon, so if you ain’t seen em yet, get on it.)

Martin Scorsese’s The Color Of Money.

Martin Scorsese’s The Color Of Money. This fucker has Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. They are excellent pool players and they are out to get your cash. It’s the follow up to 1961s The Hustler. If you like pool and gambling this is one of the best movies ever made.

Neil Armfield’s Candy

A depraved artistic romance that will leave you gutted. RIP Heath man.

Edward Berger’s All Quiet on The Western Front

In the pantheon of greatest war movies ever, why have I only seen this 3 times?! It’s time for a fourth.

Robert Burdeau’s Born to Be Blue

A biopic worth watching. Ethan Hawke smokes this role. Long Live Chet.

- Graydon

VIDEO GAMES

The rumors are true… Read Dead Redemption 2 has been defeated. Operation #KillMicah is complete. Now we move onto a new chapter, Elden Ring. So far we are two days in and I've only died 25 times which according to my calculations… that’s pretty good. This game is so cool though, I don’t think I've felt the rush of hitting a perfectly timed roll since hitting celestial in Marvel Rivals. 

Join me live at https://www.twitch.tv/hivemindgrant for some absolute elite level gameplay and winning mentality (also please help me Elden Ring is confusing there’s so much to learn). 

Down the pipeline I will be trying the new Assassin's Creed game and Subnautica 2 (when released). Looking forward to seeing everyone absolutely pop off in chat

- Grant

QUINN’S CHEMISTRY CLASS

What’s the Deal with Nuclear Bombs?

Have you ever wondered how a nuclear bomb works? What’s the difference between an “atom bomb”, “hydrogen bomb”, and a “thermonuclear bomb” is? Today we are going to unpack the mysteries of mankind’s self-inflicted, imminent threat of extinction in a fun and easily digestible format. 

Brief Lesson on Atoms and Their Role in Making Scary Explosions

Nukes harness the energy created by unstable atoms when they break apart.. Atoms are tiny balls made out of even tinier balls. The middle of an atom, called the “nucleus” is made of red balls and grey balls. If there are too many grey balls, atom gets sad, so atom splits into two smaller atoms. Sad atom now turned into two happier atoms, but when the sad atom splits, it throws tiny, angry, and very fast balls everywhere. Atom splitting = fission. When one sad atom in a big ball of sad atoms undergoes fission, it shoots angry balls at the atoms around it which makes those atoms angry, so they explode and make even more atoms angry and this starts a chain reaction that repeats dozen, maybe even billions of times until they create one giant explosion.

The fuel most nukes use to create this chain reaction are a variety of unstable radioactive isotopes of uranium and plutonium. Isotopes are different forms of the same element with different numbers of grey balls (neutrons) in their nucleus. Not all radioactive isotopes can undergo a self-sustaining fission reaction. An isotope that can support a self-sustaining chain reaction with low energy input or a large concentrated mass of itself is called “fissile”, while an isotope that is not fissile but can be made fissile with enough energy is called “fissionable”. Isotopes that are not fissile and no amount of them can sustain a chain reaction, but with enough neutron irradiation can be transformed into a fissile isotope, are called “fertile”. The most popular fissile isotopes used in nuclear weapons are plutonium-239 and uranium-235. These isotopes are usually combined with a more stable isotope of the same element to create a material with the correct sensitivity to becoming fissile.

Types of Nukes

There are two main types of nuclear bombs: fission bombs and thermonuclear bombs.

Fission bombs (also known as “atomic bombs”) come in two different designs: gun design and implosion design.

The gun design was used in the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in WWII. This design consists of a tube with two masses of uranium-235 on either end. A fissionable mass of uranium-235 (also called a subcritical mass) is nested in the tip of the bomb. On the other side of the bomb there is another, smaller subcritical mass of uranium-235 with a conventional chemical explosive attached to the back of it. When the bomb reaches the correct altitude, the explosive detonates and fires the smaller mass of  uranium-235 into the larger one which results in self-sustaining fission and big boom. Releases about 15 kilotonnes of TNT worth of energy.

The implosion design was used in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, the gun design was abandoned once the implosion version was developed. This design houses a subcritical sphere of plutonium-239 nested inside of a sphere of conventional explosives. When the explosives surrounding the plutonium-239 sphere detonate, the plutonium is compressed, resulting in a self-sustaining fission chain reaction and an even bigger boom. The most powerful pure implosion bomb ever detonated, known as the “Ivy King” device, released about  500 kilotonnes of TNT worth of energy.

There is another fission based design called boosted fission that is really cool but I don’t feel like typing anymore. Feel free to google.

Thermonuclear bombs (also known as “hydrogen bombs” or “fusion bombs”) are the natural evolution of nuclear device design and they are very cool and awesome. They take advantage of an artomic process known as “fusion”. Nuclear fusion is basically the opposite of fission. Instead of 1 large atom splitting into 2 smaller atoms and releasing energy, fusion happens when 2 small atoms combine to form 1 larger atom and release way MORE energy. A fusion bomb consists of 2 nuclear bombs housed inside one device. It’s like Russian nesting dolls but if the dolls were nuclear bombs instead of dolls. There are 2 stages in a fusion bomb. The first stage is an uranium-235 implosion bomb that is set off by detonating conventional explosives in much the same way as described in the implosion design. The resulting fission chain reaction creates a very hot explosion which is reflected and focused into a cylinder shaped container that has a uranium shell and contains lithium-6 deuteride. Lithium-6 deuteride is fusion fuel that transforms into hydrogen isotopes from the immense heat and pressure from the channelled nuclear explosion. The newly formed hydrogen isotopes then fuse, creating an even more violent explosion with more heat and pressure and radiation. This second explosion then blows the uranium shell apart and causes the uranium to fission which essentially creates a 3rd nuclear explosion that's even more powerful. These 3 explosions happen so fast that they sort of combine into one massive beautiful nuclear explosion. The most powerful thermonuclear fusion device ever detonated, known as “Tsar Bomba” (the Russians made it), released about 50 MEGAtonnes of TNT worth of energy. That's 50,000 kilotonnes of TNT.

Please do not try recreating any of these at home you will end up being water boarded in Guantanamo Bay.

- Quinn

SPORTS

MUNCH IS ECSTATIC ABOUT THE PISTONS

THE PISTONS ARE TIED FOR THE 4TH SEED?! 

You read that right. The bad boys are back, popcorn showers have arrived, & you know playoff season is right around the corner. The last time I felt this way about Detroit basketball was back in 2004 when we won the championship! Now, I don’t think that’s gonna happen this year lol but the turnaround from last year has been a thing of beauty. 

On March 13th 2024, the Pistons had 12 wins and team morale was lower than honeymoon night with separate twin beds. We’re currently sitting at 37 wins and tied with the Bucks & Pacers for the 4th seed. Cade’s gonna get some playoff experience, we’ve got a solid core to build around now, & Munchie’s feeling like life in Detroit is feeling extra BEAUTIFUL!  

I’m so fired up I already got season tickets for next year. JOY JOY JOY!

- Graydon

MERCH