Word: novas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...lobby of Building No. 391 at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory near San Francisco stands a cast-iron sculpture of Shiva, the multiarmed god whose whirligig dances, according to Hindu tradition, alternately create and destroy all earthly life. Near by is a wood-and-plastic model of Nova, the world's most powerful laser, which is housed in cavernous quarters the size of a football field. The juxtaposition of the two objects is apt, and for several reasons. Like Shiva, the $176 million laser bristles with its equivalent of arms: ten bright blue tubes, each a conduit for an intense laser beam...
...second step in Nova's dance, however, weapons designers will put its powerful beams to a less benign purpose: to improve thermonuclear bombs by mimicking certain reactions in the controlled setting of a laboratory. That will save the Pentagon the expense of having to try out every newly designed bomb at an underground test site in Nevada, a procedure that costs about $10 million per explosion. Eventually, Nova could also be used in research for the Star Wars defense program...
...bombs cannot be exploded in power plants, and when Lawrence Livermore scientists begin their experiments six weeks from now, they will use powerful laser beams instead. In Nova, under the guidance of more than 50 computers, a pulse of light is whipped around a master oscillator until all of its wavelengths are identical and in phase. The pulse of pure laser light is then split into ten parts, each of which races down its own 460-ft.-long tube equipped with amplifiers, spatial filters and isolators. As it emerges, each beam is focused to about the width of three human...
...recent Florida meeting attended by 200 drug defense lawyers, one attorney denounced harassing prosecutors as "young scumheads." A speaker at the conference, Howard Weitzman, the highly regarded defender of John De Lorean, said that many prosecutors are simply vindictive: "You're driving the Mercedes; they're driving the Chevy Nova. You're everything they want...
...Brussels in the Rain" is a jazz ballad that switches to medium-tempo bossa nova toward the end, and Paquito, who couldn't chill out if he tried, swings with case. "Brussels" is a good example of the creators' different personalities; Although the tune is a slow jazz ballad, Paquito is still able to incorporate complicated eighth-note phrasings with an Afro-Latin emphasis, while Thielemans relies on direct but well-embellished lines to get his point across. If Toots is a Valium, then Paquito is aguardiente...