Heard in a movie, The Fourth Protocol:

[Sarah]

On 2011-03-02, at 6:55 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard in a movie, The Fourth Protocol:
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>
> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:43 PM, Sarah <puellaest at gmail.com> wrote:
>> As the critical mass of Pu-239 is ~24lbs, needing 200lbs, even for a dirty bomb, is at best ridiculous
>
> Well, it was only a movie. The discussion was meant to be frightening,
> not informative. Though, of course, the scientifically-naive may take
> it as truth.
>
> Ca, 1948-49, in ASF, I read a story in which Federal agents
> inadvertently set off a chain-reaction, followed by a nuclear
> explosion, as a consequence of stupidly bringing into contact a
> critical mass of two 15-lb. blocks of Pu. I took that as fact for
> years. However, in adulthood, I've sense ... uh, *since* ... been
> informed by any number of people that that could never happen. The
> heat generated by the chain-reaction would be so intense that the Pu
> would instantaneously melt, thereby eliminating critical mass,
> stopping the chain-reaction, and eliminating the possibility of a
> nuclear explosion.
>
> --
> -Wilson

 I was not suggesting that the movie was (or should be) factual, just that "Chinese" probably didn't mean "smaller." As you've said this was meant to be frightening, that would support that idea. It sounds like it meant the opposite, a sideways synonym of that.

S.

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