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What Ever Happened To The First Nuclear Reactor In Human History?

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In December of 2017, I accepted a job with the  Forest Preserve District of Cook County , the largest and oldest forest preserve in the nation.  One of the first programs I worked on was near Red Gate Woods in the Palos Preserve.  By word of mouth I was told that Red Gate Woods was home to the first nuclear reactor in human history.   Wait, what's that   now ?   A nuclear reactor in the middle of a forest preserve?  And not just any nuclear reactor but the very FIRST nuclear reactor in human history??? Like most American history buffs I was marginally aware of  Albert Einstein's  famous letter to President  Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( dated   from   August 2, 1939) that urged President Roosevelt to begin a nuclear research program.  As the story goes,  after Nazi Germany seized uranium mines in Czechoslovakia, several of  Einstein's colleagues convinced him that the Nazis were working to develop an atom...
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The History of Camping in The Outer Belt

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  Prior to Covid, 40 million Americans – that is 14% of the United States population - went camping each year.  But what do I mean when I say camping ?  Camping can refer to al oto f thins, but I am referring to is 'camping' i n the broadest sense of the word -  an outdoor activity that differs from most other outdoor activities in that it involves overnight stays. So technically you can camp in your own backyard, or you can camp half a globe away from your home. If you are outdoors and it is overnight, then it is camping.  But within that very broad definition t here are several different types of camping.                                                       Types of Camping Non-Recreational camping By the definition of camping I've stated, you could say that camping goes back to the time of the cavemen.  Camping cert...
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