The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons that remained under military control after the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947. These included the maintenance, storage, security and handling of nuclear weapons, and support for nuclear weapons testing. Early nuclear weapons were complex and cumbersome, and stored as components rather than complete devices due to the short shelf life of their lead-acid batteries and modulated neutron initiators, and the heat generated by the fissile cores. As nuclear weapons development proceeded, mass- produced models became available that were easier to store, handle, maintain and assemble, and the AFSWP became more involved in stockpile management, and providing administrative, technical and logistical support. In 1959, the AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), a field agency of the Department of Defense.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Special_Weapons_Project

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1818:

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel by the British author Mary Shelley, was first published anonymously in London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

1892:

The immigration station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened, processing almost 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of its existence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island

1957:

The revised Thai criminal code came into force, strengthening the law on lèse-majesté in Thailand to include insult, and treating it as a crime against national security. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se-majest%C3%A9_in_Thailand

2011:

A suicide bombing took place outside a Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria, Egypt, following a New Year service, killing 23 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Alexandria_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

calends: 1. Often with initial capital: the first day of a month, particularly (Ancient Rome, historical) the first day of a month of the Roman calendar. 2. (by extension) A day for settling debts and other accounts. 3. (by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh (“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the Hebrew calendar”) 4. (rare) Synonym of calendar; (figurative) an account, a record. 5. (figurative, obsolete) The first day of something; a beginning. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calends

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I pray you to forgive Both bad and good. Last season's fruit is eaten And the fullfed beast shall kick the empty pail. For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice.   --T. S. Eliot https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot