When I was a child and young adult, I heard many variations of my last name, Newcomb. You can see that the name contains the word "nuke"; not in the spelling but in the pronunciation.

People used to poke fun of my name for that very reason. If something got "nuked" in the microwave, all eyes would turn to me. I think my father even used the connotation of a nuclear bomb in one of his business ventures, meaning we're going to "nuke" the competition, or other such nonsense salesy type folks use to mask their contempt for their profession.

Even in Bible school in the late 90's and early 00's, classmates would call me "Duke Nuke'em and the Hard Punches of Justice," or something like that.

I never really minded these jabs at the name, but you can see how it affected my perception of the use of nuclear power, not to mention my own name.

But recently I had a bit of an aha moment regarding my name. The correlation to nuclear power is actually a very positive one, not a negative one at all. Nuclear power, when understood and used properly, is actually a really good thing. 

I realize I actually have the good fortune of having the name I was given because of this correlation.

I talked about this in more detail during my "walk and talk" podcasts on my new Gone Newclear podcast. Click the link below if you're interested in my thoughts on the matter.

https://jamesdnewcomb.com/captivate-podcast/what-does-it-mean-to-have-gone-newclear/ 

Be well,

James