Posts

February 21, 2013

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2:02 AM | Correction: Radiation From N. Korea Nuke Test NOT Detected

The detection of a radioactive isotope in Russia and Japan indicate a nuclear test was carried out -- likely deep underground. ->

February 20, 2013

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4:02 AM | Radiation From N. Korea Nuke Test Detected

The detection of a radioactive isotope in Russia and Japan indicate a nuclear test was carried out -- likely deep underground. ->

September 26, 2012

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4:30 PM | Water bomb

Via Jenny Winder, I saw this video showing footage from underwater nuclear bomb tests in 1958. It’s astonishing. The awesome power and energy released is difficult to wrap your head around. Think on this: a cubic meter of water weighs a ton. Now imagine taking a single cubic meter of water and lifting it, say, 100 meters in the air, accelerating it to several hundred kilometers per hour. Now look again at that plume. How many cubic meters of water were are in it? Even being conservative […]

August 29, 2012

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11:30 AM | Operation Doorstep or: How to Nuke a Family of Mannequins

For me, there’s something profoundly creepy about mannequins. It might be those soulless, I’m-going-to-kill-you-in-your-sleep eyes. Or those smiling, impossibly unwrinkled faces. Or it might just be a side effect of my early childhood visit to a wax museum on the Isle of Wight, which still haunts me this very day. It was like someone had [...]

July 24, 2012

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1:00 PM | Would you stand under a nuclear blast?

As a rational human, I’m aware of finding my emotions and prejudices conflicting quite often with my knowledge of science and reality. Being reasonable is relatively new to us apes, and a hundred million years of evolving reactionary emotions usually takes precedent. So I find myself pretty conflicted about his video, which shows five men in July, 1957, standing around in the Nevada desert while a nuclear weapon is detonated above their heads. [Note: the video says the detonation was […]

July 09, 2012

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12:05 PM | The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime: the nuke that shook the world

On July 9, 1962 — 50 years ago today — the United States detonated a nuclear weapon high above the Pacific Ocean. Designated Starfish Prime, it was part of a dangerous series of high-altitude nuclear bomb tests at the height of the Cold War. Its immediate effects were felt for thousands of kilometers, but it would also have a far-reaching aftermath that still touches us today. In 1958, the Soviet Union called for a ban on atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons, and went so far as to […]