I'm pretty sure that's true, but I don't know if it always has been. I don't know if someone hit Little Boy or Fat Man with a missile, if they wouldn't have exploded. I mean, the trigger, if basically a contained explosion, right? So if you trigger that explosion without destroying the containment (something I don't think is possible with "modern" nukes), BOOM.Originally Posted by thesameguy
Atomic and nuclear weapons have a pretty precise detonator. If it doesn't happen just so, there is no explosion. The chances of random circumstance of any type replicating that precision is pretty low. I am pretty sure that applies to vintage weapons as well - they still detonated in essentially the same way as modern weapons (conventional explosion initiating a nuclear reaction). Anything is possible, and nukes shouldn't be taken lightly, but inadvertent detonation is probably not something to be worried about. Shooting a nuke down with laser beams or whatever would likely result in damaging the detonator, resulting in a loss of containment and no possible reaction. At least, that's my completely uneducated assessment of the situation.
I think people are worrying needlessly.., not that we're not in precarious situations, but since there's not much we can do about it, we need to try to stop worrying ourselves to death before a 'nukular' warhead actually detonates!
1st, even if Hillarys elected, the situation will still be tense. Although a woman and a mom, she's not the type who'd prefer peace over war. For sure she can be more diplomatic, but maybe it takes a madman to stop another mad man... Point is even if we could remove Trump, NK madman will still be there... War on terror hadn't gotten better with Obama nor with the death or Bin Laden...
2nd, take comfort that some folks, such as yours truly, helped designed and test the missile on Aegis warships to help you guys sleep better at nights. Can't guarantee that you'll be 100% safe, but it has worked well enough that the program awarded a grunt like me $25 in our company's store gift card!!! (Thanks to CNNs recent good reports!) I can only imagine how the top generals/admirals/management patted on each other's backs with much bigger bonuses...
Anyway, try to focus on the good things in life too. Life is not all about politics or these bozos in politics.
If we live thru this, I'd thank God. If we become extincted, I'm looking forward to finally meeting God.
I will say I'm on the Dan Carlin side of the equation here, in that Americans "in general" don't have much to worry about. By all accounts NK has no intercontinental technology that's even remotely reliable. So the chances of any NK weapon ever reaching North America is pretty much nil.
What will happen, instead, is no less horrific, but is right up the alley of the average "FUCK YEAH 'MURRICA" idiot who smiled and nodded through two Gulf wars: NK will launch some shit (possibly a nuke) at American bases in South Korea or possibly even Japan, and will (possibly) launch attacks on some of the smaller island bases throughout the Asian Pacific. The result will be hundreds of dead Americans, but potentially thousands and thousands of dead Asians.
America will then strike swiftly, probably NOT with nukes, flattening all sortsa shit in NK, then taking it over and turning it into another goddamn mess like Iraq. The attack will be declared "mission accomplished" in maybe a few weeks just like last time, even though it won't be solved at all, and you'll have another decade of constant war profiteering and money-making for most Americans to ignore.
All hunky-dory for the military-industrial complex. The REAL key here is what happens after. If this shit actually goes down like this, that (basically) means a united Korea, run by the United States. And who's got that biiiiiiiig long border with Korea, separated pretty much by just a river? China. And guaran-fuckin-teed China doesn't like the idea of one gigantic US military base sitting along their border. That's where the real scare will be.
It makes no economic sense for China and US to get into such an armed conflict.
China for sure would want to flex its military muscles at times. I do believe it's time somebody shows the US that there can be other superpowers around the world. USA cannot be the only superpower in town... or we'll risk becoming the next evil empire. To some around the world, we probably already are the evil empire.
However, I hope China learned lessons from Nazis, Japanese and USSR that nobody can directly challenge and beat USA with actual arms nor arm races.
To me, the scary parts are ideologies. Used to be the Red Scare, now we're being scared by terrorists. Not to mention our very own home grown left/right scare being masterfully played by Trump. We the voters need to keep our emotions in check in order not to allow our bozo politicians to scare us into doing something more stupid.
Left and right voters really need to come together to actually vote for better future leaders... for now, I guess the vicious cycle of lesser of the 2 evils continues. Okay, Hillary is better than Trump, I can admit that, but I'm pretty sure she's not afraid to start WWIII. If she can support Iraq War, she can support WWIII. Heck, I'm not even sure how Bernie Sanders could better deal with the NK mad man.
Like I said, it's pointless to worry about something when there's nothing you can do about it. Try to get your mind off of it and enjoy the life you have right now.
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; May 3rd, 2017 at 12:11 PM.
I don't want to participate in this discussion, but I find the NK situation fascinating. I have a question and an opinion:
Q: Do you think in any realistically attainable circumstances (Bernie/Hillary/Cruz/Kasich/etc.) there is a diplomatic solution to NK?
O: I don't think a flattened NK->unified Korea could be anything short of decades away... there is no way you can just shove all those hostages back into real life in less than a generation. I think the more relatable scenario would be an occupied NK which also isn't good, but a) it's probably better than another generation of crazy people driving the boat, and b) I think it's unlikely to be the US occupying it. Maybe some coalition force - maybe - but I really can't see the US adding another broken country to the babysitting agenda. Not now. Not for a long time.
Here's the thing about North Korea.... NO ONE wants to deal with the fall out of them disappearing as a country. There are 25 million people in NK that would basically become immediate need refugees. SK can't handle that, China probably can but doesn't want it to happen.
I don't think there's really a diplomatic solution. NK is gonna NK. At some point they will have a viable missile to carry their nukes. We already know they have nukes since they keep testing the damn things.
If it comes down to a real shooting conflict I think what would happen is US side: SK, US, Russia, Japan, other assorted nations in the area. NK Side: NK. I believe China will either sit out entirely or go against NK. They wouldn't really want to risk financial ties to the US imo.
Trump, in talking to these ostracized countries, will get results in one way or another; he has already garnered the release of a political prisoner from Egypt that Obama tried to free for 3 years. That will bolster his base and give him campaign fuel.
As for the ACHA vote today, millions of people who initially were able to use their ACA plans with little or even zero premiums are now facing $5-6K premiums. They're back to having effectively no health care -- so what do they care if their premiums for pre-existing conditions go even higher? They can't afford 'em now!
From the Trump voter POV, nothing is changing in the healthcare side and Trump is talking to countries and making moves in international political waters where Obama didn't (and wouldn't). That's still mostly a win. #shrug #fucktrump
No no, I didn't mean a united Korea in the literal sense. I simply meant that it would be one large country occupied by the US. Meaning way more US troops, bases, etc that are now sitting on the Chinese border.
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