Five Times the US Almost Nuked Itself 384
kdawson writes "io9 has a scary outline of five times the US came close to accidental nuclear disasters. Quoting: 'In August of 1950, ten B-29 Superfortress bombers took off from what was then called Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base in California, headed for Guam. Each was carrying a Mark IV atom bomb, which was about twice as powerful as the bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II. Shortly after takeoff, one of the B-29s had engine trouble. On board was General Robert Travis. He commanded the plane to turn back to the base when the landing gear refused to retract. Sensing the plane was going down, the pilot tried to avoid some base housing before crashing at the northwest corner of the base. The initial impact killed 12 of the 20 people aboard, including General Travis. The resulting fire eventually detonated the 5,000 pounds of conventional explosives that were part of the Mark IV. That massive explosion killed seven people on the ground. Had the bomb been armed with its fissile capsule, the immediate death toll may have reached six figures.'"
curious (Score:5, Funny)
Wew, thank god. (Score:5, Funny)
Lucky for us (Score:1, Funny)
It's a good thing that those aliens have ben monitoring our nukes.
Re:The good news (Score:5, Funny)
While factual, your post goes against the narrative we're trying to push here. Expect to be modded into oblivion.
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wew, thank god. (Score:0, Funny)
Obama. Fixed that for ya.
Sincerely,
Glenn Beck
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:5, Funny)
Funny you should mention "anti-nuke" people and make me recall one of my fav' Pete Townsend quotes
"I'm really for nuclear energy, but I haven't told anyone because I'm still hoping to fuck Jane Fonda" -P.T. circa 1980
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:3, Funny)
And this post makes me think of Freud.
Godzilla (Score:5, Funny)
I was nearly incinerated by Godzilla yesterday! I remember it well. The only thing that saved me is that there was no fire and Godzilla wasn't actually there!
Man, what a relief that was!
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:5, Funny)
Guns rarely injure people while used properly.
Uh. I'm not sure what kind of guns you've been using, but if they're not injuring people you need to go ask for your money back.
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:3, Funny)
Guns rarely injure people while used properly.
Uh. I'm not sure what kind of guns you've been using, but if they're not injuring people you need to go ask for your money back.
Just like with axes, eh?
-- Lizzie
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:5, Funny)
"Had the bomb been armed with its fissile capsule" could be replaced with "had the bomb contained a black hole or killer vampire ghost" and be about as scary. it wasn't armed for exactly that kind of situation.
Wait, wait, wait.... So you're saying that the US has bombs with vampire ghost payloads now? AND black holes?!!
Re:Insulting to real nuke victims at worst... (Score:1, Funny)
This is no more "nearly nuked" than the making of the movie "Broken Arrow". After all, they had props that looked like nukes in that. What if there's been a mix-up somewhere along the line? OMG! Nearly nuked America again!
The difference is Broken Arrow should have bombed.
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, had the bomb been self aware we would have been in a bit more trouble.
Sentient beings that are locked away in seclusion often develop depression. In fact, given that most people would rather not carry on a conversation with a sentient nuclear weapon this would have been doubly bad. I suspect at some point our self aware nuclear being would have turned suicidal at some point. Unfortunately, in this case he really could have taken them all with him.
If you ask me... that is something to be really afraid of... if it happened.
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Godzilla (Score:2, Funny)
That's nothing. Many times, Earth was almost destroyed by colliding with Mars. Fortunately the orbit of Mars is so that it never comes close to Earth, therefore that disaster was prevented. But had the orbit of Mars been different, so that it crossed the Earth's orbit, the Earth as we know it would not exist any more.
Nonono! (Score:4, Funny)
You are not pushing the people's anti-nuke agenda! More fear mongering! More misinformation! MORE MORE MORE!
"It nearly turned the Earth into another Sun!" has a much NICER ring to it!
Now conform or your opinions are invalid! ;-)
Re:Hypocrit moderators strike again (Score:1, Funny)
Re:The good news (Score:4, Funny)
I think the simplest way to describe the difference between liberals and conservatives and this pretty much is true irregardless of what your speaking of, BTW
Liberals are whores...but well paid whores...we don't just give our vote away without being paid handsomely for it in the way of Government Action.
Conservatives ARE NOT whores...simply sluts...they will simply give their vote to anyone who makes them feel all cuddly inside irregardless of the truth.
Make no mistake, whichever side you're on, you're going to get f$%ked...no question about it. The only choice you have is whether you actually get something out of the deal.
With that said...Democrat for life, thank you very much.
Re:Medicare (Score:4, Funny)
Why the fuck are you so angry?
Maybe he really craved for the fries all along, and not the hamburger itself?
Re:Um, not quite.... (Score:1, Funny)
Life. Don't talk to me about life.