The day the world caught on fire?well it might of.

[jetboy]

Hi,whilst researching payloads for thor missiles,and redstone and modified Lockheed x-17,s,The following just shows the arrogance of man,or the stupidity of "well if we dont do it the russians will"

Ive got all these connutations going round my head now[note to self..stop reading cold war history,its very scary?]

So the explorer sats are launched,to further mans sfirst step into space,because at this time we did,nt know what was up there,not in outer space[cannot write that without thinking of Armegeddon],so we found out that above the earth were belts of radiation,forever named after its founder James van allen,ie the van allen belts,lo and behold,the day after announcing to the world,we have found belts of radiation surrounding the earth,he agree,s with the cold war military...the day after mind you,lets explode a nuclear bomb to see if we can disrupt these fields?

The all great american plan was....1..explode a bomb above the belts to see if falling radiation,affected the ability to see russian missiles up there.

2...If a nuclear explosion would damage nearby objects?

3..Ithe van allen belt would move a nuclear blast down to a earth target ie Russia

4..if a nuclear blast would alter the shape of the belts of radiation,[no reason given for the results of that one]

Science historian,james fleming usa,said of it.."its the first occasion,where someone discovered something,then immediately decided to blow it up"

tell you what,you just could,nt make this stuff up.

It did have some intresting questions,to answer,after it was completed. cheers Don

[Eric Mc]

Shades of the movie "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".

[GordonD]

Arthur C. Clarke wrote an article called "The Meddlers" which appeared in Playboy in the mid-sixties, about the dangers of nuclear testing. (No, I have it in his collection Voices From the Sky.) It includes a spoof press release from the Pentagon in 1990, concerning plans to temporarily extinguish the Sun. The US Space Force's rationale is that if an enemy country develops this technology then they could use it to invade the USA under cover of darkness, so they need to test it themselves. The scientists have calculated that the Sun will be reduced to a millionth of its normal brightness but will return to normal in about thirty minutes. Other scientists have predicted that the recovery could take years, but the Pentagon sees this as a negligible risk - and if it turns out to be true, the stimulus to the electrical supply and illumination industries would solve the economic recession...

[Pete in Lincs]

And then there was the plan to blow channels in the Great Barrier Reef with

Nukes to make it easier for cargo ships to get to the coast!

You couldn't make some of this stuff up.

Pete

[fatfingers]

Not to mention the US plan from the 50's to build a second 'Panama Canal' using the same methods!

'The Atom is your friend'

Regards,

Steve

[pyro-manic]

There's an interesting documentary, narrated by William Shatner, called "Nukes in Space: The Rainbow Bombs" which covers the many(!) high-altitude nuclear tests carried out by the US in the 1950s and 60s. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it. It's on Youtube.

Edited April 2, 2013 by pyro-manic

[Albeback52]

Scary stuff that. I still cannot figure how we managed to allow things get to the point they did during the Cuban Missile crisis.

I'm not sure the arrogance and stupidity of some of our leaders has changed all that much for the better.

I was watching that Sci Fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" yesterday. The proper version I might add, not that dreadful recent remake!! I honestly believe that, had we actually faced that situation then the silly,arrogant ,paranoid ,warmongering humans would have stuck 2 fingers up to those "god damned pesky Commie aliens trying to tell us what to do" and ignored the warning. - before venturing off into space to give them a damn good thrashing!!

The scene where Klaatu is shown Arlington cemetery is very poignant. I have visited the War Cemetery near Arnhem and left feeling very humble. My partner was very upset and in tears. Many of the young men buried there were younger than her son. We were both glad we had gone though. Maybe if the politicians and warmongers who are so desperately keen to pick fights should visit these places first and take a long stroll through those thousands of little crosses!

Allan

Edited April 3, 2013 by Albeback52

[Glen T]

Very scary, makes you wonder how we've survived so long.

Glen.

[jetboy]

hi,glen,.....very scary stuff out there,you do realise that if you were born after these tests,it makes us a bit different,than those born before?

might explain a lot,lol?

cheers Don

[Sgt.Squarehead]

"Hmmm.....We've discovered these clouds of radioactive dust that shield the earth from lethal levels of cosmic radiation.....Let's blow a hole in them!"

Do you ever get the feeling that the people running the show around here may not be entirely responsible or may not have your best interests at heart?

To be fair this is only one of a catalogue of 'really dumb things' that have been done in the name of science (in its loosest sense).

Edited April 18, 2013 by Sgt.Squarehead