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Meteor Triggers Hiroshima-Sized Kaboom
Mike Van Pelt writes: "Right in the midst of the tensions surrounding the spy plane incident in China, military instruments detected a bright flash and a nearly Hiroshima-sized blast in the ocean off Los Angeles. Turns out it was a meteor. (nytimes.com requires free registration for access.)" Scary.
(I hate nytimes' registration crap, so I haven't read the story linked-to above.)
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I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject. Part of the book includes the results of computer simulations on the probability and effects of impacts of extraterrestrial objects. A large number of objects "blow up" when they hit the atmosphere. The stress of atmospheric contact is so large that they disintegrate. Sort of like doing a belly flop at 1000 meters/second.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
The satellites which are equipped with bhangmeters [sic] do detect these blasts. You might remember the Israeli test which was detected in 1979.
Actually, there are protocols to be followed before nuclear weapons are armed and fired, which prevent a launch unless it is 100% verified that POTUS has authorized a launch. There is nothing in U.S. law, U.S. protocols, or U.S. policy that prevents a first strike. While the implimentation of these protocols gives some time between order and launch, in which time the launch order may be recinded, they do not at all prevent, nor are they intended to prevent, a launch in the absence of a previous strike. The presence of a nuclear attack is necessary only if the commander is to launch upon his own authority; the commander may be ordered to launch at any time.
Remember that the Soviets had 100+ divisions facing Western Europe; NATO, at its height, had 16. U.S. policy has always been to threaten possible escalation to nuclear exchange if an attack were underway, and no President has seen fit to alter our nuclear stance. We operate under strategic ambiguity for a reason.
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under-paid karma whore
One of the things distingusing a meteor blast and a first strike blast would be the fact you dont pick up missile launches by satellite. Even tho cruise missile fly low, they're launches are readily detectible. There are also protocol to be followed before nuclear weapons are armed and fired, which prevent a launch unless it is 100% verified as a nuclear explosion or missile launch at the USA has taken place.
Even political hotheads think twice when the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is introduced. Believe me, the launch codes are not in the hands of idiots.
"Old Rallydrivers never die - they just fail to book in on time"
The explosion occurred over the ocean in the atmosphere. The meteor did not hit the ocean. Except for really really large rocks, these guys hit our atmosphere, blow up, and turn to molten powder. We'd likely notice a "doomsday" meteor a little earlier than these little surprises.
Dancin Santa
Seeing as how the Pentagon knew that it was not a nuclear strike, I'd be more worried that some hothead in the White House would shoot his mouth off before receiving actual verification one way or the other.
Dancin Santa
The average grunt is a recent high-school graduate who has been brainwashed through a very efficient indoctrination called 'boot camp'. These guys do not have access to 'the button', and no officer would ever let them near it during peacetime.
The average officer is a college graduate with a family. He wants to grow old with his wife and see his kids graduate college. He will be much more mature (because he's older) on average.
Officers with access to 'the button' are senior officials. They will probably have grandchildren. They've had to survive years of keeping a cool head under political pressure. They've had to prove themselves as able thinkers and strategist time and time again. People who blow up at the first signs of danger do NOT make it to senior positions (rarely past Captain), 'cause blowing up tends to cause more problems than it solves and pisses off those higher in the chain of command (the same ones deciding on who gets an advancement) The senior officers that I have met tend to not like the indoctrinated hotheads, and considers them simpletons.
So, to sum up, "military people" covers a lot of different attitudes and persuasion, but be assured that the ones with access to "the button" won't be launching one until it is known and confirmed three different ways that country X fired a YMegaton weapon from facility Z.
This item is related to an earlier post of mine. This event is exactly what I was talking about, and what the Discovery (it wasn't TLC, I was wrong) show was talking about. Example:
Preliminary estimates, Dr. ReVelle said, are that the cosmic intruder was the third largest since the Pentagon began making global satellite observations a quarter century ago. Its explosion in the atmosphere had nearly the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Imagine something only 80 feet across causing this kind of reaction. Then imagine something much larger.
think for yourself, you won't like the results if others do it for you.
How do we position ourselves so the next one hits LA? I'm a little dissapointed this one missed, we could have improved upon so many problems (energy crisis, spontaneous riots, not to mention whatever hapless celebrities are lucky enough to get hit...)
I'm sorry, sis, the entire cast of the Young and the Restless was taken out by that nasty meteor, we'll just have to watch Star Wars again...
spacefem.com