Slashdot Mirror
US Forgets How To Make Trident Missiles
Hugh Pickens writes "The US and the UK are trying to refurbish the aging W76 warheads that tip Trident missiles to prolong their life and ensure they are safe and reliable but plans have been put on hold because US scientists have forgotten how to manufacture a mysterious but very hazardous component of the warhead codenamed Fogbank. 'NNSA had lost knowledge of how to manufacture the material because it had kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s, and almost all staff with expertise on production had retired or left the agency,' says the report by a US congressional committee. Fogbank is thought by some weapons experts to be a foam used between the fission and fusion stages of the thermonuclear bomb on the Trident Missile and US officials say that manufacturing Fogbank requires a solvent cleaning agent which is 'extremely flammable' and 'explosive,' and that the process involves dealing with 'toxic materials' hazardous to workers. 'This is like James Bond destroying his instructions as soon as he has read them,' says John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, adding that 'perhaps the plans for making Fogbank were so secret that no copies were kept.' Thomas D'Agostino, administrator or the US National Nuclear Security Administration, told a congressional committee that the administration was spending 'a lot of money' trying to make 'Fogbank' at Y-12, but 'we're not out of the woods yet.'"
This is the equivallent of telling a rape victim to lay back and enjoy it.
That's what the flower child liberals do. If you want to give them a real conniption fit suggest that if the rape victim had been armed she could have used deadly force to end the assault against her.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
What's wrong with him ? Absolutely nothing.
Around some parts, the word "patriot" is synonymous with "racist". Some countries are actually proud of other things than just owning the most guns.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I doubt it.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
and i walk around solving my problems with that gun
in doing so, i dramatically increase my chance for an early death, due to gun, mine or someone else's, in a thousand different ways
the issue in play is frequent usage of violence to solve problems, not what kind of weapon you have, or if you know how to use it
using your weapon more than you need to merely involves oneself in more violence, which leads one to a much greater chance of early death. on an individual level, it is better to avoid violence altogether, even if that means you submit to someone else's will. simply because, that guy who sublimated you with violence, is probably not going to be around much longer, since ten of his imitators are interested in going to toe to toe with him violently. better to live through ten short-lived tyrants than you yourself turn into a tyrant yourself with your own 15 minutes of fame. in other words: better to simply submit to and avoid the violent, then go toe to toe with them and invite your own quick death due to announcing yourself as a threat that must be violently murdered (since you announced you will not submit, you would rather fight, it becomes necessary to kill you for those interested in power through violence)
so you are wrong. "turn the other cheek" is the best personal approach to survival, in any environment, from leafy peaceful tokyo suburbs, all the way to arid badlands outside mogadishu, and everywhere in between
the meek shall inherit the earth. meaning: those who fight for violence viscerally will burn out quickly, and then more temperate and civilized fights for power can take their rightful place
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it