Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Five Times the US Almost Nuked Itself

Posted by Soulskill on from the stopping-there-for-brevity dept.

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.'"

13 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. The good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    These people will soon be in charge of health care.

    1. Re:The good news by sycodon · · Score: 1, Troll

      First, don't pass 2000 page "solutions" without even knowing what is in them. If ever there was a complete dereliction of duty, that was it.

      Second, take some time and effort to understand why costs are high. I suspect you will find the cost of drugs is related to the extremely high cost of getting the approved. I also suspect that a lot of the hoops they have to jump through are redundant and/or irrelevant to the safety and effectiveness of the drug.

      Third, look at the current laws surrounding insurance...I can't by insurance offered in the next state even it it's a better deal than what is in my state, etc. WTF is up with that? How may other stupid laws prevent common sense courses of action?

      The current system has come about piecemeal, driven by ill thought out laws enacted since the 40s. What we need is to actually understand what's happening before jumping in with hammers and saws and dynamite.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:The good news by darkpixel2k · · Score: 0, Troll

      Not really. Unlike the UK, almost all doctors in America are private practice doctors and not on government salary. The same with hospitals, a mix of private and local/state public hospitals. The health care reform legislation passed is mainly for insurance; the government won't change its control of doctors or which private plans people choose. So the government really isn't in charge of health care, although they've taken a more regulatory role in insurance.

      ...and from where do doctors receive their pay? (From the hospitals that employ then which are paid by) Insurance companies.

      Wonder why most dentists refuse to take 'state' patients? They get paid roughly half of a privately insured patient. The government simply says "Yeah--I know the procedure costs $1,000 in parts and labor, but we're only going to pay you $550. Good luck with that."
      Then the doctors have to bill the patient for the rest...and there's a reason for the patients being on state insurance--they have no money in the first place because they need the latest iPhone.

      --
      There's no place like ::1 (I've completed my transition to IPv6)
    3. Re:The good news by sycodon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Because your state has different regulations than your neighboring state. ...blah blah blha a lot of useless crao words that make no sense.

      News for ya Barbie, if the state laws are making things more expensive then they should be on the chopping block too. Conservative believe that you should do what makes sense. ObamaCare does not make sense. Limiting the market for insurance does not make sense.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    4. Re:The good news by sycodon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Don't let the door hit you on the way out, asshole.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    5. Re:The good news by sycodon · · Score: 0, Troll

      California: Dumbing the nation down for hundreds of years.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    6. Re:The good news by darkpixel2k · · Score: 0, Troll

      Dental work here in the UK used to look like that, except it was more that the government refused to be ripped off for dental work and charged five times more than it reasonably should cost, so dentists did just have two prices for things, one which they charged the government, and one which they charged private which was many times higher.

      Funny. It's the opposite here. I refuse to get insurance. When I pay cash to a private doctor, my price is usually cut by 25-35%.

      I also use to work on an ambulance--a government ambulance. We regularly billed everyone about 30% more than it cost us because the government cut about 30% off whatever we billed them. The people with private insurance simply paid the inflated prices. That helped to cover the cost of the welfare rats that had no insurance and refused to pay when we would transport them for a hangnail, stubbed toe, or other ridiculous complaint.

      Socialism sucks. I'm a man. I'll pay my own damn way thank you.

      --
      There's no place like ::1 (I've completed my transition to IPv6)
    7. Re:The good news by darkpixel2k · · Score: 0, Troll

      Socialism doesn't suck at all. What you're talking about is abuse and mismanagement that comes from not being allowed to do it properly because anti-social people like you complain too much. I can see why you'd confuse the two; it is convenient to after all.

      So what you're saying is that Socialism rocks when you completely stomp out the basic human nature to compete and succeed. Right. So you're one of those intellectuals who is smart because they think they know how a system should work instead of seeing how a system actually works.

      While capitalism has it's faults, it is designed around the understanding that humans are greedy by nature and for the most part they only think of themselves.

      In the capitalist system, you aren't forced to buy your food, clothes, etc... from WalMart if you don't like the way they treat their employers.

      In your system, you are forced to get everything from the government or whomever the government forces to give up their production regardless of how corrupt they may be.

      Socialism and communism fail everywhere. Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, China (until they recently semi-adopted capitalism), Jonestown, etc...

      The funny difference between your ideal and mine is that your ideal requires the use of force. You want to force me into producing food or working for the 'greater good' whereas my system says "do what you want, including donating to charity or the greater good".

      Your system would force me to work to provide food for my neighbor who sits on his porch drinking beer all day instead of telling my neighbor 'get a job'. And if he were truly 'disabled' instead of just an 'alcoholic', there would be charities lined up to give him a hand up.

      --
      There's no place like ::1 (I've completed my transition to IPv6)
    8. Re:The good news by sycodon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Seriously, STFU.

      Only a moron would think that the present system is perfect and can't be improved.

      A bigger moron would think that someone without expertise in that area can come up with a better solution.

      So we, the people that pay for this, have every right to say to the people running the system, "NOT FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH" and demand that they come up with something better.

       

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Re:economical nuke by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 0, Troll

    After reading the article, all I can do is wish for better luck, next time...

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. Re:He who regulates something runs it. by sycodon · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yer right. We should force them to work without being paid. Fits right in there with the liberal train of thought.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  4. Re:Hypocrit moderators strike again by Khyber · · Score: 0, Troll

    That isn't flamebait. here, let me show you how to do flamebait, from the master.

    Every fucking faggot involved in ANY level of politics needs to be dragged out into the street and shot, Rethuglican, Libtard, or Dimcrap, from the lowest levels of the citizenry all the way to the top level of our government and MOST DEFINITELY every lobbyist. The fact that these groups of people want to force everyone else to conform to THEIR whims for only their PERSONAL (and usually religious-based) benefit demonstrates that these people are untrustworthy, dangerous, and likely to be unfaithful to their oaths of office, not to mention totally unfaithful to their beliefs which often interfere with their personal desires. Look at the voting records and look at the lobbyists if you need any further proof.

    I hope enough people get up the nerve to start a civil war, because we sorely need one. And I hope the first person that dies is you, Mr. AC, because you're too cowardly to be visible and stand up for what you believe.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  5. Re:Um, not quite.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    And it is kinda that way just by necessity. Turns out that a nuclear bomb isn't the easiest thing in the world to build. If it were, well then probably every asshat dictator would have a few.

    Don't be an idiot, or at least stop writing if you don't know what you are talking about.

    Nuclear weapons area very easy to make IFF you have the materials for them. The most difficult part is either getting the enriched uranium OR plutonium (even more difficult).. After you have the materials, it's very easy to make a bomb. So please, stop speaking out of your ass.

    As GP said, they are designed to disperse - designed being the operative word.