Slashdot Mirror
How We Know North Korea Didn't Detonate a Hydrogen Bomb
StartsWithABang writes: The news has been aflame with reports that North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb on January 6th, greatly expanding its nuclear capabilities with their fourth nuclear test and the potential to carry out a devastating strike against either South Korea or, if they're more ambitious, the United States. The physics of what a nuclear explosion actually does and how that signal propagates through the air, oceans and ground, however, can tell us whether this was truly a nuclear detonation at all, and if so, whether it was fusion or fission. From all the data we've collected, this appears to be nothing new: just a run-of-the-mill fission bomb, with the rest being a sensationalized claim.
(Related: Yesterday's post about how seismic data also points to a conventional nuke, rather than an H-bomb.)
There's no doubt that this is all about propaganda, it's just a question of who the story is aimed at.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
OK, over half of the topics you suggest are your personal pet peeves, rather than current news stories. The others have already had their run here. What do you suggest, that they keep rerunning your issues with software development until your satisfied with the end result? Now, that being said, some of the articles here have been pretty bad.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
According to the Norh Koreans:
"...The Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Gaddafi regime in Libya could not escape the fate of destruction after being deprived of their foundations for nuclear development and giving up nuclear programs of their own accord, yielding to the pressure of the US and the West keen on their regime changes... a bitter lesson should be drawn from those events..."
I wonder why I am inclined to believe them. Am I alone?