
A Deeply Unsettling Time Lapse Of Every Nuclear Explosion On Earth - hiroaki
http://abiggersociety.com/a-deeply-unsettling-time-lapse-of-every-nuclear-explosion-on-earth/
======
colechristensen
I, for one, am not deeply unsettled by nuclear weapons.

As weapons of peace, they have made war a strongly negative sum game between
advanced nations. The only way to win is not to play.

The drawback of nuclear weapons isn't the actual threat or consequences of
war, but using the nature of the game by a government to spread fear,
uncertainty, and doubt amongst its own people to consolidate power. That, in
itself, is not a problem with the weapon, but with the lack of enlightenment
amongst the people and their government.

~~~
vezzy-fnord
In addition, a lot of people have completely warped, fantastical and
exaggerated perceptions of how powerful nuclear weapons are.

~~~
Edmond
You are clearly someone who has never even been mugged much less dealt with
war and violence in any real sense.

Your post reflects an incredible naivety about what true death and destruction
means. A weapon doesn't have to be able to break the planet apart in order for
it to be terrifying.

Sure, maybe media depictions of nuclear weapons are sensational, but that is
hardly a reason to doubt their destructive power.

~~~
droopybuns
You are clearly the type of person who describes the ignorance of another
person as a way to obviate all meaningful dialog.

</sarcasm>

Your tactic is so terrible that it renders your argument idle. Seriously, your
brain is running, but you are moving no newtons. Please reevaluate your
attempt at discussion.

I think you might have an interesting point somewhere in there, but your
opening gambit is a shart. Nobody want to stick around for it when you open up
insulting everyone who disagrees with you.

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cstavish
The vast majority of these detonations occurred after the US, UK and USSR
signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963, which permitted only underground
detonations. Ideally, underground detonations don't release radioactive
material into the wider environment, but there were of course failures to
contain along the way.

~~~
batbomb
My favorite example of an underground nuclear explosion was project gasbuggy,
near where I grew up. They thought it might be useful if they could perform
nuclear fracking:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gasbuggy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gasbuggy)

Where they performed the test is a very beautiful area.

Part of a larger project to actually perform nuclear terra-forming:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plowshare](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plowshare)

[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899941,...](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899941,00.html)

> _Someone shouted: "We did it! We did it!" Hand shakes were exchanged all
> around. The U.S. had successfully set off the first nuclear explosion
> sponsored jointly by the Government and industry._

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MJR
Previously on HN...

Nuclear Explosions since 1942 (map) (datavis.tumblr.com) 3 points by
transburgh 4 years ago | 1 comments | cached

Animated History of Nuclear Explosions (ctbto.org) 2 points by brianmckenzie 3
years ago | 0 comments | cached

Animated map of nuclear explosions, 1945-1998 (pinktentacle.com) 58 points by
gnosis 3 years ago | 26 comments | cached

~~~
pdenya
If you want to contribute to the thread, link to the comments on the previous
posts. Otherwise, the fact that this has been posted before (apparently 3
years ago..) doesn't make it less interesting now.

> Animated map of nuclear explosions, 1945-1998 (pinktentacle.com) 58 points
> by gnosis 3 years ago | 26 comments | cached

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1586544](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1586544)

------
NewHatMatt
Site appears to be down. Here is the Google Cache link:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Nt4zfUy...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Nt4zfUyuG1kJ:abiggersociety.com/a-deeply-
unsettling-time-lapse-of-every-nuclear-explosion-on-
earth/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

~~~
donpdonp
The animation is a youtube video. Here is the direct link.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8CZAKSsNA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8CZAKSsNA)

------
bernardom
The number of tests is not what bothers me. The number of times we have had
accidents is what does. Thankfully, none has ever resulted in accidental
detonation- but this involved a lot of luck.

Eric Schlosser's book Command and Control, which just came out this year is a
pretty comprehensive treatment of every accident the US has ever had, from
decades of filing Freedom of Information reports. I'm halfway through it right
now, it's pretty chilling.

Book: [http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-
Illu...](http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-
Illusion/dp/159420227)

NYT review: [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/books/review/command-
and-c...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/books/review/command-and-control-
by-eric-schlosser.html)

~~~
dnautics
the number of tests should bother you, especially the atmospheric ones. People
do epidemiological studies of industrial chemicals and their effects on cancer
rates. Nobody does the epidemiological study of how the atmospheric tests
affect cancer rates. Because there is no negative control.

------
nevir
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8CZAKSsNA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8CZAKSsNA)

------
stormpat
Why am i not suprised america has the most explosions, and still they try to
ban other countries from producing nuclear fuel. The future generations will
probably like the fallout on us soil. Congrats, this is a wondefull vid.

~~~
bluedino
It's been 50 years since the US did a non-underground test. What do you think
we use all these supercomputers for? Nuclear testing.

~~~
dedward
Yup. The test partial test ban treaty was signed in 1963 by all the nuclear
powers at the time - everything after then, US or otherwise, has been
underground, with the exception of, I believe, India, who was not a nuclear
power when the treaty was drawn up - india set of a series of undersea tests
late in the century.

This was done specifically because they realized they would collectively make
the planet uninhabitable if they continued.

~~~
eshvk
> india set of a series of undersea tests late in the century.

underground. [1] [2]

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-
II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha)

------
Dylan16807
Deeply unsettling? Because they did 2k tests over a period of half a century?

~~~
rhaphazard
I think it is difficult for most people to conceptualize how short a time
period that is since they haven't even lived that long.

------
stevewilhelm
Description of artist and the video
[http://www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isao-
hashimoto/](http://www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isao-hashimoto/)

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wallflower
Reminds me of "Rise Of The HFT Machine":

[http://imgur.com/DxWer](http://imgur.com/DxWer)

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roryhughes
"Error establishing a database connection" :(

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etanazir
The brits tested a bomb on U.S. soil?

~~~
Pinckney
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julin_Bristol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julin_Bristol)

