On Sun, 12 Sep 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > At 12:01 AM 9/12/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: > >"No big deal"? Who are they kidding? > > JAT, any large explosion will create a mushroom cloud. Its the > blast wave reflecting off the ground that lifts the thing, plus the > buoyancy of the hot gasses.
Yes, I understand all this - mushroom cloud != nuclear explosion. > If it *were* a nuke, it would be easy to detect --from Vera > gamma-ray satellites staring at the earth to optical sensors > (there's a characteristic nonlinear time-course of optical emissions) > to fallout monitors, ground and plane based. Which _I_ do not have access to ;-) > Time will tell, Exactly. > and it certainly could have been a nuke (they have > the SNMs), but if you do it, you talk about it, much like > the Indi/Pakis did. If I were in Jong's slippers, I would not discuss it - I would just do it, and let everyone draw their own [obvious] conclusion. Remember, his pattern has been to only discuss things (even when already obvious to everyone else) only when _he_ felt like it. > And you can't hide a surface burst, or > even a large belowground test This conflicts somewhat with a previously expressed opinion (Shaddack?). I was under the impression that underground tests, unless performed with very tiny nukes at very great depth, produced visible clouds from the blast waves. > --and an underground test > that vents to the atmosphere doesn't make such a big cloud. > > Nukepunk -- Yours, J.A. Terranson [EMAIL PROTECTED] 0xBD4A95BF "...justice is a duty towards those whom you love and those whom you do not. And people's rights will not be harmed if the opponent speaks out about them." Osama Bin Laden - - - "There aught to be limits to freedom!" George Bush - - - Which one scares you more?