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5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
#21
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
(November 25, 2010 at 3:29 am)Chuck Wrote:
(November 24, 2010 at 11:27 pm)Zen Badger Wrote: Remembering that the US alone dropped more ordnance on Vietnam in seven years than dropped by ALL the combatants in ALL the theatres of the Second World War.

It took a lot of bombs to deforest a tropical country.

Not to mention that comparing relatively modern technology to much older technology is rather silly when comparing ordnance usage.
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#22
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
Before I go on into this I want to make clear that I'm very much against nukes. They are terrible things that can easily send mankind into extinction.

Now, they do have their uses. They do help prevent major wars. We do need them. Since while we have them, no large nation will be stupid enough to get into a major war with another. They know they will lose everything if they do. M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) is useful as well as being fucking dangerous.
It is a scary thought that mankind can be wiped out in a matter of hours in a single war but so is being invaded by a giant like China with over 300 million soldiers. The U.S wouldn't stand a chance. Nukes are handy as well as being very dangerous.

I guess it depends on what scares you more. Hundreds of millions of soldiers ready to invade (No nukes to prevent them from trying) or nukes where no one dares start anything big (since just firing one nuke could send us all into extinction).
Big Grin
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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#23
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
(November 26, 2010 at 6:55 pm)Ace Wrote: .
It is a scary thought that mankind can be wiped out in a matter of hours in a single war but so is being invaded by a giant like China with over 300 million soldiers. The U.S wouldn't stand a chance. Nukes are handy as well as being very dangerous.

I guess it depends on what scares you more. Hundreds of millions of soldiers ready to invade (No nukes to prevent them from trying) or nukes where no one dares start anything big (since just firing one nuke could send us all into extinction).
Big Grin

It is terrifying indeed to imagine the pacific ocean roiling with 300 million Chinese soldiers struggling to swim with their equipment to our shores. If it were not for our nukes just the water dripping from their sodden uniforms would wash away all our 500 billion a year conventional defenses.
Big Grin



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#24
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
(November 26, 2010 at 4:34 am)Synackaon Wrote: Not to mention that comparing relatively modern technology to much older technology is rather silly when comparing ordnance usage.

In this context it isn't, the point I'm making is that the war that the two superpowers would have fought would have been with the much more capable weapons of the Fifties and Sixties.

The Vietnam war was a "limited" war yet that much more was dropped by the US.

Imagine a full on conflict in Europe, it wouldn't have been nuclear but the end result would have been the same.
[Image: mybannerglitter06eee094.gif]
If you're not supposed to ride faster than your guardian angel can fly then mine had better get a bloody SR-71.
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#25
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
I found this vid which I thought was quite funny and entertaining.
Like it or hate it...watch it...



Big Grin
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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#26
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
That video lies about how many women are actually in the Chinese women's army. The figure it quotes is closer to the amount of people fit for military service, it's not as if they actually have a professional active women's army of close to 300 milllion. But it does make a point about the sheer number of Chinese people that could in theory be part of an army.

However, if we did see a conflict between the states and china (highly unlikely, but still,) my money would be on the U.S. for the sheer amount they spend on military tech means they have a far superiorly equipped armed forces with vast amounts of experience and know how and would be able to call on support from more countries than China. Fortunately, for all it's faults as you say, M.A.D keeps us all safe despite also having the slight worry of also being able to destroy us all.
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#27
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
(November 27, 2010 at 1:23 pm)Skipper Wrote: That video lies about how many women are actually in the Chinese women's army. The figure it quotes is closer to the amount of people fit for military service, it's not as if they actually have a professional active women's army of close to 300 milllion. But it does make a point about the sheer number of Chinese people that could in theory be part of an army.

However, if we did see a conflict between the states and china (highly unlikely, but still,) my money would be on the U.S. for the sheer amount they spend on military tech means they have a far superiorly equipped armed forces with vast amounts of experience and know how and would be able to call on support from more countries than China. Fortunately, for all it's faults as you say, M.A.D keeps us all safe despite also having the slight worry of also being able to destroy us all.

True, it wasn't entirely accurate but does make a point. I'm pretty sure China has far more than 400 million soldiers anyway. I'm unsure about the female population in China's army but it is quite high. I think China's population sits at 1.3 billion. They vastly out number the US and are armed to the teeth.
My money wouldn't really go to either US or China. Both are very large and powerful giants. There would be an epic blood bath on both sides. The US would take an unimaginable amount of casualties as well as China would. I don't think it would be a question on who wins, but who's left? The US is far from invincible. No matter how much money goes into defence. My money might go on China, it is a very very big and very powerful nation. If you take away the nukes, your talking about going up against at least 400 million Chinese soldiers, maybe 500 million. Can't see how you can win (let alone survive) against such an epic force.

If the US had a show down with China, I think this would be the end result for the US -
[Image: dcfallout.jpg]

Thought I'd add this - http://www.abytheliberal.com/world-polit...inst-china
It's a good read.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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#28
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
Erm, China's military is 3 million strong. Their army, though it is the largest in the world, is 2.25 million strong, much less than the 300 million that was claimed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Liberation_Army
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens

"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".

- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "

- Dr. Donald Prothero
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#29
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
What's a couple of zeros?
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#30
RE: 5 times we almost nuked ourselves by accident
(November 27, 2010 at 4:16 pm)orogenicman Wrote: Erm, China's military is 3 million strong. Their army, though it is the largest in the world, is 2.25 million strong, much less than the 300 million that was claimed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Liberation_Army

Which is kinda odd. 1.3 billion people, and only 2.25 million in the military. I'm pretty sure China can gather up many millions in times of war. Going up to tens of millions and even more so. I can understand the 2.25 million when there is no war on.

I'm gonna look up a few things when it comes to China's military size and strength. Back soon. Big Grin
Ok I'm back, and I found this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of...med_Forces

While I was running around like an idiot I tripped over this too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou..._of_troops
...Interesting...
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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