Baby Kim Lays an Egg

[Qwertz]

North Korea announced Monday that it had successfully carried out an underground nuclear test detonation.

Fishy Fact 1: The US wasn't the first to know. Last I checked, the US had dozens of cold-war era satellites designed to be able to detect a nuclear blast anywhere on or under the earth. And apparently, no such detonation was detected. Other countries, including the US, had to rely on seismic data to prove an explosion took place.

Fishy Fact 2: While Pyongyang initially reported that the test was "a complete success," analysis of seismic data showed that the blast was the equivalent of about half a kiloton (Tcal). This doesn't compare well with known nuclear tests, which are generally orders of magnitude greater. Compare this yield to the yields of Projects 56, 57, 58 and 58A, conducted by the US in the 50s as 'one-point' safety tests, wherein designers wanted to make sure that if the conventional explosives didn't fire simultaneously (and instead started at 'one point,') fission would not occur. These tests ranged from 0.1kt to 0.5kt, and did not 'go nuclear.'

Fishy Fact 3: Kim Jong Il builds lots and lots of really large statues of himself all over North Korea.

Taken together, and lacking any conclusive (or even circumstantial) evidence that North Korea has actually developed a nuclear weapon, I see two possibilities.

1) NK built a device with fissile material in it based roughly on the general concept of a nuclear weapon, but simply didn't execute it with enough skill to achieve fission, or else achieved only a scintilla of fission. The 0.5kt yield could simply be the firing of the conventional explosives. Compare to the 24kt Hiroshima detonation (the most widely copied nuclear design by emerging nuclear powers), which was estimated at between 1 and 4% efficient.

2) NK put a bunch of conventional explosives under the ground, blew them up, and then claimed to have tested a nuclear device.

(2) is my favorite. It is in keeping with NK's history of posturing and threatening in order to get its way. Regardless, I think it highly improbable that NK has actually developed nuclear weapons technology capable of 'successful,' low-yield warheads like the type developed by the US in the early 90s.

Nonetheless, I hope the US doesn't waffle this time.

-Q

[The Wrath]

He just wants attention and respect. I really think that half of Kim Jong Il's problem is that he doesn't have any friends and he thinks that having nukes will win him some respect from the industrialized nations. I mean, the man is freakin' obsessed with American celebrity culture. He's just ronery.

Edited October 11, 2006 by Moose

[DavidV]

I think the dictators of the world have caught on the fact that playing the evil villain role and starving their populace will get them lots of foreign air, European sympathy, and perhaps most importantly, attention. Various African and Far East thugs get overthrown and replaced all the time, but blow up some school buses, starve a few hundred thousand to death, or claim to have a nuke or two, and suddenly you got all kinds of foreign aid, ambassadors , and notoriety to lord over your opposition.

[Spano]

He's just ronery.

Yeah, it's a shame. He's the smartest, most crever, most physicarry fit...but nobody erse seems to rearize it.

I will never be able to think of Kim Jong Il with a straight face after Team America: World Police.

[Regis]

<Mod's note: Link to YouTube-hosted video removed due to copyright concerns. - sN>

For those of you who haven't seen it. Hilarious. Its always the first thing I think of when North Korea does its semi-annual media attention grab.

Edited October 17, 2006 by softwareNerd

[IAmMetaphysical]

Is it just me or is footage of nuclear explosions beautiful?

[The Wrath]

Has anyone else seen that Republican campaign ad that shows him playing basketball?

[Qwertz]

Is it just me or is footage of nuclear explosions beautiful?

No, it isn't. I'm remided of the sequence from Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, a humorous, but misguided film. Most test footage from the cold war era is silent, and they aren't really destroying anything of value. First there is nothing, and then this enormous balloon of energy silently expands with incredible power. And then nothing again. Though I think knowing what they are, and what they mean, adds a lot to their beauty.

-Q

[Drew1776]

Is it just me or is footage of nuclear explosions beautiful?

I agree! (Insert smiley with Devil horns)

[mweiss]

Is it just me or is footage of nuclear explosions beautiful?

Yeah, even when it's animated:

[DarkWaters]

North Korea particularly worries me. Kim Jong Il has not really been grooming a successor has he? I fear that in his final years, he might get bored with having all of these idle weapons and might launch an attack. If bordem will not be his primary motivation then it might become senility.

[mweiss]

North Korea particularly worries me. Kim Jong Il has not really been grooming a successor has he? I fear that in his final years, he might get bored with having all of these idle weapons and might launch an attack. If bordem will not be his primary motivation then it might become senility.

Therein lie the dangers of Atheism and lack of belief in the afterlife?

Frankly, I wouldn't worry too much. He probably can't deliver the weapons, and I have doubts that his weapons aren't duds.

[DarkWaters]

Frankly, I wouldn't worry too much. He probably can't deliver the weapons, and I have doubts that his weapons aren't duds.

I suspect that Kim Jong Il grossly overestimates his weapons capability and the potency of his standing army. I would not be surprised if he kills some his cronies who deliver him bad news as part of some twisted face-saving logic. Thus, the "dear leader" guarantees that he will receive nothing but misinformation as his policies are surely nothing but failures.

[Dismuke]

For those of you who haven't seen it. Hilarious. Its always the first thing I think of when North Korea does its semi-annual media attention grab.

Indeed! He is just hoping that his fellow neo-Stalinists over here (a.k.a. Jacques Kerry, Algore, Ted Kennedy, George Soros, etc.) get back in power so that the hot, sexy looking babe that Bill Clinton sent over last time will come back and pay him another friendly visit!

(Removed one URL link to YouTube video- sN)

Edited October 19, 2006 by softwareNerd

[Qwertz]

Fishy Fact 4: Today, initial reports from US government sources say that the US military has collected air samples over NK and that no traces of radioactive material were found. They emphasize that the findings are preliminary.

[Nate]

copyright issues on team america: world police link !?!

Edited October 14, 2006 by Nate

[$$$]

Nukes can't cause earthquakes right? Japan had one off it's coast a couple of days after the test. Now Hawaii. I could see Al Qaida seriously considering a way of triggering a massive earth quake or tsunami.

[mweiss]

Nukes can't cause earthquakes right? Japan had one off it's coast a couple of days after the test. Now Hawaii. I could see Al Qaida seriously considering a way of triggering a massive earth quake or tsunami.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some shifting of the rock strata, caused by the explosion, could destabilize a small region, but perhaps a geologist could answer that best.

WCBS announced today on the news that the US intelligence agency has determined that the bomb was in fact a nuclear device and the explosion was that of a nuclear nature. NATO has unanimously voted for sanctions. Oh boy, Baby Kim is really goin' to get it this time!

[Qwertz]

Underground nuclear detonations register as seismic events on seismographs, but are distinguishable from genuine tectonic activity by a trained eye. I think this one is alleged to have registered around a 2.1. Though that was based on Japanese data, and Japan doesn't use the Richter scale, but something slightly different, so I don't really know if that's a Richter number or Japan's scale.

-Q