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Post a cool historical fact

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Posts

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    Legba wrote: »
    I think the main worry re: the Tybee bomb is that salt water will corrode the metal casing and let the uranium free, contaminating the surrounding area.

    Also in ten thousand years a careless acheologists will dig a little too hard with his spade and seriously impact his chances of gaining further funding.
    And become the source of someone else's funding.

    Circle of Life.

    sig.gif
    Zibblsnrt
  • LegbaLegba He did. Registered User regular
    Falx wrote: »

    This is fascinating.

    Shock GPreciousBodilyFluids
  • Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    Depends on the type of bomb but im guessing the mechanical and electrical components wouls fail. The uranium, plutonium or whatever else would be possibly compromised but still sitting there. If its a fusion bomb, loaded with i assume tritium, that could be lost

  • Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    You would definetly want to recover plutonium or enriched uranium, that shit aint cheap and you dont want just anyone to go and recover that

  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus Registered User regular
    who's cooler, Russian mob, Italian mafia, or Japanese Yakuza

    Mob something something Russian Winters something something.

    But then again, drunk fat hairy men in track suits, not my thing.

    g4Ecy.png

    LegbaWeedLordVegeta
  • CorporateLogoCorporateLogo The toilet knows how I feelRegistered User regular
    Will Hawkeye be the new Nextwave, stay tuned

    Do not have a cow, mortal.

    c9PXgFo.jpg
    Antimattergtrmp
  • Peter EbelPeter Ebel CopenhagenRegistered User regular
    Taking this literal shit is like fighting the Battle of Stalingrad.

    Fuck off and die.
  • MuzzmuzzMuzzmuzz Registered User regular
    Here's a heartwarming piece of history.

    During World War II, the Nazis invaded the Greek island of Zakynthos, as well as the surrounding area. Afterwards a couple of sharply dressed Nazis wen to Mayor Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos, asked for a list of all the local Jews. For no other reason than....well, they needed investment advice or something. When the Nazis came back, they received a list, containing the names of... the Mayor, and the Bishop. Both refused to turn over any of the Jews, and the island had actually hidden the entire Jewish community. Thankfully, the Nazis weren't in a bad mood, and either didn't find any Jewish people, or didn't actually search. Thus, the entire Jewish community of 275 was saved. After the war, nearly all of them moved to the Israel.


    Fast Forward to 1953, and a horrific earthquake rocked the area, destroying much of the town. The first relief ship to show up? Israel, in its first aid mission to a disaster area. Accompanied was a note:

    "The Jews of Zakynthos have never forgotten their Mayor and their beloved Bishop and what they did for us."

    JayKaosCentipede DamascusAl_watStraightziUnbrokenEvaSkeithFalxTrippyJingMetzger MeisterMulletudeZyrelaxLegbaScolbertRMS OceanicDuxAntimatterShortyCaulk Bite 6TheStigZibblsnrtSorceKrieghundHybridDonovan PuppyfuckerOghulklonelyahavaAngelinaautono-wally, erotibot300DrZiplockEtchwartsMunkus BeaverKyoka SuigetsuLalaboxDimosarLord_SnotSLyM
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    Nuclear bombs seem like they're worth not having around at all

    FalxRMS OceanicAntimatterShortyTheStigDonovan PuppyfuckerLord_Snot
  • TrippyJingTrippyJing Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered User regular
    What if an asteroid threatens the planet?

    b1ehrMM.gif
  • DecomposeyDecomposey Registered User regular
    TrippyJing wrote: »
    What if an asteroid threatens the planet?

    Try reasoning with it?

    Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
    Zibblsnrt
  • Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    Blow it to bits

    ....and then watch hopelessly as those bits continue on their path and slam into the earth anyways

    ShortyCaulk Bite 6Etchwarts
  • YoSoyTheWalrusYoSoyTheWalrus Registered User regular
    But they're smaller

    tumblr_mvlywyLVys1qigwg9o1_250.png
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    But they're smaller

    Yeah but the big one was only going to hit somewhere in the middle of Siberia

    These fragments could strike Glorious Nippon

  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Straightzi wrote: »
    But they're smaller

    Yeah but the big one was only going to hit somewhere in the middle of Siberia

    These fragments could strike Glorious Nippon

    god willing

    StraightziYoSoyTheWalrusAl_watTheStig
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    A pinpoint nuclear strike on the planetkiller asteroid causes it to explode into an umbrella of debris directly over Somalia, leaving it unscathed but vaporizing every other country on the planet

  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Hobnail wrote: »
    A pinpoint nuclear strike on the planetkiller asteroid causes it to explode into an umbrella of debris directly over Somalia, leaving it unscathed but vaporizing every other country on the planet

    it will finally be mad max like I always wanted

  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Hobnail wrote: »
    A pinpoint nuclear strike on the planetkiller asteroid causes it to explode into an umbrella of debris directly over Somalia, leaving it unscathed but vaporizing every other country on the planet

    it will finally be mad max like I always wanted

    Somalia is in Africa, Pip.

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    I always wondered whether Tycho Brahe's nose tarnished or not.

  • YoSoyTheWalrusYoSoyTheWalrus Registered User regular
    Straightzi wrote: »
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Hobnail wrote: »
    A pinpoint nuclear strike on the planetkiller asteroid causes it to explode into an umbrella of debris directly over Somalia, leaving it unscathed but vaporizing every other country on the planet

    it will finally be mad max like I always wanted

    Somalia is in Africa, Pip.

    IIRC pip is somewhere in Florida so there's not that much difference

    tumblr_mvlywyLVys1qigwg9o1_250.png
    AntimatterShorty
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    At least I wouldn't be able to understand the language in Somalia

  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    I always wondered whether Tycho Brahe's nose tarnished or not.

    Well, a prosthetic nose is somethin that you would, presumably, wear every day so no one would have to see your gross ass nasal cavity. So I'd bet it was fairly well polished.

  • Caulk Bite 6Caulk Bite 6 One of the multitude of Dans infesting this place Registered User regular
    Butler wrote: »
    Legba wrote: »
    On Feb. 5, 1958, during a simulated combat mission near Savannah, Ga., a B-47 bomber collided with an F-86 fighter. The fighter crashed; the bomber, barely airworthy, needed to reduce weight to avoid an emergency landing.

    So it dropped a 7,600-pound nuclear bomb.

    The bomb contained 400 pounds of conventional explosives and highly enriched uranium. There's some disagreement as to whether it included the plutonium capsule needed to start a nuclear reaction.

    That's rather important, because in 50 years of searching the Air Force still hasn't found the bomb. It hit the water near Tybee Island off the Georgia coast and is presumably buried in 10 feet of silt somewhere in Wassaw Sound. But exactly where it is, and how dangerous it is, remain unknown.

    The quality of this post is fine but given the content I don't know if we should be rating it "awesome". I'm not sure that's how that button is supposed to work.

    It's one of those things where you say something that would normally make you sound excited, but you subvert it by sound kinda depressed at the end of it. "Oh... awesome."

    jnij103vqi2i.png
  • chromdomchromdom Who? Where?Registered User regular
    TrippyJing wrote: »
    What if an asteroid threatens the planet?

    Have sex with Steven Tyler. Or Matt Affleck. Or both.

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Matt Affleck? Really?

  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus Registered User regular
    Matt Affleck is what happens when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reach Maximum Bro Level

    chromdomASimPersonCaulk Bite 6a5ehrenEtchwartsDimosar
  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    I prefer Bendamon, because it sounds like a Pokemon.

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
    autono-wally, erotibot300JayKaos
  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    I was gonna post an elaborate here's-the-latest-neat-story sort of thing since I've got a couple more accrued since my last post, but I'm tired and a wiki-walk riccocheting off one of them lead me to this gentleman instead. So if you'll be so kind as to follow that link the interwebz themselves shall regale you with the story of Joan Pujol Garcia, a British spy codenamed Garbo.

    Also, a German spy codenamed Arabel.

    At least, the Germans thought he was a German spy codenamed Arabel.

    Short version: the guy decided he really hated fascists, so entirely on his own initiative he set himself up as an anti-German spy. When the Allies wouldn't immediately accept him as one, he shrugged, proceeded to set himself up as a pro-German spy through a Byzantine web of lies, threw enough spanners in enough works that the Allies finally thought he was on to something, and spent the rest of the war appearing as a trusted top-level agent to both sides despite being, well, not.

    My favorite bits from that: he received high-level decorations from both sides in the war, and the Germans were sufficiently duped that they gave him a third of a million dollars to properly bankroll his vast network of completely fictitious secondary agents.

    UnbrokenEvaSorceLegbaCaulk Bite 6RMS OceanicJayKaosKyoka SuigetsuDimosar
  • TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    edited January 2013
    The people of Tybee Island probably impeded any effort to recover the lost nuke due to their tradition of casually handing fruity, alcoholic beverages to all visitors until they forget what they had planned to do that day.

    I swear that island's patron saint is Jimmy Buffet.

    TankHammer on
  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    I was gonna post an elaborate here's-the-latest-neat-story sort of thing since I've got a couple more accrued since my last post, but I'm tired and a wiki-walk riccocheting off one of them lead me to this gentleman instead. So if you'll be so kind as to follow that link the interwebz themselves shall regale you with the story of Joan Pujol Garcia, a British spy codenamed Garbo.

    Also, a German spy codenamed Arabel.

    At least, the Germans thought he was a German spy codenamed Arabel.

    Short version: the guy decided he really hated fascists, so entirely on his own initiative he set himself up as an anti-German spy. When the Allies wouldn't immediately accept him as one, he shrugged, proceeded to set himself up as a pro-German spy through a Byzantine web of lies, threw enough spanners in enough works that the Allies finally thought he was on to something, and spent the rest of the war appearing as a trusted top-level agent to both sides despite being, well, not.

    My favorite bits from that: he received high-level decorations from both sides in the war, and the Germans were sufficiently duped that they gave him a third of a million dollars to properly bankroll his vast network of completely fictitious secondary agents.

    I like the part where he told the Nazis that one of his fictitious agents had died and got them to pay his fictitious widow a non-fictitious pension. The british even ran an obituary for the guy in the local newspaper to help sell the story.

    ZibblsnrtKing RiptorLegbaCaulk Bite 6FalxSkeith
  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    TrippyJing wrote: »
    What if an asteroid threatens the planet?

    With enough lead time, install solar sails so the sun will blow the asteroid off course, or stick some big-ass engines on the asteroid to push it off course. Do it right and you might even be able to put it in a nice convenient orbit for mining or something.


    Now let's talk about the Cod Wars, the most ridiculous and hilarious resource wars ever.

    In the 1950s and 1970s, Iceland fought Britain three times over cod. The fish. Iceland didn't have much of anything at that time other than cold, lava, sheep, and fishing, and they hadn't gotten the lava to be economically productive yet. To protect its fishing interests, Iceland expanded its territorial waters out and banned anyone else from fishing there. Meanwhile, Britain wanted its fish and chips. A short breakdown:

    British fishing trawlers went into newly claimed exclusively Icelandic waters. The Icelandic Coast Guard in all its dinky glory made specialized net cutters to slice their lines and thusly made the trawlers lose their catches. The Royal Navy got sent out to protect the fishing trawlers. Note that both sides are NATO members. It wouldn't do for either side to start shooting the other, so they just started ramming each other. It's the 1970s, and the Royal Navy is putting wooden bumpers on the hulls of its warships so it can ram Icelandic coast guard cutters, which are ramming fishing boats. There did end up being shooting; one of the Icelandic vessels put together a potato gun to fire at the Royal Navy. A potato gun. On a tiny little coast guard vessel, shooting potato bits at the Royal Navy ships trying to ram them.

    Long story short, the Icelanders finally got the Brits to bugger off so they could protect and manage their cod stocks properly. This is why Iceland still has a cod fishery after pretty much all the rest of the Atlantic cod fisheries collapsed from over-fishing.

    chromdomLegbaFalxJayKaosSkeithLalaboxLord_Snot
  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    Fearghaill wrote: »
    I like the part where he told the Nazis that one of his fictitious agents had died and got them to pay his fictitious widow a non-fictitious pension. The british even ran an obituary for the guy in the local newspaper to help sell the story.

    I'm picturing Garcia just giggling hysterically to himself as he wonders just what he can get away with at that point.

    "Oh, and his five sons were all about to enroll at Eton..."

  • ErlecErlec Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    So starting uni again, so reading as many books as you can count. Since part of my curriculum is about British culture, I decided to read through the Irish potato famine.

    I, never knew that it was that bad and the worst fact was that during the famine, the irish had to export a large amount of their own crops (corn, beef, etc) to England while everything went to hell.

    "The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine." John Mitchell Being badass during the "greatest" period of the English empire.

    And this legend (if true, everything about 19th century England must be crazy):
    "According to legend, in 1845, Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid declared his intention to send £10,000 to Irish farmers but Queen Victoria requested that the Sultan send only £1,000, because she herself had sent only £2,000. The Sultan sent the £1,000 sterling but also sent three ships full of food. According to Abdullah Aymaz in an article in The Fountain magazine, the British administration tried to block the ships, but the food arrived secretly at Drogheda harbour and was left there by Ottoman sailors. Uncertainty remains regarding the story as shipping records relating to the port at this time appear not to have survived."

    Erlec on
    steam_sig.png
    Caulk Bite 6JayKaos
  • Man of the WavesMan of the Waves Registered User regular
    Asteroid problems?

    Just catch them.

    Put them in orbit around the moon, why not?

  • LegbaLegba He did. Registered User regular
    The Irish potato famine reminds me of two things.

    One, a very bad joke:

    How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman?
    None.

    And two, one of the senior relief officials during the famine was named Sir Edward Pine Coffin.

  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    TheStig on
    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
    Falx
  • LegbaLegba He did. Registered User regular
    Mel Gibson is staring into my soul and he finds it lacking.

  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    Legba wrote: »
    Mel Gibson is staring into my soul and he finds it lacking.

    "This guy doesn't look antisemitic at all!"

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Mel Gibson is a sack of shit

    there you go

    cool historical fact

    MorivethIndie WintergtrmpDimosar
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    Thats not very historical, he's not even dead yet

This discussion has been closed.