BOOM!
May 12, 2003 7:26 AM   Subscribe

BOOM! High resolution pictures of US atomic bomb tests. More photos. Nuclear wallpapers. Some history and movies. Rapatronic (a very fast camera) images (and more, from an old mefi post). For more information about these and other weapons of mass destruction visit the Trinity Atomic Web Site (don't miss the High Energy Weapons Archive hosted there) and the Federation of American Scientists' WMD resources page.
posted by wobh (17 comments total)
 
I want to quickly say here that I've been wandering around the last four links for a couple of weeks now. The pictures are flash and dazzle, but there's a lot of really amazing information in those sites. Take your time.
posted by wobh at 7:32 AM on May 12, 2003


Wow, this is the bomb!

(I'm sorry... I couldn't resist...)

/me slinks away in shame
posted by eyebeam at 7:36 AM on May 12, 2003


Nuclear wallpapers
::: kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and good to be human everytime you minimize your apps
posted by 10sball at 7:39 AM on May 12, 2003


So, how did you learn to stop worrying and love the bomb?
posted by psmealey at 7:40 AM on May 12, 2003


I didn't see this among your links above, wobh, so I thought I'd add it here:

"The Bomb Project is a comprehensive on-line compendium of nuclear-related links, imagery and documentation. It is intended specifically as a resource for artists, and encourages those working in all media, from net.art, film and video, eco-intervention and site-specific installation to more traditional forms of agitprop, to use this site to search for raw material. The Bomb Project has gathered together links to nuclear image archives (still and moving), historical documents, current news, NGOs and activist organizations as well as government labs and arms treaties. It makes accessible the declassified files and graphic documentation produced by the nuclear industry itself, providing a context for comparative study, analysis and creativity."

I dig that this site encourages the use of these awe- and fear-inspiring images in the service of artistic activism for peace and justice.

And maybe this link will rehabilitate my karma a little after that comment above.
posted by eyebeam at 7:54 AM on May 12, 2003




I thought that site was such a great link, and so relevant to the above, crunchland, that I wanted to include it here.

Is that considered a double post, even though it's a comment, rather than a FPP? I'd like to know the etiquette, so I don't embarass myself further in the future. Thanks.
posted by eyebeam at 8:14 AM on May 12, 2003


I thank you for the links. Lots of info. Shooting for nightmares tonight...
posted by Busithoth at 8:51 AM on May 12, 2003


no worries, eyebeam. I just provided the link to the other thread so people could see the comments left there, for whatever they're worth.
posted by crunchland at 8:58 AM on May 12, 2003


Dennis Miller thinks we ought to blow off a nuclear device somewhere in the desert in the Middle East just for demonstration purposes and to let unfriendlies know what we are capable of. Another option might be to direct them to these graphic sites. (Here's a question, why do the still photographs always show the blast in its mushroom cloud phase? Surely there are phases of expansion and combustion leading up to that point that are of visual interest.)
posted by Faze at 10:29 AM on May 12, 2003




Oh hell yes, I have a nuclear explosion on my desktop. My day is complete.
posted by monkeyman at 10:52 AM on May 12, 2003


Sorry Faze, but if Dennis Miller actually said and believes that, then he's an idiot. "Demonstrations" such as that have a way of backfiring. Particularly if they are misguided scare tactics which don't actually hurt anybody. This is going to sound awful cold-blooded but here goes: The holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrific and terrible in ways this mere sentence cannot do justice. But they left an impression which has lasted for going-on sixty years now. I believe a frivolous demonstration of power would actually dilute the message, doing more harm than good. If one were serious about making an impression over there, there are three cities and countless millions of people who would have to be sacrificed to do it—Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.

Personally, I hope with every fibre of my being, it never, ever, comes to that.

(P.S. Look at the rapatronic images for images of the fireball itself in the first nanoseconds of the explosion.)
posted by wobh at 11:15 AM on May 12, 2003


Personally, I'm in favor of strapping Dennis Miller to a nuclear bomb that we blow up in the Saudi Desert for "demonstration purposes".
posted by psmealey at 1:12 PM on May 12, 2003


Also highly recommended is a viewing of Trinity and Beyond.

Before I saw that film, I had never realized just how many nuclear weapons the U.S. (and Russia and China) detonated above ground...frightening.
posted by filmgoerjuan at 3:32 PM on May 12, 2003


man does anyone else get a chill down their spine looking at the size of the explosions next to those battleships? It's one thing to look at these pictures when they are small pics but when you get a high-res shot that shows size comparison it is truly something.
posted by Degaz at 11:21 AM on May 13, 2003


Degaz, you're refering to the Hardtack Umbrella test. Only an 8 KT explosion, under 150 feet of water some distance behind the boat. One of my morbid favorites.
posted by wobh at 9:32 PM on May 13, 2003


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