MetaFilter posts tagged with bombs

Sniffer Bees

contraption — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:58:15 -0800

Inscentinel uses trained bees to sniff out drugs, explosives, and spoiled food.

Amchitka Nuclear Test Videos

Effigy2000 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:33:28 -0800

Back in the early 1960s, Amchitka, a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska was selected by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to be the site for underground detonations of nuclear weapons. Three such tests were carried out and, thanks to Youtube, you too can watch some declassified US Government Amchitka test films. The first, named Long Shot, was an 80-kiloton blast (video) and was followed by Milrow (1-megaton) (video) and Cannikin (said to be under 5-megaton) (video). There's also a declassified video that discusses the program at Amchitka in more detail.

Undersea bomber

tr33hggr — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:50:17 -0800

You Dropped A Bomb On Me, Wormy

“So happens this dog achieved the rank of colonel in the United States Army.”

grobstein — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:12:25 -0800

They were in the stairwell that led down to the commode, a dangerous place in its time, the Grand Central Station Men’s, but for different reasons. I saw the dirt tracks leading there, and I left the monkeys in the chandelier and followed them. I kept to the tracks careful as I could. There were pits and corrugations everywhere in the old tile, any one of which could hide a man killing gob of explosive. At my back I heard Spot complain: “Leave ‘em be, Blacks. We’ve warned ‘em, ain’t we? If they blow themselves up, it ain’t on us.”

UXO, BOMB DOG by Eliot Fintushel (single-link short fiction)

On Paper Wings

netbros — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:49:47 -0800

Japanese Balloon Bombs — "In 1944, during World War II, Japan launched a top secret project, nearly two years in the making, to send thousands of "balloon bombs" (called Fu-Go Weapons) to the United States. The goal of the attack was to create panic, forest fires, and show the United States that it could be attacked from afar. Each of the more than 9,000 balloon bombs launched towards the United States, over the course of several months, carried a 15 kilogram bomb that would detach from the balloon and explode on impact with the ground." On a Wind and a Prayer. The United States government went to extraordinary measures to keep information on the Japanese balloon bombs out of the media. The United States knew that Japan could only measure its success based on media reports. And giving them that type of intelligence information could cause them to refine the balloons to be more accurate and deadly. The story of the Japanese balloon bombs is intriguing because so few Americans (to this day) know the story. Few realize that the only six American civilian casualties in the continental U.S. during World War II happened at the hands of a balloon bomb. And five of those casualties were children. Most primary sources on the Balloon attacks remained classified until the early 1980s because information on the Fugo Balloon Bomb technology was used by the U.S. military for their own balloon spying activities against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Boom!

BrotherCaine — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:12:15 -0800

Friday Flash Fun — Boombot.

Cluster bombs banned by over 100 countries

wilful — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:35:21 -0800

More than 100 nations have reached an agreement on a treaty which would ban current designs of cluster bombs. Naturally, the most militant nations (USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan) have refused to negotiate (creating significant interoperability issues for allied nations such as the UK to the USA). The Cluster Munition Coalition is an excellent resource about the issue. The issue of interoperability (.pdf) ensured that Australia remained on the side of the USA in considering this issue. The Australian Democrats proposed the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006, which was defeated in Committee by both major parties. Dissenting report here.

Green Bombs.

gman — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:55:52 -0800

Kill people AND save the environment!

Why He Went Nuclear.

chunking express — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:25:43 -0800

Why He Went Nuclear. Before he was the infamous father of the "Islamic bomb," A.Q. Khan was just another midlevel scientist working at a research job in Amsterdam. Here, the story of how he betrayed his employer and set out to create a worldwide bazaar in lethal weapons.

Left of Boom - The struggle to defeat roadside bombs

srboisvert — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:08:51 -0800

Left of Boom - The struggle to defeat roadside bombs. [washpo - flash & flash video]

Air Force drops gay bomb

madamjujujive — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:01:25 -0800

Make love not war? The Pentagon confirms that it was researching the possibility of a "gay bomb" that could "turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting." BBC discusses this and other unorthodox U.S. weapons proposals.

WWII Japanese Balloon Bombs

lee — Sun, 06 May 2007 23:36:55 -0800

Huge gently floating bombs made their way across the pacific below balloons using the high altitude jet streams floated to the Americas during WWII. Kept secret for most of the war, you can read about their amazing history here.

"Where customer satisfaction is our motto"

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:03:19 -0800

The folks down at the Pakistan Ordnance Factory [youtube: 6'40] would like to show you how they make some of their machine guns, mortar bombs (in a surprising range of bright, cheerful colors), tank and anti-tank ammo ("capable of defeating the toughest armor in the battlefield!"), aircraft and anti-aircraft ammunition, and so much more. "P.O.F. products are in service with over 40 countries around the globe, with an ever-expanding market!"

Bombs and books on Mutanabbi Street.

languagehat — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:14:04 -0800

The Bookseller's Story, Ending Much Too Soon. Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post writes about Mohammed Hayawi, "a bald bear of a man," who ran the Renaissance Bookstore on "Baghdad's storied Mutanabi Street." Back in 2005, Phillip Robertson wrote a Salon article about Al Mutanabbi Street, "Baghdad's legendary literary cafe, the Shabandar, " and Hajji Qais Anni's stationery store: "Hajji Qais had been on Al Mutanabbi street for 10 years and the vendors all knew him... He wore a beard and was also known as a devout Sunni who had no problem hiring Shia workers or spending time with Christian colleagues." Both Hayawi and Hajji Qais were killed by bombs, the cafe has been gutted, and the street that "embodied a generation-old saying: Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, Baghdad reads" is no longer its old self. "When the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258, it was said that the Tigris River ran red one day, black another. The red came from the blood of nameless victims, massacred by ferocious horsemen. The black came from the ink of countless books from libraries and universities. Last Monday, the bomb on Mutanabi Street detonated at 11:40 a.m. The pavement was smeared with blood. Fires that ensued sent up columns of dark smoke, fed by the plethora of paper." Two views of a part of Baghdad that doesn't make the news much.

Stuff blowing up is awesome

jonson — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 11:10:38 -0800

For those who worry that the concrete pillars around U.S. Federal buildings aren't strong enough to stop a motivated car bomber in an 18 wheeler, this video should comfort you. Similarly, for those of you who are worried that the concrete shielding around our weapons bunkers is not thick enough, this video should put you at ease. And finally, for those of you that worry that dogs & monkeys are putting aside their differences to team up against mankind, this video should lay that myth to rest.

Six places to nuke when you're serious

lupus_yonderboy — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:27:59 -0800

Six places to nuke when you're serious

Food for thought

Smart Dalek — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:59:59 -0800

The new war on hunger. No strangers to controversy, the Food Not Bombs Network generated further discord while distributing meals to others. In the course of its work, FNB's food lines often neglect the issue(s) of sanitation disposal. In response, Legislation has been swiftly drafted to correct problem; feeding the destitute in public gathering areas has since become a criminal offense in a number of cities.

The King of Bombs

sluglicker — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 16:40:28 -0800

"Ivan", aka "Tsar Bomba" was detonated on October 30, 1961. It made "Ivy Mike" look like a firecracker.

Explosives for everyone!

Guerilla — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:24:46 -0800

9306 Bombs, Grenades, Torpedoes, Mines, Missiles & Similar Munitions of War now available at the Ukraine outlet mall (free samples too!). Apparently it's just a click away to get just about any type of explosive you could imagine too.

London blogs bombing

klangklangston — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:26:21 -0800

Got a message to the receiver, hope for an answer someday. Watch real time responses to the bombing through a multitude of blogs. First link sorted by tube station.

"Major Incident" in London reported

Cobbler — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 02:17:05 -0800

Major Incident on London Underground reported. Anyone have any further information?

Strange coincidences about last year's bombings in Madrid

iffley — Sat, 21 May 2005 01:18:16 -0800

Strange coincidences about last year's bombings in Madrid

Que pensaient-ils?

Vidiot — Sun, 05 Dec 2004 23:00:32 -0800

French police on Sunday ended their practice of hiding plastic explosives in air passengers' luggage to train bomb-sniffing dogs after one such bag got lost, possibly ending up on a flight out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.

WTF were they thinking? Isn't there a better way to train the dogs without making innocent people unwittingly carry plastique?

Comments on Bomb Crap

mcgraw — Mon, 03 May 2004 06:56:17 -0800

Advanced methods of bomb detection and investigation. New equipment developed to scan cars and people, such as a parking lot device which quickly bathes the car's trunk in invisible neutrons, a procedure that makes materials inside the trunk emit gamma-rays that would indicate the presence of explosives. Also, a bomb disposal robot which take[s] fingerprints before blowing [a] package up.

Bomb rocks Jakarta

dg — Tue, 05 Aug 2003 06:03:49 -0800

With the trial of the bali bombers underway, a bomb has been exploded in the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta's CBD. Deaths have been reported here on Australian TV at 13, with over 120 injured, although these figures are expected to rise. The BBC is reporting on the experiences of those at the scene.