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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Underwaterbob wrote: |
| Jandar wrote: |
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the
atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
- Albert Einstein |
Bombs have gotten significantly more powerful since Einstein's day.
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=214
From the article:
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The giant fireball reached from ground-level to about 34,000 feet into the air, violently releasing 3800 times more explosive energy than the Hiroshima bomb� equivalent to fifty million metric tons of TNT. One hundred kilometers from ground zero the heat would have inflicted third degree burns. Atmospheric focusing produced areas of destruction hundreds of kilometers from ground zero, including wooden structures which were completely destroyed, and some shattered windows in Finland. The explosion's atmospheric shockwave traveled around the Earth three times before it dissipated.
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the device was deliberately prevented from operating to its full potential.
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I think he might have changed his mind had he lived a few more years. |
Maybe or maybe not. I think Einstein had a pretty good idea that nukes could be made to megaton plus yields.
Most of the long term deaths would be due to climate change from all the dust kicked up.
Southern hemisphere will be largely untouched by any nuclear exchange. The main question is whether the stratospheric dust will spread South in sufficient amounts to threaten harvests. Populations are relatively low, which helps food stocks last. |
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doc_ido

Joined: 03 Sep 2007
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:04 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe somewhere like the southern tip of South America? Although in an all-out nuclear exchange I doubt anywhere would be safe - from fallout, desperate refugees or climate change (disclaimer: most of my post-apocalyptic knowledge comes from reading On the Beach and The Chrysalids). |
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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Location: Jeolla province
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:38 am Post subject: |
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Well, Korea has a lot of mountains. Pick one and start digging. No one will notice.
Korea also has a lot of ships. When the missile start to fly, grab one and head for southern Chile.
I'm gonna hide in my secret mountain lair until the radiation settles, brainwash the mutated survivors and send them Zerg-style after any clusters of regular survivors. After y'all are gone, I will reshape the world in my own evil image! AHAHAhAhahAAhaha!  |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:56 am Post subject: |
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Get away from the destruction?
Hell, no!
I want a ringside seat. I want to be where the action is.
I don't think you appreciate the peril the world is in. War is the least of our problems, and won't change a thing.
We are all passengers on the SS Titanic Earth, and it is going down. It doesn't matter who the captain or first mate is. The orchestra should just keep on playing, we should all get a bottle of our finest Scotch, chip off some ice from the remains of the last glacier, and enjoy the tragi-comedy. Worrying about who the next vice president of the United States is, is like arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Frankly, I just might vote for McCain-Palin because it would be far more entertaining, and because they could be counted on the speed the inevitable, and put the end to the suffering of six or seven billion souls.
If you don't know what I am talking about, google 'frozen methane + global warming.'
As James Lovelock said, when asked if there is anything we can do to postpone this: Just enjoy the Earth while you can.
We are in the final act, and the curtain is getting ready to come down on our world. I don't plan on being around for Earth, The Sequel, given the sorts of people running the world today. It sometimes seems like no nation on this pathetic planet knows how to work together with other nations to solve our problems.
Blow it up?
Put the pup out of its misery, I say. |
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bacasper

Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
Get away from the destruction?
Hell, no!
I want a ringside seat. I want to be where the action is.
I don't think you appreciate the peril the world is in. War is the least of our problems, and won't change a thing.
We are all passengers on the SS Titanic Earth, and it is going down. It doesn't matter who the captain or first mate is. The orchestra should just keep on playing, we should all get a bottle of our finest Scotch, chip off some ice from the remains of the last glacier, and enjoy the tragi-comedy. Worrying about who the next vice president of the United States is, is like arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Frankly, I just might vote for McCain-Palin because it would be far more entertaining, and because they could be counted on the speed the inevitable, and put the end to the suffering of six or seven billion souls.
If you don't know what I am talking about, google 'frozen methane + global warming.'
As James Lovelock said, when asked if there is anything we can do to postpone this: Just enjoy the Earth while you can.
We are in the final act, and the curtain is getting ready to come down on our world. I don't plan on being around for Earth, The Sequel, given the sorts of people running the world today. It sometimes seems like no nation on this pathetic planet knows how to work together with other nations to solve our problems.
Blow it up?
Put the pup out of its misery, I say. |
While I'm afraid I mostly agree with you, I am just a bit less pessimistic.
I still think - okay, hope - that if we could get the right leadership - and this would have to occur on multiple fronts - we still may be able to avoid a total environmental catastrophe or keep it within recoverable bounds.
Unfortunately I'm losing a bit of hope with each passing day. |
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bacasper

Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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Rice Says Russia Has Taken a 'Dark Turn'
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 19, 2008; Page A14
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up U.S. criticism of Russia yesterday, saying its military action against neighboring Georgia last month failed to achieve Moscow's objectives and has put Russia on a path to "self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance."
In a speech, Rice said the United States and Europe must stand up to what she described as Russia's bullying behavior, and she railed against "anachronistic Russian displays of military power" in Latin America. She referred to the arrival of two Russian strategic bombers in Venezuela last week for training flights at the invitation of Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Ch�vez.
But Rice said the United States will not let differences with Russia's government "obstruct a deepening relationship between the American and Russian people" and will continue to "support all Russians who want a future of liberty."
The State Department billed Rice's speech as an important statement on relations with Russia, though with the Bush administration in its waning months, there was little new policy outlined in it. An expert on Soviet and Eastern European militaries, Rice nonetheless has been criticized for her handling of U.S. policy toward Russia over the past eight years. The speech seemed intended to leave behind the administration's assessment of U.S.-Russian relations -- and to serve as a warning to Moscow that the ball was now in its court.
Rice emphatically rejected the idea that the United States and Russia are engaged in a new Cold War. And she sought to explain how Russia has evolved since the 1990s by noting that after the fall of the Soviet Union, many Russians "experienced a sense of dishonor and dislocation that we in the West did not fully appreciate."
But "an acute sense of shame" over Russia's diminished status in the 1990s "does not excuse Russian behavior" today, Rice said.
more at link |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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Rice said the United States and Europe must stand up to what she described as Russia's bullying behavior, and she railed against "anachronistic Russian displays of military power" in Latin America. She referred to the arrival of two Russian strategic bombers in Venezuela last week for training flights at the invitation of Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Ch�vez.
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The US and Europe must stand up...? It's the woman's job to outline just how that will happen. Just calling Russia a bully is not the same as actually having a foreign policy. |
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bacasper

Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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Rice said the United States and Europe must stand up to what she described as Russia's bullying behavior, and she railed against "anachronistic Russian displays of military power" in Latin America. She referred to the arrival of two Russian strategic bombers in Venezuela last week for training flights at the invitation of Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Ch�vez.
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The US and Europe must stand up...? It's the woman's job to outline just how that will happen. Just calling Russia a bully is not the same as actually having a foreign policy. |
And furthermore, how does Russia responding to the attack on its peacekeeping troops (what actually happened in Georgia) constitute being a bully? She hasn't explained that, either. |
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spliff

Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| It's more likely than not that Russia attacked the peace keeping forces for a reason to attack Georgia. They would have sensed our interest in that region and were just showing their resolve. It was a smart move if so. Or the US told Georgia to do it in order to get a feeler on Russia 's response. Either way, we'll get the oil. |
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