4 ms·

Being fairly ignorant of this stuff, your comment made me check the location of bikini atoll. I had just assumed it was reasonably close to the USA but it might

by tomxor 5y ago

Being fairly ignorant of this stuff, your comment made me check the location of bikini atoll. I had just assumed it was reasonably close to the USA but it might as well be south east asia's back yard compared to the distance across the pacific to the US. History and international nuclear testing rules aside, imagine the reaction from nations like China, Japan or Australia today if the US set off a 15 megaton thermonuclear reaction that close to them! 1954 was a different world.

thefounder 5y ago
>> if the US set off a 15 megaton thermonuclear reaction over there right now! 1954 was a different world. Ok..how different? What would Australia do?
- corty 5y ago
  Look stupid. The British tested their smaller nukes in the Australian desert, Maralinga.
- caf 5y ago
  The first political action I ever participated in was a country-wide walkout of high school students protesting Chirac's France resuming testing weapons in the Pacific. It was a pretty big deal at the time - boycotts etc.
lumost 5y ago
The US detonated a bomb in space over Honolulu. The timing was broadcast and tourists/locals gathered to watch the blast like a fireworks show. It was a very different time.
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/atomic-tourism-nevada/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/atomic-... >The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce issued a calendar for tourists, listing the scheduled times of the bomb detonations and the best places to view them. The Sky Room at the Desert Inn, offering a panoramic view of the Nevada horizon, was a favorite watch spot of tourists, as was nearby Mount Charleston. Many tourists packed "atomic box lunches" and had picnics as close to ground zero as the government restrictions would allow. On the eve of detonations, many Las Vegas businesses held "Dawn Bomb Parties." Beginning at midnight, guests would drink and sing until the flash of the bomb lit up the night sky. >For twelve years, an average of one bomb every three weeks was detonated, at a total of 235 bombs. Flashes from the explosions were so powerful that they could reportedly be seen from as far away as Montana. Not going to, I would've gone to see it.
- anonAndOn 5y ago
  A former professor of mine once brought out some Trinity glass he had collected from the desert floor a couple of weeks after the Trinity blast in New Mexico. 50 years later, that little piece of glass sent the Geiger Counter off the scale.
- tomxor 5y ago
  I'm not saying that wasn't also pretty crazy, but there is a huge difference in size and danger. "Starfish Prime" was detonated 250 miles into space where there is no atmospheric fallout, and it was a mere 1.4 megatons... Castle Bravo was detonated at sea level and was 15 megatons! It was completely insane. We are lucky they didn't accidentally make it even larger (they intended for it to be much smaller).
dredmorbius 5y ago
Successive territorial claims to the Marshall Islands were made by Spain (first landing, 1526, formal claim, 1874), Germany (1885), Japan (~1911), and the US (1944), the latter two during World Wars Sr. & Jr., respectively. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#History Unlike many of its Pacific island posessions, the Marshalls were not aquired under the Guano Islands Act (which I'd suspected when seeing the above comment): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act

by tomxor 5y ago

thefounder 5y ago

>> if the US set off a 15 megaton thermonuclear reaction over there right now! 1954 was a different world. Ok..how different? What would Australia do?

corty 5y ago
Look stupid. The British tested their smaller nukes in the Australian desert, Maralinga.
caf 5y ago
The first political action I ever participated in was a country-wide walkout of high school students protesting Chirac's France resuming testing weapons in the Pacific. It was a pretty big deal at the time - boycotts etc.

lumost 5y ago

The US detonated a bomb in space over Honolulu. The timing was broadcast and tourists/locals gathered to watch the blast like a fireworks show. It was a very different time.

monkeybutton 5y ago
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/atomic-tourism-nevada/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/atomic-... >The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce issued a calendar for tourists, listing the scheduled times of the bomb detonations and the best places to view them. The Sky Room at the Desert Inn, offering a panoramic view of the Nevada horizon, was a favorite watch spot of tourists, as was nearby Mount Charleston. Many tourists packed "atomic box lunches" and had picnics as close to ground zero as the government restrictions would allow. On the eve of detonations, many Las Vegas businesses held "Dawn Bomb Parties." Beginning at midnight, guests would drink and sing until the flash of the bomb lit up the night sky. >For twelve years, an average of one bomb every three weeks was detonated, at a total of 235 bombs. Flashes from the explosions were so powerful that they could reportedly be seen from as far away as Montana. Not going to, I would've gone to see it.
anonAndOn 5y ago
A former professor of mine once brought out some Trinity glass he had collected from the desert floor a couple of weeks after the Trinity blast in New Mexico. 50 years later, that little piece of glass sent the Geiger Counter off the scale.
tomxor 5y ago
I'm not saying that wasn't also pretty crazy, but there is a huge difference in size and danger. "Starfish Prime" was detonated 250 miles into space where there is no atmospheric fallout, and it was a mere 1.4 megatons... Castle Bravo was detonated at sea level and was 15 megatons! It was completely insane. We are lucky they didn't accidentally make it even larger (they intended for it to be much smaller).

dredmorbius 5y ago

Successive territorial claims to the Marshall Islands were made by Spain (first landing, 1526, formal claim, 1874), Germany (1885), Japan (~1911), and the US (1944), the latter two during World Wars Sr. & Jr., respectively. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#History Unlike many of its Pacific island posessions, the Marshalls were not aquired under the Guano Islands Act (which I'd suspected when seeing the above comment): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act