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Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
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GreyHammer
10/10/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
WMDs are used solely as deterrants now a days the real killing comes from conventional weapons. besides, when terrorists can't even cobble together tech we've had since the 40s then i'm not worried about them using nano-weapons. shit the people who made our nuclear program were only a few decades away from riding fucking horses to work.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
I almost skipped the comments on this one b/c I thought "eh".

Glad I clicked (with my grizzled keyboard).
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Roklimber
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Quoting Scotty, "and if my grandmother had wheels, she would be a wagon."

Sure, in theory, nanotech nuclear devices powered by lasers are possible. And they will likely be made in practice as well, but not any time soon and not without a lot more research. We are not there yet, not by a long shot.

I hate when people blow things out of proportion.
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Ghede
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Scared? No. They just replaced the infamous planet-cracker with a safer variant.
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mordicai
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
NANOTECH: COULD IT MAKE JESUS SMALLER? STAY TUNED AT 11.

um, duh, nanotech can make tech smaller. Kinda QED.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

@mordicai: But could we weaponize this so-called "Tiny Jesus"? Let's get the boys in R&D on this, ASAP.
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Misinterpretation of Tiny Jesus could lead to a teensy crusade against the Minimoors.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

@The Curse of Millhaven: Sadly, I spent the last of the internets I had on a Kit-Kat bar from the vending machine, so IOU +1.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
10/09/09

@mordicai: It could bring new meaning to having Jesus inside of you.
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: A cookie covered in chocolate? Totally understandable.
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Demosthenes7898
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
With almost every advancement in technology comes an extremely ingenious way of abusing the fuck out of it.
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TemporalSword
10/09/09

@Demosthenes7898: Welcome to the human race.
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ManchuCandidate
10/09/09

@Demosthenes7898:
This is why we humans can't have nice things.
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cljohnston108
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
I once heard a rumor that they were working on a nuclear bomb the size of a grain of sand.

I haven't been to the beach in quite some time.
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crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment cljohnston108 was starred cljohnston108 was unstarred

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@cljohnston108: Like walking in a nuclear minefield.
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ManchuCandidate
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Note to Janes:
Maybe you should investigate how the concept of critical MASS and nukular weaponry go together before freaking out about something the Great Gazoo invented.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@ManchuCandidate: Nah, we can create energy out of nothing. We can violate the fundamental laws of physical whenever.

I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but I'm going for snark, here.
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ManchuCandidate
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein:
Only the Great Gazoo can, not us dum-dums.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@ManchuCandidate: Gazoo... or COOLIO?
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Demosthenes7898
10/09/09

@ManchuCandidate: This little exchange made my day, thank you both.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
...
On a positive note, if these weapons are the future tools of terrorism, the enemies should be a whole lot easier to spot. After all, they'll have to move their bases from the caves and mystrious warehouses they use now to volcanoes and glaciers and large undersea fortresses that sort of resemble Darth Vader's head. And that seriously cuts down on the locations we need to send our spies and elite military forces to scout.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Slap on a "COUNTY FAIR" sign and no one will pay any attention to it.
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ManchuCandidate
10/09/09

@AngryEddy:
Darth Stewie Gilliigan Griffin?
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Jane's 42620 b.c.e. also reported that fire could be used to burn the fingers of an entire enemy tribe, making them unable to wield spears.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@The Curse of Millhaven: Don't forget Archimedes and his happy fun time ship burning mirrors!
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Pssst... Can I interest you fine fellows in a slightly used De Vinci scythe chariot?
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Edited by AngryEddy at 10/09/09 10:32 AM AngryEddy was starred AngryEddy was unstarred

AngryEddy
10/09/09

...
@crashedpc - unrein: This would be that chariot.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Oh man, oh man, I've been looking for one of these!!!

Wait, DE Vinci? Is this a Chinese knockoff brand?
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Edited by crashedpc - Haifisch at 10/09/09 10:34 AM

AngryEddy
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: No, man - this is the real deal. It's...it's just a misprinted label, that's how I can get them on the cheap. "Tough economic times" and what not... Cash only, by the way.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Sure. I have a suitcase full of cash. Never mind that it's an OOACH brand suitcase. Don't bother rifling through the stacks of cash; they're all real bills. 100% real. The new 50 has blue and yellow ink, you know.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

...
@crashedpc - unrein: Hmmm. Seems legit to me. Deal!
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Any more of any of these conversations and my mind is going to explode. I'd hand you the intertubes but the Pope down there has it locked down for today.
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Edited by crashedpc - Haifisch at 10/09/09 10:55 AM

AngryEddy
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Agreed.
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ManchuCandidate
10/09/09

@AngryEddy:
We're gonna Spend and Buy all night and Save into the day!
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I Think We're Property
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Yeah, the conceptual micro-nukes they're talking about are fusion based. You've heard of the whole "triggering fusion by bombarding a fuel pellet with lasers" thing? Well, this would basically be a tiny laser and fuel pellet designed for one-time use. It would finally make good on the concept of a 'tactical nuke'. Imagine something like eventually getting to a shoulder-launched, 100mm warhead (think like a Stinger missile from the movies, or maybe even one of those LAW infantry rocket launchers) with an explosive power equal to about 200 pounds of TNT. Good for quickly leveling a building, popping a reinforced bunker, or decapitating a tank column, all in a convenient man-portable size. Heck, you might even be able to put multiple detonators in parallel within the device, allowing you to dial-a-yield, from 200 tons to a full kiloton. This idea has been getting kicked around for a while, and its kind of crazy buy also kind of cool (as much as any weapon that's ultimately for killing people can be, I suppose).

And yeah, you think that infantry is important now, what with all that urban warfare? Just wait until your tank battalion can be taken out by some punk hiding in the brush a hundred or two hundred yards away underneath an active camo tarp with a fusion bazooka.
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crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment Edited by I Think We're Property at 10/09/09 9:53 AM

kagekiri
10/09/09

@I Think We're Property: I see your point, but to some degree I don't know if that's where we're headed. If you can use a fusion weapon, you've got billions of dollars to spend, and if you have that and the willingness to level a city block to take out some tanks, why not just use conventional weaponry launched in a cruise missile or dropped from a bomber? What "punk" is going to have access to this kind of weapon?
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@kagekiri: The same kind of punks who can gain access to AKs and RPGs in a war torn country... via the black market.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Ah yes, the black market. Terrorism's eBay.
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I Think We're Property
10/09/09

@kagekiri: Well, by "punk", I was just talking from the perspective of a bitter tank commander. I just meant one or a small group of infantry boys.

And yes, you're right in that things like air superiority are already making conventional units (i.e, a column of tanks driving across open terrain) obsolete. But its also true that there are some times when heavy fire support (artillery, air strikes, offshore cruise missiles) are either not yet available (say, because you're Marine Recon and air superiority hasn't been established yet) or would simply take too long to get fire on target. That's why they made LAW rockets for infantry- to give them at least a fighting chance (if not a good one) against enemy armor while proper anti-armor forces can be applied, you know?

Also, while a 200 lbs TNT equivalent fusion device would likely kill a tank (especially if it made direct contact before detonating- the flash from the point source explosion would probably melt a hole in the armor), it probably wouldn't level a city block. Probably take out the buildings on either side of the street, though.
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TemporalSword
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Let's see, we have nanotechnology, superlasers, small thermonuclear explosion involving a deuterium-tritium mixture...

I think this is just a viral for Tom Clancy's next (awful) book.
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Edited by TemporalSword at 10/09/09 9:45 AM TemporalSword was starred TemporalSword was unstarred

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@TemporalSword: All of these things can be defeated by a grizzled ex-Navy SEAL with nothing to lose.
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Don't forget the attractive, busty brunette defense attorney who nurses him back to health and reignites his long dead passions. She's there too.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: The DA lady was pretty. Her hair was caramel, her legs were long...
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jajbowler
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: He's the best SEAL in the unit, but he's a loose cannon and doesn't play by the rules.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@jajbowler: "I'm too old for this shit."

"Dammit! It's too DANGEROUS!"
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Edited by crashedpc - Haifisch at 10/09/09 9:56 AM

Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: "Sgt. Rick Salami was grizzled and tough. He looked out at the world from under grizzled eyebrows, with eyes as tough as leather. His grizzled hands constantly clenched toughly, as if around the butt of a grizzled, tough gun. He slept toughly, dreaming of grizzled things."

EDIT: actually that's maybe my favourite thing I've ever written, ever.
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Edited by Pope John Peeps II at 10/09/09 9:57 AM Pope John Peeps II was starred

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: Slept toughly made me lol. And I don't lol often. *golf clap*
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TemporalSword
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: But then she has to die right afterwards, so he can be all broody and grizzled and tough.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@TemporalSword: She can't die until there are three pages dedicated to describing a completely gratuitous sex scene. A broody, grizzly, tough sex scene.
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@TemporalSword: Not necessarily. She's the lady who redeems him through sex after his original wife is murdered by Columbian ecoterrorists protesting pollution.
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: I nominate you for a Grizzly.
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NerD: Blattella
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: *wipes grizzled tear from his brooding eye*

I didn't cry there, my leathery eyes cracked a little and bled.
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jajbowler
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: I hope that, despite showing him it is OK to love again, he still knows there is a time for love and a time for vengeance.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: That must be from the BIO-MICRONUKE ATTACK that al-Qaeda is using on our elementary schools!!!
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Grey_Area
10/09/09

@The Curse of Millhaven: .
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Grey_Area: PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

It must be Friday, there's no other explanation for the mindfuck insanity that's happening right now. Well, other than the fact that we're batshit crazy.
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Edited by crashedpc - Haifisch at 10/09/09 10:32 AM

AngryEddy
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Can we get Shinobi Ratchet cast in this movie? I heard he passed on Predators.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@AngryEddy: Yeah. Him and Katana Nukestrike.
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NerD: Blattella
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
So you could create a multi molecule size nucler explosive that would have the explosive capacity of a what? Grenade? Oklahoma-City sized explosive? Hiroshima?

I need better parameters before I start building my shack in Montana.
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TemporalSword
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: No shack. Bunker. Always go with a bunker.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@TemporalSword: Hey! Bunkers are for Pleasure, not for Evil. Lairs are for Evil.
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: Just a funky old shack in the middle of the woods.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: Is it, I dunno, full of love?
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: That's what the ATF think.... then KABOOM.
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NerD: Blattella
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: I will add a couple of coats of polyurethane to my roof so that it will, in fact, not be rusted.
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: "All units, all units. Be on the lookout for suspects. Suspect vehicle is a Chrysler. Witnesses describe it as "as big as a whale". "
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NerD: Blattella
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: "Also be aware of the suspects copious use of glitter, which can be seen from the highway."
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: This comments page wins everything, forever.

Running, football, arson, art and irony.
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: "Ma'am, the lab report on the glitter is here. The glitter on the highway is definitely the same as the glitter on the mattress."
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: And we almost stayed on topic this time!
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Pope John Peeps II
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: "Sgt. Rick Salami sat in the red light of the helicopter passenger hold tense and ready to spring, as grizzled old and tough as a grizzled, tough old bedspring. He looked toughly around at his troops with a grizzled gaze- all good men, but young; so young. They were as tough as he could make them in their grizzled eight week training camp, and each was drawn from an elite branch of the Armed Forces. But they lacked what Sgt. Rick Salami had gained through years of experience: grizzliness, and toughness.
- Sir, we're almost at target area. The shack is in sight.
- Alright troops, now we know that Rodriguez is inside the shack. The Chrysler was seen entering the compound at precisely 12:45. It's time to go.
The troops looked up at him with young granite eyes. He stared back with eyes as grizzled and tough as old granite. Their eyes met like young granite and old granite rubbing together toughly, in grizzled fashion.
- Sir, recon confirms the glitter here is the same as that on the highway. And advanced teams have reported that efforts to elicit a response from inside the shack have so far failed.
- Okay then. It's time to....
Sgt. Salami cocked his gun with grizzled, tough hands like leathery granite. The metal on metal report echoed through the cargo hold.
- Knock a little louder, sugar.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: I give up, there's no way to top any of this. I'm an engineer, not an imagineer, damnit!
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NerD: Blattella
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II: Just when I think we couldn't milk any more from this thread, you win it completely.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@NerD: Blattella: Hey, keep your cow puns back in the UFO bovine-napping thread!
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I Think We're Property
10/09/09

@Pope John Peeps II:

His stoic nature was like a suit of armor, only he did not take this armor off at the end of the day, like some French or British knight of old. Its grizzled protection was inherent to his rugged nature- it grew from his calloused and grizzled skin, as permanent and irremovable as the armored carapace of a lobster. Only unlike a lobster, his rough hide had the strength of granite, to match the grizzled stone of his heart. He was granite, he was stone, he was a rock.

He was... a rock lobster.
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crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@I Think We're Property: And he was delicious.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

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@I Think We're Property: Indeed
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Grey_Area
10/09/09

@I Think We're Property: Off topic, but what happened to that probe NASA sent to the Moon in the sky?
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@Grey_Area: The one called The Moon? It roamed around the world.
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Edited by The Curse of Millhaven at 10/09/09 11:14 AM

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Grey_Area: A lil' foof and some shaky cam footage. Wasn't as dramatic as expected. I mean, I don't see chunks of cheese falling on our roofs.
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AngryEddy
10/09/09

@Grey_Area: The probe struck the moon's surface with a mighty force, which cracked open its crust and set forth a flood of giant, angry Lunar Ants.

But stay on topic, dammit!
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The Curse of Millhaven
10/09/09

@Grey_Area: Looks like we went a lil' deep into the B-52s catalogue.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

In reply to Nanotech Could Make Nuclear Weapons Much, Much Tinier
Nano? Like... well, say, could a covert agent sneak this into another country in his, well, say, bodily fluids?
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Dr Emilio Lizardo
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Easier than riding a bomb. Especially since I don't even own a cowboy hat.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@Dr Emilio Lizardo: YEEEEE-HAW! YEEEEEEEEE-HAW!!!!!
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CoyoteBrown
10/09/09

@crashedpc - unrein: only via cat people sex.
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I Think We're Property
10/09/09

@CoyoteBrown: They made love, and the Earth moved. No, literally.
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NerD: Blattella promoted this comment

crashedpc - Haifisch
10/09/09

@CoyoteBrown: "We're being attacked by nano-nuclear devices designed to wipe out our beautiful Ferngully-esque jungles!"

"Oh no! Let's have last minute cat people sex."
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