Ghost of a flea: Show somebody Kuzka's mother

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September 20, 2006

Show somebody Kuzka's mother

Partly in compensation for innacurate targeting and delivery systems of the day and partly as a propaganda exercise, the Soviet Union detonated an atomic device four times the size* of anything ever set off by the United States. This short clip is perhaps most impressive for demonstrating the scale of the fire ball. The short film Tsar Bomba: The King of Bombs** is longer and offers more detail. Plus, Wagner. Stunning.

The Tsar Bomba, called 'Big Ivan' by its makers, was the largest nuclear bomb ever built. It was detonated by the Soviet Union over the Arctic island called Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961. Tsar exploded with a force equivalent to 50 megatons of TNT, 4000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

I suppose I should confess I had no idea we could actually destroy the world with these things.

*Size: It's a Russian thing.
**On a vaguely related note: I am after a Tsar Tank for my commuting and crime-fighting needs.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at September 20, 2006 06:37 AM

Comments

1) As I was unfortunately moved to Kansas at the age of 1 from Minnesota and 2) have had the excruciating displeasure of driving through Western Kansas on my way to Colorado hundreds of times and 3) often thought Western Kansas would be a good place to test nuclear weapons -- I sort of look forward to CBS's Jericho, although the premise seems a bit unrealistic (and that is probably a huge understatement.)

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/upfront_2006/jericho.shtml

Posted by: Joshua H. at September 20, 2006 02:38 PM