This is so interesting. I've always noticed the iconic double flashing in nuclear detonations but I never knew why it happened.
> Software developed by LLNL computer scientist Jason Bender scans each frame of the films to automate the measurement process. Bender’s software notes the timestamp of both pulses of light, as well as the darkest frame between them. With this data, Spriggs can calculate the test’s yield.
Sounds like a fun project, writing algorithms to parse 50yr old classified films of nuclear detonations.
I realize perhaps the intention of uploading to YouTube was more to advertise this project, rather than actually archiving it.
Distribution should be done via a website with links to files, e.g. ESO's gigapixel mosaic of the central parts of the Milky Way, a full size of 24.6 GiB [1]
I used to work for a company that had a 16-bit film recorder that did this. The recorder was very finicky to environmental conditions especially related to humidity.
It's a pretty good deterrent in case Russia gets a bit too cocky in Europe.
The US has lost and continues to lose huge amounts of credibility over the last two years. The damage is bad enough that even if we fix the current problem, any reasonable person will assume that we'll just repeat a similar wave of stupidity at some later election.
Combine that with the fact that Russia is actively trying to cleave Eastern Europe from Central Europe, and you really can't propose unilateral disarmament without also suggesting Europe pledge fealty to Putin.
Disarmament requires stability. We (the US) shat a giant orange turd onto that idea.
And not only is disarmament not happening, as non-proliferation policy continues to crumble, nuclear armament will more and more move to smaller states who need a credible threat of "Well, then we'll take you with us" to larger regional forces. After Iran gets there, the next Domino in that region is likely Turkey.
This is a much bolder claim than I think people outside of the NBC world would realize and seems to have insider knowledge. Especially given the UK and France are nuclear powers.
Can you provide any Open Source documentation of this attitude being the trend? I'm not disagreeing I'm just curious.
> Disarmament requires stability. We (the US) shat a giant orange turd onto that idea.
One could reasonably argue this goes back to the Ukranian conflict. The previous administration hardly bolstered the notion that the US would hold up to promises and supposed red lines.
MAD has kept the peace better than anything so far. It may be uncomfortable for a variety of reasons but the fact of the matter is that nuclear powers don't get in shooting wars with each other and nobody picks a fight with a nuclear power no matter how small.
I'd heard that during the war the US exaggerated the power of nuclear weapons but this is the first time I've seen evidence to substantiate the claim. Was the data high or low? I perused the article twice and couldn't find clarification.
What?
> What?
The projector uses a hot lightbulb to display the frame in the film onto a wall or screen. The film sits just in front of this bulb, and of course the heat can risk damaging or melting the plastic film if the film is not quickly accelerated past the bulb (as is the case for watching a video - a sequence of frames).
Keeping one frame visible on a wall is to measure the visible size of the fireball, but doing so means one frame stays in front of the bulb long enough to risk it melting.
http://www.atomcentral.com/atomic-smoke-trails.aspx http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/SmokeTrails.html
