Yahoo.com: US says it has 5,113 nuclear warheads

[Skin'Em84]

Nuke the whales.

RETALIATION!

[mjah]

Are nukes effective at staunching underwater oil geysers?

Of course, then we'd only have 5,112 warheads left. And that would put us at undue risk of attack.

[greenspandan]

LOL. Double the salaries of teachers? Do you know how much they make already for the level of worked required of them?? The quality of education the children of public education receive isn't worth what the "teachers" are already getting let alone doubling it. Pass on that feel good altruism. We have principals of elementary & middle schoolers here in Jacksonville, FL making 100K in salary plus benefits working 182 days of the year. The assistant principals make 75% of that. The teachers are compensated well enough for WHAT THEY DO. Whcih IMO isn't nearly enough.

haha you hate public schools.

of course, in the corporate realm, you'll no doubt argue that higher wages (for executives) ensures higher quality applicants.

anyway, the point of my post was that we could have built half that number of nukes, STILL blown up the world a bunch of times if we really wanted to, and had enough left over for some incredible improvements to our national infrastructure.

[Larry]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

Seems like you could have not bought a candy bar and instead given a new house to every person in the country.

What, you mean a candy bar won't pay for that? Who cares?

[greenspandan]

Seems like you could have not bought a candy bar and instead given a new house to every person in the country.

What, you mean a candy bar won't pay for that? Who cares?

well, assuming a single nuke costs the federal government 75 cents i guess you've got a good point!

[Obibyn23]

LOL. Double the salaries of teachers? Do you know how much they make already for the level of worked required of them?? The quality of education the children of public education receive isn't worth what the "teachers" are already getting let alone doubling it. Pass on that feel good altruism. We have principals of elementary & middle schoolers here in Jacksonville, FL making 100K in salary plus benefits working 182 days of the year. The assistant principals make 75% of that. The teachers are compensated well enough for WHAT THEY DO. Whcih IMO isn't nearly enough.

I work at a high school. What a complete joke how much the teachers make to do almost next to nothing for a half year. I also come to find out you can never ask a teacher to do anymore than 'they already do' however much that is. I'm an IT guy at the school, now that EVERYTHING they do including grading is on a computer, there life cannot be any easier. Give the IT guys double salary for making everyone elses job much more productive and easier with new software/hardware.

What a complete joke these two posts are. Teachers make enough? Life is easy for them....try being engaged to a teacher...and then spew this crap to me. My fiance work 18 hour days sometimes...the amount of time that goes into planning trickles into time away from school...if anything it sounds like the teachers you know don't really care or put forth the effort needed. 18 hour days is only worth 35,000-40,000 salary? I bet it's safe to say there jobs are far more important then yours...and I am also willing to bet you guys make way more then you deserve in your jobs....why can I say this? Well why not...you two just did.

Give me a break...love when people give opinions on something they have NO clue about. Keep up the moronic...makes things interesting around here.

That said, your idea that teachers are overpaid for what they do is a joke.

.....

Amen

[twa]

Are nukes effective at staunching underwater oil geysers?

Not to sidetrack,but it is a shame we have so little deepwater capabilities,or even knowledge of much of our own planet.

Who knew?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100426-asphalt-volcanoes-domes-california-underwater/

Underwater asphalt mounds like those discovered off Santa Barbara are known elsewhere around the world, but they are relatively rare, Tom Lorenson, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

Some, like ones recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico, are even active. "I think there are [also] some in the Caspian Sea, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and perhaps the Persian Gulf," Lorenson said.

Lorenson isn't convinced that the age estimates for the Santa Barbara mounds are correct, because their surfaces are relatively bare. The surfaces of other known mounds are heavily colonized by marine life, which suggests that the newfound domes are younger than thought.

[Titaw]

That they know of, or are reported. For all we know China has 3000 Nukes.

China's nuclear program is the second largest in the world but their numbers are very, very low in comparrison to the US's arsenal.

How is that possible?

I've seen nothing to indicate Russia has less....

*Breaks out his calculator*

When the former Soviet Union broke up a great portion of the nukes were turned over to the US and or destroyed.

[aREDSKIN]

I agree that many administrators are overpaid- and I think school systems as a rule are top-heavy. IMO one of the biggest problems with schools.

That said, your idea that teachers are overpaid for what they do is a joke.

.....

And your reason why is............???

[Larry]

well, assuming a single nuke costs the federal government 75 cents i guess you've got a good point!

Or assuming that 75 cents is enough to double the pay of every teacher in the country.

[Skins24]

When the former Soviet Union broke up a great portion of the nukes were turned over to the US and or destroyed.

Link??

(genuinely curious to where in you're getting your info from)

Some of their nukes may be scattered in countries that are now independent, but I haven't heard of any coming to the U.S.

Also, they didn't destroy them all. They still have at least a couple thousand more than the U.S.

Numbers are likely lower now, but in 2007:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1553598/Russias-nuclear-capabilities.html

Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with an estimated total of 16,000 warheads, of which 7,200 are believed to be operational.

[Johnny Punani]

Not as much as we could have in 1989

The Pentagon said the stockpile of 5,113 as of September 2009 represents a 75 percent reduction since 1989.

A bump to ponder...

in 1989 the US had over 20,000 nuclear warheads

[kubstix]

What a complete joke these two posts are. Teachers make enough? Life is easy for them....try being engaged to a teacher...and then spew this crap to me. My fiance work 18 hour days sometimes...the amount of time that goes into planning trickles into time away from school...if anything it sounds like the teachers you know don't really care or put forth the effort needed. 18 hour days is only worth 35,000-40,000 salary? I bet it's safe to say there jobs are far more important then yours...and I am also willing to bet you guys make way more then you deserve in your jobs....why can I say this? Well why not...you two just did.

Give me a break...love when people give opinions on something they have NO clue about. Keep up the moronic...makes things interesting around here.

Amen

OK hahah. I guess I kinda hit someones week spot. For your information, I'm an administrator and work year around in the educational process, what do you do sir? I know how it works, and I know you teachers are nothing but babies. The amount of software/hardware/technology we have given to our teachers in the past 3 years cannot make there lives anymore easy than it already is. Your wife either has the crappiest time management skills i've ever heard of, or the technology within the school is straight garbage. Being an administrator, I am not overpaid nor underpaid. Our teachers are paid better than some of our administrators here including myself. Oh and, we have 2 people running the entire technology department here for over 600 computers. I bet my life my job is safer than any teacher we have in this building as well. If you don't know the administration portion of the school system, don't comment on it like you know what your talking about and calling people moronic. You know nothing about the back end of it and neither does your wife. If your wife is spending 18+ hours on lesson planning, grading, ect, then allow her to take a time management class or push for better technology at the district. Our teachers are in the door according to the time on there contract, and out the door the time on there contract states. Some teachers do put for the extra effort, but no more than even 10 hours a day.

[Hubbs]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

One or two nukes for that? I think you've been given some bad information about how much a nuke costs.

[mcsluggo]

nothing constructive to add here.

[Titaw]

Link??

(genuinely curious to where in you're getting your info from)

Some of their nukes may be scattered in countries that are now independent, but I haven't heard of any coming to the U.S.

Also, they didn't destroy them all. They still have at least a couple thousand more than the U.S.

Numbers are likely lower now, but in 2007:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1553598/Russias-nuclear-capabilities.html

^Great info.

I must now leave this thread as I will more than likely get myself in trouble.

[grhqofb5]

So, has anyone actually calculated the number of nuclear warheads it would take to "blow up the whole world?" I'm talking about the average yield weapon (for example, how many earths could 5113 warheads blow up?). Don't give me any of this "it depends on how big the bomb is" question avoidance stuff.

We'll assume the most efficient scenario, that they are spread evenly over the total land mass of our planet. You have to get Antartica as well, and the mountains. Oceans don't count. By "blow up," I mean to the point that people could no longer inhabit the land for at least 50 years.

Anyone want to venture a guess?

[Titaw]

So, has anyone actually calculated the number of nuclear warheads it would take to "blow up the whole world?" I'm talking about the average yield weapon (for example, how many earths could 5113 warheads blow up?). Don't give me any of this "it depends on how big the bomb is" question avoidance stuff.

We'll assume the most efficient scenario, that they are spread evenly over the total land mass of our planet. You have to get Antartica as well, and the mountains. Oceans don't count. By "blow up," I mean to the point that people could no longer inhabit the land for at least 50 years.

Anyone want to venture a guess?

27.843

based on modern technology and advanced calculations

and pulling it outta my ass

[Old Bay]

Nuke the whales.

Gotta nuke somethin'.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

27.843

based on modern technology and advanced calculations

and pulling it outta my ass

Whatever man...

28.446

You messed something up with that calculation!

[Predicto]

When we were promised government transparency, this isn't quite what I expected.

Is there a problem with revealing this information? I can't think of a single drawback.

[JimboDaMan]

So, has anyone actually calculated the number of nuclear warheads it would take to "blow up the whole world?" I'm talking about the average yield weapon (for example, how many earths could 5113 warheads blow up?). Don't give me any of this "it depends on how big the bomb is" question avoidance stuff.

We'll assume the most efficient scenario, that they are spread evenly over the total land mass of our planet. You have to get Antartica as well, and the mountains. Oceans don't count. By "blow up," I mean to the point that people could no longer inhabit the land for at least 50 years.

Anyone want to venture a guess?

A guy on Free Republic multiplied 5000 times the deaths from Hiroshima and figured that of the 1.2 billion Chines a few hundred million would survive. Therefore he concluded Obama had divulged vital military information to the Chinese that they could withstand a all-out war with the US. :doh:

[Larry]

nothing constructive to add here.

That's not stopping anybody else.

[Predicto]

A guy on Free Republic multiplied 5000 times the deaths from Hiroshima and figured that of the 1.2 billion Chines a few hundred million would survive. Therefore he concluded Obama had divulged vital military information to the Chinese that they could withstand a all-out war with the US. :doh:

hahahaha oh lord hahahhaa

(even if that were accurate) We are only going to kill almost all of you and destroy every bit of infrastructure in your land and leave the whole thing a radioactive wasteland.

Clearly Obama has given up our nuclear deterrent. :laugh:

[Larry]

Is there a problem with revealing this information? I can't think of a single drawback.

Actually, I seem to recall that every arms control treaty we've ever signed with the Russians, supposedly required us to reveal to them the exact number of warheads we possess, and their exact locations.

(And they did the same thing to us.)

It's done that way so that each side can verify the other's compliance with the treaty. If the treaty says Russia can have 5,000 warheads, and they tell us "here's where all 5,000 of them are", and then we find one nuke that isn't on the list, then we've caught them breaking the treaty.

(Otherwise, the only way we could catch them cheating was for us to get simultaneous pictures of 5,001 warheads.)