North Korea's latest missile launch appears to put Washington, D.C., in range (archive)
North Korea appears to have launched another intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said Tuesday, with experts calculating that Washington, D.C., is now technically within Kim Jong Un's reach.
[...] The missile launched early Wednesday local time traveled some 620 miles and reached a height of about 2,800 miles before landing off the coast of Japan, flying for a total of 54 minutes. This suggested it had been fired almost straight up — on a "lofted trajectory" similar to North Korea's two previous intercontinental ballistic missile tests. [...] If it had flown on a standard trajectory designed to maximize its reach, this missile would have a range of more than 8,100 miles, said David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. [...] The U.S. capital is 6,850 miles from Pyongyang.
Although it may be cold comfort, it is still unlikely that North Korea is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland. Scientists do not know the weight of the payload the missile carried, but given the increase in range, it seems likely that it carried a very light mock warhead, Wright said. "If true, that means it would not be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to this long distance, since such a warhead would be much heavier," he said in a blog post.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:21AM (5 children)
pump a mixture of tritium and deuterium into the middle of the plutonium pit of an implosion device.
Not to add power due to fusion, but to supply lots of tasty neutrons to get that cascade going NK-nuking good.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 29 2017, @08:25AM (4 children)
That scares nobody. The Americans can do it, the Russkies can do it. So can the French, Brits, Kikes, Chinks, and even at one time the South Africans.
All the Norks have is A.Q. Khan and the crosshairs pointed at their foreheads. Pakistan also has the crosshairs pointed at their foreheads. Let's hope that either of them try something funny. All of the above except the Norks and the Pakis are worth something to society.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @04:24PM (3 children)
If you are going to use slurs, then slur everybody in that list. What's the USA slur? Yankees? Rednecks? Cowboys? And the french? "Flauffers"?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @05:20PM
"Deplorables." That always gets them riled up.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday November 29 2017, @06:32PM
And I'm proud
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 29 2017, @10:43PM
"Frog" is the go-to for French slurs. Like many slurs with old origins, nobody knows exactly where it came from. Some people say it's because they eat frogs, others because one of the French flags had a frog on it. I think it's because they they sound and smell like frogs. So, frogs, is the default slur for the French.
Although I am partial to the eleborate "cheese-eating surrender-monkeys" coined by Homer Simpson.