https://www.dw.com/en/wwii-bomb-self-detonates-in-german-field-leaves-crater/a-49331435
Impressive picture too.
A loud explosion in a field startled residents in the town of Limburg in western Germany on Sunday. The blast occurred in the middle of the night and was large enough to register a minor tremor of 1.7 on the Richter scale, according to local media.
[...]Prior to the news release, residents were puzzled and confused by the crater, with some online speculating that it had been caused by a meteorite.
But Rüdiger Jehn, of the European Space Agency, told German newspaper Frankfurter Neue Presse that this was false. "A great deal of heat is released during an asteroid impact," the ESA expert said, adding that no evidence of heat or melting could be seen from the crater footage.
[...]The real culprit was an aerial bomb, which was buried at a depth of at least 4 meters, weighed 250 kilograms (550 pounds) and had a chemical detonator, investigators said. Authorities confirmed that the bomb had exploded by itself, without any external trigger.
[...]Two unexploded bombs were discovered on Monday in the central German town of Giessen, prompting the temporary evacuation of some 2,500 people. Earlier this month, an unexploded device was defused in a busy area of central Berlin.
[...]Between 1940 and 1945, some 2.7 million tons of bombs were dropped on Europe by US and British forces and half of them landed in Germany. Half of those that were dropped on Germany landed in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country's most populous state today.
Of the roughly quarter million bombs that did not explode, thousands are still hidden underground all over Germany.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @03:00PM (19 children)
But it is right in the title.
Shouldn't that read "Richter scale" not "Righter scale"?
It does say "Ricter scale" in TFS.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @03:02PM (14 children)
And I spelled it wrong the second time in my comment. Never mind. It's clearly to difficult to get right. Sigh.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @03:23PM (9 children)
So just because something is hard to do right we shouldn't bother? Rickter scale.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @03:34PM (8 children)
http://www.rickterscale.com/ [rickterscale.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @03:50PM (7 children)
It's the rickroll scale. On a scale of 1 to 10 it's never gonna give you up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @04:08PM (6 children)
But is it ever gonna let me down?
Or run around and desert me?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 28 2019, @04:29PM (5 children)
Linux is a many splendored thing.
Linux lifts us up where we belong.
All you need is Linux.
Some people need assistants to hire some assistance.
Other people need assistance to hire some assistants.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @05:03PM (4 children)
My Wild Linux [youtube.com]
Good Linux [youtube.com]
That reminds me of something amusing.
Back in the early 1990s, I attended USENIX [wikipedia.org] in San Francisco.
Data General sponsored a Beach Boys [wikipedia.org] concert one of the nights. My sister in-law (she and my brother lived in SF back then) was a huge fan, so I got a couple extra tickets and we went to the show.
The opening act was The Talking Propellerheads [wikipedia.org] who did parodies of well known songs with IT related lyrics. It was quite amusing for me, but my sister in-law was *really* confused.
Once the Beach Boys came on and played a set, she was happy. She even got to meet and talk to Brian Wilson, as the concert was so thinly attended (maybe 100 people showed up). That made her night. Possibly her whole week.
That was a fun night. Thanks for reminding me of it.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:02AM (3 children)
Talking to the washed-up Brian Wilson must be like talking to Syd Barrett, a bunch of random gibberish caused by decades of dropping acid. But it's probably every nerd's fantasy to be hand-picked from the crowd of other nerds to get up on stage with the Beach Boys and play the Theramin during Good Vibrations.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:22AM (2 children)
As I said, the concert was thinly attended. A venue that could hold maybe 1500 people had about 100.
So there was no picking and choosing. My sister in-law just walked up after they did their set and said hello.
They had a 5 minute conversation and she was thrilled.
I'm not big on the Beach Boys myself, nor were most conference attendees, given the low turnout. If it was just me, I never would have gone. But I knew she loved them so we went.
I didn't speak to any of those folks, so I have no idea as to how much, if any, gibberish was being spouted.
I guess it's a good thing you didn't go, as it sounds like you wouldn't have enjoyed it.
It's Friday night, so I imagine you're half in the bag by now. Is there anything else you want to spout off about?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 29 2019, @05:29AM (1 child)
Your momma's givin' me good vibrations, she's bringing me excitations,
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday June 29 2019, @06:31AM
Did you just dig up her 45 year-old ashes and shake the urn, or did you get down and dirty with them?
I knew you were a deviant, but I had no idea. Good show!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @08:49PM (3 children)
It's clearly
totoo difficult to get [it] right.Which is why people should allow some latitude and be kinder. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @03:00AM (2 children)
AC you replied to here. Yep. I misspelled 'too'. However, including the second pronoun ('it') is absolutely unnecessary, as the first one is what's being modified.
As the immortal bard put it, "Brevity is the soul of wit."
As to latitude and kindness, my post wasn't intended to knock, shame or humiliate anyone. There was (and still is) a typo in the title of the story. I merely pointed it out so it could be corrected. Nothing malicious or "gotcha" about it.
In that vein, for the sake of kindness and giving folks some latitude, should we just ignore the software flaws in the Boeing 737Max? I mean, that's just really mean to the poor developers who are just trying to do their jobs.
If something is worth doing, it's worth doing properly. And that's not a negative reflection on *anyone*. We all make mistakes, just as I did. Getting things right doesn't diminish anyone, it improves *all* of us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @05:27PM (1 child)
Getting things right doesn't diminish anyone, it improves *all* of us.
true, but language is fictional not fundamental ... so who cares ^_^
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:16PM
There. FTFY.
(Score: 1) by Ingar on Friday June 28 2019, @05:07PM (3 children)
The Richter scale is obsolete, the earthquake was registered as a magnitude-1.7 tremor, which is NOT the Richter scale.
Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
(Score: 3, Touché) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @05:11PM
My mistake then. I guess it was the "Righter Scale" after all.
Silly me.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Redundant) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @05:28PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale#Richter_magnitudes [wikipedia.org]
Sure. The measurement was 1.7Mw. Despite the fact that MMS is now used, for tremors less than magnitude 8, MMS and Richter values are approximately the same.
From a nomenclature standpoint, you're absolutely correct. From a practical standpoint, it really makes no difference.
If it's really bugging you, I suggest you take it up with the folks over at Deutsche Welle News. I don't really care.
N.B.: I didn't write the article, nor did I submit or edit it. All I did was point out a typo in the title.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Friday June 28 2019, @05:28PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale#Richter_magnitudes [wikipedia.org]
Sure. The measurement was 1.7Mw. Despite the fact that MMS is now used, for tremors less than magnitude 8, MMS and Richter values are approximately the same.
From a nomenclature standpoint, you're absolutely correct. From a practical standpoint, it really makes no difference.
If it's really bugging you, I suggest you take it up with the folks over at Deutsche Welle News. I don't really care.
N.B.: I didn't write the article, nor did I submit or edit it. All I did was point out a typo in the title.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @04:15PM (6 children)
To modern Germans, we wish to apologize. To WW2 Germans, not at all. After some thought, I think I've found an apology that works for both eras:
"I'm sorry we didn't build better bombs."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @05:58PM (2 children)
to ww2 germans: sorry, the jews made us do it.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @06:51PM (1 child)
The common Jewish, the ones normalized in German society, likely did not. Pushing the Jewish diaspora to run in fear to Jerusalem was part of the Zionist plan all along.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:06AM
Well, that plan backfired, because Jews fled all right -- now California and New York are greater Israel. Now it's impossible to watch TV commercials without every actor having both nostrils and nosetip both angled downward at 35 degrees.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:07AM (1 child)
I think I've found an apology that works for both eras: too bad we weren't on Germany's side back then.
(Score: 1) by ChrisMaple on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:25AM
Where's the "not funny" moderation?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @09:41AM
after importing a new additional denizens Germany now continues to be paying the price so much so that soon perhaps none will be left
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 28 2019, @04:27PM (7 children)
A quarter million unexploded? (Presumably the vast majority of these already discovered and disarmed, because . . . )
Thousands still hidden underground all over Germany. Just waiting to explode one day.
I would imagine that some effort has been made to try to find these during ensuing decades.
Some people need assistants to hire some assistance.
Other people need assistance to hire some assistants.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Friday June 28 2019, @06:14PM (5 children)
I wouldn't expect most of them to still be functional after 75 years. The explosives maybe, but don't 40s-era detonators stop working with age?
(insert joke here about torpedo detonators from multiple countries in WWII that didn't work even when they were fresh out of the factory)
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @06:26PM (4 children)
yes. that is the point. the detonators are decaying, with the consequence that the bombs are going boom.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Friday June 28 2019, @06:52PM (3 children)
I wouldn't assume that when a detonator decays, that means it's going to explode on its own as a matter of course. Couldn't the detonator stop working without exploding the bomb?
WWII was obviously way before "smart" weapons, but I wouldn't expect them to "fail deadly." People did need to transport and load the things into planes, so making them detonate *too* easily would've resulted in a lot of friendly fatalities.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Friday June 28 2019, @07:07PM (1 child)
Although it sounds like anti-handling devices [wikipedia.org] make everything a great deal more "fun."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:49AM
Wow, that was fascinating. I don't recall ever hearing of these before, or was long enough ago to fade (say, since last week...getting old sucks...).
Thanks.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday June 29 2019, @05:32PM
The detonator usually isn't attached to the bomb until it's ready to be used. The bomb is more than likely something like TNT, which is relatively stable. The detonator itself is an explosive charge which is used to set off the main explosive, so you don't want to mess around the with the detonators. Without the detonator, the bomb itself is relatively safe to handle, though it's still a bomb so you'll still want to use care.
A lot of the explosives used in the detonators tend to get more unstable over time (easier to set off). This wasn't really a problem for their intended use as there was really no intent to keep these things around very long before dropping them on the enemy. Considerations for things like bombs that embed themselves into the ground and don't explode just isn't something they didn't think about.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Friday June 28 2019, @07:49PM
You imagine somewhat wrong: business of the day was to clean-up the ruins, than build affordable housing -- quite probably right on top of the cleared space. To illustrate the size of the housing problem of those days: a number of years ago I hit a French town in the North-Eastern part of France, which had the bad fortune of also being a major railway crossroads/bottleneck during WWII. By '52 people were still living in baracks.
World war II bombs are a relatively light problem, though -- touching wood here -- WWI ammunition, on the other hand ...
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Friday June 28 2019, @04:40PM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @03:14AM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by ChrisMaple on Saturday June 29 2019, @04:31AM
Seismometers can detect trucks on nearby roads. 1.7 is feeble by earthquake standards.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday June 28 2019, @04:52PM (1 child)
In the laziness scale it should be an Italian bomb, but afaik we did not drop that many there.
I lived 30+ years some 25 meters from one wwII bomb . One day a workman is digging for the new foundation of a building and he goes THUNK. After the discovery they made a wall filled with sand all around it and when they refused half the town was evacuated.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday June 28 2019, @04:53PM
Defused, even.
Account abandoned.