Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (262246)	11/27/2005 11:01:23 AM
From: combjelly	Respond to of 1573215

"I don't know enough about China's financial condition to argue with you." opinion.telegraph.co.uk Realize that Niall's particular branch of history is economics. I rather think he has a good idea of what the situation is. And yes, I am perfectly aware of the repercussions of a Chinese bellyflop. Which is why I have been pointing out the major problems with the national debt. Tim is nuts to believe that it is a minor thing. You can run relative percentages and stack them up historically all day long. But that has little to do with the current situation. As far as the nukes, they have been getting a better yield per unit volume because our understanding of the mechanics of the devices went up. But the yield has gone down because the explosion is a sphere, yet the area of damage is the circumference of that sphere, i.e. a circle that is more or less the maximum diameter of that sphere. And that means it falls under the square-cube law. For example, to double the affected area, you need 2*sqrt(2) more explosive power or about 2.8. To affect 4 times the area, you need 8 times the explosive power, and so on. The same works in reverse. Bottom line, anything much above what is required to destroy the target is a waste. Conceivably, if the delivery systems were up to snuff, only minimally critical bombs would exist, yield of around 100 tons or so. But the delivery systems have only recently reached that point and we haven't developed any new bombs in a long while. Which is one reason the administration is itching to start development again.