[Astronomiya]

Yeah, pretty much.  Fusion weapons use the fission stage as a trigger for the secondary, or "super" fusion stage.

[Nuke]

this was the most epic fail i have seen. i had to share. it was even more sweet since goober dared me to back up my analogy, and it turned out to be like 95% true.

Indeed.  Don't forget that admins can compare IP addresses.

In other news, last week* I was reading about the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fat Man and Little Boy.  Little Boy's design wasn't actually tested before it was dropped, but the design was so simple it was pretty much guaranteed to work: take two blocks of radioactive uranium that aren't massive enough to go critical and shoot them together to form one block that is.  Fat Man, on the other hand, used plutonium, which is a bit stubborn and won't produce an effective explosion if you just mash two masses together.  So what they did for Fat Man was take a ball of plutonium and create a perfectly symmetrical explosion on all sides of it so that the sphere would be compressed enough to increase its density high enough to go critical.  This was a fairly ingenious detonation mechanism, but due to the complexity it was decided to conduct a test first.  This was the Trinity test, which was the first man-made nuclear explosion in history, making Hiroshima and Nagasaki the second and third.

*True story; I really was reading about this last week.

most modern nukes have something resembling a small fat man as the primary. improvements in compression explosives have made the size of the bomb a lot smaller, not much bigger that the ball of plutonium itself. of course modern nukes take this fission primary to ignite fusion in a secondary (sometimes a tertiary and so on, there is no theoretical max payload for a fusion device, unlike a fission device). really all the work in making nukes is not so much building the bomb, but refining the fuel. even the ****tiest of warheads, like the nk bomb, can still detonate a secondary. it just comes down to taking the radiation from the primary and focus it into the secondary in such a way that it ignites before getting vaporized by the explosion. fun stuff.

[Klaustrophobia]

i think i read somewhere that our "regular" fusion bomb is a seven stager.

[Volyren Nightsong]

Well I think I have a little more info on the mystery Russian.
Who is no longer a mystery or Russian (just an American punk)
When Jen left for work this morning, she saw the neighbors’ kid running away from her car. There was a note on the windshield that was (I assume) supposed to scare us. It was obviously fake, but he took the presidential seal pic and tried to make it look like an "official" warning to "stop discussing military secrets. Your house is now being watched. Any more stuff (yeah, it said "any more stuff") like your actions will result in a court martial on charges of treason”
Ok, for one, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry that a high school kid could make something like this and think its going to pass the sniff test. Only military members can be court martialed, and nuclear information like what was discussed can be learned (and in better detail) on the history or discovery channel.
I know for fact that his dad uses the gotomeeting software, or something like it, because he helped me set up my new router, and was direct linking to the computer, moving the mouse, etc. while we talked on the phone.
So, given that he can see what I'm typing or doing on screen, I would assume his idiot kid can get on there too.
I've already asked his dad about the note, told him "no harm no foul" but to maybe let him know that not everyone can take a joke like that. As a matter of fact, I can think of at least one guy down the street that would probably have shot him if he saw him messing with his car.
Anyway, I have my router password protected, due to finding out that 5 houses around me could reach it, and 3 of em were USING MY DAMNED BANDWIDTH!!! I have had no further trouble with that, but since his dad helped me set up the router, he probably has the password. I'm going to change it later tonight. I would actually appreciate if someone can check anarkisseds ip (if that isn’t against rules or something) and see if he is using my router. It would be a great help. I seriously don’t want my computer open like that. I can actually get in trouble with my job about stuff like this.
Rick is understanding, but I don’t want to accuse his kid of getting into his work computer (home customer support agent) without a little proof.
I’ve had a hard time dealing with Colin ever since we moved in. He used to bounce a basketball onto our roof, letting it roll off, and trying to make it into his little basketball goal that way. We put up with it until it started preventing us from sleep (it’s over our bedroom) and knocking down some roof tiles.
Everything was fine for a while, until one of our friends came over on the 4th of July and sparked a doob while we were grilling. Mr. Punk smelled it and started asking for some, pestering our friend to death, until he just decided to put it out and flush it down the john to keep that idiot from causing trouble. Ever since then, he constantly asks us for smuzz (our word around here for pot). Once upon a time I smoked, but neither Jen nor I do now, and haven’t for years. However he is convinced that we sell weed, and won’t leave us alone or shut up about it. I don’t want to be a rat, and tell his dad that his son is trying to buy drugs, but I have had about enough of this crap.
If he is using my internet service I think that is going to be the straw that breaks the camels back. I cannot afford to risk my job by having him get some bit or all of my book and post it somewhere, or I lose out on my money. I'm not rich by any means, and I might get a nice fat check, but you only get one of those PER book. I don’t get a standard paycheck. I get my publication check when the editing is complete, and once a year I get my royalty check, but only for 2 years per book. I don’t even earn as much as Jen does working at the hospital.
One final thing that leads me to believe its Colin (neighbor’s kid) is that we had given him the address to this site, so he could play FSO.

PS Just so everyone quits ragging me about my punctuation, I’ve given up, installed word back on this computer and am using it for posts. (Its just tempting to work on my book on here, and I take a risk doing that) So MYEH!
However, as for the long winded posts and rambling, I can say only this:
Its how I write and I have no plans on even TRYING to change that. So, deal with it, or don’t read my posts.

PPS: seriously though, can someone let me know if I have a security problem here?

[Snail]

Pleasepleaseuseparagraphsitshardtoreadyourstuff

[NGTM-1R]

Motion to ban for promising total unreadability.

[Volyren Nightsong]

umm. I'm pretty sure a paragraph is a selection of sentences that occur in ...blahblahblah...with an indent of the first sentence and break on the last before the indent of the next paragraph is...blah blah blah.....
point being:
I’ve corrected punctuation.
I’ve attemped to curtail my lengthy sentences by breaking them up into several smaller ones.
Unless you are complaining about there not being a space in between paragraphs, I don’t know what to tell you, because I can tab all I want in word, but the formatting does NOT cross over to the pasted version in the post. You show me how to properly indent paragraphs in here, and I will be happy to do so. (elated actually, because I HATE working on something and losing my work when pasting)
But barring these points, I am not interested in making a simple post so complicated and annoying that its simply not worth my time.
As far as I have seen, my posts here are formatted as well, or better than almost all the others by nearly everyone else.
That leaves only the length of them.
Look, I have agreed with those of you who say I ramble forever. I have agreed to work on it.
That’s ALL I'm going to do. I type 212 words a minute last I checked and it’s a miracle I spell as correctly as I do. ( and that took years of self discipline, not to mention a freakin’ keyboard that looks like it was sold in a Big and Tall store.)
I’m well aware that I am new here, and I'm doing my best to fit in with the community. But if every single post I make is going to be critiqued for spelling, punctuation, syntax and formatting, with usual disregard for its CONTENT, then either ;
Gripe at everyone else too,
Or just ignore me.
If I'm going to have to take the time to edit every thing I post and make sure its immaculate to the point of silliness, then I’d rather just not at all.

I’m starting to remember why I quit posting topics at my other forums.
 I'm here, spending time I could be using to work on a book, make money, pay bills, or just watch some tv with my wife. But seeing as how I enjoy Freespace, and think that this community has done more for gaming in general than any other fanbase has for any other game, I thought I could help out with a few VO’s and if I can learn to do it well enough some FREDding.

Most people ask themselves if something is fun. If it is, they usually do it. When it starts to get to be more work than fun, it becomes a matter of how much work you are willing to do, versus how much fun you have. And when the balance of that equation slips more toward the “work” end, you lose the fun part. Once that happens, the only people not wishing they were doing something else are masochists and gluttons for punishment, of which I am neither.

I think I will stick to the working sections of the forums. No need for long posts, and I wont be wasting my (and apparently other’s) time.

[Goober5000]

Don't be so verbose.  Just write succinctly.

[Volyren Nightsong]

if i wasnt verbose i wouldnt be me.
doesn't matter though.
my gut told me to avoid general discussion like the plague.
maybe one day i will learn to listen to it.
no more long winded posting here, i assure you.
later, people.

[Nuke]

i just kinda skip his post, its easier for me to defer his meaning in everyone else's post than to actually read his.

[MP-Ryan]

i just kinda skip his post, its easier for me to defer his meaning in everyone else's post than to actually read his.

+1

[Unknown Target]

Topic title:

"totally off any semblance of any topic. (my favorite apple pie recipe)"

I click to the second page and first post I see is:

Yeah, pretty much.  Fusion weapons use the fission stage as a trigger for the secondary, or "super" fusion stage.

lol.

[Goober5000]

Yup.  Invoked Topic Derailment, inspired by this.