North Korea tests a nuke

Just after 11:30am this morning (North Korea time), N. Korean officials informed China that they were about to test a nuclear weapon underground. Seismic tests affirm that something along the size of the Hiroshima bomb was indeed tested. This is the first nuke test the world has seen since 1998 when Pakistan and India tested theirs. Experts fear a nuclear arms race in the region, perhaps the rest of the world, because if a Third-World - and unpredictable - country like North Korea has nukes, everyone should have some.

Aren't you glad that we've invested all our military into Iraq, which is an "imminent threat"?

Interesting side-note: The new head of the UN is a South Korean.

The world just got scarier.

Chris

North Korea tests a nuke

Just after 11:30am this morning (North Korea time), N. Korean officials informed China that they were about to test a nuclear weapon underground. Seismic tests affirm that something along the size of the Hiroshima bomb was indeed tested. This is the first nuke test the world has seen since 1998 when Pakistan and India tested theirs. Experts fear a nuclear arms race in the region, perhaps the rest of the world, because if a Third-World - and unpredictable - country like North Korea has nukes, everyone should have some.

Aren't you glad that we've invested all our military into Iraq, which is an "imminent threat"?

Interesting side-note: The new head of the UN is a South Korean.

The world just got scarier.

Chris

Lord of the Rings

When I was a young'un, I read and loved "The Hobbit." At some point after that, I discovered that Tolkien had written a lot of other things, and went looking for them. Someone told me that I had to read "The Silmarillion" before starting "The Lord of the Rings," and I dutifully did as told, getting perhaps 50 pages into that 1000-page expositionary lump. As you can imagine, I never did read "The Lord of the Rings," though I loved the movies.

Flash forward to last week, when I'm coming home from Seattle and my grading for class is done... nothing to do on the plane. Kij offered several books to read en route, and I picked "The Fellowhip of the Ring." OMG is that a great book! I'm loving it! I got about 140 pages into it just on the airplane, and did a bit more reading last night after the parents left for Omaha.

(Yes, it was another weekend of carport-building: Now almost done! All the structure is in place, the construction is reinforced to withstand anything short of a North Korean nuke, and the roof is tar-papered... just needs shingling to be complete. Was a great visit with them, too, including dinner out at La Familia, outside of which we listened for a minute to a live band taking up the street; Saturday afternoon at the RenFaire with lunch there - largest crowd I've ever seen there - and "dinner" at The Smoker [go next week if you haven't yet]; Sunday breakfast at the Slow Ride Saloon to entertain my Harley-lovin' 'rents; then building all day Sunday after the brief Saturday-morning building stint.)

A thought occurred to me recently: If I'd read "The Lord of the Rings" when I was a kid, I suspect I might have written a lot of fantasy rather than mostly hard-SF. Interesting, the things that make us who we are, and the things that could have made us different people.

Best,
Chris

Lord of the Rings

When I was a young'un, I read and loved "The Hobbit." At some point after that, I discovered that Tolkien had written a lot of other things, and went looking for them. Someone told me that I had to read "The Silmarillion" before starting "The Lord of the Rings," and I dutifully did as told, getting perhaps 50 pages into that 1000-page expositionary lump. As you can imagine, I never did read "The Lord of the Rings," though I loved the movies.

Flash forward to last week, when I'm coming home from Seattle and my grading for class is done... nothing to do on the plane. Kij offered several books to read en route, and I picked "The Fellowhip of the Ring." OMG is that a great book! I'm loving it! I got about 140 pages into it just on the airplane, and did a bit more reading last night after the parents left for Omaha.

(Yes, it was another weekend of carport-building: Now almost done! All the structure is in place, the construction is reinforced to withstand anything short of a North Korean nuke, and the roof is tar-papered... just needs shingling to be complete. Was a great visit with them, too, including dinner out at La Familia, outside of which we listened for a minute to a live band taking up the street; Saturday afternoon at the RenFaire with lunch there - largest crowd I've ever seen there - and "dinner" at The Smoker [go next week if you haven't yet]; Sunday breakfast at the Slow Ride Saloon to entertain my Harley-lovin' 'rents; then building all day Sunday after the brief Saturday-morning building stint.)

A thought occurred to me recently: If I'd read "The Lord of the Rings" when I was a kid, I suspect I might have written a lot of fantasy rather than mostly hard-SF. Interesting, the things that make us who we are, and the things that could have made us different people.

Best,
Chris

anyone else have trouble falling asleep last night?

The US Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 a.m. local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gilju, on the peninsula's northeast coast around 70 miles from the Chinese border.

Greenwich Mean Time is five (5) hours ahead of Central US time (Daylight Savings, as in now). That means the N. Korean nuke went off at 8:35pm Central last night. I wonder if that's why I had such stress falling asleep last night? A great disturbance in the Force, eh?

anyone else have trouble falling asleep last night?

The US Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 a.m. local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gilju, on the peninsula's northeast coast around 70 miles from the Chinese border.

Greenwich Mean Time is five (5) hours ahead of Central US time (Daylight Savings, as in now). That means the N. Korean nuke went off at 8:35pm Central last night. I wonder if that's why I had such stress falling asleep last night? A great disturbance in the Force, eh?