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China-Japan-Koreas
Pics from the NK Rail Blast - check out the crater
2004-04-25
Posted by:Frank G

#10   I wish I could tell you, but I don't have the slightest idea what "cantenary" means.

A term used for the system powering electric trains.
Posted by: Pappy   2004-04-25 11:44:21 PM  

#9  I wish I could tell you, but I don't have the slightest idea what "cantenary" means.

It does not take much to set off ammonium nitrate. A ship loaded with it blew up in Texas in 1947. LPG is even easier to set off.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste   2004-04-25 11:25:04 PM  

#8  SDB I still want to know cantenary sets off fertilizer.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-04-25 6:12:41 PM  

#7  I saw a report somewhere that the real beginning of the explosion was an electric power line which got cut and dropped onto a train loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. If that was the case, the first car which went up would have set off all the other cars similarly loaded. A long, narrow crater is what you'd expect in that case.

There were also reports that there was a train which was loaded with LPG which exploded. (Those reports are not necessarily mutually exclusive; they could both be right.)

In either case, it's wrong to think of this as a single concentrated blast. It's more like a whole series of smaller blasts with spaced centers. Long, narrow craters are what you'd expect to see.

[I might mention that back when dynamite was particularly cheap, some farmers used it to dig irrigation trenches by setting off a lot of charges in a line. Doing so was both faster and easier than using a backhoe.]
Posted by: Steven Den Beste   2004-04-25 5:52:00 PM  

#6  Was watching Fox News about 30 minutes ago. They were talking about the NK explosion. On the bottom of the screen it said "nuclear bomb suspected" or something to that effect. They didn't explain that tag line, but they did skip into a commercial and from there into Michael Jackson coverage.

Thank goodness our media knows what's really important, and always takes the time to correct mistakes and otherwise fully explain what's going on. How lucky we are to have them.
Posted by: Anonymous4554   2004-04-25 5:16:22 PM  

#5  "NEVER attribute to conspiricay that which can be explained by incompetence."

That's a keeper. People should remember this when looking at the Paleos.
Posted by: Charles   2004-04-25 2:07:35 PM  

#4  "NEVER attribute to conspiricay that which can be explained by incompetence."

Amen.
Posted by: chinditz   2004-04-25 12:01:54 PM  

#3  The linear crater isn't that odd. Evry time we (my Guard unit at AT) live fire a MICLIC, it leaves a rather impressive trench. A 20 +-5 car train stuffed with explosives ~= very big MICLIC. Hence the trench like crater. As for the assaination attempt-- its a real possibility, but NEVER attribute to conspiricay that which can be explained by incompetence.
Posted by: N Guard   2004-04-25 11:04:50 AM  

#2  I had the same thought but that is just wishful thinking.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-04-25 10:58:50 AM  

#1  I'm not an explosives expert, but I am an engineer; and this crater looks "funny" to me. For an above-ground explosion, even a large one, I'd have expected a bowl-shaped depression much wider than deep. This looks more like a trench, which makes me start wondering about buried explosives.

Assassination attempt on Dear Leader?
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-04-25 10:49:26 AM  

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