The most common mistake made is considering the drop of the two atomic bombs as a part of the war, a war that was already finished.

Well, we know it was (almost) finished now but it didn’t have to finish in 1945 did it?

It was a mere demonstration of strength to Russia, which became an uncomfortable ally to deal with, and when you are gambling with a country like the Russia of 1945, you’d better go for a proper message, not a soft version of it. Dropping two bombs over two crowded cities, showing the real power of the atomic bomb, was more than a clear message for the Russians.

And what is wrong with that? Russia clearly wanted to use its military power in 1945 to exercise influence over formerly independent countries in Europe. What would you have done if the Red Army had kept advancing West in 1945?

Also the US had to finally defeat Japan, if the fire raids and the atom bombs are not permitted as being ‘immoral’ how would this be brought about? Any invasion of Japan itself would lead to an enormous loss of Allied, but mainly Japanese (civilian), lives; far more than were lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Wouldn’t that be immoral too?

The atomic bomb use as “necessary” was intended on a political scale, not a military one.

What’s the difference?

So yes, the atomic bombs put the word end to the war, but they were used in a criminal way killing thousands of civilians…..and actually started a new political and military era which was not any better.

Any better than what exactly?

After a bit of googling it seems that some bombs carried both; a single British lug welded on one side of the bomb and two US lugs welded on the other.

In terms of ‘hang-ups’ I’d say any problem would be likely to be with the complicated bit (that stays with the aircraft) rather than with the simple bit (that goes with the bomb)!

My point was meant to let u understand that the atomic solution was not seen in a positive way even back then, and by many people from all the countries and fields…

All you seem to have done is to find some people who thought that the atomic bombs should have been used in a demonstration in the hope that they wouldn’t have to be used against a largely civilian target.

So what does that prove? To be honest, it would be incredible if you hadn’t managed to find such a group of people, and the fact that those people came from within the bomb project itself is not particularly relevant since they had to be part of the project to know about the bomb in the first place.

Since you seem to be placing yourself on an intellectual level equal to the entire United States government and scientific communities of 1945 (but with a greater moral integrity) perhaps you would enlighten us as to how you would have concluded the war with Japan?

Criticism is not enough, you must have an alternative…..and an alternative using hindsight doesn’t make you intellectually superior. :rolleyes:

This clip from a 1987 BBC documentary makes me cry with laughter every time I see it.

Skiing? This always makes me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1bpTOW4a6Q

So, could it have been a plane? Meteorite?

The Wikipedia entry describes meteorites as acting the way I saw, but when I looked outside it was flying along perfectly straight and level…

Could well have been a meteorite burning-up as it skimmed the atmosphere; relatively few meteorites plummet ‘straight down’ to earth.

It was probably much further away than it looked, in the upper atmosphere, so may have seemed to be ‘flying straight and level’.

Congratulations, you’ve probably witnessed something very rare.

If the indigenous wildlife is fair-game to a domestic cat surely cats should be fair-game to the indigenous wildlife.

Hardly ‘cat hating’ is it?

You are right to be concerned, because foxes do prey on domestic cats.

Unlike domestic cats who wouldn’t dream of hurting any indigenous wildlife. :rolleyes:

I say leave the foxes alone, even if caught humanely and released into the countryside that would probably mean ‘dumping’ them into another foxes territory during the breeding season and that can’t be good for any of the foxes involved.

…looks incredibly clear and crisp compared to other snippets I have seen…

‘Chuck’ Yeager was obviously a good cameraman too! 😉