h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bossel: "Again, I'm not familiar with US legislation - I'll assume that failure to provide hard evidence is enough to be liable for libel. I've changed 'They should have known better' to 'They could have known better'."

Thank you very much for understanding my comment. While I don't think you would have been liable for libel (what a hard thing to say), I think the small change is exactly the sort of thing needed. Perhaps you could say, "evidence indicates to this researcher that not enough was done to protect and study the effects of radiation on those unfortunate enough to be around it." Well ... that's a pretty dry and wordy way to put it (my own habit, I'm afraid) - maybe you can clean that up as you like, or not use it at all.

I understand (particularly after your thought out and well-argued points you posted in this reply to me) that you have an educated opinion about what should have been done. I have a strong tendency to agree with you on many of those points - in my opinion, many officials and military commanders SHOULD have known better than to do some of the things they did. I never intended to defend anyone's actions, I just intended to say that it's opinionated (and thus not suitable for the guide) to say anyone should have known better. So, thanks for understanding that point and clarifying your opinion here, it was worthwhile reading what you had to say.

Just a couple more:

"The source of the Teller quotes was already listed as [..] below the source indicated as [6] and has now been numbered [7] and linked to."

Argh! Duly noted.

"Yield values for the 'Pascal' experiments - I know this answer may not be fully sufficient but sometimes I've got a tendency to doubt the credibility of my government."

Heheh. Well, what can one say to that, other than "the government isn't the only one who's credibility you should doubt." I think that's the point I was originally trying to make anyway.

- JD (not a scientist)

Well, I didn't intend to accuse anybody of anything when writing the piece. I'll leave to the reader to figure out their opinion between 'should' or 'could'. IMHO, mentioning that more than 10 years had passed after WWII should (er.. sorry ) be enough to accomplish that.

I just got hold of that brochure and instantly knew (besides making great stuff for the Guide) it would refresh some people's memories and provide discussion stuff for others. The Chinese have started to build that Three Rivers Dam and I guess the idea of using nukes cropped up during the planning phase too. Who knows if/when India and Pakistan will start making plans for a huge canal?

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'Project Plowshare - "Peaceful Nuclear Explosions"'.


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Congratulations!

Nice on BSE!

Good to see someone scouting *your* work for a change!

Seeya
Spiff

CDs are cooling off ATM, shall bring 'em along

Yoooohoooohooooo!

Hoohoo, Sir Bossel!

Yeeeha!

Is anyone interested in having a copy of that brochure? I could take a short deviation on my way to the airport and make some.


all round then!


Bossel (looking forward to those movies!)