Where is Major Damage? Are you still alive?

@CWO:

@Der:

It’s hard to believe that powder can still be good after 70+ years!

That’s actually part of the problem.�  If I’m not mistaken, certain types of explosives can destabilize over time and become more sensitive to shock.�  I think this is particularly the case with nitrocellulose explosives, whose nitroglycerin component apparently re-liquifies and seeps out of the solid matrix when it gets too old.�  It’s sort of an extreme example of the concept of the “best before” date that is more ordinarily applied to packaged foods and pharmaceutical products.

This is true. The picric acid used in hand grenades still during WWII reacts with the metal casing of the grenade to form picrate salt, which is highly unstable.

WWII era hand grenades are problem also in Finland because of the “Weapons Cache Case”. As the Continuation War against Soviet Union was turning bad, some of the Finnish officers decided to hide large amounts of weapons and explosives all around the country in case the Soviets would occupy Finland. Those supplies were meant to be used in guerilla warfare against the occupation. Since this never happened, some of those caches still remain untouched and are discovered from time to time during house renovations, building excavations etc. The weapons are still functional and often sold on black market, and the hand grenades pose a serious threat to anyone handling them and to those nearby.

edit: some typos

A large percentage of Canada’s national debt is the payments for the trans continental railroad from the late 1800’s…

How are you doing? Chance a place here for me?

Heya, Yanny.  Glad to see you back.  :-)

The GM at my store says she went to high school with Barbara, and that she’s always wanted to be an astronaut.  Speculation of luck aside (past superstition on sailing vessels said women in general were bad luck), I think it’s awesome she’s getting to do what she’s always dreamed of…

The thing is - this isn’t news. I’ve read about similar circumstances - innocent people fingered by mean neighbours and sent to be tortured and die in US prison camps. Even in medical journals.

Sadly this also undoubtably happened under Saddam as well - the only difference is that the US is now the criminal here. This is not to say that the US is as bad as Saddam was (this is more difficult to judge but IMO most US forces refrain from these practices). But no question in my mind that the US has not been acting with clean hands. The questions I have is exactly how widespread is the US misbehaving with regards to the big picture? Atrocities happen in all wars by all sides - war is hell. The clear difference now is that it gets reported more often. Maybe it happens (with US forces) more often than before, but again who knows for certain?

The other point is that sometimes, rarely, it may be necessary to resort to these sorts of tactics to prevent a worse disaster. When/if this is ever the case, I am glad I will never have to be the person to make this call (what if you are wrong :cry: ). But clearly in the case of Lyndie England, et al, this was a case of some evil miscreants who have not been punished sufficiently, IMO for their crimes.

Sure, I’ll try and find the stats

Doesn’t need a job, he’s got his own site :wink: http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com

My Favorites:

“We have them surrounded in their tanks”

“We will kill them all……most of them.”

“Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly.”