Guns v 15,000 NUKES:

So there are reckoned to be (officially) Eight Nuclear States .. China 1, France 2 , Russia 3, UK 4, USA 5 .. all Non Proliferation States, - PLUS of course, India 6, North Korea 7, & Pakistan 8

-  Plus (maybe?) Israel 9, ... PLUS 'used-to-haves' Belarus 10, Kazakhstan 11, South Africa 12, & Ukraine 13. - PLUS Belgium 14, Germany 15, Italy 16, Netherlands 17, & Turkey 18 who have them under NATO type sharing agreements .. So that's the eight nuclear nations.

- This is not to mention of course (shush) - an unknown but large number of atomic cannon, nuclear missiles, & nuclear demolition mines secretly deployed to South Korea 19 (from bases in Japan) by USA since 1958.

Now you may also have noticed that I haven't even mentioned IRAN 20?  ... who it seems has the brains & technology - and 8 of her 13 missile designs are judged to be 'nuclear capable'.. Do they have the intent? 

IRAN, Tomb of Hafez - Medieval Persian Poet.

- Also - not to mention all the missing or lost nuclear weapons - incidents known in the trade as 'BROKEN ARROWS' - 'BENT SPEARS' - 'PINNACLES' - 'EMPTY QUIVERS' - 'NUCFLASHS' and 'DULL SWORDS' etc.

- Look, with around 15,000 live nuclear weapons distributed around the globe and the leading powers, USA / Russia keeping some 2,000 of them ready to whiz-bang at all times ... and the UK Government holding stockpiles of Plutonium enough to build some 12,000 more if needed - we 'plebs' should be grateful that all our governments have our best interests at heart at all times eh.

Indeed, our solicitous leaders are so concerned with our ongoing welfare that they'd like to limit our citizens rights to possess hand portable self-defense tools such as pistols & long-arms - in case we injure ourselves.

Boeing Apache Long Bow 'Attack Helicopter'.

Updated & Re-deployed To "Rebalance" The Pacific.

.. How can any individual be so deluded as to imagine that they might need to defend themselves?

Ah, - how are the 6.2 BILLION POUND (or is that now 14.3 Billion?) two British Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft Carriers doing? - Have they managed to borrow any planes to park on their decks yet?

An interesting page listing 74 known military nuclear "accidents" also details Slotin's early 'DEMON CORE' death. - Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents

Do you live near any of these accident sites?

Marty K.

On the Meaning of Insanity

An oft-quoted bon mot (or 'funny remark') -  frequently attributed to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, or a number of other people who probably never said it) is that insanity may be defined as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” While the job of lexicographers might be easier if they were allowed to use witty sayings instead of precise definitions, such belletristic labors are not within their purview. The straight facts about insanity are these: it has been in use in English since the late 16th century, for the first two hundred years or so carrying only the literal meaning “the condition of being mentally deranged.” In the 19th century it began to take on a looser sense, “extreme folly or unreasonableness.” In modern usage, insanity may be found in both senses: you may tell your brother that trying to skateboard while holding onto a car is "insanity" (in which case you mean that it is extremely foolish) or encounter the stricter original meaning in such contexts as insanity plea.

M.K.