Divine Strake: The word is out - and it doesn't mean a thing

[helderheid]

Divine Strake: The word is out - and it doesn't mean a thing

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 01/10/2007 10:20:22 AM MST

Michael Berry wrote to a Pentagon official last week for the answer to a question that's had many Utahns scratching their heads since they first heard about "Divine Strake," the massive test explosion the federal government wants to detonate in the Nevada desert.

What does the name mean, exactly? And what's holy about using 700 tons of non-nuclear explosives to blow up an old tunnel in the middle of nowhere?

After his e-mail dialogue Friday with the public affairs department of the Defense Threat Agency, the government office behind the blast, the Salt Lake City man divined the answer.

The name is nonsense.

Sure, "divine" means "godlike." And the word "strake" refers to an architectural feature of boats and aircraft. But the term is just two words tacked together to meet the criteria of a military regulation, and they have no deeper meaning.

At first, it made him chuckle. Later, he thought about the government dreaming up nonsense names.

"Then, you think, if they're doing that at that level, then what else might be going on?"

Berry says he plans to be among the Utahns headed to public information sessions this week hosted by the Pentagon agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the U.S. Energy Department, in Salt Lake City, St. George and Las Vegas. And, like many Utahns, he opposes the test, despite the federal government's assurances the huge explosion won't harm anyone outside the Nevada Test Site boundaries.

Many Divine Strake critics worry that dirt contaminated with leftovers from the government's decades-long atomic testing program will shoot up to 10,000 feet into the sky and drift to Utah and other states if the test is allowed to go forward. They also fear the resumption of nuclear weapons tests in Nevada, like ones many blame for Downwinder illnesses such as thyroid disease and cancer. Divine Strake, it turns out, follows a long tradition of absurd monikers for Nevada Test Site experiments.



*Pictures added by me


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[bryant69]

1. Lucky for me I wasn't born yet.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[helderheid]

2. same!

[Beelzebud]

4. From the literal tons of plutonium we blasted in the atmosphere we all have PU in our systems.

Every single human being on the planet now has trace amounts of Plutonium in our systems, because of atmospheric nuclear testing.

Unfortunately, not being born yet didn't protect us.

[helderheid]

5. I have thyroid problems

I've heard it could be related.

[Beelzebud]

7. That totally possible. Thyroid is very vulnerable to radiation damage.

[helderheid]

9. I've heard that as well.

[Zenlitened]

8. Heck, we all have traces of TEFLON byproducts in our bloodstreams

:yoiks:

Teflon Chemicals Found in Humans

ConsumerAffairs.com, August, 2004

Chemicals used in Teflon and Scotchguard are showing up in the bloodstream of humans throughout the world, with higher levels in the United States and other highly developed nations, according to a new study.

The chemicals -- perfluoronated compounds -- have been used for decades with very little government oversight. Scientists say they are surprised at the chemicals' pervasiveness in the environment, which they said raises concerns about their potential impact on public health.

Perfluoronated compounds have been found in the blood of virtually every person tested for them in the United States, including children as young as 2. The compounds have been linked to cancer, developmental problems, liver damage and other ailments in animals, though there is no general agreement about their effects on humans.

Link:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_km3609/is_200408/ai_n8625120

[helderheid]

3. ....

:kick:

[helderheid]

6. MORE on NAMES

The Energy Department's system for code-naming weapons tests evolved after military planners found their initial plan got repetitive fast, with five "Able" tests, four "Bakers" and three "Clean Slates."

So, the Pentagon began giving each year an operation name, such as "Quicksilver" or "Musketeer" and invited scientists at the national laboratories to name individual tests, according the Energy Department.

The labs would offer the Pentagon names according to a theme of the year, and the White House would make the ultimate decision. Cocktails, cheese, stinging insects, trees, fish, Nevada ghost towns and New Mexico counties all became code names.

At the same time, it's clear that there are broader and deeper meanings in some Pentagon-generated names, like the recent "Desert Shield," "Desert Storm" or "Iraqi Freedom."

But not these tests, said Darwin Morgan, who works for the Energy Department at the Nevada Test Site.
"They are arbitrary," he said, "and that's just the way it works."

Incidentally, Morgan doesn't know anyone else whose two names have been used for Test Site detonations. "Morgan" was used in a year of horse-breed names, and "Darwin" in a year when tests were named after famous scientists.

"Don't know what it means, but . . . "

[don954]

10. know whats odd about the radation map?

it looks almost like the standard red vs blue political map. The cons are nuking themselves....!