1
Why Nukemap Isn't on Google Maps Anymore
The top-secret story of why NUKEMAP switched from Google Maps to Mapbox+Leaflet.
Alex Wellerstein
Restricted Data is a blog about nuclear secrecy, past and present, run by Alex Wellerstein, an historian of science.
- Popular posts
- 16
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- 3,383
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- 1,713
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- #410 personal
Visit blog.nuclearsecrecy.com → RSS feedOn Hacker News Jul 2014 – Sep 2024
History & Retro Computing 16Society, Policy & Culture 10Science & Space 4Security & Privacy 1Tech Industry & Business 1
2
Did Sandia use a thermonuclear secondary in a product logo?
I happened to look at a slide deck from Sandia National Laboratories from 2007 that someone had posted on Reddit late last night (you know, as one does,...
3
Who smeared Richard Feynman?
Richard Feynman's FBI file contains one very pointed, personal, anonymous attack. But can we figure out who wrote it from the context?
4
The Heart of Deterrence (2012)
Nuclear strategy is one part cold logic, one part emotional terror.
5
Oppenheimer and the Gita (2014)
What did Oppenheimer mean when he famously said, "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds"? A foray into the Bhagavad-Gita.
6
How many people have Q Clearance?
Ever wonder how many people currently have the enigmatic Q Clearance, the required security clearance for access to nuclear secrets? Well, I found out.
7
Surely you're joking, Comrade Beria
The Rosatom historical website has an entire section devoted to "Atomic Fun" — jokes and stories from the Soviet nuclear program. It's... something.
8
10 Years of Nukemap
NUKEMAP was released into the world a decade ago, believe it or not.
9
Forbidden Spheres
A document from 1947 points towards an interesting Los Alamos policy: banning all spheres, innocuous or not, from technical areas.
10
What Did Bohr Do at Los Alamos?
Along with almost getting hit by a car, he made important contributions to the atomic bomb's design.
11
The button that isn’t
Is there a big red button that can launch nuclear war? No — but thinking about why there isn't is a nice way into the complexities of command and control issues.
12
What if the Trinity test had failed?
If the first nuclear weapons test had been a flop, would the world be better or worse off?
13
How Not to Redact a Warhead
How the wrong settings on a photocopier has let us have a glimpse at a forbidden image of a modern thermonuclear warhead.
14
The curious death of Oppenheimer’s mistress (2015)
Who killed J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist lover?
15
The President and the Bomb, Part IV
Why the problem of "the President and the bomb" isn't about the "crazy President," but something far more pernicious and possible.
16
The price of the Manhattan Project (2013)
Of the $2 billion spent on the Manhattan Project, where did it go, and what does it tell us about how we should talk about the history of the bomb?