On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:51:30 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:


Come on Greg. A WWII vintage 5-inch shell or ammo for a .45 isn't the
same as a $15M bomb (not counting development costs) that undergoes
regular updating for improvements. We only built 15 of them. They
aren't "throwaways". Geeze.

Since when has DoD cared about the cost of things they throw away?
If it really has TNT in it, it certainly has a ticking clock. (I still
bet it is a mix of RDX and ammonium nitrate)
There are strict rules about classes of ordinance and what is service
ready, training or trash, based on the age. They know nothing lasts
forever. There are certainly expiration dates on ordinance.
The guidance package may actually expire before the bomb, just because
of capacitor degradation. My 20 year old PCs are becoming few and far
between because of that fact alone. I do not have a single socket 7
board that still works.

As for wars and killing of people, it's been going on since we emerged
from caves. What makes you think it's going to stop in your lifetime?
It sure would be nice but it just isn't realistic.


I understand that but every little regional grievance should not
require a US response. Why are we in Afghanistan? The terrorists are
in Pakistan.
I do notice the speed of our response seems to be inversely
proportional to the amount of melanin in their skin.
A dead little white (looking) girl will create a demand for action but
thousands of dead black kids in Africa (or the US) is just the "rub of
the green".
That seems to span both political parties and the liberal/conservative
divide.