[wordup] Unexpected consequenses of Freedom of Speech

[Adam Shand]

Via: The Eristocracy <Eristocracy at merrymeet.com>

[Editor's note: This appears to be true -- if you do a Google search for
the words found in Taliban hands, you get an old Journal of Irreproducible
Results (a physicist's humor magazine, now called the Annals of Improbably
Results -- they're the folks who do the hit-or-miss Ig Nobel awards)
article. This article is widely published on the net, I found many copies
by seaching in Google for "the device basically atomic bomb". It is
supposed to be part of a series, other articles in the series include
"Let's Make a Time Machine," "Let's make Test-Tube Babies", "Let's Make an
Economic Recession," "Let's Make a Living Tyrannosaurus Rex," and "Let's
Make Contact With an Alien Race." -- jdcc]

From: "David Weinberger" <self at evident.com>
Subject: Taliban falls for Nuclear Parody
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 19:42:42 -0500

According to The Daily Rotten [1], the instructions for building nuclear
weapons found in the deserted Taliban headquarters actually are a parody
from The Annals of Improbable Research.[2] The parody has been circulating
on the Web since the 1980s and was written in 1979.

The alarmist report was filed by Anthony Loyd of The Times of London for
the BBC. In it he reads from the paper he found:

---

The device basically works when the detonated TNT compresses the Plutonium
into a critical mass. The critical mass then produces a nuclear chain
reaction similar to the domino chain reaction (discussed in this column,
"Dominos on the March", March, 1968). The chain reaction then promptly
produces a big thermonuclear reaction. And there you have it, a 10 megaton
explosion! ---

Says The Daily Rotten:

To find these joke atomic bomb plans, do a web search for "The device
basically works" and look for mentions of "Let's Build an Atomic Bomb!".
It gives us pause and joy to know the Taliban are wasting their time
downloading what amounts to joke mail and spending time trying to discern
the facts therein.
--
Comforting. Unless, of course, The Daily Rotten is the one playing the
joke...

[1] http://www.dailyrotten.com/
[2] http://www.improbable.com/


-- David W.