Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[The Brain]

I looked at one of those maps that shows the area of effect for nuclear weapons over some particular point.

Oddly enough, what I got out of that is that the area of effect is not nearly as large as I expected.

I think culturally we imagine nuclear weapons as being these crazy huge weapons that take out entire cities, but they are not of course. It takes quite a few, for example, to really destroy NYC.

I think it's instructive to compare it to conventional explosives.  For the same weight a small nuclear bomb is about 40,000 times more powerful than a conventional bomb.  It's a serious escalation in power, even if it doesn't manage to destroy a whole city all by itself.

But you have radiation!!!!!

[Malthus]

It was a film that was viewed by kids in school.  I don't believe it was shown on TV.  Anyway sure, we can (and do) mock everything from our childhood.  I just think it's odd that this one gets singled out so often.  The most common knock I hear on it is that "you're just gonna get vaporized anyway so why bother" which is not necessarily true as Raz pointed out.

It gets mocked so often because it is outlandish.

Well, until they're old enough to fully understand nuclear bombs, war, etc. I think that's probably the best approach.  What would you do differently in the context of the Cold War?  Scare the shit out of 2nd graders?  Or just avoid the issue entirely?

Adopt a different tone.

Interesting.  The other contrarian angle I've heard is that it's intended to scare children and somehow turn them into McCarthyites.

Never thought about that. To me, the humour comes in the '50s style "can do" positivism and upbeat tone when discussing what may be the end of civilization - the message seems to be, don't let a little nuclear war spoil your day. 

[grumbler]

The "duck and cover" campaign was dropped because it was moronic and accomplished nothing that regular disaster (tornado, etc) drill didn't do more usefully.  The scenario in the D&C campaign was "what do you do when there is a flash in the sky, right out of the blue," which just wasn't plausible enough to build a special procedure around.  Especially when D&C drills took time away from realistic preparations for realistic dangers which would also serve far better in a nuclear attack than D&C would.

[derspiess]

Never thought about that. To me, the humour comes in the '50s style "can do" positivism and upbeat tone when discussing what may be the end of civilization - the message seems to be, don't let a little nuclear war spoil your day. 

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

[CountDeMoney]

If only Schoolhouse Rock addressed global thermonuclear war.

THREE IS THE MAGIC TRIAD

[frunk]

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

Can you think of a scenario where a limited nuclear exchange is possible?

[Eddie Teach]

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

Can you think of a scenario where a limited nuclear exchange is possible?

War with Iran.

[Razgovory]

Well we don't show pictures of people who had been burned to death to grade schoolers to hammer home the importance of fire safety.  It is not outlandish to think that hiding under a desk can protect you from parts of the roof falling in or windows being blown in.  To me it's not dissimilar to public awareness programs like "McGruff the Crime dog".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzyTarwYaM0

Sure it's not showing the horror of child rape and murder, but it's by no means outlandish, and is well aimed at it's audience (which were kids).  And yeah, a kid might refuse to get in a car with a stranger and still be grabbed, but it's good advice, even if it comes from a dog wearing a trench coat.

[derspiess]

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

Can you think of a scenario where a limited nuclear exchange is possible?

The Cold War.

[Razgovory]

Never thought about that. To me, the humour comes in the '50s style "can do" positivism and upbeat tone when discussing what may be the end of civilization - the message seems to be, don't let a little nuclear war spoil your day. 

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

Or in the mid 1950's were the Soviet nuclear weapons were bomber based and few could even reach the US.

[frunk]

Or it could be a limited nuclear exchange where one or two cities are gone, but there are other places to evacuate to.

Can you think of a scenario where a limited nuclear exchange is possible?

War with Iran.

So Iran chooses to commit suicide by lobbing a couple of nukes at us?  Ok.

[DontSayBanana]

If only Schoolhouse Rock addressed global thermonuclear war.

THREE IS THE MAGIC TRIAD

Triads? It's bad enough worrying about Al Qaeda potentially having nukes.

[Razgovory]

So Iran chooses to commit suicide by lobbing a couple of nukes at us?  Ok.

They are people who wear dynamite as a fashion accessory.

[frunk]

So Iran chooses to commit suicide by lobbing a couple of nukes at us?  Ok.

They are people who wear dynamite as a fashion accessory.

I could see a smuggled bomb being detonated.  It gives an opportunity for plausible deniability.  Launching nukes means there's no weaseling out of where it came from.

[Eddie Teach]

Assuming the clerics don't go full jihad, there's still dictators willing to take their own countries down with them. Certainly Hitler was like that in his last days, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine Kim Jong Un sending out everything he's got.