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What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

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Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing that you don't have children. And no, your plan isn't as good as any other; its just one that suits your own fatalistic attitude toward the risks involved.

Unless you're saying this person is worth less than you, then the plan suited to them is indeed as good as the one suited to you. A few popular assumptions that aren't necessarily true: Living is always better than dying. Your actions have an effect on the outcome. You can do it. People should always do what they should. It matters.

> Unless you're saying this person is worth less than you

By their relative actions aren't they both agreeing that in this situation the one doing nothing to saves themselves is worth less?

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would NK have to gain by nuking Hawaii? It would cause the US to retaliate massively, while not doing serious damage to its military capabilities.

You think the US would actually retaliate against a limited nuclear attack in an isolated place with a massive nuclear counterattack? (I can see it in a cold war scenario against the USSR, with tanks moving into Europe and the world order at stake) I think the US woudln't and, of course, shouldn't. The usual game-theoretical reasonings in this regard are misguided and shortsighted.

I don't think a normal, sanely led US would do that either. More likely the president and joint chiefs would sit in a room and discuss "a proportional response". Turning most of North Korea uninhabitable for generations does not meet that standard.

On the other hand, I can see President MAGA saying "turn the entire peninsula into one large crater," a series of Generals trying to talk him out of it and getting fired. An apocalyptic Saturday Night Massacre until he found the just-promoted-ex-Colonel who would issue the order for him.

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#233
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had considered that too and breaking a window to gain access was an option. I'm not a member of the church, but I chose this building specifically as it was most likely to have other people seeking shelter there who also had keys to the building. Indeed, the first family to arrive after us lived a block away and I did verify they do have a key.

Assuming you can survive the initial blast, how do you plan to protect yourself and your family from radioactive dust for 7-10 days (assuming windows are broken by the blast - or by you).

Dunno about OP; I have 3M 7500 masks (small/medium/large as appropriate) with 60921i cartridges for the whole family. They are also used whenever we're doing fine grit sanding, fibreglass work, welding etc. so everyone's used to them. (Helps that they're pink, for the girls.)

Also keep iodine tablets in your bugout bag. And a razor, masks won't do shit if you have more than stubble on your cheek.

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking this in good faith (I didn’t downvote you :-) I’ll take a stab at responding: I was curious as to whether there might be historical or cultural factors in play beyond the immediate political tensions. It’s also worth pointing out that I live in the UK and whilst we get regular news headlines on the state of US politics we’re somewhat removed from much of the immediate political tension. Generalising perhaps, b…

Thank you - but several others found me worth downvoting :) I'm live just across the North Sea from you, in Denmark, and I am completely decoupled from internal US politics. And of the distinctive coiffures, I must say I find young Kim by far the most worrisome, seeing as he probably doesn't have a functioning set of checks and balances to keep him grounded if he really does go mental some day. Were I living in Seoul…

I suspect I would worry too.

Really I was just picking up on the word “obvious” in the parent post. Whenever I see that I always wonder if the writer’s “obvious” is the same as my “obvious”. It usually is but, surprisingly often, is not.

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but in the minutes you have between warning and impact, how do you make this assessment? I think most people's immediate thoughts after the warning was North Korea and Nuke.

It's not that you need to know definitively, you just need to understand that there is a strong possibility that the warhead is non-nuclear and therefore a strong possibility that the worst-case doomsday scenario won't happen even if the attack is real. This is apparently really important for people to understand, since so many commenters are saying they'd just wait to die since they assume a nuclear attack is not su…

Actually there is about a 0% chance of a conventional ballistic missile attack on the US. If that. South Korea and Japan, yes, followed by a fire storm not seen since WW2.

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#236
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a member of the church I'm atheist, but if things were going horribly wrong LDS would be high on my list of people to be around.

Pro: A bunch of them are nutty doomsday preppers, with a lot of food supplies in their basements. Con: The polygamy, child abuse, and endless fast and testimony meetings get kinda old after a while.

i'm not a member of the lds church, but you should do some fact checking: mainline mormons don't practice polygamy.

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#237
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had considered that too and breaking a window to gain access was an option. I'm not a member of the church, but I chose this building specifically as it was most likely to have other people seeking shelter there who also had keys to the building. Indeed, the first family to arrive after us lived a block away and I did verify they do have a key.

I'm not a member of the church I'm atheist, but if things were going horribly wrong LDS would be high on my list of people to be around.

Why is that?

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you call those things assumptions? That says more about you than the people you claim are assuming these things.

They can be assumptions because life is complex & sometimes people tell themselves convenient lies to make themselves feel better. It depends on the circumstances.

Perhaps the convenient lies are the opposite?

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#239

I think it's safe to assume the 100,000+ Iraqi civilians killed in the conflict in Iraq received no such warning. It's shameful how completely unaware most Americans are of the terror their MIC imposes on others. Ironically, this incident in HI will feed the collective fears and the wrath of the MIC will extend further still. The opportunity to question the status quo will be lost.

Is this relevant to the linked article at all or are you just finding any excuse available to push your politics?

Re: What It Felt Like in Hawaii When Warning of an In-Bound Missile Arrived

#240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US/Russia/France have already detonated thousands of full power nuclear weapons all across the globe, primarily for testing. Although major cities would be ash, with millions lost in the senseless conflict, life would go on. You'd likely only have health problems if you had acute exposure to the blast. If you live somewhere irrelivant, radiation exposure won't be much more of a concern than it already is currentl…

Estimates of the loss of life in just Russia and China in the first 6 months after a nuclear exchange: 380 million. Source: RAND ( http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/01/18/daniel-ellsberg-n... ). "Moscow alone was targeted with at least eighty nuclear weapons, and every Russian city with a population greater than 25,000 would be hit by at least one." And that was the December 1960 plan.

There was a great article which I can't find now about all the missiles still pointing from the US to Russia and vice versa, where after the fall of the Soviet Union a General formerly in charge of the Soviet arsenal met his British counterpart and assured him that in the Soviet nuclear war preparedness plans, the entire UK was a complete overkill zone.
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