Slashdot Mirror
U.S. Prepares to Get Nuked
There's an important story in the NYT about new efforts from the U.S. national laboratories to retain and improve their ability to identify nuclear fallout. In a nutshell, any fissionable materials turned into a nuclear weapon will be composed of a specific ratio of various radionuclides, which form a sort of signature, which can be used to identify the source of the fissionable material. The problem is, naturally, that you're probably doing this after the detonation.
"U.S. Prepares to Get Nuked"
putting that as the title of an article is irresponsible and near criminal.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
And that's why, after decades of above-ground nuclear tests on our own soil, we're all dead, right? Oh, wait.
Global thermonuclear exchange between USA and USSR? Yeah, probably the end of civilization.
Moslems take out one US city, US takes out the Middle East? The only civilization that ends in that scenario is the one that believes in infibulation and worshipping a fucking meteorite fragment. I can live with that.
For what it's worth, I woke up on 9/11 to see the "live" pictures of 5-10-minutes after-both-towers-collapsed Manhattan, with entire island covered in smoke and ash, and the first thought that crossed my mind (after "WTF?") was that a low-yield tac-nuke had been used.
(Considering the kinetic energy released in the collapse of both towers, I was pretty close to the truth :)
Yes, I know it's flamebait.
"It's always a surreal experience to read some US citizens blabber about neuclear war as if it not was a total destruction of civilizations as we know it."
Ah, yes. "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
Part of the parent's point was that the US is probably best prepared to survive nuclear attacks because we don't just throw our hands up and say "Fuck it, we're all going to die anyway." People have actually considered the what-ifs beyond just renting some bad 80's movies.
"Fucking moron : your family will die just as readily as mine."
Actually, considering that the US population seems to have one of the most homogeneous population distributions on the planet (especially away from the coasts), non-US families are probably more likely to die because they're more likely to live closer to a target.
I hope you get what's coming to you.
If you haven't learned anything from Bush's Presidency, you should know this one thing:
If the U.S. get's what's coming to it, so shall you.
That's the only thing that I like about Bush. If America gets nuked, many other nations will also get nuked. WW2 will look like a picnic in comparison to the earth scorching that will go on.
If you think for a second that you will be unaffected and you'll be able to go on posting on Slashdot, you're sadly mistaken.
You'll either be dead or well on you way to a grisly death.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
The problem being that terrorists aren't out to destroy all that is good and happy and free - no, they actually have something to fight about! People attack the west because of its philosophies - not necessarily those of its population, but perhaps those of certain presidents whose names begin with George W. Bush. With this in your minds, do you think that labelling them as bad bad men and trying to kill them will help? Terrorism is being used as a (bad) way of communication - we should try communicating back, in a non-violent way, and show them that Ghandi was wrong when he said that Western Civilisation "would be a good idea."
im in ur
They fear retaliation. Their numbers are dropping, and those who are in want out. Look at what is happening in Baghdad and Tikrit. One by one, Saddam's supporters are either dying or promising to lay down their arms. One by one, they see their comrades get shot to pieces or tracked down mercilessly and hunted like rabbits. Soon, there will be no more of Saddam or Osama's supporters in Iraq. If there are, they will be hiding again, no longer setting off car bombs or laying ambushes for supply trucks carrying medicine and school supplies. And when they go back to hiding and stop blowing our children up, then we will have won the war on terror.
"There are no terrorists in Iraq. The Al Qaeda supporters are thousands of miles away, committing suicide as we speak. There will be everlasting peace in the Middle East, and the evil terrorists will be totally defeated shortly after November, President Bush willing. The WMDs will be confiscated. We will prevail."
--Donald Rumsfeld, America Information Minister