Slashdot Mirror
Interactive Nukemap Now In 3D
Lasrick writes "The brilliant Alex Wellerstein has an interactive map that shows the effects of a variety of atomic bombs on whatever city in the world you choose (you can designate the yield or choose from a wide variety of pre-programmed yields, like Fatman, Little Boy, or what the Soviets had at time of the Cuban Missile Crisis). Compelling in a scary sort of way. A 3D version is available."
The only way to win is not to play.
Of course the maps weren't as pretty, but this has been done to death.
The danger of nuclear war in minuscule compared to the days when Soviets and Maoists were a threat. Now Russians and Chinese are our business partners.
Detente worked, thanks be to Richard Nixon!
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Christ, it really puts into perspective the rate at which these things have gained destructive power since their inception. The difference between the effects of "Little Boy" and the Tsar Bomba on Hiroshima are...jarring.
This is so outdated; Today's significant threat to US is a 30 years old person hidden in a Moscow airport.
Actually one reason they went to smaller bombs is because they're more effective. Two 500 Kiloton bombs actually do more damage than one 1 Megaton bomb.
And with separate delivery mechanics, one is likely to come through.
Terrain effects are very important. Nagasaki is a practical example.
What he's basically done is take the calculations form the Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer and draw circles on Google Maps. A good first step, but really, not particularly useful.
A decent model would
a) take into account terrain (there are all the databases, and a simple approximation for shadowing isn't all that tough. You don't need to model the shockwave over ground, for instance, but the flash is important for large yield devices.
b) do fallout analysis based on climatological model for winds. Easily available databases (NCAR reanalysis project for instance)
Now Russians and Chinese are our business partners.
So were Germans and Japanese in 1939.
...and the simulation reported a 40% increase in property values inside the blast radius.
I had no idea the sim was that accurate.
(I kid. I kid because I love. 519 represent! )
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
My expectations are simpler than all out war. At some point a terrorist group will manage to get their hands on a nuke. The easiest delivery method is cargo container. One day, one of our ports is going to disappear. I hope I'm wrong...
You are wrong. The worst a terrorist is ever going to be able to do is a dirty bomb - basically a bunch of C4 next to the radioactive material. The bomb will spread radiation across one or two city blocks and that's about it.
The reason that they will never actually detonate a real nuke is that they are complicated and extremely delicate. The shape of the bomb must be absolutely perfect and the timing of the charge detonations must be accurate to within microseconds, else nothing happens. Getting the shape right is so important that people working on at least one major nuclear programat Los Alamos had to classify all spheres, including oranges.
It will take the resources of a nation-state to blow up a nuke on US soil and no matter what any war-mongering politicians have said, no actual nation-state is stupid enough to do that because it means the end of that country. Not Iran, not North Korea. Not going to happen.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
The only way to win is not to play.
Actually the only way to win is for nobody to play. Even if you don't play yourself the fallout from the idiot playing next door may still get you.