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Air burst vs ground burst. As a good rule of thumb air bursts are fairly clean, ground bursts are very dirty. About ten years ago Chinese general stated that i

Air burst vs ground burst. As a good rule of thumb air bursts are fairly clean, ground bursts are very dirty. About ten years ago Chinese general stated that in a nuclear war they would use a curtain of ground bursts on the Western coast of the US (and presumably also the UK) to destroy the population. There are semi-classified maps from the late 50s which show that most of the UK would have been turned into a desert in an old fashioned fission bomb war. (They were posted online about fifteen years ago. I downloaded them but lost them in a drive crash.) It's also known strategy to target power reactors with ground bursts to spread even more fallout and kill even more people for longer. Anyone suggesting "Nuclear war - not so bad actually" is delusional.

andrepd 5y ago
Is anyone seriously suggesting that? If yes, tell them to watch "Threads".
- andruby 5y ago
  That's the first movie I saw that really, _really_ scared me.
  - andrepd 5y ago
    It remains the only film I saw to leave me depressed and gloomy for several days after.
    - willismichael 5y ago
      Agreed. When people talk about the scariest horror films, I always think that nothing comes remotely close to Threads. It left me feeling quite disturbed for a full week.
- sysadmindotfail 5y ago
  I looked this up and it's currently free on YouTube for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/5Srqyd8B9gE https://youtu.be/5Srqyd8B9gE
  - belter 5y ago
    I get a "Video unavailable"
    - arethuza 5y ago
      The hospital scene from Threads is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUv_uvDeshE&t=41s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUv_uvDeshE&t=41s
      - dredmorbius 5y ago
        Age-gated.
pfdietz 5y ago
I've wondered if the meme of "we have to bury nuclear waste now" is a fossil left over from the cold war, when surface spent fuel could be converted to fallout by a ground burst.
BurningFrog 5y ago
Another reason to colonize the asteroid belt.

andrepd 5y ago

Is anyone seriously suggesting that? If yes, tell them to watch "Threads".

andruby 5y ago
That's the first movie I saw that really, _really_ scared me.
- andrepd 5y ago
  It remains the only film I saw to leave me depressed and gloomy for several days after.
  - willismichael 5y ago
    Agreed. When people talk about the scariest horror films, I always think that nothing comes remotely close to Threads. It left me feeling quite disturbed for a full week.
sysadmindotfail 5y ago
I looked this up and it's currently free on YouTube for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/5Srqyd8B9gE https://youtu.be/5Srqyd8B9gE
- belter 5y ago
  I get a "Video unavailable"
  - arethuza 5y ago
    The hospital scene from Threads is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUv_uvDeshE&t=41s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUv_uvDeshE&t=41s
    - dredmorbius 5y ago
      Age-gated.

pfdietz 5y ago

I've wondered if the meme of "we have to bury nuclear waste now" is a fossil left over from the cold war, when surface spent fuel could be converted to fallout by a ground burst.

BurningFrog 5y ago

Another reason to colonize the asteroid belt.