3 ms·

Nuclear war survival guide reveals seven everyday items if disaster strikes

14 points by Bender 3mo ago

WalterGR 3mo ago
The guide itself was submitted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876737
- pogue 3mo ago
  There are a few editions of this guide, apparently, and the most recent is a 2022 edition, but it contains most information of the older editions but might have a newer foreword. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills This is the 2022 edition linked from Wikipedia: https://link.us1.storjshare.io/s/jxoqtjnsv35pbrrndvy3gifrqqoq/nwss/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills_dot_com_FREE_PDF_file_05-06-2022_ver_01.pdf https://link.us1.storjshare.io/s/jxoqtjnsv35pbrrndvy3gifrqqo... Here is a html version of the book that has clickable chapter links and so forth: https://www.oism.org/nwss/ https://www.oism.org/nwss/
_fw 3mo ago
[flagged]
Systemmanic 3mo ago
1. Building a shelter 2. Clean drinking water 3. Non-perishable food 4. Radiation fallout meter 5. Valuables, money and vital documents 6. Lighting 7. Protective clothing
- Markoff 3mo ago
  not much use for the 5th point in nuclear war, there are better things to burn
embedding-shape 3mo ago
Slightly more up to date than 1979, the Swedish government recently produced and sent to all residents a "in case of crisis or war" guide that includes a bunch of helpful tips on how to be prepared in case of crisis, and is very concise and easy to read: https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf (some Sweden-specifics, like about all the civil defence shelters being available everywhere, but most things are generic and global advice)
comrade1234 3mo ago
Iran doesn't have nukes and the Obama deal was really good. Iran didn't want to develop nukes. But now it totally makes sense that they should.
- warshinder 3mo ago
  Hillary Clinton was interviewed recently and she was refreshingly candid about the glaring problems with the “Obama deal” which most notably was that it did nothing to prevent Iran from amassing a large stockpile of ballistic missiles and giving support to violent factions like the Yemeni’s who you may recall used such to disrupt global trade. It was better than nothing, and maybe good, but it’s worth adding context when someone describes it as “really good.” Hillary Clinton wouldn’t use that phrase.
  - comrade1234 3mo ago
    Where is this interview? I Haven't heard of this. So now you're trying to equate missiles with a nuke program?
    - zzgo 3mo ago
      The Iraq War was pushed through under the claim of preventing Iraq from obtaining Weapons of Mass Destruction, which presumably could have included nuclear weapons. The Bush administration sold the claim in part because of aluminum tubes which they claimed could be used to create ballistic missiles. Clinton, who herself voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, is aware that parts that could be used to build ballistic missiles is pretty much fungible with nukes in a lot of American's minds. It's not the commenter who is trying to equate missiles with nukes, it's the American political discourse that posited and accepted this claim nearly 25 years ago.
      - warshinder 3mo ago
        No the point, as I understand it, is that with enough missiles, enforcing the JCPOA becomes impossible. Iran can dominate other regional powers, cause global suffering, decide they want to build nuclear weapons after all and not much can be done to stop them. As we are seeing, they are powerful enough now that Trump isn’t having an easy time winning, and it may even impact the midterms it’s that bad.
shalmanese 3mo ago
One test I now use on survival related material, especially ones written pre-COVID, is how long does it take them before they start talking about how to cut hair. One thing we learned during COVID was a significant limitation in people's willingness to stay isolated was their hair was getting out of control. It's the exact, boring, unsexy topic that you omit if you're selling the fantasy of survival and you include if you want to cover the boring, day to day logistics. The entire survival industry is not acquitted well in being revealed as how much the industry is an aesthetic movement.
- palmotea 3mo ago
  > One thing we learned during COVID was a significant limitation in people's willingness to stay isolated was their hair was getting out of control. It's the exact, boring, unsexy topic that you omit if you're selling the fantasy of survival and you include if you want to cover the boring, day to day logistics. COVID wasn't really a survival situation though, and least not in the traditional sense (i.e. staying at home for long periods ordering stuff of Amazon). In an actual survival situation, I'd suppose you hack away at your hair with a pair of scissors or a knife, because you're dirty and starving and have more important things to worry about.
  - shalmanese 3mo ago
    "Survival", as conceptualized as an industry, is that you're holed up in a secure location with adequate food, ammunition and other essentials to last months to years. Plenty of preppers who diligently prepared bunkers for the end of the world emerged from those bunkers, not because they ran out of food or ammo, but because their hair got too annoying to deal with and cosplaying survival did not extend to actually learning how to cut their own hair vs giving up the pretense and having a professional do it..
    - palmotea 3mo ago
      > Plenty of preppers who diligently prepared bunkers for the end of the world emerged from those bunkers, not because they ran out of food or ammo, but because their hair got too annoying to deal with and cosplaying survival Sure, but what I'm saying is haircuts are more of a problem for survival cosplay scenarios than actual survival scenarios. It's actually legitimate to omit haircuts when you're planning an actual survival scenario (or you treat it very briefly: scissors are a tool you should have in your bunker). For instance: there was a Ukrainian soldier holed up in a front-line bunker for the better part of a year, did he emerge from his bunker when he needed a haircut? Or did he hack away at it with whatever was available?
newsomix9xl 3mo ago
Stockpile whisky - you can disinfect with it, trade it, or drink it and stop caring about the Apocalypse.
- WalterGR 3mo ago
  A person would be better off drinking 40% ethanol than relying on it for disinfection. That way the inevitable death from bacterial infection might be a very small amount less horrible.
  - thehamkercat 3mo ago
    Hey, you can disinfect with it 3 times to get 120%
  - newsomix9xl 3mo ago
    The key usage here is "drink" in case the humor was too subtle for ya. "Disinfect" always works in the movies. So there.

14 points by Bender 3mo ago

The guide itself was submitted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876737

pogue 3mo ago
There are a few editions of this guide, apparently, and the most recent is a 2022 edition, but it contains most information of the older editions but might have a newer foreword. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills This is the 2022 edition linked from Wikipedia: https://link.us1.storjshare.io/s/jxoqtjnsv35pbrrndvy3gifrqqoq/nwss/Nuclear_War_Survival_Skills_dot_com_FREE_PDF_file_05-06-2022_ver_01.pdf https://link.us1.storjshare.io/s/jxoqtjnsv35pbrrndvy3gifrqqo... Here is a html version of the book that has clickable chapter links and so forth: https://www.oism.org/nwss/ https://www.oism.org/nwss/

_fw 3mo ago

[flagged]

Systemmanic 3mo ago

1. Building a shelter 2. Clean drinking water 3. Non-perishable food 4. Radiation fallout meter 5. Valuables, money and vital documents 6. Lighting 7. Protective clothing

Markoff 3mo ago
not much use for the 5th point in nuclear war, there are better things to burn

embedding-shape 3mo ago

Slightly more up to date than 1979, the Swedish government recently produced and sent to all residents a "in case of crisis or war" guide that includes a bunch of helpful tips on how to be prepared in case of crisis, and is very concise and easy to read: https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf (some Sweden-specifics, like about all the civil defence shelters being available everywhere, but most things are generic and global advice)

comrade1234 3mo ago

Iran doesn't have nukes and the Obama deal was really good. Iran didn't want to develop nukes. But now it totally makes sense that they should.

warshinder 3mo ago
Hillary Clinton was interviewed recently and she was refreshingly candid about the glaring problems with the “Obama deal” which most notably was that it did nothing to prevent Iran from amassing a large stockpile of ballistic missiles and giving support to violent factions like the Yemeni’s who you may recall used such to disrupt global trade. It was better than nothing, and maybe good, but it’s worth adding context when someone describes it as “really good.” Hillary Clinton wouldn’t use that phrase.
- comrade1234 3mo ago
  Where is this interview? I Haven't heard of this. So now you're trying to equate missiles with a nuke program?
  - zzgo 3mo ago
    The Iraq War was pushed through under the claim of preventing Iraq from obtaining Weapons of Mass Destruction, which presumably could have included nuclear weapons. The Bush administration sold the claim in part because of aluminum tubes which they claimed could be used to create ballistic missiles. Clinton, who herself voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, is aware that parts that could be used to build ballistic missiles is pretty much fungible with nukes in a lot of American's minds. It's not the commenter who is trying to equate missiles with nukes, it's the American political discourse that posited and accepted this claim nearly 25 years ago.
    - warshinder 3mo ago
      No the point, as I understand it, is that with enough missiles, enforcing the JCPOA becomes impossible. Iran can dominate other regional powers, cause global suffering, decide they want to build nuclear weapons after all and not much can be done to stop them. As we are seeing, they are powerful enough now that Trump isn’t having an easy time winning, and it may even impact the midterms it’s that bad.

shalmanese 3mo ago

One test I now use on survival related material, especially ones written pre-COVID, is how long does it take them before they start talking about how to cut hair. One thing we learned during COVID was a significant limitation in people's willingness to stay isolated was their hair was getting out of control. It's the exact, boring, unsexy topic that you omit if you're selling the fantasy of survival and you include if you want to cover the boring, day to day logistics. The entire survival industry is not acquitted well in being revealed as how much the industry is an aesthetic movement.

palmotea 3mo ago
> One thing we learned during COVID was a significant limitation in people's willingness to stay isolated was their hair was getting out of control. It's the exact, boring, unsexy topic that you omit if you're selling the fantasy of survival and you include if you want to cover the boring, day to day logistics. COVID wasn't really a survival situation though, and least not in the traditional sense (i.e. staying at home for long periods ordering stuff of Amazon). In an actual survival situation, I'd suppose you hack away at your hair with a pair of scissors or a knife, because you're dirty and starving and have more important things to worry about.
- shalmanese 3mo ago
  "Survival", as conceptualized as an industry, is that you're holed up in a secure location with adequate food, ammunition and other essentials to last months to years. Plenty of preppers who diligently prepared bunkers for the end of the world emerged from those bunkers, not because they ran out of food or ammo, but because their hair got too annoying to deal with and cosplaying survival did not extend to actually learning how to cut their own hair vs giving up the pretense and having a professional do it..
  - palmotea 3mo ago
    > Plenty of preppers who diligently prepared bunkers for the end of the world emerged from those bunkers, not because they ran out of food or ammo, but because their hair got too annoying to deal with and cosplaying survival Sure, but what I'm saying is haircuts are more of a problem for survival cosplay scenarios than actual survival scenarios. It's actually legitimate to omit haircuts when you're planning an actual survival scenario (or you treat it very briefly: scissors are a tool you should have in your bunker). For instance: there was a Ukrainian soldier holed up in a front-line bunker for the better part of a year, did he emerge from his bunker when he needed a haircut? Or did he hack away at it with whatever was available?

newsomix9xl 3mo ago

Stockpile whisky - you can disinfect with it, trade it, or drink it and stop caring about the Apocalypse.

WalterGR 3mo ago
A person would be better off drinking 40% ethanol than relying on it for disinfection. That way the inevitable death from bacterial infection might be a very small amount less horrible.
- thehamkercat 3mo ago
  Hey, you can disinfect with it 3 times to get 120%
- newsomix9xl 3mo ago
  The key usage here is "drink" in case the humor was too subtle for ya. "Disinfect" always works in the movies. So there.