Nuclear War: What's your exit strategy?

Sam Kade · 07-08-2017 11:39AM

Erik Shin wrote: »

Put my head between my knees and kiss my arse goodbye

That was one of the options in the booklet that came out in the 60's but it didn't have the arse kissing part. It said if you are outdoors turn your back to the explosion and put your head between your legs.

Was it Hiroshima that peoples shadows were all that's left of them and the shadows are still there.

IvyTheTerrible · 07-08-2017 12:25PM

ArchXStanton wrote: »

Bag of cans and hit the beach..

Not a bad idea... Alcohol can reduce the effects of radiation poisoning...

ArchXStanton · 07-08-2017 12:30PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Not a bad idea... Alcohol can reduce the effects of radiation poisoning...

Well I was kinda hoping to drink myself to death before the ill effects

saintsaltynuts · 07-08-2017 12:31PM

I'l just take it on the chin.

cdeb · 07-08-2017 12:32PM

Capt'n Midnight · 07-08-2017 01:44PM

Jawgap wrote: »

Always thought it was the CIA

Anyway, they didn't build it big enough....... a fully laden B-52H has a take-off run of about 8,000 feet and the runway at Knock is only 7700 feet......never mind the lack of ramp space to take a B-52 or really anything bigger than a 767.....and the lack of re-fuelling facilities.

Knock airport's runway is 148 feet wide

And the B-52's undercarriage is 148 feet wide.

Coincidence ?

4068ac1elhodqr · 07-08-2017 02:01PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

EMP will kill the radio

It may well stuff all the microwave (2.4Ghz) phone masts, but the old school truckers 27MHz CB (if preserved) should run fine, and likely also the basic 446Mhz PMR sets.

Interestingly on SW, 'the Buzzer' has been playing obscure noises from frequency 4625 kHz since the 1970s from Siberian swampland, readily available for anyone, anywhere in the world to tune into due to the cycle, no one's entirely sure what the noises are all about.

Jawgap · 07-08-2017 06:25PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Knock airport's runway is 148 feet wide

And the B-52's undercarriage is 148 feet wide.

Coincidence ?

That'll require a precision landing

it'll be good fun for the pilots in a cross wind.

Tatiana Powerful Meteorology wrote: »

It may well stuff all the microwave (2.4Ghz) phone masts, but the old school truckers 27MHz CB (if preserved) should run fine, and likely also the basic 446Mhz PMR sets.

Interestingly on SW, 'the Buzzer' has been playing obscure noises from frequency 4625 kHz since the 1970s from Siberian swampland, readily available for anyone, anywhere in the world to tune into due to the cycle, no one's entirely sure what the noises are all about.

A few of those buzzer stations have been operational over the years......the working theory seems to be that they are 'numbers' stations used as a low tech, last ditch way to broadcast coded information.

07-08-2017 07:04PM

Put Geena Davis in the car and drive off a cliff in New Mexico.

...And Justice · 07-08-2017 07:08PM

I'll be **** and weeping in a dark wardrobe with a bag of cans.

07-08-2017 07:10PM

...And Justice wrote: »

I'll be **** and weeping in a dark wardrobe with a bag of cans.

Would you not change the nightly routine for such a big moment?

Fred Swanson · 07-08-2017 07:11PM

This post has been deleted.

mark085 · 07-08-2017 07:15PM

Yester wrote: »

Nuclear War: What's your exit strategy?

I have lost my iodine tablets and the goverment issued booklet from years ago. I'm no expert on world politics but what I've been seeing on the news recently is a bit scary. The U.S seems a bit over stretched at the moment while Russia and China appear to be flexing their muscles. North Korea is looking like a potential flashpoint.

I used to think that Ireland was relatively safe in the event of nuclear war and the worst we would have to worry about was which way the wind was blowing when England got nuked. However I was reading recently that during the cold war Russia had 10 nukes pointed at Ireland. Most of them targeting the north but also one's pointed at our major airports, Shannon, Cork and Dublin. (Hopefully they have updated this to include Knock)

I'm living half way between Cork and Shannon so I'm a bit worried. I don't think I'd be within the blast radius but I would be at risk from the fallout.
Ideally my exit strategy would be to commandeer a ship (loads up shotgun and puts on pirate hat) and sail for Iceland. We won't get any advance warning so It would probably be already too late to make a run for it when it happens.

Just looking aroud the house I'd say I have enough food to keep me going for a month or so. I could easily stock up and maybe I should. I'd be a bit more worried about my water supply being contaminated than my food supply.

So what's your exit strategy?

Haha **** that you need to relax Ireland will be fine you're over thinking it and sounds like you will probably end up stranded on your were boat

Jesus Wept · 07-08-2017 07:44PM

It'll be grand. Doesn't suit anyone.

Fred Swanson · 07-08-2017 07:46PM

This post has been deleted.

harry Bailey esq · 07-08-2017 08:36PM

If we get nuked there isn't really an exit strategy. I remember an old Billy Connoly skit about some future catastrophic event and he remarked that he'd be too busy mainlining heroin for the first time ever whilst standing at the side of a cliff with his pants around his ankles bollock deep into a sheep that he wouldn't even notice the armageddon happening around his ears.
His philosophy on it was,if I'm dying today I'll die today but should I survive at least I can say I tried something I thought I'd never get away with.
Classic Connoly,perfect delivery but with a powerful message. The cold war was fairly chilly at the time and ads on telly instructing people what to in the event of a nuking. Connoly hilariously but expertly pointed out that Joe Six pack didn't really give a f*ck about the whole thing despite all the scaremongering. It still rings true today,for me at least.

Richard Hillman · 07-08-2017 08:42PM

I have a very large sewerage shore in my back garden. It could fit at least 2 people but it would just be for me and my supplies.

SEPT 23 1989 · 07-08-2017 08:43PM

When the Wind Blows is probably one of the most honest depictions of how us mere mortals will actually deal with Nuclear war

07-08-2017 08:48PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

When the Wind Blows is probably one of the most honest depictions of how us mere mortals will actually deal with Nuclear war

For a moment I thought of Ricky Gervais saying "are you 'aving a laff"...

http://youtu.be/_rfEcqhLGQQ

The One Doctor · 07-08-2017 10:16PM

Smurfette principle wrote: »

Ha I remember those iodine tablets and I remember thinking at the time if anyone in a Nuclear power station anywhere that was going into meltdown has ever used the phrase "Don't worry lads I just took an iodine tablet so out of my way there and I'll just run in and sort out that yellow cake uranium"

This is the Cuban Missile crisis all over again, at this rate pretty soon some entrepreneur will have a bright idea and make a killing selling people personal bunkers they can bury in their back gardens (would you need planning permission for that? I mean people say all the time that if there was a Nuclear war only the cockroaches would survive so does that include Dublin County Council? because last thing you want after a Nuclear war is them hunting you down because you didn't fill in your planning application correctly).

OP the truth is if there were a Nuclear war the dead would be envied by the living because all you would have to look forward to would be your teeth, hair and nails falling out, lesions all over your body, your internal organs slowly dissolving (making all that food you stocked up pointless because it is hard to chew and digest with no teeth or stomach) and you probably wouldn't be able to get it up anymore either so that's repopulating the Earth out the window too. If a nuke were dropped on London (the most likely target and about 280 miles from Dublin) Dublin would be a wasteland within a week assuming it's not under 30 miles of water because it wouldn't even matter which way the wind was blowing because if the radiation doesn't get us the tsunamis and subsequent Earthquakes will and then even if you survive that there is still a 15 year Nuclear Winter coming your way that will make Iceland seem like a tropical paradise so there will be no sun because of the dust cloud, all the plants will die meaning any animals that survived the initial bomb will die of starvation thus no food so it will become a race between radiation poisoning, diphtheria and malnutrition to see which kills you first. You are starting to envy the dead now aren't you?

You're exaggerating. Most fallout from a 500kt fusion bomb (most likely weapon to be used) would settle very close to the blast as very few of the detonations would be ground bursts. Bantry Bay and Shannon would get hit, but they're fairly isolated. Nuclear winter has been proven to be based on faulty evidence from bad computer models back in the 70s and 80s. We'd lose comms and would rapidly lose power as fuel tankers stopped coming in, but we'd have Poulaphouca and wind turbines for emergency power. Assuming Dublin wasn't hit, Ireland would come out of nuclear war fairly well.

We'd hit the jackpot if Cork was hit though.

osarusan · 07-08-2017 10:19PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Was it Hiroshima that peoples shadows were all that's left of them and the shadows are still there.

Yes.

I've been to the Hiroshima A-Bomb museum and saw that - a piece of concrete step and wall that was originally the outside of a post office (or was it a bank). Somebody had been sitting on the step waiting for it to open when the blast happened, and the blast effectively bleached the surface of the wall, apart from where their body had been in front of it.

Also saw the white polo neck shirts of junior high school students, which typically have the name of the school stitched into the shirt with black thread. The white shirt itself was in basically perfect condition, but the black stitching, which attracted the light, had been completely burnt away.

dr.fuzzenstein · 08-08-2017 05:24PM

Fred Swanson wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=572XULOrEgw

How does this only have 2 thanks??!!
This was the soundtrack to the cold war in the 80's, this is such a great tune, you didn't even mind being vaporized by a nuclear bomb.

08-08-2017 05:58PM

We will be like the old couple in the Titanic, got to bed and cuddle just wait for it to happen because what else could you do.

08-08-2017 06:03PM

mariaalice wrote: »

We will be like the old couple in the Titanic, got to bed and cuddle just wait for it to happen because what else could you do.

You could make like the other couple, fill a bath tub with water and ice cubes, throw a writing desk in, and one dies while the other dozes off for a while...

dr.fuzzenstein · 08-08-2017 06:07PM

mariaalice wrote: »

We will be like the old couple in the Titanic, got to bed and cuddle just wait for it to happen because what else could you do.

Flattered but spoken for.

nice_guy80 · 08-08-2017 09:30PM

grab supplies and a boat
head for an island on the Shannon

Widdershins · 08-08-2017 09:54PM

The One Doctor wrote: »

You're exaggerating. Most fallout from a 500kt fusion bomb (most likely weapon to be used) would settle very close to the blast as very few of the detonations would be ground bursts. Bantry Bay and Shannon would get hit, but they're fairly isolated. Nuclear winter has been proven to be based on faulty evidence from bad computer models back in the 70s and 80s. We'd lose comms and would rapidly lose power as fuel tankers stopped coming in, but we'd have Poulaphouca and wind turbines for emergency power. Assuming Dublin wasn't hit, Ireland would come out of nuclear war fairly well.

We'd hit the jackpot if Cork was hit though.

Do you mean Ardnacrusha power station? Poulaphouca's a dolmen in the Burren

Ardnacrusha could keep ticking over, I think.

Sorry, I've just realised where you meant!