Hawaii- What would you have done?

[tosh]

Well obviously find the sun block lotion, factor 50+ should offer some protection, right. Get some spuds and wrap in tin foil... actually I'd wrap myself too..extra protection see!
Retire to a comfy chair and spend a few moments pondering the jobs for the coming weekend whilst salivating in anticipation of freshly cooked spuds..yum yum 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I recall the military nuclear incident training my father received from the Canadian Military.  They were instructed to drop their pants and kiss their @$$es goodbye.

This makes a lot more sense to me than the drills they taught school kids about hiding under their desks in event of a nuclear attack.   

Even worse, I am so paranoid that it would be a drill or mistake that I doubt I'd do anything rash like looting or anything- more likely I'd pretty much just continue on doing whatever I feel like doing, and if it happens, it happens. 

There's an old saying about snipers that could be paraphrased into a nuclear attack- the original saying is that if you run you'll only die tired.  If you manage to run and/or hide from a nuclear attack you will just die irradiated, hungry, tired and in pain.... the day after tomorrow.

Better I think to put your feet up, crack open an adult beverage and raise your glass when you see the light.

Def

[ironraven]

I think I would have just taken a lawn chair and sit in the yard, with a target in my lap. Probably doing something like chanting "neener, neener, Kim is a wiener"

And if there is a big light, and I"m not fried, shoot myself in the head.

[El Corkscrew]

I think I would have just taken a lawn chair and sit in the yard, with a target in my lap. Probably doing something like chanting "neener, neener, Kim is a wiener"

And if there is a big light, and I"m not fried, shoot myself in the head.

I like your use of imagery

[Alan K.]

You know those new in the box, or new in the package SAKs and multitools in the back of that drawer that you hardly ever go into except to stash another shiny new knife or tool?  C'mon,, we all have that drawer.  Well, if the bombs are coming I'm opening them.  Every last one.

[Old Boy]

Nuclear warhead? Whew.  Not sure what you can do. Hawaii would just be dust right? Hug my family as hard as I can and ask for their forgiveness for anything I might have done wrong.

[El Corkscrew]

You know those new in the box, or new in the package SAKs and multitools in the back of that drawer that you hardly ever go into except to stash another shiny new knife or tool?  C'mon,, we all have that drawer.  Well, if the bombs are coming I'm opening them.  Every last one.

[styx]

a tad late to the topic but I'm with Def. In my area you can't really get away, the shelters are poorly maintained (if they even are), the nuclear ones are few and far in between, they wouldn't hold many people and certainly not for long enough. so i'd try to make a few calls to get some things in the open, tell y'all where you can find my MTs and SAKs if you want to have a dangerous treasure hunt for not much of a treasure and hope there is ice in the freezer because i hate warm whisky

[Gerhard Gerber]

I recall the military nuclear incident training my father received from the Canadian Military.  They were instructed to drop their pants and kiss their @$$es goodbye.

My first thought as well........."put your head between your legs and kiss your @$$ goodbye!" 

Personally I'm more worried about Fukushima than any missile.  That bomb has dropped already.....

[Don Pablo]

Personally I'm more worried about Fukushima than any missile.  That bomb has dropped already.....

I agree with you there, and while also being impatient with the rate of progress on new nuclear reactor designs.
Fukushima was built over 40 years ago, along with most of the other nuclear reactors in the world, and only 30 years after the very first nuclear reactor we built. It's of the same vintage as Chernobyl, without the flaw in the coolant system that led to Chernobyl blowing up.

There are some really interesting designs going around today. My favorite is molten salt, where the reactor fuel is kept molten so that it can't "meltdown". 
And it's self regulating via physics, which makes less mistakes than most humans.

Sorry, can you tell that I'm a bit enthusiastic? 

[pfrsantos]

You know those new in the box, or new in the package SAKs and multitools in the back of that drawer that you hardly ever go into except to stash another shiny new knife or tool?  C'mon,, we all have that drawer.  Well, if the bombs are coming I'm opening them.  Every last one.

[Syncop8r]

This means nothing to me... Ohhhhhh Vienna! I know, different song, but.. am... I just felt the Urge to sing it...

FTFY 

[Syncop8r]

New Zealand is nuclear-free, so obviously any nuclear missiles would get turned around at the border, right?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Nuclear warhead? Whew.  Not sure what you can do. Hawaii would just be dust right? Hug my family as hard as I can and ask for their forgiveness for anything I might have done wrong.

The idea is that you don't have to be in Hawaii- hypothetically, El Bomb is headed for your town/city, wherever it is.

Hawaii is an interesting concept though- there have to be hundreds, if not thousands of caves in which one may be able to shelter from the initial blast, but as an explosion that big would probably set off the fault line and cause all of those volcanoes (plus a bunch of new ones) to erupt.... well that seems like it could get messy and painful pretty fast.  Imagine the horror of making it to a bomb shelter just in time for the whole thing to be sealed in magma.  If you don't bake to death inside you'll have the choice of starving, dehydrating or suffocating.

I think I'll take the flash of light any day.

Def

[Gerhard Gerber]

Personally I'm more worried about Fukushima than any missile.  That bomb has dropped already.....

I agree with you there, and while also being impatient with the rate of progress on new nuclear reactor designs.
Fukushima was built over 40 years ago, along with most of the other nuclear reactors in the world, and only 30 years after the very first nuclear reactor we built. It's of the same vintage as Chernobyl, without the flaw in the coolant system that led to Chernobyl blowing up.

There are some really interesting designs going around today. My favorite is molten salt, where the reactor fuel is kept molten so that it can't "meltdown". 
And it's self regulating via physics, which makes less mistakes than most humans.

Sorry, can you tell that I'm a bit enthusiastic? 

I spent most of my life thinking that nuclear energy was the only way......I'm a technical realist.

My mind has changed not because I believe alternative energy sources are viable yet.......for another reason entirely.

I simply think humanity no longer produces intelligent, dedicated, selfless....the list of characteristics is long........people that I would trust to build, run and maintain a nuclear power plant.

We are a race of Homer Simpsons.

Fukushima.......

I get dull looks when I mention this.  We're going through severe droughts in Southern Africa, and El Nino and La Nina effects that cause these droughts (or normal rainfall) are well known.
Added to this last year was The Blob, another hot spot in the Pacific.
When I look at the satellite photos of the heat bloom from Fukushima, I see the same thing.......

[microbe]

I would kiss my wife, sabrage a bottle of Champagne with my SOG Tech bowie, light a cigar, put on my sunglasses, and sit on my terrace to enjoy the fireworks.

[daverobson]

During my time in the Army we used to have regular NBC drills (nuclear, biological & chemical).

After all the intensive training our instructors would end by saying "That's the official training, if it happens for real the best thing to do is forget everything & just sit down with a bottle of whiskey". 

[ThePeacent]

I'm sorry but the techno-engineering nerd on me can't just accept all these answers as valid, given the possibility of so many different scenarios.

What is the bomb's yield? 10 kilotons? 100? 1 Megaton?
Is it a common ICBM attack, a MIRV (Multiple warheads), a cruiser missile with a small sized nuclear artifact?
Is it aimed at a city center, at a military base, an airport?
Detonation is planned to be high altitude, above-the-ground?
Do I have buildings, mountains or cover between the blast and me?
Do I have a basement, a shelter nearby, a cement and sturdily built place to go, or my house i made of thin wood walls and there's nothing solid in the neighborhood?

 
So many possible outcomes, that is without having the time running out and other factors in consideration! 

[Fuzzbucket]

This means nothing to me... Ohhhhhh Vienna! I know, different song, but.. am... I just felt the Urge to sing it...

FTFY 

Damn, how did I miss that one?!...Never mind as it... means nothing to me...!!!

[Fuzzbucket]

Well obviously find the sun block lotion, factor 50+ should offer some protection, right. Get some spuds and wrap in tin foil... actually I'd wrap myself too..extra protection see!
Retire to a comfy chair and spend a few moments pondering the jobs for the coming weekend whilst salivating in anticipation of freshly cooked spuds..yum yum 

... I like your style Toshy... fancy a trade? Look see I've got these KI pills here... 

[Vidar]

When I was a kid in school the cold war was still ongoing. We used to have monthly exercises for exactly a the incoming missiles or bombers message scenario. Basically everyone to the nearest bomb shelter in a quick orderly fashion. And bomb shelters were everywhere.

Going from there the cunning plan was then to blow up our own roads, airports and bridges, and if we were real patriotic our own houses too. I don't really see any benefit of that to us, but then again I guess our wellbeing weren't really the main focus or concern of the planners back then.

So back in the day I knew what to do if the alarm sounded. These days I'm not so sure. I guess the old plan for lack of a better one? Or jump in the boat, get going and just hope for the best.

[Fuzzbucket]

Well... I don't know about all you other fellows, but it looks like us Brits are going to do pretty alright - Dave's got a certificate, I've got some useless pills, Toshy's got sunglasses (and Spuds)... and Mags... Mags has got a submarine... although he's been a bit quiet about the fact...?

[Vidar]

Come to think of it I know what decision a friend of me made looking at what he believed was the opening of a black hole in the sky.. It was early morning when his family got a text message saying "Thank you for everything. Love you". Anyone can freak out getting a message like that out of nowhere... This is what he saw:

[Fuzzbucket]

Come to think of it I know what decision a friend of me made looking at what he believed was the opening of a black hole in the sky.. It was early morning when his family got a text message saying "Thank you for everything. Love you". Anyone can freak out getting a message like that out of nowhere... This is what he saw:

I remember that. Wasn't it a failed Russian rocket (a big one not a firework) that caused that?

[Smashie]

After this tweet came out I have a hell of a lot more sympathy for the poor guy who sent the message out! Talk about a rubbish interface

https://twitter.com/CivilBeat/status/953127542050795520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Finformation-technology%2F2018%2F01%2Fthe-interface-to-send-out-a-missile-alert-in-hawaii-is-as-expected-quite-bad%2F

[Vidar]

I remember that. Wasn't it a failed Russian rocket (a big one not a firework) that caused that?

That has been deemed the most likely explaination by the experts. The Russians denies having fired any rockets (they would I guess), and the military will not confirm whether or not they know what the Russians do or don't. My personal take is yes - but if so I'm still amazed a rocket could travel to cover such a huge area of the sky.

[Syncop8r]

Mags has got a submarine... although he's been a bit quiet about the fact...?

Perhaps it's substandard.

[Vidar]

After this tweet came out I have a hell of a lot more sympathy for the poor guy who sent the message out! Talk about a rubbish interface

https://twitter.com/CivilBeat/status/953127542050795520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Finformation-technology%2F2018%2F01%2Fthe-interface-to-send-out-a-missile-alert-in-hawaii-is-as-expected-quite-bad%2F

That was rubbish - and worse yet, that is supposed to be used in a real stressful situation. The potential for error the other way with that interface is there too, and that would be even worse.

[Fuzzbucket]

I remember that. Wasn't it a failed Russian rocket (a big one not a firework) that caused that?

That has been deemed the most likely explaination by the experts. The Russians denies having fired any rockets (they would I guess), and the military will not confirm whether or not they know what the Russians do or don't. My personal take is yes - but if so I'm still amazed a rocket could travel to cover such a huge area of the sky.

Agreed, what ever it was, it was smurfing freaky at the time!

[Fuzzbucket]

Mags has got a submarine... although he's been a bit quiet about the fact...?

Perhaps it's substandard.

...well... yeah obviously...