brucec@iddic.UUCP (06/09/84)
Since there isn't a "survivalist" news-group, I guess this belongs in "politics". I am specifically interested in discussions on Carl (billyuns and billyuns) Sagan's "Nuclear Winter" phenomena. I've found that most "we-are-all-going-to-die" arguments are technically flawed and are usually driven by a "we-are-all-going-to-die-UNLESS-YOU- DO-EXACTLY-AS-I-SAY" mentality but, heck, Carl's our local planetologist and I'll listen as long as I can stay awake.
heahd@tellab1.UUCP (Dan Wood) (06/11/84)
Two excellant articles concerning nuclear winter appeared in the March and
April issues of Natural History magazine (published by The Americal Museum of
Natural History). The first (in the March issue) discussed the phenomenon in
general, how this model of aftermath was arrived at and the effects on life on
earth. The author did postulate a few human survivors in the southeren
hemisphere but painted a pretty bleak picture for everything but a few plants
and insects in the north. The second article was Stephen Jay Gould's This View
of Life column in the april issue and was mostly concerened with what a shame
it would be if one little species managed to wipe out 4 billion years work in
a few hours. If I remember right, Mr. Gould didn't think the southeren
hemisphere would fare much better than the north. In either case, nuclear
winter is indeed a chilling (pun intended) prospect. As far as survivelism
goes, I don't think all the guns, ammo, freeze-dried food, and bottled water
in the world will be of much good if this sceenario comes true.
--
Yrs. in Fear and Loathing,
The Blue Buffalo
Haunted by the -
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G \(^^)/ ) o
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t of G
...!ihnp4!tellab1!heahd lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (06/13/84)
#R:iddic:-169900:uokvax:5000091:000:940 uokvax!lmaher Jun 12 19:54:00 1984 I just finished a class on National Defense/Security so I'd be interested in a discussion on the Nuclear Winter and similar bugaboos. We spent weeks going over the score or so ways you can get killed in a nuclear war. However, _The Threat_, by Andrew Cockburn, a truly excellent book (now available in paperback - *well* worth the $5), suggests that the reliability for both American and Soviet missiles may be well below 15%. That is, 85% of the missiles won't even leave their silos. As far as I know, the U.S. has never had a successful test launch from an operational silo. They remove the missile, transport it to a test silo; take a couple of weeks going over it with a fine tooth comb, then fire it. Usually it goes off; often it even hits its target in the Pacific. Like the motto says, "Peace is our Profession. War is just a hobby." :-) Carl (formerly uok!crigney) ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher ..!duke!uok!uokvax!lmaher