yup, nuclear war apps exist

I'm teaching a class on the U.S. since 1979 this year, so we are spending some time talking about the Reagan military buildup and the anti-nuclear movement in the early eighties. This means we are also talking about the meaning of possible nuclear war, which is not actually something my students have spent much time thinking about.  I was surprised, but then again the Cold War is paleolithic to them in most respects, even in a military town.

So, to focus the mind, it was necessary for the class first to listen to the Minutemen circa 1983, who keep thinking about World War III.

The onto to this weirdly compelling nuclear war app, which allows you to track the devasation of a wide array of weapons (from 1945 early U.S. bombs to the largest in the arsenals to recent North Korean sized weapons) on any map you wish.  (There are actually quite a few similar programs.)

Here is the radius for a Minutemen missle landing on my house. 

And to the size of the damage that would be produced by the largest Soveit-era weapon tested.  This one would take out all my far-flung beeyards too! 

You can admit a certain morbid interest.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Americans don't get riled up to protest. Give away billions in taxpayer money to financial fatcats with no accountability--no worries. Refuse to punish war criminal torturers--no problem. The battle cry is...moo. Koreans, on the other hand, live in a vibrant democracy and their political action is a bit more direct. Here is a striking photo of union protesters in Daejeon using sharpened bamboo spears to attack riot police. (an article about the current state of rioting in Korea, quoting a Sogang professor, is here )
Read more

CHAOS WASHING MACHINES

My apartment comes with a washing machine called, imposingly, a Goldstar Chaos Hi Tech Washing Machine. I thought it was a dryer too but that doesn't seem to be the case. Korean apartments have these alleys between the living areas and the outside wall in which clothes are dried. There are sliding doors between the apartment and the alley, and large windows between the bedrooms and the alley. I thought I wouldn't have to use it but if the washing machine is also a "hi tech" drier I sure can't find the right combination of buttons. Not that I haven't looked. I tried to decipher everything with the help of my dictionary and limited knowledge of the hangul alphabet (which includes only a dim understanding of the actual letter order--still working on that). The word pronounced (I think) "saw" is a simple two letter word. But according to my dictionary, it means, "a cow, a bull, an ox" or "dressing, stuffing," "little, few, ...
Read more
Image
In case you didn't see that county map indicating increased Republican voting between 2004 and 2008 before they took it off of the NYTimes page, here is an image of it: This is a fascinating document that I think will be the focus of many studies. Explaining increases only in these areas in the entire country could be very instructive. Andrew Sullivan notes dryly: "Ah, yes, Appalachia and Arkansas. Obviously concerned about marginal tax rates for those earning over $250,000 a year, I suppose."
Read more