21st Century's Stop Drop and Roll??

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New York put out a PSA in case of a nuclear attack, leaving many residents confused

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 598 • Replies: 17

[+3] - roger - 10/11/2022I think the old duck and cover routine was to avoid flying glass and other debris. Not a bad idea, really.

@tsarstepan,

Quote:

"Reckless and 'a fabulous waste' of taxpayer money" is how one nuclear weapons expert described that weird viral PSA the city released about what to do if we get nuked. (It turned out the video was made in January 2019 and sat on a shelf for three years before the Adams administration decided, after the invasion of Ukraine, to post it.)

Inside the Making of New York City’s Bizarre Nuclear War P.S.A.

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@tsarstepan,

Hot Dog! A paywall.

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A nuclear attack would be something like the Tom Cruise movie War of the Worlds. It would be unsafe to stay where you are and unsafe to leave.
And there would be mass panic, no food and everything contaminated with radioactive dust.

It was absurd in the fifties to have school children duck under their desks, and it's just as absurd now to talk about surviving a nuclear attack. It would be tantamount to discussing how to survive your own suicide.
Religious fundamentalists would be clamoring to be saved and get into heaven.

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@coluber2001,

In grade school in the fifties we practiced ducking under the desks and covering our heads. We had no idea what was going on, but the poor teachers knew what a stupid idea this was.

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@coluber2001,

The thread's title is wrong on my part. I realize now I meant to write 21st Century's Duck and Cover. Stop, drop, and roll is the procedure one does when you find yourself on fire.

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@tsarstepan,

No big deal. I remember public service ads on tv in the 50s. If you're caught in the open during a nuclear attack, lie down in or roll into the gutter against the curb and cover your head. The warning of an attack was the bright flash. I think you were supposed to lie prone to protect your face. You wouldn't want to go through life with a melted face.

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I known this for years that most apartment and office buildings have neglected or even converted their fallout shelters into apartments, laundry rooms, storage rooms, etc....
If a nuclear attack hits NYC, these fallout shelters won't protect you
I still would like to steal one of those authentic, iconic fallout shelter signs.

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@coluber2001,

coluber2001 wrote:

It was absurd in the fifties to have school children duck under their desks, and it's just as absurd now to talk about surviving a nuclear attack. It would be tantamount to discussing how to survive your own suicide.

Why is it absurd to try to avoid injury and save your life?

Is it also absurd to leave a burning building or to try to shelter from tornadoes?

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@coluber2001,

coluber2001 wrote:

In grade school in the fifties we practiced ducking under the desks and covering our heads. We had no idea what was going on, but the poor teachers knew what a stupid idea this was.

Did the teachers also "know" that fire and tornado drills are stupid??

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

I meant to write 21st Century's Duck and Cover.

It wasn't really "Duck and Cover" though. "Duck and Cover" was about how to survive blast.

This video was about how to survive the fallout after the shockwaves have already passed.

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@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

coluber2001 wrote:
It was absurd in the fifties to have school children duck under their desks, and it's just as absurd now to talk about surviving a nuclear attack. It would be tantamount to discussing how to survive your own suicide.

Why is it absurd to try to avoid injury and save your life?

Is it also absurd to leave a burning building or to try to shelter from tornadoes?

We are in rare agreement here. I will also still try anything to survive this kind of attack. I wouldn't be optimistic about it but I'd still try.

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I think the old duck and cover routine was to avoid flying glass and other debris. Not a bad idea, really.

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@roger,

Yes. And also to not be thrown through the air by the blast and snap your neck when you land.

Protection from the thermal pulse is also a good thing.

Duck and Cover would save a lot of lives in the intermediate zone between "total annihilation" and "zero damage".

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@roger,

roger wrote:

I think the old duck and cover routine was to avoid flying glass and other debris. Not a bad idea, really.

Though if you ever watched the original PSA short, they proffer that ducking and covering - outside and only in an unobstructed corner between wall and ground after seeing the initial blast? Will likely just get your silhouette remaining and burnt onto said wall and ground.

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@tsarstepan,

Maybe. It depends on how far from the blast you are.

Some places will be so close that no one will survive no matter what they do.

Some places will be so far away that everyone will survive no matter what they do.

It's the people who happen to be in the intermediate zone who will benefit from ducking and covering instead of standing up and catching the blast directly in their face.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

We are in rare agreement here. I will also still try anything to survive this kind of attack. I wouldn't be optimistic about it but I'd still try.

You're in NYC right?

I think the best thing to do if you are in a city on a body of water and have a bit of notice of the incoming attack is to swim a little ways out into the ocean. Not absurdly far, but far enough out that no skyscraper is likely to land on you if it topples in your direction.

Water will provide a lot of protection from prompt radiation and the thermal pulse. Just immediately dive for a minute or two when there is a flash. You will also be out of the mess of all the flying debris and collapsing buildings.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

roger wrote:

I think the old duck and cover routine was to avoid flying glass and other debris. Not a bad idea, really.

Though if you ever watched the original PSA short, they proffer that ducking and covering - outside and only in an unobstructed corner between wall and ground after seeing the initial blast? Will likely just get your silhouette remaining and burnt onto said wall and ground.

Future generations will marvel at the discovered burnt silhouettes as we marvel at the remains in Pompeii.

The survivors of a nuclear war would probably envy the dead.

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21st Century's Stop Drop and Roll??

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