Worrywort

Form the backfiles and recently discovered from the November/December 2004 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

Nuclear terrorism would be horrific, but nuclear war would be far worse. As Lynn Eden reported in “City on Fire,” fire damage from nuclear explosions has been vastly and systematically underestimated – a move that allowed early U.S. war planners to demand a much larger nuclear arsenal. As Eden wrote, a single 300-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated above the Pentagon on a clear day would engulf the surrounding 65 square miles in firestorms that would “extinguish all life and destroy almost everything else.” And that’s a conservative estimate.

It is nice revisiting this as I now live within 65 miles of the Pentagon. I guess the worse fear is that if my death was not immediate then I would be frightened and possibly in bodily pain. The worse part though is thinking that the girl and I would be separated. She works only a few blocks from the White House, so odds are good I would not see her again. Would I try to fight my way there to check on her, or would I flee hoping to put some distance between myself and the cataclysm so I could hopefully survive? I don’t know what I would do. Not knowing also scares me, as Denzel Washington’s character in Man on Fire says, “there is no tough, there is only trained and untrained.” I want to be trained, having gone through these scenarios in my mind so if they do happen then I can act and not be paralyzed or even delayed in action.

BTW, how bad are the Nationals looking these days? I just try to imagine how great a year Soriano would be having if he were on a good team. More scenarios for which, I am sure, Sori is probably preparing himself.