The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[Snarf Zagyg]

...

This is why punctuation is so important. Just these two sentences-

WAFFLES HO!!
WAFFLES, HO!!


(One is a drunken statement of intent to go to Waffle House, the other is a drunken statement that gets you tossed out of Waffle House)

 

[prabe]

"Broken Clock Syndrome"?

Maybe, though I suspect this is a particular narrow overlap of experience and preference.

 

[CleverNickName]

Heh. The area that I live in has Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Dow Chemical, and a nuclear powerplant all within a ten-mile radius (not to mention a Submarine base and the company that builds the things). A guy with a van and half a dozen rpg's could wipe out southeastern CT in half an hour.
it's pretty much a given that somebody's got a nuke pointed right at us. But nobody's around here is really afraid of getting hit by a nuke, asteroid or any other thing cuz we know that we'll all be dead the second it happens, lol.

I don't know if it helps relieve your anxiety, but:

Civil engineers know about RPGs and terrorists, and we design accordingly. It would take considerably more than a half-dozen rocket-propelled grenades to cause enough damage to a nuclear power plant or chemical facility to cause a release...even with a clear, unobstructed flight path into critical areas, which shouldn't exist.

I'm more concerned about aging infrastructure, operator error, and earthquakes.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I don't know if it helps relieve your anxiety, but:

I used to get anxious ....

 

[overgeeked]

I'm more concerned about aging infrastructure, operator error, and earthquakes.

Eh. Embrace entropy and enjoy the ride.

 

[CleverNickName]

Eh. Embrace entropy and enjoy the ride.

 

[Cadence]

At some point around middle school there was an article in a local paper about how my home town in northern Illinois was in the top 100 Soviet targets because of a nuclear plant to the south and a bunch of manufacturing (particularly aerospace) in the city.

I remember that several of the guys at school thought it was cool and several of the girls were horrified. I haven't been able to find a copy of that paper. (The local one isn't on newspapers.com).

As an aside, we got to see the innards of the powerplant when they were building it during grade school. I'm kind of surprised now that they let random people see it.

 

[trappedslider]

At some point around middle school there was an article in a local paper about how my home town in northern Illinois was in the top 100 Soviet targets because of a nuclear plant to the south and a bunch of manufacturing (particularly aerospace) in the city.

I remember that several of the guys at school thought it was cool and several of the girls were horrified. I haven't been able to find a copy of that paper. (The local one isn't on newspapers.com).

As an aside, we got to see the innards of the powerplant when they were building it during grade school. I'm kind of surprised now that they let random people see it.

It would have to have been a counter-value target instead of counter force which is what a sub-base would be. I live in Roswell, NM and during the cold war, we had a SAC base home of the 509th the same bomber group that dropped the bombs that ended WWII. Our runway is also one of the few rated for a shuttle landing site. For a time it was also the longest in the US. We also had a few missile silos around the area.

 

[CleverNickName]

At some point around middle school there was an article in a local paper about how my home town in northern Illinois was in the top 100 Soviet targets because of a nuclear plant to the south and a bunch of manufacturing (particularly aerospace) in the city.

I remember that several of the guys at school thought it was cool and several of the girls were horrified. I haven't been able to find a copy of that paper. (The local one isn't on newspapers.com).

As an aside, we got to see the innards of the powerplant when they were building it during grade school. I'm kind of surprised now that they let random people see it.

When I was in engineering school, I got a tour of NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain. We learned all about how it was built, how it was laid out, why certain buildings were put in certain places, the checks and balances, all that. And ever since that tour, I sleep pretty good at night knowing the amount of thought, planning, and analysis that goes into the design of our critical systems. It's like Rule 34 except for catastrophic situations: if you can imagine it, a team of engineers has already planned for it.

It would have to have been a counter-value target instead of counter force which is what a sub-base would be. I live in Roswell, NM and during the cold war, we had a SAC base home of the 509th the same bomber group that dropped the bombs that ended WWII. Our runway is also one of the few rated for a shuttle landing site. For a time it was also the longest in the US.

Here's something not many people know:

When the interstate highways were being planned in the 1950s and 1960s, the engineers were required to design them such that there would be a certain amount of straight, level sections of pavement every few miles. Why? They are for emergency aircraft use.

 

[Xamnam]

It's a weird experience, seeing someone I think ... it's probably safe to bet we won't agree, at all, say something I 100% agree with.

The real fun experience is watching someone argue for the same thing you want, but going about it in a way that seems to do more harm than good to the point.