Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!psuvax1!burdvax!sdcrdcf!lwall
From: lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.sci
Subject: Re: Nuclear power and Ecology: re to Ng1
Message-ID: <2897@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Jul-86 19:48:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.2897
Posted: Wed Jul 23 19:48:35 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Jul-86 19:32:14 EDT
References: <450@meccts.UUCP> <524@gargoyle.UUCP> <351@argus.UUCP> <1178@whuxl.UUCP>
Reply-To: lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall)
Organization: System Development Corporation R&D, Santa Monica
Lines: 57
Xref: watmath net.politics:17658 net.sci:1355

>> > Do you mean to say you'd be perfectly happy to see Qaddhafi
>> > with nuclear reactors...
>> > Richard Carnes

>> Frankly I'd rather that they use nuclear explosives than conventional
>> ones.  Nuclear explosives are far larger, easier to detect, expensive,
>> and less likely to go off correctly, than conventional explosives.
>> Furthermore, a lot of conventional explosives is needed to set off
>> a nuclear explosive, thus further depleting terrorist resources.
>>
>> And if they do use it we have the perfect excuse for blowing them
>> off the map.             (:->
>>
>> Kenneth Ng:

In article <1178@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes:
> This illustrates perfectly the ludicrous nature of some pro-nukers
> ignorance of ecology or the very dangerous effects of nuclear bombs
> or nuclear wastes.

This illustrates perfectly the ludicrous nature of the knee-jerk reaction
of some anti-nukers when confronted with a tongue-in-cheek invitation to
think.  Pro-nukers know VERY WELL the dangerous effects of nuclear bombs
and nuclear wastes--they just don't have a one-track panic button.  In the
pro-nukers mind, there are simply many other worse (and more likely) things
to fear, and the risks of doing something risky are to be weighed against,
of all things, the benefits.

> [diatribe on the fearsomeness of nuclear bombs deleted]
>
> It sounds like Kenneth still lives in the days when the AEC assured
> everyone that fallout would never fall to Earth, that strontium-90
> was no problem since it only penetrated half an inch, before anyone
> even *knew* there was such a thing as an EMP effect,etc,etc,etc.

Of course it sounds like that to you.  That doesn't mean it's so.

> Statements like the above hardly enhance Kenneth's credibility with
> any thinking person.

On the contrary, I found it quite refreshing to wonder whether involving
Libya in the MAD doctrine would effectively put a stop to their warmongering.
MAD has certainly kept the superpowers from any direct hostilities since
World War II.  (Hmm.  Maybe we ought to GIVE them nuclear weapons outright.
Now THAT's an idea to wrap your hypothalamus around... :-) :-) :-)

Well, perhaps it just proves I'm not a Thinking Person.  Apparently a Thinking
Person must meditate ONLY on the dangers of nuclear power, and I don't think
I qualify.

(Maybe that's why I put solar collectors on my roof...  :-)

Larry Wall
sdcrdcf!lwall

P.S. Have you ever noticed that a smiley face upside-down looks a little
     bit like a mushroom cloud?  Talk about backward-masking...