Nuclear Cassandra

When
the Dowbrigade posted on the inevitability and possible usefulness
of a nuclear strike somewhere in the world, he was dismissed as a paranoid
fanatic. It wasn’t the first time. We have many enemies who lurk
in the shadows of cyberspace waiting for us to mess up or let down
our guard.

But be that as it may, our sanity was at least indirectly bostered today
when New York Times columnist Nicolas
Kristof said pretty much the same
thing…

ASPEN,
Colo. – If a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon, a midget even smaller than the
one
that
destroyed
Hiroshima,
exploded
in
Times
Square,
the
fireball would reach tens of millions of degrees Fahrenheit.

It would vaporize or destroy the theater district, Madison Square Garden,
the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal and Carnegie Hall
(along with me
and my building). The blast would partly destroy a much larger area, including
the United Nations. On a weekday some 500,000 people would be killed.

from the New York Times