[Narz]

http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2007/10/ ... ber-15-20/

My girlfriend and I are at an event in Arizona and there is news of a dirty bomb test somewhere in the state.

The chick who we carpooled with is kinda going nuts and wants to leave tonight (we were supposed to leave Tuesday morning). I am skeptical and think my chance of death is far greater driving from 10PM - 10AM in the car with a stressed and somewhat neurotic lady than to stay where I'm at. I don't trust the energy of panicky easily sold people (she dismissed my concerns by saying her "female intuition" hasn't led her astray and she hasn't felt right since this morning, when ironically she almost got us into an accident before she'd heard about all this) and tend to think it's better to avoid them (and that type of reactiveness myself) no matter how dire the circumstances.

Anyway, what do you think of this situation?

Cheers,
Narz

P.S. : Roccland, I still got your #, planned to call on the way back. How far are you from Sedona?

P.P.S. : Forgive me if there has already been a thread about this. I don't have time to scan, I'm on a free Internet computer in the motel where the event is taking place.

[seahorse]

Narz,

Driving a car is the riskiest thing each of us do everyday, and driving during those hours are the riskiest driving hours. Personally, I think you should stay put, but its your life. Good luck.

[mmasters]

Perhaps avoid heavily populated areas if you think something might happen.

[MattSavinar]

[wisconsin_cur]

just stay where you are and then you will have the unbridled joy of talking about her unfallible intuition the entire way home.

[Windmills]

Relax, my man. They aren't going to set of a real bomb. It's also not a full-scale exercise. I can't recall the exact wording I heard on NPR, but it's more of an overall systems check/managerial response kind of thing. I'm not sure how ground action there's actually going to be.

And even if terrorists did set off a real dirty bomb, so what? If you want radionuclides to have their greatest impact, you need to concentrate them. Blowing them up in a bomb dilutes them, spreading them around so they have less and less effect the bigger the explosion. The only thing a dirty bomb is going to do is create another taxpayer funded site to give some scientists their welfare jobs to "clean up" the site for the next 1,000 years. I'm sure the wildlife will appreciate the effect of having all the humans evactuated forever. The basic effect of terrorists setting off dirty bombs will be to create pristine wildlife habitat by kicking out the humans. Although, they could cause some pretty inconvenient places to be cleared forever...hm. Anyway, I think the panic is more likely to kill than the actual bomb. Unless you stick you head over the package just as it explodes.

But, hell, you have to have a way to scare the people to control them, right?

Tell your female friend that's she's radioactive. It's true. She is.

[Tyler_JC]

Might I suggest laying off the PO.com discussion board for a while?

Paranoia leads to stress which can lead to health problems ranging from heart attacks to ulcers.

I'd say you have more to fear from stress related health problems than you do from "dirty bombs" or "terrorists."

[Ferretlover]

On another website:

Controversial Concerns (possible boyfriend for intuitive girl?)
Ka-boom?

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'I')'d say you have more to fear from stress related health problems than you do from "dirty bombs" or "terrorists."

[MattSavinar]

Narz,

Maybe you can overnight a gamma ray meter from Major Surplus N. Survival. I got mine for $200 but the woman said I got the last one. That was about two months ago.

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '
')
P.S. : Roccland, I still got your #, planned to call on the way back. How far are you from Sedona?

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '
')
P.S. : Roccland, I still got your #, planned to call on the way back. How far are you from Sedona?

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '.')..could likely get shot in the back.

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '.')..could likely get shot in the back.

[Ferretlover]

Terror drill to start despite lack of data
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation is preparing for its biggest terrorism exercise ever later this month when three fictional "dirty bombs" go off and cripple transportation arteries in two major U.S. cities and Guam, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. … link

Terrorism test will include 'dirty bomb' in Tempe
PHOENIX — Arizona authorities may be setting off a fictional "dirty bomb" next week to test their response to hypothetical mass casualties and widespread radiological contamination, but they hope the terrorism exercise goes entirely unnoticed by the public. …
Loops 101 and 202 will remain open during the exercise, and nothing actually will be detonated. Unlike Guam and Oregon, no actual emergency responders will be deployed in the Arizona exercise.
That means the exercise should go completely unnoticed by the public, said Arizona Department of Homeland Security Director Leesa Berens Morrison.
She said the three-day exercise, which begins next Tuesday, will be the largest terror drill ever in the state. ... link

FBI to Participate in TOPOFF 4 National Preparedness Exercise
From October 15 – 19, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will take part in a multi-agency national preparedness exercise known as Top Officials, or TOPOFF. Next week’s exercise is the fourth segment of the TOPOFF series of congressionally mandated exercises administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and designed to strengthen the nation’s capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale terrorist attacks. This full-scale exercise will simulate the response to a radiological dispersal device attack. …
More than 15,000 participants representing international, federal, state, local, and territorial entities will take part in the exercise. The venues for this cycle, TOPOFF 4, are Arizona, Guam, and Oregon. In addition, activities will take place on a federal level in Washington, D.C. In coordination with the Department of State, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia are full international partners in the exercise. ... link

[Plantagenet]

Its traditional for people who become terrified of things like this preparedness drill to hide under the bed.

Then you can pretend the mattress is keeping you safe from the imaginary radiation from the non-existent dirty bomb.

[Narz]

I ended up going with the girl, we didn't feel like looking for another ride and didn't mind getting home a day early. She drove the whole way and paid for a motel for my girlfriend and I. Glad to here you Arizona folks are still alive.

Roccland, I know Monte believes in population reduction but I don't think he'd shoot you in the head.