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A comment on Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy. Parent comment

Re:Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city... by cgriswald on Monday August 31, 2020 @01:33PM (#24333829)
Sparing Tokyo worked because Japan didn’t have the capability to retaliate. Any launching during the mid-to-late Cold War would have been a massive first strike and possibly a retaliation at the same scale. In the early Cold War it may have been a reasonable strategy, but as another poster notes that’s a very narrow window for changing how a city grows.

Even if there was an effect, I’d be very surprised if the signal wasn’t wiped out first by railroads and then by cars.

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Re:Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city... by gpderetta on Monday August 31, 2020 @01:36PM (#24333870)
Also Japan was hit by bombs in the low tens of kilotons. Modern bombs are in the megaton range.
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Re:Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city... by andi999 on Monday August 31, 2020 @01:58PM (#24334118)
Tsar Bomb has around 50 Megatons. Radius of total destruction 35km.
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Re:Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city... by leetcrew on Monday August 31, 2020 @02:14PM (#24334276)
scary, but not entirely relevant. most modern launch systems carry (sometimes multiple) warheads with a much lower yield: 500 kt or less.
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Re:Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city... by ClumsyPilot on Monday August 31, 2020 @03:37PM (#24335177)
Tokyo and other Japanese cities were burned to the ground with mass firebombing, not spared.

The goal was to get Japan to surrender, and Emperor was considering it. His generals were fanatically opposed, and if the Emperor were to be killed by the bomb, they would fight to the last man, woman and child.

US administration could then pick it's poison - leave Japan as is, suffer and inflict massive casualties from a ground invasion, or commit nuclear holocaust.

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