Comment by Andrew McNabb (andrew-mcnabb) on Deleted · 2019-10-23T20:04:11.965Z · LW · GW

Among the intellectual class, I think it is contrarian, at least in the US. The idea is a common thread in American social thought going back to at least the early 1900's. Particularly since the end of the Cold War, the the widening fissures in our society, It's been very common for elites to bemoan the lack of social cohesion and suggest that mandatory national service is the answer. Not just a military draft, or registering for the selective service, but actual mandatory service by all young adults for a period of one-two years.

Comment by Andrew McNabb (andrew-mcnabb) on Deleted · 2019-10-22T19:01:54.366Z · LW · GW

Mandatory national service is a terrible idea.

Comment by Andrew McNabb (andrew-mcnabb) on How large is the fallout area of the biggest cobalt bomb we can build? · 2019-03-17T06:47:36.449Z · LW · GW

There are a lot more factors to consider like the design of the bomb, how it's targeted, what the target is, atmospheric conditions and weather (which have a huge effect on fallout). A lot of that is not going to be in the public literature.

You can get a decent guesstimate by using a preset bomb in Nukemap (check out especially the advanced options):

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

You can also check out the definitive book on weapons effects, "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons" by Glasstone though I don't believe it discusses salted weapons.