In article ,
Ian Stirling writes:
In sci.space.policy James Nicoll wrote:
In article ,
Mike Walsh wrote:

"The Effects of Nuclear Weapons"

That is an old one right from the Government Printing Office.

Has a few rule of thumb scaling laws that you can use to
get an estimate on how much damage a particular size warhead
will cause. You have to extrapolate from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
data given in the book.

Unless you have one like mine, which comes with the Nuclear
Effects circular slide rule in the back pocket.

Which is good, as it lets you pronounce with certainty "that was
eleven megatons", when all about you are running away screaming

Naw - if it's really good, you toss a bit of grass/paper in the air
when you see the flash, measure its displacement when the shock hits
by eye, and do it in your head. While keeping ahead of the crowd, as
in "If you see me running, try to keep up."

(Worked for Ed Teller at Alamagordo. And not only was he faster than
the Data Reduction folks with all their slide rules & Analyzers, he
was more accurate, as well.)

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster