*findthumb

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - findthumb requested by Fletch.

*long

edit: DAH, I'm a Noob. and teh unprivileged.

Invocations (long) cannot be called by Doc_M because Doc_M is not privileged - sorry.

I live about 4 miles from three-mile island. Each year, we get a pamphlet on what to do if the thing goes boom. The general advice is:
•Take your freaking potassium iodide pill ASAP, or spread a good bit of iodine on your arm or a bit of skin. This saturates your thyroid with normal (as opposed to RADIOACTIVE) iodine.
•If you were outside, get inside and take a long shower to wash off the radioactive soot you might have on your skin. ...oh and don't breath the crap if you don't have to. Filters = good.
•If you are downwind and you catch on quick, get the hell out of dodge.
•If you are downwind and you don't catch on quick, the roads will be packed and you should just hide in your basement under tons of crap to prevent the radioactive particals from outside from reaching you. If you have a sufficiently large pile of crap in your basement, you'll be fine (this is hilariously true in fact).
•If you are now "safely" in your basement, under a huge pile of crap, breathing filtered air, and you wait there for a few days, listen to the radio and it will tell you either what to do or when it is "safe" to get the hell out of dodge.
•When it is safe to get the hell out of dodge, go to your car, dust it off, turn off the vents, and get the hell out of dodge. Head upwind of the plant and when you are, open your windows and taste the sweet sweet air of not-cancer.

...ok, so those last few bits of advice were written by me... not the pamphlet, which is by far not as interesting or useful.

The best irony is that "duck and cover" is freaking good advice! Radiation sickness is often avoidable or at least minor. A huge sheet of broken glass flying at your face... is well... less minor, unless you don't mind having a shortage of skin and all that.

I live about 10 miles from the USA's first civilian nuclear power plant (yay), everything he said is true.

It's great to have a real respirator with you if you are in the danger zone - NOT the small face coverings that you often see doctors or dentists wearing. The good ones cost about 20 bucks at Home Depot.

Second is that some sort of loud noise is great to keep in your kit, if you end up staying in your house and have a rescue team nearby it's easier to hear a whistle than a muffled yell.

*discard

Discarding this post - discard requested by original submitter Fletch.

Discarded? those were my first applaud points. blast it all.