RE: [HoE] Apocalypse Now! Questions and Spoilers

["Heivilin, Jim" <banzai@missouri.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: copernicus@brunnet.net [mailto:copernicus@brunnet.net]
> Subject: Re: [HoE] Apocalypse Now! Questions and Spoilers
> 
> >Spoiler Space..... Players Keep Out! (Yeah, Right...)
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> >Greetings,
> 
<snip>
> I don't have the screen (plan to tyr to find it soon), so I don't know
> exactly what type of bomb t is, but here's a few possibilities. A) the
> timer is mechanical, not electrical. Not likely, but would make it immune
> to emp (from any source) to a certain degree. B) Prerhaps the bomb has a
> sort of 'dead man's switch' that would set it off if the timer went on it.
> 
IIRC the original two atom bombs used mechanical switches (any historians
please correct me if necessary).  The benefit of a mechanical switch is that
it avoids EMP damage.  The drawback is that it can be damaged by a swift
kick!  While it's probably not delicate, it could be damaged and thus the
weapon wouldn't detonate.  I'd presume that most nuclear weapons by that
time had both.  I primary electronic detonator and a backup mechanical one.

And the dead man's switch is a frequent plot device for destroy-the-world
type of stories.  Email me privately if you'd like the "Evil Overlord List".


Jim H.

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  Jim Heivilin, Help Desk, Campus Computing, (573) 882-5000       
  University of Missouri at Columbia, ccbanzai@showme.missouri.edu
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J - "If you watch close you can see the neurons firing ... both of them!"
B - "But it takes so loooonnnnngggg!"
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