Government alarm test on your mobile thing is TODAY at 3 pm

Apparently, they used it to test 5G frequencies. 

Protect, survive, duck and cover.

The beacons of Gondor are lit!

This is nothing new, it's a new version of a very old idea.  Centuries ago, a threat of invasion was communicated through bonfires.  Bonfires were built on hilltops and set alight to warn people and the military of foreign invaders.  The communication was in theory at the speed of light, in practice it was as fast as someone could spot a lit bonfire and light the next one.

I will take this next bit to DMs just because it gets a bit.... um heavy.

🐝 Bees 🐝 (they/them) Autism resources in bio #stoptheshock #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs said:

It doesn't make a lot of military sense to nuke areas that you could use yourself ideally.
That's why I'm not overly concerned about nuclear strikes anyway.

Yes and then there's MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.

A deterrent if ever I saw one.

I honestly don't know, missile strike isn't unreasonable to presume, because if you kill swathes of population with nukes then who do you subjugate and use for labour when you invade potentially? It doesn't make a lot of military sense to nuke areas that you could use yourself ideally.
That's why I'm not overly concerned about nuclear strikes anyway.

🐝 Bees 🐝 (they/them) Autism resources in bio #stoptheshock #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs said:

It's cool you had one though, surprised you didn't keep it as a bit of history.

We needed the room in the garden, so sadly, it had to go.

It was horrid inside anyway.

Yes, I meant for conventional bombing.

I suppose that's more likely than nuclear?

TBH I think it would have to be one that's somewhat buried under ground to offer much protection from fallout.
It's cool you had one though, surprised you didn't keep it as a bit of history.

Since it's related: www.inverse.com/.../10099-vault-boy-s-rule-of-thumb-can-t-save-you-from-nuclear-fallout

Thank you

We had our WW2 Air Raid Shelter (in our garden) demolished a couple of years ago.

Maybe we should have kept it?

I don't believe the advice has changed. https://youtu.be/7yrv505R-0U It's not very practical with regards to the blast itself some of the stuff on fall out might be useful. Best advice, if the siren goes try and get a heavy wall between you and the city centre. It won't save you if you're close to the blast but might offer some protection against the initial radiation burst that would burn your skin. Then get iodine pills as soon as you can. Radioactive iodine is one of the more dangerous parts of fallout and taking the pills reduces the amount your body adsorbs.

I agree with you. I think the media loves to whip up fear of nuclear war in the same way that they enjoyed whipping up fear of new covid variants. Fear sells papers and generates clicks sadly. It also makes people easier to control. 

Whatever else Putin is, he is a patriotic Russian. It is unlikley he would persue an action that would lead to the complete destruction of Russia 

Freedom is in living without fear. Easier said than done but worth striving for

Can someone tell me what we are actually meant to DO in the case of a war related alert?

As far as I know, any nuclear bunkers and conventional bomb air raid shelters that exist are from WW2 and are out of use?

I find it interesting that the alert only went to people with smartphones that have been upgraded in the last 2 years.

Its almost as if the government wants to find out who has smartphones and who doesnt. Ive long suspected that smartphones are a tool to control us, when you think how impossible it is to live without one, for instance for making doctors appts, parking charges, vaccine passports etc. Ive even been turned down for jobs because I dont have one. I think they wanted to find out how many of us dissedents are left without these ghastly machines in our pockets 

Not sure what you are then expected to do if it does ring though?

Just sprint towards the nearest Tory stronghold??

I hope the same, but I think it's pretty clearly for that reason. Sadly.

...or doesn't. We can't be sure. So our choice is between stressing and paranoia (possibly what they want right now, for more cynical reasons) or we just raise an eyebrow momentarily and move on.

IIRC, the closest we ever came to a nuclear exchange happened in Sept 1983 on some random afternoon when a flock of geese triggered a false alarm. The UK and the world got up, went to work, school, the dole ofifce, shopping etc. while nervous fingers hovered over buttons and keys were turned. A terrible misjudgement was narrowly avoided. Would worrying have helped? Or is it best that obliviousness spared all that?