The Brunch Table

Survival Guide for “Weapons of Mass Destruction”

4 Responses to “Survival Guide for “Weapons of Mass Destruction””

1. Nick Says:
   February 18th, 2003 at 12:21 am

   …nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway
   stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack less
   than 10% of the people there were injured (the
   injured were better in a few hours)…

   That’s not what Haruki Murakami says in his book Underground, a non-fiction account of the attack. According to him, many of the survivors’ pupils are permanently contracted, giving them darkened vision and trouble focusing their eyes. Even hospital workers who handled heavily-exposed victims away from the scene of the crime were sickened, until the government was able to send in specialists in protective gear. It makes me doubt the upbeat tone of the rest of the article…

2. Joe Hughes Says:
   February 18th, 2003 at 10:15 am

   Not that I’d expect you to buy anything upbeat regarding potential chem/bio attacks, but this article about Sarin research results supports your assertions somewhat. So, have you duct-taped your windows yet? (BTW, thanks for reminding me to add the Murakami to my reading list.)

   .joe.

3. Joe Hughes Says:
   February 19th, 2003 at 8:52 am

   The official party line includes some lovely airplane graphics. (via JWZ)

4. Joe Hughes Says:
   February 27th, 2003 at 8:35 pm

   For more discussion, there’s a Kuro5hin story about the piece, with associated comments.