SO I BOUGHT ONE OF THESE NUKALERT DEVICES JUST IN CASE. They last ten years, and the way things are going there’s some nontrivial chance I’ll want it over that period. Longtime reader Bill Rudersdorf writes: “I just got my NukAlert™ recalibrated. I’m not a super serious prepped, but I like to know about radiation risks. www.NukAlert.com – the factory is now Sold Out, but Amazon still lists stock. This sort of knowledge is very, very important.”
It’s dead-simple to use, has clear instructions on what to do, and really could be attached to a keychain (it’s a bit bigger than a car keyfob) if you wanted to. You probably won’t need one.
UPDATE: On the other hand, for the people making the “kiss your ass goodbye” jokes in the comments, we’re not talking Dr. Strangelove here. Possibly we never really were, but Putin is unlikely to launch a full-scale strike, and if he did probably literally 90% of his missiles wouldn’t make it. (I believe it was Paul Bracken who said that during the Cold War the U.S military thought 80% of our missiles wouldn’t work right, either missing their targets or failing to detonate.) Nuclear warheads require a lot of maintenance, which doesn’t appear to be a Russian strong suit. But if you’re downwind from one that does explode, it’s helpful to know how bad the radiation is, so you know whether to shelter and when to come out. That’s what these are for.