Saber Rattling and Nuclear Destruction

It's been a busy and contentious news day as a couple of mentally deficient world leaders (unfortunately one of which is ours) are having a pissing contest with nuclear weapons being the threat of choice.  Reaction is all over the board, example 1, example 2, example 3, which leaves the American public...who knows where it leaves the American public (although Americans in Guam are probably a bit more worried than those of us in the continental US).

So I looked around see what, if anything, Americans should do to prepare for such a catastrophic eventuality and there were several articles that addressed the issue...

• Hawaii is, of course, concerned.
• And the state has even produced a survival guide.
• What would happen if there were a nuke attack in the Bay Area?
• A similar story from the SF Chronicle. 
• Even LA is preparing.
• As is the UK.
• There are a few different programs that you can use to estimate the destruction and fallout of a nuclear attack, here, here, and here.
• FEMA has some nuclear blast survival info here.
• Here is an entire book about nuclear war survival skills.
• Fortunately the basic prepping stuff that we have been doing forever will come into play.
• Although this article says that prepping for a nuclear war is useless.
• Of course if you are a billionaire your option are probably better than that of the masses.
• And here is the down market, regular Joe list of survival options.
• Obviously class inequalities will come to the fore should the worst happen.
• Finally, a kind-of, maybe-ish conclusion that America would win WW3.

Really there is no "right way" to prepare for a nuclear attack and even fewer options for surviving a nearby nuclear blast.  I've seen the museums at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the take away is that lots of people will die, lots more will suffer (agonizingly) and others will survive.  Of course that was a one-sided nuclear attack.  With two countries lobbing nukes at each other the result should be expected to be much worse.  The only way to really survive a nuclear attack is not to have one in the first place.