On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:33:08 -0800 (PST), Crown-Horned Snorkack
<chornedsnorkack@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On 28 jaan, 21:31, Wildepad <noreplies> wrote:
>> It has the benefit of limiting physical damage (no one is going to
>> pass out while driving or flying, most industrial processes will be
>> shut down when relief shifts don't appear, etc.)
>
>Or they will not.
>
>For a normal adult human to stay awake for 36 hours is unpleasant but
>feasible most of time, given motivation. They would be somewhat tired,
>but able to stay awake. Skipping a night is something very many people
>have sometimes done.
I used to do it quite often myself. But after a certain point, you
start doing what might be called micro-naps, just a few seconds that
you have to jerk yourself out of.
>When the effects start, and people who are due to wake up cannot be
>awakened, the people already awake include some who were planning to
>go to sleep soon as well as some who woke well-rested shortly before
>the effect started.
Perfectly true. But if the timing is right for the area you want to
hit first, that number could be around 1% of the population.
>When the people who said they wanted to get just a short nap cannot be
>awakened when due, those still awake will get scared. They will
>therefore have a powerful motive to stay awake. A few might fail...
>but a large part of your hospital watch would be still awake in 26
>hours.
The most usual routine for third-shift workers[1] is to wake up about
two hours before they have to clock in. If they don't awaken, then you
have a staff that's already been awake for ten to twelve hours.
Given that midnight shifts are skeleton staffs, most will go home as
usual, possibly taking what precautions they can against viral or gas
attack. That leaves a tiny percentage of the staff, and they've been
harried for hours, and there's nothing they can do to stop the
problem, and a quick nap can't hurt . . .
>> Since it is limitations that create tension (Superman/Kryptonite, for
>> example), the weapon has to have some Achilles heel. In this case,
>> it's that anyone in a Faraday cage is protected from the effect.
>>
>What is a good enough Faraday cage?
>
>Assuming that iron armature in ferroconcrete is not good enough, what
>about steel structure of ships?
People in ships (especially submarines) should be safe, but they're
also not likely to land until they get hard and fast information about
what's causing the problem, and that could easily take a day or two.
>> You work the graveyard shift and normally awaken about ten o'clock at
>> night. When your wife/girlfriend/so can't rouse you, you're taken to
>> the hospital where they are already becoming overwhelmed by similar
>> patients.
>>
>Which time in the evening did the effect start?
>
>Since few people are due to awaken ten o´clock at night, the first
>victims are inconspicuous. Although most people are still awake... so
>they could hear radio and TV broadcasts advising them to stay awake.
The story is set where the effect starts about 9:30 at night.
TV and radio could not be expected to pick up the story for hours. At
first, the "anyone who falls asleep won't awaken" won't be immediately
obvious -- it'll probably be assumed to be some sort of virus that
people who were active x hours before were exposed to.
Any health alerts would be along the line of: "If you were out and
about at three this morning, get examined as soon as possible."
It won't be until someone in the hospital takes a nap and can't be
awakened that anyone will suspect the truth, and sleeping during
working hours is usually frowned on.
Even then, what are they going to tell people? You can't go on the air
and say: "We think that anyone who goes to sleep won't wake up. We
don't know why, or how long it'll last, or what anyone can do about
it, but be warned that taking a nap might prove fatal."
[1] That's for industrial workers in the 70s, but I assume that it
also applies to hospital staff/police/etc.
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