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That is perhaps what he did and now tries to convince himself that he should stop feeling guilty. In his own words,

No, because the tense of the question is wrong for that. It would have read “how many missiles would have been launched” , if it was a question about 1962. Asking how many the US “would launch” places the hypothetical question firmly in the present/near future, to my mind.

Yes, thanks for the reminder. I'm unsure though why you are reminding me. I don't think you can assume this is about the 1962 crisis without further clarification from the OP. @swansont seems to be saying this only refers to 1962, in which case your (and my) answer may not be correct.

Nope, still not seeing the relevance, if this is a politics forum. Seems suitable for speculations on alternate historical timelines, I guess. In Alt 1962, Cuba kept the missiles and Russia launched a nuclear strike again the USA. I'm thinking, again, the standard Herman Kahn scenario would have kicked in and the US would have nuked Russia. Sure, one could nuke Cuba, but seems like those missiles in Laurie's scenario were already launched and so Russian sites would be priority targets rather than the recently emptied silos or launch stands in Cuba.

Or, you know, you could just make an effort to explain what you mean, so people don’t have to read between the lines. And not put the blame on others when they don’t get what you mean No, but that’s not the point. It’s analogous to Pascal’s wager, with free will taking the place of the existence of a supreme being

There is a wealth of good useful information in your post, but I think you need to reconsider this bit. An ion is formed by the addition to or subtraction of one or more electrons from a neutral atom or another ion. This is more than just jumping from shell to shell this is a complete dissociation from or association into the atom or of the electrons. The moving elctron can be free or can be part of another atom or ion before the ionisation. Note since you can add to or subtract electrons from ions as well as atoms you can in fact start with a neutral atom and end with an ion or the other way round you can start with an ion and end with a neutral atom. Shell to shell transitions result on the absorption or emission of a photon of EM radiation.

A stroke or fall downstairs can render you helpless in a second, at any age. In that case, if you don't want to live in that condition, you'd need assistance. Governments Countries that allow medical assistance generally set conditions and limits.