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Friday, June 11, 2004

Interesting story. Unlikely, but terrifying if true:

Armageddon Almost Not Averted
By Matt Bivens
...
Consider, for example, a fun Cold War-era fact from Bruce Blair, who is president of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information (home of Johnson's Russia List).

Blair was a Minuteman nuclear missile launch officer in the 1970s, and regularly ran through simulations in which he and his colleagues launched up to 50 missiles at the Soviet Union.

To launch a Minuteman in those days, one had to "unlock" the missile by dialing in a code -- the equivalent of a safety catch on a handgun. However, Blair reports, the U.S. Strategic Air Command was worried that a bunch of sissy safety features might slow things down. It ordered all locks set to 00000000 -- and in launch checklists, reminded all launch officers like Blair to keep the codes there. "So the 'secret unlock code' during the height of the nuclear crises of the Cold War," Blair says, "remained constant at 00000000."

...

[insert graphic of little smiley with eyes bugging out]

A map of everywhere I've visited (I've never left the country... at least, I'm not authorized to tell you if I did leave, on any missions to gather reconnaissance on Albania's lima bean industry for the CIA):

create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

And here's a little prank that I thought was rather amusing, posted on the UMBC Livejournal:
A good use of alotted UMBC webspace

Astrnat186: man
Astrnat186: biznoreddd
x atdi x: whoah.
x atdi x: that's an intense word
Astrnat186: no, it is the antithesis of intense

...

x atdi x: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=biznoreddd
Astrnat186: bah
Astrnat186: hehehehe
x atdi x: See, I told you it meant intense

Just goes to show you should never go around clicking links (especially in AIM messages and profiles) all harum-scarum; you'll soon end up with a worm-ridden hard drive, and even worse, an embarrassingly warped vocabulary.

posted by Steve 6/11/2004 11:30:00 AM

3 comments

3 Comments:

This is a test of the blogger comments system.

If this were an actual emergency... you know the drill. :-)

By Steve, at June 12, 2004 2:49 PM

oh wow, i did a random bored google on my screen name, and foudn this.

so glad you felt it was worth posting, but I will be docking your pay for 3 weeks for not singing my praises as a boss when quoting me.

just kidding ... maybe.

-Kaidye

By Anonymous, at August 21, 2004 12:27 AM

[looks askance]
To be sung in the key of TRW:
"Lalaalalalaalalala! Kaidye, a.k.a. Astrnat186 is the best retriever weekly editor ever!!! She deserves a raise! And a bonus!! And... an automatic 4.0 GPA for the coming semester!!!"

hehe... the things we college students do for dough.

By Steve, at August 21, 2004 1:13 AM