A Bottomless Silo
May 3, 2011 12:18 AM   Subscribe

The Rusty Technoporn Of Nuclear Russia - The Base Of Human Exterminators , The Place That Stalkers Would Love To Visit, from English Russia via Warren Ellis
posted by Artw (35 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
There should just be a permanent Warren Ellis sidebar on the blue. (or perhaps an AskMe feature called "Ask Uncle Warren")
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:26 AM on May 3, 2011 [4 favorites]


Those sites are great. The second one, especially, that features an underground module where selected survivors (it doesn't say who) could wait out WWIII. (Yeah, just like Doctor Strangelove.)
posted by CCBC at 12:45 AM on May 3, 2011


Interesting post. Having grown up during the 60s and 70s looking at photos of formerly top-secret Soviet military sites really qualifies as porn. Even to this day it seems unreal.

The second one, especially, that features an underground module where selected survivors (it doesn't say who) could wait out WWIII.

Not wait out. Finish. The ability to survive a first strike - and then retaliate massively - was always a key part of the nuclear deterrent on both sides.

It makes today's fears about terrorism seem laughably overwrought by comparison.
posted by three blind mice at 12:56 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Fantastic stuff. I would love to buy an old silo one day and renovate it.
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 1:08 AM on May 3, 2011


Metafilter: The Rusty Technoporn Of Nuclear Russia



great stuff here. Thanks.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 1:20 AM on May 3, 2011


I like it... rusty.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:21 AM on May 3, 2011 [2 favorites]


If a nuclear war took place, the USSR would have been a conqueror, but at the same time it probably would have been the only one country remained in the world.

Uh huh. Define 'remain'. Cuz I highly doubt either the US or the USSR would be defined as a country, much less a hospitable place, after any nuclear war
posted by spicynuts at 1:46 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Soviet nuclear arsenal peaked as late as 1988, by which time they had no less than 45,000 nuclear weapons pointing at the rest of the world. Of course, there was no difference between the Soviet Union and the west in terms of opposition to such apocalyptic arsenals, after all, in the west you were free to march against American nuclear weapons and in the Soviet Union you were free to march against American nuclear weapons too.
posted by joannemullen at 1:49 AM on May 3, 2011


I think that second one was in Portal 2. It's got the mashy spike plates any everything.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:09 AM on May 3, 2011 [4 favorites]


I'm pretty sure that a thousand 500 megaton warheads on each side would wipe both countries from the Earth. Neither had/has the capability to take out warheads already launched, despite what the Pentagon might want to believe about Star Wars. It takes enough time for a warhead to get from Russia to the US that a counter-strike would be pretty much simultaneous and inevitable, no?
posted by spicynuts at 2:11 AM on May 3, 2011


There should just be a permanent Warren Ellis sidebar on the blue. (or perhaps an AskMe feature called "Ask Uncle Warren")

Can we have our choice of Warren Ellises?
posted by alexoscar at 2:13 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


I vote both. "Ask A Warren Ellis".
posted by _Lasar at 2:25 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Those were the days. Rockets, stuck in the ground, going "boing" and sailing through the air. Almost seems like a game of tiddlywinks.
posted by kippy at 2:26 AM on May 3, 2011


Oh almost.
posted by clarknova at 2:35 AM on May 3, 2011


Thunderbird tsar go!
posted by pracowity at 2:37 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Soviet nuclear arsenal peaked as late as 1988, by which time they had no less than 45,000 nuclear weapons pointing at the rest of the world.

And a fleet of Blackjack and Backfire bombers.

And cruise missiles.

And a deepwater navy.

And all the forces of the Warsaw Pact.

They were the real deal.

Yet there are silly people in the world who want me to get all excited about "Islamofascism". I can only wonder why their mothers left the history of the cold war from their homeschooling.

Compare these photos of Soviet military installations to the house where bin Laden was found and I think that pretty much tells you all you need to know about the relative threat of "Islamofacism".
posted by three blind mice at 3:14 AM on May 3, 2011 [8 favorites]


I assume we still have a few of these babies still up and running under mountains in WV. Rust free and ready to rumble.
posted by jetsetsc at 4:19 AM on May 3, 2011


I would love to buy an old silo one day and renovate it.

Here is a nice selection of properties currently on the market.
posted by three blind mice at 4:27 AM on May 3, 2011 [2 favorites]


careful where you click on that site, I got some.... NSFW unwanted pictures opening up on my screen
posted by zombieApoc at 5:20 AM on May 3, 2011


First link really makes me feel for Desmond in Lost.
posted by yerfatma at 5:34 AM on May 3, 2011


I'm pretty sure that a thousand 500 megaton warheads on each side would wipe both countries from the Earth.

Certainly would, but the largest warheads detonated were in the 50MT range, and your run common or garden variety warhead of the 1980s would have been about 0.5MT.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:03 AM on May 3, 2011


My first title was a Portal 2 spoiler.

On reflection, my second title should have been "My first title was a Portal 2 spoiler".
posted by Artw at 6:31 AM on May 3, 2011


I assume both WEs are really the same. Have you ever seen them together?
posted by J0 at 7:09 AM on May 3, 2011


Is there a mirror of this somewhere without the cheescake photos at the bottom? Would love to share this with some co-workers...
posted by kaseijin at 7:12 AM on May 3, 2011


My first title was a Portal 2 spoiler.

Was it: Cyrnfr Qba'g Qryrgr Guvf Zbqf Rira Gubhtu Vg'f Ebg13?
posted by The Bellman at 7:17 AM on May 3, 2011


I personally think we should thank Warren Ellis for this glimpse of his writing retreat. It's just a glimpse of he lengths he has to go to in order to get enough privacy to write. I blame his fans.
posted by happyroach at 8:50 AM on May 3, 2011


It doesn't have a pub in it.
posted by Artw at 9:02 AM on May 3, 2011


(first link, eighth caption or so)

MetaFilter: A drop of it on the skin entails the death.
posted by detachd at 11:27 AM on May 3, 2011


Well, someone did link to Gostse earlier today...
posted by Artw at 11:31 AM on May 3, 2011


I would love to buy an old silo one day and renovate it.

If you do, don't go into Power Dome A.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:28 PM on May 3, 2011


This whole site is gold. I probably am going to spend the reset of the evening here.

Russian Wall-E Case Mod
Soviet Goods Catalogue '81
The 19th Century Demotivators
The Strafer Cameraman (handheld footage from the cockpit of an SU-25)
Nuclear Waste Repository "Buryakovka"
The Neutrino Lab
posted by chemoboy at 5:13 PM on May 3, 2011


Speaking of stalkers, "Today, real stalkers live inside the official 30-kilometre Exclusion Zone in Chernobyl and secretly strip the dead city of its valuables, while avoiding the security forces – and the ghosts of the ruptured past." - here's a rocket man.
posted by unliteral at 8:53 PM on May 3, 2011


One of the most interesting pics in the first link, for me, was this shot of the toilet--those look like foot-pads on the rim; for some reason, I thought that Russian toilets were Western-style, although it looks like you might be able to use this john in either fashion. Also, it took me a second to recognize the "spikes" in this picture as shelf supports--I thought that they were part of some Indiana Jones-style death trap.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:26 PM on May 4, 2011


If you enjoyed this, then you should definitely visit the Titan Missile Museum near Tucson, AZ. You will find a lot of similarities.
posted by Quonab at 10:35 PM on May 4, 2011


Also, it took me a second to recognize the "spikes" in this picture as shelf supports--I thought that they were part of some Indiana Jones-style death trap.

Correct. These are definitely not Aperture Science Testing Subject Disposal Panels, colloquially known as "mashy-spike-plates". They are merely harmless Aperture Science Shelving Unit Support Panels.

Please, step forward into this completely safe corridor, and pay no mind to the the conveniently-severed Aperture Science Propulsion Gel transportation tube positioned nearby.
posted by GLaDOS at 5:01 AM on May 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


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