Comments on: Strangelove's Doomsday: fiction meets facts

Strangelove's Doomsday: fiction meets facts

craven_morhead — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 07:32:27 -0800

Dr. Strangelove's Doomsday device may be more fact than fiction. We've had doomsday stories here before, but what if dead hand control of nuclear devices is real? Perhaps live-hand control is better. You could always try your hand at a nuclear apocalypse.

By: Henry C. Mabuse

Henry C. Mabuse — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:03:30 -0800

"too many humans.. we need... a nuclear waaaaaaaaaaar"

By: psmealey

psmealey — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:04:32 -0800

On the dance flooooooor!

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:05:54 -0800

Didn't it come out some time ago that all those launch codes on the the nuclear missiles were set to 000000, out of fear someone would bungle the input during an emergency?

By: signal

signal — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:06:55 -0800

all those launch codes on the the nuclear missiles were set to 000000 So you're saying that Diebold was the contractor?

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:14:39 -0800

On the dance flooooooor! I'm pretty sure you mean "at the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar". (And yeah, DEFCON still rocks.)

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:22:30 -0800

Oh, thank you so much for posting this. It makes me feel like a kid again! It's like running in to an old friend from grade school. Global Thermonuclear Warfare, how I miss thy sweet threat. It seems like forever since I heard the sweet wail of an air-raid siren test. The test of the warning that the world was about to end. Trumpet of Death!

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:23:06 -0800

"What's the combination?" "1-2-3-4-5" "1-2-3-4-5?" "1-2-3-4-5" "That's amazing! That's the same combination I have on my luggage!"

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:50:30 -0800

Kinetic Bombardment for the win.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:54:30 -0800

Everybody get down! Get up! Get down! Get up for the get down!

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:57:05 -0800

Alternatively, "The only thing we have to fear is ~~fear itself~~ NUKULAR WEAPONS!"

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:21:30 -0800

This is not a chawade. Do you understand me?

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:25:31 -0800

(Music video. Inspiration.)

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:54:35 -0800

I've always kind of wondered how an electromagnetic pulse strike and a dead hand mechanism would interact.

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:55:50 -0800

They'd get mad at each other.

By: geos

geos — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:44:14 -0800

and then fall in love, in the kookiest romance of the season...

By: furiousxgeorge

furiousxgeorge — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:53:40 -0800

Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, EH?

By: empath

empath — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:57:42 -0800

Saudi Arabia supposedly has a doomsday plan as well.

By: Relay

Relay — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:08:40 -0800

I got it right away Eideteker. Anyway, how odd ... this article was waiting for me in my inbox this morning, sent by a friend ... what a fun day off I'm going to have.

By: sindark

sindark — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:36:21 -0800

That DEFCON game is very unrealistic precisely because a real nuclear war would not be very interesting to play out. With dozens of missiles each on subs that are virtually impossible to find and no effective missile defences, any large scale exchange would obliterate both sides, even before secondary effects like nuclear winter set in. See also: Apocalypse Soon By Robert S. McNamara

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:17:34 -0800

Well, Defcon presupposes a missile defense, ala Star Wars / Bush's failed programs. With that in place, the idea of a continent surviving the initial attacks is at least plausible. Nuclear winter is still no ball of happiness, but when everybody runs out of nukes, the game is over. Also, note that the tagline of the game is "everybody dies."

By: lodurr

lodurr — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:20:41 -0800

Why didn't you tell the world, EH? He was planning a big Labor Day surprise, but someone had to go ahead and spill the beans.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:39:19 -0800

Boom goes London and boom Paree' More room for you and more room for me And every city the whole world round Will just be another American town Oh, how peaceful it will be We'll set everybody free You'll wear a Japanese kimono And there'll be Italian shoes for me They all hate us anyhow So let's drop the big one now Let's drop the big one now

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:35:55 -0800

So this is it? We're all going to die?

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:46:37 -0800

Yippee!

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:46:07 -0800

"Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks."