in honor of comrade petrov
As Charlie Stross has noted Stanislav Petrov bent the rules and prevented a nuclear exchange at the nadir of the Cold War 25 years ago today. He ended up losing his job and pension over it, and still doesn't consider himself a hero.
Two years ago, I was eagerly awaiting DEFCON to have fun destroying the world with other people online. After viewing a gameplay sample on YouTube, I idly clicked on a related-video, which happened to be the attack scene from Threads. I followed that up with a chaser of a music video using a Yo La Tengo cover of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War".
I got maybe three hours of sleep that night, and had shivering nightmares during all three of them. I haven't played DEFCON or even looked at it since.
I've never been sure if it was revulsion over what it would actually be like, or repressed childhood memories from listening to adults in the early eighties. But along with Charlie and the rest, I'm raising a glass to Comrade Petrov. How about you?
Two years ago, I was eagerly awaiting DEFCON to have fun destroying the world with other people online. After viewing a gameplay sample on YouTube, I idly clicked on a related-video, which happened to be the attack scene from Threads. I followed that up with a chaser of a music video using a Yo La Tengo cover of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War".
I got maybe three hours of sleep that night, and had shivering nightmares during all three of them. I haven't played DEFCON or even looked at it since.
I've never been sure if it was revulsion over what it would actually be like, or repressed childhood memories from listening to adults in the early eighties. But along with Charlie and the rest, I'm raising a glass to Comrade Petrov. How about you?