Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 60 posts

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#51

Post by arethuza »

wonkaWonka wrote: post #45
ceejayoz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that was a satirical fictional film, right?

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in... With great reluctance, Eisenhower agreed to let American officers use their nuclear weapons, in an emergency, if there were no time or no means to contact the President. Air Force pilots were allowed to fire their nuclear anti-aircraft rockets to shoot down Soviet bombers heading toward the United States. And about half a dozen high-level American comman…

Also some of the quotes from US military leaders at the time sound like something from Stranglove:

"Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_S._Power

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#53

Post by drharby »

QuarterReptile wrote: post #52
drharby wrote: post #43

All my nuke buddies would bring monitors and gamecubes and have smash bros sessions inbetween working on their online masters

'nuke buddies' as in submariners?

Air Force silo jockies, tho I do suppose the nomenclature is more commonly used to refer to submariners. All i know about submariners is that the movie Down Periscope is more accurate than satiracle.

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#54

Post by ceejayoz »

wonkaWonka wrote: post #45
ceejayoz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that was a satirical fictional film, right?

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in... With great reluctance, Eisenhower agreed to let American officers use their nuclear weapons, in an emergency, if there were no time or no means to contact the President. Air Force pilots were allowed to fire their nuclear anti-aircraft rockets to shoot down Soviet bombers heading toward the United States. And about half a dozen high-level American comman…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_(nuclear_war)

> Accounts differ as to the degree of automation of Dead Hand... more recent sources indicate the system was semi-automatic. In a 2007 article, Ron Rosenbaum quotes Blair as saying that Dead Hand is "designed to ensure semi-automatic retaliation to a decapitating strike." Rosenbaum writes, "Of course, there's a world of difference between a 'semi-automatic' doomsday device and the totally automatic—beyond human control—doomsday device."

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#55

Post by noenpnqnoen »

a_imho wrote: post #25
ajdlinux wrote: post #17

A good BBC Radio 4 program about the launch process for British nuclear weapons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc1L6dCjhwQ

Has this piece ever been addressed officially? https://wikileaks.org/trident-safety/

> Peter Roberts, a former Royal Navy warfare officer who retired last year after 23 years’ service, said the report contained a number of basic factual errors, from McNeilly’s use of jargon to the safe diving level for submarines.

> “Most of his claims about on board the submarines are factually incorrect and there’s a degree of sensationalism. For that reason I can’t place too much weight on it,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/18/fallon-urged...

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#57

Post by thomaskcr »

Moral_ wrote: post #2

Protip for wired articles. Ctrl-save and read them offline to get around the stupid ad blocker popup

I don't have an ad-blocker and didn't even notice there were ads until I read your comment. Why bother with the effort of denying them a little revenue when their ads aren't even intrusive at all?

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#58

Post by TeMPOraL »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #39
smallnamespace wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also takes a lot of energy to make intrasystem travel a quotidian reality.

Still several zeros apart. Moving a small ship vs moving a mountain

You don't have to move a mountain very much, or very fast. You need to slowly nudge it. Aerobraking will do the rest.

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#59

Post by JoeAltmaier »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #58
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still several zeros apart. Moving a small ship vs moving a mountain

You don't have to move a mountain very much, or very fast. You need to slowly nudge it. Aerobraking will do the rest.

Sure. but the danger of 'some crazy' doing this undetected for a decade it takes to realign its orbit? That's where we started.

Re: In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie (2011)

#60

Post by knowaveragejoe »

visakanv wrote: post #19
chrisseaton wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How comes he writes so well? Why does it surprise you that someone in the military can write so well? There's a great history of brilliant writers and poets coming from the military. Many people join the military before doing something else with their lives so you get a tremendous mix of talents and passions in units. I found that a surprising number of people turn out to be excellent sketchers and painters when wo…

Yep. Some of the best writing most of the world never sees happens in internal memos in large organizations. Leaders need to be able to communicate clearly, memorably, etc. Any decent manager typically learns to write well in order to get shit done.

Likewise, one of the most poignant commentaries on life and death I've ever read came out of the military. I wish I could find it again, it was on HN within the last year or so I believe.
Post reply on HN