 Nuclear missiles top security... |
KoFFiE 
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Registration Date: 28-04-2003
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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."
Blair recently buttonholed Robert McNamara, the former U.S. defense secretary best known for overseeing the escalation of our war in Vietnam.
It was McNamara who ordered that safety locks be put on Minuteman missiles, and he spoke with great pride of this as a reform crucial to preventing accidental nuclear war. So when Blair told him the code was fixed at a line of zeros, he flipped.
"I am shocked, absolutely shocked and outraged," McNamara said. "Who the hell authorized that?" |
Source: The Moscow Times
You feel safer now? 
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Sleep is a poor substitute for coffee
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by KoFFiE: 28-05-2004 10:13.
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28-05-2004 10:13 |
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Emblem-X
Master Producer
Registration Date: 10-11-2002
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holy fuck...
terrifying
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28-05-2004 11:21 |
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KoFFiE
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Originally posted by machakil
they've changed it... now it's 11111111!
simple AND a link to a well-known world-help-organisation 
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Dail "11111111" to support us *grin*
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Sleep is a poor substitute for coffee
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28-05-2004 12:45 |
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Surya
The Robot
Registration Date: 04-11-2002
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Yeah, now I feel much better 
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"In dnb you should make people jump not swim"
- Pieter Frenssen 2004
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28-05-2004 14:29 |
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KoFFiE
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Originally posted by basslicious
btw koffie , very nice avatar , me likes
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Whehe tx - I tought it was a cool pic - and then I noticed I didn't have an avatar here, so we unleached our photo-editing skills *HUM*
Original pic:
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Sleep is a poor substitute for coffee
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28-05-2004 16:03 |
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thechronic
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Registration Date: 01-11-2002
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Wow I just read the article (it's in English BTW, not in Russian
) and at the end is a horrifying story about a guy in command of the Soviet atom bombs who got a warning that the americans had fired 5 missiles. He decided to ignore the warning because he didn't have the heart to fire off such deadly weapons
That guy should get a nobel prize!!
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If you find spam on the site, please hit the  button and select my name. I'll personally kick it to the murky depths of hell where it belongs! 
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28-05-2004 23:39 |
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basslicious
Flashtunes
Registration Date: 08-05-2003
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indeed he should , but the sovietic army probably fired his coward ass coz he didn't dare to do so , and becoz they then think he's a pussy 
but indeed , give him that prize 
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Give it a try , don't be shy
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Never been to keen a timekeeper
But i'm a pure new pleasure seeker
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29-05-2004 08:39 |
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