Stanislav Petrov Day

[samhenderson]

On this day in 1983, Stanislav Petrov decided that, when the USSR’s early warning system told him the US had launched five missiles at Russia, it was a lying liar that lies and therefore he reported it as a false alarm. As a result, the human race (as well as many cute animals) were not wiped out (a small tribute is paid to Petrov in “Vesta

Comments

[asakiyume]

Whoa, that's chilling, that final verse, and it makes me *sad*, like I'm really seeing that alternate reality.

It's begun

versus

Americans are never so subtle

... you realize how traumatized you are by a Cold War childhood when you read something like that. Years of thinking any day could be doomsday.

[samhenderson]

Yes! I forget I went through a whole season of nuclear nightmares, like that scene in one of the Terminator movies where the playground gets blasted.

[vschanoes]

Wow. I'm glad I'm not dead. Thank you.

[samhenderson]

Me too! Thanks, Stanislav!

[queenoftheskies]

the ghost of Dawn that-might-have-been gives me the shivers.

Quite beautiful work.

[samhenderson]

Thank you so much!

[samhenderson]

It would have been very scary to know _then_.