I just watched one of the most chilling documentaries ever

Well played.

I might have overreacted somewhat, but it's kind of rude to have what you wrote dismissed as being too long just a minute or so after finishing it.

I write long. It's what I've done since I've been here. I tend to write long on my own blog. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I've never really cared much about anyone else's cup of tea, I write how and what flows out of me. It's the only way I know how.

Funny you mention that. I saw Red Dawn today on AMC, a movie that gets cheeiser by the year. I advanced the notion earlier in this thread that we were all paranoid of nuclear destruction back then, which is true. But I think only right-wing nuts were ever afraid of actual invasion. Red Dawn is like their wet dream.

That said, I loved it when I was 13, and I used to think to myself, "they stopped the Russians at the Mississippi, I'm safe!"

But just in case, I used to plan out my Wolverines scenario too, only I had no mountains to run to.

I'd have to hole up in the Upper Peninsula and blow up, I dunno, pasty and bait shops or something.

I did have some small woods behind my house which led to a cliff overlooking a factory, me and my buddies could have done some clandestine shit up there, and if we got hungry, there was a Sentry store to smuggle food out of. BADGERS!

 

Why the hell do you think we wore those skinny leather ties? We knew it was all over.

 

It's OK Bubs. What would I yell from Connecticut? HUSKIES!!! Or NUTMEGGERS!!!

Goodness. I'm just all talk. I would have lost control of my bowels and been easily re-educated had the Russians landed behind my school.

Oh, and I think we can get rid of the "C" in AMC if it's showing Red Dawn.

 

2000, zero, zero, party's over ... oops ... out of time.

Does anyone remember the nuclear clock? It gaged how close we were to nuclear conflict. That thing scared the fuck out of me. I remember that it was less than five minutes from annihiliation in the early 80s and they moved it up 30 seconds when Reagan made those asinine radio comments in '84.

Is that thing still around?

 

Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' Badgers?

 

C'mon BYH. This one's easy ... WHALERS!

You could have been an urban guerrilla. I suppose I could have too. You could have patrolled Hartford or Bridgeport with your AK, blasting Commies.

As for AMC, they gave up the C many moons ago.

 

Excellent points.

I have friends who deny the idea that the Cold War ever existed, and trumpet the fact that "Communisim was destined to FALL!!!!"

Sure it was. But they had nukes before it did fall. The fear of those days was very real. So many don't realize or understand; they barely knew a world where the city of Berlin had a wall dividing it, and they have no clue about the way things really were.

Terrorism? They can kill thousands at a time, and they are clever and can find ways past our security. But during the Cold War, there were times when the whole damn world was in danger of glowing in the dark.

 

The stuff about Mt. St. Helens was in Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." His point was that the seismologists didn't quite understand just how forceful Mt. St. Helens would blow (or that it would erupt out the side), and that the only reason many more people weren't killed is because it was a Sunday and many people who would normally have been in the vicinity during the week (loggers mostly) weren't. He was basically saying that, in hidnsight, there were enough warning signs that no one should have died. Ultimately, though, the death count still turned out to be amazingly low for that type of blast.

 

Well, the author is right, they'd been studying it for a couple of months. But, as someone else cited Harry Truman, there were enough crazy fuckers up there that some would have died no matter what.
But you are right pallister, even though not many died, it could have been lowered even further.

 

Well, boys and girls, I'm not dismissing how Bubbs or any of you young folks feel, but having lived through the Cuban missile crisis, none of this would scare me much.

 

Out in the woods
Up to no good
I wanna make friends with the badger

The woodchuck likes me
We smoke PCP
I wanna make friends with the badger
I mean it
I wanna make friends with the badger
For real
I wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the badger

Get drunk with owls
Drop acid with cows
I wanna make friends with the badger

I'll stand on my head till I'm legally dead
I wanna make friends with the badger
From the heart
I wanna make friends with the badger
You know it
I wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the badger

I wanna make friends with the badger
I wanna make friends with the badger

The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
I wanna make friends with the badger

Climbing the trees
Spreading disease
I wanna make friends with the badger
I wouldn't lie
I wanna make friends with the badger
He's my buddy
I wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the badger

I wanna make friends with the badger
I wanna make friends with the badger

The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
Make friends with the badger!
The badger's your friend!
Make love to the badger!
The badger's your friend!
I wanna make friends with the badger

Smoking the leaves
I do what I please
I wanna make friends with the badger (BlbBlbBlb)
I wanna make friends with the badger (AAAAHHHH!)
I wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the
Wanna make friends with the badger

 

spirit lake.

moses lake is located about 240 miles from MSH.