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Americans: Was your town a [rumored] Cold War missile target?

jeb — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:55:23 -0800

Americans: Was your town a [rumored] Cold War missile target? I grew up in New Jersey. When I lived there, people would sometimes say, "You know, after [DC|New York], our area is the number-two target on the Soviet nuclear ICBM list, because of Bell Labs." I didn't really think about this too much at the time, and it seemed at least somewhat plausible. But as I've gotten older, I've heard people from all over the country say, "You know, [my town] is #2 on the Soviet missile target list because of [$feature]."

I had a text file of them for a while, I was collecting them because I think they are interesting bits of folklore, but I can't find it now. I'm curious as to where this rumor got started, where people claim to find this information, etc., because it must be false, right? I mean the whole MAD strategy was predicated on the idea that the Soviets and the USA could pretty much totally wipe each other out in one go, so there were probably dozens or hundreds of places with equal target priority.

Mostly, though, I'm interested in these rumors. The commonalities are:
1) #2 target. There's always a credibility-adding reference to a clearly more-valuable target. In the Northeast, this is generally DC, the Pentagon, or New York.
2) A specific reason that points to some local feature as being of strategic import, and often one that you wouldn't immediately think of, like Bell Labs (really? A lab? that's going to be ahead of a SAC HQ?)

So my question is did you hear this about the place where you grew up or lived? What was the reason your town was supposedly targeted? What was the reference target of greater import?

Post-Nuclear comic book?

arniec — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:41:33 -0800

What is this post-nuclear holocaust comic book I had as a kid? In the early 80's I went to Canada and bought a couple comic books that were in digest form. Both were collections.

The one I'm trying to remember seemed to be an anthology of nuclear war and post-nuclear war stories. The stories were not connected in any way other than it was after the nukes went off, and I recall the art being drastically different in the stories as well.

The story I remember best was a boy and his dog who survived the blast but his parents did not. He wasn't sure what to do or where to go. It ended talking about how his skin was turning green, his dog's hair was falling out, and he felt sick...

Anyone able to find this book for me?

To help with the timing, the other comic I bought with it was a collection of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" where Jimmy had a dream that he was king of an alien world, then he woke up and told Superman about it, and Supes wondered if that world was a dream of if the "real world" with Superman was a dream.

Thanks for any help!

How to survive a nuclear war?

deeper red — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:11:52 -0800

Where can I find up-to-date information about how to survive a nuclear war, and the subsequent irradiated planet? I'm thinking of material like the UK's old Protect and Survive, which is to say official documentation, but updated to take into account modern technology (for example, reverse osmosis devices for purifying water, or solar-powered stills). But I'll also look at material from individuals, even if they're conspiracy freaks who suspect WWIII is just around the corner.

Would the internet survive Armageddon?

szechuan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:24:50 -0800

Would the internet survive Armageddon? For the purposes of a work of fiction, I am trying to ascertain what likely forms of communication would be available after an apocalyptic event (full scale nuclear war, some sort of pathogen that results in massive depopulation etc). All internet history notes that it was designed to survive, but is this only in the context of dedicated machines in government bunkers?

Obvious impediments would be EMP damage to computers, lack of electricity, general unavailability of ISPs. But if you can power your laptop on your bicycle, and you have the right equipment, will the internet still be available after the end of the world?

Ah, the good ol' days - nothing to worry about but a lingering death from radiation poisoning

pompomtom — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:58:37 -0800

Nuke related songs of the 80s and 90s. Which (pop, punk, ska and new wave particularly, but all suggestions appreciated) songs of the 80s or 90s which touch on the angst caused by living under the spectre of nuclear weapons.

Things like:

Nena - 99 Luftballons
Underworld - Underneath the Radar
Tears for Fears - Shout
Sting - Russians
The Clash - London Calling

Sorry for the 'mixtape' question, but google sets has failed me.

Yes, but how many seconds to midnight?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 14:59:06 -0800

So how close exactly were we to nuclear war? It's often said that at some point during the past fifty years the world was "on the brink" of nuclear war - in hindsight, I wonder how close to the brink?

Who was Reagan's theologian of apocalypse?

washburn — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:54:34 -0800

A tough one: I remember reading that during the Reagan years, as part of the campaign to convince the Russians that the US really would launch a second strike if faced with a preemptive Russian attack, Reagan turned to a religious figure or theologian who explained that a retaliatory attack, even if it resulted in the extinction of the human species, would be morally approvable and even required by God, and that it would serve the glory of God, despite the unfortunate consequences it might have for human beings. I don't think I just imagined all this, so I wonder: who was the religious person that articulated this position? What source can tell me about this stuff? Many thanks for any clues.

Nuclear warhead, meet Oz. Sound familiar?

melissa may — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 02:19:28 -0800

More FictionFilter: Nuclear warhead, meet Oz. Sound familiar? This is a story that appeared sometime the early 1980s. I believe I read it in an Omni best short stories anthology. In sum: a nuclear warhead clears the rainbow to Oz, and its inhabitants, including Dorothy and her little dog too, are very realistically turned to ooze and ash. Over the years, I’ve looked at Omni’s site, tried all the databases here, and googled my little head off to no avail. I don’t know the author or title, but I remember an editor’s note that said the story provoked a lot of correspondence, much of it angry, from the magazine's readership when it was originally published. If the local brain trust doesn't know it, I’ll give up -- until the next time it bothers me, that is, because reading it as a teen deeply affected me.

Nuclear Fallout

trharlan — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 09:19:24 -0800

In the event of full-scale nuclear war, will there be survivors in places like Mbuji-Mayi, Wekweti, and Noril'sk? If they were to survive the initial blast, would the fallout get them?