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"You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't"

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov[/URL]

Jesus, what a decision to make. I'd never heard about this until today. Going on an all-out war bender, with that film about the guy who killed more than 240 Germans during WW2, then played himself in the film of his autobiography on at 12pm, this nuclear Megadeath thing, and possiby Battlefield 2 later (who am I kidding, of course I'll be online). Expect me at the nearest belltower tomorrow, rifle in hand and tie around my head.

That's a true national hero for you.
You're going to die, but youavert nuclear war anyway>

If I knew I was going to die, I'd probably let them start one.



That article mentions War Games.

What a great film that is.

"How do we beat it? I know, Tic Tac Toe"

I remember reading about something similiar happening around the Cuban missile crisis. Russian chap decided not to launch, thus saving world.

Balls. Should have read article before posting.

Who would trust circa-1983 soviet computer technology? They hadn't even reached Tetris by then, let alone missile surveillance systems.

Still, props to Stan.

I recommend a short but informative book called 'Nuclear Paranoia' by Chas Newkey-Burden. Not very long, but packed with near miss incidents involving nuclear weapons.

Particularly of note was when the American air force put out a full alert and made ready its B52 bombers for a full scale nuclear assault on the USSR, only to find the alert was triggered by a glitch in a computer program. Very similar to the story in that link.