Doomsday Clock

[RedAndWhite91]

The Doomsday Clock has been moved back a minute, and it now reads six minutes to midnight. Hurrah! (Midnight being the end of the world of course).

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8460324.stm

 

We have been closest to catastrophe, according to scientists, in 1953 when the clock 'read' 2 minutes to midnight when USSR and USA tested Nuclear weapons.

 

Wonder how the clock will change over the next decade? Interesting stuff.

 

[rocknrollman no2]

I would have thought that it would be a second away from midnight when the Cuban crisis started in 1962.That was the closest America and Russia have come to a nuclear war.

Hopefully North Korea wont get us towards midnight within the next ten years.

[RedAndWhite91]

Yeah that's surprising, the Cuban missile crisis should have put the clock forward a fair bit, but according to the graph it seemingly did sod all, which is very odd.

[La BoIS Saint]

This world is ****ed. Really glad I don't have kids.

[Saintandy666]

Yeah that's surprising, the Cuban missile crisis should have put the clock forward a fair bit, but according to the graph it seemingly did sod all, which is very odd.

 

It's done yearly so that would have happened and then been resolved and of course after being resolved there was a thaw in confrontations as basically the USA and the USSR realised '****... we nearly killed everything.' so that would be why it moved down in 1962 as well.

[RedAndWhite91]

It's done yearly so that would have happened and then been resolved and of course after being resolved there was a thaw in confrontations as basically the USA and the USSR realised '****... we nearly killed everything.' so that would be why it moved down in 1962 as well.

 

Would that be the same then for the Berlin crisis in 1961? It's not on the same scale as Cuba, but it is still important and a low point in relations which could have turned ugly at the confrontation at Checkpoint C.

 

It's no surprise the graph dips during the period of peaceful coexistence, but surely the Cuban crisis and Berlin crisis have to count for something in the Doomsday clock, regardless of whether it was resolved in a short time or not.

[Saintandy666]

Would that be the same then for the Berlin crisis in 1961? It's not on the same scale as Cuba, but it is still important and a low point in relations which could have turned ugly at the confrontation at Checkpoint C.

 

It's no surprise the graph dips during the period of peaceful coexistence, but surely the Cuban crisis and Berlin crisis have to count for something in the Doomsday clock, regardless of whether it was resolved in a short time or not.

 

No idea to be honest, I am just simizing :/

 

Ahhhhh, just looked on the good old Wikipedia for ya...

 

'In 1947, during the Cold War, the clock was started at seven minutes to midnight and was subsequently advanced or rewound per the state of the world and nuclear war prospects. Setting the clock is relatively arbitrary, and decided by the directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reflecting global affairs. The clock has not always been set and reset as quickly as events occur; the closest nuclear war threat, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, reached crisis, climax, and resolution before it could be set to reflect that possible doomsday.'

[St Landrew]

I remember being in the process of changing jobs during the early 1980's, and the news at the time made a friend of mine suggest that I didn't bother taking up the new job as we wouldn't be around for much longer anyway. Thankfully, I didn't heed his advice.

[saint_bert]

is this the clock they use in Watchmen?

[lettuce]

2 Minutes to Midnight... scream for me Long Beach... SCREEEEEAAAAM FOR ME LONG BEACH!!!

 

:supz::supz::supz:

:smt035:smt035:smt035

:smt038:smt038:smt038:smt038

[RedAndWhite91]

No idea to be honest, I am just simizing :/

 

Ahhhhh, just looked on the good old Wikipedia for ya...

 

'In 1947, during the Cold War, the clock was started at seven minutes to midnight and was subsequently advanced or rewound per the state of the world and nuclear war prospects. Setting the clock is relatively arbitrary, and decided by the directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reflecting global affairs. The clock has not always been set and reset as quickly as events occur; the closest nuclear war threat, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, reached crisis, climax, and resolution before it could be set to reflect that possible doomsday.'

 

Ahhh cheers, good old Wikipedia... If it wasn't for Wikipedia I doubt I'd have got my A-Levels

[RedAndWhite91]

I remember being in the process of changing jobs during the early 1980's, and the news at the time made a friend of mine suggest that I didn't bother taking up the new job as we wouldn't be around for much longer anyway. Thankfully, I didn't heed his advice.

 

Bloody hell, did people actually seriously think the world would end?? Obviously I was born after the Berlin Wall came down, I never really grew up with the cold war paranoia, but were people actually like that?

[Al de Man]

Bloody hell, did people actually seriously think the world would end?? Obviously I was born after the Berlin Wall came down, I never really grew up with the cold war paranoia, but were people actually like that?

 

I remember ****ting myself everytime they tested the warning siren at the Civic Centre every Friday at noon and that would have been the late 70s.

 

When I was driving home with my Dad at night, I'd often look out across the horizon wondering what a mushroom cloud would look like.

 

Films and documentaries like Threads certainly didn't help when you were growing up.

 

I still consider myself fortunate not to have grown up during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[hamster]

Bloody hell, did people actually seriously think the world would end?? Obviously I was born after the Berlin Wall came down, I never really grew up with the cold war paranoia, but were people actually like that?

 

 

Sure did RnW, twas scary **** time, but we just got on with our lives as normal. Not sure you nippers would cope nowdays thoguh, most of you are too scared to go to Millwall ffs!

 

Seriously my friend, if you have an hour to spare I'd recomend watching 'When The Wind Blows', amusing now but back when it came out it was what some people were expecting to happen one day.

 

If ever you drive along Bassett Green Road approaching Chilworth roundabout (at the top of The Avenue, look to your right. You'll see a couple of buildingd that look like industrial units, one is a carpentry workshop and one is used by a local rifle shooting club. They are actually the surface buildings to Southampton's Nuclear Bunker. I kid you not.

[latter day saint]

is this the clock they use in Watchmen?

 

yes,as the book/film is set in the 80's & reflects the attitude to nuclear weapons at the time.

[Master Bates]

Does this mean we all get an extra minute before we die?

[hamster]

click the map on here and change it to street view, just before the roundabout road sign look to the right, through the trees to the right. Southampton's nuclear bunker.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=214+Bassett+Green+Rd%2C+Southampton+SO16+3%2C+United+Kingdom&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

[St Landrew]

Bloody hell, did people actually seriously think the world would end?? Obviously I was born after the Berlin Wall came down, I never really grew up with the cold war paranoia, but were people actually like that?

 

As Al and hamster have suggested, yes we did. The news and documentaries of the time just put you into that frame off mind. But I also remember taking up sailing as a healthy pastime, as skiing was killing my back, and the freedom feeling I used to get was fantastic. So in the midst of all the depressing news I, along with loads of other people, had found a way of coping with it.

 

I suppose it was why events such as the falling of the Berlin Wall were so monumental. It was a visible sign that East-West tensions were finally being resolved.

[RedAndWhite91]

Blimey, I did Late History at A-Level, studied the Cold War and that, but I didn't really think about, or realise, the implications on the general public, people like you lot.

 

Must have been frightening to say the least, nowadays we have all these moral panics (swine flu, terrorism, feral youth roaming the streets with knives and guns) but they don't really compare to the fact two nations had the potential to destroy civilisation at any moment. Scary stuff.

 

And hamster, I'm going to Millwall tomorrow, I'm not scared I'll have a look for that nuclear bunker next time I'm up that way.

[Jillyanne]

click the map on here and change it to street view, just before the roundabout road sign look to the right, through the trees to the right. Southampton's nuclear bunker.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=214+Bassett+Green+Rd%2C+Southampton+SO16+3%2C+United+Kingdom&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

 

How do you change it to street view?

[RedAndWhite91]

How do you change it to street view?

 

Click the little man above the zoom bar and drag him to the street.

[Al de Man]

but they don't really compare to the fact two nations had the potential to destroy civilisation at any moment. Scary stuff.

 

If I recall correctly, the usual figure quoted was six times over, but various arms limitation talks brought that down to twice over. Phew, lucky us!

[Ponty]

click the map on here and change it to street view, just before the roundabout road sign look to the right, through the trees to the right. Southampton's nuclear bunker.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=214+Bassett+Green+Rd%2C+Southampton+SO16+3%2C+United+Kingdom&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

That boarded-up bungalow?

[hamster]

That boarded-up bungalow?

 

Yes apart from the fact that it isn't a boarded up bungalow, it's a surface building of a nuclear bunker. I'm not 100% sure that you can access the bunker from that building.

 

The sign by the entrance advertises the resident furniture maker, one day I will mosie on down here and take a few piccies of the site. I think that big radio mast is new though.

 

As I said earlier there is also a rifle club that uses one of the buildings, I'll have a search for more info later.

[INFLUENCED.COM]

They are actually the surface buildings to Southampton's Nuclear Bunker. I kid you not.

 

Isn't there another Nuclear Bunker under the Ordnance Survey Building ?

 

Not that I care, ive got an andersons shelter at the bottom of my garden and a 'real orange' to take in there in the event of

[SO16_Saint]

so, how exactly, does this 'clock' work?

 

Im not usually thick and can normally work things out, but this has stumped me!

[Weston Super Saint]

so, how exactly, does this 'clock' work?

 

Im not usually thick and can normally work things out, but this has stumped me!

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it, I have it on good authority that this particular clock was made in Birmingham in the 1970s - it replaced the original one they built - and has now in fact stopped working completely.

 

Good news though as it means the end of the world will now come as an almighty surprise to everyone so we can all stop worrying about when or if it might happen and go about enjoying life while we can

[Deppo]

Does this mean we all get an extra minute before we die?

 

I know what I'll be doing in that minute.

[hamster]

I know what I'll be doing in that minute.

 

If it happens in BST we'll get an extra hour plus a minute. We will outlive the rest of the World by a full sixty minutes, and you Deppo will have the sorest arse in the whole of Southamnpton.

[Big John]

I know what I'll be doing in that minute.

 

..a Chesney by any chance?

 

[Deppo]

If it happens in BST we'll get an extra hour plus a minute. We will outlive the rest of the World by a full sixty minutes, and you Deppo will have the sorest arse in the whole of Southamnpton.

 

It won't be the first time.

[Deppo]

Doomsday Clock? Sorry, I misread the title. Ahem.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

I remember ****ting myself everytime they tested the warning siren at the Civic Centre every Friday at noon and that would have been the late 70s.

 

When I was driving home with my Dad at night, I'd often look out across the horizon wondering what a mushroom cloud would look like.

 

Films and documentaries like Threads certainly didn't help when you were growing up.

 

I still consider myself fortunate not to have grown up during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

Someone has put Threads on Youtube in 13 parts, after reading the synopsis, I'm definatly going to give it a watch!

[View From The Top]

I remember ****ting myself everytime they tested the warning siren at the Civic Centre every Friday at noon and that would have been the late 70s.

 

When I was driving home with my Dad at night, I'd often look out across the horizon wondering what a mushroom cloud would look like.

 

Films and documentaries like Threads certainly didn't help when you were growing up.

 

I still consider myself fortunate not to have grown up during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

There was also a siren, on a tower, at the top of Dell Rd in Midanbury, near The Castle Pub.

 

There were times, during the early 80s, when I really did believe that I'd die in a nuclear attack.

[RedAndWhite91]

so, how exactly, does this 'clock' work?

 

Im not usually thick and can normally work things out, but this has stumped me!

 

Basically, scientists meet every now and again and examine factors relating to the end of the world. If say, in a year, Iran creates masses of nuclear missiles and creates an alliance with North Korea, and the polar ice caps melt, then the scientists will probably move the minute hand closer to midnight - midnight being the end. They move the minute hand as an indicator as to how well we are all doing in avoiding a nuclear holocaust/ an environmental disaster.

 

It was created in the 40's by those scientists who were in the Manhattan project - developing atomic weapons, as they decided that what they had created could destroy everything and they should try and avoid it.

 

Basically.

[Huffton]

Someone has put Threads on Youtube in 13 parts, after reading the synopsis, I'm definatly going to give it a watch!

 

That film was required watching when I was at school in the early 80's. It looks a bit dated now but at the same time brings it home because it is set in this country and filmed almost as a documentary. You should be able to download the whole thing easily enough using bittorrent or something similar.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

That film was required watching when I was at school in the early 80's. It looks a bit dated now but at the same time brings it home because it is set in this country and filmed almost as a documentary. You should be able to download the whole thing easily enough using bittorrent or something similar.

 

I'm on part 6 of 12 at the moment, just after all the bombs have been dropped. You're right it is dated, but still compelling. Obviously it is easy to look back on all this now with hindsight, but you can certainly see why many people in their 30/40/50s suspect anything 'red' when the BBC were making programmes like this.

 

It's been a great watch so far...

 

Jesus Christ, what was that hospital scene all about??!!?! (on part 8 now).

Edited 15 January, 2010 by Thorpe-le-Saint

[Gravesend Saint]

If you've never read it I would also recommend Warday by James Kunetka and Whitley Streiber.

 

The two authors travel round parts of the US 5 years after a 20 minute nuclear exchange to see what has happened to the country. It was written before the idea of nuclear winter was formed so you don't get the whole climate change aspect but it's still a good read.

 

Scared the s**t out of me when I was young.