Tag Archives: Cold War

¿ɹoɟ ןnɟʞuɐɥʇ noʎ ǝɹɐ ʇɐɥʍ ‘os

Posted on by Standard 2

Cover of "Cloak & Dagger"

Cover of Cloak & Dagger

OK, the last post was serious.  This one can be goofy …ridiculous even.  Help me out in the comments.

  • I’m thankful for my Dewey Decibel FlipOut because it hurts people’s heads.
  • I’m thankful that I can tell my wife to get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich, and she laughs & knows I’m not sexist.  It’s even better when I do something like this in the grocery store in front of elderly people.
  • I’m thankful that I don’t live any closer to the ocean.
  • I’m thankful that people read this blog, and pretend to find it entertaining.
  • I’m thankful that I’ve never purchased a Clarks album.
  • I’m thankful that I’m old enough to be like “back in my day” to you younglings.
  • I’m thankful that Al Gore invented the internet.
  • I’m thankful that I got to see Guns N’ Roses live before they imploded, and the Ramones before they quit & died.
  • I’m glad that I can remember the cold war.  Russians were much more fun than terrorists.  Cloak & Dagger or The Experts anyone?
  • I’m thankful that posting photos of food on Facebook is a ridiculously friend polarizing action.
  • I’m thankful that Boston Market is funny.
  • I’m thankful that I’m not these people or McDonald’s.
  • I’m thankful for kitten calendars.
  • I’m thankful that I’m not the person who bags giblets at the turkey factory, then shoves them in the turkey’s nether-regions.  (My apologies to those who are that person.)
  • I’m thankful for your eventual comments.
Related articles

Numbers Stations

Posted on by Standard 1

Numbers Stations.  I want to say that I’ve heard of them before, but recently they’ve popped up in a Fringe episode and in Uncle John’s Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader, and they’ve piqued my interest.  Ham Radio always seemed cool to me, and growing up in the 80’s there was a very USA vs. USSR cold war spy thing going on that feeds into my interest of these things.

The general consensus is that these number stations are broadcasting some type of code, most likely with a “one-time” pad which would make each code  impossible to crack unless you had the key.

What are they doing now though?  The cold war’s over, right?  What’s their use?  Spies are still out there & active, apparently.

The UJ article Numbers on the Radio is a really good read!  It lead me to search the internet and come across these recordings free for the downloading: http://www.archive.org/details/ird059

This kind of stuff fascinates me.  I’m definitely going to have to read more on the subject!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Thermonuclear War

Posted on by Standard 1

Those are still scary words.  Ha ha ha.  ☢

Today, I was made aware (via ThinkGeek on Twitter) that this was the day in 1983 that the movie WarGames was released.  This is one that’s at the top of my “favorite movies from my childhood” list.

Another Twitter post (from TB5918) linked to some cool WarGames sounds at Movie Sounds Central.

When I was younger, the USSR was still around and there was this really weird thin Cold War line between them being the enemy or a friend.  It was clear that our respective governments were unsure of the other, but the people in each place were just curious about each other.  They were a great movie bad guy.  Every stock film bad guy was a Communist from the USSR because they were so easy to identify and to fear.

WarGames not only appealed to the budding computer geek in me, but it really pointed out to me that maybe the Soviets weren’t the bad guy.  Maybe we were.  Maybe no one was.  Plus, the whole machines taking over thing kind’ve messed with my little mind.

I was also fascinated with how he hacked a payphone.  I never did get to try that out.  (For the kids, this is a payphone.)

I know my parents had to spend mad cash on renting this VHS (and possibly Betamax, we had one of those first…) for me multiple times.  I have it on DVD at home somewhere now.  I rescued it from the Walmart $5 DVD mid-aisle bin.

I really recommend checking this out if you’ve never seen it or if you have no idea what I’m talking about.  If you have seen it, go watch it again!  (Hey – even Rotten Tomatoes likes it.)

I’m gonna have to make a “Favorite movies from my childhood” list.

Maybe I can convince the wife that we need to watch this tonight, to mark the occasion…

WarGames | JOSHUA

Joshua