NationStates Jolt Archive

Doomsday Clock set forward by two minutes (http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20070117%2fdoomsday_clock_070117&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True)

The minute hand of the Doomsday Clock has been moved closer to midnight to reflect the growing concerns of global terrorism, the unchecked nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea and -- in a first -- the threat of climate change.

Time for midnight madness sales?

Your thoughts please......

Doomsday Clock set forward by two minutes (http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20070117%2fdoomsday_clock_070117&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True)

Time for midnight madness sales?

Your thoughts please......

Having lived through the Cold War, and the fearmongering of the people who run this "clock", I don't place much stock in it.

Nothing we didn't know already.

*Yawn*

Time for midnight madness sales?


Never been interested in sales. Never been interested in being a good little consumer, in fact. Which is... slightly off topic, so...

The fact that the Doomsday Clock reflects the threat of climate change is obviously a good thing. We need everything we can to knock some sense into people.

I find it hard to believe that we're at more risk now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I find it hard to believe that we're at more risk now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Indeed.

Meh. If we're fucked, we're fucked. No use whining about it.

I think the general idea is not so much to "whine" as to think, hey, what if I actually stopped screwing up the world I live in every day of my life?

I think the general idea is not so much to "whine" as to think, hey, what if I actually stopped screwing up the world I live in every day of my life?

Good point. I never really thought of that. Even if the majority of us changed our lifestyles to become more economically friendly, international incidents would still rely on the decisions of the world leaders.

Meh. If we're fucked, we're fucked. No use whining about it.
Or perhaps doing something about it? We might not be able to prevent this disaster entirely, but we can make it much easier. Better late than never...?

Isn't it two minutes and not five there pal? Well, I think that if you take the two minutes and divide it in half every time there is a political problem with nuclear weapons (i.e. keep dividing in half whatever time you have left after dividing in half the previous time) then it would take an infinite amount of nuclear "problems" before the clock hit 12. So don't worry.

I have nothing to say. Read my sig.

i think its ludicrous to suggest that terrorism, NK or iran bring us significantly closer to doomsday.

and since that freaking clock has existed for decades, id say they must be lousy at predicting disaster

I have nothing to say. Read my sig.

I think I have to agree with your sig.

I think I have to agree with your sig.

I think I have to disagree with your statement about his/her sig (now someone disagree with me and we'll get an infinite recurrsion ---yeahh)

The fact that the Doomsday Clock reflects the threat of climate change is obviously a good thing. We need everything we can to knock some sense into people.
Yes, because if the countless books, movies, and scientific articles on the subject haven't convinced people to start acting, then a giant picture of a clock will.

So that's what they meant on CNN...I hate when they announce a headline, but don;t go into it and then you have to watch the whole damn thing...

I find it hard to believe that we're at more risk now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
That is easy when you think who was involved then (Kennedy & Krushev) and who is involved now (Bush the Lesser, Kim & Ahmadinejad). Bush alone should make everyone nervous???

you would think such a clock in its infinite wisdom would be 24 hour

*looks at watch* Shit! My watch stopped. :(


:p

That is easy when you think who was involved then (Kennedy & Krushev) and who is involved now (Bush the Lesser, Kim & Ahmadinejad). Bush alone should make everyone nervous???

Kennedy: Pay of Pigs, Cuban Missile crisis, South Vietnam coup, starter of Vietnam war.

Khrushchev: Politically and mentally unstable, forced to retire.

The two people who brought us closer to war than any other.

Nice comparison.

Kennedy: Pay of Pigs, Cuban Missile crisis, South Vietnam coup, starter of Vietnam war.

Khrushchev: Politically and mentally unstable, forced to retire.

The two people who brought us closer to war than any other.

Nice comparison.
I lived through that period of time and I felt safer then then I do now. Sorry, but Georgie et al are warmongers. We have had 9/11, US invasion of Iraq, and a President that goes around threatening everyone. Also, there has been talks about using mini nukes and the situation in the Middle East is far worse then it was in the early 1960's.

The world is much less safe now then then. Try again.

*looks at watch* Shit! My watch stopped. :(


:p
Perhaps you need a nuclear powered battery backup? :D

you would think such a clock in its infinite wisdom would be 24 hour

"infinite wisdom" = oxymoron ?

I lived through that period of time and I felt safer then then I do now. Sorry, but Georgie et al are warmongers. We have had 9/11, US invasion of Iraq, and a President that goes around threatening everyone. Also, there has been talks about using mini nukes and the situation in the Middle East is far worse then it was in the early 1960's.

The world is much less safe now then then. Try again.

Well if you feel that endorsing and supplying two overthrows of governments and starting a war that killed 30,000 US soldiers as well as threatening nuclear war that would destroy the whole planet isn't "warmongering", you need to reevaluate your BDS. You may also want to look into all those nice little Junta's in South America that Kennedy et al. supported during that era. You can feal that the "situation in the Middle East is far worse then it was in the early 1960's" all you want, doesn't make it true.

Try again.

Perhaps you need a nuclear powered battery backup? :D

Couldn't hurt. :)

"If you knew all of the dirty little projects the government was involved in, you would do nothing but curl up under your bed crying, waiting for the inevitable apocalypse."

I lived through that period of time and I felt safer then then I do now. Sorry, but Georgie et al are warmongers. We have had 9/11, US invasion of Iraq, and a President that goes around threatening everyone. Also, there has been talks about using mini nukes and the situation in the Middle East is far worse then it was in the early 1960's.

The world is much less safe now then then. Try again.

Less safe for other people. Today there is not a single power remaining to challenge American hegemony. If you feel less safe today than you did under the threat of MAD then you clearly have problems with paranoia.

Bay of Pigs was Eisenhower's idea. Kennedy used many of the same aides as Eisenhower, and they pushed him towards it. They also mislead him as to the competence and training the expats had.

Don't forget, though that he also believed the illusion of the "missile gap" with the Soviet Union and that played a part in his decisions towards Cuba.

Less safe for other people. Today there is not a single power remaining to challenge American hegemony. If you feel less safe today than you did under the threat of MAD then you clearly have problems with paranoia.

He's Canadian.

He's Canadian.

MAD would have affected Canada as well.

Kennedy: Pay of Pigs, Cuban Missile crisis, South Vietnam coup, starter of Vietnam war.

Bay of Pigs was Eisenhower's idea. Kennedy used many of the same aides as Eisenhower, and they pushed him towards it. They also mislead him as to the competence and training the expats had.

MAD would have affected Canada as well.Read the post I quoted. MAD didn't factor into it.

Read the post I quoted. MAD didn't factor into it.

"If you feel less safe today than you did under the threat of MAD then you clearly have problems with paranoia."

Having lived through the Cold War, and the fearmongering of the people who run this "clock", I don't place much stock in it.

Agreed.

The fact that the Doomsday Clock reflects the threat of climate change is obviously a good thing. We need everything we can to knock some sense into people.

No, it's not at all obvious to link the original purpose of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists measure of the threat of nuclear war to global warming. In fact, to me it makes absolutely no sense at all. :(

I find it hard to believe that we're at more risk now than we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Or several other points - the first times the Chinese, French, and Indian actually tested bombs for example.

Bay of Pigs was Eisenhower's idea. Kennedy used many of the same aides as Eisenhower, and they pushed him towards it. They also mislead him as to the competence and training the expats had.

It was still a military backed regime change by Kennedy. You may also want to read up on "Operation Mongoose".

I'm with the folks who issue forth a yawn.

"If you feel less safe today than you did under the threat of MAD then you clearly have problems with paranoia."

"Less safe for other people." is the relevant portion. Since other people is non-Americans in context, it is less safe for CanuckHeaven.

These are the same people who didn't move the minute hand for the Cuban Missile Crisis, yet drug it massively forward while Reagan (the only nuclear abolitionist elected President of the United States) was in office. If I see anything out of these folks, I have immense doubt. Their warnings have never preceded any sort of doomsday.

Beyond that, it's biased towards an alarmist viewpoint, as it's never gotten any further than 20 minutes away from doomsday, an implication that we're almost screwed. An accurate reflection of reality would be a clock that encompasses an entire 12 hour period.

*sneaks up to the clock, and push it towards midnight* :D

Doomsday Clock set forward by two minutes (http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20070117%2fdoomsday_clock_070117&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True)



Time for midnight madness sales?

Your thoughts please......

Kill for game or shot to maim
We don't need a reason
The golden goose is on the loose
They're never out of season
Blackened pride still burns inside this shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death

The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight!
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight!
To kill the unborn in the womb

The blind men shout "let the creatures out
"we'll show the unbelievers"
Napalm screams of human flames for a primetime Belsen Feast-yeah
As the reasons for the carnage cut the meat and lick the gravy
We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies

The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight!
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight!
To kill the unborn in the womb

The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song,
To the tune of starving millions to make a better kind of gun

The killer's breed or the demon's seed
The glamour, the fortune, the pain
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for my soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight!
The hands that threaten doom
2 minutes to midnight!
To kill the unborn in the womb

Midnight...All night!

These are the same people who didn't move the minute hand for the Cuban Missile Crisis,
There was less chance of nuclear war than many thought.

yet drug it massively forward while Reagan (the only nuclear abolitionist elected President of the United States) was in office.
"I have signed legislation that outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."

Beyond that, it's biased towards an alarmist viewpoint, as it's never gotten any further than 20 minutes away from doomsday, an implication that we're almost screwed.
Every species on Earth exists on the edge of a knife. Every species on Earth is constantly close to destruction.

There was less chance of nuclear war than many thought.
But there was definitely a sufficient increase to move the minutehand to no more than three out.


"I have signed legislation that outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."
Ever heard of a joke?


Every species on Earth exists on the edge of a knife. Every species on Earth is constantly close to destruction.

Not that close. For example, doomsday for Panda Bears might be a few minutes off, but humanity is reasonably well entrenched, and short of obliterating ourselves, or a run-in with a comet, we're well on track to be around for quite some time.

Meh. If we're fucked, we're fucked. No use whining about it.

How eloquent. ;)

So, if the US were to build a functional SDI, what would that do to the Doomsday Clock?

Ever heard of a joke?
Wars have been started over less. And it was still a fucking retarded joke. You don't make cracks like that.


Not that close.
You're right. They're way closer.

So, if the US were to build a functional SDI, what would that do to the Doomsday Clock?

Naturally move it forward, never mind the fact that a functional SDI, especially if shared amongst all nations of the world as was proposed in the eighties, would make nuclear weapons near obsolete.

Wars have been started over less. And it was still a fucking retarded joke. You don't make cracks like that.
Reagan was an actor, performing to an audience, specifically, his advisors and people who understood him. Was it in poor taste? Yes, but it's not his actual opinion.



You're right. They're way closer.

While there are some species that are pretty close to midnight, humanity is not one of them.

What's a SDI?

Naturally move it forward, never mind the fact that a functional SDI, especially if shared amongst all nations of the world as was proposed in the eighties, would make nuclear weapons near obsolete.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. :rolleyes:

I mean, with the technology now we should definitely go for it. It would be a true statement of international cooperation if we all put money and equipment towards protecting the world from nuclear war once and for all.

And the other things, like dirty bombs, could be controlled through security and tracing of nuclear materials worldwide. Those aren't going to trigger doomsday, however, no matter how bad they are.

So, if the US were to build a functional SDI, what would that do to the Doomsday Clock?

Removing the major reason to not use nuclear weaponry? Probably make it jump forward, unless the technology was given to everyone else.

Edit: And I mean everyone. Every country in the world would have to have a fully functional one.

What's a SDI?

:eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative

BTW, it's the SDI not a SDI (sic), which would always be gramatically incorrect.

How can this not be doom prophet phear mongering?

Removing the major reason to not use nuclear weaponry? Probably make it jump forward, unless the technology was given to everyone else.

Edit: And I mean everyone. Every country in the world would have to have a fully functional one.

IF the US developeded SDI - It's midnight, baby!

Not a pretty site.

We all know the end is nigh, we don't need a clock.

We all know the end is nigh, we don't need a clock.

and how do we know this exactly?

and how do we know this exactly?

Basic biology.