nuclear attack

[purplegrum]

It's cool, if the worst happens talk to Apollo and I and we'll set you up with keys for ROC posts - it'll be the HG Survival Plan!

[purplegrum]

... or we could all just get together at an abandoned asylum of our choice with a couple of bottles of Jack Daniel's and enough straw's to go round.

[JayKay]

Or we could hedge our bets and go for an ROC post and several months supply of JD

[Sharon]

I'm still opting for the beach with a nice bottle of whisky. Posibly also with my duvet, might as well be warm and comfortable as the sun gets blocked out and the show begins...

[Apollo]

*woohoo!!, Dumbarton would not be hit!! ( Unfortunately - best thing for it you see).
Faslane and all the other places around would take us out anyhow.

Don't feel too left out, I'm sure there must be a TA related location near enough or in Dumbarton to make sure it was on the full list. Given the paranoia of the time, I'm sure the past existence of the WWII Blackburn flying boat factory under the castle would have given it an assured place anyway.

Hey, Grum, if we're going to be generous and take JD and his pals down with us, we'd better make sure we've got a fully functional sump pump. Them Elsans (chemical toilets) don't look much good for social events, but the white buckets in the posts at least have lids

[Speedbird]

There is a TA place now I think about it, so..... err........... woohoo!!

[purplegrum]

Or we could hedge our bets and go for an ROC post and several months supply of JD

now THAT'S an idea! i think we should have a full scale mock emergency to try that out!

[youngsod]

Living a mile from PIK airport, I'll console myself with the knowledge that a large airburst is just about to detonate above my head, and with any luck will vapourise me in an instant.

Growing up in Motherwell in the '80s, and being terrified after watching Threads at school, I consoled myself with the fact that living 300 yards from a big steel plane meant that I'd cop it fairly quickly

[JayKay]

Or we could hedge our bets and go for an ROC post and several months supply of JD

now THAT'S an idea! i think we should have a full scale mock emergency to try that out!

I'm on permanant standby for that four-minute warning.

[purplegrum]

And I have a 3L bottle of Jack that I brought back from the USA! We're set!

[Apollo]

Need to remember the low voltage battery lighting. With all that alcohol around we'd better not use candles!

[Apollo]

Browsing the columns of my IT journal, I see from the correspondence that nowhere is safe, and we might as well just sit where we are and wait for the Big One. Unless, that is, anyone in here knows where the active nuclear submarines actually are.

It appears these devices, which it maybe safe to assume fall into the category of safet-critical-systems, run Microsoft Windows and NT for their underlying network.

I also believe, although I haven't ploughed through the revered document, that Microsoft's licencing policy specifically says that no version of Windows is appropriate for a safety-critical-system.

Hmmm... aparently Windows is used in Trident nuclear submarines, and there was a recent story about how many time the USS Yorktown had to reboot its NT systems.

That bunkers party's getting closer

[JayKay]

From a friend of a friend type source that did some work for the MoD the computer systems on board Trident subs don't run Windows because they are so old they predate it by several years. Unsure if this is a good thing or a very bad thing...

[Apollo]

I think the term is retrofit

The exercise took place in the mid-90s, and although little detail is given, steering was cited as an example ("Sorry about your pier, I was actually trying to hit Ctr-Alt-Del" )

This time AMS, a susidiary of BAE Systems, is reportedly deploying Windows 2000 to control the Combat Management Systems of Type 45 destroyers and Vanguard submarines, which include the UK's Trident thermo-nuclear ballistic missiles.

While every admin has their own benchmark, I'm told a busy 2000 system will run for around 300 hours before wanting a reboot, but that will vary depending on the application. My own little NT and 2000 systems ran for months without crashing, but the plonkers that were using the networks never did anything to really stress them, so they were really idling.

[purplegrum]

From a Mac users perspective, it's quite worrying that sub standard software (i.e Windows) is being used to control rather important systems.

I've just bought a genuine, ex-ROC Plessey PDRM82F (Apollo will know what I'm talking about) and reading this I'm not not so sure if i should make it ready for action or not!