Comments on: A Red Phone FAQ

By: WTL

WTL — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:02:29 +0000

Great read. I had often wondered about how that worked… and now I know. Thanks

By: tommy

tommy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:27:51 +0000

great post. keep ‘em coming.

oh the irony….

recaptcha: moscowitz sherring

“Moscow is sharing”

By: Joanna

Joanna — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:49:07 +0000

Josiah: Actually, I think it’s a fun study in contrasts: Russian food, while very tasty, tends to be very mild (at least in my experience), so chili would be quite an culinary exploration for them. The exploration of new tastes and foods can be just as enlightening as the thickest Russian novel.

reCAPTCHA: truth difficulties

By: loomis

loomis — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:36:12 +0000

I was an interpreter on the Hot Line for a while back in the early 70s. We read newspapers to each other.

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:55:17 +0000

So the infamous “Red Phone” was actually a good old KSR-35.

In the Cold War days we were pretty much intercepting and translating everything the Russians sent – voice, text, and Morse code.

As far as the use of nukes. It would be detected by various means by the Air Force Technical Applications Center, and (at least through the 70’s) reported as a coded message on the Ground Communications Network.

By: Josiah

Josiah — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:20:54 +0000

Its kind of sad that they are sending literature and we send… food recipes…

By: Terry

Terry — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:36:38 +0000

I hope the chili is good….. or else!

By: the creature

the creature — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:28:25 +0000

yikes.

kind of scary if you think about it.

if there wasn’t an accident, i.e. intentional use of nuclear arms, would they call each other to say “Nya, nya, nya!” before the human race goes up in mushroom-shaped cloud of radioactive dust?

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:44:26 +0000

That was a really interesting read! My husband is a huge international history buff, and for once I think I’ll be able to teach him something!

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:59:21 +0000

Too cool!
Great read; I especially enjoyed the little tidbit about chili recipes and Dostoyevsky… Yay for the contrast of humor and nuclear war!