For Want of a Nail: Difference between revisions

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* On September 26, 1983, a Soviet early warning station detected [[Oh Crap|5 inbound]] [[Nuke'Em|ICBMs]]. Colonel Stanislav Petrov, the man in charge of the station, decided it was a false alarm and did not report it to his superiors. Had someone else been in charge, and had they ''not'' realized it was a false alarm, [[World War III|well]]...
* On September 26, 1983, a Soviet early warning station detected [[Oh Crap|5 inbound]] [[Nuke'Em|ICBMs]]. Colonel Stanislav Petrov, the man in charge of the station, decided it was a false alarm and did not report it to his superiors. Had someone else been in charge, and had they ''not'' realized it was a false alarm, [[World War III|well]]...
** Perhaps a little comfort can be found in the fact that anyone with even general knowledge of nuclear war (such as a person in charge of a station dedicated to detecting missile launches) would understand that no one would launch just five ICBM's as a first strike...they'd launch EVERYTHING.
** Perhaps a little comfort can be found in the fact that anyone with even general knowledge of nuclear war (such as a person in charge of a station dedicated to detecting missile launches) would understand that no one would launch just five ICBM's as a first strike...they'd launch EVERYTHING.
***James Dunnigan in one book somewhere or other speculated that instead of doing that they might just do one or two at a time to [[Prove I Am Not Bluffing]]-kind of like a gigantic version of an Icelandic feud from the sagas that is. However such an event would only be likely at a time when there was already so much of a crises that someone might be tempted to rock the boat in that fashion. When America and Russia were doing know more then doing a [[Death Glare]] at each other it was in everyone's interest to be better safe then dead. Especially as once it does come there is really nothing more to be gained but revenge. So yeah.
* Similarly, in 1979, at the American NORAD aerospace warning control center, a technician stuck a training tape depicting a full nuclear exchange with the Soviets into the main computer ''without remembering to hit the training button''. As a result, NORAD interpreted [[World War III]] from ''within its own computers''. Within a few minutes, American aircraft were loaded with nuclear weapons and launched, and missiles were prepared for a full retaliatory strike. For want a switch, the world might have been lost?
* Similarly, in 1979, at the American NORAD aerospace warning control center, a technician stuck a training tape depicting a full nuclear exchange with the Soviets into the main computer ''without remembering to hit the training button''. As a result, NORAD interpreted [[World War III]] from ''within its own computers''. Within a few minutes, American aircraft were loaded with nuclear weapons and launched, and missiles were prepared for a full retaliatory strike. For want a switch, the world might have been lost?
* Also a [[Professional Wrestling]] example, but since it was a major part of real life, it belongs better here. At a live event at Madison Square Garden in May 1996, [[The Kliq]] ([[Triple H]], [[Shawn Michaels]], [[Kevin Nash]], and [[Scott Hall]]) all hugged each other in front of the audience in what became known as the "Curtain Call". While it was not a problem for Michaels and Hall to hug (as both were faces), when Triple H and Nash joined in the hug, this scandalized the WWF (because both were heels), and this was seen as breaking the suspension of disbelief. While Michaels was not reprimanded because he was the WWF Champion, and Nash and Hall were leaving to go to rival WCW, this left Triple H as the sole member to take the blame. He was demoted from being a championship contender to the mid-card, and while originally booked to be in the finals at that year's ''King of the Ring'', the MSG incident prevented that. Who took his place, and the push that went with it? Why, none other than [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]], then a former WCW midcarder and current WWF midcarder, who went on to win the KOTR, jumpstart the [[Attitude Era]], and help the WWF win over WCW in the [[Monday Night Wars]]. If the MSG incident had never taken place, then who knows what the state of the professional wrestling business would be today?
* Also a [[Professional Wrestling]] example, but since it was a major part of real life, it belongs better here. At a live event at Madison Square Garden in May 1996, [[The Kliq]] ([[Triple H]], [[Shawn Michaels]], [[Kevin Nash]], and [[Scott Hall]]) all hugged each other in front of the audience in what became known as the "Curtain Call". While it was not a problem for Michaels and Hall to hug (as both were faces), when Triple H and Nash joined in the hug, this scandalized the WWF (because both were heels), and this was seen as breaking the suspension of disbelief. While Michaels was not reprimanded because he was the WWF Champion, and Nash and Hall were leaving to go to rival WCW, this left Triple H as the sole member to take the blame. He was demoted from being a championship contender to the mid-card, and while originally booked to be in the finals at that year's ''King of the Ring'', the MSG incident prevented that. Who took his place, and the push that went with it? Why, none other than [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]], then a former WCW midcarder and current WWF midcarder, who went on to win the KOTR, jumpstart the [[Attitude Era]], and help the WWF win over WCW in the [[Monday Night Wars]]. If the MSG incident had never taken place, then who knows what the state of the professional wrestling business would be today?
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