Oh the technology & computers!!!!!

-- PJC (paulchri@msn.com), October 03, 1999

Answers

"a fleet of upside ships floating on a sea of springs"

The protection of the inner core buildings and the foundation designed to absorb shock.

-- PJC (paulchri@msn.com), October 03, 1999.

I was given a tour of the place about seven or eight years ago, and it is indeed awesome. If you saw the movie "War Games," with Matthew Broderick, then you've seen pictures of the entrance that's blasted into the middle of Cheyenne Mountain. However, the "control room" where they watch for possible missile attacks over the North Pole does NOT look like the high-tech setup in the aforementioned movie -- it's more like something out of the 1950s.

When they were showing all of this to me, I happened to spot a television that had been bolted onto the wall, over in a corner, up near the ceiling. Jokingly, I asked if it had been installed so that bored military officers could watch cartoons or movie re-runs. The answer was unlike what I expect: "No, we use it to watch CNN."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because if radar systems tell us an attack is underway, we figure there's a good chance it will already be on CNN," was the answer.

This was shortly after the end of Desert Storm, so the comment had a lot more impact than it might in 1999...

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (HumptyDumptyY2K@yourdon.com), October 03, 1999.

In the military, CNN is used as a strategic intelligence tool even when all their other assets are operational. DoD can't compete with free enterprise when it comes to running efficient communications in a war zone. Just look at the air strikes that were ordered during the Grenada invasion - via 1-800-CALL-ATT.

-- a (a@a.a), October 04, 1999.

It was a good show. They did say that they buy all of their hardware off the shelf. It was very disturbing to hear, however, that all software is developed in-house. Wonder how much of it is remediated?

-- yerfdog (not@real.com), October 04, 1999.