Stanislav Petrov day

Станислав Евграфович Петров
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov
Saviour of Humanity
born 1939

Chances are, none of us would be alive if it weren't for the bold action - or inaction - of this former Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces who single-handedly averted global thermonuclear armageddon twenty-five years ago today.

The story of Stanislav Petrov ● Wikipedia article

If you're having a drink tonight, please raise a glass to the man, and wonder what might have been if he hadn't been called in at the last minute to take over another's shift...

Debate is on

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican John McCain says he's going to be at the first presidential debate, even though Congress doesn't have a bailout deal. With less than 10 hours until the debate was scheduled to start, the McCain campaign announced that the Arizona senator would travel to the University of Mississippi. The campaign said after the forum he will fly back to Washington to continue working on the financial crisis. — AP Top News at 11:40 a.m. EDT

The 90 minute debate starts at 2am BST tonight, and will be broadcast live online on this incredibly annoying MySpace page. I may well stay up to watch, in which case I shall also hang out on irc://irc.netgoth.org.uk/potus if you want to share a virtual beer.