Master Index of Archived Threads


Happy Petrov Day

Edgy MD Sep 26 2012 01:58 PM

On this day, Stanislus Petrov kept his head and maybe saved the world. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/143192

cooby Sep 27 2012 06:36 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

Wow, just a slap on the wrist back in those days....

Centerfield Sep 27 2012 08:57 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

I never knew about that. Amazing some of the things that slip through the cracks. This part struck me: It was a tense time in U.S.-Soviet relations. On September 1, the Soviets had shot down a South Korean passenger plane that strayed into its airspace, killing a number of Americans. ...not to mention a whole bunch of South Koreans. Ahem. My brother was born in July of 1983. My grandmother came over from S. Korea to stay with us and help out my mother for a few months. Both of them forgetting how difficult it was for the two of them to co-exist in the same home. After a few weeks my mother accused her mother of being overbearing. My grandmother accused her daughter of being ungrateful. My grandmother changed her flight and left three weeks early. Her original flight was Korean Air Lines flight 007, leaving JFK August 30, 1983. Maintain a dysfunctional relationship with your parents. Save them it can.

Mets – Willets Point Sep 27 2012 09:31 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

I recommend the book The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman which ties together a lot of the US-Soviet relations events that were in the news in the 1980s with stuff we didn't know at the time.

Edgy MD Sep 27 2012 09:58 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

Great story by Center. I hope my family appreciates that I make them miserable because I care.

metirish Sep 27 2012 10:38 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

Edgy DC wrote: Great story by Center. I hope my family appreciates that I make them miserable because I care. that's a wow story....

Centerfield Sep 27 2012 10:53 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

It's crazy isn't it? I've known about it since I was a kid, but the magnitude of it doesn't hit you until you are an adult and can fully comprehend it. I was eight at the time. My son is seven. I can't even imagine trying to explain something like that to him. At the time I remember my mother crying as we were watching the news. She explained to me that Grandma was supposed to be on that plane. I thought to myself, "Well she wasn't, so what's the big deal?" Nearly thirty years later my mother and grandmother still drive each other crazy.

metirish Sep 27 2012 11:50 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

I'm curious, does your granny ever talk about it?, when you start to think about all the things she got to see because she wasn;t on the flight it's mind boggling.

Edgy MD Sep 27 2012 11:54 AM Re: Happy Petrov Day

Also had a sitting member of the US Congress on board. The flight right behind it had another congressmember and two senators.

Centerfield Sep 27 2012 02:34 PM Re: Happy Petrov Day

I've never discussed it with her. She's in Korea and I don't see her much anyway. Even if I did see her, unfortunately my Korean is not nearly sophisticated enough to discuss such a thing. We don't discuss it much in my family either. In fact, it went unsaid for many years, then one day my mother mentioned it in passing, which caused me to look up the details on it. I had been way too young to digest anything then. I'm sure she thinks about it. If something like that happened to me I suspect I'd think about it every day.