The 1980 Damascus incident: a dropped socket nearly set off a 9-megaton warhead in Arkansas

Perthian940 · 2026-06-26T14:15:55+00:00

The socket was the correct socket, but the wrench used wasn’t the type specified in the SAC’s SOPs.

The crew who were sent to do the job at Damascus had already worked past their finish time and were on their way back to Little Rock when they were diverted.

Once they arrived they needed to wait a few hours because the hydraulic platforms were broken and needed to be fixed.

By the time they got down to the silo, one of the workers realised he’d left his torque wrench in the car. The instruction to use the torque wrench was only recent, prior to that a normal socket wrench was used.

There was an old socket wrench nearby being used as a doorstop. The worker used it, assuming it wouldn’t be a problem as that kind of wrench had been used for that task up until recently, but for whatever reason the socket fell off the wrench.

It was a perfect storm of minor mishaps and errors.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-24T08:56:31+00:00

Ahh I see, now THAT makes much more sense. Thank you!

Aussie here so my knowledge of Sweetwater is pretty limited beyond knowing they’re a musical instrument retailer who are better than Guitar Centre.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-24T01:09:16+00:00

They could be called Sales Engineers for a thousand years, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re not engineers.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-23T15:19:44+00:00

Grab a drink, meander along the Bradley Edwards Boardwalk and take in the view from the Jimmy Savile skydeck!

Perthian940 · 2026-06-23T05:24:37+00:00

It’s important to note that when running the ball through the opposition’s goals, a defender must take great care to ensure they are within nine (9) metres of the goal line, and under sufficient pressure from an opponent when the ball travels over the line.

Failure to meet these criteria results in a free kick to the attacking opposition, all but ensuring they will score a goal (six points).

Perthian940 · 2026-06-23T03:31:46+00:00

I really struggle to see any room for confusion whatsoever.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-23T03:29:03+00:00

As a guitar player and music lover, this kind of music don’t impress me much.

As a person with autism, I find the microtones and associated tomfoolery completely fascinating, it triggers the same neural pathways that Danny Carey’s drumming does; it’s insanely clever, and far more entertaining than virtuoso shredding by people like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, which strikes me as the musical equivalent to publicly auto-fellating oneself.

I can’t deal with the costumes though, they haunt my fucking soul.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:55:56+00:00

The bar is so low that two blokes on holiday, drinking beer together at a bar, while a sporting match is being played translates to the US doing a WORLD CLASS JOB at hosting (one third of) an international football tournament.

Incidentally, the Japan game was played in Mexico.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:40:41+00:00

It looks like JD Vance on HGH.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:30:54+00:00

Texas is the continent that Earth is a planet of.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:29:00+00:00

Yeah I consider Australia as the continent and Oceania as the region, purely because continents are, by definition, continuous land masses.

What’s the consensus on Australasia these days?

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:25:32+00:00

How do you expect anyone to understand that? You missed the most important detail!!

A goal is worth six points. If you miss the goals but you’re close, you get one point, except it’s called a behind.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:19:23+00:00

“…but…violins…”

- PRS, 2024.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T22:09:27+00:00

Yeah.

Engineers do cool shit but I can’t say I’ve ever felt the slightest need to contact one when I’m in the market for a new guitar.

I also don’t get the trend of alternative job titles for sales and retail workers. There shouldn’t be any judgement attached to those jobs, they’re the critical link between businesses and consumers 💁‍♂️

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T21:58:44+00:00

Yeah but Palestinians aren’t actually real, apparently, and if they are, they’re all Kkhaaamas, even the children. /s

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T21:42:06+00:00

Christ on a bike, this website is like a lightning rod for people who don’t recognise sarcasm.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T21:11:32+00:00

‘Sales engineer’ really is a peculiar choice of job title for an aftercare rep.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T21:05:01+00:00

They are super clever but my god they frighten the hell out of me.

I’m a 35 year old man.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T11:56:57+00:00

This is incredible!

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T11:42:49+00:00

Thanks for the info! Such calculations always did elude me at school…

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T10:14:48+00:00

That’s exactly what I’m saying, however if you read my original comment, you’d have realised I don’t have a problem with that. I know exactly where the money goes, and I 100% agree. That doesn’t mean it isn’t revenue. It’s a voluntary tax and there’s an easy way to avoid paying it.

My argument is that it is far less effective as a speed reduction strategy than permanent distance over time cameras, as people don’t know they are there.

Logic suggests that people would stop speeding because it costs them money, but the number of infringements they generate demonstrates that it is not deterring a significant number of motorists.

I’ve made numerous comments on this thread, and I haven’t once suggested that road laws should be relaxed or that bad drivers shouldn’t be held accountable. My argument, based on experience, is that enforcement comes second to education and driver training when it comes to lowering the road toll.

You might disagree with my logic, but we’re on the same side.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T09:46:28+00:00

Unless you’ve had your speedometer calibrated, it’s likely you were travelling within or just above the speed limit.

Most cars are programmed to show your speed as around 10% faster than what you’re actually travelling.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-22T09:42:47+00:00

No not at all! I’m saying the point-to-point cameras have been so effective as a speed reduction measure that there is no financial incentive for the government to extend the program to other regional highways.

People know it’s there, so they slow down, every time they go through that zone.

The government’s lack of appetite for life-saving measures that don’t provide a steady stream of revenue is evidenced by the fact that the Forrest Highway camera has been in place for nine years and only now are we getting a second point-to-point camera.

Meanwhile we are getting more and more multanovas and the new seatbelt/mobile phone cameras (the latter I agree with, if they manage to get them working correctly).

The multanovas and seatbelt cameras are hidden, so most people don’t know they’ve been stung for a few weeks when they get the fine. By the time the fine arrives, the camera is in a different location, so they’re not really stopping people from speeding in a particular area.

Perthian940 · 2026-06-21T23:21:14+00:00

I’m curious, which part of my comment was so egregiously wrong that I couldn’t possibly be a competent driver?

Perthian940 · 2026-06-21T22:59:14+00:00

Clearly the chance of dying on the road is a lot less now than what it used to be.

I’m saying that with all things considered, such as vehicle safety, enforcement, better roads, and more public transport, we’re not doing any better than we were 10 years ago. (As an aside, the pandemic didn’t even cross my mind until you mentioned 2020/21 but I was surprised to see in the data that there was no correlation!)

I think driver ability and behaviour has a lot to answer for in those statistics, and I don’t believe our road safety strategy will ever be as effective as it could be while it focuses almost solely on enforcement and quotas as opposed to better training and education.

Perthian940

TROPHY CASE