Oscar's Red Carpet or The Day After

There ain't much on the TV on a Sunday afternoon - since I'm home doing a bit of relaxing and have the TV on there are a couple of choices at 15:00. Watching the red carpet pre-show of the Oscars or watching The Day After on Sci-Fi channel.

I was in elementary school when The Day After came out (1983) and I didn't watch it, but I remember kids the next day talking about it and being really freaked out about the possibility of nuclear war. By that time I think most Americans had come to their senses and realized that all out nuclear war was not survivable for anyone living anywhere but in the most remote of locales - and certainly, a city like Los Angeles - which still had a considerable manufacturing base for the defense industry - was right at the top of the targeting list...

I remember doing emergency drills, but not anything specific for a nuclear attack. The air-raid sirens (which can still be seen around Los Angeles, but are not disconnected) did go off a few times for tests, if my memory serves me right.

Though the rhetoric that had everyone on edge during the Reagan Era is not present anymore - the count of nuclear warheads stockpiled is still just as lethal - and in this case, out of sight out of mind is not a good thing. No nukes is good nukes...