An old poster from the late 50's early 60's I found that might become important today, if Putin starts tossing nukes around... Though it will be hard to tell a fire alarm from the "Keep on the Alert" signal.

Interesting: Unfortunately, we have an EPA and Bureaucracy that tends to be totally citycentric. They have no sense of distance and think the whole world has mobile phone and internet and have no idea of cause & effect.

Anywhere rural that had any sort of town warning system has had the EPA kill it as it apparently noisy that also applies to factory shift change whistles and the ultimate stupidity, striking municipal clocks during the night. Even the fire bell has gone.

The "air raid" siren in the small towns, had a code like the poster. The number of cycles indicated the risk.

Einstein, prophesised that we would create a generation of morons and with the number of people, even at weddings, sitting around "texting" he was right & there here.

Einstein, prophesised that we would create a generation of morons and with the number of people, even at weddings, sitting around "texting" he was right & there here.

The other day at work I couldn't help notice a car leaving one of the multideck carparks and the driver was obstructed by a nurse who had her face glued to the phone, zombie style. The driver had a few words to the nurse, who just walked blindly across his path and she had the gall to ask what his problem was.

The sad thing is, if the driver had hit her, she would have the right to claim her medical expenses on his green slip. This is why everyone's green slip costs an arm and two legs every year. Updating Facebook and Twitter is far more important than maintaining some self preservation through spatial awareness these days.

As for Vladimir Putin, I am hoping a disgruntled member if his inner sanctum puts him on the shelf very soon. The bloke is no longer in possession of his senses.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I am hoping a disgruntled member if his inner sanctum puts him on the shelf very soon.

Not likely, methinks. His inner sanctum comprises his old KGB buddies.

Was that Krazy Geriatric B.... It seems that one really big country has a Vice President that needs minders to keep her from putting her foot in her mouth, which one Polly here had as permanent fixture. And a President & Vice president that really need to be in a home for the terminally bewildered.

It beggars belief that countries have a totally corrupted electoral system that can produce a result like that. The world is an out of control shambles.

With regard to the original post, I wonder if there are any of those huge air raid sirens left that were powered by Chrysler V8 engines. They had a nickname but I cannot remember it.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

"Big Red Whistles" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Air-Raid_Siren

Sadly Wa2sie may be right about those sirens. If it is any comfort, in the late 1980s when I was working at a certain "joint communications facility" somewhere in Australia I was told by a senior US person who may or may not have been visiting at the time that if Russia ever decided to strike at the US then the first three missiles would be aimed at certain sites in Australia. The place where I worked no longer exists so I will stay well away from the other two.

During WWII there were air-raid sirens installed in Sydney and Melbourne but I understand that they were removed in the 1950s. However I have it on good authority from a couple of ex-PMG techs that in the late 1970s, labeled control circuits were still in place with phone cables laid in tunnels under the the Sydney CBD.

As for Brad's comment on the hypnotic effect of 'smart' phones I see the same thing most days around the local shopping centre. Last Saturday while driving (fortunately slowly) along a street a young woman with her eyes glued to the screen walked straight out in front of me to cross a 60 Km/hr road. I saw her in time to be able to stop and a bus coming the other way also stopped just a metre from her. She did not look left or right and was totally oblivious to her surroundings until she got to the far side, tripped over the curb and fell flat on her face.

In response to the 11th September terror attacks in the US, Sydney had a incident warning system installed throughout the CBD. To this day it is still tested once a month. It includes large LED message displays and a loudspeaker system. The screens display a warning on the day of the test so people don't panic when they hear the racket it makes.

This system cannot be heard in the suburbs though and if war broke out again in this part of the world, a proper warning system for that would ultimately be necessary again. Even though there are more rail tunnels now (and road tunnels too) I doubt all 5.3m people here would fit in.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Photo uploaded.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Air-Raid_Siren

Made in Detroit

Downtown Detroit already looked like a victim of nuclear war up to like a decade ago, there was not even enough money to demolish empty buildings. I was looking at an empty Art Deco skyscraper from a bar across the street and the owner said "thieves ran rampant through it stripping out copper wire plus the electrics of its elevators!"

Another salient ruin was the massive Hudson's Dept Store who also owned the Hudson Motor Car Company.