Time is Running Out ...

Washington, D.C. • January 23, 2020:  The Doomsday Clock was reset to just 100 seconds before midnight -- the closest we have ever been to the complete and total annihilation of the earth (well, at least metaphorically).

The Doomsday Clock has been maintained since 1947.

All is not lost, yet! In fact, the Clock hand has been moved away from midnight almost as often as it was moved closer. The threat of nuclear destruction might seem too big for us to handle, but the Clock isn’t used as a scare tactic, rather it is used to get people talking.

Likewise, movies can also get us talking about the possibility and prevention of nuclear destruction … before time runs out! 

Most people are familiar with the classic nuclear destruction movies such as: The Day After

Fail Safe

Dr. Strangelove

On the Beach

War Games; and Crimson Tide. 

However, there are lesser-known nuclear destruction movies worthy of your time. Most are available on YouTube, Vimeo, or the Internet Archive at no cost.

My Top Ten Lesser-Known Nuke Movies

 

1. Threads (1984) @ Internet Archive (archive.org) 💥💥💥💥💥

Documentary style account of the terrifying consequences of nuclear warfare upon an unsuspecting world. Set mainly in Sheffield, England during the height of the Cold War, “Threads” follows two families and other citizens, as they deal with the absolute destruction of their society and the eventual long running effects of nuclear war on civilization.  

 

2. By Dawn’s Early Light (1990) on YouTube 💥💥💥💥

Based on the 1983 novel “Trinity's Child,” by William Prochnau. It is one of the last films to depict the events of a fictional World War III before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. It tells the story of the crew of a nuclear bomber attacking the Soviet Union while the President of the United States tries desperately to regain control of his military after his helicopter crashes during a limited nuclear exchange.

3. Kuroi Ame/Black Rain (1989) on YouTube, Japanese w/English Subtitles💥💥💥💥

The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel. Survivors make their way through the ruins of Hiroshima, just after the atomic bomb has dropped. Five years later, in a village containing many of the bomb survivors, they must deal with the legacy of the atomic bomb.

4. The War Game (1965), @ Internet Archive (archive.org), Academy Award Winner 💥💥💥💥

A docudrama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Although it won an Oscar for Best Documentary, it is fiction. It was intended as an hour-long program to air on BBC but it was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast. It went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.

5. Der Dritte Weltkrieg/World War Three (1998)– on YouTube, German w/English subtitles 💥💥💥💥

It depicts what might have transpired if, following the overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet troops, under orders from a new hard-line regime, had opened fire on demonstrators in Berlin in the fall of 1989 and precipitated World War III. The film mixes real footage of world leaders and archive footage of combat exercises and news events, with newly shot footage of citizens, soldiers and political staff. 

6. Countdown to Looking Glass (1984) on YouTube 💥💥💥

Docudrama uses fictional reports of a crisis in the Middle East, which leads to a nuclear confrontation between the US and the USSR. "Looking Glass" is the code word for the Strategic Air Command's control plane which is to be used in the case of nuclear war. 

7. Deterrence (1999) Buy or rent on YouTube, I borrowed the DVD from the Jacksonville Public Library  💥💥💥

The President is on the campaign trail to be re-elected. On a stop in Colorado, he is suddenly snowed in and he and his entourage are forced to take shelter in a small diner. There the President learns that Iraq has invaded Kuwait and slaughtered hundreds of American soldiers. Setting up temporary communications, the President announces that he will launch a nuclear attack on Iraq immediately if the country does not withdraw. 

8. Barefoot Gen (1983) on YouTube, Japanese w/English subtitles 💥💥💥

This animated version of the autobiographical manga by Keiji Nakazawa is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people. 

9. Special Bulletin (1983) on YouTube 💥💥💥

A TV reporter and cameraman are taken hostage on a tugboat while covering a workers strike. The demands of the hostage-takers are to collect all the nuclear detonators in the Charleston, SC area so they may be detonated at sea. They threaten to detonate a nuclear device of their own if their demand isn't met.  

10. Colossus Forbin Project (1970) on Vimeo, $ Amazon Prime & YouTube 💥💥

Thinking this will prevent war, the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. Shortly after being turned on, it detects the existence of Guardian, the Soviet counterpart, previously unknown to US Planners. Both computers insist that they be linked and each side agrees to allow it. As soon as the link is established the two become a new Super computer and threaten the world with the immediate launch of nuclear weapons if they are detached. 

Must Watch Documentary: Rich Hall’s Red Menace on YouTube💥💥💥💥

Miscellaneous:
[EAS] 8:17 A Real Time Nuclear Attack Simulation on YouTube 💥💥💥- Simulated Emergency Alert System broadcast of a nuclear attack, 8 minutes, 17 seconds.

The Last Broadcast on YouTube 💥💥💥- A radio play which reflects the chilling possibility of what could have happened if the superpowers of the world decided to go nuclear during the Cold War. Emphasis on “radio” play, hence the oldies music and commercials from the 1980’s. 

Fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (so bad, they’re “good”)
All are on YouTube:

Atomic Attack Motorola Television Hour (1954)
Day the World Ended (1955)
Rocket Attack USA (1961)
This Is Not a Test (1962)

In 2007 the Bulletin for Atomic Scientists added climate change and disruptive technologies to nuclear risk as indicators for setting the hands on the Doomsday Clock. Since the nuclear risk has decreased, perhaps we will be watching more movies about rising sea levels and cyber attacks on our power grids! 😬

 In the meantime, I'll keep running ...

3 Ways Runners Engage with their "Deep Strangeness"

“To engage in a sustained way with the deep strangeness 

that is the human mind.” - Kathryn Schulz

1. “Terra firma” - Before I retired, most of my thoughts while running were, what I call, “Terra firma” (solid earth in Latin) or practical, focused thinking. This kind of thinking had and still has a direct impact on my earth-bound, everyday activities. These are not daydreams, these are solid, focused thoughts which will guide my actions after my run is complete. For example, while I was working on my Masters’ Degrees, I would mentally plan and organize papers and research projects while running. I also figured out scheduling conflicts, brainstormed programming ideas, and created solutions to a variety of work problems during my morning runs. 

 

Since retiring, the frequency of my “Terra firma” thoughts has decreased but I still plan, problem solve, and create while running. In fact, the idea for this blog post came to me during a run and I “edited” it on subsequent runs. So why is it that some of my best thinking happens during a run?

Science says... Obviously, during exercise blood pressure and flow increase, sending more energy and oxygen to muscles and organs – including the brain. This means brain performance improves.
“Another explanation for why working up a sweat enhances our mental capacity is that the hippocampus, a part of the brain critical for learning and memory, is highly active during exercise. When the neurons in this structure rev up, research shows that our cognitive function improves … Other recent work indicates that aerobic exercise can actually reverse hippocampal shrinkage, which occurs naturally with age, and consequently boost memory in older adults. Yet another study found that students who exercise perform better on tests than their less athletic peers.”1

🌎 With “Terra firma” thinking, it’s all about actively focusing your thoughts on a particular topic that you will deal with after running.

2. Mindfulness – This second type of thinking is about connecting to your body. According to Chevy Rough, a mindfulness and performance coach, “It’s purely about being mentally connected within your movement and not being distracted,”2

This type of thinking is most prevalent for me during long runs or races. Often people assume that I try to avoid thinking about how running feels. Instead, if I am running mindfully, I stay in the moment, notice my environs and my physical sensations. I monitor myself:

• My breath – What does my breath tell me about my body? Is it comfortable? Am I mouth breathing?  
• My rhythm – Speed up or slow down in response to my breath. 
• My eyes – What am I looking at? Is my gaze relaxed, or are my eyes locked on the ground? Lift my eyes and look toward the periphery. 

In one study, researchers gave runners who were training for a half or full marathon recording equipment and asked them to “think aloud” their thoughts as they ran. “Mostly, their thoughts focused on the here and now, things like their pace or their surroundings. But they also spent a lot of time thinking about how much everything hurt: ‘My hips are a little tight. I’m stiff, my feet, my ankles, just killing me this morning.’ ‘Hill, you’re a bitch … it’s long and hot — God damn it, mother eff-er.’ ‘That sucked, but it’s going to be an awesome run on the way back.’”3 (sounds familiar!😏)

🏃  With mindful thinking, it’s is all about focusing on what is happening 

here, now, while you are running. 

 

While mindfulness is all the rage now it is important to realize that “you cannot sustain a state of mindfulness over a long period of time. You will naturally ebb and flow out of it."4  Which brings me to ...

3. “Cloud” – This type of “thinking” happens when there are no intellectual issues to be dealt with and everything is working physically. I can’t really say I’m am “thinking,” since I am blissfully free from conscious control.

For me, “cloud” thinking usually happens when I’m doing something routine and unambitious – like my daily morning run. My mind wanders, I get lost in random thoughts, and contemplate things that may or may not have any practical benefit. Sometimes I don’t even remember what I was thinking about! This is my favorite way to engage with my “deep strangeness.”

I am not alone. Other people are drawn to “cloud” thinking and willing to invest nearly 50% of their waking hours engaged in it. Why? “For the individual, mind wandering offers the possibility of very real, personal reward, some immediate, some more distant. These rewards include self-awareness, creative incubation, improvisation and evaluation, memory consolidation, autobiographical planning, goal driven thought, future planning, retrieval of deeply personal memories, reflective consideration of the meaning of events and experiences, simulating the perspective of another person, evaluating the implications of self and others’ emotional reactions, moral reasoning, and reflective compassion.”5

🌥  With “cloud” thinking, it’s all about thoughts simply

floating in and out of consciousness.

Running is my means, not just for fitness and health, but mental rejuvenation, problem solving, and brain stimulation. My mind expands, swerves, and wanders as the miles unfurl...  

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-you-think-better-after-walk-exercise/
2. https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a22160937/mindfulness-in-running/
3. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1612197X.2015.1069877?journalCode=rijs20
4. https://www.thecut.com/2015/08/surprising-power-of-spacing-out.html
5. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00626/full

"Seeing Things" or Seeing Things?

“I am having a hallucination now, I don't need drugs for that.” ― Thomas Pynchon

Hallucinations are more common than people realize.[1] Many of us have hypnagogic hallucinations — seeing geometric patterns or scenes– that appear as we are wait to fall asleep. These types of patterns or scenes may be faint, or they may be very ornate, rapidly changing and intensely colored.

At the other end of the sleep cycle are hypnopompic hallucinations. These, I think, are freaky. Hypnopompic hallucinations can be seen with open eyes, upon first waking. The most common hypnopompic hallucinations include an amplification of colors or you might hear someone calling your name. Some hypnopompic hallucinations can also be terrifying like seeing a giant spider or a dark humanoid shadow looming over you.

If you have experienced sleep cycle hallucinations, you are not going insane nor are you developing dementia. The vast majority of hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are benign. They are perfectly normal. Most of us have experienced them from time to time during the sleep process or while suffering a high fever.

While hallucinations during the sleep cycle are common, experiencing hallucinations during the waking hours are not.  Generally speaking, experiencing hallucinations while awake may be due to physical or mental illness. An exception to this is the hallucination experienced by ultra-runners. It is well known that ultra-runners experience hallucinations.[2] Thirty percent of Badwater Ultramarathon runners said that they’d hallucinated – seeing giant beetles, a ship cruise by, mutant mice, etc. - at some point while running during the 135 mile race. Run 50 or 100+ miles, and some really weird things can happen to your mind and body!

I am not an ultra-runner, just a regular, ordinary “recreational” runner.  The closest I come to hallucinating while running is stumbling across bizarre things mid-stride. All along the streets, trails, and sidewalks are weird and out-of-place things that make me wonder if I AM hallucinating!  Everywhere I run, I see things that shouldn’t be there.

On residential sidewalks: men’s underwear; a hunting knife; head rest from a car and a HUGE, dead rat in the driveway of a mansion.

On a divided four-lane bridge: pink, satin pillow sham; an unopened bottle of Bud Light; lottery tickets; and a half-used bar of soap.

On trails: a shower cap; a wrench; an unopened loaf of rye bread; and a pewter tankard all just sitting in the middle of the woods.

And everywhere on the planet: the ubiquitous single shoe – never a pair, always one, lone shoe.

... a coat, on a hanger, suspended with fishing line slung over a tree limb and tied to the fence. This took some effort!  It has been like this for a month, rain or shine!

... a sofa on the beach ... this took some effort, too!

... headless sea creature ... trying not to imagine the effort it took ... creepy

While my sleep cycle provides me with plenty of opportunities to “see things” through hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, running provides me with opportunities to see things that are strange, weird and bizarre. I have been asked many times how I keep from getting “bored” while running. Are you kidding? All I have to do is look around – I see things! 

“’It was all a hallucination of course. Otherwise nothing worth noting today' [he moves on]”― Henrik Ibsen

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/opinion/sunday/seeing-things-hearing-things-many-of-us-do.html

 [2] https://www.thecut.com/2015/11/weird-things-happen-in-the-minds-of-ultrarunners.html

Running with My "Lesser Angel"

 

“I’ve flipped the bird at many a driver over the years and if they flip me off then I’ll usually yell at them, ‘F you,’ or something like that.”[1] - Chris Coon, runner and “mild-mannered, low-key” Pastor at Urban Village Church in Chicago.

A few days ago, I was running on a sidewalk when a man rode his bike straight towards me. My heart was racing as I jumped out of the way. I thought, “Jerk! Haven’t you ever heard of WHEELS YIELD! I felt like punching that guy! I was definitely struggling with my “lesser angel” – anger. Fortunately, I kept running.

Most people believe that we feel anger first and then exhibit the anger in our body. However, there is an alternative hypothesis that states the reverse: my body gets angry, and then I feel angry. According to the James-Lange Theory of Emotion[2], my body perceives a particular person, action, or idea, and reacts with a quickened pulse, flushed face, trembling hands – and only then do I feel the emotion of anger.

William James, American philosopher and psychologist, was one of the developers of the James-Lange theory. According to James, if my usual physical signs and symptoms of anger are blocked, then I won’t feel the emotion of anger.

Running definitely “blocks” my symptoms of anger! I kept running after the man on the bike refused to yield. If I would have stopped, I probably would have screamed at him, which would be ineffective. I can't control him, the only thing I can remotely attempt to control in this universe is me. As I continued running, my body was “too busy” to produce the physiological reactions of anger. It was totally absorbed by the physical effort of running – steady pace, calm breath, constant effort, and copious sweat.

As I continued running, anger gave way to calm. James believed that to be calm, we should act calm. In his pragmatic approach, we deal with our “lesser angels” by substituting a positive emotion for a negative one. He said, “To wrestle with a bad feeling only pins our attention on it, and keeps it still fastened in the mind; whereas if we act as if from some better feeling, the old bad feeling soon folds its tent and steals away.” In other words, if you act calm, look calm, and speak calmly - you will feel calm. You can substitute a “lesser angel” with a “better angel.” 

“We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection… when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” – Abraham Lincoln

William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State, had originally suggested that Lincoln close his First Inaugural Address[3] by calling upon the “the guardian angel of the nation.” But Lincoln scratched out Steward’s suggestion and replaced it in his own handwriting with a phrase saying that what the nation needed would not come from outside us, as in an angel guarding us from above, but instead from within us – something “better” in the “nature” of both northerners and southerners.

We can move away from our “lesser angels” and towards our “better angels.” Indeed, turning inward and being aware of how our bodies react to a person, object, or idea is the first step towards understanding our emotions. From that awareness, we can act - exchange a negative emotion with a positive one - substitute feelings that destroy with those that create - replace our view of the world from Us vs. Them to We the People.   Running isn't the only way to do this, any physical exercise can be as beneficial. When our bodies are focused on movement, are minds are free to turn inward, towards our "better angels." 

[1] https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20847875/the-rise-of-run-rage/
[2] James, W., & Richardson, R. D. (2010). The Heart of William James (1st Edition). Harvard University Press.
[3] https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp