[Straight Vermonter]

Did you ever notice that the Russian big shots on TV used to always have a whole table full of telephones? Watch the next time you see a history channel show about Russia in the 60s-80s.

The reason for this was because they were never able to master the technology of a multiline telephone!

[MindBender26]

Was doing a report in '96 on tenth anniversary of Chernobyl explosion. Local contact got us into Control Room #3, cameras and all, while it was operating. (1 and 3 were still operating then.)

Reactor supervisor had 6 telephones on his desk. All were modern, touch tone (buttons, no dial) phones. All were same model. When phones rang, he had to put hands on phone to feel which one was ringing!

Instruments in this control room had no tell-tales or paper recorders, so if an alarm went off and stopped before the operator got there to read it, no one had any idea how high or low the reading had gone.

But, the did have bombs that made big bangs!

[MindBender26]

> The reason for this was because they were never able to master the technology of a multi line telephone!

Actually, no. Stalin forbade multi line phones as bourgeois, and it has lingered.

The West thought we were so hot because the Mig 25 had vacuum tubes... only to learn they were immune to EMP problems that would have destroyed our transistor equipped aircraft.

Russian stuff is crude and not pretty, from rifles to aircraft, but it's usually rugged and it works, especially in low intensity and surprise engagements. Ever see their Izamrid night vision system binoculars. One eye is "starlight," the other is thermal. Great stuff.