Jokes about nuclear power in the hands of authoritarian despotism are quite disturbing. I don't know how to compare the insanity of the past (over there) with t

Jokes about nuclear power in the hands of authoritarian despotism are quite disturbing. I don't know how to compare the insanity of the past (over there) with the insanity of the present (over here). And as I write this in Los Alamos, the humor feels very much like whistling [happy tunes] while walking past the [deeply creepy] graveyard... That said, I did actually laugh out loud at one of the jokes. I'm not sure if the humor I found in it is the intent of the original Russian gag, but maybe I can re-frame the story to reflect my time served in Silicon Valley and tech indistry elsewhere: """ The engineering team lead at the new, secret facility came into the Major's office one morning, carrying a cheerful poster that read: Keep in mind these important lines: Working hard shortens your time! "What's the meaning of this?!" the team leader cried. "Are the deadlines being cut again?" The Major was quick to reassure his civilian counterpart: "Nothing to worry about, Jim! That's been put out for the prison labor group that's coming in this week!" Much relieved, the engineer returned to his cubicle, where he drafted a memo to his team to pass along the encouraging news.