> [...] the building next to the one in which I work, the world famous Draper Laboratory. [...] devoted almost entirely to missile guidance and submarine navigation.

In front of that Draper building, there was a strange pillar, which I liked to imagine housed a geo-positioning reference point -- perhaps even the origin of a coordinate system. Then, if ever there were an ICBM guidance failure, on that fateful day, Draper might be ground (0,0,0). Like an engineer standing under the bridge they built, as the first trucks drive over it.

I was thinking of that as intentional/conscious by the engineers.

(BTW, I'm not criticizing; only a little dark humor reflection upon a grave, world-ending responsibility. Given that nuclear weapons were inevitable, I'm glad my country has some, that apparently MAD has worked thus far, and that there hasn't yet been an apocalyptic incident. I also hope that certain autocratic world leaders are taking their vitamins, and won't get even nuttier.)