@anthracite the imminent threat of nuclear war growing up felt both very real and very remote. i recall my mother telling me that with the Boeing missile plant so close to where we lived, we'd be the first to go; which i guess was supposed to be comforting. i'd like to think that both sides in the Cold War didn't think the other side was crazy enough to pull the trigger; but the truth lies in a very scary gray area and it's more likely we all came close to being reduced to irradiated ash many times over, and will never know.
i don't miss a lot from the 90's, but i did enjoy about ten years of feeling like existential doom wasn't hanging over all of our heads. it was nice.