Bonus 8: Physics and Desert Country

In an episode which isn't exactly "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" (but actually kind of is) Jack and I talk about my recent trip to Albuquerque, and in particular the experience of walking into the pantheon of American jingoism that is the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. We discuss the history of nuclear science a bit, then move on to how the museum frames the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan, and the experience of dealing with the ex-military boomer volunteers, before moving onto a more general conversation about the imperialist wars of the United States and their social/cultural consequences.

We also begin by chatting about some recent stuff happening on Twitter. 

I liked doing this less structured kind of conversation, and if this goes over well I think we'll plan to do more bonus episodes like this. 

(NB: I was having audio issues that caused my voice to blow out the dynamic range while we were recording, and I didn't know about it until after we were done. The issue has since been corrected, but there was no way to really salvage this audio without re-recording. My apologies for the technical glitch.)

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History https://www.nuclearmuseum.org

Shaun, Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCRTgtpC-Go

Abigail Shrier Twitter thread about gender identity paperwork. https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1431045305592545280