Not a lot of links for you on Christmas Eve. To be honest, one of these I flagged yesterday — and it was the only link I flagged yesterday. Same with today. Chalk it up to trying to stay ahead of the deadlines at the office.
Book of the Week, Stephen Fry – The Fry Chronicles, Episode 5 – Stephen Fry, the man with a brain the size of Kent, reads from the second volume of his autobiography. This reading, done in the year 2010, discusses his love of Macintosh computers and his friendship with Douglas Adams. It’s amusing to hear Fry vocally imitate Hugh Laurie and Adams at various points (and he does Laurie really well), and I loved hearing Fry quote Adams’ words on deadlines and the sound they make as they fly by. 🙂 BBC Radio 4
Strategic Air Command Declassifies Nuclear Target List from 1950s – The Air Force’s plan to fight a nuclear war in the late 1950s has been declassified, and now we can see for ourselves what the military thought was a significant target. “The SAC study includes chilling details. According to its authors, their target priorities and nuclear bombing tactics would expose nearby civilians and ‘friendly forces and people’ to high levels of deadly radioactive fallout. Moreover, the authors developed a plan for the ‘systematic destruction’ of Soviet bloc urban-industrial targets that specifically and explicitly targeted ‘population’ in all cities, including Beijing, Moscow, Leningrad, East Berlin, and Warsaw. Purposefully targeting civilian populations as such directly conflicted with the international norms of the day, which prohibited attacks on people per se (as opposed to military installations with civilians nearby).” Had the Cuban Missile Crisis gone “hot,” this is the war plan the Strategic Air Command would have used to annihilate the Soviet Union, China, and eastern Europe. George Washington University
What American Muslims Do On Christmas: New Traditions Emerge – On Morning Edition on Wednesday, Neda Ulaby (who has the awesomest NPR name, in my opinion) talks to a number of Muslims about what they do to celebrate Christmas since Muslims, like Christians, also believe in Jesus’ existence. (They differ on whether Jesus was divine and the results of the crucifixion.) There are no great universal practices discussed here. Just a couple of people talking about what they do. It’s a charming, but inessential, story. NPR
Merry Christmas, everyone! And tonight’s full moon looks utterly haunting tonight. 🙂