In this episode, we looked at our calendars and realized it was finally the day to watch The Day After (1983). What would happen to a “middle of nowhere” city in Kansas in the event of a nuclear war? How did this TV movie impact the public dialogue about nuclear weapons? What about the movie scared Ronald Reagan so much he had to write about it in his diary (this is not a joke)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest David Craig (@Producing2Power), Clinical Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California and author of an upcoming book - Before The Day After - answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy9n8r16hs&t=3840s

Thanks to everyone who pointed out that some of the movie's stock footage came from the documentary First Strike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPEBROvR9w&t=74s

Before we start power up our ham radios with the rare car battery, we recommend: 
-David Craig’s book (Before The Day After)when it is available! 
-Dawn Strover, Facing Nuclear Reality: 35 Years After the Day After, December 2018 
-Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Last Epidemic
-Testament (1983)
-Threads (1984)
-Viewpoint episode that aired right after The Day After
-Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1986
-Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, May 2013
-That Certain Summer (1972)
-Beth A. Fisher, The Reagan Reversal: Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War, 2000
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #57: The Day After

In this episode, we put a crew together to seize a movie theater to watch the nuclear missile silo hostage taking movie Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977). How easy is it to hijack a nuclear Titan ICBM launch site? What does the Vietnam War have to do with the logic of nuclear deterrence? Is “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” what they call the sparkly skin in those vampire movies? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), Gabe, and returning special guest returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst), answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnX8Hd0TPQ

Before we disable our cutoffs and inhibitors, we recommend: 
-Kiss Me Deadly (1955 movie) also directed by David Aldirch
-The Parallax View (1974 movie)
-David Halberstram, The Best and the Brightest, 1972
-Defence of the Realm (1986 movie)
-A Very British Coup (1988 TV series)
-Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #58: Twilight's Last Gleaming

In this episode, we put on our skis and telemarked our way to the winter lodge to watch the movie The Heroes of Telemark (1965) about a team of Norwegian resistance fighters sabotaging a heavy water plant during WWII to prevent Germany from getting closer to an atomic bomb. How close was Nazi Germany from building a nuclear weapon? What is the importance of heavy water in a nuclear program? What is more likely: that Tim builds a homemade nuclear device or Tim properly pronounces all these Norwegian names? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), and returning special guest returning special guest Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.

Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBiR8ZipPM

Before we synchronize our ticking clock time bombs, we recommend: 
-William Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid, 2016
-Neal Bascomb, The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb, 2017
-The Final Countdown (1980 movie)
-Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (VR game with Norwegian heavy water plant level)
-The Heavy Water War (2015 Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation show)
-Norway Resistance Museum
-Vemork Hydro Plant

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #59: The Heroes Of Telemark

In this episode, we called opened our nuclear launch code safes to pull out the DVD box for Crimson Tide (1995) about two leaders on a submarine butting heads about whether to launch nuclear missiles and possibly start and/or stop WWIII. How accurate did the film portray nuclear command and control launch procedures? What role do boomers play in nuclear deterrence? How does Captain Ramsey’s dog have such a keen sense of a person’s character? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guests Geoff Wilson of the Council for Arms Control and Nonproliferation (@NuclearWilson) and nuclear expert Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.

Note: Tim gets his wires crossed as he recommends a documentary (The Man Who Saved the World) that is actually about Soviet missile launch officer Stanislav Petrov instead of the Soviet naval officer Vasily Arkhipov who Geoff and Will talk about during the episode. The documentary is still excellent and it is scary how many examples of nuclear near misses there are that this mistake could happen.

Before we concur on the latest EAM, we recommend: 
-The Man Who Saved the World (2013 documentary) - 
-Jeffrey G. Lewis and Bruno Tertrais, “The Finger on the Button: The Authority to Use Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear-Armed States,” CNS Occasional Paper #45, February 2019
-Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of Submarine Espionage, 2016
-Project Azorian
-Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, 2021
-Robert Moore, A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, 2016
-Armageddon Letter, http://www.armageddonletters.com/

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #61: Crimson Tide

In this episode, we found a bootleg DVD in our stocking of the 1964 TV movie A Carol for Another Christmas, which retold the classic Christmas Carol story but with nuclear war. What was the public diplomacy mission of this pro-UN film? How does isolationism and international engagement theories suggest doing with the problem of nuclear weapons? Does the Ghost of Christmas Future know when the last two books in A Song of Ice and Fire come out? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and podcast co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Full movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbp1du33l0c

Before we get in our crash couches and jump the ship, we recommend: 
-Scrooged (1988 movie)
-We’re Doomed! (2019 board game)
-“Time Enough at Last” and “No Time Like the Present,” Super Critical Podcast episode #47

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #64: A Carol for Another Christmas

In this episode, we flipped our way through the pages of the Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Brilliant Dr. Wogan (1987), where a missing scientist might have a radiation neutralizer that can end the threat of nuclear war. How does the multiple ending and narrative freedom of this book genre help teach kids about nuclear dangers? What does this radiation neutralizer have in common with Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program? When is the book report on this story due again (this might just be a reoccurring nightmare the podcasts hosts keep having well into their 30s)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we return the book to the library, we recommend: 
-Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, Netflix)
-Paul Lettow, Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2006
-Timothy J. Jorgenson, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, 2016
-Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon, 1959
-Kate Moore, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, 2018
-57 North, mobile game published by Mighty Coconut
-Brian Jacques, Redwall, book series 1986-2011
-Peter George, Dr. Strangelove (novelization), 1963

Thanks to pixabay.com for the sound effects used in the episode.

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #65: Choose Your Own Adventure Book

In this episode, we investigated a distress beacon to find our new artificially intelligent WMD friend in the Star Trek Voyager episode “Warhead” (s5 e25 - 1999) where the crew picks up smart bomb hitchhiker hellbent on finishing his military mission. Why don’t all nuclear armed missiles have a self-destruct feature? How do you deter against a nuclear strike from a planet 80 light years away? How does the USS Voyager convince a nuclear bomb to stop loving itself and not explode? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host Gabe, and special guest James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) -- consultant working on trans-Atlantic cooperation and public diplomacy -- answer these questions and more.

Before we check out of sick bay, we recommend: 
-Russian Roulette, PBS, February 23, 1999
-Dark Star (1974 movie by John Carpenter)
-“One,” Metallica, …And Justice for All (1989)
-Meilan Solly, “The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years,” Smithsonian Magazine
-The Delta Flyers, Voyager Podcast
-Jetrel, Star Trek Voyager (s1 e15, May 1995)
-Sunshine (2007 movie)
-Star Trek: First Contact (1996 movie)
-Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons (2022), Wizards of the Coast

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #66: Star Trek Voyager - Warhead

In this episode, we found ourselves in the danger zone watching a surprise nuclear weapon plot in the fun movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022) where Tom Cruise needs to teach a crew of hot shot misfits to airstrike a uranium enrichment facility on the Death Star (kind of). Why did Top Gun sequel feel the need to raise the nuclear stakes in the plot? Any real life influence on the story related to airstrikes against similar nuclear facilities? Will this movie series ever run out of teambuilding activities to play on the beach sand? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host/aviation guru Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we request a tower flyby, we recommend: 
-Hot Shots! (1991 parody of Top Gun)
-Amb. Wendy Sherman, Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power, and Persistence, 2018
-“Israel Admits Striking Suspected Syrian Nuclear Reactor in 2007,” BBC, Mach 21, 2018
-“Israeli Attack on Iraq’s Osirak 1981: Setback or Impetus for Nuclear Weapons,” National Security Archive, June 7, 2021
-“Top Gun – The Need for Speed,” LockheadMartin.com
-“Tom Cruise Terrifies James in ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Jet!,” The Late Night Show with James Corden channel on YouTube, March 24, 2022
-“Actual TOPGUN, Dave Berke, Reacts to "TOPGUN: Maverick" with Jocko Willink,” Jocko Podcast channel on YouTube, June 3, 2022

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #67: Top Gun - Maverick

In this episode, we watched a whopper, err WOPR of a movie in the 2008 direct to video-on-demand sequel to the classic nuke movie called WarGames: The Dead Code. What could go wrong when you put artificial intelligence back in charge of the nukes and the predator drones? How to do you convince a machine that nuclear war is not winnable? What happens when you don’t know what “The Dead Code” is and at this point you’re too afraid to ask? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@lucystag) answer these questions and more.

Before we booked our flight to Montreal, we recommend: 
-WarGames (1983)
-Miracle Mile (1988)
-The Iron Giant (1999)
-Natasha Bajemna, Rescind Order, 2020
-David Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, 2009
-Future Man (2017-2020, Hulu TV Show)
-Zachary Kallenborn, “Giving an AI Control of Nuclear Weapons: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1, 2022 
-Hackers React to WarGames: The Dead Code, Alex Chaveriat, YouTube, July 28, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PghUBYY4fpE

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #68: WarGames - The Dead Code

In this episode, we were fresh out of hydrogen so we need to watch Chain Reaction (1996) to learn how to make some more. How does this Cold Fusion adjacent movie draw on nuclear themes for its plot? Does the subplot about our heroes being framed as spies for China stealing national secrets have parallels to real life events? Did Evel Kinevil ever jump his stunt bike over a mushroom cloud? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we powered the city of Chicago with our Nalgene bottle, we recommend: 
-The Fugitive (1993 movie)
-The Saint (1997 movie)
-Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion, 1993
-Eduro Life Media, “Impossible Climb Andler 2019 – Dirt Bike Graveyard – Hill Climb,” YouTube
-David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, 2017 

We also recommend checking out:
•	Josh Friedman, “I’m Your Friend, Eddie,” I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing (Blog), August 24, 2005
•	Free Energy Suppression Conspiracy Theory, Wikipedia
•	Beth Laski, “Reeves, Davis Ring Up  ‘Dead’ Cash,” Variety, January 8, 1995
•	Tim Prokop, “Causing a Chain Reaction,” Movie (Aus), January/February 1997
•	William J. Broad, “Spies vs. Sweat: The Debate Over China’s Nuclear Advance,” New York Times, September 7, 1999

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #69 - Chain Reaction

In this episode, our phones were blowing up with alerts to watch Blowing Up Right Now (2019), a romantic comedy about a couple on the rocks forced to shelter in place during a nuclear missile crisis. How does the plot mirror the real life nuclear missile false alarm Hawaiian citizens experienced in 2018? How does a nuclear war crisis look to the average person who can only get information from cable news and Twitter? What nuclear survival tips can we learn after 5 seconds of time on Google (asking for a panicked friend)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we hunkered down inside our pillow fort fallout bunker, we recommend: 
•	Danny Jolles, You Choose: The Full Interactive Comedy Special from Danny Jolles, Don’t Tell Comedy, YouTube, 2022
•	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 Movie)
•	False Alarm (2021 Documentary)
•	Daryll Kimball, “Nuclear False Warnings and the Risk of Catastrophe,” Arms Control Association, March 16, 2020
•	“Ladybug Ladybug,” Super Critical Podcast, Episode #21, 2018

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #70: Blowing Up Right Now

In this episode, we took in a double feature of The Core (2003) and Sunshine (2007), a pair of movies where nuclear weapons are deployed to locations far away from the Earth’s surface to save humanity. How could nukes respin the Earth’s core or reignite the sun? How does the role of “nukes as heroes” jive with the usual “nukes, aren’t those the baddies?” themes? Why does Cillian Murphy keep getting typecast as “tortured inventor of a weapon of mass destruction”: Robert Capa, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Scarecrow? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and new co-host James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) answer these questions and more.

Before we leave the safety of Virgil’s atomic drill train, we recommend: 
-David Kagan, Sunstroke, 1993 book
-Aniara (2018 movie)
-Theodore Shabad, “Soviet Union Discloses Nuclear Blast that Put Out Fire in Gas Field,” New York Times, December 12, 1971
-Blank Check Podcast - Sunshine
-Ad Astra (2019 movie)
-Trainspotting (1996 movie)

We also recommend checking out:
Anthony Kaufman, “Separating the Science from the Fiction in Sunshine,” Sloan Science and Film, November 15, 2007
Jon O’Brien, “	15 Years Ago, Danny Boyle Made the Most Scientific Space Thriller Ever,” Inverse, July 18, 2022
Marcus Chown, “Review: Sunshine,” New Scientist, April 3, 2007
“Actor Dustin Hoffman Lobbies for More Reality in Science-Fiction Movies,” News.com.au, March 30, 2009
Michelle Ealey, “Did the Movie ‘The Core’ Get Anything Right?,” ScienceFiction.com, February 13, 2012
Elmear Dodd, “Bad Science: The Core at 15,” HeadStuff, March 21, 2018

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #71: The Core & Sunshine

In this episode, we count our blessings we survived a nuclear war long enough to watch the movie Five (1951) about a small group of people trying to rebuild civilization after radioactive fallout kills everyone else. This is the first movie showing a post-nuclear war story, so how did it do? Did it accurately portray radiation sickness or nuclear war dynamics? What did the five fingers say to the Red Button (spoiler: it is “slap!”)? Tim Westmyer (@Westmyer) and James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC) answer these questions and more.

Before we harvested our atomic cornfields, we recommend: 
-The Last Man on Earth (TV series)
-There Will Be Blood (2007 Movie)
-Six String Samurai (1998 Movie)
-Mad Max: Fury Road (2015 Movie)
-12 Angry Men (1957 Movie)
-How To Blow Up a Pipeline (2022 Movie)
-On the Beach (1959 Movie)
 
Enjoy!

Episode #72: Five

In this episode, we gassed up our Landmaster 16-wheeled RV and hit the open roads to the drive-in theater to watch Damnation Alley (1977). How did this post-nuclear war road trip movie challenge its characters with radioactive landscapes and killer cockroaches. Why did Jan Michael Vincent call all the nuclear ICBMs to launch? What would you do if the CD player on your RV breaks halfway thru your half-life road trip? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Natasha Bajema (@WMDGirl) answer these questions and more.

Full movie (link working as of July 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eIKx2LEPU

Before our RV converted to a boat in Detroit, we recommend: 
•	Natasha Bajema, Rescind Order: A Highly Suspenseful Technothriller About Nuclear Weapons and Artificial Intelligence, 2020 book
•	natashabajema.com
•	RadioactiveRoadTrippinRR, YouTube channel 
•	John Noonan, “In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie,” Wired, January 14, 2011
•	The Day the Earth Caught Fire, 1961 movie
•	Thunder in Paradise, 1994 TV show
•	Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, WarDay, 1984 book
•	Nitty Gritty Band rendition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken 
•	Magic the Gathering, Armageddon card

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #73: Damnation Alley

In this episode, we were convinced by J. Robert Oppenheimer’s elevator pitch to join the Manhattan Project so we watched the movie Oppenheimer (2023). How well did Christopher Nolan capture the life and tribulations of the “father of the atomic bomb?” 	Does the movie blend the mix of history, science, and international drama in an entertaining way to stay in your seat for three hours? Is this the biggest nuclear war movie of our lifetimes – for those born after 1964 at least? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Justin Anderson (@Atomic_Chess) answer these questions and more.

Before we pack our bags to camp out in the New Mexico desert for an indeterminate amount of time, we recommend: 
•	Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 2005 
•	Steve Sheinkin, Bomb (Graphic Novel), 2023
•	Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic Novel of the History of the First Atomic Bomb, 2012
•	Gregg Herkin, Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller, 2002
•	Oppenheimer (1980 TV mini-series)
•	The Social Network (2010 movie)
•	The Imitation Game (2014 movie)
•	Widespread Annihilation (game card), Flesh and Blood tabletop game (Dusk Till Dawn edition)
•	Los Alamos National Laboratory, “Plutonium and poetry: Where Trinity and Oppenheimer's reading habits met,” (Recommendations from Oppenheimer for further reading), July 14, 2021

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter/X @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #74: Oppenheimer

In this episode, we maxed out our conference call lines while debating the 1964 drama-thriller movie, Fail-Safe. What happens when you can't recall your own nuclear bombers en route to Moscow? How many air planes can you knock out of the sky with a nuclear bomb? How do you convince your enemy that accidents -- even nuclear ones -- do happen? The podcast hosts and special guest/TCM guru Victoria answer these questions and more.

Before our podcast's phone line melted in a fireball, we recommended reading L. Douglas Keeney, 15 Minutes: General Curtis Lemay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation (St. Martin's Griffin, 2012) and two articles at the National Security Archive (see links below).

Other sources to check out include -- you can also access these links on our SoundCloud page:
-William Burr, "The Air Force versus Hollywood," National Security Archive, January 15, 2010,  http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb304/index.htm
-Christopher Bright, "Cold War Air Defense Relied on Widespread Dispersal of Nuclear Weapons, Documents Show," National Security Archive, November 16, 2010, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb332/
-Photos of SAC HQ, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/gallery/image04.htm, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/gallery/image03.htm, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/gallery/image02.htm
-Steve Weintz, "Dreaming of Genie, America's Anti-Aircraft Nuke," War is Boring, March 2, 2014, https://warisboring.com/dreaming-of-genie-americas-anti-aircraft-nuke-df20fe88facd#.clto29h6f
-Bob Raichle, Alaska's Cold War Nuclear Shield," Nike Historical Society, 2012, http://nikemissile.org/ColdWar/AlaskaColdWar/alaska_cold_war.shtml
-Richard Oulahan, "Doomsday is Better as a Farce," LIFE, October 30, 1964, https://books.google.com/books?id=o0gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=true
-Ari Schulman, "Doomsday Machines: Fail-Safe was Flop, but Much Smarter about Nuclear War than Dr. Strangelove," Slate, October 7, 2014, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/10/fail_safe_50th_anniversary_sidney_lumet_s_nuclear_war_movie_is_better_than.html
-Sharon Ghamari, Review of Technical Accuracy in Fail-Safe, Strategy Page, https://www.strategypage.com/moviereviews/default.asp?target=Fail%20Safe
-"Revisiting Fail-Safe," Fail-Safe Special Edition DVD, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZdz2HXCgig
-B-58 Hustler, Federation of American Scientists, May 29, 1997, http://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b-58.htm
-Wm. Robert Johnston, MULTIMEGATON WEAPONS: The Largest Nuclear Weapons, April 6, 2009, http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/multimeg.html#U1
-Stiletto, Transformers Wiki, http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Stiletto_(BW)

We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, or YouTube. 

Enjoy!

Episode 9: Fail-Safe

In this episode, we prepared for Judgment Day by watching all of the Terminator movies (1984-2015/forever). How did the franchise end up with some of the most iconic imagery of nuclear weapon use? Should we be worried about artificial intelligence taking over our nuclear command and control systems? Why does Skynet seem to put out more models of terminator than Apple does iPhones? Tim, Joel, and special guest Alex answer these questions and more.

Before we say “hasta la vista… baby,” we recommend reading: 
-Jerome Shapiro, Atomic Bomb Cinema, 2001
-Bruce Blair, Strategic Command and Control, 1985 and The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War, 1993
-Joe McGovern, “‘The Terminator’ at 30: An Oral History,” Entertainment Weekly, July 17, 2014

Check out these resources and more on our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com.

Special thanks to Alicia Dressman (@thedelphivision) for suggesting the episode hook with the quote by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin.

We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode 12: Terminator Movies

In this extra long episode, we ruined all our sweaters by pulling at the 1984 TV movie, Threads. What would nuclear war look like to average people in an average city in the United Kingdom? How did the British plan to survive a nuclear attack? How do you mind the gap when the gap is a 100-meter crater at a radioactive ground zero? Tim and his special guest co-host Tim Collins (@WarAndCake) answer these questions and more.

Before we the news anchors switched to local sports and the weather, we recommend: 
-When the Wind Blows, 1986
-The books of Jonathan Schell, including Fate of the Earth, The Abolition, and The Gift of Time
-Nate Jones, Able Archer 83 : The Secret History of the NATO Exercise That Almost Triggered Nuclear War, 2016
-Peter Hennessey, The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945-2001, 2010
-The Letter of Last Resort, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Drama

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode – you can also access these links on our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com.

Thanks again to Tim Collins for being a guest on the podcast. He is a Ph.D. candidate at King’s College London studying early British nuclear history and you can follow him on Twitter @WarAndCake.

We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on iTunes, Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay Music, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode 16: Threads

In this episode, we went to the children’s section of the library to read The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. Does this 1984 book have anything to tell us about the dangers of the Cold War arms race? What is the right age to start talking to your kids about nuclear war? Why wasn’t there a Goosebumps book about nuclear winter? Tim, his sister Diana, and his 7-year old nephew Jairus answer these questions and more.

Before we fly/hop away in our Utterly Sputter, we recommend checking out: 
-Ellen Goodman, “Dr. Seuss and the Bomb,” New York Times, April 24, 1984
-“The Butter Battle Book,” Turner Network Television, YouTube, 1989
-Dr. Seuss, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” 1990
-Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, “Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb," 2012
-Patricia Brennan Demuth, “What Was D-Day,” 2015 (Thanks for the recommendation, Jairus!)

Also check out the sources below to learn more about the subjects in this episode – you can also access these links on our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com.

We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on iTunes, Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay Music, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode 17: The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss

In this episode, we stormed The Man in the High Castle television show to explore nukes in a world where Germany and Japan won World War II. What difference would a Nazi nuclear bomb have made in the war? How would Japan go about getting their own nuclear weapon in secret? Who is Joe Blake and why should we care? Tim Westmyer and special guest Tim Collins answer these questions and more.

Follow Tim Collins, PhD candidate studying British nuclear history, on Twitter @WarAndCake.

Before we meditate our way through the multiverse, we recommend checking out: 
-Superman: Red Son (2003)
-Wolfenstein video game series (especially the reboots)
-Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (1981)
-Transcript of Surreptitiously Taped Conversations among German Nuclear Physicists at Farm Hall (August 6-7, 1945), http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English101.pdf
-That Mitchell and Webb Look, “Are We the Baddies?,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JOpPNra4bw

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode 22: The Man in the High Castle

In this episode, who watches the Watchmen? Spoiler alert: we did and got super critical about the nuclear war plots of the Watchmen comics and movie. What will keep us from moving the Doomsday Clock to midnight? How would the Cold War play out if Nixon had a walking nuclear superhero? Does Dr. Manhattan make house calls? Tim Westmyer and special guest Luis Navarro answer these questions and more.

Before we meditate our way through the multiverse, we recommend checking out: 
-Doomsday Clock Timeline, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, https://thebulletin.org/timeline
-Richard Bensam (editor), Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen (2011)
-H. Bruce Franklin (editor), Countdown to Midnight: Twelve Memorial Stories about Nuclear Warfare (1984)
-Atomic Café, documentary, 1982
-Command and Control, documentary, 2016
-Zero Days, documentary, 2016
-Captain America: Nomad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomad_(comics)

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode 23: Watchmen

In this April 1st edition of the Nuke Cage Podcast, we rage about the multitude of movies where Nic Cage takes on nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons in a post-Cold War security environment. How accurate are the movies Face/Off, The Rock, Next, and Lord of War? Why has Nic Cage done so many of these films? Can we make Nic Cage an honorary NEST member already? Tim Westmyer and Tristan Volpe answer these questions and more. Follow the podcast @NukeCage and Tristan @ TeeAndersVolpe.

Before we go looking for some VX rockets, we recommend checking out: 
-Super Critical Podcast, www.supercriticalpodcast.com
-Jonathan Tucker, War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (2007)
-In Time, movie, 2011
-Gregory Koblentz, Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security (2011)
-Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, Barriers to Bioweapons: The Challenges of Expertise and Organization for Weapons Development (2014)
-W. Seth Carus, Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900, August 1998, https://fas.org/irp/threat/cbw/carus.pdf
-W. Set Carus, Defining “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Occasional Paper 8, January 2012, http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/occasional/cswmd/CSWMD_OccationalPaper-8.pdf

Episode 24: Nuke Cage Podcast

In this episode, we followed chirping sounds in the desert and discovered GIANT RADIOACTIVE ANTS in the movie THEM! (1954). What happens to insects exposed to radiation in the real world? How did nuclear testing and atomic monster movies change public opinion on nuclear weapons? Where was Ant-man when the people Alamogordo needed him to calm these killer atomic ants? Tim Westmyer and returning special guest Tim Collins (@WarAndCake), PhD candidate studying British nuclear history, answer these questions and more.

Before we nuke more insects to see what happens, we recommend checking out: 
-Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth, 1982
-Barry Atkinson, Atomic Age Cinema: The Offbeat, the Classic and the Obscure, 2018
-Spencer Weart, The Rise of Nuclear Fear, 2012
--Richa Malhotra, “Ants Trapped in Nuclear Bunker are Developing Their Own Society,” NewScientist, September 5, 2016
-Gerard J. DeGroot, The Bomb: A Life, 2006
-Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, 1996
-Godzilla (1954 movie)

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #32: THEM!

We want to share with Super Critical Podcast listeners an episode of the Authors of Mass Destruction podcast run by Dr. Natasha Bajema. Her awesome new podcast helps writers and authors tell compelling fiction about nukes while getting the details right. Tim Westmyer was a guest on the podcast – along with Dr. Justin Anderson – to talk about the movie Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

We will still try to release a regular episode of the Super Critical Podcast in April 2019. We hope you enjoy this episode, which you can also find on the Authors of Mass Destruction podcast feed. Follow Natasha’s show on Twitter at @WMDgirl and @authorsmass.

Enjoy!

Dr. Strangelove - Authors of Mass Destruction Podcast Episode

In this episode, we debated the virtues of nuclear disarmament and democracy over a couple of days this month, specifically Seven Days in May. Does the movie realistically portray disagreements between the military and civilian leaders over nuclear weapons? What would cause the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to attempt a military coup? How long before General James Mattoon Scott becomes the 40+ person running for president in 2020? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Stephen I Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) answer these questions and more.

Before we went fishing at Blue Lake, we recommend checking out: 
-The Manchurian Candidate, both the 1962 and 2004 movies
-International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, www.icanw.org
-Stephen I. Schwartz, Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, 1998
-David F. Krugler, “This is Only a Test: How Washington, DC Prepared for Nuclear War,” 2007
-The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, https://thebulletin.org/
-Garrett M. Graff, “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die,” 2017

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #36: Seven Days In May

In this episode, we figured out how an RBMK reactor explodes by watching the hit HBO show Chernobyl. What caused the nuclear power plant disaster? How did the Soviet leadership and the Russian people respond to the crisis? If vodka is really such a powerful medicinal wonder, can it be covered by your health care insurance? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guests Meghan McCall (@Nuclear_Ginger_) and Geoff Wilson (@NuclearWilson) answer these questions and more.

Our special guests also have excellent podcasts on nuke topics to enjoy:
-Meghan McCall's Press the Button
-Geoff Wilson's Nukes of Hazard

Before we hug our dogs closer than normal, we recommend checking out: 
-Chernobyl, Podcast by Craig Mazin and Peter Segal
-Chernobyl VR Project, The Farm 51
-The China Syndrome, 1979 movie
-Adam Higginbotham, Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster, 2019
-Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, 2006
-David McMillan and David Baillargeon, David McMillan: Growth and Decay: Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, 2019
-Pandora’s Promise, 2013 documentary
-Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, 2014
-Metro video game series

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #37: Chernobyl

In this episode, we picked When the Wind Blows out of the children’s book bin to see what advise the 1982 graphic novel (and 1986 animated movie) have for surviving nuclear war in Britain. How easy was it to follow official government radiation survival guides during the Cold War? What was it like for the average family trying to make sense of nuclear deterrence? Will you ever be able to look at a baked potato again the same way after witnessing this story? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Sebastian Brixey-Williams (@seb_bw), Co-Director of the think tank BASIC, answer these questions and more.

Dramatization of the graphic novel available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=484h0mnU0-M

Before we give up waiting on the Powers that Be to arrive, we recommend checking out:
-The Atomic Hobo podcast episodes on Meals on Wheels and When the Wind Blows
-Protest and Survive (1980)
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, (1987 cartoon show)
-The Snowman (1982)
-Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
-Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
-CISD podcast episode “Setsuko Thurlow: Interview with a Hiroshima Survivor”, 2016 
-BASIC Think Tank

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #41: When the Wind Blows

In this episode, we tried to get healthy during quarantine by watching an episode of the TV show Gilligan’s Island called “Pass the Vegetables, Please” where the castaways get super powers from eating crops grown from radioactive seeds. Can radiation actually help farmers? What would happen if you ate radioactive food? Is the Professor a stand-in for Dr. Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we our three hour tour sets sail, we recommend: 
-“HI FI Gilligan,” Gilligan’s Island, season 2, episode 10
-AtomicGardening.com
-“JUGHEAD,” LOST, “season 5, episode 3
-Visiting Tangier Island
-Archipelago tiki bar in Washington, DC

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #47: Gilligan's Island

In this episode, we aced our foreign service exam and started our undercover mission to the movie Spies Like Us (1995). How well does this comedy deploy a Soviet road mobile nuclear missile for hilarious effect? Can you actually recall a nuclear missile once it is in the air? Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, and doctor. Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we open up the nuclear disarmament negotiation board game box, we recommend: 
-Fletch, 1985
-The Man Who Knew Too Little, 1997
-International Spy Museum
-Nuclear War Card Game, 1965
-Steven Pomeroy, An Untaken Road: Strategy, Technology, and the Hidden History of America’s Mobile ICBMs, 2016
-Get Smart, 1965-1970 TV Show
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #50: Spies Like Us

In this episode, we pulled an all-nighter to watch the thrilling movie Miracle Mile (1986) about star crossed lovers trying to escape Los Angeles at night before a possible nuclear attack. Why do we keep nuclear weapons in North Dakota? How long would you have before the missiles start landing in your backyard? Does Google Maps have a good escape route preprogrammed in the event of a pending nuclear war? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we answer this random payphone that is ringing nearby, we recommend: 
-Cloverfield (2008 movie)
-10 Cloverfield Lane (2016 movie)
-Six String Samurai (1998 movie)
-La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, CA
-Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon, 1983
-Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota
-NORMS Restaurants 
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #51: Miracle Mile

In this episode, we got the family together over Zoom to watch the most depressing “Hallmark movie” of all time, Testament (1983). How can one Mom keep the family going after a nuclear attack cuts off their community? How accurately does the movie portray the horrors of radiation sickness? How does nuclear war turn ham radio operators into the most important people on the planet? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@LucyStag), contributing editor to AntiWar.com answer these questions and more.

Before we go blow out the candles on our sad birthday cake, we recommend: 
-DVD extras for Testament, including “Testament at 20”
-Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)
-Airplane! (1980)
-Carol Amen, “The Last Testament,” Ms. Magazine, August 1981, https://www.scribd.com/doc/59083080/Amen-Carol-The-Last-Testament-Ms-Aug-81
-The Day After (1983) 
-On the Beach (1959)
-Threads (1984)
-TheStagBlog.com, “Testament”
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #52: Testament

In this episode, we scrambled our B-52s so we could watch the in-flight movie By Dawn’s Early Light (1990). What is the U.S. president to do once a nuclear war begins? Who is in command of the nuclear stockpile when POTUS is missing? Why is James Earl Jones always finding his finger on the nuclear button? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Sylvia Mishra (@MishraSylvia), doctoral researcher at King’s College London where studies nuclear strategy and emerging technologies, answer these questions and more.

Note: Tim mistakenly says in the episode that Tsar Bomba was not a deployable nuclear weapon. While it is not a really practical nuclear bomb (weight, yield size, requiring a HUGE parachute to slow decent long enough for plane to get away safely), it was still an air-dropped test that was deployable. Thanks to everyone who pointed out what we got wrong, nuke wise!

Before we reach our positive control point, we recommend: 
-Sylvia Mishra, “Directing Doomsday: Lessons Learned from Nuclear War in Film,” CSIS Next Generation Nuclear Network, July 8, 2020
-Fail-Safe, 1964 movie
-Countdown to Looking Glass, 1984 movie
-David Hoffman, The Dead Hand, The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy, 2010
-Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, 2017
-Christian Brose, The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, 2020
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #53: By Dawn's Early Light

In this episode, we left the polling booth to watch the movie Deterrence (2000) about a president fighting a nuclear war against Iraq while stranded in a diner during a snowstorm on the campaign trail. Are nuclear weapons useful to deter chemical, biological, or conventional weapon attacks? Can anyone stop an irrational president from ordering a nuclear strike? Is there a connection between the diner’s famous greasy chiliburger and the IBS News station? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we reach our positive control point, we recommend: 
-Kevin Pollak Chat Show (2009-2019)
-Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict (1960) and Arms and Influence (1966)
-The Contender (2002 movie)
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #54: Deterrence

In this episode, the high school yearbook voted us “Most Likely to Join the Nuclear Club” after we watched the 1986 movie The Manhattan Project where student Paul Stephens builds a nuclear bomb with plutonium stolen from a secret government lab run by the guy dating his mom. How easy is it to build a homemade nuclear weapon? What motivates a brilliant scientist to devote their life to WMD? Do you enter a homemade nuclear bomb at the science fair under the project category of physics, chemistry, or psychopath? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) answer these questions and more.

Before we earn extra credit by weaponizing some anthrax in AP Bio class, we recommend: 
-Special Bulletin (1983 movie)
-Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes game
-“Fat Man and Little Boy,” The Simpsons, season 16 episode 5
-Science Fair (2018 documentary)
-Ken Silverstein, “The Radioactive Boy Scout,” Harper’s Magazine, November 1998
-Ken Silverstein, The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor, 2005
-The Day After Trinity (1980 documentary)
-WarGames (1983 movie)
-“Nth Country Experiment,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, March 1, 2019
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #55: The Manhattan Project

In this episode, we raised the periscope on our nuclear submarine to enjoy the story of On the Beach - both the movie (1959) and book (1957). What is the more likely ultimate catastrophe of a nuclear war: global nuclear fallout or nuclear winter? Why did the Eisenhower administration try to shut this movie down? If you read On the Beach while sitting on a beach, is that just tempting fate? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione), Distinguished Fellow at the Quincy Institute and recent president of the Ploughshares Fund, answer these questions and more.

Before we start our engines at the Australian Grand Prix, we recommend: 
-Beverly Gray, “The Continuing Relevance of ‘On the Beach,’” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, August 3, 2015
-Fallout (2013 documentary)
-Collisions (2015 documentary)
-Office of Technology Assessment, The Effects of Nuclear War, May 1979
-Warfare History Network, “One of America’s Most Legendary Generals Had a Terrifying Plan to Win the Korean War,” The National Interest, July 16, 2017
-Fail Safe (1964 movie)
-Them! (1954 movie)
-Seven Days in May (1964 movie)
 
Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube.

Enjoy!

Episode #56: On The Beach

Podcast overthinking movies about nuclear weapons with policy analysis, quasi-science, pop culture debates, and too many puns.

Super Critical Podcast

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