Friday, August 08, 2008

Fat Man and Little Boy turn 63

I was reminded yesterday that this week marks the 63rd anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima (Aug. 6th) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9th). One would think these bombings would be a little more forward in our national consciousness - especially considering we're in a war and all - but I guess that's a bit too much to ask.

I highly recommend the HBO documentary White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in which they tracked down and interviewed survivors from both bombings. Pretty powerful stuff, to say the least.

In any case, given my inability to come up with any original thoughts these days (and let's face, why bother with originality when there's YouTube), I figured I would mark this occasion by deferring to one of the greatest, if not the greatest, satirical songwriters of all time in Tom Lehrer. Lehrer turned 80 years old this year (yes, he is still alive), and is rumored to be wandering around Santa Cruz after having retired from teaching at the UC up there. Enjoy.