Heads-up for 12 November 2010

Harvard Business IdeaCast
China's Secret Feud with Multinationals
Thomas Hout, visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong's School of Business and coauthor of the HBR article "China vs the World: Whose Technology Is It?"
(review, feed)

Shrink Rap Radio
Mindfulness and psychotherapy with Patrick Thornton
In 1975, Patrick Thornton, PhD, who had been an evangelical clergy at the time, left the church because, as he often will say—quoting the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah— “the bed [was] too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that [he could not] wrap himself in it.” He applies this quote to the doctrine and dogma of the church.
(review, feed)

Distillations
Episode 108: Essential Elements - Fire
This week we continue our 4-part series about earth, air, water, and fire. Today’s episode is about fire and how humans have tried to protect themselves from it.
(review, feed)

Being aka Speaking of Faith (APM)
The Dignity of Difference
Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Lord Jonathan Sacks, is one of the world's great thinkers on the promise and perils of religion. He senses that a core imperative of the 21st century is that we must cultivate strong identities as a way to honor what he evocatively calls "The Dignity of Difference."
(review, feed)

London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
Hegemony and International Society
International relations theory is weak on how international order is managed under a preponderance of power. This lecture explores the notion of hegemony as a theoretical solution, and develops the thought of Martin Wight in this respect. Ian Clark is E H Carr Professor of International Politics at the University of Aberystwyth and a fellow of the British Academy.
(review, feed)

The Economist
A government takes shape in Iraq
Winners and losers
(review, feed)

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer on Indus Valley Civilization

Professor Kenoyer has been doing research and archeological excavations on the Indus Valley Civilization since 1986 and before I point you to the audio and video where you can enjoy the lecture about his finds, first a few words on how I find interesting podcasting material.

One of my methods is to follow history blogs. One such history blog is Varnam which updates me frequently about Indian History. A couple of days ago, Varnam reported on a lecture about Indus Valley Civilization by Professor Kenoyer. Not only did I follow this, I also decided to look for Kenoyer on iTunes and thus I found yet another lecture. And that, of course, is another method of finding good podcasts: iTunes searches on good keywords.

In podcast you can hear Kenoyer at UCLA in a lecture that was published in the feed of The International Institute (feed) as well as the Center for Near Eastern Studies (feed). You can also see him in a video lecture which Varnam also pointed to and which can be found at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The two lectures are only slightly different so the podcast lectures have the advantage of being in mp3 and available in feed, while the video lecture allows you to look at the slides and enjoy the maps and the pictures that Kenoyer talks about. Although the Indus Valley script was not deciphered and finds are still rather few, there is much to learn from his lecture. How the valley cultures traded, how they varied, what can be deduced about their hierarchies and more.

More about Indus Valley Civ:

Indus seal,

The earliest history - A story of India,

History of India - UCLA,

Indus Valley Civ - Engines of our Ingenuity,

David Kalivas' World History Podcast.