Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Heads-up for 30 November 2010

Africa Past & Present
Popular Politics in Southern Africa
Historian Paul Landau (University of Maryland) on rethinking the broad history of Southern Africa from 1400 to 1948. His new book re-asserts African agency by seeing Africans in motion, coming out of their own past. Drawing on oral traditions, genealogies, 19th-century conversations, and other sources, Landau highlights the resilience of African political cultures and their adeptness at incorporating diverse peoples.
(review, feed)

SALT - Seminars About Long Term Thinking (The Long Now Foundation)
Lera Boroditsky
How Language Shapes Thought
(review, feed)

Wise Counsel Podcast
Monica Ramirez Basco, Ph.D. on Procrastination
Procrastination, defined by putting things off, falling behind, and then feeling badly, is a normal behavior but one that can cause real problems when taken to extremes. It can present as a symptom of depression or anxiety or perfectionism. it's remediation can help create a sense of relief or respite from these other conditions. A first step in addressing problematic procrastination is to raise awareness that procrastination is occurring so that it becomes more of a conscious choice rather than a simple reflex. Next, it is helpful to understand the motivations that cause the behavior, which vary across different people. Some people procrastinate as a simple short-term means of avoiding having to do tasks they find aversive. Others avoid due to social evaluation fears or self-doubt. Others procrastinate due to poor organizational skills and difficulty accurately estimating the time it will take to accomplish a goal. Procrastination can also occur as a practical means of social manipulation (such as when delay in cleaning one's room will cause another to do it for you), or as a result of existential paralysis over not being able to complete tasks with a (self-imposed) required level of skill or quality. Its important to pick a single instance of procrastination to address rather than try to stop the pattern globally. Keeping change goals small and manageable makes it possible to maintain motivation to change and to measure change as it occurs.
(review, feed)

Omega Tau Podcast
/49/ Chip Production and Waferscanners
In this episode we take a look at microchip production, with a special focus on waferscanners. To do this, we talked with Wilbert Albers of ASML, the leading waferscanner manufacturer in the world. In the episode, we talk about the overall chip production process (from silicon sand over wafer cutting to lithography and etching), and then we talk about the challenges of building high-precision, high-throughput waferscanners.
(review, feed)

The Total Football Soccer Show
El Clasico: Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid. Dominación
After the Thanksgiving hiatus, we're back with an Extra Time review of the incredible El Clasico game, in which Barcelona embarrassed Real Madrid 5-0, and shocked those of us (Albert) who expected more from Madrid. The podcast was recorded immediately after watching the game. At time of posting, Albert is yet to satisfy the terms of his bet with Taylor.
(review, feed)

Podcasts on American History

I have reported on so many podcasts in the realm of history that I have deemed it necessary to take my history directory and order it into subdivisions. There will be subdivisions into eras, into regions and into themes, to whatever extent the division is useful, accepting the overlap and holes that remain - just to cut up an unwieldy list of over 130 podcasts into reasonable chunks.

The first subset I created was Ancient History.
The second was Medieval History

And now the third will be on American History. Obviously with this I move the emphasis from the temporal to the spatial. Most history podcasts that address the Americas will take the history beyond Ancient and Medieval times, so that an overlap with the previous sections hardly occurs, but should this be so, the podcasts will go in both categories. Moreover, as we close in on modern times, the amount of podcasts is larger and the regional sectioning in many ways is an addition to the temporal. 

Local American history taken from environmental perspective. Excellent lecture series to get acquainted with the idea of an environmental history.

Dr. Gretchen Ann Reilly at Temple College, Texas, turned her lectures into privately read 15 minute podcasts. This enhances the clarity and structure in comparison with recorded live lectures. She delivers her history in a very insightful and accessible way.

Tony Cocks' monologues about history. Starting off with the British roots of the American constitution and following up with the Battle of Britain.

Extensive lecture series about US History before 1870. Mind the low audio that comes with live recorded lectures.

A history podcast that digs up anything that has to do with Abraham Lincoln. Much in the way of Tudorcast does for the Tudors. there is no didactic build in order to pass understanding of the person, but rather an unstructured stream of episodes. Charmingly done however. So far there are three podcasts in the feed.

History lectures on US history, with recurring themes such as lectures about Lincoln and about Slavery.

History 131 (University of Alaska Fairbanks) (reviewsitefeed)
History of the Americas before 1870

History 132 (University of Alaska Fairbanks) (reviewsitefeed)
US History after 1870

History 7B (Berkeley) US History: from Civil War to Present, (reviewsitefeed).
Professor Jennifer Burns lays out American History in 39 lectures lasting less than one hour each. The lecture series is 'old' (begin 2006) but is still kept alive through Burns' personal website.

Bob Packett is a college history professor who simply cannot stop talking. He delivers history lectures, with sources, on a daily basis, touching on all corners of history. Bob has a lot of American history topics.

History of the American Revolution (reviewsitefeed)
Kurtis Ford, retells the American history in quite extensive detail and with great narrative power with a very personal touch.

Jamie Lawson takes us back 20 years and gives her personal view on history back then. These issues contain quite a few American subjects.

the Memory Palace (reviewsitefeed)
Nate diMeo tells historic tales in the most poetic way.

The one and only and most outstanding interview podcast in the history podcast genre. Marshall Poe interviews historians about their recent books. Lively, varied and intelligent content. Many American subjects.

350 years of the Jewish experience in America. Journalist Larry Josephson delivers historical episodes taking us through the entry of Jews in the Americas to contemporary Jewry in the US. He combines these exposes with interviews with leading American Jews on Jewish subjects.

Religion and Law in US, HIUS 155A (UCSD) (review, site, feed)
Professor Michael Parrish teaches the legal and religious foundations of the American Society until the Civil War.

Religion and Law in US, HIUS 155B (UCSD) (review, site, feed)
Professor Michael Parrish teaches the legal and religious foundations of the American Society from the Civil War until the present.

Richard Miller tells the history of San Francisco.

University lectures on various subjects of American History; a project of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University.

US History since 1877 (Temple College) (reviewsitefeed)
Gretchen Reilly's straightforward monologue podcast about American History from 1877 until today

A podcast of the US National Constitution Center addressing constitutional issues with lectures and forum discussions on a very high level.

Pieces of History, a Hebrew podcast. Selected topics in history. The latest series is about the American Revolution.

New podcasts in October and November 2010 - Anne is a Man

Today I am looking back at two months of podcast reviewing. Normally I summarize monthly, but as many of you must have noticed, I was not consistently at the blog during October and the beginning of November. Fortunately, I got the writing back on track and now the time is due to give a list of feeds that were reviewed for the first time in the past period:

Forum-Network (NPR) (review, site, feed)
Interviews with authors

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Audio (Carnegie Mellon University) (review, site, feed)
Guest lectures at Carnegie Mellon University.

A brief history of mathematics (BBC) (review, site, feed)
In ten easy to digest episodes Marcus du Sautoy introduces us to the history of modern mathematics.

Mercy Podcast (review, site, feed)
Music and Arts podcast coming from Liverpool about artistic life in the city on the Mercy.

Conspiracy Podcast (RTE) (review, site, feed)
History podcast about political trials in Ireland

Some Books Considered (review, site, feed)
Book review podcast.

Center for Near Eastern Studies (review, site, feed)
Lectures at UCLA concerning history and politics of the Middle and Near East.

Kol Hadash (review, site, feed)
Rabbi Adam Chalom's Judaism podcast with a secular streak. Coming from the Humanistic Congregation in Chicago.

The International Institute (review, site, feed)
Lectures at UCLA concerning history and politics.