Listening ideas for 22 March 2011

Mahabharata Podcast
Peace talks begin
Episode 49 - Now that both sides are armed to the teeth and infested with vast armies, they are ready to talk peace terms. The Pandavas start the first round by sending Drupad's unnamed priest as their ambassador. This priest travels to Hastinapur and asks only for the terms of the Dice Game to be fulfilled. Dhrtarastra responds well enough, sending his Charioteer Sanjay as the returning ambassador. Sanjay's message is also for peace, but the terms are rather unacceptable. The Kauravas suggested that the Pandavas simply disarm, and go away. No land, no titles, no nothing.
(review, feed)

Analysis
Blue Labour
David Goodhart examines a radical plan to win back Labour's working-class supporters.
(review, feed)

Social Innovation Conversations
Sara Chamberlain - Developing India Through Mobile Phones
"Yes indeed, people can learn from mobile phones," says Sara Chamberlain, Head of Interactive for BBC World Trust and developer of BBC Janala, launched to "raise the language skills of 25 million people in Bangladesh by 2017." In this university podcast hear how over 3 million people have already begun the process of learning English with the use of even the most basic handsets. According to Chamberlain, making English accessible and affordable could greatly impact the economic development of India by being "a ticket out of poverty."
(review, feed)

Science & the City
Tales from the Brain
Drawing on strange and thought-provoking case studies, eminent neurologist V. S. Ramachandran offers unprecedented insight into the evolution of the uniquely human brain in his new book, The Tell-Tale Brain.
(review, feed)

Schlaflos in München
SiM #572 - 6 Jahre SiM!
Das gibt es doch nicht, ich hab den SiM-Geburtstag verpennt! Zum Glück hat mich Angelika auf Facebook darauf hingewiesen...
(review, feed)

The Synagogue - Kol Hadash

I very much like the podcast Kol Hadash which is Jewish, has a Rabbi speak to you and yet is not religious, because it is Humanistic. I find religion fascinating and among the religions Judaism probably most of all, but the religious always give me a certain feeling of unease. Since I am not religious myself, I must be doing it wrong, or I am allowed to listen, but not really allowed in full circle. But with Kol Hadash is not like that at all. (feed)

In the latest issue, Rabbi Adam Chalom is lecturing about the Synagogue. Although he speaks for a study group in his congregation, it could be just as well a lecture in a Jewish history class. And if you liked the podcasts From Israelite to Jew, or Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, you certainly going to appreciate this lecture from Chalom. And if you have enjoyed the Chalom lecture and did not know those other podcasts, you should certainly try them.

In this lecture Adam Chalom explains the history and function of the Synagogue for Jewry throughout the ages and for all communities. On a side note the point emerges how different the Synagogue is inside and outside of Israel and in many ways that is a repetition of the historic close and far away from the Temple in Jerusalem.

More Kol Hadash:
Intermarriage,
Rabbi Adam Chalom - Kol Hadash Podcast