The flight of Wright

WNYC's Radio Lab commemorates the first human flight: Orville and Wilbur Wright's achievement to get their plane off the ground on December 17th 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The program (and the podcast) turns out as a crafty collage of voices, sounds, music and statements. Ten minutes of depicting the achievement, outlining the historical importance and some human interest.

The feat of the Wright brothers speaks to the imagination. I recall learning about them in grade school and I see my son learning about them in grade school as well. The romantic fascination is inevitable and the Radio lab podcast hits that tune full force. For a moment I wanted to resist, if not for a simple thought expressed also in the show.

The Wright brothers in their efforts were about 10 years ahead of their competitors (or fellow researchers). Had they failed, flight may have entered world history ten years later. What is the difference between 1903 and 1913? It is that war we have been writing about so much in this blog lately: The Great War. Not that air force was really significant in this war, but it was widely experimented with, further adding to its rapid development.

The last second thought with regards to the romantic appraisal of the flight of Wright - are we better off with flight becoming real as early as 1903? Any slight alteration with regards to the Great War and whatever It brought about, affects us heavily today. What if...? Bad medicine for historians.

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Times Talks (NYT)

Times Talks is a podcast of the New York Times. It is recording of a talk before a live audience at the Times Center with figures from American Culture. Or as the NYT words it on its podcast web page: Intimate discussions with people of note and New York Times journalists and editors. The editions vary in length from half an hour to over an hour. I have tried two of them. Two issues with people from the film industry that kept on talking while the interviewing journalist kept on laughing.

The most recent is Editor at large Lynn Hirschberg discussing film making with actors-directors-producers-brothers Luke and Andrew Wilson. Owen was supposed to have been there but was reported to be 'under the weather.' (audio)

Another episode was Actor and comedian Bill Murray from Arts and Leisure Weekend 2005. Bill Murray takes over the show, rambles on. It is to be admitted that he is very entertaining, but the way the interviewer must continue to laugh hysterically is too much for my taste. Smacking of being eager to please, rather than being genuinely amused. (audio)

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Rumi - Speaking of Faith

"The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi", is the title of the last issue of Speaking of Faith. Subject is the 13th-century mystic and poet Rumi of whom I had never heard, but who appears to be popular, not only among Muslems, but in recent years also in the West. Krista Tippett speaks about Rumi with Fatemeh Keshavarz professor of Persian and comparative literature at the Washington University.

Professor Keshavarz displays an enchanted affection for Rumi, quoting him and referring to him with loving reverence. What leaps out to the unexpecting listener is a type of both mystic and worldly Islam, which is artful, playful, philosophical and mystical at the same moment. Rumi's lines dance like the whirling dervishes, whose performance he is claimed to have invented as well.

Fatemeh Keshavarz: I think the energy can't go in all directions completely in control and you have to choose because you have one life. You have to spend it wisely. So absolutely, he would say choose, be selective, recognize your own value. At another point he says, 'You are an astrolabe to God, you know, don't use yourself for things that are not worthwhile.'

But I want to linger a little bit on that idea of being scattered because that's a key concept in Sufi thought. And actually it's something that the Buddhists also talk about a lot. And that is our mind just jumps from one thing to the other and, you know, the Sufis call it the onrush of ideas into our minds. And in some ways, if we allow it, it takes us over, you know. You know, what am I going to do about that credit card? You know, how am I going to--what do I do about this student paper, you know, whatever else is that you're concerned with, my family, my kids, my future. So it all invades your life and so in a way you're pulled in all directions. You're scattered. So one of the purposes of his poetry and one of the concepts the Sufis talk about is to collect that scatteredness.

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Leadership and Artificial Intelligence

Two new issues of Shrinkrapradio were published shortly one after the other. Dr. Dave is keeping us busy.

#125 - The Psychological Roots of Leadership, brings us an interview with Stephen H. Baum, author of the 2007 book, What Made Jack Welch Jack Welch: How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary Leaders. Baum analyzed the profiles of successful executives, interviewed them and made an inventory of what characterizes the true leaders among us. In short he found out how people with great leadership qualities were usually pushed by a family member in their youth, generally are willing to take more risks than others. Take the plunge and try to survive. Have fewer self-confidence issues and are of a sincere and transparent moral fiber.

#126 - Artificial Life and Artificial Intelligence is the third live recorded podcast, with Jerry Trumbule and Artificial Life and Artificial Intelligence specialist Tom Barbalet. Barbalet is pushed by Jerry to comment on the capacity of computers; are they about to become smarter than people? Tom thinks this has already happened, he claims there are very few fields computers perform less than human beings.

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OVT 1917 - Het Oostfront

Deze week gaat de aandacht van OVT uit naar het oostfront tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Het gaat over de verschillende 'Narrenarmees' die er waren. Legers van malloten, die in de nieuwe twintigste eeuw eerloos ten onder gingen. De Russen krijgen dat predikaat mee, alsmede de Oostenrijkers en minder de Turken.

Er worden twee bijgedachtes ontzenuwd. De eerste gaat over de slag bij Tannenberg in 1914. De Duitsers brengen de Russen een pijnlijke nederlaag toe, maar als de Russen nu eens gewonnen hadden? Ja, wat als? Natuurlijk loopt het dan anders met de Grote Oorlog, natuurlijk loopt het dan anders met Rusland, met Duitsland en misschien heb je dan geen Nazis of Sovjets om de wereld te kwellen. Maar het panel is het er snel over eens: het kon haast niet anders. De Russen hadden geen serieuze kans.

De tweede bijgedachte is dat de Turken aan de Eerste Wereldoorlog begonnen in een alliantie met Duitsland met de verborgen agenda om Turkije van christenen te zuiveren. Daarmee wordt gedoeld op de genocide van de Armenen, als zou die gepland zijn geweest. De agenda kan best bestaan hebben, maar wat de Turken in de armen van Duitsland dreef wordt toch meer op het conto van andere factoren geschreven. Desinteresse van de Britten en een actief in een verbond geinteresseerde Kaiser Wilhelm.

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Zoem - Podcast van Stichting IMET

De stichting IMET is gespecialiseerd in de behandeling van mensen die lijden aan angst-, dwang-, eet- of identiteitsproblemen. In haar instituut voor Mentaal-Emotieve Training worden mensen geholpen volgens de principes van de Canadese eetstoornisspecialist Peggy Claude-Pierre, aangepast aan de mogelijkheden van ambulante behandeling. De stichting brengt ook een podcast uit waarin de methode IMET wordt uitgelegd door ontwikkelaar Rob Zondag.

Deze podcast (genaamd 'zoem') wordt geproduceerd door de veelzijdige podcaster Maurice Zondag (familie van?). In de podcast laat Maurice Rob Zondag aan het woord, die daarbij stelselmatig over methode, praktijk en theorie van de behandeling spreekt. De podcasts komen min of meer maandelijks uit en duren ongeveer 45 minuten.

In zekere zin is Zoem met Wise Counsel te vergelijken, zij het dat de interviewer zelf geen psycholoog is en derhalve in mindere mate de monoloog van spreker Rob Zondag aanstuurt. Vergelijkbaar met de Jung Podcast is dat in elke episode dezelfde psycholoog aan het woord is en een en dezelfde discipline wordt besproken.

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