Coming up: Passover Week on Anne is a Man

Hello,

This week we have Passover break, which keeps us busy with organizing a Seder, activities with the children, a desert trip, and also, my birthday. All of this means I am going to be on-line very infrequently and probably not going to be able to give you my every day listening ideas. I have, however, a number of podcast reviews lined up, so here is a list of what you can expect in the coming days:

A new course at UCLA formally called History 182G, about the history of secular Judaism. (feed) In case you think such a course might start with Spinoza, at the earliest, you are wrong. It goes way back to the beginning and had me hooked when discussing Hellenism and its effect on Jews and a figure such as Philo of Alexandria.

While on the subject of Secular Judaism, I am going to recommend, once more, Rabbi Adam Chalom, the Secular, Humanist Rabbi. This time on a great guest lecture at Georgetown University. Kol Hadash (feed)

A couple of guest postings in my favorite podcast New Books in History, put me on the trail of another podcast: Thoughtcast on which Jenny Attiyeh interviews authors (feed). One particular issue, almost a year old, is a very interesting interview with Rebecca Goldstein - with very interesting thoughts on Atheism and religious roots in general, Jewish roots in particular.

And now for something different. Julie and Scott, two Catholics let their Catholic perspective shine on the movie (that I loved) Stranger than fiction, on their podcast A good story is hard to find (feed)

Robbert Harrison, Entitled Opinions will be off on a long sabbatical, but left us with this season's ultimate show giving a wonderful monologue about Samuel Beckett. (feed)

Many readers have picked up on my combined review of a number of podcast appearances by Joseph Lelyveld on his latest book about Gandhi and I want to point to yet another of those interviews, a very good one on KQED's Forum (feed)

Last but not least, one of the readers of the blog pointed me to a philosophy podcast that I am enjoying a lot: The Partially Examined Life (feed) My first review will be about their show in which they discussed my beloved author Albert Camus.

So this is going to give you at least something near the one post a day frequency and if I get the chance, I will throw listening ideas in as well.

חג שמח

Anne

Listening ideas for 16 April 2011

NB: this is the 2000th post on the blog.

Check out this News Flash on the Do It Yourself Scholar (a blog you all should follow):
10 New Courses on Yale
Tip for iPod users: subscribe to these iTunesU feeds as podcasts.

SALT - Seminars About Long Term Thinking
Ian Morris
Ian Morris is an archaelogist and professor of classics and history at Stanford. His splendid book is Why the West Rules -- For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future.
(review, feed)
See also: Geography shifting big history

The Economist
New crackdowns in China
The Chinese authorities are exhibiting a new brazenness toward dissidents. Harassment abounds, and some are disappearing
(review, feed)



Distillations
Climate Change
One of this century's great challenges will be mitigating the effects of our steadily warming planet. In today's episode we explore the consequences of our changing climate.
(review, feed)

New Books in Public Policy
William Bennett and Seth Leibsohn, “The Fight of Our Lives: Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam”
Where do we stand on the War on Terror? Is it still going on, and if so, are we winning or losing it? In William Bennett and Seth Leibsohn’s The Fight of Our Lives: Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth, and Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam (Thomas Nelson, 2011), the authors look at the current state of the War on Terror, how it is going, and why it remains important.
(review, feed)

TED Talks
Transplant cells, not organs - Susan Lim
Pioneering surgeon Susan Lim performed the first liver transplant in Asia. But a moral concern with transplants (where do donor livers come from ...) led her to look further, and to ask: Could we be transplanting cells, not whole organs? At the INK Conference, she talks through her new research, discovering healing cells in some surprising places.
(review, feed)

Listening ideas for 15 April 2011

Witness
The Hama massacre
In 1982 an uprising against the Assad regime in Syria was met by a violent response. Two men who lived in the northern city of Hama as children recall what happened.
(review, feed)

The New York Review of Books Podcast
Andrew Delbanco on Mark Twain
Andrew Delbanco talks with Andrew Martin about the first volume of Mark Twain’s unabridged Autobiography and the distinctive joys and challenges of reading Twain in the twenty-first century.
(review, feed)

Radio Open Source
Pakistan’s Perpetual Identity Crisis
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a political theorist and intellectual historian based in New Delhi, is leading us through another reflection on the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.
(review, feed)

Office Hours
Richard Lachmann on American Decline
This week we talk with Richard Lachmann, author of the article, The Roots of American Decline in the Winter 2011 issue of Contexts. Lachmann addresses common misunderstandings we Americans tend to have about our government’s spending, particularly military spending, and the current “fiscal crisis”. Lachmann compares the decline of American dominance with past empires and offers some lessons about what we might do to have a graceful decline as opposed to a painful, violent one.
(review, feed)

On Being aka Speaking of Faith
Exodus, Cargo of Hidden Stories
The biblical Exodus story is no simple story of heroes and villains; it's a complex picture of the possibilities and ironies of human passion and human freedom. Avivah Zornberg, author of "The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus," brings the text to life through the ancient Jewish art of Midrash. If you're not familiar with Exodus, you're in for a deeply sensual experience; and, even if you're well-versed in the text, you just might be surprised.
(review, feed)

Veertien Achttien
Vladimir Lenin en de donderpreek vanaf de pantserwagen
Gestoken in een nieuw burgermanspak reist Vladimir Lenin per trein de revolutie tegemoet, uitgezwaaid door de Duitsers. Hij gaat zijn bolsjewieken in Petrograd eerst maar eens de les lezen.
(review, feed)

Listening ideas for 14 April 2011

KQED's Forum
Joseph Lelyveld on Gandhi
Joseph Lelyveld's new biography of Mahatma Gandhi, "Great Soul," has sparked controversy from India to California. For some, it has raised questions about Gandhi's sexual orientation. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former New York Times executive editor joins Michael Krasny to discuss his book, and the debate that swirls around it.
(review, feed)
For more podcast issues on this subject see Joseph Lelyveld about Gandhi on Anne is a Man

In Our Time
The Neutrino
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutrino, the so-called 'ghost particle'. With Frank Close, Susan Cartwright and David Wark.
(review, feed)

Documentary on One
Hidden Heroes of the Belfast Blitz
70 yrs ago, on Apr 15th 1941, Germany rained down bombs on Belfast - part of their WW2 offensive on Britain. The hidden story of that night is how the Republic of Ireland put its neutrality at risk by sending its firemen to help their northern brethern.
(review, feed)

Leonard Lopate Show
The Eichmann Trial
Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, talks about the capture of SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents in Argentina in May of 1960, and how his subsequent trial in Jerusalem by an Israeli court electrified the world and sparked a public debate on where, how, and by whom Nazi war criminals should be brought to justice. The Eichmann Trial gives an overview of the trial and analyzes the dramatic effect that the survivors’ courtroom testimony had on the world.
(review, feed)

Fresh Air
Tina Fey Reveals All (And Then Some) In 'Bossypants'
Story: Tina Fey's new memoir Bossypants contains her thoughts on juggling motherhood, acting, writing and executive producing 30 Rock. Fey joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross for a wide-ranging conversation about her years in comedy, her childhood and her 2008 portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.
(review, feed)

Listening ideas for 13 April 2011

Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapter 24
In which Abraham's servant goes a courting ... for Isaac.
(review, feed)

Rear Vision
A history of insurance: from fire of London to revolution by motorcar
Already this year, Australian insurers have paid out over three and a half billion dollars in claims, covering the five 'big events' that swept away houses, cars, and a sense of certainty for so many people. In the process, the question of how insurance should be worded, what it means when people aren't insured, and whether and how states, regions and governments should be covered, were all being debated. Because insurance is a financial and social institution that has changed enormously over the past few centuries. Today's program traces some of those changes, from the Fire of London through to the impact of the 'mutuals' and the question of whether and how much insurance should be compulsory or national.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Krishna reveals Himself
Episode 52 - The peace talks break down completely. It starts well, when no one can come up with a rebuttal to Krishna's speech. Narada and Kanva tell a couple of parables to help with the decision making, but Duryodhana was not interested. It seems he believed that the terms of the Dice Game were that the Pandavas were to go to the forest forever, not just 13 years. Maybe it's true? What if the Pandavas had indeed be banished for life, but they decided to change the rules when Krishna & Drupad offered to help them overthrow their cousins? How would we know, since we only get the version of the story as told by the survivors of this war!?!
(review, feed)

Leonard Lopate Show
Simon Schama
Historian and social commentator Simon Schama discusses writing about a diverse range of subjects: from food and family to Winston Churchill, from Martin Scorsese to Rembrandt, from his travels in Brazil and Amsterdam to New Orleans. His collection Scribble, Scribble: Writing on Politics, Ice Cream, Churchill, and My Mother shows him to be a keen observer with a critical eye.
(review, feed)

The Economist
Nigeria's elections
As Nigeria goes to the polls, Elizabeth Donnelly of Chatham House reflects on the prospect of fairer elections
(review, feed)

The Innocent - New Books in Law

It rarely makes head-lines, but when it does, the news is great and shocking: in the criminal justice system, occasionally, the innocent get convicted. Brandon Garrett wrote a book about the phenomenon: “Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong” (Harvard UP, 2011) He studied 250 US cases where the convicted was re-trialled because evidence had come up that they were innocent. Jim von der Heydt interviewed Garrett on the new podcast from the New Books Network New Books in Law (feed).

In many ways Garrett's research field is just the tip of the iceberg. Many innocent just finish their punishment and are never exempted. But with the aforementioned case-load at hand, Garrett set off to seek an answer to the gnawing question whether the legal system including its officials contain systemic traits that help convicting suspects that are actually innocent. Listen to the interview to find more out about legal constraints to repair the mistakes, the role of legal representation in these cases and obviously, the newly developed technologies for DNA evidence.

It seems to me, however, that one aspect is getting too little attention: a very large portion of convictions (maybe up to 90%) are based on the accused confessing to the crime and this suggests something that has been haunting the legal system forever and will continue to do so, also with DNA evidence: suspects tend to confess. The psychology of both the suspect and the interrogator are pulling towards confession and consequently there is a systemic tendency towards producing confessions, even false confessions. Legal psychologists have been describing this for a long time, including the interrogation techniques that can even instill false memories into the suspects. If you understand Dutch, you can hear this explained in the closing 15 minutes of an interview with the world famous expert Professor W.A. Wagenaar.