Lucie Stepanova (Lucie Štěpánová)

Simek had zijn reserves toen hem werd aanbevolen om de celliste Lucie Stepanova te interviewen. Een Tsjechische? Gaan dan twee Tsjechen Nederlands met elkaar spreken, omdat het radio is? Uit beleefdheid? Ondanks de terughoudendheid heeft hij de uitdaging gelukkig toch aangenomen. (stream)

Voor de podcast editie van Simek 's Nachts wordt de muziek weggeknipt, maar dat geldt alleen voor de opnames. In deze editie met Stepanova, kunnen we haar live horen spelen op de cello, en ook zingen. Zingen in het Tsjechisch en voeg daarbij ook wat woorden uit het Tsjechisch. Als het dan toch gebeurt, dan laat Martin de kans niet voorbijgaan om zijn moedertaal aan te raken. Het zorgt voor een heel persoonlijke toon van het gesprek.

Stepanova zelf maakt ook indruk. Hoewel ik meestal niet zo enthousiast wordt van de jongere gasten (ze is nog maar 30), is deze keer een uitzondering. In haar bescheidenheid vindt ze haar kracht. Bovendien wil bescheidenheid nog niet zeggen dat ze niet uitgesproken zou zijn. Dat is ze wel. Ze laat zich dus ook niet door Simek en zijn nostalgie overvleugelen. Het resultaat is een heel fijn gesprek.

Meer Simek op dit blog:
Olaf Tempelman,
Paul Gelderloos,
Bas Heijne,
Herman Finkers,
Tijs Goldschmidt.

Komende gasten bij Simek (en wellicht op dit blog):
Nico ten Berge,
Jaap van der Zwan,
Antonie Kamerling.

Free riders - Philosophy Bites

The latest issue of Philosophy Bites addresses the philosophical problem of free riding. The problem is defined as: Why should anyone contribute to a joint enterprise if their contribution is tiny and they can just as easily 'free ride' (i.e. get the benefit without making the sacrifice)? For example: why should I vote, if my vote dissolves in the sea of votes. Why should I not pollute, if my contribution is inconsequential to the environment?

I remember we discussed a similar problem when I studied philosophy of law. The example we took was about a polluted river. The question was: what justifies the prohibition to throw waste in this river, when it is so severely polluted that any addition doesn't make it worse? If justifications are only related to consequences we can't. Ethical thinking that is consequential will see here a dilemma, but if we assume value can be inherent, there is no problem. Throwing waste is in itself worng and therefore it is justified to prohibit it.

It seems to me, the free rider problem also gets entangled in consequentialism. If however we evaluate our actions also on their inherent qualities, we are capable of rationally deciding against taking a free ride. That is, as far as we can. Aren't we all free riders on the planet? Aren't we profiting left and right in our lives from the past, from the environment without making contribution?

Richard Tuck is invited to present his solution to the problem, which, according to the introduction by David Edmonds, is regarded by some as insolvable, and therefore a true dilemma. Tuck is not particularly easy to follow, so the listener be prepared. He tends to mumble a bit. Otherwise his explanations are thought provoking and take a whole different direction than my idea.

More Philosophy Bites:
Humanism,
Is war innate?
Wittgenstein,
Friendship,
Egalitarianism.

More 'Ann is a Man' - Podcast Reviews

A web search on 'Anne is a Man' should by and large lead to this blog only. 'Ann is a Man' is different though. There are some people who like to say this of Ann Coulter. But that is just a side step. Here is what you can expect on Anne is a Man over the weekend:

Within 24 hours: Philosophy Bites (Free Riders)

Within 48 hours: Simek interviews Lucie Stepanova

- Open Source (After the Empire: Must Reading from Parag Khanna)
- UChannel Podcast (one of three: A Conversation with Alan Johnston; The Encounter of Islam with Europe; The Economics of Climate Change: Risk, Ethics, and a Global Deal.
Do you readers have a preference? Comment or send mail...)
- The Economist: Democracy in America
- The Biography Show (Alexander the Great)

This month: A new podcast directory to be added, Geography Podcasts.

New podcasts on trial:
Historypod
Chronicles Radio Dispatches
Distillations
Africa Past and Present

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Paste the link
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You can let your preferences know by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Getting Published with Mark Leslie

The Writing Show is a wonderful podcast which covers issues of writing, creative, fictional, non-fictional, from the quest for ideas to the end product including publicizing and making money from the pen. I cannot keep up with all of the issues and in addition there is this fabulous backlog, but I want to keep posting from time to time about this great podcast. One of the most exciting rubrics is the 'reality show'; every now and then host Paula Berinstein speaks with writers Jean Tennant and Mark Leslie about their slippery and meandering road into getting published.

Last week, February 7th, Mark Leslie was on again. Mark is in the process of writing his novel A Canadian werewolf in New York, which once started out as a short story, but is now developed to a full novel taking the narrative further and deeper where the short story left off. Just as the other reality show writer Jean Tennant, Mark has been distracted by other projects in the past months. He has received a rejection regarding another product of his and on the podcast he analyzes the wording of the rejection, trying the various interpretations. Is the included praise a token phrase or a genuine encouragement?

Mark works in a book store and as a result has a more than average understanding of the publishing industry. In this interview he explains the concept of remaindering. (Dutch: ramsj) The bottom-line is, this is a scheme which makes money for book stores, cleans up storage room for publishers and if the writer doesn't make money, at least he may win more following. Apart from these side steps, there is a lot of attention to the comments Mark received on A Canadian werewolf in New York from a listener to the podcast.

More Writing Show on this blog:
Psychological Aspects of Writing,
Getting published with Jean Tennant,
Self-publishing,
The art of coherence,
Book design.

Byzantine Sources

The legendary podcast 12 Byzantine Rulers has already come to its end. After the end there has been a conclusion and though I thought it was done then, we have just received a four minute epilogue (mp3) delivering recommendation for reading. And more.

Lars Brownworth, as opposed to my fears, may have given up on teaching and taken up writing, he is not done podcasting. Sources on the net say he left as a high school history teacher top purchase a career as a writer, but we now find out what this means. He is writing a book on Byzantium. He has found a publisher and is probably going to get a head start on sales because of his amazing podcasting audience, Publisher's Weekly reports.

He also announces he is going to do yet another podcast. What is that going to be about? I sent mail and hope to get the answer soon. If you want to keep track of the answer; I am going to post it here and in the comments. So here is how you will be able to get the update: post a comment to this post and check the 'E-mail follow-up comments' box (see picture). You will receive mail, when the information gets through.

EDIT:
I just received a mail from Anders Brownworth (brother of ...):

Hey Anne,

Thanks for all the posts you've been doing. So yes, there will be another podcast on another topic but the project we're working on right now is also on the Byzantines. We went to Istanbul and shot an HD video called "A Walking Tour of Old Constantinople". It will probably show up as a companion video podcast to 12 Byzantine Rulers. Additionally we just released a reading suggestions list to 12 Byzantine rulers and are thinking about releasing an interview with Lars as well. So there might be one or two more additions to 12 Byzantine Rulers yet!

As to the topic of the next real podcast, we can't say just yet. (I can let you know as we get closer though) We will be making that announcement to the members of the 12 Byzantine Rulers email list so people should sign up there. Sign up at the bottom of:
http://www.anders.com/lectures/lars_brownworth/12_byzantine_rulers/

Thanks Anne,

-Anders

More:
Byzantine Conclusion,
The Byzantine Empire on Podcast,
Byzantine Podcast,
The Making of Europe in 1453,
Holy Sepulchre,
The Nicene Creed.

Podcast reviews in the coming hours and days

Within 12 hours: 12 Byzantine Rulers
Hey,
you thought this podcast was finished? So did I. But it threw yet another conclusion at us. AND the news: Lars is writing a book based on 12 Byzantine Rulers (to be published in 2009) AND he will start a new podcast series!

Within 24 hours: The Writing Show (Getting Published with Mark Leslie)

In the coming days:
- Simek interviews Lucie Stepanova
- Philosophy Bites (Free Riders)
- Open Source (After the Empire: Must Reading from Parag Khanna)
- UChannel Podcast (one of three: A Conversation with Alan Johnston; The Encounter of Islam with Europe; The Economics of Climate Change: Risk, Ethics, and a Global Deal.
Do you readers have a preference? Comment or send mail...)

This month: A new podcast directory to be added, Geography Podcasts.

New podcasts on trial:
Historypod
Chronicles Radio Dispatches
Distillations
The Biography Podcast
Africa Past and Present

Subscribe in a reader

Paste the link
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Anne_Is_A_Man
into the RSS reader of your preference.

You can let your preferences know by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: annefriddevries AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk