43 podcasts reviewed

UPDATE: we now have 249 podcasts reviewed. (link)

In alphabetical order all podcasts I reviewed, showing post dates (last linked) and labels (linked):

1. 12 Byzantine Rulers, 21-08-07, history podcast
2. Bike Radar, 16-07-07, tour
3. Biota Podcast, 24-06-07, science
4. Bommel Hoorspel, 01-07-07, NL radio
5. British History 101, 01-06-07, history podcast
6. CFR Podcast, 03-08-07
7. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, 22-07-2007 15-06-2007 12-05-2007, history podcast
8. David Kalivas' World History, 24-05-2007 17-05-2007, history podcast
9. From our own Correspondent, 24-07-07, BBC
10. Haring Podcast, 31-05-07, NL radio
11. History 167B, 03-Sep-07, Berkeley history podcast
12. History 4A, 03-Sep-07, Berkeley history podcast
13. History 5, 03-09-2007 30-07-2007 02-07-2007 27-05-2007 18-05-2007 15-05-2007, Berkeley history podcast
14. History according to Bob, 25-06-2007 23-06-2007 06-06-2007 17-05-2007, history podcast
15. History Network, 22-07-07, history podcast
16. In Our Time, 30-07-2007 15-07-2007 29-06-2007 27-06-2007 20-06-2007 16-06-2007 08-06-2007 02-06-2007 29-05-2007 21-05-2007 14-05-2007, In Our Time BBC (science) history podcast
17. Interview Vrijdag, 12-07-2007 04-07-2007 14-06-2007 12-06-2007, NL radio
18. ITV, 16-07-07, tour
19. Jung Podcast, 27-06-07, psychology
20. KMTT, 02-07-2007 21-05-2007, יהדות
21. Marathon Interview, 22-08-2007 05-08-2007 02-08-2007 31-07-2007 16-07-2007 14-07-2007, NL radio
22. Matt's Today In History, 26-07-07, history podcast
23. Military History Podcast, 27-06-07, history podcast
24. National Archives Podcast, 29-05-07, history podcast
25. Only in America, 24-05-07, history podcast יהדות
26. OVT, 28-06-07, history podcast NL radio
27. Oy Mendele!, 30-06-07, יהדות
28. Physics for future Presidents (Descriptive Physics), 09-07-2007 12-06-2007 07-06-2007 25-05-2007, Berkeley science
29. Philosophy 103, 28-06-07
30. Prosperity show, 01-08-07
31. Rav Dovid's, 02-07-07, יהדות
32. rpgmp3, 21-06-07
33. the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, 05-08-2007 30-07-2007 25-07-2007 16-07-2007 09-07-2007 01-07-2007 19-06-2007 27-05-2007 15-05-2007, SGU science
34. Šimek 's Nachts, 20-08-2007 19-08-2007 27-07-2007 18-07-2007 10-07-2007 04-07-2007 26-06-2007 20-06-2007 19-06-2007 12-06-2007 03-06-2007 27-05-2007 16-05-2007, simek NL radio
35. Shrink Rap Radio, 04-09-2007 04-08-2007 30-07-2007 25-07-2007 19-07-2007 16-07-2007 11-07-2007 06-07-2007 24-06-2007 20-06-2007 18-06-2007 13-06-2007 10-06-2007 05-06-2007 30-05-2007 29-05-2007 17-05-2007 13-05-2007, shrinkrapradio psychology
36. TdF London, 27-06-07, tour
37. The Word Nerds, 29-08-2007 05-08-2007 22-07-2007 25-06-2007, TWN language
38. University Channel Podcast, 04-09-2007 07-08-2007 17-07-2007 01-07-2007 25-06-2007
39. Volkskrant Podcasts, 25-07-07
40. Wise Counsel, 03-08-2007 23-07-2007 16-07-2007 03-07-2007 21-06-2007 13-06-2007 17-05-2007, Wise Counsel psychology
41. the Writing Show, 06-08-2007 04-08-2007 31-07-2007 31-07-2007 25-07-2007 05-07-2007 22-06-2007 17-06-2007, Writing Show language
42. Wynyfryd's meditation room, 24-07-07
43. zencast, 02-07-2007 17-06-2007

If you know of interesting podcasts that you think should be reviewed, pleas let me know through the comments page.
Thanks in advance,
Anne

China and the West - UC Podcast

I have so little knowledge and so little time to check things out. Just like anybody else I tend to take things for granted if media present it in some plausible fashion. The UC podcast about China and the West presents the facts thus:

China’s phenomenal economic growth is paralleled in scale and speed only by the rise of the United States between the Civil War and the First World War in 1914. Since 1978 the economy has grown ninefold, and is set to become the second largest within a decade. From inauspicious beginnings, China has become a $2 trillion economy because the Communist Party has channeled huge savings into investment, and encouraged millions of workers into its booming cities, the biggest migration in history.

So, in simple terms, is China going to take over the West as the major power (economic, political, cultural)? We tend to believe so. The podcast features Will Hutton as a speaker and he points out some huge weaknesses of China and its economy. In short, China has serious economic problems to tackle but hardly the means to do so. More fundamentally an efficacious social fabric, institutions, lack, to take this on. So, not only is China hardly capable of taking over, in spite of the presented figures, it needs proper address and it seems the West is urgently needing to get this straight.

Not only ignorant me, also policy makers seem to fall prey to the apparent rise of China and fail to see its problems and weaknesses.

War's effect on the soul - Shrinkrapradio #109

A veteran lives next door to me. He roams the street like a living corpse. He is heavily sedated, so the neighbors tell, otherwise his battle traumas will throw him in a frenzy. Unshaved and dressed in rags, he aimlessly wanders between the synagogue and his parents' house which is in the same apartment building where we live. His state is the result of the first Lebanon war which raged in the early eighties. For him it has been twenty years of living in a haze like this.

The latest guest on Shrinkrapradio, has written a book on how war affects the soul. His name is Edward Tick. The interview Dr. Dave conducts with him is representative, once more, of the best this podcast has to offer. And so we learn how war wounds us, not just the soldiers who fought the war, also everybody who is touched by war, who took it into his conscience that he lives through a time of war. And we begin adapting our lives to it. Even when the war is over, our souls tend to go on living in a state of war.

In other words, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But Dr. Tick doesn't regard this as a behavioral disorder, but rather an identity disorder. A wound to the soul - uncanny term for psychology. He also points out that the frequent occurrence of war and the awareness we carry through the generations of war being around, has caused us to seek it out. We must live war. However, we must not keep carrying it with us. We must be allowed to leave it behind. PTSD is the soul that has remained in the state of war. Just like my neighbor. Dr. Tick indicates to techniques and approaches that could take him out.

The best History courses on podcast

The academic year has started and we podcast listeners can hook up to the courses as far as they are being put on line. Market leader in this world of lectures on podcast is the incomparable University of California Berkeley. Naturally also my favorite subject, history, has taken off. This year is better than others. We have a total of three course available.

First there is the classic History 5. European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present, this fall presented once again by Thomas Laqueur. I have followed these lectures already a couple of times. So I will be browsing them in search for bloggable items.

In the second we meet last season's lecturer of History 5: Margaret Anderson. She is delivering a course labeled History 167B. Here she will teach all there is to know about the rise and fall of the second reich. Yes, the second. Not the first and not the third. I have already run one lecture (more about that below) and can disclose with my, yet, limited knowledge, that the first is the Holy Roman Empire, and consequently the second is the German Empire as it became established by the Prussians. I expect we will be talking about Frederick the Great and Bismarck among others. And the fall will be either with Wilhelm the Second or the Weimar Republik.

The first lecture has low audio. In general the Berkeley lectures tend to be on the low side. I want to point out again that with free and easy to use utilities you can crank up the volume. The lecture was on ~70dB and on 90 it was much better to listen to on the iPod. Even 90 is a bit low; next I'll try 100. For this cranking up I use MP3Gain.

A third history course hasn't started yet. It is History 4A, allegedly about the history of the Ancient Mediterranean World. As one who lives in the modern Mediterranean world, I do not want to miss it. Well, I wouldn't want to miss it, even if I lived somewhere else. History is my thing.

The Word Nerds gave me a plug...

...and talked about inside language, using many examples from bicycling, which is very good in itself isn't it? The Word Nerds is a podcast about words, language and why we say the things we do - or so it is presented in the opening tune. As so many other podcasts you have the opportunity to give a shout out through mychingo. I had completely forgotten I had taken that opportunity.

I gave a mild persiflage of the opening sentences and without any comment whatsoever, show #91 opens with exactly that clip. And a link to this blog is put on the show notes. My statcounter reports a significant surge in visits and a considerable portion of the visits are redirects from the Word Nerds home page.

So, welcome to my humble blog, dear Word Nerds, Word Nerd listeners and Word Nerd affiliates. But now that we are talking. Do you also feel a bit gigglish about the opening formula 'say the things we do' and the rating? I just had to make fun of that. Did you notice?

Another thought: hopping on the show like that and comfortably draw some web attention, isn't that a bit 'wheel sucker'-ish by me? Hehehe.

Marathon interview J. A. A. van Doorn

Arend jan Heerma van Voss zoekt naar woorden. Er is een zekere passie in de interviewer. Ik heb het gevoel dat hij niet alleen ongelofelijk veel respect voor de geinterviewde Van Doorn heeft. Hij is ook geinspireerd, maar nog op zoek om zijn gedachten te ordenen. Van Doorn wacht het geduldig af.

Zo gaat het interview. Heerma van Voss zoekt en Van Doorn blijft geduldig. En zo zoeken we onze weg. Door de vaderlandse politiek, door het Duitse Socialisme (opnieuw) en de ontwikkeling van de sociologie. Wat mij betreft mag het nog wel langer dan drie uur duren. Wat ben ik blij dat deze radio ook als podcast uitgebracht wordt.