Radio Lab (WNYC)
The Walls of Jericho
In this podcast, Jad and Robert throw some physics at a bible story. We find out just how many trumpeters you'd actually need to blow down the walls of Jericho.
(review, feed)
Inspired Minds
One-to-One with author Stuart MacBride
The Scotsman Stuart MacBride has successfully put the city of Aberdeen on the map of crime-writing. His first crime novel with Detective Sergeant Logan McRae and his slightly clumsy yet most endearing unorthodox superior, Detective Inspector Roberta Steel, came out in 2005, and he has been publishing a book a year ever since. In this week’s Inspired Minds Ulrike Sárkány talks to the author about his Aberdeen inspiration, the surprise of his success on the highly competitive crime fiction market and how he likes the reader to decide for themselves just what Detective Sergeant Logan McRae looks like.
(review, feed)
KQED's Forum
Deepak Chopra
Alternative medicine and spirituality advocate Dr. Deepak Chopra has written more than 50 books, including novels about Jesus and Buddha. He joins us to discuss his newest fictional biography, "Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet."
(review, feed)
Volkis Stimme
Nicht in Frankfurt
Eine kurze Theaterkritik mit Hilmar, dem Zauberbruder. Ausserdem eine unserer gefürchteten Impro-Einlagen.
(review, feed)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Silent Spring
We have seen a diametrical change of mindset in our life time. We started off by thinking that Nature was huge, robust and inexhaustible, but today many people view Nature as fragile, sensitive, nearly exhausted and in need of protection. We can replace nature in the the previous sentence with Earth or Eco-System, if you like, and improve the accuracy of what has happened, but I think you see what I am driving at. And I recall it from my youth: if you protested against throwing garbage in the river next to our village and said something about pollution, you were laughed at. The whole idea seemed ridiculous, but today there are cleaning systems at work, huge fines for polluting and tremendous social control. It is the same river and it may even be cleaner than thirty years ago, but it is treated fundamentally differently.
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is frequently credited to have set this major shift in motion, or at least profoundly contributed to it. If you listen to Witness (BBC), you can hear one of last week's issues (that will soon be taken out of the feed, so hurry with download) that talks with Carson's adopted son and discusses the conception and reception of the work. Carson was among the first to warn the world for fatal pollution of the environment. She was ridiculed and attacked. Today nobody doubts that the environment can be fatally polluted and many think we are very close to doing so and in some realms already have passed that point.
If you look for 'Silent Spring' in iTunes you will find a number of lectures that bear that name and even though they do not directly relate to Carson or her book, they do relate to the subject of it: how pesticides cause irreversible damage to flora and fauna. You can find an old issue of Science & The City that reports how DDT (which Carson warned about) is returning to the scene in 2007 (feed). And in iTunesU is a series from Carnegie Mellon University called Interdisciplinary Collaboration Audio which contains a fine lecture by Tyrone Hayes about the devastating effect of pesticides on amphibians which is a very captivating listen. (feed)
More Witness:
Oslo Accords,
Witness BBC.
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is frequently credited to have set this major shift in motion, or at least profoundly contributed to it. If you listen to Witness (BBC), you can hear one of last week's issues (that will soon be taken out of the feed, so hurry with download) that talks with Carson's adopted son and discusses the conception and reception of the work. Carson was among the first to warn the world for fatal pollution of the environment. She was ridiculed and attacked. Today nobody doubts that the environment can be fatally polluted and many think we are very close to doing so and in some realms already have passed that point.If you look for 'Silent Spring' in iTunes you will find a number of lectures that bear that name and even though they do not directly relate to Carson or her book, they do relate to the subject of it: how pesticides cause irreversible damage to flora and fauna. You can find an old issue of Science & The City that reports how DDT (which Carson warned about) is returning to the scene in 2007 (feed). And in iTunesU is a series from Carnegie Mellon University called Interdisciplinary Collaboration Audio which contains a fine lecture by Tyrone Hayes about the devastating effect of pesticides on amphibians which is a very captivating listen. (feed)
More Witness:
Oslo Accords,
Witness BBC.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Heads-up for 4 October 2010
The History of Rome
111- Phase One Complete
After the Battle of Abrittus, Trebonianus Gallus was proclaimed Emperor. After reigning for two years he was ousted by Aemilianus, who lasted less than a month on the throne before being ousted by Valerian.
(review, feed)
Here is a tip that has also been put forward by the DIY Scholar: check out the content of the UChannel podcast. This is a podcast that aggregates academic lecture from a wide series of institutions. Almost invariably you get here excellent content from the best people in their fields that share their insight. Unfortunately this podcast is going to podfade on November 3rd. So this is the time to pull up its great content while you still can.
(review, feed)
A History of the World in 100 Objects (BBC)
AHOW: 086 Asante Drum 4 Oct 2010
An 18th century drum from Africa. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, examines an African drum that was taken to America during the slave trade and later brought to England by the physician and collector Hans Sloane. He looks at how these African drums were to profoundly influence American culture. With contributions by historian Anthony Appiah and writer Bonnie Greer.
(review, feed)
111- Phase One Complete
After the Battle of Abrittus, Trebonianus Gallus was proclaimed Emperor. After reigning for two years he was ousted by Aemilianus, who lasted less than a month on the throne before being ousted by Valerian.
(review, feed)
Here is a tip that has also been put forward by the DIY Scholar: check out the content of the UChannel podcast. This is a podcast that aggregates academic lecture from a wide series of institutions. Almost invariably you get here excellent content from the best people in their fields that share their insight. Unfortunately this podcast is going to podfade on November 3rd. So this is the time to pull up its great content while you still can. (review, feed)
A History of the World in 100 Objects (BBC)
AHOW: 086 Asante Drum 4 Oct 2010
An 18th century drum from Africa. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, examines an African drum that was taken to America during the slave trade and later brought to England by the physician and collector Hans Sloane. He looks at how these African drums were to profoundly influence American culture. With contributions by historian Anthony Appiah and writer Bonnie Greer.
(review, feed)
In Our Time is back again
In case you had not noticed yet, here is to let you know that BBC's In Our Time is back. This is a podcast that is universally regarded as one of the most interesting and worth to follow productions around. Melvyn Bragg speaks every week for 45 minutes with assorted specialists on a subject in the history of ideas. There is hardly a better way thinkable to get a handle on an important topic than getting it on a silver platter through In Our Time. (feed)
The listener needs to be warned though: issues of In Our Time are only available as a podcast in the week immediately after its publication. After that it will only be available on line as a stream. It is therefore my advice to take a subscription, download each issue as it comes out and keep it for listening.
In Our Time also gives fantastic complementary listening to academic or other podcasts that cover the same topic. For example, next week the subject will be the Spanish Armada and in case we may expect that the focus will be either on Spain or England, it will be nice to also listen to the Irish perspective as can be found in the podcast Hidden Heritage.
More In Our Time:
The Indian Rebellion of 1857,
Frankfurt School,
The history of the Royal Society,
The weekly treat,
New season of In Our Time.
The listener needs to be warned though: issues of In Our Time are only available as a podcast in the week immediately after its publication. After that it will only be available on line as a stream. It is therefore my advice to take a subscription, download each issue as it comes out and keep it for listening.In Our Time also gives fantastic complementary listening to academic or other podcasts that cover the same topic. For example, next week the subject will be the Spanish Armada and in case we may expect that the focus will be either on Spain or England, it will be nice to also listen to the Irish perspective as can be found in the podcast Hidden Heritage.
More In Our Time:
The Indian Rebellion of 1857,
Frankfurt School,
The history of the Royal Society,
The weekly treat,
New season of In Our Time.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Heads-up for 3 October 2010
Tapestry (CBC)
Jill Bolte Taylor
Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist who had a stroke at the age of 37. The injury to her brain caused her to temporarily lose the ability to talk, read and write. But it gave her a new understanding of human consciousness, and of her own place in the universe. Today, Taylor has fully recovered. She tells her story in the book, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, and in a much-watched video.
(review, feed and Jill Bolte Taylor on Anne is a Man!)
Wise Counsel Podcast
Sharon Rivkin - Arguments
Sharon Rivkin, a Marriage and Family Therapist and author of Breaking the Argument Cycle, argues that in most cases, repetitive conflict within a relationship occurs when partners' deep-seated family-of-origin issues cause them to misinterpret one another's behavior as more of a personal attack than it really is. Ms. Rivkin's central insight is that a couple's first argument, usually still vividly remembered but distant enough in time to be objective about, is a fertile laboratory for unpacking and identifying what the core issues driving conflict are. To break out of a repetitive argument cycle, partners must become aware of their individual root issues underlying their arguments and then use this knowledge to become more compassionate towards themselves and their partner.
(review, feed)
Radio Open Source
John Mearsheimer: Why does a smart country act so stupid?
When Barack Obama delivered his defining “dumb war” denunciation of war against Iraq in October, 2002, he was a state senator standing in at Chicago’s first big anti-war rally for the invited keynoter, John Mearsheimer, who’d been booked elsewhere.
(review, feed)
Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
Jesus and his Mentor, John the Baptizer
Here I consider evidence from Josephus and the Gospels regarding John the Baptist and his importance for studying the historical Jesus. This is part of series 5 (The Historical Jesus in Context) of the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean podcast.
(review, feed)
Jill Bolte Taylor
Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist who had a stroke at the age of 37. The injury to her brain caused her to temporarily lose the ability to talk, read and write. But it gave her a new understanding of human consciousness, and of her own place in the universe. Today, Taylor has fully recovered. She tells her story in the book, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, and in a much-watched video.
(review, feed and Jill Bolte Taylor on Anne is a Man!)
Wise Counsel PodcastSharon Rivkin - Arguments
Sharon Rivkin, a Marriage and Family Therapist and author of Breaking the Argument Cycle, argues that in most cases, repetitive conflict within a relationship occurs when partners' deep-seated family-of-origin issues cause them to misinterpret one another's behavior as more of a personal attack than it really is. Ms. Rivkin's central insight is that a couple's first argument, usually still vividly remembered but distant enough in time to be objective about, is a fertile laboratory for unpacking and identifying what the core issues driving conflict are. To break out of a repetitive argument cycle, partners must become aware of their individual root issues underlying their arguments and then use this knowledge to become more compassionate towards themselves and their partner.
(review, feed)
Radio Open Source
John Mearsheimer: Why does a smart country act so stupid?
When Barack Obama delivered his defining “dumb war” denunciation of war against Iraq in October, 2002, he was a state senator standing in at Chicago’s first big anti-war rally for the invited keynoter, John Mearsheimer, who’d been booked elsewhere.
(review, feed)
Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
Jesus and his Mentor, John the Baptizer
Here I consider evidence from Josephus and the Gospels regarding John the Baptist and his importance for studying the historical Jesus. This is part of series 5 (The Historical Jesus in Context) of the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean podcast.
(review, feed)
Roma History - Rear Vision
Rear Vision is always a good source for short informative programs about recent history. In the past month it reported about the history of the Roma and it gave some beginning of an understanding about the gypsy people's history recent as well as longer ago. (feed)It left also some questions open. When you learn from the program that the origins of the Roma apparently lie in India and they manage to track their migration from India, through Turkey to Europe in time, it made me wonder about their own version of their history. And also about their language, customs and religion. How much of the origins remained and how much was picked up through the migratory ages?
What became somewhat more clear is how this migrating populace, while moving into new territory remained separate and were pushed into a segregated existence. It also made clear how this segregation continued in recent history even if it took on a different form in Eastern from Western Europe.
More Rear Vision:
History of Pakistan,
Israel's Nuclear Program,
Kashmir,
UK Elections - recommended podcasts,
Two podcast issues on the history of Haiti.
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