A Podcast Playlist for 3 July 2011

Tapestry
Science and the Moral Landscape/Jewish Atheism
Mary Hynes talks to Sam Harris on Tapestry about his latest book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. And Dan Falk, author, freelance journalist and documentary-maker, explores the idea of Jewish atheism.
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Philosopher's Zone
The puzzlement of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein, the great Anglo-Austrian philosopher, who died fifty years ago this year, often looked puzzled. In fact, puzzlement, about the world and about the concepts with which we try to grasp the world, was to a large extent his stock-in-trade. This week, we investigate how useful it can be to share Wittgenstein´s puzzlement when turning our attention to human society and the possibility that there might be a science of human society.
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Myoclonic Jerk
Addiction
In this episode we look at the dark side of games, how they hook us and the damage they can do, and where they might be taking us. Dan talks to therapist and author Shavaun Scott about her time as an in-game therapist. Comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani talks about his life in games. Writer/performer Justine Barron explains why games are more appealing than guitar lessons. Online gaming pioneer Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) and Vlad Cole of Blizzard Entertainment both return to defend games. All this and much more!
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Big Ideas
Kevin B. Anderson, Janet Afary on The Seductions of Islamism
Kevin B. Anderson and Janet Afary on their book The Seductions of Islamism: Revisiting Foucault and the Iranian Revolution
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Veertien Achttien
Ida B. Wells en een baby in de vlammen
'De grootste schande van de eeuw' noemde Ida B. Wells de rassenrellen in East St. Louis. Ook het Amerikaanse leger was nog lang niet vrij van racisme.
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Today in Podcast - 30 June 2011

In Our Time
In Memoriam
Melvyn and guests discuss one of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's greatest poem's, 'In Memoriam A.H.H.'. Written as a tribute to his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly and tragically at the age of 22, the poem offers an insight into Tennyson's deepest feelings of grief and loss. As well as being a heart-rending elegy, the poem also considers the new geological ideas that were coming to light at the time and the questions this knowledge raised about the history of the Earth as outlined in the Bible. Melvyn is joined by Dinah Birch, Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Liverpool University; Seamus Perry, Fellow and Tutor in English at Balliol College, University of Oxford; and Jane Wright, Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol.
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Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Death Throes of the Republic VI
In a massive finish to the "Dan Carlin version" of the fall of the Roman Republic, conspiracies, civil wars, beatniks of antiquity and a guy named Caesar figure prominently. Virtually everyone dies.
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Mahabharata Podcast
Kurukshetra, Day 2
Episode 63 - The second day of battle comes and goes. If the first day went to the Kauravas, the 2nd day certainly belonged to the Pandavas. The day ends with Bhimasena and Arjun dominating the field, and the Kaurava soldiers crapping their pants. The cream of Kalinga manhood has been exterminated on the field, and even their enemies are forced to admire the way the two brothers cleared the field of all comers.
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Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapter 30
In which Leah and Rachel begin an unusual competition and Jacob asks Laban for some pay.
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Reith Lectures 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi: Liberty 28 Jun 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi discusses what freedom means in the first of her 2011 Reith Lectures, entitled Liberty. The Burmese pro-democracy leader reflects on her own experience under house arrest in Burma, exploring the universal human aspiration to be free and the spirit which drives people to dissent. She also comments on the Arab Spring, comparing the event that triggered last December's revolution in Tunisia with the death of a student during a protest in Burma in 1988.
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The Economist
China's presence in Europe
China's economic expansion into Europe is gathering pace
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TED Talks
A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script - Rajesh Rao
Rajesh Rao is fascinated by "the mother of all crossword puzzles": How to decipher the 4000 year old Indus script. At TED 2011 he tells how he is enlisting modern computational techniques to read the Indus language, the key piece to understanding this ancient civilization.
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Just to let you know

These days it is more difficult than ever for me to keep up my blog. With the new job I have (since March) and a couple of changes with regards to my PC availability an internet connection at home, extremely little time is left to actually post to the blog. It is literally down to a couple of minutes per day. As a result, you have seen in the past months, fewer posts and more posts of the kind that can be produced quickly. My apologies for that.

I do not think it is going to change in the foreseeable future, so while I try to maintain as much as I can, I am thinking of how to increase the activity from my side. And while you, my readers are at it, do not hesitate to write in your feedback. Your influence will be great.

Thanks in advance,

Anne

Reith Lectures 2011

Here is a quick heads-up to let you know that this years' Reith Lectures are about to begin and will be podcast again as in previous years. The feed is the same as in previous years. The speakers will be Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former MI5 director-general Baroness Manningham-Buller. There will be five lectures in total and the subject will be "Securing Freedom".

If you are looking back into the lectures of the past, I want to recommend you listen to the 2009 series which were an outstanding performance by Harvard professor Michael Sandel.


Previously about the Reith Lectures 2010:
Reith Lectures 2010 (2),
Reith Lectures 2010.

About the Reith Lectures in 2009:
A new politics of the common good,
The bioethics concern,
Morality in Politics,
Morality and the Market.

Today in Podcast - 23 June 2011

New Books In History
Christopher Krebs, “A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich”
Beginning about half a millennium ago, people began to say all kinds of wrongheaded things about Tacitus’s thin volume: that Tacitus was writing about “Germans” (he wasn’t); that he knew a lot about “Germans” (he didn’t); that he uniformly praised “Germans” (nope); that the traits he ascribes to “Germans” can be found among modern German-speakers (wrong again).
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Mahabharata Podcast
Kurukshetra, Day 1: Concluded
Episode 62 - Let's admit it, we were all impatient for this war to get started. Like the characters in the story, we concluded many episodes back that there was never going to be a peaceful solution, and it would take nothing less than a massive bloodletting to make sure the bad guys were punished and the good guys got their rightful honors.
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Witness
Fermat's Last Theorem
Solving the problem that had intrigued mathematicians for centuries.
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In Our Time
Malthusianism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the ideas of Thomas Malthus, the Victorian clergyman whose work, 'An Essay on the Principle of Population', forecast that soon the population would outstrip food supply. His philosophy regarding population became known as 'Malthusianism'. But was there any truth in his predictions and what impact did his essay have at the time? Melvyn is joined by Karen O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Birmingham; Mark Philp, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford; and Emma Griffin, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of East Anglia.
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Today in Podcast - 22 June 2011

The China History Podcast
Adventurer Zhang Qian
In this episode we look at the life of one of the bravest and greatest adventurers of ancient times. Zhang Qian was selected by the Han Dynasty Emperor Wu to make a political alliance with a distant central Asian people, the Yuezhi. Zhang Qian's thirteen year journey to the west between 138 BC and 126 BC brought back massive amounts of intelligence and understanding about those distant lands beyond Han China's frontiers. This great adventurer and national hero of China paved the way for the explosion of two way trade that followed in his footsteps and led to the development of the Silk Road.
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Oxford Biographies
Dick Whittington, merchant and mayor of London
Sir Richard Whittington was four times Lord Mayor of London, a Member of Parliament and a sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.
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