Heads-up for 23 August 2010

Baxter Wood recommended on his blog (The re-education of Baxter Wood) to follow Columbia University's history of Iran. I have immediately taken a subscription to this course on iTunes U (feed). The lecturer is Professor Richard W. Bulliet whom we have met twice before speaking about Iran on the UChannel Podcast. (Iran Today, Iran in 2009) I have only just begun listening, so reviews will have to wait, but if Baxter recommends, it is worth for you all to try.

The History of Rome
106- Barbarian at the Gate: After bungling a campaign in the east, Alexander headed to the Rhine where he was assassinated by Maximinius Thrax in 235 AD.
(review, feed)

Social Innovation Conversations
Paul Pastorek and Andres Alonso - Education: Tackling the Turnaround Challenge: Can schools be turned around, and can the system change? Yes, say an experienced district and state school leader in this panel discussion during the Driving Dramatic School Improvement conference at Stanford. Navigating questions by moderator Jordan Meranus, they talk about what they are doing in Louisiana and Baltimore to radically reform schools so that more children can meet state standards and receive an excellent education.
(review, feed)

SFF Audio has an issue with Julie Davies of Forgotten Classics.

Media Matters with Bob McChesney had Nicholas Carr on the show yesterday. Nicholas Carr writes on the social, economic, and business implications of technology. He is the author of the 2008 Wall Street Journal bestseller The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, which is "widely considered to be the most influential book so far on the cloud computing movement," according the Christian Science Monitor. His earlier book, Does IT Matter?, published in 2004, "lays out the simple truths of the economics of information technology in a lucid way, with cogent examples and clear analysis," said the New York Times. His new book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, was published in June 2010.

Bhagavad Gita - Librivox

Here is a short review, especially for those who are following The Mahabharata Podcast just like me (feed).

You might be tempted to try the audio reading of the Bhagavad Gita. Librivox offers a free podcast in which the English version by Sir Edwin Arnold is being read. I would love to hear of other versions of the Gita being read, or retold. This particular one is apparently more fit for reading rather than listening. The sentences are hardly intelligible and add to that the overt hardship the reader has with the exotic names and the Librivox podcast just turns into very tough listening. (feed)

More Mahabharata:
Endless cloth,
The Mahabharata Podcast.

Pieter Winsemius - Simek 's Nachts

Zowel als radioprogramma als podcast is het legendarische programma Simek 's Nachts verdwenen. Toch zijn er in cyberspace verschillende plekken waar nog oude interviews zijn terug te vinden. (Wie helpt?) Met behulp van Google en Huffduffer heb ik daar een aantal feeds van gemaakt:

Simek Feed 1 met de interviews met Daniel Lohues, Wim van Ophem, Fabienne, Jan Slagter, Rita Verdonk, Loek Kessels, Simon de Waal, Professor Wagenaar, Frans Lomans, Jeroen Willems, Marlies Dekkers, Stella Braam, Seth Gaaikema, Robbert Dijkgraaf en Elena Simons.

Simek Feed 2 met de interviews met Jan Rot, Thomas von der Dunk, Maya Lievegoed, Helmert Woudenberg (2 uur), Roos Rebergen, Christine van Broeckhoven, Arthur Japin, Dirk van de Wijngaard, Sophie van der Stap, Geert Jan Knoops, Meryem Kilic-Karaaslan, Hugo Verbrugh, Ben Mak en Raphael Creemers.

Simek Feed 3 met de interviews met Robert Kranenborg, Paul Frissen, Jos Brink, Douwe Draaisma, Mayita Sickesz, Jeroen Pauw, Anne Hermans, Hans Dorrestijn, Niko Koffeman, Renate Dorrestein, Carola van Alphen, Maurice de Hond, Jef Vermassen en Guus te Riele.

Tenslotte is er de Simek Huffduffer feed, waar ik nieuwe interviews toevoeg die ik dankzij lezers van de blog op het spoor kom. Daarin zitten interviews met Xander de Buisonjé, Ward Teunissen, Mohammed Jabri (2), Naema Tahir, Sjoerd Kooistra, Jan Lenferink en Pieter Winsemius.

Het interview met Winsemius heb ik als laatste toegevoegd. Hoewel we hem vooral kennen als voormalig politicus en minister, komt Simek met Winsemius voornamelijk over sport te spreken. Dit is niet in de laatste plaats vanwege zijn contact met en boek over Johan Cruijff.

Meer Simek 's Nachts:
Jan Lenferink,
Sjoerd Kooistra,
Ik ben een geraffineerde vrouw - Naema Tahir,
Fabienne (dochter van Lucia de B),
Mohammed Jabri.

Heads-up for 22 August 2010

Go to the blog DIY Scholar for all your academic podcast recommendations and lately for a very informative post on how to record lecture streams.

Today there is a new issue in the podcast Ancient Rome Refocused.
If you talk about the Romans you have to talk about the Greeks. This episode explores the ancient Greek play AJAX written by Sophocles. Included in this episode are interviews with Bryan Doerries, director and translator for the New York based THEATER OF WAR acting troupe. Title: "The 24th Shitkickers Were Never The Same After The Peloponnese"
(review, feed)

VPRO's Marathon Interview has reruns of the interviews with Jan Montyn and Ward Ruyslinck. (feed)

Shrink Rap Radio has come with its 244th issue: an interview with Jungian analyst James Hollis. (feed)

Australian ABC's Philosopher's Zone.
The Philosophy of Astronomy: What is the ideology that propels scientists to go to so much trouble? Think, for example, of the hazards involved in a voyage from Europe to our part of the world in the 18th century. Why would you go to all that effort just to observe the transit of Venus? For Science Week, we explore the philosophy of northern astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere with Simon Schaffer, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge.
(review, feed)

JRR Tolkien versus CS Lewis

TVO's Big Ideas recently (August 13) reran a lecture from 2004, which, with some provisos is worth mentioning. (feed)

Ralph Wood delivered a comparative talk about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. The lecture gives a great insight in the way both authors worked and what their creative standards were. Wood also makes an attempt into summing up their qualities and measuring their influence. By all means, both are very influential and well known especially as fantasy writers.

Does it hurt to be aware both were Christian authors? I would argue to say no, even if Lewis had a certain evangelizing streak about him. For Wood, however, the authors' faith is the whole reason he wants to lecture about them, present them as influential writers and evaluate their strengths and qualities. In my opinion it makes for a few awkward phrases in the lecture. Worse still, is that Wood makes the whole comparison take on the character of a competition in which he pits the authors against each other and make them score points creating a superfluous suspense who is going to be found to be the winner. Eventually, the lecture is good enough to compensate for these putting off traits. Anyone interested in these authors will have a lot to enjoy.

More Big Ideas:
Malcolm Gladwell,
The Age of Inequality,
Disappearing cultures,
Waiting for Godot,
Religion as culture - Camille Paglia.

The 1910 Paris flood - NBIH

I never knew Paris had been flooded in 1910. It seems most French and even Parisians have forgotten about it, yet, as we learn from New Books in History this flood has been the last and the worst that hit the modern city of Paris and its scenario still counts as the defining flood, its high points still serve as the marker that measures against flooding have to meet.

Host Marshall Poe spoke with Jeffrey Jackson who wrote the book Paris under water about the flood of 1910. They go through the causes of the flood. As usual with floods it was caused by a combination of factors each of which come with high waters. In addition, the then new and modern sewer system added to the flood; the system actually connected all the parts of the city and allowed for the rising water to reach everywhere.

A major point of interest for Poe and Jackson was how the city and its inhabitants pulled together and dealt with the flood as a cohesive society. While this is indeed a very interesting historic and sociological point, I myself was wondering about the technicalities of flood prevention. Why are they still using the 1910 high points as a standard? Hasn't the environment entirely changed? Aren't there more floodings in modernized countries these days, because of more canals, because of climate change and such? I fear Paris may be flooded despite the 1910 markers in the 21st century.

More NBIH:
Stasi agents and informants,
War in Human Civilization,
Always recommended: New Books in History,
The best varied history podcast,
The Caucasus.