Listening ideas for 14 March 2011

The History of Rome
Lost in Transition
Less than two years after Diocletian's abdication, the Tetrarchy was left in shambles following the power plays of Constantine and Maxentius.
(review, feed)

New Books In History
Hans Kundnani, “Utopia or Auschwitz: Germany’s 1968 Generation and the Holocaust”
In his enlightening Utopia or Auschwitz: Germany’s 1968 Generation and the Holocaust (Columbia UP, 2010), veteran journalist and policy analyst Hans Kundnani tells their story. It’s somewhere between a farce and a tragedy, at least in my reading. On the one hand, to think that West Germany was a fascist state, to classify Zionism as a kind of Nazism, and to believe that the leftist students were persecuted “new Jews” is of course absurd. At least some of the West German radicals were so out of touch with reality that it defies understanding. On the other hand, they were in fact surrounded by ex-fascists, keenly aware that Israel was (to put it delicately) “asserting itself” in the middle east, and constantly on the run from Federal authorities. In such a situation I might lose touch with reality too. For the terrorists, who never regained their senses, it all ended badly. But for those whose heads cleared (Joschka Fisher, for example), it ended in power, though a different power than they had imagined in 1968.
(review, feed)

Social Innovation Conversations
Jonathan Reckford - The Power of Leadership in Social Enterprise
Habitat for Humanity is an exemplary social enterprise that has helped build more than 350,000 houses for low-income people in thousands of communities worldwide. In this university podcast, Jonathan Reckford, the organization's CEO, talks about what it takes to be a great leader. He shares lessons learned from his own career, and how he put his knowledge to work in successfully guiding Habitat for Humanity since 2005.
(review, feed)

EconTalk
Townsend on Development, Poverty, and Financial Institutions
Robert Townsend of MIT and the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about development and the role of financial institutions in growth. Drawing on his research, particularly his surveys of households in Thailand, Townsend argues that both informal networks and arrangements and formal financial institutions play important roles in dealing with risk. Along the way, he discusses the role of microfinance in poor countries and the potential for better financial arrangements to lead to higher growth and the accumulation of wealth.
(review, feed)

Isaac Lipschits

De VPRO podcast Marathon Interviews heeft in de afgelopen weken het een en ander uit 1998 on-line gezet. Vandaag zal ik ingaan op het interview dat Irene Houthuijs met Isaac Lipschits had. Later deze week kom ik op Djoeke Veninga's gesprek met Ernst van de Wetering. (feed)

Een groot deel van het interview wordt gespendeerd aan het door Isaac Lipschits laten vertellen van zijn levensverhaal. Het is een verhaal dat begint bij een joods jongetje in Rotterdam, zoon van een marktkoopman en eindigt bij een hoogleraar aan universiteiten in binnen- en buitenland. Dat is op zichzelf al indrukwekkend en het vertellen waard, maar oorlogen en jodenvervolging maken deze lange weg bepaald niet gemakkelijker. Het is een verhaal dat diepe indruk op mij maakte. Het liet me in het begin ongeveer ieder half uur de band stoppen om het gesprokene op me te laten inwerken.

Lipschits is geboren in 1938 en is daarmee van de generatie van mijn ouders en mijn schoonouders. Hoe voor hem de oorlog begon komt nauw overeen met de verhalen waarmee ik opgegroeid ben, maar dan komt de onderduik en dan het einde van de oorlog en in hetzelfde decor verloopt een ander verhaal. Isaac is verweesd en leeft eerst bij een bevriende familie en dan in een weeshuis. De enige andere overlevende uit zijn familie is zijn jongere broer, die is ingelijfd bij de familie waar hij in de oorlog is ondergedoken geweest. Isaac probeert zijn broer naar het weeshuis te halen, maar als dat niet lukt ontvoert hij hem naar de net uitgeroepen staat Israel. Maar daar worden ze opnieuw gescheiden. Broer David wordt in een kibbutz ondergebracht en Isaac moet meteen de onafhankelijkheidsoorlog in. Dat alles vindt plaats het Israel van mijn schoonouders, het decor van de verhalen die ik tegenwoordig regelmatig hoor. Het bracht deze biografie voor mij heel erg dichtbij, maar ik meen dat iedere luisteraar erdoor gegrepen zal worden.

Meer Het Marathon Interview:
Ger Harmsen,
Het Marathon Interview met Kerst 2010,
Michiel van Erp,
Ger van Elk,
Ileana Melita.

Listening ideas for 13 March 2011

Tapestry
A Call for Compassion
Karen Armstrong joins host Mary Hynes for a feature interview on Armstrong's Charter of Compassion. Her wish for a more compassionate world got the nod, and much-deserved seed money from the TED Foundation. The Charter was written and endorsed by some of the world's leading thinkers, and now, the work begins. And in our ongoing Global Soul series we hear from Tarek Fatah, activist and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
(review, feed)

Zencast
The Awakened Heart
Dharma teaching by Jack Kornfield.
(review, feed)

Veertien Achttien
Alexander Kerenski
In maart 1917 had Alexander Kerenski het vertrouwen van het volk. Dat hij het kwijt ging raken, is de tragiek van Rusland.
(review, feed)

Reported podcasts since November - Anne is a Man

Hi Anne!

I write children's poetry and decided to create a podcast of me reading them - for children who don't have my book, for those who want to read along or just listen in the car.
So far, I've only read published poems (52), and they're in the same order as the book. But now that my Podcast has been out for a month, I'll start adding more new and unpublished poems...
Anything to give parents a few minutes break while sparking the imaginations of their children!

Right now on Podbean, I am the 3rd most listened to podcast in the Kids/Family category.
I'd love it if you'd review my work:

Carrie Heyes Doopod: poetry for kids (feed)

Thanks!
Carrie Heyes

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Hello everyone,

Announcing a new Catholic podcast that examines books and movies from a Catholic perspective.

It features Scott Danielson and I (Julie Davies from Forgotten Classics - AFDV) who have a lot in common. We are both frequent contributors to SFFaudio (a science fiction audiobook review site and podcast) and also both practicing Catholics. After an SFFaudio podcast one week (the Readalong about The Stars My Destination), we realized that there was a lot to say about some of these books from a Catholic perspective, and we were leaving much of it unsaid. This led to the idea of a podcast where we talk about books and movies “as Catholics”.

So we did it! We just posted the first episode – where we discuss Alden Bell’s excellent zombie novel The Reapers Are the Angels. The podcast is called A Good Story is Hard to Find (feed).  The iTunes feed will be coming soon.
Please join us!

Julie Davis

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Anonymous recommendation:

Poem Podcast from the Poetry Translation Centre (feed)

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Greg has left a new comment on your post "Report a Podcast":

http://www.simpletoremember.com/authors/a/crash-course-jewish-history-mp3s/

Not strictly speaking a podcast, but a collection of MP3 audio lectures on Jewish history from the Old Testament stories to the present day. Rabbi Ken Spiro gives not only the history of the Jewish people, but also a good insight into Jewish beliefs and their interpretation of history. Very clear and entertaining presentation suitable for an audience without a background in history. Total duration is about 24 hours.

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Geoffrey Welchman has left a new comment on your post "Report a Podcast":

The Inverse Delirium podcast is a comedic take on public radio, produced in Baltimore, USA. Inspired by the likes of Monty Python, Mr Show, Daffy Duck, and Word Jazz, each 12-minute show features interviews and sketches straight from the mind of creator Geoffrey Welchman. Watch the line between reality and reality podcasting blur! (feed)

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Hello,

My name is Diana Brown. I'm a performer and founding member on the podcast Radiostar Improv.. (feed)

www.radiostar.com

Radiostar is produced by Dan Wilson of Cassandra's Call Productions. We'd like to have Radiostar Improv reviewed on your site.
My email address is dianabrown99@aol.com

You can reach our producer at info@cassandrascall.com

Thanks for considering us.

Best-
Diana Brown

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Report a Podcast":

"We Hate Movies!" is a bad movie podcast that's actually funny. Please check us out and let us know what you think. (feed)

Please contact me at szyszka at gmail.com if you do review it. Would love to hear your input. Thanks!

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Stuart Andrews here from CINEPHOBIA RADIO. (feed)

I'd love you to check out the podcast. As far as I'm aware, it's one of the most intensely produced film podcasts on the internet (and I'm an avid listener of film podcasts.)

The WINNEBAGO MAN episode is probably a good starting point - although there are career retrospective interviews with the likes of Malcolm McDowell and Ray Harryhausen on there as well.

Hope you manage to listen.....

:- Stuart Feedback Andrews

Dan Dennett: what should replace religion?

On January 29th the podcast Big Ideas suddenly published three issues all at once. Normally we get one a week from Big Ideas, but now three? Big Ideas is a program by TVO and delivers on podcast interesting lectures the broadcaster has recorded at universities or conferences. The trio that came out on the same day, were recorded at the Canadian conference for Humanism. (feed)

One of the three was lecture by Brian Dalton about whom I wrote before (The podcast review of Mr Deity and Mormon Stories meets Brian Dalton), the other two I would like to recommend here.

First there is the lecture by Daniel Dennett in which he discusses what atheists and humanists can organize to offer themselves and everyone else what otherwise is only offered by traditional religions. The underlying thought in Dennett's lecture is that the religions are, in his view, outdated and falsified and we'd be better off without them. Yet he acknowledges that the religious traditions fulfill a function in people's lives. So the talk is trying to identify these contributions of religion and to propose secular alternatives for them.

Second is PZ Myers lecture in which he argues that the scientific world-view pairs especially well with an atheistic outlook. My expectations were a bit negative, but I found myself fascinated by the talk after all. Myers is a biologist and I began to wonder about Richard Dawkins, who is also a biologist and such a public face of atheism. Eventually I was tempted to get his The God Delusion from the library and I am reading it now.

More Big Ideas:
Chris Hedges,
Needham about China,
The Reluctant Fundamentalist,
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the quest against Islam,
Jewish Humor.

World Literature - HACC

In the past month I have listened to an entire course I found on iTunesU. It is a series of short lectures about a large variety of stories from World Literature, delivered by Rick Albright at the Harrisburg Area Community College. (feed)

Albright takes the Norton Anthology of World literature and sort of chronologically travels the world and its ages. Albright retells and discusses classics such as Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as the Aeneid and European Medieval literature and also non-western stuff from India, China, Japan and the Americas. What he also does not shy away from are the Bible and the Koran. You get a good feeling of the stories and the poetry while you are also informed about some of the tropes and some of the historic frame - though I would have loved to get a little bit more from that.

I did not exactly follow Albrights order, which seems strictly chronological and this explains why he kicks off with age-old Gilgamesh and ends with Popul Vuh, which was inscribed rather recently. I have taken the culturally linked stories in batches. So that I took the Greek and Roman classics together, which made the literary discussion more coherent. The same method worked while taking the Chinese stories in one blow and so on. Very informative and great, narrative, fun.