August 2019
That Infernal Noise (Der var en infernalsk støj-net) - Niels Pugholm A sound art piece by the Danish sound artist Niels Pugholm. This is a Google translation of the Danish…
That Infernal Noise (Der var en infernalsk støj-net) - Niels Pugholm A sound art piece by the Danish sound artist Niels Pugholm. This is a Google translation of the Danish…
Moon Graffiti - The TruthTo celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Truth has replayed (repodcast?) their first ever episode, back from 2010. The story is…
Your Undivided Attention - Centre for Humane Technology: This is a new podcast from CHT, a nonprofit organisation set up by a bunch of ex-silicon valley dudes who have seen the error of the former was and are now on a mission to reverse the evils of technology and "realign it with humanity". Episodes 1 and 2 feature Natasha Dow Schüll, the author of Addiction by Design. Schüll's book looks at the addictive nature of pokies - she's spent years studying how they hold people in an endless loop of play. The parallels with social media and smartphone design are quite terrifying.
Is America Ready to Make Reparations? - The New Yorker Radio Hour: This podcast is one of few that I am actually subscribed to and have set to automatically download and enter my queue. In my view, the New Yorker consistently publishes some of the best writing in the world and their podcast is usually of an equally high calibre - albeit less carefully crafted than the magazine. This short series on the case for reparations to African-Americans includes the voices of Ta-Nehisi Coates and a bunch of other, lesser-known clever people, as well as the particularly interesting story about the history of Georgetown University and how students voted to pay reparations to the descendants of the enslaved people who built it.
Forest 404 - BBC Radio 4: I am not the biggest fan of audio drama, although I do have a couple of regular exceptions to the rule such as The Truth and Everything is Alive. Here's another exception. BBC describes it as immersive sci-fi drama with unique soundscapes and accompanying talks. The story is set in a future with no trees and the protagonist's job is to delete the excessive bytes of data irresponsibly created by the humans of 'the slow times' (us!). The storyline is whatever you call the audio equivalent of a page turner. Each episode is then accompanied by a short talk (<10 mins) from an of expert about some aspect of nature and humans. Then there's also a nature soundscape for each episode.
Lebanon, USA - Kerning Cultures: Once I was driving from Toronto to New York and I saw a turnoff for a town called Damascus. I was really excited by this but the driver, more familiar with these parts, told me it was nothing special. There's a lot of towns across the states named after biblical places. So many there's even a Wikipedia entry on it, in fact (omg Half Hell, North Carolina!!!). Anyway, this story is about a Lebanese man's plan to visit the 47 American towns named Lebanon. He doesn't quite get to all of them because is in Lebanon South Dakota, he comes across some particularly interesting roots. This episode introduced me to Kerning Cultures, who describes itself as a podcast "made by children of the Middle East, telling the kinds of stories in which we can actually see ourselves".
National Sword - 99% Invisible: China used to buy most of America's (and Australia's, and Canada's) recycling - we sorted it, they recycled it. Then, in 2018, the Chinese Government surprised the world with a new policy, 'National Sword' (国门利剑), that banned the import of most foreign waste. A stab straight to the heart of waste management! This typically excellent episode of 99pi explains the impact of China's decision, inspires outrage at the messed up geo/sociopolitical world order that got us in this murky situation in the first place, and forces you to think about the 'recyclable' waste you produce.