News, humour and despair in Venezuela

El Chigüire Bipolar (the Bipolar Capybara) is a Venezuelan news website in that won the 2017 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. The satirical website covers Venezuela’s current political and economic turmoil, and provides independent reporting in contrast to the country’s state-owned media. With Elio Casale (Founder) and Jesus Roldan (Editor), hosted by Olivia Rosenman.

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February 2019

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.


The Punchline -Radiolab: This is a story about sport - ice hockey. Only skilled storyteller like the legends at Radiolab, could make a show about sport that I not only got to the end of, but actually loved.
I listened to a story about a piece of graffiti on a wall in a tiny village in Italy, and how that graffiti was identified through a piece of oral history. The graffiti was done by an American soldier in the final days of WWII (or was it WW1?). More broadly, the story was about a young librarian who had developed a clever method of archiving oral history so that it's contents were searchable. This is really interesting to me because it confounds me how invisible audio content is to the amazing searching powers of the internet. The fact that I have not been able to search my way into remembering on which podcast I heard this story is really a delightful case in point. Does this story ring a bell for anyone? I thought it was an episode of the Kitchen Sisters but I haven't been able to find it on their website...

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History Lab – Invisible Hands

We are surrounded by mass-produced things, but every production line start with a single object. This episode shines a light on the patternmakers, whose invisible hands are the original creators of much of our stuff. They see a world no-one else can see. So why are they disappearing? And what will we lose when they are gone?

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History Lab – Lindy Chamberlain and the afterlife of evidence

What happens to evidence after a criminal trial? Lindy Chamberlain's legal saga is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Australian history. This episode retells her story through the criminal evidence that sent her to jail. It is the first episode of season 1 of the podcast series History Lab.

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