The following audio files were selected from a larger group of 217 for the last week. The link to each podcast is at the highlighted topic and reached by double-clicking or ctrl-clicking it. All 26 podcasts converted to 1.5x speed can also be downloaded as a single 173 MB zip file here for four months.
Wind Energy Policy 51 mins – “The role of subsidies for wind energy has become a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign. Governor Romney opposes extending tax credits for the wind industry. President Obama has re-doubled his commitment to them. In a rare show of bipartisanship last week, the Senate Finance Committee voted to extend the credits for another year. The debate over their fate will likely surface again in the fall. Supporters of the extension argue all major sources of energy have received federal help. Opponents say it’s time to let the free market take over. Diane her [4] guests discuss the politics the future of wind energy in the U.S.” You can only listen at the link, but a copy of the podcast is included in the zip collection noted at the top of the page.
Publishing Pains 55 mins – “In Big Web Show Episode No. 66, Jeffrey Zeldman interviews veteran web designer and publishing creative director David Sleight about how traditional publishers can transition to creating successful digital experiences, and the (mostly conceptual) obstacles they will have to overcome to do so…Topics discussed in this episode include: why publishers alternately blame technology and treat it as a savior; the downside for magazine publishers of Apple’s new retina display; why content thieves may be your best customers in waiting; content-focused responsive design versus printed page emulation; and much more.” At the link locate the title “The Big Web Show 66: David Sleight,” right-click “bigwebshow-066.mp3” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Placenta Protection 77 mins – This Week in Virology: “Vincent, Rich, Carolyn, and Sara recorded TWiV at the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology in Madison, where they discussed genetic conflict between viral and human genes, and how the placenta protects the fetus against viral infection.” Four professionals discuss important, ongoing research: two women present their cutting-edge research and the two men ask questions and define more technical topics for listeners. Very dynamic and interesting discussion with such new topics as the hundred trim genes in the human genome. At the link follow instructions for downloading the podocast — use “Save Link As” .
Babbage 12 mins – “Computer science began in the ’30s … the 1830s. John Graham-Cumming tells the story of Charles Babbage’s mechanical, steam-powered “analytical engine” and how Ada Lovelace, mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron, saw beyond its simple computational abilities to imagine the future of computers.” At the link click “Download,” then right-click “Download to desktop” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Chinese Blogger 19 mins – “Michael Anti (aka Jing Zhao) has been blogging from China for 12 years. Despite the control the central government has over the Internet — “All the servers are in Beijing” — he says that hundreds of millions of microbloggers are in fact creating the first national public sphere in the country’s history, and shifting the balance of power in unexpected ways.” The video includes captions, if the audio is too difficult to follow. SICK (Syria, Iran, China and N. Korea) and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are used in his presentation. At the link click “Download,” then right-click “Download to desktop” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Coursera 21 mins – “Daphne Koller is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free — not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. With Coursera (cofounded by Andrew Ng), each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed.” At the link click “Download,” then right-click “Download to desktop” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Femto-Photography 11 mins – “Ramesh Raskar presents femto-photography, a new type of imaging so fast it visualizes the world one trillion frames per second, so detailed it shows light itself in motion. This technology may someday be used to build cameras that can look “around” corners or see inside the body without X-rays.” At the link click “Download,” then right-click “Download to desktop” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Evernote Founder 67 mins – The CEO of Evernote, Phil Libin, talks to us about the free program he started in 2008 to help the world remember everything, and get things done. The app works on everything except Linux, but Libin is willing to work with open source developers to make it so. At the link right-click “Audio” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Agent Garbo 30 mins – “Juan Pujol was an underachieving Barcelona chicken farmer until World War II, when he transformed himself into an accomplished anti-Nazi spy. Using only his amazing gift for inventing credible lies, Pujol became Germany’s most valuable secret agent—but he was really a double agent, working with Britain’s intelligence service. Stephan Talty’s book Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler & Saved D-Day tells the story of Pujol’s complex deception and how he convinced Germany’s high command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was just a feint, while the real attack was aimed at Calais.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Integration in U.S. 35 mins – In the summer of 2008, Tanner Colby, whose book The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts had recently made the New York Times best-seller list, watched, donated money to, and generally celebrated Barack Obama’s presidential bid. As he cheered the man who would become America’s first black president, he realized that he didn’t know any black people—not well enough to have visited their homes, at least. So he set out to discover why that was. Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America follows four stories—the history of busing, housing policy, affirmative action in the workplace, and Louisiana’s segregated Roman Catholic parishes—to explore how the legal barriers of Jim Crow were replaced by policies that maintained a separate and unequal status quo.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Quackcast97 – Jurrasic Farce 19 mins – “Preventing Dengue with GM gay mosquitoes.” Comments from a caustic infectious disease doctor about the medical profession. At the link find “Quackcast 97,” right-click and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
Quackcast96 – Journal Club 13 mins – “Lousy trials are not ground breaking unless you use a shovel.” Comments from a caustic infectious disease doctor about the medical profession. At the link find “Quackcast 96,” right-click and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
Software Radios 76 mins – “The main projects of Ettus Research revolve around the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP)… Software radios have significant utility for the military and cell phone services, both of which must serve a wide variety of changing radio protocols in real time… The USRPs can mimic the cellphone base stations that talk to the devices we have in our pockets and the femtocells that are becoming more and more commercially available.” The founder gives a detailed description of the startup and expansion process for a new product. At the link right click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to downloadthe podcast.
Mike Tech Show 411 47 mins – “Outlook and iCloud issues, Outlook Express migration solution, Ubuntu audio problem, New client checklist, Newegg return policy, Goodbye Firefox, Organizing Photos, Software reviews, Virtual networking issue, File transfer apps, Hiren’s Boot CD.” The referenced Client Checklist PDF from Mike Tech Show 369 is just two pages, but he elaborates on it in show 411, so notes can be added to a printed copy of the PDF. In show 421 he discusses network infrastructure, or how to string cable for a home or small business network. He has 30 yrs experience with Apple and Windows products; heavy on routers and networking. At the link find the appropriate show number, right-click “Download,” and select “Save Link As” to get the podcast.
Health Care in U.S. 62 mins – “Scott Atlas, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and author of In Excellent Health, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the U.S. health care system. Atlas argues that the U.S. health care system is top-notch relative to other countries and that data that show otherwise rely on including factors unrelated to health care or on spurious definitions. For example, life expectancy in the United States is unexceptional. When you take out suicides and fatal car accidents, factors that Atlas argues are unrelated to the health care system, the United States has the longest life expectancy in the world. A similar change occurs when measuring infant mortality–foreign data do not include as many at-risk births as in the United States and the measure of a birth is not comparable. In a number of other areas including cancer survival rates, access to hip replacement surgery and waiting times to see a physician, Atlas argues that the United States is also at or near the top. The discussion concludes with a discussion of access to health care for the poor and the failure of Medicaid.” At the link locate thetitle, “Scott Atlas on American Health Care,” right-click “Atlashealth.mp3” andselect “Save Link As” to download.
Maps in U.S. 53 mins – “we’re devoting this episode of BackStory to maps, and asking how the ways in which Americans have charted space illustrate the ways in which they’ve understood themselves socially.” Click the link, then right-click “Download” and select “Save Target As” to download.
Garbology 35 mins – “Dr. Moira Gunn sits down and discusses the new book, Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, with Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ed Humes.” (Another interview appears in MMD33, but this version presents a few different facts from the book.) At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As”.
Bacteriophage in Cheese 24 mins – “Viruses that attack bacteria are a problem in some biological processes. Mark Hurley from CHR Hansen tells us how bacteriophage impact on the dairy industry, in particular cheese making, and discusses current approaches to tackling them.” The interview starts about five minutes into program after some newsy notes. The version saved in the zip file omits the five minutes. At the link locate the title, “July 2012 Bacteriophage in the dairy industry,” right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As.”
Immigrant Workforce 84 mins – “U.S. firms in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and agriculture sectors often struggle with recruitment and retention of high- and low-skilled workers, making it difficult for employers to meet their workforce needs and business goals. Do current immigration laws pose substantial obstacles for various sectors of our economy? With the nation focused on economic revival and growth, what does the future hold for U.S. immigration policy, and what are the best policy actions to tackle these pressing workforce challenges?” Six panelists in a spirited and insightful discussion.” At the link click the “Audio,” right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As”.
WWII Pathfinders Pathfinders 50 mins – Lighting the Way by Keith Richardson “Keith Richardson talks to members of the British Pathfinder squadron whose job was to highlight enemy targets for following bomber crews in the 1940s.” At the link right-click the link under “Media” and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
New Zealand Chinese Much is known about the early New Zealand Chinese settlement from the first influx of Chinese gold-miners in the mid 1800s, to the anti-Chinese immigration policy that evolved soon after. But some stories have rarely been told. This four part series at 14 minutes each tells these stories. At the link right-click each ‘Media’ link to download them. In the zip file the four parts are combined into one file.
Digital Fabrication 42 mins – The Director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is visiting New Zealand for Fab8, the Eighth International Fab Lab Forum and Symposium on Digital Fabrication describes and discusses the concept of digital fabrication, perhaps the ultimate goal of the 3D fabrication movement. At the link find “Neil Gershenfeld: digital fabrication,” then under “Media files” right-click “sat-20120811-1110-neil_gershenfeld_digital_fabrication-048.mp3” and select “Save Link As.”
Mark Twain in New Zealand 14 mins x 4 – “The tyranny of distance didn’t stop American writer Mark Twain from visiting New Zealand in 1895. He had lectured to packed houses all over the world, but only here were dogs allowed to attend. And some of what passed for hospitality in this country very nearly prevented him from ever leaving again.” At the link locate the four parts called “The Trouble Begins At Eight,” right-click each download link and select “Save Link As. ”
Tariq Ali 50 mins x 3 – “London-based and published on every continent, Tariq Ali has been a leading figure of the international left since the 1960s. He is an editor of New Left Review and has written more than 20 books on world history and politics as well as seven novels. Born in Pakistan he attended Oxford University where he became involved in student politics and the movement against the Vietnam war. He is a critic of neoliberal economics and his book The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity was a response to 9/11. His latest book is The Obama Syndrome: War Abroad.” Here he is the speaker at The Douglas Robb Lectures, named in honour of Sir Douglas Robb, surgeon, medical reformer, writer, a member of the Council of the University of Auckland from 1938 until 1971. He presents three talks on Islam, America and China. At the link right-click “MP3” under each of the three Robb lectures and select “Save Link As ” to download the three audio files.
The 100 feeds used to prepare this weekly blog are gathered using Feedreader3 and are available as an opm file at Google Docs. A PDF of feeds is also available there. Free Commander is used to compare old and new downloads to remove duplicates. MP3SpeedChanger is used to change playback speed of multiple files as a batch. A speed listening background article here. Sixty-four podcasts for 2010 and earlier at 1.5x are listed alphabetically in this PDF and can be downloaded in two sections as zip files: Part 1 and Part 2 each holding about 350 MB. For 2011 this alphabetical PDF list of 184 podcasts at 1.5x is available, and the actual files can be downloaded in five segments: Part 1 to 5 (Part 1 – 276 MB; P2 – 291 MB; P3 – 284; P4 – 153 MB, and P5 – 256 MB). Please leave a comment if you have problems with the links and downloads. A similar list and downloads for 362 podcasts for Jan-Jun 2012 is here. Those podcasts are grouped into eight zipped files for easier downloading. Multiple parts are used due to a 300MB limit on file size uploads.
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Media Mining Digest 