The following audio files were selected from a larger group of 104 for the last week. The link to each podcast is at the highlighted topic and reached by double-clicking or ctrl-clicking it. All 30 podcasts converted to 1.5x speed can also be downloaded as a single 139 MB zip file here for four months.
Israeli Innovation 8 mins – “… The centre of scientific research Peretz Lavie describes the Technion’s vision, how it has developed over and engineering in Israel is the Technion in Haifa. Technion president its 100-year history, and how Israel’s high-tech graduates have changed the economy.” “Download Audio” “Save Target As”
Tsetse Fly and Malaria 92 mins – An experienced parasitologist and virologist discuss the value, impact, details and background issues with a little speculation along the way concerning two recent research papers. One deals with a sleeping sickness parasite carried by the tsetse fly. “Vincent and Dickson review how sickle cell microRNAs contribute to malaria resistance, and inhibition of innate immune responses by an enzyme from trypanosomes.” “This Week in Parasitism (TWiP) is a podcast about eukaryotic parasites hosted by Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier. Following in the path of their successful podcast ‘This Week in Virology’ (TWiV), they strive for an informal yet informative conversation about parasites which is accessible to everyone, no matter what their science background.””As science Professors at Columbia University, they have spent their entire academic careers directing research laboratories focused on parasites (Dick) and viruses (Vincent). Their enthusiasm for teaching inspired them to reach beyond the classroom with new media. TWiP is for everyone who wants to learn about parasites in a relaxing way.” At the link right-click the download option and select “Save Link As”.
Ayn Rand 6 mins – “This week, the media decided that the juiciest line of inquiry about the GOP’s newly minted vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, was how deep his allegiance was to the late novelist Ayn Rand. Brooke talks to Slate political reporter Dave Weigel about Ryan’s relationship to Rand.” Reference and an excerpt of a six minute speech by Gary Cooper playing Howard Roark from Rand’s The Fountainhead is on YouTube. “Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.
Wikipedia” At the link right-click tje down-pointing arrow and select “Save Link As”.
Plastic Solar Cells 11 mins – “…Andrew Holmes and colleagues found that some plastics can be semiconductors and indeed that they can emit light when placed between electrodes under certain conditions. They turned this around and were surprised to find that these plastics can give out a charge when placed in light. The aim is to produce a solar cell, in the form of a thin flexible material that can be placed on areas such as walls and roofs.” At the link right-click “Download Audio” and select “Save Target As”.
Vanguard’s John Bogle 11 mins – “Paul Merriman discusses a recent The New York Times article about Vanguard founder John Bogle, as he addresses strategies for long-term investors and the need for changes in the marketplace. Learn more about “balancing peace of mind and piece of the action” needed to reach your retirement goals. To understand more about asset classes and diverse allocations, read Merriman’s new book, ” First-Time Investor: Grow and Protect Your Money.” “Paul Merriman is the founder of Merriman, editor of FundAdvice.com and co-host of Sound Investing, which was named by Money Magazine as the “Best Money Podcast” in 2008. He is a widely respected expert on mutual fund investing and has been quoted in many national publications, including Money Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.” At the link locate the title, “John Bogle and Vanguard Warn Bond Investors,” right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download the audio file.
Retirement When 9 mins – “When do you think you are going to retire? A Marketwatch.com article claims many American will not be able to retire until age 70 or older. In my upcoming print and eBook, “First-Time investor: Grow and Protect Your Money,” – the first in my “How To Invest Series” – you will learn the exact steps you can take now, so you can retire on your time and your plan.” At the link locate the title, “Is The New Retirement Age 70, Or Never,” right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download the audio file.
NYC Agriculture 25 mins – “The popular image of New York City involves high-rise buildings, glass, and concrete, but all over the five boroughs, people grow vegetables, fish local waters, keep bees, brew beer, and make wine. While reporting her new book, Eat the City, Robin Shulman traveled all over New York, meeting people who want to make things grow.”
Analog Innovation 91 mins – “Our first in-studio guest ever! Larry is currently an adjunct lecturer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (Chris’ alma mater) After school, he was a teaching assistant and soon after started a design and build company called Hexagram. One of the earlier products was working on the MeisterMatic600, a computerized embroidery machine. Since he wanted to develop a turnkey, proprietary product for someone, he chose gas meter reading. Initially, the wired device required a person to walk up to a wall and take a reading. Later, they “bet the farm” on the STAR system, which worked with cellphones and low frequency RF. Hexagram was bought by ESCO in 2006. Shortly thereafter, Larry set up an endowment to ensure students would have a place to tinker. Larry is working on a new project at Case, think[box] (previously mentioned in episode 53 of The Amp Hour). This will be a makerspace/incubator/classroom housed in a 50K+ sq ft building.” The guest is an advocate of older analog electronics. More than fifty excellent audio-visual tutorials about analog devices lasting 5-60 minutes from DigiKey are available here for those who need to know more. right-click “download” and select “Save Link As”
Hybrid Reality 42 mins – “Parag Khanna and Ayesha Khanna; Directors of The Hybrid Reality Institute, gives a talk for the Oxford Martin School public lecture series. With Professor Ian Goldin; Director, Oxford Martin Institute The Information Age is giving way to the Hybrid Age, mankind’s fifth major era of socio-technical relations. What distinguishes the Hybrid Age from previous periods is two-fold: the rapidly merging combinations of technologies with each other, and our increasing integration with technology. Together these trends portend decades of continuous disruption to our lives in the biological, social, economic, political, educational and other domains.” right-click “Get Audio File” and select “Save Link As”
BPA Concerns 23 mins – “(start time: 5:50). We Coloradoans pride ourselves on our healthy habits — eating right, exercising, and paying attention to what’s in the food we eat. Yet many of the things we use everyday, like water bottles, sunscreens, makeup, and – OK, soda cans — are full of toxic chemicals. Many of them are untested, and may be insidiously making us sick. One of the more controversial compounds is BPA, which is used to make some hard plastic bottles and other food packaging. Today we have with us public health expert Dr. David Dausey to talk about BPA –bisphenol A — and other environmental toxins. He directs the Mercyhurst Institute for Public Health in Pennsylvania.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As”.
Folding Bikes 4 mins – “Today, folding bicycles are being used in a new type of war — war on the urban terrain. As city planners seek to encourage greener modes of transportation, bike paths are popping up everywhere in densely populated cities. For bicycle owning apartment dwellers, the lack of a garage and the potential for theft make the hallway closet an ideal parking spot. Folding bicycles enable longer commutes to work, since they can be taken onto light rail cars, subways, and buses.” The link has a transcript with some photographs, or right-click “Click here for audio of Episode 2819” and select “Save Link As” to download the audio file.
Correspondence Schools 4 mins – “Now we speak of distance learning, delivered by Internet, not by the postman. Its form is still evolving. Maybe it can become what the old correspondence course once was. Here’s another old book, a manual on how to write correspondence courses.” The link has a transcript, or right-click “Click here for audio of Episode 1978” and select “Save Link As” to download theaudio file.
Shoes 4 mins – “Writer Burkhard Bilger talks about Hlavacek‘s magical diagnostic abilities. By studying the stumbling wear patterns on the boots of a seventeenth-century general, he’d showed that the fellow had died of syphilis. He’d reconstructed sandals of an American native who’d died under volcanic ash in Oregon — five thousand years before Ötzi. Hlavacek could tell you how Alexander’s armies succeeded because the Persians had made their shoes — how Egyptian armies had failed during the Six Day’s War, in part because they wore nailed boots. The nails conducted heat and burned their feet.” The link has a transcript, or right-click “Click here for audio of Episode 1978” and select “Save Link As” to download the audio file.
Design Thinking 80 mins – “In this episode, we discuss “design thinking,” a problem-solving approach that is now applied in business and education, as well as in the creation of new products and services. We talk with Jim Tappel, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and former IDEO employee, about how engineers might best coexist with, or even embrace, this approach to discovering new solutions. Links to books and video material at the link, or right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Hydrogen Fuel Production 34 mins – “Is hydrogen the fuel of our future? As fossil fuel reserves run out, this week we ask whether hydrogen can fill the energy void? We look at work to harness bacteria to transform everyday waste into biohydrogen, hear how scientists are planning to store this gas safely, take to the road in a hydrogen-powered car and investigate the workings of the fuel cells that run them…” At the link locate “19th Aug 2012 – The Hydrogen Economy: Fuelling the Future,” right-click “MP3” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Computerized Stock Trading 22 mins – Thomas Peterffy’s life story includes a typing robot, a proto-iPad, and a vast fortune he amassed as one of the first guys to use computers in financial markets. On today’s show, Peterffy tells us his story — and he explains why he’s worried about the financial world he helped create.We learned of Peterffy’s story from the forthcoming book Automate This. At the link locate the title, “#396: A Father Of High-Speed Trading Thinks We Should Slow Down,” right-click “Media files npr_159575007.mp3” and select “Save Link As” to download the podcast.
Maastricht Marijuana 16 mins – “Maastricht is the home of the euro. It’s the Dutch town where European leaders signed the treaty that created the single currency.It’s also a place where it’s legal for “coffeeshops” to sell marijuana.Tourists from around Europe used to come to Maastricht to get high. Recently, though, Maastricht’s mayor soured on marijuana tourism, and the town banned the sale of the drug to foreigners.” At the link locate the title, “#395: Maastricht, Marijuana And The European Dream,” right-click ” Media files npr_159034989.mp3″ and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
Food Safety Regulation 51 mins – “Over the past year, more than two dozen people in the U.S. have died and hundreds have fallen ill after eating contaminated cantaloupes. Early in 2011, President Barack Obama signed a food safety bill aimed at preventing these kinds of deaths and illnesses. The legislation is considered the biggest overhaul to food safety in decades, yet many months later, the rules are still being hammered out and the law has not taken effect. The delay has both consumer advocates and industry groups concerned and pushing for faster implementation. Diane and her [5] guests discuss the holdup over new food safety rules.” You can only listen online, but the file is included in the zip file at the top of this page.
Meatball Excerpts 15 mins – The making of Ruby 9. “Ruby is hired to find who or what has caused a plague in the city of Aberdeen Dundee on Victoria Moon. And/Or, T.J. Teru, and Rodant Kapoor, join Ruby as they explore this eccentric retro-Victorian society where everyone is pretending to be someone else…In Aberdeen Dundee, known as The City of Lost Illusions, the people have moved into the catacombs beneath the city. They all wear masks, and the masks are alive!” You can try a free sample at the link for Ruby 9. This is a site devoted to audio productions of plays with amazing quality and depth as illustrated by the linked sample. If you are interested, an excellent full-sized product is Moon Over Morocco. At the topic’s link locate the title, “Meatball’s Podcast : number 25,” right-click “Media files 25_Meatball’s-Podcast.mp3” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Food Supply 18 mins – “Another chance to hear One Planet’s programme from earlier this year on resilience in global food networks. We visit Europe’s largest banana ripening warehouse; we hear from the community who are trying to bypass the food chain by growing everything themselves; and we hear from Liberia – a country that is struggling to rebuild its agricultural sector after years of civil unrest.” At the link locate the title, “OnePlanet: Bananas and the Global Food Chain,” right-click “Media files oneplanet_20120727-1932a.mp3” and select “Save Link As” to downlod the podcast.
Congo Rape Survivors 23 mins – “In the second part of his bold examination of rape in the DRC, award winning writer and Guardian journalist Will Storr meets male victims of sexual violence. He asks why NGOs and the UN are seemingly resistant to looking at this issue.” At the link locate the title, “DocArchive: An Unspeakable Act – Part Two,” right-click ” Media files docarchive_20120731-1230a.mp3″ and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
Rwanda Bicyclists 23 mins – “Tim Mansel reports from Ruhengeri in the mountainous north-west of Rwanda on the Rwandan cyclists who have become the nation’s heroes.” At the link locate the title, “DocArchive: Riding in Rwanda – Assignment,” right-click “Media files docarchive_20120802-0100a.mp3” and select “Save File As” to download the file.
Korean Host Bars 23 mins – “Lucy Williamson reports on the host bars in South Korea that cater to women’s desires for male companionship.” At the link locate “DocArchive: Korea’s Host Bars,” right-click “Media files docarchive_20120816-0100a.mp3” and select “Save File As” to download the file.
Honey Bees 54 mins – “Bees are remarkable among insects. They can count, remember human faces, and communicate through dance routines performed entirely in the dark. But are they intelligent? Even creative? Bee aficionado Stephen Humphrey, along with a hive of leading bee researchers and scientists, investigates the mental lives of bees…In summer of 2011, Stephen Humphrey went out west to spend time with his family – and one million bees. Stephen’s mother and step-father are bee-keepers. Their bee-yards, 22 of them, are spread across two counties, in Northern Alberta. Every morning, six days a week, Stephen – a notoriously late sleeper, was up bright and early, doing his best to get “Bee Ready”. Off he’d go, by truck or by foot, to the ‘honey bee’ hives.” You can only listen at the link, but the program is included in the zip collection offered at the top of this page. Eight experts participate in the presentation and eight links to more information are available at the site.
Mumbai Slums 44 mins – Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo spent three years in a Mumbai slum to research her latest book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. She describes the experience and what she learned during the process. At the topic link right-click “MP3” and select “Save Target As” to download the audio file.
Colored Sound 10 mins – “Artist Neil Harbisson was born completely color blind, but these days a device attached to his head turns color into audible frequencies. Instead of seeing a world in grayscale, Harbisson can hear a symphony of color — and yes, even listen to faces and paintings. Neil Harbisson’s “eyeborg” allows him to hear colors, even those beyond the range of sight.” At the link click the “Download” button, right-click “Download to desktop (MP3)” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Grey Market 29 mins – “Today, claims Robert Neuwirth in his new book Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy, one-half the world’s workers—close to 1.8 billion people—are involved in the informal economy in jobs that are “neither registered nor regulated, getting paid in cash, and, most often, avoiding income taxes.” In researching his book, Neuwirth traveled the world, visiting markets and street vendors in Nigeria, China, Paraguay, Brazil, and around the United States.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Hezbollah 45 mins – ” The political and paramilitary group known as Hezbollah has been a major player in Lebanon and across the Middle East for 30 years. The U.S. considers it to be a terrorist organization. Now the group has extended its reach to this hemisphere. Iran and Syria are its key allies. With the Assad regime teetering in Damascus, and Iran bracing for a Mideast war, Hezbollah is at the center of attention as never before. Guest host Tom Gjelten and his [4] guests talk about the military and political roles of Hezbollah in the Middle East and beyond – and why U.S. officials are watching the group so closely.” The file can’t be downloaded, but the progrm can be heard online and is included in the zip file.
Homicide Watch 6 mins – “This week came news that the Homicide Watch D.C. might go on hiatus because its founder and proprietor Laura Amico has been awarded the Nieman-Berkman fellowship. Amico is attempting to keep Homicide Watch alive with a Kickstarter campaign to turn the website into a teaching lab for burgeoning crime reporters. In this interview from November, 2011 Brooke talks to Amico about the site’s mission and how it works.” At the link right-click the down arrow and select “Save Link As” to download the file.
Portable Apps 34 mins – “Portable apps let you bring your favorite programs with you where ever you go. Find out how to use portable apps on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.” At the link right-click the down arrow and select “Save Link As” to downoad the file.
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. A commenter recommended this $1.99 iPhone/iPad app for mobile devices; leave a comment if you try it.
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Media Mining Digest 