The following audio files were selected from a larger group of 107 for the last week. The link to each podcast is at the highlighted topic and reached by double-clicking or ctrl-clicking it. All 14 podcasts converted to 1.5x speed can also be downloaded as a single 116 MB zip file here for four months.
Food Waste 14 mins – “Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible — but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources…Tristram Stuart sounds the warning bell on global food waste, calling for us to change the systems whereby large quantities of produce and other foods end up in trash heaps.” At the link click the download button, right-click “Download to Desktop (MP3)” and select “Save Link As.”
Thorium Fuel 16 mins -Richard Martin, the author of Super Fuel: Thorium, The Greener Energy Source for The Future , describes its benefits in this interview. You can listen at the link or it’s included in the zip file noted at the top of the page. Information about an upcoming conference in Shanghai is available at the International Thorium Energy Organization.
Ice Ship WWII 54 mins – “1942: Hitler’s U-Boats are ravaging merchant ships that Britain depends on for its survival. Enter a plan, for a gigantic warship, to help the Allies win the Battle of the Atlantic. It will be built in Canada and made from … ice! Richard Longley tells the story of iceberg ship Habbakuk, in all its icy eccentricity.”At the link locate the title, “Iceberg Ship Habbakuk,” right-click “
Download Iceberg Ship Habbakuk” and select “Save Link As.”
Sex Training 51 mins – “A man who tests how true your ‘true love’ really is, a young man with Down’s Syndrome searching for love, the Italian founder of ‘The Ugly Club’, a woman in London and her ‘toy boys’ and a gay man in the Netherlands on the meaning of Bruckner and latex underwear.” At the link right-click “Download as MP3” and select “Save Link As.”
How to Be Black 22 mins – “Most of us are stigmatized with one social label or another. Baratunde Thurston’s label, like many others, is that he is black. What does it mean to be a black? How black are you? When did you first learn that you were black, that you were “different?” Being black, of course, is a variable. Each of us have our own definition, our own perspective… How To Be Black is a book about identity crisis. Its author Baratunde Thurston explains how the book began, what the book is about, why he wrote it, and how it evolved as he was writing and producing it…For the avid self publisher, Baratunde’s history provides a sample process to market, build engagement, and sell books. Every ebook is different, but the astute will hear a well thought out process of finding and engaging with fans. Then eventually, turning them into customers.” At the light right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Free Speech 52 mins -“Protests against an American-made online video mocking the Prophet Muhammad have sparked discussions about free speech. Guest host Steve Roberts and his [ 4 ] guests [including Salman Rushdie] discuss clashing cultural norms and efforts to define and regulate hate speech across the globe.” You can listen at the link and see a transcript, but not download the audio file; however, it’s included in the zip collection noted at the top of this page.
Hospital Accountability 51 mins – “A New England Journal of Medicine study concluded as many as 25 percent of all hospitalized patients will experience a preventable medical error of some kind. Other studies indicate one in every five medications, tests and procedures is unnecessary. Consumers have the tools to comparison shop when deciding on a new car, home or other major purchase. But when it comes to choosing a hospital or doctor, they are largely in the dark. Most patients do not have access to data on safety and quality from individual hospitals and doctors. Johns Hopkins surgeon and health safety advocate Marty Makary says transparency can revolutionize health care. We discuss what hospitals won’t tell you and why you need to know.” You can listen at the link and see a transcript, but not download the audio file; however, it’s included in the zip collection noted at the top of this page.
Flame Retardant Chemicals 52 mins -Most couches sold in the U.S. contain flame retardants, but critics argue these chemicals pose a serious health risk. Four guests debate the health risks of flame retardants in furniture. You can listen at the link and see a transcript, but not download the audio file; however, it’s included in the zip collection noted at the top of this page.
Hobson’s Choice 4 mins – “The phrase “I didn’t have a choice,” is another way of saying “I chose the lesser of two evils.” But I certainly had a choice. Since we make such choices all the time, we have a term for them: Hobson’s Choice. Hobson was a seventeenth-century livery stable owner who said to his customers, “You may either take the horse nearest the door or none at all.” That’s still a choice. If the horse nearest the door looks unridable, I can always walk. ” At the link right-click “Click here…” and select “Save Link As” to download. The link also shows a transcript.
Sound Pollution 9 mins – “Because of poor acoustics, students in classrooms miss 50 percent of what their teachers say and patients in hospitals have trouble sleeping because they continually feel stressed. Julian Treasure sounds a call to action for designers to pay attention to the “invisible architecture” of sound. Julian Treasure studies sound and advises businesses on how best to use it.” At the link click the download button, then right-click “Download Audio MP3” and select “Save LinkAs.”
Internet Phone 20 mins – “You don’t need to keep a landline phone any more because you can do your voice calling online. Today, we took a look at solutions that Iyaz and Leo use on a regular basis to replace a plain old telephone service. Skype: – Skype does not support e911 or emergency calls. Leo’s pick was Obihai. It’s a box you buy once and lets you make calls for free. Ooma Sound quality of these options can vary. At the link right-click “Audio” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Brain Aging 56 mins -“Episode 87 is an interview with Dr. Patricia Greenwood, co-author of “Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind.” Our focus is on dispelling some of the most stubborn myths about brain aging as well as reviewing the current research about brain plasticity. There are lots of claims being made, especially for various computer training products, but we talk about what the research really shows.” At the link right-click “Direct download: 87-bsp-Greenwood.mp3 ” and select “Save Link As” do download.
Cognitive Dissonance 56 mins – “This episode is an interview with psychologist Carol Tavris. We talk about the relationship between psychology and neuroscience as well as cognitive dissonance, which is the subject of Dr. Tavris’s recent book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts.” At the link right-click “Click here to listen to the podcast” and select “Save Link As” to download.
Podcast Construction 2 mins – To mark the celebration of Microbeworld’s 50th episode of the Meet the Scientist podcast, we created a time lapse video that shows exactly what it takes to produce a single episode of the show.” This is a video-only (no talk) and can’t be downloaded at the link; however, it’s included in the zip file collection at the top of this page. If this item caught your eye then a podcast from PodcastAdvisor may be of interest.
Over 100 feeds are used to prepare this weekly blog, harvested with Feedreader3. The feeds 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 each week. MP3SpeedChanger is applied to change playback speed of multiple files as a batch. A speed listening background article is 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 an 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). 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 similar group for the last half of 2012 will be available in Jan 2013. A commenter recommended this $1.99 iPhone/iPad app for mobile devices; leave a comment if you try it. Please leave a comment if you have problems with the links and downloads.
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Media Mining Digest 