arugula2 wrote:Useful Idiots on Rolling Stone's youtube channel. Typically good podcast, for the comedic repartee between Taibbi and Halper. The magic suffers somewhat due to covid adjustments - they're palpably better when they're sitting in the same room. Anyway, the title of this episode refers to Taibbi's recent article On “White Fragility”, which addresses cancel culture from the reasoned satirist-contrarian pov.

They're not bad. I listened to a handful of those, but the Jimmy Dore one was unfortunate. I'm not a fan of him.
For politics, I listen to The Majority Report on YouTube, specifically to hear from Sam Seder.

I’ve whittled down the political podcasts bc they’ve gotten barren, repetitive & kinda whiny in some cases, following Bernie's campaign phase-down. Otherwise Sam’s was among my favorites. Actually, his often-co-host’s podcast, The Michael Brooks Show, is the last one left on my list: consistently well-curated discussions, without Sam’s time-consuming stammering & thought-composing fugues. In fact, Brooks’s permanent co-hosts Matt & David (also from the Sederverse) are both brilliant, and the three of them manage to address a topic from 3 distinct voices, each of which enlightens. When they have Jamie on (another Sederista) it’s even better. I haven't yet checked out her own podcast, The Antifada.

The_Piper wrote:...but the Jimmy Dore one was unfortunate.

I haven't put in the time to figure him out... I skipped that interview. There doesn't seem to be much there there.

Anton is a nice guy, and generous (an episode a day, plus he'll call you a "wonderful person"). Mostly astronomy/cosmology.



Detailed maps of Zealandia can be interacted with here, and can be downloaded here.

Event Horizon's host's voice is a nice low register, and the interviews are always disembodied, with random (topic-relevant) images floating screensaver-like, and soft eerie music in the background. You can watch the images, or close your eyes and get lost in some light conversations with physicists (& a regular focus on SETI).

I've been listening to him since before he started the Event Horizon channel, and never miss a video. You might like Isaac Arthur as well then.
JMG's original channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEszlI ... U8LSAiRbDg

I listen to Anton's as well, though not every video.

arugula2 wrote:I’ve whittled down the political podcasts bc they’ve gotten barren, repetitive & kinda whiny in some cases, following Bernie's campaign phase-down. Otherwise Sam’s was among my favorites. Actually, his often-co-host’s podcast, The Michael Brooks Show, is the last one left on my list: consistently well-curated discussions, without Sam’s time-consuming stammering & thought-composing fugues. In fact, Brooks’s permanent co-hosts Matt & David (also from the Sederverse) are both brilliant, and the three of them manage to address a topic from 3 distinct voices, each of which enlightens. When they have Jamie on (another Sederista) it’s even better. I haven't yet checked out her own podcast, The Antifada.

Sam is my favorite, stammering and all. I like to digest what's being said, so if I can manage not to be distracted by the uhh's and you know's, I learn something.
The other hosts are good too, but I wouldn't listen without Seder.

The_Piper wrote:I've been listening to him since before he started the Event Horizon channel, and never miss a video. You might like Isaac Arthur as well then.
JMG's original channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEszlI ... U8LSAiRbDg

Ah nice.

Astronomy Cast is my go-to audio podcast for meditative walks (along with Bad Science), though there's also a youtube channel. The recent discussion of trojan asteroids was cool.

As clever as they are, I grow tired of the more improvisational episodes of Chapo Trap House, but their interviews are usually very absorbing (like this one below, from 2016, with Jeremy Scahill giving the rundown on US involvement in Yemen). Most of the youtube content is intended to entice people to their Patreon.

The two minutes of this Dollop episode starting here are great.

She's very German. It's a good thing. (Channel.) (She also does music videos.)

Don't know if this qualifies as a podcast but today saw the welcome return of The infinite monkey cage to BBC Radio4.

Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by Sara Pascoe, Prof Alice Roberts and Dr Sarah Parcak as they find out how space satellites and genetics are helping us uncover our past.

Availability may vary.

arugula2 wrote:She's very German. It's a good thing. (Channel.) (She also does music videos.)

I'm subscribed to her channel too, but is it a podcast or just a regular YT channel? Oh well, I'm not splitting hairs, just wondering. Is there a difference? I like in that one how she so casually dismisses Wolfram and Weinstein.

I also listen to some of Fraser Cain's YT videos, though haven't listened to much of the podcast.

I'm thinking at this point a podcast is any episodic audio/visual series not primarily meant for television. Idk that any other conception makes sense anymore, and idk that it makes a difference whether the creator markets it as a "series" or a "podcast" or not.

I guess at some level, something like a series of twitch streams becomes a defacto podcast once the "episodes" are uploaded for later consumption. The distinguishing feature being that they were initially streamed live (sort of like a television broadcast... which twitch was initially designed to mimic/replace, just like the first podcasts were designed to mimic/replace radio broadcasts). But some so-called podcasts also stream live, so... I think the key criterion is portability of the final product.

Of course, as one pulls that thread, then almost everything becomes a podcast at some point in its life.

And a big 'fuck you' to the universe from me.

Yeah, I'm shattered.

I find these candles who burn with love for humanity and for truth, who have unbending integrity and are fearless against the bottomless cynicism and cruelty that people cultivate in themselves... and it's hard to see one go. They're difficult to spot, and I spotted this one maybe little more than a year ago.

Needless to say, one or two of those sister podcasts have to go back on my list for now... so I can absorb by osmosis a few more wisdom nuggets I probably missed while being distracted by life's nonsense.

No one can say Micheal Brooks didn't have integrity. He came off as a genuine person. That's why I like the Majority Report. They are down to Earth and don't sugarcoat anything. It's not scripted, they just know the material. I forgot to mention his impersonations of Obama and Clinton. Fabulous. They all were good. He even did a Sam impersonation, pretty much every show.

Yeah I'm savoring those. Laughter is a lifeline.

Link
I'd never paid much attention to the Clinton ones, because they're mostly from before I'd discovered his show or Sam's show. It's weird to hear 2016 election satire bc it's so fresh even now.

Filmspotting. Movie discussion podcast. Adam has been hosting since the beginning... I've been listening since the days of Matty "Ballgame" Robinson, and the current co-host Josh Larsen's voice somehow reminds me of Matty's until he says something extremely midwestern. (Plus their voices don't actually sound alike anyway.)

Show's meticulously produced, the hosts are interesting, the intermission music is always great, and the segments are recurring but fun, including "Massacre Theatre". A favorite example is from #258, in which Matty channels Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator: Skip to 33:30.

The reference scene: