My Podcasts List

Podcasts are to audio what Netflix + DVR is to video. Perhaps more so. Most of the time when  I am working out, driving, or doing mindless domestic chores (cooking, dishwashing, laundry, lawn, etc etc),  I consume podcasts. There are so many, there is so much to learn. (Yes, there is a time for quiet, contemplative solitude, sometimes I do that, too.) Here are my current faves.

History

Backstory

3-4 colleagues, all academic historians, who provide in-depth discussions of subjects in American History. Great rapport and collegiality, high production values, intellectually worthy.l

Dan Carlin's Hardcore HistoryThis is a "cult" podcast. Episodes only come out every 2-4 months, but they are 4-6 hours long. Dan Carlin is a former media pro and amateur history buff. Awesome storyteller of history, idiosyncratic, consistent style, range of history is incredibly wide, though mostly non-American, lots of it ancient. Always a must-listen.

More Perfect

A spinoff of Radiolab, legal history.

Revisionist History

Malcolm Gladwell, about 10 1-hour episodes per season. Must-listen. (Favorite episode: the one that ties Wilt Chamberlain's ultra-legendary 100-point basketball game, to social behavior.)

Tech

Accidental Tech Podcast
In theory this shouldn't interest me, 3 Apple fanboys (in the best sense of the word) spending 60% of their time discussing Apple products (which I never buy), 40% of the time doing very good but arbitrary and idiosyncratic consumer tech analysis. Outstanding chemistry and collegiality, very high production values, even though the most indie of anything on my list.

Exponent
Infotech business analysis and strategy, must-listen.

General Interest

Death, Sex & Money
Not much sex, just a good documentary podcast. I think the name is meant to suggest it focuses on topics that are of eternal interest..

Freakonomics
Podcast that continues the spirit of the book. Applying economic analytical techniques to myriad everyday situations.

Planet Money
I haven't listened a lot, but similar to Freakonomics, but specifically focused on financial topics.

Radiolab
Legendary radio show, podcast form. Great scientific storytelling that results from the intellectual curiosity of 2 media pros.

Science Vs
Like a well-curated, highly entertaining literature survey, on topical issues, such as what remedies work to cure balding, or is the bee-apocalypse real?

The Moth
Unique, always-entertaining live storytelling podcast. Broad appeal across the Myers-Briggs spectrum. The podcast analog to Prairie Home Companion.

This American Life
The amazing Ira Glass, the trailblazing radio show in podcast form.

General News

Embedded
Documentary-form, where the reporter is "embedded" with the subject. E.g. expose of the satanic for-profit prison industry, by embedding a reporter as a guard for several months.

Reveal
Classic investigative reporting.

The Documentary (BBC)
Classic BBC, high-end documentaries on various topics.

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me
News quiz show. Only funny if you are well-informed. Host Peter Sagal is an improv genius. Causes me to laugh out loud, when listening at the gym.

Politics

Need To Know
Traditional, Reaganite conservatives Mona Charen and Jay Nordlinger are hosts. Sometimes a guest, sometimes not. Thoughtful political analysis, right-wing, but anti-Trump, traditional, intellectual, not religious (though sympathetic at times), not Alt-Right. Heirs to William F. Buckley. Good for educating millenials on what conservatism used to be like.

Slate's Whistlestop
Political history, quite excellent.

Franken Should Resign

Al Franken should resign over his sexual harassment of Leeann Tweeden. I say this as a center-left person, and Franken supporter/voter/constituent. In other times--given the lower degree of offense on the spectrum, his apparent remorse, and the vicitm's statement that he shouldn't be forced to resign--the answer might be different. But not in these times. The bar needs to be set, the example provided. Franken must fall on his sword, without delay. It is the most morally and politically consequential thing he can do, more so even than continuing to serve out his term as senator.

If he does this, running for the seat when it comes up again is not out of the question--assuming there are not more of these, hiding in the closet. The historical moment will have progressed, hopefully for the better; his offense was relatively lesser; and most important of all, he will have voluntarily performed a meaningful act of ethical atonement.

(Keeping in mind, in reference to other cases, current and future, that grave offenses can never be eligible for political redemption).

Virtual Visits - Finally Dispense with the Minor Waste of Height, Weight, Blood Pressure

Every single time I visit the doctor--for a sinus infection, for a cut that might need a stitch, whatever--we go through the ritual of height, weight, blood pressure. I've always thought it was a minor waste, but nobody seemed interested in eliminating the waste.

Except now, virtual visits to the doctor are rapidly gaining traction. And of necessity, virtual visits must dispense with this mindless record-keeping. Amazing how something that seemed unthinkable is suddenly totally negotiable.

Another example: for years I have been complaining about the convention of "3 incorrect password attempts and your account is locked". Who determined 3 is optimal?! Too easy to combine mis-remembering and a typo or two, and you are done for. I always thought nearly the same level of security could be achieved with a range of 6-8. But 3 seemed nearly universal.

Then mobile came along, and the challenges of a small, virtual keyboard made 3 impossible. So, overnight, the limit was increased to 10!