Category: Links

Links and References

On Learning Modes

Of late I’ve been returning to the contemporary writing of protoblogger, developer, gadfly, irascible-in-love-with-life Dave Winer, attending to his thoughts via the SMTP cheap-seats of his email archive each day. It’s been a good reminder of the early blogging days, when the concept of putting things out on the net was often based on a sharing of what you were learning, doing, reading and what you felt might be of some benefit to the other brains (and keyboards) who were also learning, thinking and doing.

And also of note in this morning’s transom was this lovely piece by AJ Jacobs reflecting on 40 years of teaching. Partly a "the more they change, the more they stay the same" but also a lovely capture of a moment of connection and the experience of shared revelation. It brought further to mind the work of my Father, now these 30 years gone. I suspect that he would have believed that what Jacobs was able to do with the student to bring together humanities and a wonder at the human experience with their scientific ambitions and endeavors was not dissimilar to his believe that in a university the goal should be to help minds developing to merge both book and lab learning with the experience of crafting research itself – that our minds approach the world best when they have more than one tool to hand, and at our times of discovery – for those who have the university in that process – we can structure experience of these different modes relatively safely.

It was this interest in seeing experiential and intellectual learning developed in partnership that led to my father establishing the Fox Glen Fund, which provides a modest contribution to this effort for students in the Biology department at IU. I see that this year’s recipient once again is moving in areas more complex than my own mind can comprehend beyond buzzwords.

A bunch of Podcasts

A collection of podcasts I listen to – not all every episode, not each every week. Sometimes I’ll go weeks at a time and declare bankruptcy. Sometimes I’ll binge a bunch at once. And this is (!) an incomplete list.

The links within are via Pocketcasts, my preferred cross-platform listening tool of choice. Your preference may vary, but a clickthrough of the links will take you to the original…

  • 10 Things That Scare Me – brief interviews with people famous, infamous, and otherwise covering things which cause them alarm – dark secrets to the mundane.
  • Against The Rules – podcast by Michael Lewis on various topics – political, personal, etc.
  • AHIMA Hi Pitch – podcast on health information topics by AHIMA (AZ’s organization). Not a topic you think would be of general interest – but it is.
  • Akimbo – Seth Godin is a marketer and coach, but his brief podcast often delves into personal improvement and thinking.
  • All Songs Considered – periodic programme from NPR on popular music; the core team is also key to Tiny Desk Concerts, which are quite popular in these parts.
  • Almost Tangible:Macbeth – an audio retelling of the Scottish play; limited series of 7 episodes
  • The Argument – NYT podcast with usually Ross Doutat, Michelle Goldberg and Frank Bruni – opinion based coverage of current topics
  • The Axe Files with David Axelrod – Interviews held at the Institute of Politics @ UC.
  • Behind the Tech with Kevin Scott – Interviews on Tech and Society by Microsoft’s CTO. As much policy as geekery.
  • Best of Today – snippets of news and interviews from BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
  • The Big Takeover Show – Radio show hosted by Jack Rabid, longtime editor of Big Takeover magazine. Mostly rock.
  • Blamo! – discussions on fashion and lifestyle, hosted by Jeremy Kirkland
  • Bob Dylan: Album by Album – what it says on the tin…
  • Broadcasting House Weekly news roundup and discussion from BBC Radio 4. Charmingly hosted by Paddu O’Connell.
  • Business Casual – Business and entrepreneurial interviews from Morning Brew newsletter.
  • Career Tools and Manager Tools – overlapping podcasts about managing and being an employee – deep dives on topic spaces, often running across multiple episodes.
  • Comedy of the Week – one episode selected form BBC Radio 4’s comedy programming per week.
  • The Daily – one longform story a day, or story behind the reporting – from the NYT.
  • Deep Dish on Global Affairs – interviews conducted by the team at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on current topics.
  • Desert Island Discs – long running programme from the BBC where notables and celebrities select eight tracks they’d take to a desert island. The archive runs in the thousands!
  • Dissect – longform discussion of notable albums – one album per multi-episode season (e.g. My Dark Beloved Fantasy, or this season’s Lemondade).
  • Distributed – discussions on remote and distributed work environments, hosted by Matt Mullenweg of Automattic.
  • Everything is Alive – interviews with commonplace objects (a lampost, a grain of salt)
  • Friday Night Comedy – weekly news-oriented comedy from the BBC. Rotates between the News Quiz (an antecedent to Wait, wait…), The Now Show, Dead Ringers (like the TV show, but no puppets), et al.
  • GZero World – Ian Bremmer of GZero interviews journalists and thinkers on international and other issues.
  • In Our Time – Discussions on the history of ideas and other topics from Melvyn Bragg of the BBC.
  • Israel Story – This American Life (literally – they interviewed Ira Glass in s01e01), but Israeli.
  • KEXP Song of the Day and KEXP Music That Matters – a daily and weekly mix from KEXP in Seattle; generally contemporary, but wide ranging and suitable for many tastes.
  • The Kitchen Sisters Present – archival footage and stories from the former NPR correspondents.
  • The Last Archive – Podcast on mystery and the nature of truth with historian Jill Lepore. In truth, I haven’t listened yet (it just premiered), but it feels like it could be good!
  • Lost Notes – longform stories about a specific music topic or artist.
  • Making… – podcast from WBEZ that has done series on the early stories of Obama and Beyonce
  • Marlon and Jake Read Dead People – Novelist Marlon James and his editor discuss books, usually by old dead white men.
  • Maximum Rock N Roll Podcast – archival recordings of the radio associated to the seminal punk zine.
  • The National Podcast of Texas – weekly interview and roundup from Texas Monthly magazine.
  • Public Official A – WBEZ series about the Rod Blagojevich experience.
  • RA Podcast – mixes and music from electronic music magazine Resident Advisor.
  • Reply All – curious stories about the intersection of internet life, real life, and people.
  • Says Who – weekly rants and discussion of the current situation hosted by Dan Sinker and Maureen Johnson.
  • Slightly Foxed – cozy podcast from the editors/owners of Slightly Foxed Press and magazine.
  • Song Exploder – discussions with artists and producers about how a particular song was written, crafted, or produced.
  • South Side Stories – tales aligned to the Comedy Central show South Side
  • Today in Focus – Daily long form news story or story behind the story – this time from The Guardian.
  • Unlocking Us with Brene Brown – newish Brene Brown podcast of interviews and personal development.
  • The Watt From Pedro Show – Mike Watt (Minutemen, Stooges) radio show recordings – runs the gamut from folk to jazz to punk.
  • What A Day – daily news analysis from Crooked Media — funny, acerbic, grumpy

Bookmarks for February 17th through March 14th

These are my pinboard links for February 17th through March 14th:

Bookmarks for February 7th through February 13th

These are my pinboard links for February 7th through February 13th:

Bookmarks for January 11th through February 7th

These are my pinboard links for January 11th through February 7th:

Bookmarks for October 23rd through January 8th

These are my pinboard links for October 23rd through January 8th:

Bookmarks for October 1st through October 4th

These are my pinboard links for October 1st through October 4th:

  • Home – Indiana Entertainment Foundation – Indiana musical history organization, preserving and promoting entertainment from Indiana.
  • One Rothko per hour – A Rothko painting per hour, perfect for those who use them for reflection and joy.
  • Remote Work Guides | Twist – Collated by doist, a set of guides for practices on remote work – overview, operations, management, etc.

    <blockquote>Best practices for starting, managing, and scaling a remote team from the world’s most successful distributed companies.</blockquote>

  • Microsoft Teams UserVoice – Uservoice forum for Microsoft Teams – raise new requests, vote on existing requests, and track community desired features and changes.
  • 5 Easy-to-Implement Tips to Improve Your Relationships – A list and discussion of five things that can help form better connections with others.

    1/ Never meet a stranger.
    2/ Icebreak
    3/ Reflect at a high level
    4/ Reflect at a transactional level
    5/ Connect Connect Connect

Bookmarks for August 30th through October 1st

These are my pinboard links for August 30th through October 1st:

Bookmarks for August 20th through August 28th

These are my pinboard links for August 20th through August 28th:

Bookmarks for August 7th through August 14th

These are my pinboard links for August 7th through August 14th: