Episode 400

Since about October 2000 I have regularly listened to This American Life, originally as broadcast on WNYC (supplemented with streaming archived episodes), more recently as a podcast (and still supplemented with streaming archived episodes).  Over the more than 15 years that I've been listening to the show (which has since grown in popularity) quite a number of episodes have stuck with me, a disproportionate number of which have stories from Scott Carrier (Does it get better than Running After Antelope?).  Contributions of individuals aside, the show has been consistently great for the 20 years it has been on the air - which is an impressive feat (Hell, they even managed to develop a semi-well known passable spin-off [not counting the TV show].)

One episode, above all others, for more than six years has stood out as a miss.  First broadcast in early February 2010, episode 400, in which several of the show's producers attempted to produce stories based on suggestions from their respective parents.  And, ha ha, most of the stories pitched to these producers weren't very good and really didn't make for great radio.  The somewhat self-congratulatory point of whole thing seemed to be that professional radio producers are better at picking stories for radio/This American Life than average people.  (Give me at least a little bit of warning when you're going to hit me with such hard truths makers of This American Life - I don't want to hurt myself when I get knocked over).

(Kidding aside, yeah, we know - you're good at your jobs.  That's why so many people keep coming back to the show week after week and why Serial is as popular as it is.  I think it's fair to say that most listeners recognize this skill when we listen to the show.  While I, presumably like many other listeners, would love to be able to make a This American Life-style show, it is clearly beyond my skill set and the skill sets of many in the listening audience.  I think most of us recognize and accept that there is something in the skill department that the makers of This American Life bring to the table that we don't have.)

Of course, I am inclined to suggest that at least two of these parental suggestions didn't make great radio not because of the quality of the suggestion, but because the staff at This American Life just didn't understand the significance of the stories and, not surprisingly, the resulting stories missed the point/weren't that great.

In the show's first Act Lisa Pollak attempts to follow-up on her mother's suggestion that she look into funny funerals or humour at funerals or maybe funny things that have happened at funerals? She's never seems all that clear about the issue she is trying to examine.

I think the point Pollak misses is that her mother isn't looking for funny anecdotes about funerals gone awry, but about funerals that are true celebrations of the life of the deceased that involve the use of humour.  As someone, like Lisa Pollak's mother and father, who has attended a funeral that did have a fair number of laughs I think I see where's she's coming from.  Really, what better way is there to celebrate the life of the deceased than by remembering the high points of that life and, maybe, punctuating those memories with hearty laughter?

At my grandmother's funeral in 2003 there were plenty of laughs, all of which reminded the attendees of the best features of her personality.  Instead of wallowing in sadness and loss, we were reminded of my grandmother's unique contributions to our respective lives.  By others laughing along I could also tell (or at least thought I could tell) that others in attendance were reflecting on similar experiences they'd had with her.  The feeling that I had at the end of the event, despite the inherent sadness associated with her death, was that my grandmother was truly known and appreciated by those in attendance - and the shared laughter was the mechanism by which this truth revealed itself.  Had it been a normal, quiet funeral I would have been provided with no sense of the feelings of the other attendees.

Since this funeral I have realized that the only features of my funeral that I truly care about are that it is filled with laughs and that it celebrates my life instead of mourns my death.  I don't care about which songs are or are not played, which readings are or are not read, or where the event does or does not take place as long as most people leave after having had a hearty laugh.  (I can't really say that I'll be disappointed if this doesn't come to pass - I'll be dead after all - but I'll definitely be disappointed if this doesn't come to pass.)

I think part of the problem with Pollak's approach to the story is that she contacted funeral directors for input.  Despite this group seeming like an obvious place to turn, I'm not convinced that funeral directors as a group get this approach to funerals and that funerals really, at their core, should be celebrations.  Maybe it's because most funeral directors don't have a particularly strong connection to the people whose funerals they're leading (and thus don't know how to draw out the humour in each person's life) or because there's a general sense that funerals are supposed to be sad and sombre affairs (rather than funny) so that's what they give the dying public?  Or maybe it's because when you're surrounded by the business of death and the grieving it's hard to always find the light?  I don't know exactly the cause, but the reality seems to be that a strength of funeral directors, and their are many strengths, is not injecting levity into the funeral process.  And that's a shame, maybe even more of a shame than Lisa Pollak also seems to miss this point.

(Maybe the craziest part of this mess of a story is that after the story is played for the audience the staff of This American Life, themselves having just listened to the piece for the first time as a group, all heap praise on the piece and laud it for being well reported.  Apparently, the fact that even in the story Lisa Pollak's mother seems dissatisfied with the results of the investigation doesn't merit much consideration.  Weird.)

Alex Blumberg's story, or Act 3, based on a suggestion from his father to examine the origins of corporate personhood suffers from slightly different problems - it adheres too closely to the original pitch and spends too much time showing it's workings while transitioning to a more do-able version of the pitch.  In this case, the suggestion from Alex's father is something I think has the potential to be quite interesting and it seems to be a story pitch that Alex understands.  As is reported in the story, maybe the approach to the issue of corporate personhood suggested by Alex's father isn't quite the best way in - which isn't that surprising given his lack of expertise on the subject demonstrated by his quest to learn more - but that doesn't mean that the general topic isn't fascinating and ripe for inquiry.

Unfortunately, just as Alex's story has worked it's way through the hiccups of the pitch and is moving on to the interesting side of the story (and I suspect that in most This American Life episodes they would have just cut this prologue and gone right to the portion of the reporting that lead to fruitful results) Ira decides the story is too boring to continue and the kills it, leading to a reverse en media res of sorts.

How Alex's dad's pitch was handled was disappointing because I think that it is likely a This American Life-style narrative story about the origins of corporate personhood, or maybe a consequential instance of corporate personhood, could be a great fit for the now.  Now, because of the failings of this piece, we're unlikely to hear such a story.  It seems it's been decided that issues associated with corporate personhood are just too boring for This American Life.

For better or worse, I can't really remember the other stories included in this episode.  I suspect that means that they were just fine, but not particularly memorable for being either great successes or great failures.  Whatever the quality of the remaining stories, this certainly hasn't been one of the episodes I've been tempted to revisit over the years since it was first broadcast/podcast - it just wasn't that good.

The ultimate irony of epiosde being that in an attempt to demonstrate the special skills and contributions of producers of This American Life that go into the creation of each and every episode of the show, this episode was one of the least skillfully produced and execute.  These skilled producers certainly weren't able to manage the less-than-alchemical transition of silver to gold.  Instead, we were given a peak behind the curtain and shown that when handed a story they don't understand, just like us, the producers of This American Life fumble around and, sometimes, miss the point of the assignment.  Of course, I don't really think that this was the point they were trying to make.

(Ok, there hasn't been much narrative to this whole thing, but how was that for a This American Life-style ending.  Just throw a little Coffaro's Theme or Mogwai underneath and you wouldn't be able to to tell this wasn't the real thing.)

(Jeannette thinks this post may be a little harsh, especially when I am a fan of This American Life and typically listen to each episode the night it is released.  I think it is because I know the quality that is typical of the show that this somewhat disappointing episode merits discussion - but maybe I'm wrong and I should just let it go after six years.  The truth is that I'm probably probably overly committed to the idea of funny funerals to provide an unbiased assessment of any piece of work that doesn't understand their significance in the same way I do - it's possible that this first story set the tone for the entire episode and I'm not judging the rest of the episode fairly.

Who knows?

But you should definitely take the opinion of a rando on the internet who's been obsessing over a single episode of a long-running podcast for more than six years with a grain of salt.)

Cameron - 7
Neil - 0

Hot Podcast Cameo

A few weeks ago while listening to Backstory, a great American history podcast/radio show, I the against-character decision to provide requested listener feedback.  In this case, they were looking for advertising styles that they could use to create mock-up ads in the same style for the show.  I suggested the mid-20th century tobacco that featured advice from medical professionals about the benefits of smoking.

Much to my surprise, I was contacted by the show to say that they were hoping to go with my suggestion.  The only bummer is that they were hoping that I could call in to leave the suggestion as a phone message (I'd previously submitted the idea textually).

Somewhat begrudgingly, and with much uptalk and hesitancy, I left the requested message outlining my idea.

When I heard the show last week I was quite impressed with the segment that preceded my mocked up ad - it was about one of the individuals most responsible for this type of advertising.  I like to think that my suggestion not only lead to the mocked up ad, but also in the entire preceding segment.  I guess I could try and ask the producers of the show - but why risk it?

Anyway I recommend not only the episode in which I make an appearance, but the show generally - it is very well done (my only real frustration with the show is that a friend who applied for one of their producer positions was not hired).  I particularly looking forward to listening to this week's show about women in the workplace (as one of the stories is about the 'Rosies' - a in which my grandmother is a relatively proud and active member).

Cameron - 3
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 617

-After several weeks of unRegina like Winter weather, we've finally moved on to the type of Regina winter weather I've come to know and love - it's about -20 and sunny.  As far as I'm concerned this is almost perfect Winter weather.  It just doesn't get better than this.

-While doing some supplementary shovelling today (I did the driveway, paths, and sidewalk immediately after the snowfall) I had the pleasure of taking in some of this wonderful Winter weather first hand.  Of course, to prepare for the low temperatures I put on my coat, mitts, scarf, face mask, and hat.  I was amazed to find that when I came in about 30 minutes later I was really sweating (and at no point did I feel cold).

-A few months ago This American Life began a new spin-off show - Serial.  Almost immediately Jeannette and I became rabid listeners.  During the run of the show we more or less restricted ourselves to the weekly podcast and the various discussions we would have with each other after each new episode was released.

Now that the podcast's first season has ended but various related stories have been independent news outlets we've gotten sucked into the Serial Reddit vortex.  We can seem to spend an entire evening just reading Reddit comments about alternate theories of a 1999 Baltimore murder case.  When not reading these comments I am compulsively contemplating my own (or Jeannette's particularly good) theory/ies of the case.

How is it possible that I am spending more time thinking about a 12 episode podcast now that it has ended than I did while it aired?  How can I be waiting for new articles from The Intercept, articles that I know will just upset me, with a greater sense of anticipation than I had for new episodes? (I've probably checked for the concluding segment of the Kevin Urick interview 20 times today.)

-At some point soon I may have to start thinking about what to make for dinner tonight.  On the other hand, because of our ongoing illnesses it seems likely that neither of us may be as inclined to eat in a timely fashion as we normally might be.

A Few Quick Notes 596

-After a few days in the -35 zone we've moved back into slightly more reasonable temperatures.  Though I don't think we actually made it above zero today, with the help of the sun it was warm enough that we actually had a little slush to contend with as we were making our way home from work.    Hopefully this will be frozen by the time I have to head back to work tomorrow morning.

-You know what's great about this time of year?  It's great that when I drive to work it's not pitch black.  It's strangely comforting to know that you're not arriving at work an hour before sunrise.  And it's not bad that the sun doesn't set until about an hour after the workday ends either.

-After work on Friday (at least I think it was Friday) I received a very strange robocall that seemed to be about electoral redistricting in Saskatchewan.  Just about the only thing that I could make out was that the call supposedly came from 'Chase Research.'

Turns out I wasn't the only one in Saskatchewan to get such a call and that these calls have now been the subject of a number of media reports, including this one.

-Somehow, after years of trying, I've finally managed to get Jeannette to listen to a few of my regular podcasts.  The new This American Life has now become a shared Sunday ritual (instead of one I shamefully engaged in alone whenever I could sneak a listen).  And over the past few weeks I've managed to sneak in RadioLab, 99% Invisible, and the always informative Inside Jobs Podcast.  For whatever reason I haven't quite managed to draw Jeannette into my Jordan, Jesse GO!/Stop Podcasting Yourself web.

-I made eight small raspberry tarts tonight.  Now that they're out of the oven I have no interest in eating them.  Maybe by tomorrow morning I'll rustle up some kind of willingness to sacrifice my health so that these guys don't end up sitting on the counter and spoiling.  

What a tough life I lead.

Cameron - 2

Neil - 0

Get your listen on

A few of my favourite podcasts recently came out with episodes that I quite enjoyed.

This American Life's Switcheroo episode had a particularly engaging story about a new form of outsourced journalism.  Despite the fact that I've listened to the episode and also read a few follow-up stories on the profiled company I still don't know exactly how I should feel about the practice of outsourced context-free reporting.  Anyway, I'm definitely glad to know that this kind of thing is going on and that we're now talking about it a bit more than we were a few days ago.

Radiolab's remix contest episode was also pretty fun (though in a very different way than their content usually is).  The contest's winning entry really worked for me and reminded me of the great Idea's episode by Adam Goddard More About Henry (available here as an episode of Living Out Loud).

I write such posts because I realize I am the internet's #1 source of audio content reviews.  If it weren't for these occasionally posted reviews this place would surely be a ghost town.

Or maybe you're actually coming here for the great Leacockian flourishes?

Fixing the internet

I may currently be clogging the internet with garbage, but earlier this afternoon I feel as though I made a real contribution to fixing the internet.

While looking at the episode summary for the upcoming This American Life episode Conventions I noticed that the link to Dishwasher Pete's site was broken (because the site no longer exists).  Through the magic of Twitter I conveyed this information directly to the powers that be at This American Life.

Within 9 minutes (and it was likely much less than this) the broken link was removed and replaced with a functioning link.

Sometimes the internet blows my mind.

Cameron: 8
Neil: 0

What I won't be doing tomorrow...

...is watching the Super Bowl.  What I will be doing tomorrow is looking forward to the end of Super Bowl snack adds in the the local grocery stores.

For some reason, even though I don't think my media consumption habits are all that different this year,  I feel as though I am hearing more about this weekend's impending Super Bowl.  It is almost as though I can't avoid discussion of coverage of the event.

This week, much to my surprise, two of the podcasts I listen to that normally have nothing to do with sports had extended sections on the upcoming Super.  How To Do Everything covered issues relating to the game and the viewing of the game while Planet Money covered issues relating to the expected economic spin-offs for Indianapolis.  And I'm sure I've heard about it somewhere else as well, I just can't remember where at the moment.

I guess I still don't quite get the fascination with this event, particularly in Canada.  Not only does the coverage drag on for hours, but the game being played has to be one of the more excruciating sports to watch.  And it's best of one, so if the better team is a little off for the game they may not even win.  And who likes watching a championship in which the better team is so likely to lose?

Cameron: 5
Neil: 0

Gwynn-eh-a Pigg

A few days ago I couldn't stop thinking about "Gwynn-eh-a Pigg."  It was stuck in my head and I didn't know why.


Fortunately, after a few days of thinking and speaking this phrase I remembered the source - an episode of the Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast.

Shortly after coming to this realization I remembered another episode of their's, this one dealing with spicy pony heads and I couldn't help but think it might be something that Kirsten would like.

A Few Quick Notes 557

-The temperature has been yo-yoing for the past few weeks.  For instance, yesterday we had a high of 5 while it is currently -13.  Apparently it is to be 10 on Friday.  Between now and Friday we are to have a series of different forms of precipitation starting with snow and ending with rain.  Sounds fun doesn't it?

-As Jeannette noted yesterday, we are currently in the midst of pomelo and blood orange season.  Is there a better time of year than a time of year when you can have a pomelo a day?

I think not.

-For better or worse it seems that to coincide with the beginning of a new season of Republic of Doyle a few new pitches have been posted at Doyle Pitches.  I suspect that the goal this year is, as Spike Lee almost said, "Mo' Better Pitches."

-Just days after I included a post about my podcast listening habits one of the individuals responsible for many of my listening habits also posted about his podcast listening habits.  Of course, Jesse Thorn's post includes a few more details about each of the podcasts he listens to than my post (one might even go so far as to say that it is informative).   What Jesse's post lacks, at least in comparison to mine, is an image that charts his development at a podcast listener.  I mean, really, who creates such a list without an accompanying info-graphic.  How gauche.

(I'm just glad tone comes across so clearly in electronic communications.)

From This American Life to This is That

For a while I have been interested in creating a graphic representation of development of my podcast listening habits.  In particular, I was interested in looking at the podcasts that I have started listening to either directly because of This American Life or because of podcasts that I started listening to because of other podcasts I had started listening to because of This American Life.

Anyway, last night I got around to sketching out a rough diagram (which I then converted into the image below today). 

I'm sure this image will be as helpful to you as it will be to me.

Note: The Sound of Young America has received credit for referring some podcasts that I actually started listening to because of the Maximumfun.org Podthoughts column.  Also, I know that The Sound of Young America is now called Bullseye, but it was the original incarnation of the show that lead me to these other podcasts, not the one episode of Bullseye that currently exists.

Now I know who to blame

For the past few years I have been frustrated by the increasing difficulty I am have when shopping for blocky toothbrushes.  Frequently I have had to settle for toothbrushes with displeasing round handles (they don't fit in so many toothbrush holders and they just look so big and clunky).

While listening to an early episode of 99% Invisible, a podcast I mentioned a few days ago, I finally learned why hunt for the classic boxy toothbrush has become so hard, and why it is likely to stay that way.

 

[Embedded audio]

It seems that someone finally thought about how people actually hold toothbrushes and discovered that the square shape wasn't necessarily best suited to the way most people grip them.  Seemingly overnight most major manufacturers dropped the old design and adopted the new one (Is this not also a major intellectual property issue?).

Of course this happened quietly.  There was no announcement made to indicate that one toothbrush handle style would be phased out and another introduced.  They were there one day and beginning to vanish the next.

Unfortunately, at least as far as I am concerned, I am one of those individuals whose grip style was suited to the classic toothbrush shape (though I don't know if my grip suited the shape or if the shape shaped my grip).

Now, years after the major shift in toothbrush design, I am left hunting for (and hoarding) toothbrushes with the handle style that I like with the knowledge that they are likely soon to be extinct.  With each passing brush the my remaining stash becomes valuable.  And replenishing my stash is becoming harder and harder.

Though it may have several admirable features and fans, like the incandescent lightbulb, the classic blocky handled toothbrush seems to on irreversible march towards oblivion.  And though our numbers may be few, there are at least a few of us who will mourn the passing of these simple bathroom accoutrements.

(Just to be clear, I really do appreciate 99% Invisible's story on design changes to toothbrush handles.  This clears up something I have been wondering about for years.  Furthermore, I don't even bear any ill will to those who have inadvertently lead to the demise of my preferred toothbrush handle shape - they were just trying to come up with a better toothbrush handle shape.  I just wish my preferred style of toothbrush handle hadn't been pushed out of the marketplace.)

A Few Quick Notes 554

-Though we have finally dropped down to sub-zero temperatures in Wolfville, things are still looking quite nice today.  A few recent dustings of snow are making things look particularly festive.  I am even hopeful that we may manage to squeeze out a nice sunset this afternoon evening.

-My Christmas preparations, aside from some gift shopping and thinking about all of the cleaning I will likely need to do, started in earnest today when I made some bread that I eventually intend to use for the turkey stuffing.  As much as I am willing to admit that it does seem a bit weird to intention bake bread to allow it to go stale, it seems even weirder to me to buy bread with the intention of letting it go stale.  Anyway, the deed has been done and the bread is now working its way towards staleness.

-The individuals previously associated with our phone number are still receiving daily calls from creditors.  While I seem to have talked a collection agency into not calling, we are still receiving regular calls for another individual from a major financial institution.  As I have already spoken to the company once I don't really know what my next step is (the calls are automated, making one-on-one interactions with the staff difficult).

(While writing this I had to deal with another such call, though this time from a person.  I suspect I was talking to a collection agency, but as there number was blocked I can't confirm this hunch.)

-I probably listen to too many podcasts.  I consume them while cooking, cleaning, walking, procrastinating, and riding the bus.  They're the best.  And there's little I like more than discovering a great new podcast with an archive I can compulsively listen to over the course of a few days.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I have recently found two podcasts that I am in the midst of acquainting myself with.  The first one, HOW TO DO EVERYTHING, which seems to be NPR/WBEZ associated, is pretty light and concerns itself with a Richardson's Rounduppesque assortment of topics.  The second one, 99% Invisible (which I discovered thanks to a recent Radiolab episode), is a little more serious and generally deals with topics relating to architecture and design.

A Few Quick Notes 529

-We are in the midst of another beautiful day in Halifax. Amazingly, even though it has been sunny all day the puddle outside my window (which was featured in yesterday's video) has still not dried up.

-I am now down to a shameful 4 for 32 in this year's RUTRTW contest. I guess all of this year's Dal luck when to the girl who won a car the other day.

-I have been spending far too much time following a variety of Canadian politics types on Twitter. The problem is that as reporters are reporting on things from the field one can basically watch stories as they break and as the various parties respond to them. One can easily have an entire day sucked up without really accomplishing more than gaining a familiarity political brouhaha of the day.

-Last night Neil and I attended our final DAGS meeting of the year, and this was after we had already attended our union's AGM. Talk about a day full of large-scale meetings.

-Neil and I will be heading over to our local Yuk Yuk's tonight to see Graham Clark of Stop Podcasting Yourself fame. I am curious to know if I will be the only bumper/MaxFunster in the audience tonight?

Though Neil isn't much of a MaxFunster or a bumper, tonight's show will mean that he is something of a Stop Podcasting Yourself completist in that he will have seen both Dave and Graham perform live in Halifax. Presumably one of the few people in the world to have accomplished such a feat?

-I should either get back to work or start making dinner. Probably the latter in this instance.

A Few Quick Notes 527

-Though today started off being a fair bit above average it seems that things have now turned a little overcast. Hopefully this change in sky colour won't lead to a change in precipitation levels.

-I am now down to 4 for 31 in this year's RUTRTW contest. I have to say, my heart really isn't in it any more. I keep buying rims just expecting to to lose (and then become somewhat comforted by the fact that my prediction turned out to be correct). Maybe I will find a way to get my groove back for next year.

-My Ignatieff rally video seems to gotten a few views, and this is after I deleted the first version to replace it with a higher quality video. I suspect that things will level off shortly, at at least by the end of the campaign.

-Early this afternoon I picked up a few more essays to grade. I suspect that almost as soon as I finish grading these essays it will be time to grade final exams. I can't wait for that to start.

-Yesterday, while we were making our way to the rally, I happened to notice a sign promoting upcoming shows at our local comedy club. Much to my surprise, it seems that one of the hosts of Stop Podcasting Yourself, Graham Clark, will be appearing there this weekend. This is great. I hope to be able to attend the Thursday night show, though I am not quite sure who I will be able to convince to go with me.

Fun stuff on the interwebs

A few days ago I became aware of International Coffee Organization, an IGO dedicated to the coffee trade. Not only does this organization involve itself in the international coffee trade, it also provides all kinds of information about the coffee and the coffee industry. If you are a coffee drinker they likely have information that is is worth checking out.

Just this afternoon I became aware of the fact that the Canadian government, though Public Works and Government Services Canada, operates an online auction site through which all kinds of goods are sold. While they claim vehicle sales are what they are best known for, they currently have a wide range of women's undergarments and designer apparel available for purchase. Oh, and they also have a Rolex and some jewellery for sale, along with surplus military attire. This

And because they are in the midst of their annual MaxFunDrive I should probably encourage everyone to check out the great free content that is available through Maximumfun.org. In particular, mainly because I haven't mentioned it here before, I should direct your attention to their newest podcast, Judge John Hodgman. Except as they relate to matters of style, Hodgman's 'rulings' are always insightful, eloquent, and persuasive.

Update: Shortly after I finished this post I saw that my friend Nicole posted about the fact that Life's photo archive is now available through Google. Anyway, this is another "Fun stuff on the interwebs" that I recently discovered and that I think is worth checking out.

A Few Quick Notes 468

-We had another grey and overcast day in Halifax today. At points, much to my chagrin, it was raining somewhat consistently.

-I made a monstrously large batch of bean soup this evening. Though the soup may not be having a particularly beneficial impact on my digestive system, it was pretty tasty.

-We played our final fall league Ultimate game on Wednesday. The game was played in some of the heaviest rain of the year. Amazingly, the rain, though heavy, was relatively warm. Though the game was played in less than ideal conditions it wasn't too bad a game.

-Today, for the first time in my life, I submitted a letter to the editor to the Globe and Mail. I suspect that my letter won't be published but I am glad submitted a letter that pointed out a rather glaring factual error (the suggestion that Harold Innis was alive in 1969).

-Jeannette and I are presently watching the modern classic Groundhog Day. I am allowing myself a few minutes of relaxation after a long day of TA related responsibilities. For those of you who are interested, Stephen Tobolowsky, the actor who played Ned Ryerson, released a series of stories on the making of the film.

A Few Quick Notes 467

-Today turned out to be a much more pleasant day than I expected, largely because we didn't have the rain that I expected. It looks as though we are due to be really slammed tomorrow though.

-I managed to spend a good chunk of today dealing with TA related activities. It seems likely that I will also spend much of tomorrow dealing with similar activities.

-Yesterday, because of a TSOYA-related blog post I ended up subscribing to a few new podcasts.

Freakonomics Radio, a podcast based on the book and blog by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This afternoon, while walking around campus, I managed to listen to a few episodes and was quite impressed. I found the episode dealing with education reform (and the use of personalized teaching approaches) in New York City particularly interesting.

Another one I happened upon during this podcast directory browsing experience is called Hmmm.... and seems seems to be related to RadioLab, already a favourite of mine, though with somewhat different content and an emphasis on shorter, easier to access pieces.

To The Best of Our Knowledge, the podcast that lead me down the path to the aforementioned podcast subscriptions, seems to be more general in nature than the other two that I mentioned. Unfortunately, unlike the other two (because of the length of the episodes) I have not yet had the chance to listen to a full episode. Nonetheless, the part of the one episode that I did hear was pretty good.

-I guess I should get back to work.

A Few Quick Notes 464

-Today, like the past few days, has been relatively warm and incredibly humid. As I am writing this Environment Canada is reporting that the humidity is 99%, one of the few statements of their's that I am willing to take a face value.

-Neil and I had another brutally long DAGS meeting this evening. Hopefully the upcoming meetings won't be multi-hour drudgery sessions, though I guess these things tend to be a little like this. And, to be fair to those involved, the meeting went relatively quickly considering the quantity of business that we had to get through.

-We won another Ultimate game yesterday. Some how, even though we lost four players to injuries, we managed to gather enough people to field a successful team.

-I recently learned the creative force behind one of my favourite podcasts, Stephen Tobolowsky, signed a book deal based on the content of the podcast. I presume that this development isn't particularly surprising for regular listeners, the content always struck me as something that could easily be converted into a great book. Anyways, if you are into podcasts that transmit personal stories The Tobolowsky Files is definitely worth checking out.

-Through he reality show The Amazing Race our apartment has been introduce to the videos of KevJumba (AKA Kevin Wu). Over the course of the past few days I have been subjected to gales of laughter as a result of viewings of his videos. I guess that such reactions are an indication that I might consider checking them out.

-Apparently, after thousands of years without them, Newfoundland is now home to a breeding population of snakes, garter snakes to be specific. This is quite a development, and follows on the heals of the relatively recent introductions of squirrels and coyotes. What else will be living there by the time I next visit?

-While on the subject of snakes, Newfoundland seems to have recently introduced changes to allow its police officers to snake their way around probable cause when stopping cars. Apparently a reason is no longer needed for a police officer to pull a driver over to determine whether or not they have been drinking or committing some other infraction. While I suspect that this change won't receive too much press, I hope that this is either rescinded or challenged. It is not a minor change to remove probable cause from the range of considerations police must deal with before engaging in searches.

-It seems that the Western portion of the US, including Phoenix, is presently in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave. This should be fun. At least I will get to experience this 'dry heat' that I have been hearing so much about.

Forget bungee jumping

SCAD (Suspended Catch Air Device) diving is an extreme activity that I recently heard about on RadioLab. It kind of makes bungee jumping look tame, though it doesn't have the face-first element that bungee jumping does.



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Of course squirrel suits make both SCAD diving and bungee jumping look tame.



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I guess what I am really getting at is that you should check Radiolab out if you are in the market for a great podcast.

A happening 24 hours in Halifax

Yesterday afternoon Neil and Rebecca returned to St. John's for a week of high-level math and family fun. Almost as soon as they left the peninsula I put myself in extrovert mode and started attending a series of public performances.

I started things off with a nice comedy show.

Several weeks ago I noticed that our neighbourhood blues bar, Bearly's, plays host to a weekly Wednesday night comedy show called Laughter Burner. What made me really want to give this show a shot was that it is hosted former Stop Podcasting Yourself guests, Dylan Rhymer and Ben Mills.

After several weeks of conflicting squash sessions, I was finally able find myself free on a Wednesday evening last night. Not only was I free, but I was also able to talk Jeannette into attending the show with me. At about 8:00 we made our way over (as that was the advertised starting time), though it turns out that we were there quite a while before things started. Actually, I am pretty sure that we were the first people there for the show (though there were a few others in the bar for standard bar related activities). Fortunately we were able to pass the time with a friendly discussion about the qualities of the actors who have portrayed James Bond and the relative merits of their portrayals of James Bond.

The show, which consisted of a number of short acts puntucated by draws for crappy prizes, was great. Aside from the hosts, we were also both particularly taken with the final act of the night, Peter White, a fellow sufferer of kidney stones. Though neither Jeannette nor I was lucky enough to win one of the sets of sub-par prizes (which always include a sample of cheese), we were both convinced that the show was worth our time and worth visiting again. Hopefully we will be able to make it again next week (or at least to another show in the near future).

Much to my surprise, the live performance theme was continued today when I met Jeannette (who provided the following photos) for lunch and we happened upon a jazz band performing next to the ferry terminal. After a few minutes we started to get the sense that the band we were seeing, 6:20 Jazz Lab from Mobile Alabama, was something of a religious group. The emphasis on spirituals was quite striking, as was the fact that the band had a "drama department." It seems that the drama side of the group was used to provide either dancers or costumed characters to match the theme of the song.



Based on some Googling, I got the sense that this band is in town for a number of Christianity-themed performances. Unfortunately I couldn't find a proper website for them, or a real explanation about what they were doing on the waterfront today.

Alongside this group, and seemingly somehow related to them, was former major leaguer Bernie Carbo. At the time I had no idea who Bernie Carbo was, or why he might be manning a personal appearance stand next to the Halifax harbour.



After I returned to the apartment I was able to learn that Carbo, most famous for his pinch hit home-run for the Boston Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series tied the game and preceded Carlton Fisk's game-winning 12th inning home run, suffered from a number of addictions before finding solace in Christianity. It seems that Carbo, after becoming a hairdresser, now spends much of his time with church related activities.

While hunting down information about Carbo and the 6:20 Jazz Lab I happened to swing by the TD Halifax Jazz Festival website and see that there was a free Klezmer performance at 2:30 this afternoon by the Halifax group Der Heisser. Because I didn't have anything scheduled for this afternoon I decided that I would try to swing by the jazz festival main tent and take in some of this show. Though I didn't stay for the entire show (it was a little hot for me), I did really enjoy the part of the show that I saw.

These three performances were really quite useful as I was once again able to confirm that I am really only interested in seeing performances that are indoors and that have proper seating. Having to brave anything less than ideal conditions really impedes my ability to enjoy a performance. That being said, I am considering attending another free jazz festival performance tomorrow afternoon.