This Week’s Podcast: Wonderful Ideas On The BBC’s “In Our Time.”

By Richie Hoban
The Daily Call (7/1/15)

This week’s podcast focuses on the BBC podcast “In Our Time” with Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas. You can access the website with this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/downloads

The American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor Buckminster Fuller came up with the theory of the“Knowledge Doubling Curve.” He noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. In the 21st century on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months. With this idea firmly in place one comes to realize there is a lot to learn or know or experience out there in the internet world. How to come to terms with it all? I recently found a podcast that dissects ideas succinctly to give one an appetite for more yet satisfies the voracious character of an excited human mind. This wonderful podcast is from the BBC and is entitled “In Our Time.”

With its no-nonsense host Melvyn Bragg along with a cornucopia of interesting guests, “In Our Time” explores history, science, culture, and ideas that span human time. From understanding the real Prester John (in the Middle Ages, Prester John was seen as the great hope for Crusaders struggling to hold on to, then regain, Jerusalem) to The Metaphysical Poets (a diffuse group of 17th century writers including John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George Herbert) to Eunuchs and even to the Higgs Boson particle (fundamental constituent of nature that - if it does exist - has such a central role in defining the universe that it’s also known as the God Particle) are all dwelled upon here.

The host Melvyn Bragg is “a leading figure in broadcasting - editing, producing and presenting a large number of innovative, award-winning arts television programs and equally acclaimed radio programmers across the cultural spectrum.” Mr. Bragg has the uncanny ability that most good hosts do to ask the right questions and keep an eye on the topic during discussions.

Most of the podcasts run about 45 minutes and they jump out of the gate and get right to the chase in his shows. He gives a synopsis of each topic and then introduces guest academic experts on the topic. If you need some meaty knowledge for your brain to absorb download some podcasts and enjoy the dense protein of knowledge because at the rate human knowledge is doubling the ocean of ideas is very deep, and getting deeper all the time. Please, try not to drown.

Upside to the Podcast: There are a bunch of categories to choose from and thousands of hours of episodes to feed your brain.

Downside to the Podcast: No speculation, aliens or fringe science here. Everything is academically tethered to the material idea of science and book learning but don’t let that deter you from the hundreds of topics the site offers.

****

This week’s podcast episode spotlight is from Youtube.com entitled, “Are You SERIOUSLY ‘Ready for Hillary’?!” You can access the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYJ-yfnj-OE

There is this song I want to write called “You’re Not a Liberal If.” For examples one of the lines would go, “You are not a liberal if you were on the board of Walmart.” Another line would be, “You are not a liberal if you support Monsanto.” Or, how about, “You are not a liberal if you have ties to Goldman Sachs.” And I think the final line would be “You are not a liberal if Bill Clinton is your husband.”

As Chris Hedges has said, “Bill Clinton turned the Democratic Party into the Republican Party.” As you can tell, I’m pretty disgusted with our current political process, and having no democratic candidate to vote for except Bernie Sanders … who of course is an Independent. How am I supposed to vote against corporations if there are only corporate candidates to choose from?

How the corporate media shoves Jeb and Hillary down our throats so we’ll buy their candidates makes it difficult not to throw up. And calling Hillary a “liberal” or “Washington Outsider” insults my intelligence to the point that Jill Stein has ovaries and no corporate ties so I’m going to vote the Green party so I can live with myself.

In an excellent piece of citizen journalism, from a little known website called “Truststeam Media”, Melissa Dykes (a real living liberal) points out all the fallacies, PR and lies of Hillary Clinton’s public life and, man, there enough to make Republicans vote for her.

Here’s a quick look at what Melissa Dykes goes over in this short 18:33 minute piece on this so called liberal candidate:

  • “Hillary was fired from the Watergate investigation back before she was even married to Bill because her boss called her a liar who was acting against the Constitution and trying to hide information from the public.
  • She is on record laughing about helping to get a 41-year-old rapist of a 12-year-old girl OFF on a technicality to be returned to society where he could do it again.
  • She was a lawyer for the Rose Law firm whose clients included Tyson, Monsanto and Walmart, and she was later on Walmart’s board of directors and oversaw the influx of cheap, economy-wrecking Chinese crap.
  • Cattlegate happened somewhere in there as well, in addition to Whitewater, Travelgate and her guilty behavior and actions following Vince Foster’s untimely “suicide”.

So, if you don’t want to know there is no Santa Clause and that Hillary is going to spend $1.2 billion with a plethora of PR folks to help her cover up these lies, don’t watch.

Oh, the chorus of my song would go: “Where have all the liberals gone? Long time passing.”

Scan 11

  • If You’d Like To Explore Other Hidden Nooks And Crannies Of The Internet, Check Out The Daily Call Archive Of Richie’s “Podcasts to Ponder Pearls in Ocean of the Internet”, HERE.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.