It will likely come as no surprise, that I’m a fan of NPR. However, since I walk to work, I don’t really listen to it that often LIVE, but I do subscribe to a few podcasts, and I just had to share a few recommendations.
Despite the shadenfreude of the Cramer-Stewart kerfuffle, it did nothing to help anyone better understand what is going on with our economy or how we got there. I think I’ve earlier recommended a This American Life episode which explained how the mortgage crisis happened; this time, they explain why the banks are all failing in simple terms that someone who has never taken an economics course can understand. It also basically explains how there are no good options for us to save the banks — capitalization and nationalization both come with serious pitfalls.
Also on the economic front, Terry Gross had NYT journalist Gretchen Morgensen on Monday to talk about AIG, and Terry did a great job of asking the questions that we need to have asked (and for me, that question most often was, “What does that mean?”), and Morgensen did a great job of explaining and also not remaining “objective”: she laid blame where it deserves to be laid and offered analysis of the responses to the crisis from the government.
Finally, I had for a long while subscribed to the podcast stream of Radiolab, based on some unsourced recommendation a long while back, but had never listened to any of them. On the way to Vegas, I finally listened to one on Musical Language. Now, I am not all that interested in science in general, much to the chagrin of my science colleagues here, whom I tease about working with worms and blowing things up. However, I was captivated and constantly annoyed Rick with, “Ooh, you have to hear this!”. On this episode, there are fascinating discussions of perfect pitch and the impact of one’s native language (that is, that people who are raised to speak languages that depend on tonal differences to make distinctions between different words — e.g., Mandarin — have a much higher propensity to have perfect pitch; in other words, it’s not just ingrained), science and the reception of The Rite of Spring. I was inspired to listen to another podcast on Pop Music, which had a great story on earworms. The last one I listened to was on Race, and it too was interesting — looking at the impossible debate about nature and culture when it comes to race, and things like DNA, athletic talent, and even drug trials.
Just thought I’d share. Now back to making sure I know all of the words for tonight’s concert!
I heard that Radiolab about Stravinsky when it first aired, and have been coming back to that particular idea pretty much every other day. My first reaction is that there was no music on earth any more that could make people riot in the streets after hearing it. My second reaction was, of course there is: Seattle police, e.g., are certain that it happens every Friday night at hip-hop clubs in Pioneer Square. My third reaction was that it’s not an apt comparison–the point of Rite Of Spring was not that it incited the first listeners to riot, rather that it made them go FRICKIN’ INSANE. My fourth reaction was, actually, it’s a totally apt comparison: they were essentially fighting about whether this new paradigm of music was any good or not, and the music was so out there, and the reactions to it so extreme, that the dispute became violent. That’s about where I am on that subject. I didn’t actually have a real comment. I apologize to everybody else who has no idea what I’m talking about right now.