Brain Food Dude #14

This week's episode is now available. Listen now, or subscribe on itunes.

This week features clips about:

Spies and tracking jihadists on The International Spy Museum Spycast
History of the Theatre on Big Ideas
Three things learned from surviving a plane crash on TED Talks
The wikipedia entry on the Iraq War from On the Media
How Teddy Roosevelt saved football on Art of Manliness
A song about the case schiller price index on Planet Money

How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football

As if Teddy Roosevelt couldn't get any cooler, now I find out he saved football? Listen to this interview on The Art of Manliness with John Miller, author of "The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football."

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/21/11.

Case shiller home price index, the musical?

I love a good graph, who doesn't? Ok, lots of people probably don't care for graphs, but I love a good one when I see it, or hear it. This week Planet Money made what is possibly the first ever "musical graph," by translating the case shiller home price index into sheet music, and singing it.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/26/11.

History of Theatre

Is theatre dead? Hell no, it's as alive as ever! Listen to this great speech about the history of theatre, by Rod Carley, on Big Ideas.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/21/11.

3 things I learned while my plane crashed

It's not everyday that you hear from somebody who survived a plane crash, but you're about to. Check out this moving TED Talk by Ric Elias.

Wikipedia's entry for the Iraq War

What would happen if you took the wikipedia page for the Iraq War, and printed out every single edit for a 5 year period? James Bridal did just that, and though I don't think it's going to make my summer reading list, it makes for an interesting interview...

Check out this week's On the Media with Bridal.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/22/11.

Don't mess with Shannon Rossmiller

Shannon Rossmiller poses as male jihadists online in order to catch terrorist plotters. The fact that she's done this even once qualifies her for official badass status, but she's done it 214 times.

Check out this interview with Rossmiller on The International Spy Museum Spycast

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/21/11.

A radical experiment in empathy

Here's a great TED Talk by Sam Richards. At first it may seem like this one is about politics, or American foreign policy, but truly it's about empathy. Stick with this talk, it's a great one.

Episode #13

Our 13th episode is now available. Listen now, or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

The economics of illegal drugs

Freeway Ricky Ross was one of the largest crack dealers in Los Angeles. In 1996 he was sentenced to life in prison, but in 2009 he was released on parole. What does he do now? Hangs out with the Planet Money team and talks about the economics of drug trading.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/12/11.

To learn more about the economics of the illegal drug trade, reference HBO's The Wire:

Russia

Russia, the motherland. Home of communism, babushka dolls, and wrestling bears. But what do the Russians watch on TV? We finally have an answer, from To The Best of Our Knowledge.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/14/11.

Anthony Bourdain

Last week the Harvard Business Ideacast interviewed my all time favorite food writer, Anthony Bourdain. This interview gives a great taste of Bourdain's character, and philosophy toward travel and food.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/14/11.

Jon Sarkin

Fresh Air did an amazing interview with artist Jon Sarkin. Sarkin used to be a Doctor, but after a stroke left his brain permanently damaged, he now creates art.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/18/11.

You're wrong!

Kathryn Schulz discusses how it feels to be wrong, and why being wrong is just part of being human.

The Civil War started 150 years ago

I've heard a lot of podcasts about the Civil War this last week, but Fresh Air had one of the best. This is an interview with Adam Goodheart, the author of 1861.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/12/11.

Street art in San Francisco's Mission District

If you've liked our previous postings about street art, check out this 8-minute documentary about street art in San Francisco's Mission.

Brain Food Dude podcast #12

Listen here, or subscribe on itunes.

West Virginia is kinky, and Madison, Wisconsin apparently loves piercings...

What happens when you combine the information from 19 million dating profiles? R. Luke DuBois did just that, and came up with some awesome, and hilarious statistics. Check it out, or listen to an interview with Dubois on Studio 360.

Drawing with your eyes

Here's an amazing TED Talk about street art, helping others, and drawing with your eyes.

Dr. Michio Kaku was named one of the 100 most intelligent people in New York City, though he is the first to point out that Madonna made the same list, so take it with a grain of salt. I'll tell you one thing, his predictions for what the world is going to look like in the year 2100 are mind boggling.

My favorite podcast of the week was a speech he gave at the Commonwealth Club. Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/11/11.

Learn more by reading his new book:

On the media did a few fun segments about slang last week, including one about the urban dictionary. The clips about slang are toward the end of the episode.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/8/11.

Antarctica

To the Best of Our Knowledge aired a show called "polar stories" about the north and south pole. My favorite clip was an interview with Lucy Jane Bledsoe, the author of "The Big Bang Symphony: A Novel of Antarctica." Bledsoe's interview is toward the end of the podcast.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/9/11.

Groupon & Price Discrimination

Planet Money did a whole show about how groupon works.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/9/11.

Why can't we walk straight?

Thanks to Chris in DC for this recommendation from Brain Pickings.

A Mystery: Why Can't We Walk Straight? from NPR on Vimeo.

Brain Food Dude podcast #11

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A car that drives itself

Pandora

One of my favorite new podcasts is How to do Everything. This week they featured a great clip about how Pandora caters music to it's listeners, and why Beatles fans don't like hearing the Bee Gees. Does anyone like hearing the Bee Gees?

Download this episode on itunes. The itunes release date was 3/30/11.

Zappos

This week on the Social Innovation Conversations podcast, Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, discusses business, corporate culture, and the meaning of life.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 3/26/11.

Or better yet, buy his book:

Held captive in Libya

New York Times correspondent, Anthony Shadid, was held in captivity for 7 days by Libyan authorities. Listen to a gripping interview with Shadid on the On Point podcast.

Listen to the full podcast now or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/4/11.

Civil War

It's the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War, so the Backstory podcast is doing a 3 part series about the civil war. Episode 2 just came out, and it's fantastic. Download parts 1 or 2 on itunes.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Hard Core History just came out with part 5 of a 6 part series about the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It's intense, to say the least. Download any of the first 5 parts on itunes.