Brain Food Dude #29

Brain Food Dude #29 is now available. Listen here, or better yet, subscribe to us on itunes.

This week's show featured clips from the following podcasts:

Fresh Air about baseball catching.
The Thomas Jefferson Hour about the letters between Jefferson & John Adams.
Econ Talk about potato chips.
Fresh Air about the A&P grocery store chain.

History of the grocery store

Going into a grocery store will never be the same after you listen to this episode of Fresh Air, about the history of grocery stores, and the rise of the A & P grocery chain.

Listen now or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/23/11.

What's it like to be a baseball catcher?

Find out what the life of a major league catcher is like, in this Fresh Air interview with Brad Ausmus.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/18/11.

Letters between Adams & Jefferson

The Thomas Jefferson Hour recently did an excellent two-show series about the 50 year correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. This is a great two hour intro into the founding fathers, and a great first two episodes to try out The Thomas Jefferson Hour.

Here are links to part 1 and part 2, or download on itunes. The itunes release date of these two episodes was 8/14/11 and 8/21/11.

Potato Chips

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about potato chips, and a whole lot more, in this interview with Brendan O'Donohoe of Frito Lay, on Econ Talk.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/22/11.

Brain Food Dude #28

Episode #28 of the Brain Food Dude podcast is now available. Listen here, or subscribe on itunes.

How to be a good parent

This week on Freakonomics Radio they discuss how to be a good parent...according to economists. I love it!

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/16/11.

Why Cleaned Water Stays Dirty In Our Minds

What people think is best for them, is often totally wrong. This is often the case with cleaned drinking water. Learn more on this episode of Morning Edition.

Drinking wine in prison

Last week The Moth aired one of the best episodes I've heard in a long time. Sherman "O.T." Powell tells about prison, and how to make really bad wine.

Listen now.

What's a life worth?

How do you put a price tag on life? Engines of Our Ingenuity discusses how insurance companies must, and do.

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

Magic Trip

A new documentary, called Magic Trip, describes a road trip, and a good old freak out, led by Ken Kesey and the marry pranksters, in 1964. Fresh Air dedicated an entire episode to the film, my favorite clip is an interview with Tom Wolfe, author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/12/11.

The Bataan Death March

The last remaining survivor of the Bataan Death March recently died at age 105. Learn about Brown, and the Bataan Death March, on this episode of All Things Considered.

Al-Quada

Fresh Air did an interview with Thom Shanker & Eric Schmitt of the NY Times, and authors of Counterstrike: the untold story of America's secret campaign against Al-Quada.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/16/11.

Robert Kennedy

One of Robert Kennedy delivered a speech in South Africa, in 1964, which went on to become one of the best known speeches in history. A new documentary was just made about that speech, and you can listen to a discussion about the speech, and this new film, on All Things Considered.

Brain Food Dude #27

The Brain Food Dude podcast #27 is out now. Listen here, or subscribe on itunes.

This week's episode features clips about the following:

Secrets of the FBI on NPR.
Christopher Columbus and ecology on Fresh Air.
Passing on the family business on Freakonomics Radio.
History of the air conditioner on All Things Considered.
Mayan culture and the truth about 2012 on To the Best of Our Knowledge.

History of Anheuser Busch

Freakonomics Radio did an entire show about family businesses, and the success rate of passing them from one generation to the next. Within that show they give a great history of the anheuser busch corporation.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/3/11.

Mayans and the truth about 2012

To the Best of our Knowledge did an entire show about the apocalypse, including an interview with David Stuart, author of The order of Days and the truth about 2012.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/5/11.

Christopher Columbus and Ecology

When Columbus discovered America, the world changed both culturally, and ecologically. This week on Fresh Air they had a great discussion about the ecological aspect, with Charles Mann, author of 1493 Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.

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

History of the Air Conditioner

If air conditioning had never been invented, I'm pretty sure I would have never moved to Texas. Check out this short history of AC on All Things Considered.

Secrets of the FBI

What exactly does the FBI do these days? Check out this interview with Ronald Kessler on NPR.

Brain Food Dude #26

Brain Food Dude podcast episode #26 is out now. Listen here, or subscribe to us on itunes.

This week's episode includes the following clips:

Drone technology on NPR.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on The International Spy Museum SpyCast.
Video games on the On the Media podcast.
Thugs on This American Life.
The origins of pleasure on TED Talks.

Video games will soon be part of real life

Brushing my teeth will earn me points. Cleaning my dog's poo poo will earn me points. Listening to Brain Food Dude will earn me points. How am I going to get all these points, and what on earth am I going to do with them? Check out this episode of On the Media, with a speech by Jessie Schell.

Listen to the full episode of On the Media here.

Thugs

This week This American Life did an entire episode on "thugs." My favorite part is the introductory story about drug gangs in Mexico. Listen here.

Drones

If it weren't for military inventions of the past, we probably wouldn't have GPS, low level light photography, or microwave ovens. What inventions will arise next? Check out this NPR clip about the next steps in drone technology.

Click here to listen to the full story.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is probably one of the most evil men alive. He was not just a mastermind of the 911 attack, but also allegedly played a role in most major terrorist attacks of the last 20 years, including the World Trade Center 1993 bombings, the Operation Bojinka plot, an aborted 2002 attack on the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, the Bali nightclub bombings, the failed bombing of American Airlines Flight 63, the Millennium Plot, and the murder of Daniel Pearl.

Learn more about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on this riveting speech by Richard Miniter, author of Mastermind: The many faces of 911 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, on the international spy museum spycast podcast.

The origins of pleasure

Pleasure is a more mysterious thing than we realize. Check out what Paul Bloom as to say about it on this TED Talk.