40 Year Itch

The New Yorker Comment Podcast had an interesting piece about what they call "the 40-year itch."

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/16/12.

Rwanda's Cycling Team

Philip Gourivitch of The New Yorker did a great piece about the Rwandan Cycling Team.

Listen here, download on itunes, or read the full article.

Los Tigres del Norte

Listen to the podcast, or read the article by Alec Wilkinson.

Laboratory grown meat

What if they started growing meat in a laboratory? Not like, chickens or cows, but just meat. No brain, no bones, just lab meat. I kind of thought KFC was already doing this, but you can learn more on The New Yorker Out Loud.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 5/16/11. Or read the article in the New Yorker Magazine.

Junk food

Check out this great discussion about junk food, and pepsi, from the New Yorker Out Loud.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 5/9/11.

Or to dive deeper, read the full article in the New Yorker.

Reality TV

Only the New Yorker could have a serious, intellectual discussion about something as low brow as reality TV.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 5/2/11.

Or read the full article in the New Yorker Magazine.

The Science of Human Nature

David Brooks is my favorite columnist, but most weeks I only get two doses of Brooks from the New York Times. Last week I got a bonus shot. Brooks wrote a brilliant piece for the New Yorker about the science of human nature. I know I post a lot of articles on this blog, but this is easily in my top 5 favorite things I've read in the last year.

WWII Spies

In 1943 a body washed ashore off the coast of Spain. Planted on this dead body were details about the allied plan to invade Sardinia and Greece. When the Nazis discovered this body they felt like they had hit a gold mine, and they moved most troops in the region to Sardinia and Greece. What happened? In probably one of the best instances of trickery ever used in warfare, the English left Sardinia and Greece alone, and invaded Sicily. The body had been planted by the English.

This article by Malcolm Gladwell provides a detailed account of this allied touchdown, and discusses some of the finer points of spying.