Keith Richards & Jay Z

I love it when I hear an interview with somebody I've never thought much about before, and then they blow me away. This has happened twice in the last two weeks on Fresh Air. First it was an interview with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, then an interview with Jay Z.

The interview with Keith Richards is no longer available on itunes, but you can listen now.

For the interview with Jay Z, download it on itunes, or listen now. The itunes release date was 11/16/10.

Good and Bad Journalism

Some of you may have heard the rumor that President Obama's trip to India is running up the cost of $200 billion per day, which turns out to be totally untrue. CNN's Anderson Cooper broke the story a few days ago, which is less about Obama than it is about journalism. As Mark Twain once said, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Here's a great article by Thomas Friedman about Anderson Cooper's story, and here's the CNN video.

Indians

I've recently become more and more interested by Native American history, which made it a nice coincidence that I came across this TED Talk by Aaron Huey.

Part of my newfound fascination with Indians is because of where I now live. San Marcos, Texas is possibly the longest-continually inhabited place in all of North America, people have lived here for roughly 12,000 years (that's about 10,000 years longer than people have lived in Paris). Yet practically nobody is aware of this, and we know almost nothing about the natives of this area. After living in Europe for 7 years, where history is everywhere, I've come back to the United States to realize that this land has plenty of history, we just don't know anything about it.

This podcast gives a great timeline of the 19th century U.S. conquest of the Indians, provides some shocking statistics about reservation life, and shows some powerful photographs.

Watch it now, or download it on itunes. The itunes release date was 11/10/10.

Animal talk

Turns out animals can talk to each other...who knew? Check out this discussion about new findings concerning animal communication on WNYC's Radiolab.

To listen now or to download on itunes click here. The name of this episode is "Shorts: Wild Talk" and the release date was 10/19/10.

The 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube

The Guardian put out this list of the 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube, very cool. Some of the comments at the bottom have great links as well. I haven't watched them all yet, but my two favorite thus far are Nirvana playing in the garage in 1988, and Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street.

Animals & Nature

Here are two great podcasts, both about animals.

The first is a short one from a great podcast called The Memory Palace. It's about lobsters, how they came to be known as the fine dining cuisine they are today, and why they used to be considered on par with eating a squirrel (at the risk of giving it away, scarcity causes demand). This is hands down the most interesting podcast I've ever heard about lobsters (and yes, I've heard more than one).

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/25/10.

The second comes from 'To the Best of Our Knowledge' and includes stories about man-eating tigers, giant waves, and the savage side of nature. This is an awesome podcast.

Listen now, or download on itunes. The itunes release date was 10/24/10.

Earth, Atoms, and The Universe

Boy, they don't make 'em like this anymore. IBM produced this video decades ago, and though the video is a bit outdated, the awesomeness is not. This shows the relativity of Earth to the massiveness of the Universe and the minuteness of an Atom. Check it out, and enjoy.