Category Archives: audiocasts

40yrs solitary Angola Prison, Louisiana

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The Louisiana State Penitentiary (… also known as Angola …) is a prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States …

I listened to a BBC audiocast:

… two US inmates have been held in solitary … for what will be 40 years this month.

Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace

The two were originally imprisoned for armed robbery.

The men who later became known as the Angola 2 were linked to the Black Panther party, and fought for better prison conditions for the black inmates, and an end to the widespread rape and harsh work conditions.

While in prison there, they were charged with the murder of a prison guard, and convicted on the evidence of a prison inmate who had been promised his freedom if he testified against them.

… The use of solitary confinement is on the increase in the US – we ask are there good reasons for its use, and whether it is compatible with US and international law.

I have no confidence at all that the American tough on crime laws are effective. Angola would be the place to start an investigation.

This American Life – RETRACTION

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This guy’s a liar. Or is he just taking artistic license?

This weekend, esteemed radio program “This American Life” aired “Retraction” — a stunning refutation of its most popular episode ever — “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory“, which aired on January 6.

A “Marketplace” investigation has revealed that Mike Daisey fabricated or exaggerated aspects of the stage play upon which the segment is based. …

The crimes of the Chinese, Foxconn, Mike Daisey and ourselves

It’s a fascinating story. But the most interesting aspect of all is how superbly This American Life handled the retraction. I listened to the hour long show twice.

TAL – 460:RETRACTION

If you’ve no time to listen to hour long podcasts, here’s a quick summary:

‘This American Life’ Issues Stunning Retraction On Show Critical Of Apple, Foxconn

This will go down as one of the best examples ever of how media should handle stories later proven to be untrue.

It’s fair to the liar. Well done Ira Glass.

Journalism lives.

jobs and the “wealth gap”

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Jeff Jarvis is at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the elite of the elite.

The theme is “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

… They’re discussing growth strategies and so far we’re hearing the same notions we hear elsewhere in Davos, the complete trick bag: spend money on infrastructure, be nice to business, regulate less, reform taxes, reform immigration. OK and OK.

“The problems of job creation are more complicated than that. …

Buzz Machine – Efficiency over growth (and jobs)

For example, Apple and Google are two of the wealthiest companies in 2011, but they don’t have many employees. Some jobs have been eliminated by technology. Others are gone overseas because people just as competent as you are willing to do it cheaper.

Obama’s State of the Union again chastised the American rich for not doing enough. That might be good politics, but it’s not going to do anything to create many American jobs nor reduce the “wealth gap“. I appreciate that he’s trying. … It’s better than nothing.

Is there any solution?

I don’t think so after listening to a new BBC audiocast documentary: The Wealth Gap: The View from London.

The future looks grim for most wealthy nations. The “occupy” protesters, most jobless, will continue being frustrated. And the rich will get richer. If you try to tax them, they’ll relocate abroad.

source – BBC – The Wealth Gap – Inequality in Numbers

If you have a job, I’d recommend you keep it. And start putting away emergency resources. (I’ll not be following my own advice, as you might guess.)

… One of the few bright spots is philanthropy – Davos 2012: Bill Gates commits $750m to fight AIDS

blogging and online comments

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I listened to an excellent audiocast:

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Tom Merritt

Best known as a prominent blogger, and Vice President and Chief Evangelist of Expert Labs, Anil Dash is this week’s guest.

Triangulation

Three of the smartest internet gurus, together.

Of greatest interest to me was Anil’s opine on why true blogging (better) was eclipsed by microblogs like Twitter & Facebook (inferior). The true blogging platforms (e.g. WordPress & Blogger) are still too much work. Tumblr is better.

Next … the pros and cons of online comments.

Gurus MG Siegler and Anil, amongst others, recently turned comments off on their sites.

Matt Gemmell did too. Then posted the most detailed commentary I’ve seen on online comments – Comments Still Off

Personally, I have few enough hateful and ignorant comments on my blogs not to feel compelled to turn them off. The value — especially comments correcting my many errors — outweigh the negative Karma.

Issues regarding comments come up about once a week or so on my Gymnastics blog. I try not to delete or edit, but am forced to occasionally.

My advice, as always — DON’T READ COMMENTS.

why eBooks are the future

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Whether you love old fashioned books or not, I’m thinking they’ll be an expensive custom order product sooner than you think.

Why?

The traditional publishing industry is driving all but best selling authors to eBook.

Take, for example, Trey Ratcliff, author of A World in HDR, which deals with a new technology, high dynamic range (HDR) photography.

He got a $20,000 advance from the biggest photography publisher, Peachpit, and 15% of each copy sold.

Sounds pretty good — right?

Nope.

After that misadventure Ratcliff launched an online company called FlatBooks to self-publish and now earns an “80% profit margin”.

Read his story on GigaOm – Why e-books will be much bigger than you can imagine

In 2012 the interface for reading eBooks is still evolving. I don’t enjoy it. In the meantime, I’ll stick with audio.

Apple soon may be releasing new software to help put old publishing out of its misery. God speed.

tech gurus

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The most popular Geekcast is TWIT, This Week in Technology.

I’ve actually become less attached to that show, preferring MacBreak Weekly and This Week in Google as audiocasts from the same network.

But the most recent episode of TWIT was excellent: There’s An App in my Lap

Leo Laporte, Om Malik, Robert Scoble, and John C. Dvorak

The first 3 are respected tech gurus. Dvorak’s there as a comic, contrary counterpoint. Here’s their advice:

• iPhone 4S is a winner — first as a replacement for you point-and-shoot camera. Still a great phone for regular folks. Tech geeks will be happier with the high end Androids. Look for the Nexus Prime with Ice Cream Sandwich to be launched next week.

• iPhone 4S Siri voice controller is “the future”, but works inconsistently so far

• Kindle Fire (coming Nov. 15th) likely to be a loser, a poor competitor to the iPad. Instead get a $79 Kindle e-reader, the low end. A perfect Christmas present.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It costs $109 if you want NO ADS on that same cheap device. … I’m not sure how well it works around the world. Check first before you buy one if you’re not living in the States.

• huge fight looming between Facebook & Google. Many already spend most of their time in Facebook … when they can SEARCH and WATCH TV / Movies in Facebook, they’ll never need to leave.

• the future of watching what you want, when you want, online is still up in the air. Another looming battle.

• Microsoft bought Skype. The gurus have no confidence that’s going to work. Competitors could beat Skype.

P.I. Soccer Moms

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This American Life is the best radio show in existence. Always good.

But they outdid themselves in episode 447:

THE INCREDIBLE CASE OF THE P.I. MOMS
Originally aired 09.23.2011

What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week’s show.

Ira explains how a man named Chris Butler created a private detective agency where the investigators were good-looking soccer moms. Their publicist invited a reporter named Pete Crooks from Diablo magazine to do a ride-along with the PI Moms on a case. Pete thinks it’ll be a simple, fun assignment. Turns out he was wrong. …

Chris Butler is a megalomaniac who decides that his Soccer Mom private investigators would make him a reality TV celebrity. He now faces life in prison.

… On one level it’s a brilliant, astonishing story. On another an indictment of American “culture” in 2011.

To listen download from here, or subscribe to the audiocast via iTunes.

One bit of good news — the P.I. Soccer Moms reality TV show was cancelled.

in defense of Ayn Rand

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“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.

One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.

The other, of course, involves orcs.”

- Attributed to Paul Krugman.

Atlas Shrugged had that effect on me.

… explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society.

The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry (including Taggart Transcontinental, the once mighty transcontinental railroad for which she serves as the Vice President of Operations), while society’s most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. …

I’ve given Atlas Shrugged to a number of teens. It’s an important book …

Kids need to learn that all men are not created equal, rather that all men should have equal opportunity.

Kids need to learn that we should promote and encourage greatness.

Kids need to learn that authority organizations can ruin their lives ... OK, they already know that.

Now I find myself defending Ayn Rand alongside fans as odious as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. That does hurt.

The new Ayn Rand movie adaptation Atlas Shrugged Part 1 got nuked and ridiculed on the Slate Culture Gabfest audiocast.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

I’m going to see it. Unfortunately the producer of the Ayn Rand adaptation said:

… that he is reconsidering his plans to make Parts 2 and 3 because of scathing reviews and flagging box office returns for the film.

“Critics, you won,” …

I hope he joins Gault and makes the two sequels.

California – extreme democracy gone wrong

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… California is now called a “dysfunctional”, “ungovernable” and even “failed” state. When Mr Brown began his first stint as governor, California had an AAA credit rating, the best there is. Today its rating is A-, the worst among all 50 states and not much better than “junk”. The boss of JPMorgan Chase, America’s second-largest bank, last year told investors that he was more worried about California’s solvency than Greece’s. For three years and counting, California has been mired in a budget crisis. At its nadir, the state was paying its bills in IOUs instead of cash. …

I’ve never understood how California can be failing. This article helps clarify:

The people’s will

California is an experiment in extreme democracy gone wrong, says Andreas Kluth. But reform could make it a model for others …

starting in 1978, the culture and system mutated. Jerry Brown was governor when Californians passed Proposition 13, ostensibly an anti-tax measure but in reality a fundamental constitutional change with vast, and mostly unforeseen, consequences. It led to hundreds of ballot measures as citizens increasingly legislated directly and in tense competition with their own representatives.

read more on Economist

Economist blames “voter initiatives”. What seemed like a good idea at the time, doesn’t seem to work in practice.

Better than the article is the accompanying audiocast – Lessons from California – The Perils of Extreme Democracy