This episode of Recovering Queen was such a delight to listen to. They’re covering the wonderful Bicycle Race, a definite 10/10 Queen song. I love their banter about the song itself and the cover at the end was fantastic!
Tag Archives: podcasts
The Space Shuttle
From Enterprise to Columbia and onwards. This is a great start to a new series about the space shuttle from the same people who made 13 Minutes to the Moon.
Kneecap and Gaza
The Irish Passport covers Kneecap’s rise and their support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Right at the end of the episode is a very distressing description of a sniper shooting a 12-year-old’s parents, and sister as they tried to cross a vacant lot to get to a nearby hospital. His father had been shot in the chest the previous night as he looked out of his apartment’s window. Both parents died in the attack.
Why the fuck the UK government is trying to silence music bands like Kneecap and Bob Vylan when these atrocities are continuing without condemnation.
I’ve shared photos of rallies in support of Gaza on my blog over the years. Many Israelis are against the war too. You’re on the wrong side of history if you support the Israeli Government.
Titanic: the unsinkable ship
Titanic is a ship that will be familiar to most, and if you would like to listen to a podcast series about her, I can recommend Titanic: Ship of Dreams. It’s a 13 part series covering everything from the construction of the ship, to modern movies retelling the disaster, to the Titan submersible that blew up while diving to visit her.
There’s also Titanic’s Best Lifeboat, an episode of 99% Invisible discussing the issue of lifeboats on Titanic and on boats in general.
Oh, yeah! Jack & Rose could have survived on that door. There was room. But then she’d be 25 within a few years and too old for him anyway, so maybe it’s for the best how Titanic ended.
Dorothy Vs Hitler
I’d never heard of Dorothy Thompson, but I’m glad I’m listening to this podcast about her. She’s the, “woman who warned the world”.
In 1939, Time Magazine called Dorothy Thompson a woman who “thinks, talks and sleeps world problems — and scares men half to death.” They weren’t wrong.
Why don’t you know about her? She saw what happened to Palestinians after WWII. She spoke out about it and faced immediate pushback from Zionist organizations and the newspapers that published her opinion pieces.
We need more Dorothys now.
Organic cows suffer without medicine
TIL that “organic cows”in the US can’t be given antibiotics. If they are, they are never “organic”, ever again.
In the EU and Canada, farmers aren’t allowed to sell the milk until there’s no sign of antibiotics.
Personally, I’d prefer if an animal was correctly treated for any ailment they might be suffering from. And antibiotics might be the correct course of action. Feeding antibiotics to healthy animals in their feed is ridiculously irresponsible, however.
How do you microdose veganism? Try eating less meat and dairy products. Go meat free once or twice a week. There are plenty of delicious vegan meals to be made, and you won’t miss the meat.
In the follow-up podcast mentioned, they guide the listener through how someone who wants to reduce animal suffering (but also still eat animals) might think through their dinner menu. They recommended eating good quality beef, which surprised me, but given how prevalent battery hens are, it might be easier to discover if a cow was grass fed.
We’re spoiled in Ireland. Most cows are grass fed, and the EU has laws regarding how densely packed chickens can be. EU MPs voted in favour of banning caged farming by 2027 after intense lobbying by activists.
Enough of the Moon already?
With the solar eclipse in the United States, and Ireland and the UK getting a partial eclipse, you’re probably sick of Moon coverage, but I would just like to point you to a couple of podcasts you’ll enjoy if you want more.
- Tom Hanks talking about the Moon walkers on The Rest is History podcast. Who doesn’t love listening to Tom Hanks?
- The Moon itself from Radiolab is a fairly basic look at the Moon, but gets a lot more interesting later on.
Both shows are great, but if you’re only going to listen to one, listen to The Rest is History, sorry Radiolab. But you should listen to both!
If you have even more time to spare, you should listen to the Omega Tau podcast episodes on the Apollo missions I listed in this blog post about Apollo. Fascinating listening. So many technical details.
As expected, the sky outside was a grey blanket on the island of Ireland. I hope someone saw something.
Keith Jarrett – The Cologne Concert
I’d heard of the troubles Keith Jarrett had when he played in Cologne but forgot to find out what his music sounded like until I came across the incident again this morning while listening to Cautionary Tales.
Jarrett was due to play in the opera house there and requested a particular type of piano. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the one he wanted and provided him with a beaten up rehearsal model. It was out of tune, the pedals were sticky, and it was in a terrible condition.
He refused to play at first, but after the promoter, an 18yo woman named Vera Brandes pleaded with him to play. He had to avoid broken keys, and concentrated most of his playing in the middle of the keyboard.
To make things worse, he had driven over the mountains from Switzerland the previous night, his back was in a brace, and he was hungry, having had to miss his dinner earlier in the evening.
I haven’t listened to all of it, but it is remarkable what he coaxed out of such a broken piano! Sometimes, less is more.
I listen to podcasts
It was nice to hear an Irish voice, Sorcha, on the latest episode, Leif, of Heavyweight.
Also, I totally forgot that Pocketcasts has a web player that syncs with the app. So handy!
Another great episode of Cautionary Tales I listened to recently:
All their episodes are great. You should subscribe.
If you watched The Dig on Netflix, you’ll love listening to this episode of the Short History Of… podcast. Even though it’s a “short history”, it has a lot more detail about the dig at Sutton Hoo, the treasures found there and in nearby mounds.
I started listening to a new Sherlock Holmes podcast. I’m only on the first episode, but it has the same feel as the recent TV series, and I’m very much enjoying it so far!
Some of us are still blogging for the hell of it. (HN)
If you’re on the Fediverse, you’re blogging, IMO. 🙂
The end of free returns
What was the last thing you returned to Amazon or other online retailer? I think mine was some faulty electronic goods last year. 10% of online purchases are returned. It’s usually for free, but of course, it’s not free. The price is built in because they expect a certain number of returns.
Anyway, could 2023 be the last year when free returns are a thing? It might mean more transparent pricing, and even a slight reduction in price! (LOL, who am I kidding?) Have a listen to this episode of “What’s your problem?” and decide.
When I saw the title of that episode, I immediately thought it was something to do with travelling to the Moon.
PS. Oh, cool. Gutenberg has an embed block for Pocket Casts links. So nice!