I am still sick. I’m tired of coughing. I guess that makes me sick and tired.
I’m going to see the doctor tomorrow. My throat is still sore. The lymph nodes in my neck are still swollen. <TMI Alert>I cough up yellow and red phlegm.</TMI Alert>
My diaphragm hurts from coughing so much. Every once in a while, I get this stabbing pain in or around my left ear. There is a spot on the top of my head that is sore; it hurts when I touch it. I know, “Don’t touch it!”
It took me longer than I wanted it to to devise my blog entry about this week’s COM 487 Internet & Society reading, “Cyberspace = Cybernetics space” authored by our very own professor, Dr. Adriana de Souza e Silva.
It’s been a while since I’ve given a podcast report. Here are some of my recent listens:
| ♥ | Time Wasted: Didn’t Interest/Entertain Me |
| ♥♥ | Time Well-Spent: I Found It Interesting/Entertaining |
| ♥♥♥ | Time Invested: It Fascinated/Delighted Me |
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Description
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| Slate Explainer Podcasts | How Do You Steal Gas from a Pipeline? | ♥♥ |
To be safe, use a rubber mallet. By Daniel Engber. |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | What Do You Do If You’re Trapped in a Mine? | ♥♥ |
First, try your self-contained self-rescuer. By Daniel Engber. Thirteen miners were trapped underground after an explosion at a West Virginia mine on Monday. A rescue team punched a hole into the mine the next morning and discovered dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. An official from the company that owns the mine said workers are trained to build barricades around an area with breathable air and then wait for a rescue team. Is that really a good idea? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | Where are the USC Championship T-shirts? | ♥♥ |
They might be going to Haiti. By Torie Bosch. On Wednesday night, Texas beat USC 41-38 to win the Rose Bowl and college football’s national championship. After the game, Longhorns players paraded around the field sporting freshly minted championship hats and T-shirts. But what happens to the merchandise that gets printed up for championship game losers? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | When Can a Government Employee Blow the Whistle? | ♥♥ |
Are the wiretap leakers breaking the law? By Daniel Engber. The Department of Justice revealed last Friday that it is investigating the leak of classified information about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program. Three weeks ago, a New York Times article by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau described a secret executive order to allow some domestic wiretaps without a warrant. According to the article, “[n]early a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with reporters … because of their concerns about the operation’s legality and oversight.” Are you allowed to leak government secrets to expose an illegal act? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | How Do You Detect Lightning? | ♥♥ |
Lightning Detection 101 How do they know if a bolt struck the mine in West Virginia? By Daniel Engber. According to a local newspaper report, a series of lightning strikes may have caused last week’s explosion in a West Virginia mine. Vaisala, a company that keeps track of thunderstorms for the government, says a pair of lightning bolts hit near the mine around the time of the explosion. How do you detect lightning? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | How Much Can Doctors Tell the Press? | ♥♥ |
“Surviving Miner Develops Slight Fever” How much detail can doctors give the press? By Daniel Engber. The only trapped miner to survive last week’s explosion in West Virginia developed a slight fever on Monday, according to his doctors. Randal McCloy Jr. remains in critical condition, and he’s still connected to a ventilator even though he is now breathing on his own. Is there any private information the hospital can’t give to the press? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | How Do Police SWAT Teams Work? | ♥♥ |
SWAT Did You Say? Police tactical units and how they work. By Daniel Engber. A Florida police sniper killed a would-be bank robber on Tuesday night while he attempted to flee the scene with a cohort and a hostage. The criminals tried to leave the bank after a SWAT team entered the back of the building with a concussion grenade. The team had surrounded the building about 10 hours earlier, after a bank employee called 911 to report the robbery. How do police SWAT teams work? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | Do You Have to Fill Out a Form to Join al-Qaida? | ♥♥ |
Joe Padilla pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges in a Miami federal court last Thursday, where prosecurotrs revealed a document said to be his application for entry into the al-Qaida terrorist network. The government retrieved the paper from a cache of almost 100 so-called Mujahadeen Data Forms discovered in Afghanistan. Do you really need to fill out paperwork to join al-Qaida? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | Were Last Week’s Missile Strikes in Pakistan Illegal? | ♥♥ |
A U.S. missile attack targeting al-Qaida’s second-in-command killed 18 people in a Pakistani village early Friday morning. Pakistan’s government lodged a “strong protest” with the American ambassador the next day; public protests followed. This is the fourth such assault in the last few months, and it comes just a few weeks after the Pakistanis formally protested a Jan. 7 helicopter attack that killed eight people. Are these cross-border strikes against the law? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | What’s Benjamin Franklin’s Birthday? | ♥♥ |
Why it’s 11 days later than it used to be. On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the city of Philadelphia celebrated Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday. According to the Boston Globe, Franklin was actually born on Jan. 6, 1706, but that was before the colonies switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. When Great Britain updated to the new system by skipping 11 days in 1752, Franklin dutifully moved his birthday. Did everyone change birthdays in 1752? |
| Slate Explainer Podcasts | Why Do Transplanted Body Parts Get Rejected? | ♥♥ |
Tissue Rejection 101. Why the first face transplant might not stick. The French woman who received a historic face transplant in November nearly rejected her new mug, her doctors said Tuesday. As her immune system attacked the transplanted skin, the new face turned red. Doctors staved off the problem with a huge dose of steroids, and now the patient is doing well enough to resume smoking cigarettes. Why do transplanted body parts get rejected? |
| Slate Magazine | Quit Your Whin-ing, Generation Y | ♥♥♥ |
The It-Sucks-To-Be-Me Generation. Twentysomethings who can’t stop whining about how the economy is screwing them. By Daniel Gross. Oh, it’s so hard to be young these days! Just crack open Generation Debt: Why Now Is a Terrible Time To Be Young, by Anya Kamenetz, or Strapped: Why America’s 20-and-30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead, by Tamara Draut, and you’re plunged into a world of darkness and sorrow. This is, with apologies to the Broadway musical Avenue Q, the “It Sucks To Be Me” Generation. To hear these authors tell it, college graduates (and twentysomethings who haven’t gone to college) are in a world of hurt. The deck is stacked against them: student loans and credit-card debt, budget deficits and McJobs, high housing prices and generational warfare waged by more-numerous baby-boomers. |
| Slate Magazine | Starbucks’ Little Secret | ♥♥♥ |
Starbucks Economics: Solving the mystery of the elusive “short” cappuccino. By Tim Harford. Here’s a little secret that Starbucks doesn’t want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. The puzzle is to work out why it’s not on the menu. |
| Slate Magazine | So You Want to Start a Cafe? | ♥♥♥ |
Bitter Brew. I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. By Michael Idov. You know that charming little cafe on New York’s Lower East Side that just closed after a mere six months in business—where coffee was served on silver trays with a glass of water and a little chocolate cookie? The one that, as you calmly and correctly observed, was doomed from its inception because it was too precious and too offbeat? The one you still kind of fell for, the way one falls for a tubercular maiden? Yeah, that one was mine. The scary part is that you think you can do better. |
| NPR | NPR Story of the Day: The Quest for Reliable Directions | ♥♥♥ |
As the world grows more complicated, so do methods for navigating through it. Often, the Internet is more reliable than a human when it comes to giving directions. But in some areas, that’s not the case. |
| NPR | NPR Story of the Day: A Dark Journey to the North Pole | ♥♥♥♥ |
This Sunday, two of the world’s top solo explorers will attempt to do what no one has ever done: travel 620 miles on an unsupported mission to the North Pole in the total darkness of Arctic winter. [This podcast got FOUR stars for being over the top. Absolutely fascinating.] |
| NPR | NPR Story of the Day: Albert Brooks, Searching for Islam’s Laugh Track | ♥♥ |
Comedian Albert Brooks plays himself in the film “Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World,” which he also wrote and directed. Brooks tells Steve Inskeep about his “government-sponsored” mission to find out what makes Muslims laugh. |
| NPR | NPR Story of the Day: Bebo Valdes’ Long Musical Journey | ♥ |
At 87, Cuban pianist and composer Bebo Valdes is busier than ever — and he’s getting more recognition than ever before. But just 10 years ago, he was hardly recognized as a lounge pianist in Stockholm. |
| NPR | NPR Story of the Day: McCourt Goes Back to School in “Teacher Man” | ♥♥♥ |
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt taught school for 30 years. Relationships formed with 12,000 mostly teenaged students form the basis of a new memoir, “Teacher Man.” He tells Jacki Lyden about life in the classroom. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Hybrid Highways | ♥♥ |
Tax incentives, new models are expected to boost sales of hybrid vehicles. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Car Dealership 101 | ♥♥ |
Basic tips for determining whether to lease or buy your new car or truck. |
| ABC News Money Minute | All Mail Review | ♥♥ |
U.S. Postal Service changes how it does business due to new competition. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Bad Medicine | ♥♥ |
FDA turns to the assembly line to battle growing counterfeit drug market. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Record Bonuses | ♥♥ |
Wall Street’s best and brightest take home over $21 billion in bonuses. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Sound Financial Planning | ♥♥ |
Simple steps to avoid wasting your hard-earned money in 2006. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Seeking Financial Advice | ♥♥ |
What qualities should you look for in a financial adviser? |
| ABC News Money Minute | DVD Sales Soar | ♥♥ |
Convenience and price help boost DVD sales and rentals. |
| ABC News Money Minute | Insurance Issues | ♥♥ |
What insurance can you pass on, and what types are essential? |