Podcast learnings, milestones, and proud moments
A late retrospective, Mac and Cheese for your ears, sci-fi origins, and more podcasts and links to make you think.
Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #198, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every other Sunday.
Right on time and only two months late, down below I published my podcast highlights from 2023. It wasn’t procrastination, it was strategically waiting for the flurry of year end retrospectives to fade away….yes that’s it.
But either way, I have some absolutely wonderful recommendations for you below.
PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
Imaginary Worlds: Prologue to Ursula K. le Guin
The Big Idea: The fictional worlds of Ursula K le Guin were heavily influenced by her father’s career in anthropology and his encounter with the lone member of a Native American community who survived genocide.
This is an episode from season 4 of The Last Archive (but I liked Imaginary Worlds episode title better and that is where I discovered it).
One of my favorite sci-fi books I’ve read from the last five years is Ursula K le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. I also really enjoyed The Dispossessed. One thing I’ve noticed reading most “classic” sci-fi is you have to keep massive generous caveats in your mind about the time and place the author wrote them (like the first book of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation having essentially no women in the story). But with le Guin, her stories even freshly read now feel much more modern in their tone and sensibilities. She was ahead of her time and this episode fleshed out some interesting reasons as to why.
Significant Others: Peggy Shippen
The Big Idea: We all know the name Benedict Arnold as associated with being a traitor, but his wife Peggy Shippen and her high society connections and lifestyle were an integral part of Arnold’s infamous actions.
A great start to a new season of Significant Others.
This bonus episode between season one and two on the history of women in the CIA is also very much worth a listen.
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 2: What is Modernity?
The Big Idea: A thoughtful examination of what it means to be modern from a new fascinating and academic series called Genealogies of Modernity.
“Humans have always asked, how are we different? How are we modern? But just because we live further along the historical timeline doesn’t mean we’re separate from the things that happened further back. In this series, we invite you to set aside that chronological notion of ‘modernity’ as a point on the timeline.”
An Arm and a Leg: The Medicare Episode
The Big Idea: If you or anyone you know is close to getting Medicare, this is a great episode to get you oriented on what to expect and what decisions you need to make.
We’ve had family members go through Medicare sign-up and I agree with the point of this episode, it is NOT as straightforward as you would assume and absolutely takes a little bit of research to get your head wrapped around.
The Recipe with Kenji and Deb: Mac and Cheese
The Big Idea: Hear two beloved professional (and famous) home cooks discuss what makes a great Mac and Cheese in this inaugural episode. They have great chemistry and are natural podcast hosts.
It was not a good idea to listen to this at the gym. I got so hungry and left early.
You’ll get a very good sense of how to make a simple version of the dish simply by listening, but I would love it if they did an audio real time recipe walk through in the style of how DrawTogether with Wendy Mac teaches drawing.
PODCAST LINKS
Podcast Moments That Made My 2023. Learnings, milestones, and proud moments. And like I said, right on time…
OTHER LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK
How large amounts of data is stored in smartphones.
FOR FUN
Receiving a call when you’re already on a call.
Two more issues until #200. What?! What should I do? And will it be a month from now as scheduled with my every other week cadence, or will something come up as always and I push it off? Nobody knows!
Alright that’s all for today. Please like or comment (or reply) if you want to share any comments. See you next time.
Thankls Erik! Love it! Your post just convinced me to add "The Dispossessed" to my personal reading list. It seems like a good followup Fahrenheit 451.