https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/39-admission-to-sugar-...
It's about Japan during the second world war and there's something about the absolutely insane Japanese mentality that lead civilians to commit mass suicide that captivated me.
The whole series, and really the whole of Hardcore History is absolutely amazing and even if you think you don't like history you absolutely should give it a try. Blueprint of Armageddon is still the best piece of entertainment I've ever had, regardless of media.
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-66-supern...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcYp-XT7UI&list=PLrAXtmErZg...
Andrew Kelley of Zig [1], Ginger Bill of Odin [2], and Joshua Huelsman [3] (worked on Jai) debate in earnest about moving beyond these languages and why it might matter.
Self-plug since I hosted the podcast, but three compiler devs in the same room generated my favorite banter of 2020!
[0] https://media.handmade-seattle.com/the-race-to-replace-c-and...
From the link below: "What are the police for? Producer B.A. Parker started wondering this back in June, as Black Lives Matter protests and calls to “defund the police” ramped up. The question led her to a wild story of a stabbing on a New York City subway train, and the realization that, according to the law, the police don’t always have to protect us. Producer Sarah Qari joins Parker to dig into the legal background, which takes her all the way up to the Supreme Court... and then all the way back down to on-duty officers themselves."
[1]: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/no-sp...
I find the whole Darknet Diaries podcast really fascinating. It covers topics like hacking (black hat, white hat), activism, hacktivism, cyber security and so forth, with a narrative approach that's very pleasant to listen to. This episode in particular talks about what PSYOP (Psychological Operations) is (basically how to use techniques to manipulate people to reach an outcome both in a war scenario and not) by talking to experts in the field and telling their stories. The episodes are all very good and high quality in my opinion, in fact I'm still working my way through the whole backlog, but I don't have much left already. I picked this one because it left me particularly uncomfortable at the end, while at the same time having taught me something.
Each episode also lists its sources (of the information, ndr) on the episode page of their website, which I find amazing.
Bonus episode: The Athens Shadow Games - https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/
It's hard to single out one episode as a favorite, but I really liked a recent one that is a good standalone episode. ("Read-only memory Computer" == ROM-COM) is the perfect display of the show's signature combination of humor, tech, and wit.
Link to the episode: https://programaudioseries.com/15-what-you-see-is-what-you-g... (but really, you should check out the whole show!)
Self-driving cars are the future of transportation, right? No more car maintenance, no more traffic, no more accidents. It may sound great on the face of it, but in this thought-provoking conversation, Matthew Crawford argues that shifting from being a driver to being a mere passenger represents a kind of existential risk.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-619-what-dri...
It’s about how the CIA might have written the Wind of Change song sung by the Scorpions in the 80s, but it has a nuanced take on it.
There was also a really good podcast about the Iraq war called blowback: https://blowback.show/
It was done right before the first Crew Dragon launch. They do such a great job of digging into a company’s history and the business model that powers them.
13 Minutes to the Moon.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2
A magnificent BBC podcast series that covers in extreme detail the Apollo 11 mission, including explanations of the busy chatter that you hear from mission control audio.
The video, which had spread rapidly online, appeared to show unarmed women and children being murdered by men in army uniform. Which army the men belonged to was not clear. Nor was it apparent where the incident had taken place or who the victims were. But an international team of investigators and volunteers was determined to uncover the truth.’
Incredible & horrifying to listen to.
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/podcasts/2020/07/21/the...
0: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112270/4815227-disco-demolition-...
The airport is a master class in how not to plan a project. The airport spent more than 5 times it's budget, it opened 9 years late, and may already be too small. There was talk that they may already be broke, and that was before Corona brought down air traffic to a halt. The podcast goes through everything that went wrong, starting in the early 90s.
One of the hosts, Nick, does a funny parody of the Eric Clapton song Change the World
Transcript: https://nav.al/rich
Reveal exposes how a treatment for drug addiction has turned tens of thousands of people into an unpaid, shadow workforce.
[1] https://beta.prx.org/stories/288310
Decoder Ring: Jane Fonda Workout tapes.
Hang up and Listen: The Last Last Dance. An exploration of Michael Jordan's time on the Wizards.
99% Invisible: In the Unlikely Event. About the design of airplane safety cards and how getting people off the plane quickly saves lives.
Planet Money: All Your Genes Are Belong to Us. On gene patenting. Good interview subject with the plaintiff who overturned these patents.
Software Engineering Daily: Federated Learning with Mike Lee Williams. Don't usually like this podcast very much, but this episode was an excellent overview of how federated learning works.
The Allusionist: No Title. Interesting examination of titles (e.g. "mrs.", "mr."). This podcast always has hilarious asides.
30 for 30 Bloodlines. A mini-series on the state of horse racing.
Retronauts: '90s Video Game Websites.
You're Wrong About: Shaken Baby Syndrome. Exploration of how this basically made-up syndrome became weaponized.
Don't remember the exact episode name but there was a recent episode of The Weeds on college debt which added some nuance to that discussion that I wasn't aware of.
https://www.scpr.org/programs/snap-judgment/2020/03/11/78074...
41: Douglas Murray - Heroism 2020: Defense of Our Own Civilization
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/114260279
Two old friends riffing off each other about the world.
I've listened all the way through twice and both times have found myself laughing out loud and deep in thought simultaneously.
I look forward to seeing how Eric Weinstein will continue to evolve The Portal in 2021. No doubt he will continue to deliver outstanding content in his own uncompromising style.
On second place, it got to be Notpetya, by Darknet Diaries (https://podd.app/podcast/darknet-diaries/54-notpetya). Technically released in late december 2019, but I listened to it in januari 2020. It's about Notpetya, the virus/worm that attacked a country in 2017.
https://www.oneyoufeed.net/tiny-habits/
I'm a big fan of BG Fogg and his Fogg Behavioural Model for understanding behaviour change.
2. Jim Collins on The Value of Small Gestures, Unseen Sources of Power, and More - The Tim Ferris Show
https://tim.blog/2020/11/30/jim-collins-returns/
I also recommend Jim Collins' earlier episode on Tim's podcast.
Edit: updated correctly that the podcast was with the CTO.
It's a weekly podcast where two veteran game developers play and discuss games of the past and their relevance today. There's tons of podcasts where random gamers discuss games, but very few that can do a deep dive into the technical aspects. Each game gets discussed for several episodes. It's a fascinating perspective and the two hosts have great chemistry.
I found a section in podcast that talks about: "we tend to present our best sides to strangers rather than to people who inhabit our lives is very sad", really insightful.
https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/DIRA3698D3E3VB3
It's essentially just two funny guys talking trash with little space for serious topics.
With a media landscape that's become increasingly geared towards always showing you the extremes, listening to Gemisches Hack is simply relaxing.
Daniel Lemire details how he was able to massively speed up json parsing by thinking from first principles.
TLDL: he removed all abstractions and coded directly for the hardware.
Great interview. Makes me want to learn assembly programming (perhaps ARM64 since that seems to be the latest hotness thanks to the M1).
I also enjoyed this interview on the upcoming JIT/AOT for the BEAM: https://thinkingelixir.com/podcast-episodes/017-jit-compiler...
However, Crossing Guard (first episode in Constellation Prize) is also very good. It is Bianca interviewing a crossing guard and it gets very existential. I listen to it when I feel lonely.
"In this episode, we review Ali's unemployment, talk about how to talk about workism, and Taimur finally elucidates some concrete ideas about how society treats children immorally, and how we treat children better.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-overthinking/id145...
This is the first of a two-part discussion about how society short-changes children. I don't agree with all the ideas, but it's certainly changed how I think about children.
An incredibly emotional story on my favorite podcast about cold War history making one of the most powerful narrative from the lady who experienced it all. Listen to her story on Cold War Conversations.
https://www.realvision.com/shows/the-interview-crypto/videos...
https://www.stitcher.com/show/martyrmade/episode/10-anything...
A sincere discussion of the film as an anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist film, that challenges the common view of the film as a 'white saviour' ferngully-like and attempts to explain why the film was so "un-meme-able" in contrast to recent Marvel movies.
A really interesting discussion of the incel phenomena, it’s connection to misogyny and conservativism, and it’s roots.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-theory/id129986383...
The Bugle: Spready Mercury. I’ve listened to the bugle since 2008 and hearing John oliver on it again gave me hope that there are still good things that can happen in spite of all of the chaos that’s going on in the world right now.
Talking with Jim Dworkin, Sr. Director of Cloud Business Unit at Intel PSG
https://soundcloud.com/dez_blanchfield/conversations-with-de...
If for nothing else, just to hear the descriptions of travelling across America through the eyes of complete alien (a “socialist European).
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7E2Wz3C5XwtEw3Pi96tLQA?si=X...
It's about "therapy boarding schools" or "residential treatment facilities" that purport to help teens with behavioral or emotional issues, drug addiction etc. but often are absolutely horrifying dens of severe child abuse and borderline cult-like brainwashing techniques to get kids in line.
I can personally attest to the accuracy of their description of what goes on at these places, as I spent 18 months in one of the facilities that they're talking about. In fact, I'd say that Brace Belden didn't even cover some of the most terrible parts. That being said, it's a great intro for the uninitiated.
Keep in mind that this is kind of a comedy podcast that's highly irreverent and critical of society as a whole, and is often pottymouthed.
I suggest skipping the first 15 minutes or so, as it's a lot of goofing around before they get to the main topic.
To clarify, I do not endorse this podcast overall. I don't endorse any podcasts as I rarely listen to any of them. I had a friend suggest this particular episode because she knew about my experiences at this facility and thought I'd find it interesting. This is the only episode of this show that I've ever listened to.
https://www.stitcher.com/show/trueanon/episode/episode-100-b...