POPULARITY
Categories
It's 1990. A young staff economist walks into a director's office at the World Bank and says the number he's about to publish is "crazy". The director tells him not to worry about it. The number was the dollar-a-day poverty line. Lant Pritchett, now of LSE, was that economist. More than three decades later, he's still worrying about it. In this week's episode he argues that the dollar-a-day line warped how the world thinks about poverty, by setting the bar so low that we can count billions of deprived people as not poor.In a new paper, co-authored with Martina Viarengo (Graduate Institute, Geneva), their fix isn't to scrap the low line. It's to add a high one as well. They propose a global upper-bound poverty line of $21.50 a day, ten times the extreme-poverty standard, derived from four separate measures of material wellbeing.Above it, you're no longer poor by any reasonable global standard. Below it, you're poor in a sense worth measuring. By that standard, 99% of Pakistan is poor, and almost no one in Denmark is. Should that affect how we think about anti-poverty policy? The research behind this episode:Pritchett, Lant, and Martina Viarengo. Forthcoming. "Raising the Bar: An Inclusive Global Poverty Line." Journal of Development Economics. Available now as a working paper.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim, and Lant Pritchett. 2026. "What the $1-a-day global poverty line gets wrong." VoxDev Talks (podcast). Assign this as extra listening. The citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE.About the guestLant Pritchett is a development economist and Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics. He worked at the World Bank from 1988 to 2007 and taught at the Harvard Kennedy School for nearly two decades. His work spans economic growth, state capability, education systems, and labour mobility.The paper is co-authored with Martina Viarengo, Professor of International Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Her research spans public policy, labour markets, comparative education, and international migration.Research cited in this episodeThe dollar-a-day poverty line. Created for the World Bank's 1990 World Development Report on poverty and based on the observation that national poverty lines in the poorest countries clustered at a low floor (Ravallion, Datt and van de Walle 1991). Updated for inflation, it now sits at P$2.15 a day in 2017 purchasing power parity. It was only ever meant to mark the lowest a global poverty line could plausibly be, not the line.The focus axiom. A standard property of poverty measures, originating with Amartya Sen (1976), under which changes in the income of anyone above the poverty line do not register in the measure. Pritchett's objection is that this assigns mathematically zero weight to the near-poor; a household just above the line counts the same as a Danish millionaire, namely zero. He calls it an economic bug that became a political feature, because it takes global redistribution off the table.Gresham's law applied to poverty. Pritchett's framing for how the simple headcount displaced richer, distribution-sensitive approaches; bad economics drove out better economics because it was easier to understand. He notes the World Bank of the 1970s was preoccupied with distribution, citing Hollis Chenery and Montek Ahluwalia's Redistribution with Growth (1974), so the idea that economists ignored distribution until poverty measurement arrived is a myth.The two criteria for an upper bound. The proposed line rests on two ideas drawn from the tension between the focus axiom and standard welfare economics. One, material wellbeing achievement; the line sits where a household reaches a standard of living a rich-country citizen would recognise as adequate. Two, near enough satiation; the line sits where the extra wellbeing from another dollar has fallen so low that treating further gains as zero does little violence to reality. At twenty-one and a half dollars the marginal utility of income is roughly three percent of its value at the dollar-a-day line; at the World Bank's current high line of P$6.85 it is still around thirty percent.Four measures of wellbeing. The number is triangulated across an iso-elastic utility function, food shares in consumption (Engel's Law), a household index of six basic conditions drawn from Demographic and Health Survey data, and a cross-national index of basics. The estimates cluster between twenty and forty dollars a day; twenty-one and a half was chosen because it is exactly ten times the dollar-a-day line, a focal point in the same way one dollar was.The six minimal conditions of prosperity. Electricity, improved sanitation, safe water, primary schooling completed by older children, no child dying under five, and no young child malnourished. The test Pritchett applies is whether it would be absurd to call a household prosperous while it lacks one of them.The rich of the poor and the poor of the rich. The tenth percentile in Denmark has higher consumption than the ninetieth percentile in Pakistan or Indonesia. This is why any global line that produces meaningful poverty in rich countries implies poverty rates near one hundred percent across most of the developing world; a point Dani Rodrik (2007) showed is widely misunderstood.The prosperity gap. A distribution-sensitive welfare measure adopted by the World Bank (Kraay et al. 2025) that weights the whole income distribution rather than counting everyone above a threshold as zero. Pritchett offers it, alongside poverty-gap and squared-poverty-gap measures at a higher line, as the practical route to acting on a global upper bound without reducing everything to a single headcount.More VoxDev Talks episodesRethinking evidence and refocusing on growth in development economics, Lant Pritchett on what the problem might be if we rely exclusively on rigorous evidence in development economics as a guide for policy.Rethinking how we measure extreme poverty, Charles Kenny asks: is it time for a new measure of extreme poverty?
Scott Pearson is a full-time freelance writer and editor working across multiple genres in both traditional and indie publishing. His published works include short stories and novellas in humor, mystery, horror, urban fantasy, and science fiction. His most recent publication is The Sad Rains of Mars: New and Collected Stories, which includes nine previously anthologized stories plus three stories exclusive to this edition. Forthcoming, with fellow author William Leisner, is their as-yet-untitled third volume of Tales of the Weird World War. Scott's Star Trek fiction appears in a handful of anthologies and the e-book exclusive The More Things Change. Although he coscripted two IMAX space documentaries, Space Next and Touch the Stars, they've never been booked in his home state, so he's never seen his name on the big screen. He was an in-house nonfiction editor for ten years, primarily of military history, before getting laid off and going freelance and shifting to fiction. He copyedited the Simon & Schuster Star Trek novels for ten years before becoming their developmental editor. He's an editor and occasional writer for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game and proofreads graphic novels and comic books for IDW, including their Star Trek titles. He also copyedits for Baen Books and works directly with many indie authors on their self-published books in the above-mentioned genres. Somewhere in all of that he hopes to finally finish his first novel. Scott and his wife, Sandra, live in the wilds of Minnesota.Website: scott-pearson.comBlog: scottmpearson.wordpress.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/smichaelpearsonBluesky: scottpearson.bsky.social
Someone once held a patent on the swing. A piece of wood. Two ropes. The US Patent Office granted it. How often does that actually happen, and what does it cost when the system gets it wrong? Or, how often is a valid patent claim rejected?Until now, no one knew. Tim Phillips talks to Mark Schankerman of LSE and CEPR, who with co-authors William Matcham spent eight years building the tools to find out. Using natural language processing across a dataset of around one million patent applications, twenty million claims, and fifty-five million examiner decisions, they measure how similar each incoming claim is to the hundred million claims that preceded it, going back to 1976. They find that 81% of initial patent claims fall below the patentability threshold; examiners must negotiate that figure down round by round. And they do a pretty good job. But around a third of all abandoned applications contain at least one valid claim the system failed to protect. You don't see patents that aren't awarded, so those errors have, until now, been invisible.The research behind this episode:Matcham, William, and Mark Schankerman. Forthcoming. "Screening Property Rights for Innovation." Econometrica. Available as CEPR Discussion Paper DP18334 (gated). Current version dated January 2026.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim, and Mark Schankerman. 2026. “How “well does patent screening work? VoxTalks Economics (podcast). Assign this as extra listening. The citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE.About the guestMark Schankerman is Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, where his research spans innovation, intellectual property, and the economics of technology. His work has examined how patent rights shape R&D incentives, the market for technology, and the behaviour of innovative firms, with particular attention to the institutions that govern how property rights are allocated and enforced.Research cited in this episodePrior art. In patent law, prior art is any publicly available knowledge that predates a patent application. Examiners are required to search prior art and reject claims insufficiently distinct from it. The concept defines the outer boundary of what can be granted protection; the closer a claim is to prior art, the weaker the case for granting it.Type I and Type II errors in patent screening. A Type I error occurs when an examiner grants a claim that should have been rejected, typically because it is too similar to prior art. This allows the holder to charge royalties and, in the US context especially, to bring litigation. A Type II error occurs when a valid claim is refused or abandoned, depriving the applicant of protection they deserve and reducing future incentives to innovate. Schankerman argues that Type II error is systematically under-discussed in public debate: you can point to a patent that should not have been granted; you cannot point to the invention that was never protected.Structural model. The paper uses a dynamic structural model, meaning it models the actual institutional rules, incentives, and decision sequences that govern patent prosecution at the USPTO. Structural models allow researchers to run counterfactual experiments, asking what would happen if specific rules or incentives were changed, without running those experiments for real. This is the methodological basis for the paper's policy analysis.Patent distance measure. The paper's key methodological innovation is a quantitative measure of how similar a patent claim is to existing claims, constructed using natural language processing. The algorithm is trained on existing patent documents and compares the textual content of each incoming claim against all prior claims, covering roughly a hundred million filings going back to 1976. This produces a scalar distance figure that can be compared against an estimated patentability threshold.Deadweight loss. The standard economic term for the welfare cost created when prices are raised above competitive levels. In the patent context, a wrongly granted claim allows its holder to charge higher licensing fees than the market would otherwise bear, generating a cost for users without a corresponding social benefit.Request for Continued Examination (RCE). A procedural mechanism in the US patent system that allows applicants to re-open a finally rejected application in exchange for a fee. Unlike the European Patent Office or China's patent system, the USPTO places no hard limit on how many times an applicant can return. Schankerman's counterfactual analysis finds that restricting rounds to one substantially reduces screening costs and discourages strategic padding of claims.Unified Patent Court (UPC). A specialised European court that began operating in June 2023. Its remit covers the enforcement of patent rights across participating EU member states; it does not conduct patentability examinations. Schankerman argues that by reducing the cost of enforcement, the UPC raises the stakes of the upstream screening process: a wrongly granted patent becomes cheaper and easier to assert.Amazon one-click patent. Amazon received a US patent on the one-click online purchasing process. Schankerman uses the case to illustrate the core economic argument: the relevant question is not whether an invention is valuable, but whether patent protection was necessary to induce its development. If the invention would have occurred regardless, the grant creates costs without providing the intended innovation incentive.Intrinsic motivation. The tendency for individuals to pursue a task for its own sake rather than for external rewards. Schankerman's model estimates that USPTO examiners exhibit substantial intrinsic motivation and that this is the primary driver of screening quality. In counterfactual simulations, removing intrinsic motivation causes outcomes to deteriorate markedly; removing the credit-based extrinsic incentive system has a much smaller effect.Padding. Schankerman's term for the strategic behaviour in which patent applicants include claims that are broader than what is strictly novel, hoping some will survive examiner scrutiny and expand the scope of their eventual property right. The paper measures the extent of padding directly from the distance data and confirms it is widespread.More VoxTalks Economics episodesPatent pools for generic drugs, Mark Schankerman talks about how diffusion of new drugs is painfully slow in low-income countries. Do patent pools accelerate the process, and how we could still do a better job of licensing life-saving medicines?Related reading on VoxEUPatent screening, innovation, and welfare, Florian Schuett and Mark Schankerman, 6 Nov 2020. Critics of the patent system claim that patent rights are becoming an impediment to innovation, and an instrument to extract rents through patent litigation. This column develops a framework to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the current US patent system and the welfare impact of reforms.
We're rambling back into things this week after our start-of-summer sojourn, and walking into studio this week is Oliver Nolan of the Irish Film Institute to accompany us on a stroll though his five favourite songs about the wonder of the wander.That's not all the listening we have for you, though. Available on the NO ENCORE Patreon right now, you can hear Adam's 85-minute reliving of his adventure to SPOT Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. Tap in for some new Nordic discoveries, festival crowd discourse, highlights (and lowlights) and a Top 5 of the acts he saw.Forthcoming, is the return of Film Club in which the boys have yet another one of their extremely-podcastable disagreements about the movie Fall from 2022, but which of our co-hosts will be driven to the top of the proverbial tower and which one has Fall-en for the movie? You'll have to wait until Monday to find out.Onwards, we've got a ways to go!ACT ONE: The preamble, in which we have a brief catch-up and, of course, ramble – no pun intended.ACT TWO (23:32): Drake's triple-drop, Macca no longer monkeying about, Taran Egerton's Chemical curations, Aqua submerged to a permanent end and a local talent hits big in the Billboard Hot 100 – it's the news.ACT THREE (52:15): Top 5 Walking Songs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
CORRECT PLAYLIST FORTHCOMING..
CITR 101.9FM (Vancouver)'s 24 HOURS OF RADIO ART in a snack size format! Difficult music, harsh electronics, spoken word, cut-up/collage and general CRESPAN© weirdness. Tonight's broadcast features CORRECT PLAYLIST FORTHCOMING.
CITR's 24 HOURS OF RADIO ART in a snack size format! Difficult music, harsh electronics, spoken word, cut-up/collage and general CRESPAN© weirdness. This afternoon's broadcast features CORRECT PLAYLIST FORTHCOMING.
Grammy-Award winning singer-songwriter Mýa talks about her forthcoming album, Retrospect, which drops Friday, May 15. Her music video for the single "Just a Little Bit" was released on Sunday. Photo by David Niacaris
CORRECT PLAYLIST FORTHCOMING.
CITR's 24 HOURS OF RADIO ART in a snack size format! Difficult music, harsh electronics, spoken word, cut-up/collage and general CRESPAN© weirdness. This afternoon's broadcast features CORRECT PLAYLIST FORTHCOMING.
I was hosted by Jonathan Sacerdoti. His YouTube channel: YouTube.com/mrjonsac. The original clip can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx41BimuWCQ _______________________________________ Pre-order Suicidal Empathy: https://lnk.to/SuicidalEmpathy Pre-order signed copy of Suicidal Empathy: https://squarebooks.com/book/9780063446533s _______________________________________ If you appreciate my work and would like to support it: https://subscribestar.com/the-saad-truth https://patreon.com/GadSaad https://paypal.me/GadSaad To subscribe to my exclusive content on X, please visit my bio at https://x.com/GadSaad _______________________________________ This clip was posted on April 15, 2026 on my YouTube channel as THE SAAD TRUTH_2018: https://youtu.be/KbbhPeh4JDI _______________________________________ Please visit my website gadsaad.com, and sign up for alerts. If you appreciate my content, click on the "Support My Work" button. I count on my fans to support my efforts. You can donate via Patreon, PayPal, and/or SubscribeStar. _______________________________________ Dr. Gad Saad is a professor, evolutionary behavioral scientist, and author who pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Saad is a leading public intellectual who often writes and speaks about idea pathogens that are destroying logic, science, reason, and common sense. _______________________________________
Joel Salatin gave a great talk about how to undo the consolidation in our nation's food system. As part of that talk he read a chapter of his unreleased book "Food Emancipation." He also discussed at length the circumstances that led us to where we are with regard to food in this country and how we can chart a better path forward.Sponsor:Remedi Animal SolutionsRelevant Links:Rogue Food Conference at Polyface (Code: Cows30 for $30 off)The Lunatic Farmer BlogWorking Cows on Patreon
After a stretch away from the mic with NAMM coverage and a few product launches in the interim, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald return for an episode that, as David puts it, is “delightfully very nerdy.” To kick things off, David turns the tables and puts Philip in the interview seat, asking him about two significant sets of releases from Notation Central and NYC Music Services. On the Notation Express side, the big news is two-way communication between Dorico and the Stream Deck: buttons now light up to reflect what Dorico is actually doing in real time — active note durations, engaged accidentals and articulations, current mode, playback state, and more. Philip also walks through the new Note Tools folder, which lets users chain up to four buttons together to build a complete transposition or interval command before executing it in one shot, and touches on the Notation Express Keypad and the Virtual Stream Deck. The PDF Batch Utilities get equal time: native Apple Silicon builds that launch ten times faster, codesigning and notarization, source PDF info shown right in the file list, bookmarks in stitched output, smarter handling of one- and two-page files, and a brand-new fifth app — PDF-Counter — that drops a page-count CSV into any folder you throw at it. For the second half, Philip asks David about the utility apps that have quietly become indispensable in his day-to-day work. David talks through Dropzone, a Mac menu-bar app that makes dragging files to frequently-needed folders — or AirDrop, or a terminal window — almost frictionless, and Alfred, the customizable launcher he’s built out with custom searches (including a dedicated IMSLP search), file navigation shortcuts, and a direct line to his task manager. From there, the conversation turns back to the notation software itself, with a look at two features that deserve more attention than they get: Dorico’s Jump Bar and Sibelius’s Command Search, both of which let you find and fire any command just by typing for it. Where might those tools go next, and what it would mean for notation software to understand what you’re asking for, not just what you typed? Products mentioned Notation Central / NYC Music Services Notation Express PDF Batch Utilities Stream Deck Elgato Stream Deck Virtual Stream Deck Stream Deck Mobile Mac utilities discussed by David Dropzone (Aptonic Software) Alfred Raycast (mentioned as alternative to Alfred) LaunchBar (mentioned as alternative to Alfred) Hazel (mentioned in context of Dropzone) Things (mentioned as David’s to-do app, integrated with Alfred) Other references IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library) (David’s custom Alfred search) Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Notation Express for Dorico 6: Your Stream Deck just got smarter PDF Batch Utilities get a major rebuild — and a brand new app Notation Express: Stream Deck profile for Sibelius (the original 2019 launch) Boost your workflow: a Stream Deck review (Dan Kreider’s 2018 review of the Stream Deck, pre-Notation Express) Quickly scale many PDFs with PDF-BatchScale (the original launch) PDF-MusicBinder and PDF-BatchStitch utilities for music printing Chronology of a perfect music printing job How to tape and fold pages for parts: a video tutorial (accordion-style printing) Calibrating printers and workflows NAMM 2026: On the scene (and related NAMM 2026 coverage, including the happy hour) Forthcoming (mentioned in the episode): Virtual Stream Deck article
Welcome to this episode of the Deepdale Podcast, lovely to have your listening ears. Its April 2026, Spring is here and Easter is this weekend. This month we have a special episode recorded in the Holkham Forge with James Spedding, blacksmith and artisan. As this beautiful part of the world begins to wake up, first up we have a wildlife update from Oli at One Stop Nature Shop, and then we dive straight into the chat with James. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, then please do subscribe on your favourite podcast app or directory, which is free, and tell your family and friends. We'd also love your suggestions of interesting North Norfolk and West Norfolk folk we should be chatting with. Enjoy listening to this months episode, and don't forget there is an ever growing back catalogue of episodes to listen to. 00:00 - Introduction00:48 - Deepdale Podcast theme tune by Jess Morgan01:51 - One Stop Nature Shop Wildlife Update04:22 - James Spedding at Holkham Forge20:46 - The Induction Forge28:29 - Ironworks for Norwich Castle44:56 - LGBT+ Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum52:23 - Close Thanks again for listening to Jason's chat with James Spedding. As you got this far we guess you enjoyed what you heard, so why not check out the back catalogue of episodes, which are available on any good podcast app or directory, simply search Deepdale Podcast. You can find information about a huge array of events in North Norfolk and West Norfolk on our website – deepdalecamping.co.uk/events/ – including the live music gigs and other events that we host in Burnham Deepdale at Deepdale Camping & Rooms, Dalegate Market and Deepdale Farm. Forthcoming live music gigs include: John Ward Trio on 18th April, Robert Vincent on 6th May, and Ellie Gowers on 6th June. We hope you'll join us for the next episode of the Deepdale Podcast. In the meantime, you are welcome to listen back to any of the previous episodes in the last 5 years. All should be available on any good podcast app or directory, or through our website deepdalepodcast.co.uk If you have suggestions of people we should chat with or places we should visit then please do email podcast@deepdalepodcast.co.uk More information: deepdalecamping.co.uk/tales/deepdale-podcast-james-spedding-holkham-forge-and-one-stop-nature-shop-wildlife-update-april-2026/
In this two-part episode of On The Aisle Podcast, host Tom Alvarez sits down with two stars of the stage production of Pretty Woman: The Musical at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. The conversations offer an inside look at life in professional theater—from national tours and auditions to the realities of building a career on stage.Part 1: Dani Kucera – From Cheerleader to Leading LadyActor Dani Kucera joins the podcast from backstage during rehearsals to talk about stepping into the lead role of Vivian in Pretty Woman: The Musical. Originally from Pennsylvania and now based in New York City, Kucera shares how her love of theater began unexpectedly after years as a cheerleader before discovering the stage in middle school. She went on to earn a BFA in musical theater from Belmont University, where the program's strong focus on music training and industry connections helped prepare her for professional work.Kucera reflects on life after graduation, including touring more than 50 cities with the national tour of Pretty Woman. The experience, she says, created lifelong friendships and offered a crash course in the realities of performing on the road. Now back at Beef & Boards—where she previously appeared in Legally Blonde: The Musical—she's excited to once again perform for Indianapolis audiences in the romantic musical inspired by the hit film Pretty Woman.She also shares advice for aspiring performers: talent and hard work matter, but kindness and strong relationships are just as important in the theater world. For Kucera, living in New York and performing across the country feels like the fulfillment of a dream she first discovered as a teenager.Part 2: Charlie Fusari – From Ensemble to Leading ManIn the second half of the episode, Alvarez speaks with Charlie Fusari, who plays billionaire Edward Lewis in the production. Fusari discusses his journey from growing up in New Jersey to landing major stage roles, including performing in Jersey Boys and touring nationally with Pretty Woman: The Musical before stepping into the lead role at Beef & Boards.Unlike many performers, Fusari didn't initially plan a theater career. While attending Sacred Heart University, he discovered the stage through a friend involved in a campus production—and quickly caught the “theater bug.” Since then, he's built a steady career touring the country, performing in historic theaters, and developing his craft through training and auditions in New York.Fusari also talks about the unique experience of dinner theater, the challenge of making a famous role his own (originally played on film by Richard Gere), and how the show's pop-rock score by Bryan Adams brings a fresh energy to the beloved story.Behind the CurtainAcross both conversations, listeners get a behind-the-scenes look at the dedication, travel, and constant training required to succeed in musical theater. From auditions and touring life to the thrill of performing live, Kucera and Fusari reveal the passion that drives actors to pursue their craft—and why bringing Broadway-caliber productions to regional audiences remains an essential part of American theater.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
We might be living through the most consequential technological moment in human history. In this episode, Greg Cootsona—theologian, pastor, and executive director of AI and Faith—joins Mark Labberton reflect on a lifetime's convergence of work in faith, science, and ethics now fully engaged at the frontier of artificial intelligence. "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning. In that sense, every AI model carries an implicit anthropology and an embedded moral vision." Together they discuss why religious wisdom belongs in the room where AI is shaped, the ethical stakes of human dignity and representation in AI systems, and the strategic power of interfaith collaboration with leading tech companies. Together they also explore how individual users can exercise genuine agency over AI, the risks of AI-mediated relationships, and what it would mean to make AI truly for us—in the deepest theological sense of that phrase. Episode Highlights "You among mortals are chosen to solve every problem effectively and efficiently."—on Silicon Valley's unspoken gospel "The gospel is not fragile and it grows best in situations that are not ideal and conditions that are not ideal." "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning. In that sense, every AI model carries an implicit anthropology and an embedded moral vision. Whether or not its designers name it." "A third of teenagers say they prefer to have a relationship with a chatbot." "I think hope is taking steps today for a vision of tomorrow that you want to see occur. And that is what makes positive change in us as human beings and positive change in the world around us." About Greg Cootsona Greg Cootsona (PhD, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) is the executive director of AI and Faith, a global interfaith organization bringing religious wisdom to the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence. He is a lecturer in comparative religion and humanities at California State University, Chico, and an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) minister. Cootsona co-founded Science for the Church, directed multiple Templeton Foundation–funded projects connecting science and religious communities, and is a recognized specialist in C.S. Lewis, theology, and science. He has authored nine books, including Science and Religions in America: A New Look (Routledge, 2023) and Mere Science and Christian Faith (InterVarsity Press, 2018). He has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, NPR, BBC, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Helpful Links and Resources AI and Faith https://aiandfaith.org Greg Cootsona's website: https://www.gregcootsona.com Forthcoming book, An AI Made for Us: https://www.gregcootsona.com Science for the Church https://scienceforthechurch.org Mere Science and Christian Faith: https://www.ivpress.com/mere-science-and-christian-faith Science and Religions in America: A New Look https://www.routledge.com/Science-and-Religions-in-America-A-New-Look/Cootsona/p/book/9781032102122 AI and Faith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aiandfaith AI and Faith on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/AIandFaith Show Notes Greg Cootsona's background: grew up in Menlo Park, California—Silicon Valley before it had that name His engineer father modeled a problem-solving worldview; transcendence not required "You among mortals are chosen to solve every problem effectively and efficiently."—the unspoken gospel of Silicon Valley Grew up in a non-religious, even "anti-religious" household Became a Christian his first year at UC Berkeley—a conversion he describes with a laugh as the obvious outlier C.S. Lewis's writings on meaning and love: too reasonable, too wise to dismiss Earl Palmer at First Presbyterian Berkeley: preaching that gave confidence amid secular challenge "The gospel is not fragile and it grows best in situations that are not ideal." Princeton Seminary for biblical studies; study years in Tübingen and Heidelberg PhD dissertation at GTU: Karl Barth (theology from above) in dialogue with Alfred North Whitehead (science from below) Advisors Robert John Russell (PhD in quantum physics) and Ted Peters at the Graduate Theological Union Pastoral ministry at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, New York City, then Bidwell Presbyterian, Chico Began working with Templeton Foundation through early exposure to science-faith dialogue during the Human Genome Initiative years Two $2 million Templeton projects: Scientists in Congregations and Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries (STEAM) Bidwell Presbyterian received what may have been the first Templeton Foundation grant ever given directly to a local church AI and Faith founded by Thomas Osborne and David Brenner in Seattle—building near Amazon and Microsoft, they saw the need early Cootsona became the organization's first executive director on October 1, 2025 The network: 220 experts in 20 countries, partnering with 34 organizations "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning." Interfaith strategy: shared ethical ground across traditions is broader than divisions—and tech companies respond better to a multi-religious voice Currently invited to provide Anthropic feedback on the Claude Constitution—because of AI and Faith's interfaith structure Human dignity at stake: between 2 and 2.5 billion people not on the internet are absent from AI training data Only 0.06 percent of AI models are trained on Arabic-language sources—600 million speakers AI data centres consume potable water and enormous energy to cool GPU processors Senior tech leaders at a major company admitted to Labberton: "None of us has any training in ethics"—a real and witnessed crisis "A third of teenagers say they prefer to have a relationship with a chatbot." Three publics: AI industry experts, religious congregations, and the broader public—AI and Faith works across all three Forthcoming book: An AI Made for Us—riffing on Jesus's Sabbath words: the Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath Users have more agency than they think: we can set limits, log off, choose not to be defined by our AI engagement Harvard Human Flourishing Project: in-person worship is the highest correlate with religious flourishing—embodied community cannot be replaced Community—not the individual—is the right unit of moral accountability for navigating AI "I think hope is taking steps today for a vision of tomorrow that you want to see occur." AI's genuine promise: accelerating medicine for rare diseases; recalibrating cosmological understanding; reducing human suffering at scale Five to one: more people fear AI than welcome it—AI and Faith works to change that ratio with grounded, religious wisdom #AIandFaith #ArtificialIntelligence #FaithAndTechnology #AIEthics #HumanFlourishing #ScienceAndFaith #ChristianFaith #TechAndReligion #AIandHumanity #GregCootsona Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.
Gilbert Arenas explains why he thinks DeAndre Ayton isn't fitting in well with the Lakers. The Lakers will play 6 of their next 8 games against quality opponents who are above them in the standings. Cody Bellinger speaks out against the notion that the Dodgers are bad for baseball (Aaron Judge also agrees).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In cities across low- and middle-income countries, traffic crawls 24 hours a day. In Dhaka during rush hour, speeds average around 15km/h. At three in the morning, when the roads are empty, they average about 20km/h. Urban transport in the developing world is not only slow because of congestion. And so congestion policy, Adam Storeygard of Tufts University argues, gets you a small fraction of the way to solving the problems of urban transport in LMICs.That counterintuitive finding is one many themes in Storeygard's wide-ranging review of what research actually tells us about how people in LMICs get from A to B. From informal minibuses to bus rapid transit, from a field experiment in Bangalore that tested congestion pricing to the long shadow of colonial railroads still shaping African trade today, the picture that emerges is more nuanced and more interesting than many policy blueprints suggest. He tells Tim Phillips what the evidence supports, where it runs out, and why fixing the roads won't fix everything.The research behind this episode:Storeygard, Adam. 2025. "Transport in Low- and Middle-Income Countries." NBER Working Paper 34354. Forthcoming in a special issue of Regional Science and Urban Economics.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim. 2026. "Transport in Low- and Middle-Income Countries." VoxDev Talk (podcast). Assign this as extra listening: the citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE.About Adam StoreygardAdam Storeygard is Professor of Economics at Tufts University, where his research focuses on urbanisation, transportation, and the economic geography of the developing world, in particular sub-Saharan Africa. Much of his work uses geographic and satellite data to study how infrastructure shapes where people live, how they move, and how economies develop.Research cited in this episodeAkbar, Prottoy Aman, Victor Couture, Gilles Duranton, and Adam Storeygard. 2023. "The Fast, the Slow, and the Congested: Urban Transportation in Rich and Poor Countries." NBER Working Paper 31642. The paper behind the Dhaka finding: assembling travel speed data across 1,200 cities in 152 countries, the authors show that cities in poor countries are roughly half as fast as those in rich countries, and that most of the gap is not congestion but structural low speeds in the absence of traffic.Björkegren, Daniel, Alice Duhaut, Geetika Nagpal, and Nick Tsivanidis. 2025. "Public and Private Transit: Evidence from Lagos." Working paper. When Lagos introduced a major new public bus system, informal drivers on affected routes left, so bus frequency on those routes fell on net. The big benefit accrued to other routes that informal drivers switched to, where prices and waiting times fell. Winners and losers, not a clean gain.Franklin, Simon. 2018. "Location, Search Costs and Youth Unemployment: Experimental Evidence from Transport Subsidies." Economic Journal 128 (614). A randomised trial in Addis Ababa: providing transport subsidies to unemployed young people helped them search for and find formal jobs. Effects did not persist once subsidies ended, raising questions about how much the transport constraint itself was the binding one.Borker, Girija. 2021. "Safety First: Perceived Risk of Street Harassment and Educational Choices of Women." World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9731. Women in Delhi attend less selective colleges than male peers with identical academic credentials, not because they are not admitted, but because of perceived harassment risk during the commute. Delhi university students overwhelmingly live with their parents, and the daily journey matters as much as the institution.Kreindler, Gabriel. 2024. "Peak-Hour Road Congestion Pricing: Experimental Evidence and Equilibrium Implications." Econometrica 92 (4). A field experiment in Bangalore, paying drivers to avoid congested areas and times. The finding: congestion pricing would produce only modest benefits in Bangalore because traffic density has a relatively moderate impact on speed there, meaning you would have to charge astronomically high prices to shift behaviour significantly.Jedwab, Remi, and Adam Storeygard. 2022. "The Average and Heterogeneous Effects of Transportation Investments: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa 1960–2010." Journal of the European Economic Association 20 (1). Shows how transportation infrastructure investments, including the legacy of colonial railroads built primarily to connect mines to ports, continue to shape where Africans live and how countries trade, with consequences that push African economies toward overseas rather than intra-regional commerce.More VoxDev Talks on this topicMichelson, Hope, 2026, “African agriculture's underappreciated supply side.” VoxDev Talk. How transport links are one of the many impediments that stop rural farmers from making the most of the opportunities of better agricultural inputs.Related reading on VoxDev"Urban transport infrastructure in developing countries”, the VoxDevLit review of research on urban transport in LMICs, covering buses, BRT, subways, and informal transit networks."Who wins when public transit challenges private transit?”, the Lagos bus reform discussed in this episode, with further detail on how informal drivers responded to new public routes."Perceived risk of street harassment and college choice of women in Delhi”, Girija Borker's research on how commute safety shapes women's educational choices, as discussed by Storeygard in this episode."The equitable benefits of Colombia's bus rapid transit system”, complements the discussion of BRT in Bogota, one of Storeygard's three best-evidenced cases for BRT benefits.
Fangirls Going Rogue: Star Wars Conversation from a Female POV
A lot has happened in the opening weeks of 2026! Kathleen Kennedy retired. Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan were elevated to President and Co-President respectively. Josh D'Amaro was elevated to CEO of Disney. The Super Bowl featured an unconventional spot for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Disney, likely seeing the wrong type of reaction across social media, released a trailer for the movie a little more than a week later. Tricia Barr and Sarah Woloski discuss how all these events suggest changes on the horizon for Star Wars fans. Forthcoming appearances of Han, Luke, Leia and Darth Vader at Disneyland's Batuu appear like a promising start. The main discussion focuses on what the trailer suggests for the storytelling future of Din Djarin and Grogu. Who's their antagonist? Why is bounty hunter Embo's appearance significant? What do snakes signify in myth? Let's dive in… Related Lucasfilm leadership announcement via StarWars.com Skywalking Through Neverland discussion on changes at Disneyland and Dave Filoni as President of Lucasfilm Hyperspace Theories: Lucasfilm's New Era Officially Begins Skywalking Through Neverland: In Defense of Lucasfilm Super Bowl Spot The Mandalorian and Grogu Super Bowl spot The Mandalorian and Grogu Official Trailer Social Media UPDATED Fangirls Going Rogue Blue Sky | Threads | Instagram Tricia Barr Blue Sky | Threads | Instagram Sarah Woloski Threads | Instagram Facebook Public | Private You must answer the 3 questions to join the Private Facebook group!
Val Ramos Flamenco Ensemble CD Release Concert March 17, 2026 12:30-1:30 p.m. Quinnipiac University's Mount Carmel Auditorium (CCE/Communications, Computer & Engineering Building), 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden CT. The Val Ramos Flamenco Ensemble will be perform a concert of Flamenco music, song, and dance in celebration of the release of its new CD “Eres la luna en mi cielo.” Selections from the CD will be featured and CDs will be available for purchase at the concert. Featured artists will include Val Ramos (lead guitarist), special guest Alfonso Cid (singer), Tere Luna (singer), Yohanna Escamilla (dancer), Carlos Hernández Chávez (bassist), Ashley Jones (violinist), Nestor Prieto (percussionist), Shawn Montañéz (guitarist), and Herman Carvache (percussionist). This is a free concert sponsored by The Common Hour at Quinnipiac University. THIS IS A FREE CONCERT & PARKING IS LIMITED
These days I sometimes have to remind myself to keep breathing. I think this is true of human beings across all of our differences and divides. But in a room in New York City just before the turn of this year, I was regrounded by this fierce and joyous conversation with Joy Harjo and Tracy K. Smith. I invite you to settle into your soft breathing body with these two wise women as companions and with a sense of poetry as a technology, as Tracy describes in her new book: a technology for rising to our truest, highest selves, even amidst grief and mystery and danger, and bearing witness to each other as we do so. I think all of us in the room left a little more lighthearted and alive as this conversation unfolded. I hope that will be your experience too. Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo are former U.S. poet laureates, beloved On Being guests, and friends. They are each wildly and deservedly awarded and not just as poets — Tracy also as a teacher and professor at Harvard, Joy as a saxophonist and painter. We were brought together at Symphony Space in Manhattan to celebrate their newest books: Fear Less by Tracy and Girl Warrior by Joy. Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page. Sign yourself and others up for The Pause to be on our mailing list for all things On Being and to receive Krista's monthly Saturday newsletter, including a heads up on new episodes, special offerings, recommendations, and event invitations. Joy Harjo was the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. Among many honors, she has received the Poetry Society of America's Frost Medal and a National Humanities Medal. She is the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She lives on the Muscogee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. Her new book of essays is Girl Warrior. Forthcoming in 2026 is her 12th book of poetry and a new album co-produced with esperanza spalding. Tracy K. Smith was the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States. She teaches at Harvard University, where she is Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Among her many honors, she has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and is a Chancellor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her new memoir is Fear Less. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Coach Tony Ersland and host Tanner Lipsett recap the Iowa dual and preview the season finale at Indiana, while also talking about several high school state championships that they have their sights on in the coming weeks.
Painting by Caroline von Grone, Omar the Prophet Omar Kholeif is an artist, author, curator, cultural historian and professor of global art theory and practice at the Glasgow School of Art and Program Leader of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice with the University of Glasgow. Luísa Correia Pereira World Child Front Cover Courtesy of Sternberg Press and artPost21 They work and operate under numerous guises, including as the avatar of Doctor O—The World's Leading Pop Physician (TM). Born in Cairo, Egypt, they were raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Los Angeles, CA, and elsewhere. An author of over two dozen volumes on art, a curator of over 100 exhibitions, they are the co-founding director of artPost21, a not-for-profit publishing and broadcast platform for artists and their dreamwork. Simone Fattal imagine otherwise Cover Courtesy Sternberg Press and artPost21 Their recent books include, Nil Yalter: Circular Tension (2024), Otobong Nkanga: Stitched Dreams (2024) and Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs (2023). Huguette Caland imagine otherwise cover Courtesy of Sternberg Press and artPost21 In 2025 their long-awaited critical biography on Huguette Caland was published as part of imagine/otherwise. Forthcoming in 2026 is Luísa Correia Pereira: World Child, published by Sternberg Press. Forthcoming projects include the curated group exhibition, Fellow Travelers at Tabari Art Space, Dubaiand a survey exhibition of their creative practice at The Third Line curated by Sofia Victorino.
In this week's episode, authors Kim Coleman Foote and Toni Ann Johnson talk about fictionalizing their families' difficult and messy history to create dark, heartfelt, and sometimes funny novels.Kim Coleman Foote is the author of the acclaimed novel, Coleman Hill, which blends fact and fiction about her family's Great Migration journey to suburban New Jersey, where Kim grew up. The novel was a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize and NAACP Image Award, among others, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Additional honors include literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Kimbilio; residencies at Hedgebrook, Yaddo, and MacDowell; and a Fulbright Fellowship to Ghana, where Kim conducted fieldwork for her second novel, Salt Water Sister. Forthcoming from SJP Lit in 2027, the novel explores women's resistance to enslavement in the 1700s and a fight for reparations in the present day.Toni Ann Johnson is the winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction for Light Skin Gone to Waste, which was selected for the prize and edited by Roxane Gay. The book, a work of autobiographical fiction based on Johnson's family, was also shortlisted for the Saroyan Prize and nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Johnson's novella Homegoing (about the same family) won Accents Publishing's inaugural novella contest. Her novel Remedy for a Broken Angel earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author. Her newest book, But Where's Home? is Johnson's third installment of the "Arrington Family" saga, and won the Screen Door Press Prize for fiction. Books:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here. Register for Upcoming Events.The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ. The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff. Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room! If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share! Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!
This week on Kongkast, we have an Overview Music take over! We have recently been in touch with Energy from Overview Music, as he is passing through Asia to do around of touring, flying the Overview flag. We could not be more excited about this one! Overview began as a platform for deep, minimal drum and bass. Over the years, it has grown into a full-fledged movement that embraces a broader spectrum of sounds while staying true to its underground roots. A love story 7 years in the making, the Englishman in 2018, together with his co-founder Ollie (sub-antics) wagered there could be a platform and eventually an opening for more underground drum and bass sounds to thrive. If you're in and around Asia, make sure to check out the below dates to catch some of the Overview crew reppin' their sounds in you town! Forthcoming dates in Asia Shanghai – Exit Club – Fri 13 Feb Hong Kong – Secret Location – Sat 14 Feb Osaka – Rockstar Hotel – Sat 21 Feb Tokyo – Circus – Sun 22 Feb TRACKLIST// KONGKAST Season 2 – Episode 010 – Energy (Overview Music – Brighton, UK) 1. Creatures & Wingz – You (Miss) 2. Spektiv – Whiner 3. bogdvn – Chalina 4. ID – ID 5. ID – ID 6. ID – ID 7. Phase – Blood 8. YAANO & Wingz – Pattern (VISLA Remix) 9. ID – ID 10. Pythius – All You Need 11. gyrofield – Fallen In Deep (Trail Remix) 12. Molecular – Fair Warning VIP 13. ID – ID 14. ID – ID 15. skantia & SMG – Absent 16. PARA & SMG – Chimp 17. Particle – Hold Still 18. bogdvn & Azotix – Anserina 19. Molecular & SMG – Talon VIP 20. ID – ID 21. Creatures & Rizzle – Trento 22. ID – ID 23. ID – ID 24. Phase & LaMeduza – Never Be The Same 25. ID – ID 26. ID – ID 27. ID – ID 28. Skylark – Don't Worry VIP 29. ID – ID Kongkast Website → https://kongkretebass.com YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@kongkast Apple → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kongkast-drum-and-bass-bass-music-podcast/id200781955 Overview Music Patreon → https://patreon.com/overview Facebook → https://facebook.com/overviewuk Instagram → https://instagram.com/overviewuk Soundcloud → https://soundcloud.com/overviewuk YouTube → https://youtube.com/@OverviewMusic
Gillian Welch spoke to Rhythms Editor Brian Wise about her forthcoming Australian tour with her musical and life partner David Rawlings. David was set to join us but was held up in the studio mastering the vinyl version of the Time (The Revelator) album. Music included: Neil Young's Albuquerque from the album Live & Obscure Vol. 1, Mavis Staples' version of Gillian's ‘Hard Times', Emmylou Harris with Gillian's 'Orphan Girl' from Emmylou's 1995 album Wrecking Ball produced by Daniel Lanois and 'Revelator' from Gillian's Time (The Revelator) album and 'North Country' from Woodland. Details of the latest tour which begins on February 13 in Brisbane can be found at lovepolice.com.au/tours
Rob Corzine unpacks the Sunday readings and the story of John the Baptist, and Matthew Bunson has an update on Fulton Sheen.
The Utes legend, College Football Hall of Famer, & Super Bowl Champion on being inducted into the CFB HOF later this year, Utes transfer portal haul, NFL Divisional Round picks + more
The Utes legend, College Football Hall of Famer, & Super Bowl Champion on being inducted into the CFB HOF later this year, Utes transfer portal haul, NFL Divisional Round picks + more
The Utes legend, College Football Hall of Famer, & Super Bowl Champion on being inducted into the CFB HOF later this year, Utes transfer portal haul, NFL Divisional Round picks + more
The Utes legend, College Football Hall of Famer, & Super Bowl Champion on being inducted into the CFB HOF later this year, Utes transfer portal haul, NFL Divisional Round picks + more
While preparations continue for the Distant Worlds 3 expedition, CMDR Regza has has been conducting lab-based research to find systems worth visiting. Galnet News Digest visited Eoch Flyuae YK-K c10-56 to see two consecutive planetary collisions. Forthcoming collision times:2026-02-04 01:11:04 UTC2026-02-26 06:17:33 UTC2026-03-20 11:27:13 UTC2026-04-11 16:08:38 UTC
Ahead of Patrick Nevin's release from prison, we speak to one of his victims who we are calling “Zara” who tells us her story. Listener discretion is advised.
You Got The Key – Willie Moody – Forthcoming Soul Direction 45 – 2025You're A Victim – Gene Rice – Just For You – RCA LP & 12” - 1991So Good – Barbara Lynn – Bullseye Blues CD – 1994 – Forthcoming 45 – 2026Do It For Me – Lady Bri – 2026Beautiful People – Jill Scott – Forthcoming Blues Babe Records Too Who This May Concern – 2026Time – John Edwards – (Careful Man Ace/Kent CD Knight/Dees – 1996) Forthcoming Ace/Kent 45 - 2026Pushin and Pullin – Lovemasters – (Jacklyn Records 45 – 1968) – Forthcoming Kent 45 – 2026Shooting High – The Pearls – (Lamp Records 1970) Hit & Run Records - 2025(I Can Make You) Forget Her – J'Cenae - (The Evolution Of J'Cenae 2025) – Raw Soul Single – 2026Just In Time – John Raphiel – 12/29 – 2026Gratitude – Maverick Gaither – 2017Miles Away – Four Tops Feat Theo Peoples (Michael J Powell Production) – Motorcity Love Songs – 2015Givin U The Best – The Temptations (Ali Woodson/Theo Peoples) – Emperors Of Soul Box Set – 1994Always Will – Jahmal Nicholls feat Theo Peoples – 2 Worlds 1 Mind – 2014No More Sleepless Nights – Theo Peoples - Life's II Short – 2008First Day Of Spring – Ron Murray – (Genna 45 19712) Forthcoming Ace/Kent 45 – 2026Heart In love – Jon Lucien – Forthcoming Ace/Kent LP Search For The Inner Self – 2026All I Need – Marv Johnson – Soul4Real From Detroit With Love 8 45 – 2025My Sweet Baby – The Mark-Keys – (TCB 45) - Forthcoming Ace/Kent 45 - 2026Baby I Want To Thank You – Bernie Williams – Del Val 45 - 1969Book Of Love (Chapter 2) – Tucka – 2025Not One Of Them – Adrian Bahger & PK2 -The Preachers Son - 2026 Hey Sexy Lady – Tyrand – 2025Tell Me Your Name II - Raheem DeVaughn, Vandell Andrew, The Colleagues, October London – The Appetizer – 2026I'll Be Here For You – Gene Rice – Just For You – RCA LP & 12” - 1991Can't Get You Off My Mind - SRJR Productions, Drea'C, Harrison Hollingquest – 2026You & I Together – Dedication – Forthcoming Final Bell Super Disco Edits 45 – 2026No One But You – Maverick Gaither – Be My Music - 2012I Kinda Knew All Along - Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley feat Maverick Gaither - …All That – Reprise CD -1993Love You – Tyrand – Good Man – 2025Lets Stay Close – Tyrand – 2026Being Slept On – Unkle Phunk – 2026Three Little Bears – Adrian Bahger & Jeff Floyd -The Preachers Son - 2026 Don't Give Up - Szymon Justynski & Ray Greene – 2026Why – Willie Moody – Forthcoming Soul Direction 45 – 2025
Dr. Murat Yildiz, a historian of the Middle East at Skidmore College, discusses his book, The Ottoman World of Sports: Refashioning Bodies, Men and Communities in Late Imperial Istanbul. (Forthcoming, University of Texas Press).
DIY Snake Catching Classes Emerge Jeremy Zakis Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christina Zenck in Queensland, teach people to safely handle dangerous species, such as brown snakes, using specialized snare poles. This training is crucial because killing protected snakes is illegal.
Thanks to everyone who entered or voted in the Non-Book Review Contest. The winners are: 1st: Joan of Arc, by William Friedman. William is a history enthusiast and author who lives in California, where he spends his time reading, writing, GMing, playing video games and telling people excitedly about all the horrific stuff he learned in his latest history book. His fiction blog is Palace Fiction (which is currently serializing his first novel, The Tragedy of the Titanium Tyrant) and his nonfiction blog is As Our Days. 2nd: Alpha School, by Edward Nevraumont. Edward also wrote one of last year's finalists (Silver Age Marvel Comics)1. Now that he's no longer anonymous, he's going to write a post on his blog responding to the review comments (712 of them!), as well as a follow-up post on what he has learned about Alpha in the six months since he submitted his review (including the Spring and Fall MAP results for his kids). Here is the landing page with more details for ACX readers who are interested. 3rd: The Russo-Ukrainian War, by Gallow. Gallow is a wayward military consultant based in Ukraine. A long time reader of Slate Star Codex, he enjoys chess and combat sports. Forthcoming details of his experiences, along with miscellaneous thoughts and ideas can be found at his nascent Substack : https://substack.com/@gallowglassglen The other Finalists were: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/non-book-review-contest-2025-winners
This Day in Legal History: 2000 Presidential ElectionOn November 7, 2000, the United States held a presidential election that would evolve into one of the most significant legal showdowns in American history. The race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore came down to a razor-thin margin in Florida, where just hundreds of votes separated the two candidates. Under state law, the closeness of the vote triggered an automatic machine recount. What followed was a legal and political firestorm involving punch-card ballots, partially detached chads, and controversial ballot designs like the “butterfly ballot,” which some argued led to voter confusion.Litigation quickly erupted in Florida state courts, with both campaigns fighting over recount procedures and ballot validity. Central to the legal debate was whether Florida counties could use different standards in determining voter intent during manual recounts. The legal issues raised tested interpretations of the Equal Protection Clause and the boundaries of state versus federal authority in managing elections. Amid national uncertainty and media frenzy, the dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore.On December 12, 2000, the Court issued a 5–4 decision halting the Florida recount, citing equal protection concerns due to inconsistent recount standards across counties. The ruling effectively secured Florida's 25 electoral votes for Bush, granting him the presidency despite losing the national popular vote. The decision was criticized by many for its perceived partisanship and for explicitly stating it should not be viewed as precedent. It remains one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in modern history.The legal battles following the November 7 election exposed deep vulnerabilities in U.S. election infrastructure and prompted calls for reform, including updating voting technology and clarifying recount laws. The case continues to shape discussions around judicial involvement in elections, federalism, and democratic legitimacy.A federal judge is expected to rule on whether President Donald Trump violated the law by deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon to suppress protests. The case, brought by Oregon's attorney general and the City of Portland, challenges the legality of Trump's domestic military deployment under emergency powers, with broader implications for similar plans in other Democrat-led cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C.U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who already issued a temporary order blocking the deployment, will now decide if that block should become permanent. The central legal question is whether the Portland protests legally constituted a rebellion, which is one of the few conditions under which federal troops may be used domestically.The Justice Department argued the deployment was justified, citing violence at a federal immigration facility and describing Portland as “war-ravaged.” Defense attorneys for Oregon and Portland countered that most protests were peaceful and that any violence was limited and contained by local authorities.A Reuters review revealed 32 federal charges tied to the protests, mostly for assaulting federal officers. Only a few resulted in serious charges or potential prison time.This case marks a significant test of civil-military boundaries and the limits of presidential emergency powers, and may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.Judge to rule on Trump's Portland troop deployment | ReutersSean Charles Dunn, a former Justice Department employee, was acquitted of misdemeanor assault by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., after a high-profile trial over an incident in which he threw a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer during a 2025 protest. The case, which gained viral attention, stemmed from an August 10 altercation during President Trump's law enforcement surge in the capital. Video footage showed Dunn yelling at officers and then throwing the sandwich, which reportedly splattered mustard and left onion on the officer's equipment.The jury deliberated for about seven hours over two days before finding Dunn not guilty under a statute that criminalizes assaulting or interfering with federal officers. Prosecutors argued the sandwich throw interfered with official duties, while Dunn's defense contended it caused no injury and was symbolic, intended to divert law enforcement from what Dunn feared was an impending immigration raid at a nearby LGBTQ+ nightclub. The CBP officer testified the sandwich left minor messes but no harm, and later received humorous gifts from coworkers related to the incident, which the defense used to downplay its seriousness.The verdict is another setback for the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, which has struggled to secure convictions in protest-related cases stemming from Trump enforcement policies. Dunn, who had been fired from the DOJ shortly after the incident, expressed relief and said he believed his actions defended immigrant rights. The presiding judge denied a defense motion to dismiss the case mid-trial but ultimately left the decision to the jury, which rejected the prosecution's claim that the act met the legal threshold for assault.Sandwich Hurler Acquitted of Assault Charge in Viral DC Case (2)U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits (food aid) for 42 million low-income Americans by Friday, rejecting the administration's plan to issue reduced payments during the ongoing government shutdown. McConnell sharply criticized the administration for what he described as using food aid as a political weapon, and warned of irreparable harm if full benefits were not provided, including hunger and overwhelmed food pantries.The USDA had initially planned to suspend benefits entirely in November due to a lack of congressional funding. It later proposed covering only 65% of benefits using limited contingency funds—an option McConnell said was inadequate and failed to address administrative challenges, such as outdated state computer systems unable to process reduced payments. Some states estimated it would take days to weeks to reconfigure their systems for partial payouts.McConnell said the administration should instead use a $23.35 billion tariff fund—previously used for child nutrition—to fully fund November benefits. His ruling followed a related case in Boston, where another judge also found that the government was legally obligated to use available emergency funds to keep food aid flowing.The Trump administration appealed the ruling and blamed Senate Democrats for blocking a funding bill that would end the shutdown. Vice President J.D. Vance criticized the court's decision as “absurd,” framing it as interference in a political stalemate.Trump administration must fully fund food aid benefits by Friday, US judge rules | ReutersThis week's closing theme is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.This week marks the anniversary of the death of Tchaikovsky, who passed away on November 6, 1893 according to the Gregorian calendar—November 7 on the Julian calendar still used in Russia at the time. His death, just days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony (Pathétique), remains a subject of speculation and sorrow in classical music history. In honor of that date, we're closing the week with one of his earlier and more intimate works: the String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11.Composed in 1871, the quartet was Tchaikovsky's first major chamber piece and reflects his growing confidence outside the orchestral realm. Though best known for sweeping ballets and symphonies, here Tchaikovsky demonstrates a delicate sense of form and emotional restraint. The second movement, “Andante cantabile,” became especially beloved—Leo Tolstoy reportedly wept when he heard it performed.Unlike his dramatic orchestral works, this quartet offers a quiet depth, full of folk-inspired melodies and lyrical interplay between the instruments. It balances elegance with melancholy, a quality that would come to define much of his later music. Tchaikovsky himself cherished the piece, often arranging and revisiting it throughout his career. The “Andante cantabile” was even played at his own memorial.As we mark November 7, it's fitting to reflect on the more introspective side of a composer whose life and death still stir emotion more than a century later. Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 doesn't shout—it speaks gently, as if in conversation, and in that quiet voice, it endures.Without further ado, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11 – enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
It's not hard to find a bar in Madison. Odds are, you're probably not far from one now. But one of Madison's most hotly anticipated new bars won't have any flashing neon alcohol signs. In fact, it won't have any signs at all. Veil and Vault is a new speakeasy set to open early next year from the owners of Nitro Beverage Lounge. Today, host Bianca Martin chats with co-owner Courtney McCarty about what folks can expect from the new concept and what she's keeping secret (for now).
As WXXI's Brian Sharp reports, the vision for a new state park in downtown Rochester is gaining focus. The state recently released renderings of the planned High Falls State Park. Construction will begin late next year. The 40-acre space will include restored green space, playgrounds and seating areas, overlooks, and more. This hour, our guests discuss the plans for the new park. In studio: Vincent Esposito, senior vice president for regional economic development at Empire State Development Carl Flora, associate architect for New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and lead architect for High Falls State Park Stephanie Hyde, engagement planner at Highland Planning Brian Sharp, investigations and enterprise editor for WXXI News ---Connections is supported by listeners like you. Head to our donation page to become a WXXI member today, support the show, and help us close the gap created by the rescission of federal funding.---Connections airs every weekday from noon-2 p.m. Join the conversation with questions or comments by phone at 1-844-295-TALK (8255) or 585-263-9994, email, Facebook or Twitter. Connections is also livestreamed on the WXXI News YouTube channel each day. You can watch live or access previous episodes here.---Do you have a story that needs to be shared? Pitch your story to Connections.
Joe's Premium Subscription: www.standardgrain.comGrain Markets and Other Stuff Links-Apple PodcastsSpotifyTikTokYouTubeFutures and options trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.✅ Welcome to today's update! We're covering farm aid, trade talks, beef expansion plans, global wheat crops, and precious metals volatility.
Want to Start or Grow a Successful Business? Schedule a FREE 13-Point Assessment with Clay Clark Today At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com Join Clay Clark's Thrivetime Show Business Workshop!!! Learn Branding, Marketing, SEO, Sales, Workflow Design, Accounting & More. **Request Tickets & See Testimonials At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com **Request Tickets Via Text At (918) 851-0102 See the Thousands of Success Stories and Millionaires That Clay Clark Has Helped to Produce HERE: https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/testimonials/ Download A Millionaire's Guide to Become Sustainably Rich: A Step-by-Step Guide to Become a Successful Money-Generating and Time-Freedom Creating Business HERE: www.ThrivetimeShow.com/Millionaire See Thousands of Case Studies Today HERE: www.thrivetimeshow.com/does-it-work/
In this episode, Genevieve Lakier of the University of Chicago Law School and Eugene Volokh of the UCLA School of Law join to discuss the recent suspension of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC and the broader history and constitutionality of jawboning, the practice of government officials pressuring private actors to stifle speech. Resources National Rifle Association v. Vullo (2024) Murthy v. Missouri (2024) Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan (1963) Rust v. Sullivan (1991) Genevieve Lakier, “Enforcing the First Amendment in an Era of Jawboning,” University of Chicago Law Review, Forthcoming 2026 Eugene Volokh, “Jimmy Kimmel, the NRA, and the First Amendment,” Volokh Conspiracy, September 18, 2025 In our new podcast, Pursuit: The Founders' to Guide to Happiness Jeffrey Rosen explores the founders' lives with the historians who know them best. Plus, filmmaker Ken Burns shares his daily practice of self-reflection. Listen to episodes of Pursuit on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore theAmerica at 250 Civic Toolkit Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Follow, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube Support our important work: Donate
The Rebel News podcasts features free audio-only versions of select RebelNews+ content and other Rebel News long-form videos, livestreams, and interviews. Monday to Friday enjoy the audio version of Ezra Levant's daily TV-style show, The Ezra Levant Show, where Ezra gives you his contrarian and conservative take on free speech, politics, and foreign policy through in-depth commentary and interviews. Wednesday evenings you can listen to the audio version of The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid the Chief Reporter of Rebel News. Sheila brings a western sensibility to Canadian news. With one foot in the oil patch and one foot in agriculture, Sheila challenges mainstream media narratives and stands up for Albertans. If you want to watch the video versions of these podcasts, make sure to begin your free RebelNewsPlus trial by subscribing at http://www.RebelNewsPlus.com
Robert Guffey is a lecturer in the Department of English at California State University – Long Beach. His books include The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook (Madness Heart Press, 2024), Cryptopolis & Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2024), Dead Monkey Rum (Planet Bizarro Press, 2023), Operation Mindfuck (OR Books, 2022), Widow of the Amputation & Other Weird Crimes (Eraserhead Press, 2021), Bela Lugosi's Dead (Crossroad Press, 2021), Until the Last Dog Dies (Night Shade/Skyhorse, 2017), Chameleo (OR Books, 2015), and Spies & Saucers (PS Publishing, 2014). A graduate of the famed Clarion Writers Workshop in Seattle, he's written for numerous publications, among them The Believer, The Evergreen Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Mailer Review, Rosebud, Salon.com, and TOR.com. In 2024 he was nominated for the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Award for his nonfiction work investigating extremist rightwing movements such as QAnon and Christian Nationalism. Forthcoming from Headpress is his nonfiction cinema book, Hollywood Haunts the World: An Investigation into the Cinema of Occulted Taboos, which covers one hundred years of film history. His website is Cryptoscatology.com.This story originally appeared in Flurb #7, 2009.Narrated by: Doni Nicoll-Duir Doni Nicoll-Duir (nickel-dar) is originally from the Western Slope of Colorado. He has lived in and out of Arizona his whole life and now finds himself settling down in Tucson, AZ. Doni works in the renewable energy sector as a design engineer and permitting specialist. When Doni isn't working on saving the planet, one rooftop at a time, or trying to keep up with his teenage daughter, he can be found cooking, hiking or playing board games with his friends at one of the local breweries.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
America Out Loud PULSE with Dr. Vaughn & Dr. Tankersley – As more and more of the lies are exposed, there will come a reckoning the likes of which we have never seen. In the same vein, we are seeing a reckoning of sorts becoming more and more prevalent in the sciences, in particular ⎯ Medicine. There was "distress" among the 'corporatists' last week when six large medical organizations were removed...
To the slow people in the back row, I'm indeed being satirical. The passages in question were randomly generated from: https://randomwordgenerator.com/paragraph.php _______________________________________ If you appreciate my work and would like to support it: https://subscribestar.com/the-saad-truth https://patreon.com/GadSaad https://paypal.me/GadSaad To subscribe to my exclusive content on Twitter, please visit my bio at https://twitter.com/GadSaad _______________________________________ This clip was posted on August 1, 2025 on my YouTube channel as THE SAAD TRUTH_1877: https://youtu.be/PkapHaCyuAc _______________________________________ Please visit my website gadsaad.com, and sign up for alerts. If you appreciate my content, click on the "Support My Work" button. I count on my fans to support my efforts. You can donate via Patreon, PayPal, and/or SubscribeStar. _______________________________________ Dr. Gad Saad is a professor, evolutionary behavioral scientist, and author who pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Saad is a leading public intellectual who often writes and speaks about idea pathogens that are destroying logic, science, reason, and common sense. _______________________________________