Podcasts about South Pacific

SynopsisToday's date in 1914 marks the birthday of one of Puerto Rico's most fascinating composers! Born in Ukraine under the name Yakov Ovcharov, he came to the United States in 1923, changed his name to Jack Delano, and in the 1930s became a photographer for Roosevelt's New Deal programs. In 1941, he was sent to Puerto Rico on a shoot and fell in love with the island. After Pearl Harbor, he was drafted by the Army Air Corps to film U.S. forces in the South Pacific, but in 1946 returned to Puerto Rico to stay. Delano then started writing music incorporating Puerto Rican folk material, and even works performed by the island's symphony orchestra. In his spare time he was also a notable cartoonist, poet, professor, architectural designer and founder of Puerto Rico's first publicly funded educational television station. In 1951, he directed Los Peloteros, a movie about poor rural kids' love of baseball which became a classic of Puerto Rican cinema, and he composed its film score as well — why are we not surprised?As they would say on the island, Jack Delano was chévere — a quite remarkable fellow!Music Played in Today's ProgramJack Delano (1914-1997): “Allegretto Grazioso” from Sonatina; Duo Classico; Suellen Hershman, flute; David Witten, piano; Musical Heritage Society; MM-512502

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 30, 2026. We open with the Texas Senate race — where Democratic nominee James Tallarico released a polished campaign ad called Waking Up, featuring him driving a full-sized Dodge Ram 1500 through Texas oil fields and farm country. There's one problem: it's not his truck. Tallarico drives a Chevrolet Colorado, but its tinted windows made the interior too dark for filming, so his campaign rented the Dodge from a local company. We make the distinction between normal campaign staging and renting a persona — because the entire ad was designed to sell Tallarico as a natural extension of working Texans, and the truck was the centerpiece of that message. We also note that Republicans handed Democrats an opening by nominating Ken Paxton — damaged goods with a messy personal and political record — instead of Wesley Hunt, who would have won this race by a landslide. Texas Republicans got this one wrong. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump's Attorney General nominee Todd Blanch is in limbo after John Cornyn and Thom Tillis signaled they would not support him in the Senate Judiciary Committee — concerned about a proposed fund to compensate victims of political prosecution under Biden, including January 6th defendants, even after Blanch testified under oath the deal was dead. Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing the nomination until both senators leave office in January. Then the federal government demanded Colorado repay $8 million in Medicaid funds after an audit found the state had billed for services totaling more than 24 hours in a single day for the same patients — a mathematical impossibility. Colorado disagrees with the findings. And thousands of military-age North African men breached the border between Morocco and Spain at Ceuta — overwhelming local law enforcement, with at least nine people killed in the chaos. Spain's Supreme Court recently ruled that sea arrivals cannot be deported without due process hearings. Most of Spain's borders are water. We also cover the WNBA's latest self-inflicted embarrassment — the league itself posted and then deleted a video from All-Star Weekend showing Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers and Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese apparently agreeing to a $400 bet on the outcome of a game between their own teams. The WNBA's own rulebook explicitly prohibits players from wagering on league games, with penalties ranging from fines to lifetime bans. We ask the obvious question: what are the odds that Angel Reese faces the same consequences Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham would face in the same situation? Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson respond to a listener question about the growing number of rules new parents are imposing on grandparents before they can see a newborn — mandatory vaccinations, isolation periods, mask requirements, no kissing — and trace it directly to the damage Anthony Fauci did to medical credibility during COVID. A generation raised on social media sees the exception, not the rule, and draws sweeping conclusions from rare worst-case scenarios. Teri's advice: get the vaccines with 50-year safety records, do your research on the newer ones, and for the love of everything good — let grandparents kiss the babies. We dig into a J7 report — tracking antisemitic violence in the seven countries with the largest Jewish populations outside Israel — which found that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks in the Western world since 1994. There were 23,000 antisemitic attacks in those seven countries last year alone, including 20 murders of Jewish people motivated by hatred of Jews — three in the United States. We trace the rise to mainstream media coverage of Israel's response to October 7th that portrayed military action against a terrorist organization as genocide — providing ideological cover for people who were already antisemitic to act. We also connect it to the intersectionality framework that positions whoever appears most oppressed as the default sympathetic party — a framework that simultaneously claims to support women, gay people, and Palestinians, without reckoning with the fact that none of those three positions are compatible with each other under Hamas governance. For our first Bright Spot, President Trump announced that Middle East mediators — including Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey — have reached an agreement on the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with a phased plan to rebuild Gaza, establish a new Palestinian government, and guarantee Israel's security. We call it what it is: not a ceasefire, not a pause, but a structured plan — and potentially the most significant Middle East development in a generation. For our second Bright Spot, the island nation of Micronesia — 75,000 people spread across 607 islands in the South Pacific — used to charge $65 per megabit per second per month for internet access because the government ran the only internet provider. When the government ended its monopoly and allowed private companies in — including Starlink — the price dropped 99% to 78 cents per megabit and internet access jumped from nearly nothing to 88% of the population. All they did was end the government monopoly. We connect it directly to New York City's government grocery store plan — and suggest Mamdani study Micronesia before he opens his first store. We also cover New York City bodegas allegedly allowing customers to use EBT food stamp cards to purchase kratom — an herbal extract not approved as food, a drug, or a dietary supplement — and potentially THC products. We call it what it is: SNAP trafficking, a federal crime that diverts money intended for nutrition into products that have nothing to do with nutrition. We also note that families of 9/11 victims are asking organizers of the 25th anniversary Ground Zero memorial to bar Mayor Mamdani from attending — citing his political positions, his anti-Semitic endorsements, and his statement during his campaign that the worst thing about 9/11 was that his aunt feared people were looking at her suspiciously. We say that day belongs to the families and to the fallen — and that Mamdani would be a distraction from both. And we close with 73-year-old Dave Whitlow of Richmond, Virginia — who has spent eight years volunteering twice a week at the Children's Hospital of Richmond as a professional cuddler of premature babies. On busy days he holds eight different babies, some weighing less than two pounds, giving them the human contact their developing systems need. As he places each one back into their NICU bed, he tells them the same thing: grow strong, grow smart, grow kind. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaume Segalés y su equipo analizan los temas de actualidad y comentan la agenda cultural.El reto de Claudia La pequeña hija de Elena e Ignacio, nacida en septiembre de 2023 (cerca de cumplir 3 años), padece una enfermedad genética degenerativa ultrarrara de la que se conocen muy pocos casos más en todo el mundo. Tras conseguir el diagnóstico correcto, que no fue fácil, y muchos meses de esfuerzo y de búsqueda, han dado con una universidad española y con un prestigioso experto genestista que pueden hacerse cargo de la investigación y desarrollo del tratamiento. Eso sí, el coste es enorme y el tiempo, muy limitado. De forma paralela, y dando también a la pequeña Claudia los cuidados que necesita las 24 horas del día, sus padres (que son madrileños, de El Escorial) han creado la Asociación para la Investigación y el Tratamiento de Enfermedades Peroxisomales. Un gran ejemplo de entereza, de constancia, de trabajo y de lucha. Todo ello, por supuesto, impulsado por el amor de estos padres primerizos a su hija. Podemos conocer los detalles en www.elretodeclaudia.org. Entrevistamos la madre de Claudia, Elena Bermejo.Teletrabajo y sedentarismo El teletrabajo sin pausas activas puede acelerar el deterioro físico. Así lo asegura la Universidad Europea de Andalucía que advierte que pasar muchas horas sentados tiene más impacto en la salud que el uso incorrecto del propio mobiliario. Los expertos recuerdan que entre el 60 % y el 70 % de los problemas de espalda están relacionados con el sedentarismo. Además, alertan de las lesiones por sobrecarga. Pueden aparecer tras una o dos semanas trabajando en un espacio mal acondicionado. Entrevistamos a la coordinadora del grado Fisioterapia de la Universidad Europea de Andalucía, María Carreira.Sección de cine clásico Es sesión continua Antolín de la Torre hoy nos habla sobre South Pacific. Adaptación cinematográfica estadounidense de 1958 del musical de Broadway South Pacific, basado a su vez en la novela Tales of the South Pacific de James A. Michener. Dirigida por Joshua Logan y protagonizada por Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Juanita Hall, France Nuyen y Ray Walston. Obtuvo las mayores recaudaciones en el año de su lanzamiento. La trama de este musical bélico y romántico, se desarrolla 1943 en plena II Guerra Mundial. La Armada de los Estados Unidos ha establecido numerosas bases en las islas Salomón con el objetivo de prepararse para una posible invasión en las costas de Nueva Guinea. En una de las islas vive un jardinero francés llamado Emile de Becque, a quien la Armada quiere contratar como espía para obtener información de las tropas japonesas. Antes de completar su misión, Becque se encuentra con la enfermera Nellie Forbush de la Armada.

A ten-year-old boy gallops across the Russian steppe on a Kalmyk horse, collecting plants for his father while German settlers starve in earth dugouts along the Volga. Seven years later, that same boy is standing on the deck of Captain Cook's Resolution as it crosses the Antarctic Circle for the first time in history, sketching birds and icebergs in a cabin so small he can barely turn around. By twenty-two he has circumnavigated the globe, published a book that Christoph Martin Wieland called a masterpiece and Samuel Johnson praised for its prose, dined with Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and been elected to the Royal Society. By thirty he has become the intellectual mentor to a young Prussian named Alexander von Humboldt, who would spend the rest of his life crediting Forster as the man who taught him how to see the natural world. By thirty-five he has helped found the first democratic republic on German soil during the French Revolution. By thirty-nine he is dead in Paris, abandoned by his wife, cut off from his country, and buried in a mass grave during the Terror. Today's guest is Andrea Wulf, author of The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity. We discuss how Forster's father dragged him from a parish near Gdansk to Russia at ten and onto Cook's ship at seventeen, why his account of the voyage was considered the finest travel writing of the eighteenth century, and how his travels through the South Pacific convinced him that human diversity was not a hierarchy but a harmony, with all peoples entitled to the same dignity and rights. We look at how he challenged Kant, Rousseau, and Buffon before he was twenty-five, why he threw himself into the French Revolution and helped build the Mainz Republic only to watch the Terror destroy everything he believed in, and why a man who influenced Humboldt, shaped the Romantic movement, and anticipated the concept of universal human rights has been almost completely forgotten.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Further reading: Gauguin’s Magical Mystery Koao Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. The French painter Paul Gauguin moved to the island of Hiva Oa in 1901, less than two years before he died. Hiva Oa is the second largest island in the Marquesas, a volcanic archipelago in Polynesia in the South Pacific. It's extremely remote, only slightly closer to Mexico than it is to New Zealand, although Hawaii is even closer. During his short time on Hiva Oa, Gauguin produced quite a few paintings, including a famous one whose title translates to “The Sorcerer of Hiva Oa.” It depicts a dancer and magician named Haapuani and represents the fast-vanishing local culture. One of the details of the painting is a bird on the ground next to a small dog. But no one can identify the bird in the painting. The bird is mostly blue but with green face and wings, and the small dog appears to be biting its wing or back. It's about the size of a chicken, although details aren't especially clear due to Gauguin's painting style. The bill is a brownish-red and is thick and pointed. The eye is the same brown-red. No one paid much attention to the bird in the painting until a man named Thor Heyerdahl published a book about the Marquesas in 1974. He was most well known for his adventures sailing a balsawood boat, the Kon-Tiki, from South America to the Polynesian islands in 1947. In 1937, though, the most notable thing Heyerdahl did was see an unusual bird that he mentioned in his book. He wrote that the bird had no wings and ran extremely fast when he startled it. It vanished into a thick bank of ferns and although he tried to catch another glimpse of it, it was gone. He later said it was about the size of a long-legged gull. A French explorer also wrote about this bird in 1957, although he didn't see it himself. He said the people who lived on the island called the bird koao, which meant “burrow bird” since it was supposed to hide in burrows. It was about the size of a rooster, purplish in color with a yellow bill, and while it only had little wings, its legs were long and it was a fast runner. By 1979, researchers investigating the koao were told that it had gone extinct from overhunting, specifically by the French colonizers of Hiva Oa. Other researchers learned that the bird was supposed to have red eyes and was the size of a duck. The ornithologist Jean-Jacques Barloy thought the bird sounded like a type of rail. Rails are relatively small birds that mostly stay on the ground. Even rail species that can fly are weak flyers, while many species are flightless. The family is a large one and includes birds like the American coot, the takahē of New Zealand, the common moorhen that lives throughout much of western Europe, South Asia, and parts of Africa, and the spotless crake that's common throughout much of the South Pacific. Barloy suggested in 1979 that the koao might be a spotless crake. The spotless crake is bluish-gray with reddish-brown back and wings, a black bill, red eyes, and pale orangey legs that are long for its size. It's shy and mostly crepuscular, but when it's out in daylight it never goes far from vegetation where it can hide. It prefers freshwater wetlands but will also live in forests as long as it has plenty of groundcover for shelter. It eats insects, worms, crustaceans, and even carrion, as well as plant material like seeds and fruit. It can fly but it would much rather run away from danger. This doesn't really fit with what we know of the koao. For one thing, the spotless crake is much smaller than a duck or rooster, smaller even than a crow. It doesn't match the size or coloration of Gauguin's mystery bird or the reports of the koao. Even Barloy later decided he was wrong and suggested the koao might be a different type of rail, maybe even an unknown species of takahē. The takahē is dark blue with a greenish back, and its heavy beak and strong legs are red. This is much more similar to the bird Gauguin painted. The takahē was considered extinct until a small population was rediscovered in 1948, and while it's flightless, its ancestors weren't. Like New Zealand, many remote islands–including Hiva Oa–have no native mammals except bats. As a result, many island birds don't need to fly because their predators are other birds like eagles. It's easy to hide from an eagle if you're foraging under cover of thick plants. Without the bird itself or its remains, identifying it was impossible. Gauguin was a post-Impressionist painter who influenced later artists of the avant-garde movement, so his paintings aren't photo-realistic. He was just making art, not illustrating a scientific treatise. The details of his painted bird might not be totally accurate and aren't specific enough to help with an identification. All we know is that the koao looks like a type of rail and doesn't match any known species of bird. So we're back where we started. But new species of rail keep being discovered in Polynesian islands, most from subfossil remains found during archaeological excavations. In 2007 three new species of extinct rail were described from remains a few hundred years old, while a fourth specimen consisted of only two bones, not enough to identify as a new species. Those two mystery bones were found on Hiva Oa. These findings show that many more species of rail and other birds once lived on the islands, probably driven to extinction by introduced rats and other non-native animals. A rail described in 1988 from 600-year-old remains, Porpyrio paepae, sometimes called the Marquesas swamphen, may be the koao. It lived on Hiva Oa and another nearby island and was closely related to the takahē. French biochemist Michel Raynal has researched the koao extensively since 1980 and suggests that Gauguin witnessed a dog catch a koao in 1902. That would explain why the dog in his painting is biting the bird's back or wing. If the bird Heyerdahl saw in 1937 was also a koao, we can determine that it was still alive at that time. The koao may be extinct now, but at least we have a painting of it. That's more than we have for most extinct animals. Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening!

Jeremy Cordeaux is in a freezing garage with Pete and Gary, saluting Australia's gold-medal-winning Commonwealth Games team — and Gina Rinehart's $20,000 reward for every gold, which Jeremy holds up as proof that reward and incentive really work. From there it's a forensic tour of government waste: the little-known Journalism Assistance Fund tipping more than $65 million of taxpayers' money into media organisations (up to $7.5 million per applicant), the $137 million emergency phone-alarm test, and the Bureau of Meteorology's $100 million website. His question throughout: what does the taxpayer actually get? He also skewers a sign-language interpreter relaying a phone-alarm warning to deaf viewers, the $4.2 million paid for a South Pacific luxury "rest stop" for COP delegates en route to Turkey with Chris Bowen, and the $20 Kmart "mouse mover" giving work-from-home staff an instant alibi. Plus Victoria's political chaos and whether Jacinta Allan can survive, the week's inflation and interest-rate watch, a listener's provocative note on the history of Christian nations that became Islamic, and a wander through this day in history — from Route 66's centenary to Henry VIII's fifth wedding and the 32-day marriage that may be a record.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Captain James Fanell reports China recently conducted its first submarine-launched ballistic missile test in the South Pacific in 40 years. Fanell reports that China has shifted to a "first use" nuclear policy and is completing its triad with the H-20 stealth bomber. He uses the "boiling frog" analogy to describe China's incremental aggression, warning that the U.S.must recognize these self-evident intentions before a "shot" is taken against regional forces or allies like Taiwan. (14)1900 NEWLY WEDS LA

SCHEDULE FOR THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 7-24-20261940 BERLINJeff Bliss reports from Los Angeles, where Mayor Karen Bass's "Inside Safe" program faces scrutiny as figures show 41% of participants returned to homelessness. Encampments have expanded significantly, with Skid Row growing from five blocks to over 50. Bliss notes that organized crime cartels reportedly rent dilapidated RVs to the homeless, profiting from government stipends. Despite rising homelessness rates and disappointing results, local politicians are criticized for a lack of accountability and for fostering a "homelessness industry." (1)Jeff Bliss notes the Oakland Athletics are preparing for a move to Las Vegas, with high-profile investor Mark Cubanjoining as a minority owner to boost the franchise's profile. Development plans include a unique heart-shaped hotel on a previously failed ferris wheel site near the future stadium. Meanwhile, Hollywood faces "creative destruction" as Pixarinitiates layoffs despite box office success. Additionally, location shoot bookings in Los Angeles have dropped 13%, signaling a shift in the film industry. (2)Richard Epstein critiques the Smithsonian's "Many Voices, One Nation" exhibit for its "woke" portrayal of American history. He argues the exhibit unfairly reduces Benjamin Franklin to an "alleged racist" while ignoring his foundational contributions. Epstein highlights the complexity of figures like Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence yet held restrictive views on immigration. The discussion underscores a perceived ideological mono-culture within the history profession that prioritizes narrative over factual nuance. (3)Richard Epstein analyzes the Trump administration's reintroduction of tariffs, now targeting allies like Australia and the EU under the guise of combating "forced labor." Epstein characterizes these moves as "lawfare" and "mindless isolationism," noting that these allies often have superior working conditions compared to the U.S. He warns that such policies alienate essential partners needed to counter global threats from Russia, Iran, and China, effectively driving allies to organize independently. (4)Jim McTague reports from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where Costco gas prices have reached $4.09, causing "mind-numbing" costs for residents. While some business slowdowns are noted, local diners remain full, supported by a robust retiree demographic with "deep pockets." The real estate market is exceptionally tight, with only 200 homes available as New Yorkers continue to bid up prices for high-quality housing. McTague concludes with observations on local tourism and his upcoming road trip to Kentucky. (5)Lorenzo Fiato reports Italy is battling severe wildfires in Sicily and Sardinia amid a prolonged heatwave. Fiato reports that Italians face exorbitant fuel costs, reaching $9.50 per gallon on motorways due to heavy taxation. To avoid over-tourism in cities like Florence, he recommends visiting Ascoli Piceno, the "town of the 100 towers," known for its travertine architecture. He concludes with culinary recommendations, including the traditional Spaghetti Ascolana paired with local Pecorino or Rosso Piceno wines. (6)Bob Zimmerman reports Rocket Lab has secured major Pentagon contracts for hypersonic test launches, potentially utilizing a remote new facility in Alaska. SpaceX is rumored to be planning a massive spaceport in Louisiana, while Northrop Grumman is successfully deploying robotic satellite-servicing pods. Conversely, Zimmerman criticizes "leftist governments" in the UK and Australia for stifling their domestic space industries with excessive red tape and "meaningless bureaucratic jargon," which forces young aerospace talent to seek opportunities abroad. (7)Bob Zimmerman highlights the "bankruptcy" of modern academia, citing a study where half of social science papers failed replication tests. He discusses an upcoming Falcon 9 rocket impact on the moon scheduled for August 5th and new data from the Juno mission revealing Io's subsurface temperatures. Additionally, scientists are investigating whether a suspected asteroid is actually a failed 1980s Soviet Mars probe, although Zimmerman remains skeptical of speculative theories involving alien technology. (8)Henry Sokolski examines a proposed deal to provide Saudi Arabia with nuclear power that has sparked intense proliferation concerns. While the Department of Energy initially signaled a "green light," the Trump administration later conditioned the agreement on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords. Sokolski warns that without "Additional Protocol" inspections, the kingdom could use the technology to develop a "bomb option." This follows the Crown Prince's 2018 assertion that Saudi Arabia would seek nuclear weapons if Iran acquired them. (9)Henry Sokolski continues: the Saudi nuclear deal remains "contradictory," with the White House and Department of Energy appearing out of sync. Media criticism reportedly prompted the president to demand a "quid pro quo"—Saudi recognition of Israel—to justify the proliferation risks. Israel remains in a difficult position; while desiring normalization, it privately opposes a Saudi nuclear program that could trigger a regional arms race. The deal's progress depends on whether it is submitted to Congress by late September. (10)Peter Huessy explains "extended deterrence," the U.S. nuclear umbrella protecting allies from aggression. Huessy critiques a proposal to delegate nuclear authority to a "three-key" system involving France and the UK, arguing it would create dangerous indecision during a crisis. He notes that allies increasingly doubt U.S. resolve. Strategy has shifted toward "counterforce" targets, aiming to disable an enemy's leadership and military capability rather than destroying cities, to provide "flexible response" options. (11)Peter Huessy notes Russia holds a 20-to-1 advantage over the U.S. in "theater" or tactical nuclear weapons, which Putinuses for "nuclear blackmail" to keep NATO out of the Ukraine conflict. Huessy argues the U.S. must deploy survivable, sea-based theater weapons to restore a credible deterrent. Reflecting on the realistic horror of the 1984 film Threads, he warns that even a single tactical exchange could rapidly escalate into a global catastrophe that ends civilization. (12)Captain James Fanell reports China is escalating physical violence against Philippine Navy personnel at Second Thomas Shoal, including "poking, prodding, and beating" sailors. Fanell explains this "petulant" behavior coincides with the 10th anniversary of a Hague ruling that invalidated China's maritime claims. Simultaneously, China and Russiaconducted joint live-fire drills in Japan's exclusive economic zone. These coordinated actions signal Beijing's intent to ignore international law and forcibly challenge the sovereignty of its neighbors. (13)Captain James Fanell reports China recently conducted its first submarine-launched ballistic missile test in the South Pacific in 40 years. Fanell reports that China has shifted to a "first use" nuclear policy and is completing its triad with the H-20 stealth bomber. He uses the "boiling frog" analogy to describe China's incremental aggression, warning that the U.S.must recognize these self-evident intentions before a "shot" is taken against regional forces or allies like Taiwan. (14)Conrad Black disputes Prime Minister Mark Carney's characterization of Canada as a "middle power," arguing the term is obsolete for a G7 nation with a larger economy than Russia. He critiques Carney's attempt to foster ties with China, noting China's "tatters" economy and history of disregarding trade agreements. Black maintains that Canada should prioritize its vital relationship with the U.S. while embracing a more ambitious and patriotic view of its global influence. (15)Veronique de Rugy argues autonomous vehicles like Waymo could reduce road fatalities by 94%, yet their adoption is stalled by opposition from trial lawyers and unions. Unions fear job losses for taxi, truck, and delivery drivers, though de Rugy argues automation historically transitions workers into higher-paying, less tedious roles. She emphasizes that driverless cars would provide life-changing accessibility for rural and elderly populations who currently lack reliable transportation options. (16)

Kathy Clugston chairs this week's Gardeners' Question Time from Clarkston Halls in East Renfrewshire, home to one of Scotland's oldest horticultural societies.Joining Kathy are Balmoral's Head of Gardens Kirsty Wilson, ethnobotanist James Wong, and Birmingham Botanical Gardens' Head Gardener Bethan Collerton.The panel tackles questions on reluctant camellias, fragrant planting for a windswept balcony, and how to transform a shady, moss-filled shared garden.Along the way, Bethan visits Glasgow Botanic Gardens' magnificent Kibble Palace, where she joins Robert Jamieson to explore botanical links across the Commonwealth, from the Australian tea tree and towering tree ferns to remarkable araucarias from the South Pacific.Back in Clarkston, the team shares advice on improving the quality of greenhouse-grown grapes, caring for carnivorous pitcher plants, and choosing easy, quick-growing seeds for young gardeners.Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith Assistant Producer: William NortonA Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4* If listening on BBC Sounds and you wish to view the plant list, please go to the Gardeners' Question Time website and open this week's episode page.

Carlos Aguirre is our next guest on The Yay. He is the four and latest member of the rap group Felonious that we've interviewed on The Yay. We talk about his upbringing, his involvement in Felonious, his theatre background and where he sees himself in the future. You can reach Carlos directly via Instagram: @emceeinfinite You can listen to his music here: emceeinfinite.bandcamp.com/album/lykyk Jameelah Rose has her own business selling healthy drinks - MelanA☥D is a black owned business that specializes in alkaline elixirs used to heal the mind and body. It's currently being sold at the Mandela Shopping Mart and you can find more info on MelanA☥D on this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/melanaid We also want to thank Charles Blades Barbershop for sponsoring The Yay! Charles Blades Barbershop is located at 180 Second Street in downtown Oakland. Congrats to Charles Blads Barbershop for winning the Best of 2026 BusinessRate Award! I get my hair cut by Charles Blades every month and I've always enjoyed the experience. Book an appointment online here: https://www.charlesblades.com Kehinde Koyejo (Episodes 214 and 262) has been a friend of mine since 2005, when I stage managed her for the Ray of Light musical, Bat Boy. She's an amazing actress, model and creative artist. She's also an incredible entrepreneur – and I want to introduce you to her business, Kalm Korner. Kalm Korner is an online boutique that specializes in aromatherapy gifts – love rubs, moisturizers, sprays, tea blends and candles. Kalm Korner also sells Choc'late Mama cookies – she brought some over the last time we interviewed her and it was fantastic. Let's support a black female-owned business, a local business and make your first order by going to this website: https://kalmkorner.com/ SHOWS: The Prince, Part I & II (Central Works) July 18 – Sept 6 (Pt I); Aug 1 – Sept 6 (Pt. II) Brennan Pickman-Thoon (Episode 281) is in the show Marah Sotelo (Episode 124) is in Part II Gary Graves (Episodes 24 & 277) wrote and directed the show https://centralworks.org Hairspray (SF Playhouse) July 10 – Sept 12 Adam Kuveniemann is in the show https://sfplayhouse.org/2025-2026-season/hairspray/ Present Laughter (Orinda Starlight Players) July 24 – August 15 Max Chang (Episode 247) is in the show https://www.orsvp.org/present-laughter Newsies (Castro Valley Arts Foundation) July 24 – Aug 9 Paul Plain (Episode 125) is in the show https://cvartsfoundation.org/shows/ Antony & Cleopatra (SF Shakes) July 25 – Sept 27 Elizabeth Carter (Episode 159) is in the show https://sfshakes.org/performance/free-shakes/ac/ El Silencio Arido Del Agua or The Arid Silence of the Water (Brava) Aug 5 – Aug 16 Virginia Blanco (Episode 238) is directing the show Taylor Gonzalez (Episode 342) is the projectionist and programmer for the show https://www.brava.org/all-events/lelsilencio-5bpzg Julius Caesar (Marin Shakes) Aug 14 – Sept 13 Jon Tracy (Episode 169) is in the show Brady Morales-Woolery (Episode 305) is in the show Dave Garrett (Episode 123) is in the show Ray Archie (Episode 365) is the sound designer David Maier (Episode 301) is the fight coordinator Jeunee Simon (Episode 297) is the intimacy coordinator https://www.marinshakespeare.org/julius-caesar/ A Midsummer Night's Dream (Actor's Ensemble) Aug 22 – Sept 7 Cynthia Lagodzinski (Episodes 96 & 266) is in the show Bruce Kaplan (Episode 294) is in the show https://www.aeofberkeley.org/94-news/latest-news/430-a-midsummer-night-s-dream-opens-august-22nd-2026 Eureka Day (City Lights Theatre) Sept 24 – Oct 18 Kimberly Ridgeway (Episodes 155 & 251) is in the show Jonathan Spector (Episode 280) wrote this Tony winning play https://cltc.org/event/eureka-day/ South Pacific (6th Street Playhouse) Aug 21 – Sept 20 Eiko Moon-Yamamoto (Episodes 120 & 225) is in the show https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/rodgers-hammersteins-south-pacific/ Follow us on Facebook and Bluesky (TheYayPodcast)

Hey there food fans, welcome back to The Food For ThoughtCast. Episode 159 brings us Morgan Smith from Kalm with Kava. Morgan is the CEO of Kalm with Kava. He has spent the past decade immersed in the world of kava. What is kava? Listen to find out! It is as much ritual and tradition, as it is beverage and ingredient. His work regularly takes him across the South Pacific, where he works directly with growers in Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, and Hawaiʻi to learn from local communities, collaborate with farmers, and help preserve traditional kava practices. On the Big Island, he grows kava, taro, and sugarcane, giving him a hand-on perspective that's rooted in the land and the people as much as the business. Morgan teaches me about his journey to finding kava, the historical importance of "canoe crops", and the social value of slowing down. Find all things kava at Kalm With Kava on Facebook or Instagram. Morgan was a delight to talk to and is a stellar human being. FFTC approved! Thanks for listening.

Floyd Brantley was born in Texas in 1925. He was 16 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Unlike many Americans, Brantley knew exactly where Pearl Harbor was. His brother was already serving in the U.S. Navy and had served there. A year later, Brantley received devastating news: his brother, Charles, had been killed in the waters off Guadalcanal. Not long after that, Brantley was ordered into service, became a Navy corpsman, and was deployed to the South Pacific, not far from Guadalcanal.In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Brantley tells us the story of how his brother was killed and how he spent years trying to find out more about what happened that day and how respected his brother was.Brantley also takes us inside the fleet hospital where he worked in the Russell Islands. He explains his role there and the types of injuries he treated. Plus, he shares fascinating stories of dealing with a Japanese prisoner/patient and a teenage native from the island.Later, Brantley tells us just how abruptly the Navy left the Russell Islands once Japan surrendered and how he got a painful early ticket home. He also shares his service from Korea and Vietnam, and the unique way he switched from the Navy to the U.S. Air Force.

Local Summer Theater at its Best!  South Pacific at the Bucks County Playhouse. More World Cup. Dan looks at Cold Plunge.  Hand crafted knives from Australia.  Fixing Penn Station. Trash Collector.  Lifeguard Janet Fash.  Bayeux Tapestry comes to UK. (it's been a while...)  Why they keep watching Moana.   Credits: Talent:  Tamsen Granger and Dan Abuhoff Engineer: Elizabeth Easton Aziz Art:  Zeke Abuhoff

Two weeks ago, a PLA Navy submarine in the South China Sea test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that flew 7,300 kilometers before splashing down in the South Pacific. The launch drew sharp criticism from several Pacific Island countries, whose leaders argued that it violated the region's longstanding identity as a nuclear-free zone. To be clear, the test did not violate international law or established norms. The United States, France, and other nuclear powers have conducted similar missile tests in the Pacific for decades. Even so, Zhang Denghua, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and CGSP's non-resident fellow for the Pacific, argues that the launch could erode Beijing's hard-earned influence in the region. He joins Eric to discuss the strategic implications of the test, China's intensifying competition with traditional powers in the Pacific, and why Taiwan remains such a potent issue for Beijing in this part of the world.

Visit TheRenegadeFiles.com to get Cool Merch, Patreon Bonus Episodes, and all things Renegade Files in one place. ~~~ Come explore the strange and colorful story of American Tiki Culture, from WWII experiences in the South Pacific and postwar suburban escapism to exotic cocktails, backyard luaus, and the mysterious Cargo Cult phenomenon. ~~~ Topics Covered: Tiki Culture, Cargo Cults, Mid-Century Escapism, American Tiki History, John Frum Movement, Prince Philip Movement, South Pacific WWII, Polynesian Pop Culture, Tiki Bars, Tiki Cocktails, Backyard Luaus, Exotica Music ~~~ If you like the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you think we deserve it. (It helps new listeners find the show.) Thank you. ~~~ Music and Audio Licensing: Theme Song: “Steve's Djembe” by Vani, FMA, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License. “Rocket Appliance Reversal” by Flow Lab Cult, DV8NOW Records, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. Short Audio Clips of “Exotic Sounds of Tiki Gardens” 1967, used here under Fair Use for Editorial and Commentary Purposes. The audio recording and text transcript of this podcast episode is © 2026 DV8NOW Publishing LLC . The Renegade Files name and the Renegade Files UFO-Pyramid Logo are wholly owned Registered Trademarks of DV8NOW Publishing LLC . About Fair Use: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, a "Fair Use" allowance is made for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. Website http://therenegadefiles.com (Everything RF in 1 place. Visit and Share!) Bonus Episodes / Support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/renegadefiles Get cool RF Merch https://therenegadefiles.com/shop/ Subscribe on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@renegadefiles Follow RF on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/renegadefiles/ Read Renegade Signals FREE on Substack Follow RF on X.com

Could the largest shark that ever lived still be swimming our oceans? Scientists say the megalodon disappeared approximately 3.6 million years ago. Yet for more than a century, experienced fishermen, sailors, explorers, and divers have reported seeing sharks so enormous they defied explanation. In this episode of Dark Outdoors, Chester Moore investigates the enduring legend of the megalodon. From Zane Grey's famous encounter in the South Pacific to Australia's mysterious giant shark reports, the legend of Baja's "Black Demon," and other intriguing eyewitness accounts, we separate documented history from maritime myth. But if these witnesses weren't seeing a living megalodon...what were they seeing? Chester explores the remarkable reality of giant great white sharks, including the legendary catches of Frank Mundus and the famous Deep Blue, along with whale sharks, basking sharks, and the surprising discovery of the megamouth shark—a species science didn't even know existed until 1976. Combining firsthand experience swimming with great white sharks, interviews with leading shark experts, and an investigative approach grounded in science, this episode examines one of the ocean's greatest mysteries while asking a deeper question: Why do stories of giant sharks refuse to disappear? Whether you're fascinated by sharks, cryptozoology, ocean mysteries, or the unexplained, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Topics Covered: Could megalodon still exist? Zane Grey's giant shark encounter The Australian giant shark reports The Black Demon of Baja Frank Mundus and legendary great whites Deep Blue and the world's biggest documented white sharks Whale sharks, basking sharks, and megamouth sharks Why giant shark sightings continue to be reported Follow Dark Outdoors for more investigations into wildlife, true crime, history, conservation, and the unexplained where the natural world meets mystery.

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global perspective on maritime cultures, examining how societies across time and space have understood and interacted with the sea. Synthesizing archaeological evidence, historical documents, and ethnographic accounts, Ian McNiven explores maritime traditions from ancient civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean to medieval Europe and Scandinavia to contemporary Indigenous communities in the South Pacific. McNiven investigates diverse cultural practices including shipbuilding, the treatment of shipwrecks and shipwreck victims, and maritime resource use, interpreting the evidence through the perspectives of mariners who understood the seas to be sentient and capable of acting with intentionality. He introduces the concepts of “terrestrial seascapes” and “ontological switching” to illustrate how land-based shrines and votive offerings extend maritime cosmologies and maintain a liminal transition from land to sea. By bridging anthropological and archaeological research with transdisciplinary blue humanities scholarship, Sentient Seas approaches seas as spiritscapes, recontextualizing folkloric beliefs about maritime superstitions. Ian J. McNiven is Research Professor of Indigenous archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator with the Australian research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global perspective on maritime cultures, examining how societies across time and space have understood and interacted with the sea. Synthesizing archaeological evidence, historical documents, and ethnographic accounts, Ian McNiven explores maritime traditions from ancient civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean to medieval Europe and Scandinavia to contemporary Indigenous communities in the South Pacific. McNiven investigates diverse cultural practices including shipbuilding, the treatment of shipwrecks and shipwreck victims, and maritime resource use, interpreting the evidence through the perspectives of mariners who understood the seas to be sentient and capable of acting with intentionality. He introduces the concepts of “terrestrial seascapes” and “ontological switching” to illustrate how land-based shrines and votive offerings extend maritime cosmologies and maintain a liminal transition from land to sea. By bridging anthropological and archaeological research with transdisciplinary blue humanities scholarship, Sentient Seas approaches seas as spiritscapes, recontextualizing folkloric beliefs about maritime superstitions. Ian J. McNiven is Research Professor of Indigenous archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator with the Australian research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global perspective on maritime cultures, examining how societies across time and space have understood and interacted with the sea. Synthesizing archaeological evidence, historical documents, and ethnographic accounts, Ian McNiven explores maritime traditions from ancient civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean to medieval Europe and Scandinavia to contemporary Indigenous communities in the South Pacific. McNiven investigates diverse cultural practices including shipbuilding, the treatment of shipwrecks and shipwreck victims, and maritime resource use, interpreting the evidence through the perspectives of mariners who understood the seas to be sentient and capable of acting with intentionality. He introduces the concepts of “terrestrial seascapes” and “ontological switching” to illustrate how land-based shrines and votive offerings extend maritime cosmologies and maintain a liminal transition from land to sea. By bridging anthropological and archaeological research with transdisciplinary blue humanities scholarship, Sentient Seas approaches seas as spiritscapes, recontextualizing folkloric beliefs about maritime superstitions. Ian J. McNiven is Research Professor of Indigenous archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator with the Australian research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global perspective on maritime cultures, examining how societies across time and space have understood and interacted with the sea. Synthesizing archaeological evidence, historical documents, and ethnographic accounts, Ian McNiven explores maritime traditions from ancient civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean to medieval Europe and Scandinavia to contemporary Indigenous communities in the South Pacific. McNiven investigates diverse cultural practices including shipbuilding, the treatment of shipwrecks and shipwreck victims, and maritime resource use, interpreting the evidence through the perspectives of mariners who understood the seas to be sentient and capable of acting with intentionality. He introduces the concepts of “terrestrial seascapes” and “ontological switching” to illustrate how land-based shrines and votive offerings extend maritime cosmologies and maintain a liminal transition from land to sea. By bridging anthropological and archaeological research with transdisciplinary blue humanities scholarship, Sentient Seas approaches seas as spiritscapes, recontextualizing folkloric beliefs about maritime superstitions. Ian J. McNiven is Research Professor of Indigenous archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator with the Australian research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/archaeology

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global perspective on maritime cultures, examining how societies across time and space have understood and interacted with the sea. Synthesizing archaeological evidence, historical documents, and ethnographic accounts, Ian McNiven explores maritime traditions from ancient civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean to medieval Europe and Scandinavia to contemporary Indigenous communities in the South Pacific. McNiven investigates diverse cultural practices including shipbuilding, the treatment of shipwrecks and shipwreck victims, and maritime resource use, interpreting the evidence through the perspectives of mariners who understood the seas to be sentient and capable of acting with intentionality. He introduces the concepts of “terrestrial seascapes” and “ontological switching” to illustrate how land-based shrines and votive offerings extend maritime cosmologies and maintain a liminal transition from land to sea. By bridging anthropological and archaeological research with transdisciplinary blue humanities scholarship, Sentient Seas approaches seas as spiritscapes, recontextualizing folkloric beliefs about maritime superstitions. Ian J. McNiven is Research Professor of Indigenous archaeology at the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator with the Australian research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country's status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments (University of Chicago Press, 2025) by Dr. Gretchen Heefner explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Dr. Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

For generations, the story of the Bounty has been told as an adventure - a dramatic clash between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. But for the descendants of those who survived, it's something far more personal. A handwritten register recording births, marriages and deaths is returning to the South Pacific after more than 170 years in Britain.

Read an even deeper-dive into the werewolf trials here: https://weirddarkness.com/wolves-on-trial/Across four centuries of European court records, dozens of men, women, and children confessed to shedding their skins for wolf-hides and hunting under the moon — and the magistrates who heard them believed every word.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/RealWerewolfTrialsREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/43rjhjvpFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: We're all familiar with the concept of werewolves – they are all over pop culture, movies, television, comic books, novels, and every other medium you could possibly imagine. And while they are considered fictional, or at least in the realm of cryptids, that doesn't mean there aren't true stories of reported werewolves in history. (Real Historic Accounts of Werewolves) *** Just the idea of going to prison is enough to scare people into living a squeaky-clean life, but if you're one of the most dangerous prisoners known to exist, ordinary prison would look like a vacation as compared to life in the Florence ADX Supermax Prison. (Life In The Supermax) *** What was supposed to be a two day trip turned into a maritime mystery when the ship, the MV Joyita was discovered floating with no crew on board. What happened? (The Mysterious Abandonment of the MV Joyita)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:01:37.814 = Show Open00:03:32.506 = Real Historic Accounts of Werewolves, Part 100:28:44.978 = Real Historic Accounts of Werewolves, Part 2 ***00:42:51.099 = The Mysterious Abandonment of the MV Joyita ***01:02:49.562 = Life In The Supermax ***01:15:37.977 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Real Historic Accounts of Werewolves” by Miss Celania for MentalFloss.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p84ut66, Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: http://bit.ly/2MFFx5p, WolvesRox on Playbuzz.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9bjcht, and Tim Flight for HistoricCollection.com:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p87s85sThe short fable, “The Werewolf” was written by Angela Carter: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckt8fn6“The Mysterious Abandonment of the MV Joyita” by Marcus Lowth for UFOInsight.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8sux2j“Life In The Supermax” by Jacob Shelton for Ranker.com's Unspeakable Times: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8u82p9(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: January, 2022Weird Darkness digs into three dark corners this time out — the real men and women who were tried and executed as werewolves across Early Modern Europe, the South Pacific ghost ship MV Joyita found drifting with all 25 aboard vanished, and daily life inside America's most locked-down prison, the ADX Supermax in Florence, Colorado.It opens with the documented history of lycanthropy trials, tracing the term back through the Old English werwulf and the Greek myth of King Lycaon, whom Ovid recorded being turned into a wolf by Zeus. From there the episode walks through the real cases: the Gandillon family, burned in France in 1598 after the witch hunter Henri Boguet arranged their arrest; Thiess of Livonia, an eighty-year-old man tried in 1692 who claimed to be a benevolent werewolf who fought the Devil for the year's harvest; Peter Stubbe, the "Werewolf of Bedburg," broken on the wheel and beheaded on October 31st, 1589; Gilles Garnier, the "Hermit of Dole," burned alive in 1573 for killing and eating children; the Werewolves of Poligny; the Wolf of Ansbach, an ordinary wolf hanged from a gibbet in a wig and beard in 1685; teenaged Hans the Werewolf, executed in Estonia in 1651; fourteen-year-old Jean Grenier of Gascony, spared the stake and sent to a friary; the "Demon Tailor" of Chalons; and the more modern Spanish serial killer Manuel Blanco Romasanta, the "Werewolf of Allariz," who used lycanthropy as his legal defense, alongside the Ludwigslust and Angers cases and the cannibal beggar Swiatek of Poland.From there the show turns to the MV Joyita, the yacht built in 1931 in Los Angeles for director Roland West and named for his wife, Jewel Carmen. On October 3rd, 1955, she left Apia, Samoa, for the Tokelau Islands carrying 16 crew and nine passengers, and vanished; found over a month later on November 10th by the merchant captain Gerald Douglas, she was drifting more than 600 miles off course, partially submerged but afloat thanks to her cork-lined refrigerated hold. Investigators found the cabin lights on, the clocks stopped at 10:25, the radio tuned to the distress frequency, a doctor's bag holding a scalpel and blood-stained bandages, mattresses stacked over the engine, and all four escape craft gone — with the cargo, and all 25 people, never recovered. Captain Thomas Miller took the blame for sailing on one engine, but the theories that followed ran from mutiny to Japanese fishermen, Soviet submarines, pirates, and insurance fraud, with researcher Robin Maugham laying out the mutiny case in his book The Joyita Mystery.The episode closes inside the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, the ADX Supermax that has held Ted Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, Robert Hanssen, Ramzi Yousef, and Zacarias Moussaoui since 1994. Inmates spend 23 hours a day alone in 7-by-12-foot concrete cells with a single 4-inch window angled so the sky and the surrounding mountains stay out of view, communicating through drained toilet pipes and "finger handshakes" through recreation-cage fencing. Former inmates and staff — including warden Robert Hood, who called the architecture itself the control, and prisoner Travis Dusenbury — describe a facility that strips away nearly every trace of ordinary life, the suicide of mentally ill inmate Jose Vega in 2010, and the ongoing lawsuits over medical and mental-health treatment that forced ADX to reevaluate its practices in the mid-2010s.

Gregory Copley highlights Australia's declining regional power as Indonesia and India rise strategically. China'smissile tests and interest in Antarctica further destabilize the South Pacific. As the Antarctic Treaty ends, a scramble for the world's largest oil deposits appears imminent. (111930

CLiz Peek discusses the strong American economy, noting that small businesses feel relief as tariff threats abate and inflation falls. Lower energy and gasoline prices have cheered investors. Anecdotal evidence from local bookstores and ice cream parlors reinforces a positive outlook for consumer sentiment. (1)Liz Peek highlights the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America as a significant threat to established Democraticincumbents. Young voters are flocking to radical platforms promising free services. Rahm Emanuel emerges as a blunt voice for the party, urging a challenge against these "loons." (2)Jonathan Schanzer reports on the restart of hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz, where oil prices have hit $87 per barrel. The US is conducting air strikes against Iranian naval assets and drone bases. Schanzer questions why these strategic targets were not hit earlier in the conflict. (3)Jonathan Schanzer explores the Houthi threat in North Yemen and the potential for a wider regional conflict. While the US keeps Israel on the sidelines to avoid escalation, Turkey's "neo-Ottoman" ambitions are rising. Schanzer warns that Turkey seeks to fill the power vacuum left by Iran. (4)Mary Kissel analyzes the failure of the Iran ceasefire, noting that Iran calculated the US lacks the will for ground intervention. The conflict centers on Iran's suspect nuclear program, with potential new targets at Pickaxe Mountain. Public engagement remains low despite rising energy costs. (5)Mary Kissel discusses NATO's decision to reinforce Ukraine with advanced drone technology and Patriot missile manufacturing. Ukraine is hailed as the "future of warfare," transitioning from a security consumer to a security contributor. Kissel emphasizes the need for the US to counter Russian propaganda. (6)Joseph Sternberg examines Germany's economic struggles under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, including a shift toward deregulation and infrastructure borrowing. Massive layoffs at Volkswagen signal the end of traditional "lifetime employment." Merz faces political challenges from Social Democrats who resist aggressive free-market changes. (7)Joseph Sternberg addresses the assassination of former MP Ann Widdecombe, which is being investigated as a possible act of political violence. Sternberg notes that existential political rhetoric on social media often inspires such attacks. These tensions reflect broader global concerns regarding political polarization. (8)Gregory Copley critiques the stalemate in the Persian Gulf, suggesting that US air strikes alone cannot win without a plan for regime change. He advocates for supporting the domestic Iranian population against the clerical leadership. Turkey's opposition to empowering Kurdish forces remains a significant complication. (9)Gregory Copley discusses the inevitability of Ukraine's path to NATO, a move he views as a provocation to Russia. He argues the war preserves President Zelensky's power without a democratic mandate. However, he acknowledges Ukraine's technological ingenuity in developing swarming drone capabilities for modern combat. (10)Gregory Copley highlights Australia's declining regional power as Indonesia and India rise strategically. China'smissile tests and interest in Antarctica further destabilize the South Pacific. As the Antarctic Treaty ends, a scramble for the world's largest oil deposits appears imminent. (11)Gregory Copley details King Charles III's visit to the Isle of Man, the world's oldest continuous parliament. The King also held a private, discreet meeting with Prince Harry. Meanwhile, the UK faces rising anxiety over security for political leaders following the assassination of Ann Widdecombe. (12)Jeff McCausland discusses the closing of the Strait of Hormuz due to Iranian threats from land-based missiles and drones. President Trump faces a dilemma: muddle through, escalate with ground forces, or withdraw. McCausland warns that seizing territory like Kharg Island would result in significant casualties. (13)Jeff McCausland notes that Europe now views Ukraine as a security contributor due to its mastery of drone and robotic warfare. While Putin considers escalation or mobilization, Chinese pressure likely prevents the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The US continues to communicate "serious consequences." (14)Ernesto Araújo and Alejandro Peña Esclusa condemn Gustavo Petro's refusal to recognize election results in Colombia. They criticize Brazil's President Lula for his silence on criminal leftist regimes. The "Shield of the Americas" alliance is emerging to defend regional democracy and fight corruption. (15)Ernesto Araújo and Alejandro Peña Esclusa report that 60,000 people are missing in Venezuela following catastrophic earthquakes and government neglect. They propose an emergency temporary government to replace the Rodriguezsiblings. Brazil hosts 700,000 refugees fleeing the "gangland" regime's destruction. (16)All 16 segments formatted, tail numbers (1)–(16). Name check clean: Liz Peek, Peña Esclusa, Araújo with the accent, Ann Widdecombe all correct.

When their catamaran struck a reef in the middle of the South Pacific, John and Jean Silverwood had minutes to save their four children — and each other.  As the boat was breaking up from smashing again and again into the reef,  the mast crashed down on John's leg, severing it.Buy John and Jean's BookShow Instagram: @LivedToTellPodcastTikTok: @LivedToTellPodcastCaitlin's Instagram: @caitlinvanmolemail: livedtotellpod@gmail.com

The U.S. war against Iran is having a profound impact far away from the battlefield, all the way on the other side of Asia in the Western Pacific. There's an emerging consensus among Washington's allies and foes alike that the U.S. will be incapable, unwilling, or a mix of both to fight a war against China in this part of the world. That's prompting a rapid reevaluation of security postures across the region, a shift on full display over the past week: Australia moving to bolster security ties in the South Pacific and Japan building what many see as a new security architecture for the post-American order. Derek Grossman, CGSP's non-resident fellow for the Asia-Pacific and a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, joins Eric to discuss the week's key events in the South China Sea, South Pacific, and Japan's latest moves to build a new intelligence agency.

Medical missionaries are often called upon to provide care that is beyond the scope of their training and previous experience. This interactive case presentation looks at the realities of clinical decision-making in a critically ill snakebitten patient, and offers suggestions on how to navigate similar challenging situations.

Constantine Rousouli is a two-time Tony nominated actor, writer and producer, best known for co-creating, writing, and starring in hit Broadway musical TITANIQUE, which earned four Tony nominations this season, including “Best Musical” and “Best Book of a Musical.” The show is a satirical reimagining of the Oscar-winning feature film Titanic from the point of view of Celine Dion. Connie stars as “Jack Dawson.” TITANIQUE has received rave reviews and critical acclaim including two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Olivier Awards, and Drama League and Drama Desk nominations. The show previously toured off-Broadway in Chicago, Canada, London, Australia, and Paris and kicked off its Broadway run this spring at the St. James Theatre with Connie returning as “Jack” alongside returning castmate & co-creator Marla Mindelle as “Celine Dion” and new cast additions Jim Parsons and Deborah Cox. The production has also extended its Broadway run through the end of September, driven by its continued popularity and positive reception from audiences.  Following the success of TITANIQUE, Connie and his longtime collaborator & partner Marla Mindelle debuted their new off-Broadway musical, BIG GAY JAMBOREE, backed by producer Margot Robbie and LuckyChap. Marla & Connie are also developing TROOP! A BEVERLY HILLSICAL with A24 for The Cherry Lane Theatre.   Connie & Marla are also currently in development with Broadway Video and UTV on an original half-hour comedy series that they are co-writing and would star in together. The idea came together after Lorne Michaels saw (& fell in love with) TITANIQUE and had Connie & Marla test for SNL. Connie first got his start on Broadway with the revival of Hairspray as “Link Larkin.” He toured with Wicked as “Prince Fiyero”, performed in the Hollywood Bowl run of Hair with Kristen Bell, directed by Adam Shankman, and made waves starring as “Sebastian” in the off-Broadway cult hit Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical Experience. Marla has graced Broadway stages in productions such as South Pacific, Cinderella, and as part of the original cast of Sister Act as “Sister Mary Robert.” Connie's TV & film acting credits include THE OTHER TWO (Comedy Central/Max), 9-1-1 (Fox), AJ AND THE QUEEN (Netflix), THE DEUCE (HBO), the CW reboot of CHARMED as a fan-favorite heartthrob villain, and Blumhouse & Universal's THIS IS THE NIGHT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Winston Peters spoke to John Campbell following the weekend's visit by the Indian Prime Minister and last week's test of a nuclear capable missile by China in the South Pacific.

Norway punches far above its weight as a sporting nation. The success of its athletes might be rooted in the way young Norwegians learn sports – by first focusing on the process, rather than on wins and losses. “It's a human-centered blueprint,” a sports wellness expert tells our writer. “It puts the person first by looking at the player pathway as a human journey, not just a sports journey.” Also: today's stories, including how residents of one Memphis neighborhood are weighing challenges with an AI data center; a look at new cuts to U.S. intelligence operations; and our reviewer's thoughts on “The Wreck of the Mentor,” a strange, true story of a shipwrecked crew on a South Pacific island. Join the Monitor's Clay Collins for today's news.

Here is your Daily Disney News for Saturday, July 11th, 2026 - Disney Springs at Walt Disney World will soon feature a new South Pacific-inspired dining experience with dishes featuring fresh seafood and exotic fruits. - Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain is receiving an upgrade with state-of-the-art visual effects and a new storyline. - A new stage show at Disneyland in Anaheim celebrates Disney Princesses with live performances from favorites like Ariel, Moana, and Elsa. - Disney+ is launching "Behind the Disney Magic," a documentary series offering a behind-the-scenes look at how Disney brings its stories and characters to life. Have a magical day and tune in again tomorrow for more updates.

Taylor Swift is an entertainment juggernaut. She's become one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, with her Eras tour grossing more than $2 billion. During that tour, Swift surprised her audience each night with costume changes to mark different eras of her career. Now, a couple of researchers have figured out how to predict what costumes Swift would wear, when, and if these outfit colors were related to the sentiment of songs being performed. Predicting the colors of Swift's Eras tour is the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guests Marina Ferrari de Aquino Klemm and Charlotte M. Jones-Todd. Marina Ferrari de Aquino Klemm is an associate curator at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. She can be found listening to Taylor Swift while she's on marine expeditions throughout the South Pacific, cataloging museum specimens, or analyzing all sorts of biodiversity data. Charlotte Jones-Todd taught as a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She spends her time teaching statistics and coding, fixing bugs, pandering to her pets, and baking bread.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on a visit to the Solomon Islands, while China's test launch of a nuclear capable weapon in the South-Pacific has been labelled "destabilising" for the region.

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Beijing has conducted a missile test, raising regional concerns.

Anthony Albanese is forced into a humiliating apology over his crude Kylie Minogue comments, China sends a nuclear-capable warning shot into the South Pacific. Plus, Iran stages a funeral spectacle for its slain Supreme Leader.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says he's 'deeply concerned' by China's testing of nuclear-capable weapons in the South Pacific. Nicholas Khoo, Associate Professor at the University of Otago specialising in Chinese foreign policy spoke to John Campbell.

Today's West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy Podcast for our especially special Daily Special, River City Hash Mondays is now available on the Spreaker Player!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Patriot Front and Trump tried to ruin the Fourth of July weekend.Then, on the rest of the menu, the Neo Confederate MAGA White House branded the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution as radical leftists who cannot be trusted; Trump will not seek new bids to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool but will “use the same company, because they did a fantastic job;” and, a decline in PH.D. admissions could imperil “a generation of new talent.”After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where a Belgian diamond group that won tariff relief, gifted Trump a lavishly encrusted ring that would be illegal in any other administration; and, Australia and Fiji signed a new bilateral defense alliance against Chinese influence in the South Pacific.All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!The Netroots Radio Live PlayerKeep Your Resistance Radio Beaming 24/7/365!“I was never a spy. I was with the OSS organization. We had a number of women, but we were all office help.” — Julia Child Justice PutnamBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/west-coast-cookbook-speakeasy--2802999/support.

Hawaiian Concert Guide – Show 705 Theme: "Fickle Mistress" This episode flows naturally through four movements: Identity & Heritage – Traditional Hawaiian values and community. Voyaging & Legacy – Remembering those who carried Hawaiian culture forward. Family & Renewal – Songs of love, hope, and future generations. Exotica Escape – Mid-century tropical lounge before returning home with classic Hawaiian harmony. Opening Welcome everyone to another edition of the Hawaiian Concert Guide. This week we begin in the heart of Hawaiian tradition, celebrating family, community, and the enduring spirit of aloha. Along the way we'll hear legendary voices, modern artists carrying forward the tradition, and finish with another visit to the fascinating world of Martin Denny before closing with the unmistakable harmonies of Hoʻokena. Whether you're listening from Hawaiʻi or somewhere far away where the islands are simply calling your heart home, mahalo for joining us. Song 1 Model T Artist: Ei Nei Album: Ei Nei, Look At Us Background Ei Nei is one of Hawaiʻi's respected contemporary Hawaiian vocal groups. Their recordings emphasize traditional language, acoustic instrumentation, and close vocal harmony rather than commercial production. "Model T" is an unusual title for a Hawaiian recording and immediately catches attention. Analysis The song uses the Ford Model T as metaphor rather than merely nostalgia. Like the famous automobile that continued working long after newer cars replaced it, the song celebrates endurance, reliability, and the value of things built to last. Within Hawaiian culture this becomes symbolic of: kūpuna wisdom family traditions older ways that remain useful today respect for craftsmanship Rather than chasing every modern trend, the song quietly reminds listeners that proven traditions often carry us farther than fashionable innovations. Musically: relaxed swing feel acoustic guitar upright bass warm harmony vocals understated humor The storytelling style feels very local—more "talk story" than performance. Interesting discussion point Many Hawaiian songs preserve everyday island life that might otherwise disappear. Cars, fishing boats, ranch work, neighborhood traditions—all become cultural history through music. Song 2 Pua Līlia / Pulupē Nei ʻIli I Ke Anu Artist: Ei Nei Background This medley combines two traditional Hawaiian compositions. "Pua Līlia" references the lily flower, often symbolizing beauty, affection, and cherished memories. "Pulupē Nei ʻIli I Ke Anu" literally evokes skin chilled by the cold—a poetic Hawaiian expression describing emotional longing as much as physical sensation. Analysis Together the songs explore one of Hawaiian poetry's favorite themes: Nature reflects emotion. Flowers become people. Wind becomes memory. Cold becomes loneliness. Rain becomes tears. This style reflects the Hawaiian poetic tradition known as kaona, where deeper meanings hide beneath seemingly simple descriptions of nature. Listeners familiar with Hawaiian language often hear multiple layers simultaneously. Musically the arrangement allows: graceful vocal blending flowing slack-key influenced accompaniment gentle tempo that lets the language breathe Song 3 Na Mamo O Hōkūleʻa Artist: Eric Lee Album: The Islands Are Calling Background One of the emotional highlights of today's show. The title means: "The Children (Descendants) of Hōkūleʻa." Hōkūleʻa, launched in 1975, transformed Hawaiian cultural identity by proving that Polynesians intentionally navigated the Pacific using traditional celestial navigation. Analysis The song honors: navigators teachers cultural practitioners future generations Rather than focusing only on the canoe itself, Eric Lee celebrates the people inspired by its voyages. The lyrics remind listeners that everyone who learns Hawaiian language, practices hula, paddles canoe, or studies navigation becomes part of that continuing legacy. Musically: contemporary Hawaiian arrangement uplifting chorus layered harmony strong melodic hook This is heritage music without sounding historical. It looks toward the future. Discussion point Very few cultural revival movements have succeeded as dramatically as the Hawaiian Renaissance. Hōkūleʻa became much more than a canoe. It became proof that cultural knowledge could be recovered. Song 4 He Aloha No Kaʻililauokekoa Artist: Eric Lee Background This composition is a tribute song. The title translates approximately as: "Love for Kaʻililauokekoa." Many Hawaiian songs preserve individuals through musical remembrance. Analysis Traditional Hawaiian memorial songs are rarely mournful. Instead they celebrate: character generosity family contribution continuing spiritual presence Love never truly disappears. It simply changes form. Eric Lee's vocal delivery is especially sincere here, avoiding theatrical emotion in favor of heartfelt storytelling. The arrangement leaves space for the lyrics to remain central. Song 5 Brighter Life Artist: Kaleo Phillips Album: E Mama Background Kaleo Phillips represents a younger generation of Hawaiian musicians who comfortably blend island contemporary music with traditional values. Analysis This optimistic composition centers on hope rather than nostalgia. Themes include: gratitude resilience moving forward family support personal growth Rather than ignoring life's hardships, the song suggests that aloha provides strength to overcome them. The production feels modern without abandoning Hawaiian identity. Expect: polished vocals contemporary rhythm accessible melody This is exactly the type of music helping Hawaiian artists reach younger audiences. Song 6 Noe Ke Alaula Artist: Kaleo Phillips Background The title references the red glow of dawn. Morning imagery appears frequently throughout Hawaiian mele. Analysis Sunrise represents: renewal forgiveness beginning again spiritual awakening The composition encourages listeners to embrace each new day with gratitude. The melodic phrasing mirrors the slow appearance of first light over the islands. Instrumentally: relaxed guitar tasteful percussion spacious arrangement It provides a peaceful transition before today's Exotica segment. Exotica Segment Introduction Now we step into another musical universe. During the late 1950s and early 1960s America became fascinated with an imagined South Pacific. The result became known as Exotica. Although not authentically Hawaiian, this music introduced millions to tropical sounds and inspired later interest in genuine Hawaiian music. No artist defined the genre more than Martin Denny. Song 7 Chinese Lullaby Artist: Martin Denny Album: Hypnotique Background Martin Denny frequently blended Asian influences with Polynesian instrumentation. Analysis This recording creates atmosphere more than narrative. Features include: vibraphone marimba bamboo percussion bird calls spacious orchestration Rather than attempting authenticity, Denny paints an idealized dreamscape. Today listeners appreciate Exotica both as historical pop culture and as remarkable studio craftsmanship. Song 8 Hypnotique Artist: Martin Denny Background The title track perfectly demonstrates why Martin Denny became synonymous with Exotica. Analysis Everything is carefully layered. shimmering vibraphone Latin percussion jazz harmony tropical ambience The music intentionally slows the listener's pulse. It isn't dance music. It isn't jazz. It isn't Hawaiian. It's its own unique genre. Many modern lounge and ambient artists continue drawing inspiration from recordings like this. Return to Hawaiian Music After our excursion into imagined tropical paradise, we return to the authentic voices of Hawaiʻi. Few groups have influenced modern Hawaiian harmony as profoundly as Hoʻokena. Song 9 ʻUlili E Artist: Hoʻokena Album: Na Kai ʻEwalu Background Hoʻokena helped define contemporary Hawaiian vocal harmony during the late twentieth century. Their singing balances technical excellence with deep cultural respect. Analysis The title references the ʻulili, the wandering tattler shorebird found throughout Hawaiʻi. Birds often symbolize: travelers messengers freedom migration Like many traditional mele, the bird becomes a poetic stand-in for human experience. Hoʻokena's trademark harmony creates extraordinary warmth throughout the performance. Song 10 Roselani Blossoms Artist: Hoʻokena Background One of Hawaiʻi's beloved standards. The roselani rose has long symbolized affection and cherished memories. Analysis Although the melody feels simple, the emotional depth comes through nuanced harmony and expressive phrasing. The song celebrates: enduring love island beauty treasured relationships Hoʻokena's arrangement demonstrates why they remain among the finest Hawaiian vocal ensembles. Every harmony line serves the melody rather than overpowering it. It makes for a graceful conclusion to today's musical journey. Closing Remarks What a wonderful musical voyage today—from the enduring wisdom symbolized by an old Model T, through the cultural legacy of Hōkūleʻa, into songs of family, remembrance, and hope, then across the dreamy soundscapes of Martin Denny's Exotica before returning home with the timeless harmonies of Hoʻokena. These recordings remind us that Hawaiian music is far more than a style. It is a living tradition that preserves language, history, genealogy, and aloha for future generations. Mahalo for joining me for another edition of the Hawaiian Concert Guide. Until next time, mālama pono, cherish the music, support the artists, and keep Hawaiian music playing wherever you are in the world. A hui hou!

Hear about travel to Fiji as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jonty Crane from jontytravels.com about this island nation where he lived this year. Why should you visit Fiji? Jonty says, "Fiji offers the classic South Pacific island experience, with excellent snorkeling and diving, attractive beaches, and welcoming people. It also has a well-established tourism industry, which accounts for approximately 40% of the economy. Fiji attracts around one million visitors each year, representing about 60% of all tourism in the South Pacific." Jonty's Experience in Fiji ... https://amateurtraveler.com/travel-to-fiji-3/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people who say they've tried kava have tried a watered-down extract that feels like weak chamomile, then concluded the plant does nothing. Cameron George has spent years arguing that the real thing, whole-root and traditionally prepared, is one of the most misunderstood plant medicines on Earth. In this conversation Aubrey sits down with him for a full masterclass on what kava actually is, why the West got it so wrong, and how a South Pacific root that has anchored entire island civilizations for thousands of years might be the missing piece in the modern search for connection without self-betrayal.Kava occupies a strange category of its own. It relaxes without sedating, opens you emotionally without impairing you, and softens social armor without the crash, the fog, or the regret that follows alcohol. Cameron walks through the pharmacology behind that (the GABA upregulation, the dopaminergic support, the reverse-tolerance phenomenon where the plant becomes more effective with consistent use rather than less) and into the cultural story underneath it, including the poorly constructed studies from 1999 that nearly killed kava's reputation in the West right as it was set to break through. From there the conversation widens into nervous-system repair, the difference between borrowed relief and generative states, the role kava can play in psychedelic integration, and what it means to change your state without leaving yourself behind.Check out TRU KAVA and USE CODE AUBREY10 FOR 10% OFF►Website | https://trukava.com/►Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/trukava/This episode is sponsored by►Metal Mark Gold Aurum Collectable Art |  ⁠https://mtlmrk.com/⁠►Korrect Life | ⁠https://korrectlife.com/| Aubrey Marcus |►Website | ⁠⁠https://www.aubreymarcus.com/►Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/aubreymarcus►Facebook |⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/AubreyMarcus/►X |⁠ https://x.com/aubreymarcus►Substack: https://www.aubreymarcus.com/blogs/substack► Love To The Seventh Power: ⁠https://chakaruna.com/collections/books⁠Subscribe to the Aubrey Marcus podcast:►iTunes |⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apple.co/2lMZRCn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠►Spotify |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://spoti.fi/2EaELZO ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠►IHeartRadio |⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ihr.fm/3CiV4x3 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠►Partner with the Aubrey Marcus Podcast | https://www.aubreymarcus.com/pages/booking

Jim Rice from Survivor South Pacific came to play, and this episode of Beyond the Torch is packed with the kind of Survivor stories you only hear when the cameras are off. Courtney is guest co-hosting today with Leslie, so it was interesting when Jim revealed his answer to the question casting asked him about who he thought was the hottest female Survivor and he actually said it was Courtney! He also shared behind-the-scenes South Pacific secrets, and holds nothing back. We dive into the Cochran flip, Coach's controversial loss, casting shenanigans, Survivor myths that drive players crazy, and how the game has changed in the age of social media. It's funny, unfiltered, a little chaotic, and full of the "wait...what?!" moments that make Survivor fans hit rewind. If you love insider stories, hot takes, and plenty of laughs, this one's for you.

In 1832, a New Bedford whaleship called the Mentor struck a reef in the remote Pacific archipelago of Palau. The tiny, 100-foot-long ship began sinking immediately, and the 22 men who made up its crew were thrown into one of the most extraordinary survival ordeals in American maritime history. Ten men vanished the night of the wreck and were never seen again. The survivors found themselves stranded among island peoples with their own complex politics, rival confederations, and fifty years of complicated history with Western ships that the castaways knew nothing about. What followed was a story of captivity, starvation, forced tattooing, a rescue that made everything worse, and a years-long scramble across islands and ocean before the last survivors finally made it home. Today's guest is Eric Jay Dolin, author of "The Wreck of the Mentor." We untangle one of the great forgotten stories of the Age of Sail, and explore how fifty years of British guns and gunboat diplomacy warped Palauan politics long before the Mentor arrived, why the men who attacked the castaways with war clubs also cooked them lavish feasts and wept for their dead, and how crewman Horace Holden kept himself alive on a famine-stricken island when almost everything pointed toward death.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.