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Podcasts - What Are Your Favorites?


dcs

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2 hours ago, dcs said:

I have become addicted to podcasts.  I have subscribed to so many I just cannot get to them all.  Some I listen to only every 6th episode or so, and some I never miss.  Here are my top 3 heavy hitters that I never skip:

New York Times The Daily

Slate's Political Gabfest

Slate's The Gist

What are your favorites?

Thanks for the topic and your list.

 I never watch them.  I saw some earlier ones and found the visuals distracting, participated in one, whereas in a jackass move didn’t want the visual turned on and diminished my participation, let alone the entire discussion, (never to be used by anyone else again—pfft (stupid)).  Then watched them in one arena wherein I found myself in growing disagreement with the “experts”......and soured on them.

Now I never watch them.  I’m all ears to others favorites.

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41 minutes ago, DaveO said:

 I never watch them.

Are you talking about podcasts, which generally don't have a visual component as far as I know?

I listen to various Slate podcasts, though I can't keep up: the Political Gabfest, the Culture Gabfest, the Double X Gabfest, and Mom and Dad Are Fighting.

In the past I enjoyed Serial (especially the first season -- highly recommended) and S-Town.

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New York Public Library has excellent guests, although sometimes I find the sound quality can be a bit suspect.  Most of them are recorded in front of a live audience, not in studio.

Politics & Prose similarly has good guests as part of their in-store author series.  Check out Trevor Noah being interviewed by Sen. Cory Booker, very interesting discussion about Trevor's background and growing up in S. Africa.    

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I love podcasts. This list will make it look like I don't do anything else, but I just have them on in the background a LOT of the time.

My favorites are:

NPR extensions/re-broadcasts:  Code Switch, Planet Money, Freakonomics Radio, This American Life, Radio Lab, Rough Translation, More Perfect,

Food related: The Sporkful, Special Sauce,

Serial narrative (non-fiction): Serial (obviously), Crimetown, S Town, Empire on Blood, Making Oprah

Political (all from Crooked Media) : Pod Save America, Lovett or Leave it, With Friends like These,

Other:  Death Sex and Money, Criminal, Backstory, Scene on Radio (their series Seeing White is phenomenal), Suprisingly Awesome, Other: Mixed Race in America, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard,

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About Podcasts:  The Big Listen

News:  The Daily, Up First

Money:  The Indicator, Planet Money, Wall Street Journal - Tech News Briefing

Entertainment:  The Watch, Stuff You Should Know, Milk Street Radio

Real:  Criminal, Detective, This American Life, S-Town, Washington City Podcast

Baseball (Nationals):  Between Innings w/Dan Kolko, Ground Rule Trouble, Newsmakers

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Planet Money - really quirky stories about the economy

Slate Money - egghead discussion about the financial news of the week. Real "inside baseball" but some great episodes (the wine ones, especially)

Sporkful is fantastic, Pashman is a national treasure. The more recent ones are really good, today's was awesome.

How I Built This with Guy Roz (first episodes a lot better, in my opinion, then recent ones)

This American Life is classic, has become a bit political and I bet that turns some people off.

I listen to The Gist every night before bed, Pesca is great. Overtly political and liberal, as long as you know that going in, it's fine.

The Daily Zeitgeist is probably an acquired taste, millennials who have a comedian on the show and then talk current events/politics. Very liberal, as well. 

WTF with Marc Maron, his voice annoys some people, the grandfather of podcasts, has had incredible guests

Slate Political/Cultural Gabfests. The first podcast I listened to (not including TAL, which I listened to when it was a radio show). I feel like I know John, David, and Emily.

West Wing Weekly, probably the nerdiest thing I listen to. It's going through every episode of the whole series, and one of the hosts was an actor on the show. 

 

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Zoopedia for those of you with Audible, is about weird animals. I did listen to it with my kids but it does contain some discussion about sex (some atypical) and a few "bad words" but my kids have a mom with a potty mouth so, it wasn't new to them. 

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15 minutes ago, NolaCaine said:

Hidden Brain, love, NPR.

SIMUL: if you get a chance, try "Strange Daze" and tell me how medically wrong it is...I am fascinated with anesthesiologists for various reasons and this is a new podcast about the misadventures of one.  

I will give it a listen, sounds interesting! 

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'West Wing Weekly'!  Yes!  It caused MrB and I to start watching 'The West Wing' from beginning to end again.  We're halfway through.  It often causes us to cry, contrasting it with how things are now.  When we're finished we'll probably start over again from the beginning.  

I also like 'Pod Save America'.

 

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New food pod I like- Burnt Toast. (from Food52)

 

not a high commitment pod- short episodes, non serial. pretty fun- like where did the banana peel slipping gag come from? an interview with Jonathan Gold. bad white house food.

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On 4/23/2018 at 3:41 PM, NolaCaine said:

Hidden Brain, love, NPR.

SIMUL: if you get a chance, try "Strange Daze" and tell me how medically wrong it is...I am fascinated with anesthesiologists for various reasons and this is a new podcast about the misadventures of one.  

Listened this AM on commute. Pretty good story teller, though they telegraphed what happened. I'm by no means a diagnostician nor am I good at medical mysteries at this stage, but it was made clear about 25 minutes in what happened (I wonder if non-clinical folks picked it up). He's good, though, and I'm a big fan of docs that have a side hustle. His language is not at all oriented to the layman. He says things 'medically' and then explains it, and I like that.  

I'm going to listen to next one, but if it's more obstetrics, I won't be into it. Found that to be the most unintellectual/uncerebral field in all of medicine. The other concern is that although peer-review/morbidity-mortality evaluation is integral to medicine, hopefully he anonymizes and changes enough details so this doesn't become a medico-legal issue.

 

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These podcasts from my rotation might have more than niche appeal (I also listen to things like Davis Garden Show and Book Fight). After a while, content matters less to me than having hosts with good radio voices and non-annoying musical cues.

Le Show
Revolutions
History of Rome
Special Sauce
The Allusionist
The Bugle
The Next Picture Show
The Dissolve
Judge John Hodgman
Ask a Manager

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4 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

I'm going to listen to next one, but if it's more obstetrics, I won't be into it. 

I enjoy his potty-mouth. The next one is about another mishap in the obstetrics OR but if you skip to the last 15 min, you'll get the mystery all wrapped up without the baby-talk.

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7 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

if it's more obstetrics, I won't be into it. Found that to be the most unintellectual/uncerebral field in all of medicine.

Can you explain what you mean by this? I'm just curious as to why you think that. Other than the fact that I birthed a baby (after an uneventful though technically high risk pregnancy) I have no dog in the fight.

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1 minute ago, dracisk said:

Can you explain what you mean by this? I'm just curious as to why you think that. Other than the fact that I birthed a baby (after an uneventful though technically high risk pregnancy) I have no dog in the fight.

Oh - it's subjective - most doctors think what I do is technical, boring, cook book, too computer/image based. 

In my subjective opinion, obstetrics is a very challenging specialty to develop an evidence base for. The statute for lawsuits is 18 years, thus randomized trials on pregnant ladies don't tend to be written or accrue very well. If you look at how many obstetrics trials were in the NEJM over the last 10 years, it's a lot lower than you'd imagine for one of the most common "illnesses" of the human experience - pregnancy.

The differences in practice worldwide are eye opening - 15 years ago, an American doctor wouldn't dare tell a pregnant patient that a glass of wine occasionally is okay, while their French/German counterpart would not be as restrictive. Problem is, we can't do a study where half the women drink wine and half don't. And, when to do what procedure in an emergency situation - hard to randomize women in a high stress situation (labor) to X intervention or Y intervention. There are many other questions I had on my obstetrics rotation that were answered - "because we've always done it that way". Much of the practice of obstetrics is wisdom passed down from one doctor to the next, rather than a series of randomized controlled trials that brings you to the standard of care. Plus a distinct component of "gut" or "instinct" or "feel". If you listen to that podcast, listen to how the OB makes decisions ... it's different then how we do it. 

For example - rectal cancer was found to be cured by surgery, but not always and a lot of people died due to recurrence. So, they did a study with half getting surgery alone, and half getting surgery + radiation. People did better with radiation but still a lot of deaths. So, they did a study with surgery + radiation vs surgery + radiation and chemo. Combination treatment was better. It was really toxic, so they then studied surgery + chemoradiation vs chemoradiation first then surgery. Doing it upfront was less toxic.  Now, we are studying how to reduce the dose of radiation, how to do less aggressive surgeries. It's iterative - hypothesis -> study -> hypothesis -> study -> until we get to 100% cure. 

My field, radiation oncology, is highly data driven (even if the data is not always high quality) and there is very limited use of "gut" thinking. I like that I had to answer my oral exam questions justifying my treatment plan by quoting a study - saying that Dr. So-And-So taught me to do it that way does not get you a passing answer. That makes my clinical decisions feel "right". Whether or not a pregnant woman can eat a ham sandwich - who really knows with new food laws whether it matters? Or certain cheeses? Or when the last possible moment for a C-section is? Or what fluids to use? If I were a pregnant woman (and obviously will never be one), I'd be hard pressed to consent to those studies, even if it does further the science. Too much at stake - in my opinion. 

Does that make sense? It's not a knock.. They are great docs. Plus, I'm just saying in comparison to obstetrics, oncology appears more cerebral / intellectual. It's all pretty rote. Compared to a intellectual property attorney or an architect or a Google / Facebook engineer, to quote one of my doctor buddies - "We're just giving expensive haircuts.."

 

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What can we learn about obstetrics from data? I realize that claims data are flawed and EHRs are too and do not talk to each other, yet there is a lot that can be learned even in situations where we cannot do RCTs. For example, unexpected cardio events in the end of pregnancy. We still can't predict it. But  can we?

Back to Hidden Brain: Shanker examines social science which is fun for those of you interested in research methods and statistics.

Wow in the World introduces science to kids.

It would be great if there was an adult science literacy podcast as amusing as Wow or this Daze one.

I'd love to see a podcast on sex differences or women's health

Did you know 60% of female college athletes experience incontinence or that if you experience any cardio event in pregnancy, you should seek insights from a cardiologist earlier in your life than other women?

I could go on...and wish a podcaster would...

 

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There isn't a women's health podcast? A quality one would KILL... 

Oh, Freakonomics with Dubner. Incredible guests. This morning was Atul Gawande.

Speaking of anesthesiologists, "Dirty John" is a serialized true crime/mystery with the villain being an anesthesiologist. It's really good, too. 

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3 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

There isn't a women's health podcast? A quality one would KILL... 

Speaking of anesthesiologists, "Dirty John" is a serialized true crime/mystery with the villain being an anesthesiologist. It's really good, too. 

I have not found one and if one existed, I *should* know about it given my 9-5. To be clear, I"m talking about something interesting, entertaining and not all all belly gazing or feeding into !@#$%^&*()_+~ stereotypes.

You made my day  with Dirty John

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I listen to "Good Food on the Road" , with the LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold.  They are very short, usually a review of one restaurant. He has a gift of evocative language about food, it makes me very jealous of the LA food scene, especially Korean, Japanese and Mexican cuisine.

I like some BBC stuff for culture.  Most often "In Our Time", which covers a topic of history or culture for an hour with posh sounding British academics.

For music, I like La Montana Rusa , which is in Spanish, so I don't understand most of the dialog, but the music he plays is cool, if you like jazz.  Incidentally, it means "The Russian Mountain," which is what spanish and french call roller coasters, based on early russian sled rides.  Fun fact, when the 'real' motorized roller coasters came to russia, the called them 'american mountains.'

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On 4/26/2018 at 10:50 AM, Simul Parikh said:

Speaking of anesthesiologists, "Dirty John" is a serialized true crime/mystery with the villain being an anesthesiologist. It's really good, too. 

 

WOW. I did not see this end coming. Thanks for the recommendation. It's a true story that "listens" like a fast-paced noir fiction.  

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Earlier this year Planet Money had an interesting podcast about vodka and the power of marketing.  For those who prefer to read their podcasts, you can find some of the transcript at Is There Really A Difference Between Expensive Vodka And Cheap Vodka? by Dan Pashman on npr.org.

27 C.F.R. § 5.22(a)(1) provides:

Quote

“Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.

 

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1 hour ago, dcs said:

Earlier this year Planet Money had an interesting podcast about vodka and the power of marketing.  For those who prefer to read their podcasts, you can find some of the transcript at Is There Really A Difference Between Expensive Vodka And Cheap Vodka? by Dan Pashman on npr.org.

27 C.F.R. § 5.22(a)(1) provides:

 

Oh man.  That story is rich.  thanks for sharing.

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On 7/30/2018 at 4:33 PM, pras said:

I have been into Ear Hustle.  Just completed the second season.  Each episode deals with a different aspect of Prison Life at San Quentin.

I loved this one, thanks for the rec! Super thoughtful and interesting.. definitely something different.

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On 8/22/2018 at 12:44 PM, dcs said:

Earlier this year Planet Money had an interesting podcast about vodka and the power of marketing.  For those who prefer to read their podcasts, you can find some of the transcript at Is There Really A Difference Between Expensive Vodka And Cheap Vodka? by Dan Pashman on npr.org.

27 C.F.R. § 5.22(a)(1) provides:

 

When my husband was in grad school and I was underemployed, we did an experiment. We purchased a nice bottle of vodka (can't remember which one) and one cheap bottle. I ran the cheap stuff through a britta filter once and another portion, 5 times. We conducted a taste test. Unfiltered cheap vodka is obviously that. The 5 times britta filtered vodka won over the premium (participants thought that was the premium vodka). Filtered once wasn't bad.

Since these were all MBA students, they decided that the product that produced the most value was cheap vodka filtered once. (cost of britta and my time included).

The sample size was about 20 people. Filtering vodka once is pretty quick but every other filtering renders the britta more and more sluggish. I think it might have taken minutes the first time and maybe 30 minutes or more per time after that.

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On 7/12/2018 at 6:58 AM, NolaCaine said:

WOW. I did not see this end coming. Thanks for the recommendation. It's a true story that "listens" like a fast-paced noir fiction.  

Dirty John will now be a posdcast with a visual component DaveO!  Friendly kidding....Seriously, miniseries on Bravo. I must watch it.

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