Month: June 2017

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African Tech Roundup - Anton Jooste outlines what’s at stake if Africa doesn’t gear up for the new digital economy

Anton Jooste is Dimension Data’s Global Director for the Internet of Things. In this chat, he contextualises the promise of IoT for African enterprises and citizens, and candidly outlines what's at stake if Africans don't prepare themselves to participate in the new digital economy.
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The Allusionist - 58. Eclipse

It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’s in a bar, standing onstage, performing a karaoke duet of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’…and then a blood vessel in her brain bursts. When she wakes up in hospital, days later, she has no internal monologue, and a vocabulary of only forty words.

Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/eclipse, and more about Lauren at http://astitchoftime.com.

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Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist

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Opening Arguments - OA78: Jeff Sessions, “Preemptive Executive Privilege,” & More on Emoluments

If it's Friday, it's a current events episode, and if it's current events, we're probably talking about Donald Trump. We begin, however, with Breakin' Down the Law, in which Andrew answers the question raised by every single person in the universe this week:  can Jeff Sessions really do that? In our main segment, we look at the recent emoluments lawsuit brought by the Attorneys General for Maryland and Washington DC. After that, Yodel Mountain returns with a look at the Washington Post's breaking news that Donald Trump is under investigation by the FBI, as well as the GOP's purported talking points as to why this is no big deal. Finally, we end with a brand new Thomas Takes the Bar Exam question #28 about a malicious pizza store owner.  Remember that TTTBE issues a new question every Friday, followed by the answer on next Tuesday's show.  Don't forget to play along by following our Twitter feed (@Openargs) and/or our Facebook Page and quoting the Tweet or Facebook Post that announces this episode along with your guess and reason(s)! Recent Appearances Andrew was a guest on today's (6/16/2017) episode of This Week in Law, as well as on Episode 24 of the Scenic City Skeptics show.  Check 'em out! Show Notes & Links
  1. We first discussed obstruction of justice in Episode #70, and analyzed the status of Executive Order 13780 in Episode #51.
  2. You can read the text of U.S. v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) here.
  3. Here is a link to the Maryland/DC complaint against Trump.
  4. And here is a link to Trump's motion to dismiss the CREW lawsuit.
  5. This is the Washington Post story breaking news of the investigation by the FBI into Trump.
  6. Here are the ostensible (and terrible) GOP "talking points" about the investigation.
  7. And this is the text of the Rosenstein order appointing Mueller as special counsel.
Support us on Patreon at:  patreon.com/law Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ And email us at openarguments@gmail.com  
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The Gist - The Delicate Art of Political Persuasion

A big problem with political arguments, says Robb Willer, is that everyone sees himself or herself as the hero in a zombie movie. “American liberals see themselves as Brad Pitt warding off a zombie horde,” says Willer. “But the problem is conservatives see themselves the same way,” and no one is able to make arguments that appeal to the other side. Willer teaches sociology at Stanford and writes about the delicate art of political persuasion for places such as the New York Times.

In the Spiel, please Mr. President, don’t throw the special prosecutor into the briar patch. 

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Bay Curious - What Would Really Happen if a Tsunami Hit the Bay Area?

Our question-asker saw a tsunami hit San Francisco in the movie San Andreas, and wonders: would it really be like?


Reported by Johanna Varner and Olivia Allen-Price. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Paul Lancour, Vinnee Tong, Suzie Racho, Penny Nelson and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.


Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.


Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

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Serious Inquiries Only - SIO50: Michael Shermer on Evergreen and Gender Studies

Back for a second time is Michael Shermer! He's the editor of Skeptic Magazine and has been a very prominent voice in the community for decades. After our last conversation, a couple of things happened. One was the gender studies hoax, which was explained and endorsed by his magazine. The other was the Evergreen incident, which Shermer tweeted about and wanted to know my thoughts on. We discussed both of these at length! Refer to my earlier episode on Evergreen for those references Faculty of color say they are receiving death threats; President disappointed in protesters, may discipline; Weinstein second Tucker Carlson appearance; Sokal's response to the gender studies hoax; Feminist glaciology TED talk. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on Patreon at:  patreon.com/seriouspod Follow us on Twitter: @seriouspod Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com Questions, Suggestions, Episode ideas? email: haeley@seriouspod.com      
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The Gist - He Ate Human Flesh for Science

Bill Schutt says no one from his childhood is surprised to find out he’s been studying cannibalism—after all, he was into vampire bats as a kid. For his new book, he’s investigated the (natural) history of people eating one another and why it’s only been taboo in some countries, like China, for a short time. 

In the Spiel, how we talk about domestic terrorism.

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