Month: September 2014

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The Gist - Xavier Dphrepaulezz, Musician Reborn

Today on The Gist, in anticipation of Sunday’s climate march, Bill McKibben joins us for a round of “One Question, One Question Only.” He’s the author of Oil and Honey and founder of 350.org. Then, musician Xavier Dphrepaulezz has finally found his voice as Fantastic Negrito. We’ll hear how he got here, and a few tracks from his EP. For the Spiel, Mike reclaims the word radio. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Kidney donation: the chance of finding a match

The chance of a successful kidney match between two unrelated people has increased significantly in the past ten years - why? Tim Harford speaks to Professor Anthony Warrens, president of the British Transplantation Society. Donations to the Manchester Dogs' Home have exceeded ?1m in the wake of a fire, which killed more than 50 dogs. The large sum raised caused Today presenter Justin Webb to comment that it often seems easier to raise money for animals than humans who are in need. Is it true that we give more generously to animals? Ben Carter reports. An edition of BBC Four's Wonder of Animals states that there are 14,000 ants to every person on earth, and that were we to weigh all of these ants they would weigh the same as all the people. Can this be true? And a complaint has been held up against a BBC programme for calling Eritrea 'tiny'. Can any country rightly be described this way?

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The Gist - The Police’s Stewart Copeland Scores a Silent Film

Today on The Gist, Police drummer Stewart Copeland talks about creating a new score for the 1925 silent film Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Then, Slate’s Emily Bazelon sizes up children’s books about bullying written by professional athletes. The assigned reading list we gave her includes Knuckleball Ned by R.A. Dicky, Bogy Tees Off by Dottie Pepper and Not Cool To Bully in School by Milan Lucic. Our own recommended reading list includes Sticks and Stones by Emily Bazelon, Ben Rides On by Matt Davies and By My Brother’s Side by Tiki Barber. For the Spiel, talking about the weather can save lives. Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2

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The Gist - Comedian Jen Kirkman Doesn’t Want Kids. Cue Outrage.

Today on The Gist, comedian Jen Kirkman explains what it’s like to defend her decision not to have kids. She’s the host of the I Seem Fun podcast and author of I Can Barely Take Care of Myself. Plus, Ted Kaye joins us for a vexillology corner about the upcoming Scottish vote. For the Spiel, we play a game called “Find the Faux Fellow Forthwith.”

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TLDR - #37 – Every City Gets the Hero it Deserves

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Police released a video of some unidentified suspects in a brutal attack on a gay couple. Within a few hours, a Philly sports fan and his online friends had identified some of the people in the video without the blizzard of false accusations that usually accompany an online investigation. Alex speaks to  "Fan Since 09" about how he managed to corral a online mob into potentially solving a crime.