Month: March 2017

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Bay Curious - What Would It Take to Make Lake Merritt Swimmable?

It would take a lot of money, work and imagination to turn Lake Merritt into a swimmable body of water.


Reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Julia McEvoy. Our Vice President for News is Holly Kernan. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.


Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.

Follow Olivia on Twitter @oallenprice and use the #BayCurious hashtag.

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Serious Inquiries Only - SIO26: The Trump Administration and Russia – An Incredible Amount of Smoke

With a heavy news week full of depositions, testimony, odd press conferences and more, today I take a look at some of the evidence of Russia-Trump collusion and what it all means. Ok, what it MIGHT mean...  while trying not to descend into full on conspiracy theorist mode. It's not exactly easy. After that, I go into the details of a case Gorsuch decided that perfectly illustrates why the originalist/literalist method of jurisprudence leaves this podcaster cold. Some sources used: Politico Trump Timeline Nicholas Kristof on Trump-Russia Paul Manafort AP Exclusive Greenwald Russia Article Gorsuch Truck Driver Case Leave us a Voicemail: (916) 750-4746! 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 - Health Care! It’s Trump’s Problem Now

With hours to go before the official vote on Trumpcare, the bill is being altered to make sure moderates in Buffalo and Freedom Caucus members in South Carolina stay onboard. [MW1] Any chance this Frankenstein bill will fail? Slate columnists Jim Newell and Jordan Weissmann look at the costs and politics of the American Health Care Act ahead of Thursday’s consequential House vote.

For the Spiel, let’s try to be fair to Donald Trump. Just for a moment. It’s going to be hard, but dammit we’ll try.

Today’s sponsors:

The Great Courses Plus, a video learning service that offers lectures on all kinds of topics. Get a free trial when you sign up by going toTheGreatCoursesPlus.com/gist.

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African Tech Roundup - Talking Access To Higher Education With Bola Lawal Of ScholarX

It's been barely a week since we hosted the African Tech Round-up LIVE: State of the Startup event in Johannesburg, and believe it or not, next week will mark the 100th podcast we'll have published in consecutive weeks. We've done our best to deliver the biggest digital, tech and innovation headlines from Africa and beyond while offering candid analysis and commentary, as well as useful insights gleaned from some of the Africa's leading entrepreneurs, executives, investors and technical talent. The conversation we're sharing on this week's show brings things full-circle in that the show's host, Andile Masuku, finally got to meet the Texas-based Nigerian, Bola Lawal, in person at our recent event-- after they interacted online, brought together by the podcast. It's humbling to realise how this little podcast has grown into a lively international community of people-- Africans and otherwise, who are actively involved and/or care deeply about the continent's growing tech ecosystem. Bola is one of the co-founders of ScholarX, an app designed to help African students access scholarships abroad. In this chat, he talks about how ScholarX is committed to helping Africans access the very best education possible through scholarships, and he gives his take on the emergence of MOOC's and eLearning in general. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution
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Money Girl - 490 MG How to Fill Out a W-4—Plus, 7 Reasons to Adjust Your Tax Withholding

Confused about how to fill out a W-4 at work? Laura explains what it is and how to complete it correctly. Plus, you'll learn 7 reasons when you should adjust your withholding so your employer doesn’t take out too much or too little income tax from your paycheck. Get the Money Girl book at http://MoneyGirlBook.com. Read the full transcript at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/node/9556

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The Gist - James Comey’s Slow Drip

What did we learn from Monday’s public testimony of FBI Director James Comey? National security ace Ben Wittes says Comey’s statements were intriguingly “gentle,” though they should still distress the president. Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

For the Spiel, Neil Gorsuch talks about a pointless race he once did and quotes David Foster Wallace, but doesn’t talk about his judicial philosophy.

Today’s sponsors:

ZipRecruiter. Post your job listing to all the top job sites with a single click. Try it for free by going to ZipRecruiter.com/gist.

Green Mountain Coffee. Green Mountain Coffee is passionate about making a smoother tasting cup. Try it today with $4 off when you buy two boxes of most Green Mountain Coffee K-Cup pods at keurig.com with code TRYGMC.

Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

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