Hosts and Slate journalists April Glaser and Will Oremus are excited to bring you this new weekly podcast: If Then.
The hosts start by talking through some of the most interesting tech news of the week (we promise it's not just tech geeks fawning over their smart watches).
They dig into the big story this week - how Facebook, Twitter, and Google all took a trip to congress this week to testify at three different hearings about how russian operatives used their platforms to interfere in the 2016 election--and help secure Trump’s victory. What did these companies know was happening, and what they could have done to stop it?
The hosts are also joined by author and former Facebook Product Manager Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) to talk about what he thinks the role of these powerful tech companies is now that we know more about what happened in the run up to the presidential election.
And to end the show - "Don't Close My Tabs" - a look into some of the best things seen online this week, as recommended by your show hosts.
Please hit that subscribe button if you don't so already! And...maybe leave us a comment? We're trying to spread word of the show and that will help us out!
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April is @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment for us, you can email as well at ifthen@slate.com.
Legend has it, El Camino Real is an ancient road that connects the Spanish missions. But is it true?
Reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.
Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.
Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.
Jeffrey H. Cohen, a professor at The Ohio State University, has managed a rare feat: placing anthropology classics like Argonauts of the Western Pacific in the context of eating grasshoppers. His impressively readable Eating Soup without a Spoon: Anthropological Theory and Method in the Real World (University of Texas Press, 2015) is a retrospective on his first foray into the field, but it does a fair bit more than that. While recounting his own experiences in Oaxaca, Mexico, Cohen provides insight into how theory can be applied to the real world. The book transitions between high-level analysis of social relations in his adopted community and the harsh truths of working with human beings in less-than-comfortable settings. The result is a fun and interesting read, well-suited to undergraduate courses on introductory anthropology and field methods.
Jared Miracle is an anthropologist and folklorist whose research areas include violence, education, and digital culture. He is the author of Now with Kung Fu Grip! How Bodybuilders, Soldiers and Hairdresser Reinvented Martial Arts for America.
The data on misconduct and corruption among border patrol agents is especially murky, but we have some evidence available to us. Alex Nowrasteh is author of "Border Patrol Termination Rates," a new policy analysis from the Cato Institute.
Join me as I talk with Dr. Laura Carlson about theology and politics in the Carolingian Empire in her article "Adoption, Adaptation, and Authority: The Use of Isidore of Seville in the Opus Caroli." Join the conversation on the Claytemple Forum.
