Month: February 2019

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The Allusionist - 93. Gossip

‘Idle’, ‘trivial’, ‘scurrilous’: the word ‘gossip’ is often accompanied by uncomplimentary adjectives. But don’t dismiss it; from childbirth to Hollywood to political analysis to whisper networks, gossip may be more useful and serious than you realise. Lainey Lui, founder of laineygossip.com, and Buzzfeed News’ senior culture writer (and doctor of celebrity gossip) Anne Helen Petersen explain why.

Find out more about this episode at theallusionist.org/gossip.

NB there are a few swears in this episode.

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Amicus Presents: The Pre-Crime Unit

Predictive policing technology is spreading across the country, and Los Angeles is the epicenter. A small group of LA activists are in a lopsided campaign against billions of dollars in city, federal, and Silicon Valley money using algorithms to predict where and when the next crime is going to occur, and even who the perpetrators are going to be.

Today, AMICUS is here to introduce you to Hi-Phi Nation, a new podcast from Slate. In this episode, host Barry Lam embeds with the Stop LAPD Spying coalition for a week in Skid Row and investigates how state-of-the-art predictive policing programs work. He then talks to sociologists and philosophers about how big data is changing the relationship between police and the communities they serve. We then turn to the justice of using statistical predictions for the purposes of profiling and police intervention. This is part 1 of 2 on the use of statistical algorithms in criminal justice. Guest voices include the LAPD police commissioners, Hamid Khan, Jamie Garcia, Sarah Brayne, Flora Salim, and Renee Bolinger.

This episode is brought to you by Care/Of. For 50% off your first month of personalized Care/of vitamins, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter promo code HIPHI50 at check out. 

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The Gist - Quoth the Maven

On The Gist, wise words from the mouth of Jeff Bezos… by way of Amazon’s Alexa.

In the interview, green energy may be clean, but that doesn’t mean its infrastructure is any less garish. Energy reporter Amy Harder reminds us that one of the lesser-discussed obstacles to a Green New Deal is good old-fashioned nimbyism: “A lot of people don’t like power lines being constructed right in their backyards.” Harder covers energy for Axios, and writes its Harder Line column. 

In the Spiel, it may feel right to ask that we believe women making accusations of sexual assault. But a better corrective would be simply to not discredit them out of hand.

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CrowdScience - Could a ‘zombie’ virus kill us all?

It’s the sort of plot you would expect from a classic sci-fi movie; what if there are viruses trapped deep in Antarctic ice that could wreak havoc on humans?

Crowdscience presenter Alex Lathbridge puts on warm gloves and meets the scientists venturing into the icy wilds. He wants to answer listener Tony’s question - can viral life exist in such inhospitable climes and if so, might it pose us a danger?

Alex meets teams who venture to the Antarctic to find out about how their work to understand climate change leads them to drilling and analysing ice cores that are tens of thousands of years old. He then visits a dynamic husband and wife duo in France who are extracting viruses from 30,000 year old Siberian permafrost and bringing them back to life. He discovers that - rather than killing us all, - their findings of novel giant viruses might contribute to medicine and our understanding of evolution.

(Photo: Scientists working in a laboratory. Credit: Getty Images)

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The Phil Ferguson Show - 294 Jesus: Mything in Action – David Fitzgerald

Interview with David Fitzgerald. We talk about Jesus. Did he exist? What is the evidence?

He is the author of:

Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All

The Mormons

Jesus Mything In Action (parts 1,2 & 3) These are on kindle for just $6.66 each!



Investing Skeptically: 13 year performance

Other topics: Medical Rant, Electric cars, Certificates of Deposit, How to invest inheritance, Canadian Crypto currency and more....



Extra audio: Christopher Hitchens and Ayann Hirsi Ali