Bay Curious - Sutro Tower’s Journey From Eyesore to Icon

Back in the 1960s, San Francisco had really bad television reception. By many accounts, it was the worst of any city in America.

Good reception required a clear line of sight from the broadcast tower to your TV antenna, and in hilly San Francisco this was a challenge. Broadcasters began the hunt for a location to build a very tall tower that could send a clear TV signal far and wide.

A site was selected and plans were drawn up — but not without a bounty of controversy.

Read the full web story: Sutro Tower: The Origins of an ‘Eyesore’

Video from Jessica’s trip to the top: A Trip to the Top of Sutro Tower

This episode first aired on Jan. 5, 2017. It features question asker Craig Rubens.

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Reported by Jessica Placzek.

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Adam Grossberg and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question, vote in a voting round or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.

Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Cubs’ Retiring Organist: “Wrigley Is A Cathedral”

Gary Pressy attended every Cubs home game for 33 years. No, he isn’t a die-hard season ticket holder. He’s the club’s organist. But all great streaks eventually come to an end, and a few weeks ago, he announced his retirement. Before playing his last 7th inning stretch, Pressy sat down with WBEZ’s sports contributor Cheryl Raye Stout to talk about his life, his career, and the special place the organ has in the atmosphere at Wrigley Field.

Science In Action - Global climate inaction

This week’s IPCC report on the state of the world’s climate looks very much like their earlier reports on the subject. The document cautiously expresses a picture of a future with greater climate extremes. Activists are frustrated by the lack of action. We look at why the scientific message is often hampered by politics.

Fish could provide micronutrients to the world poor, but as we’ll hear this would need a major shift in commercial fishing practices globally.

Baby bottles from thousands of years ago suggest Neolithic people gave animal milk to their children.

And when did the Sahara develop? New findings in deposits from volcanic islands provides some evidence.

(Image: Greta Thunberg. Credit: AFP/Getty Image)

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Julian Siddle

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Illinois Farmers Getting Some Help From Taiwan

Farmers in Illinois and across the Midwest are hurting. Because of the weather. Because of competition with massive agribusiness. Because of the trade war with China. Last week, Taiwan doubled its order of Illinois soybeans. Cecile Shea of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs explains why it might not be the boon that farmers were hoping for, and explains what might be ahead for consumers in this “war of the tariffs” between China and the U.S.

Lex Fridman Podcast - Leonard Susskind: Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, and Black Holes

Leonard Susskind is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory and in general as one of the greatest physicists of our time both as a researcher and an educator. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on iTunes or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline with timestamps for this episode (on some players you can click on the timestamp to jump to that point in the episode):

00:00 – Introduction
01:02 – Richard Feynman
02:09 – Visualization and intuition
06:45 – Ego in Science
09:27 – Academia
11:18 – Developing ideas
12:12 – Quantum computers
21:37 – Universe as an information processing system
26:35 – Machine learning
29:47 – Predicting the future
30:48 – String theory
37:03 – Free will
39:26 – Arrow of time
46:39 – Universe as a computer
49:45 – Big bang
50:50 – Infinity
51:35 – First image of a black hole
54:08 – Questions within the reach of science
55:55 – Questions out of reach of science

The Best One Yet - Facebook Oculus creates a virtual world, Amazon launches tons of new products, and eBay’s CEO is out

Facebook’s virtual reality arm, Oculus, just cooked up “Horizons” — a virtual world at a whole new level. Amazon released a huge number of Alexa-packed products, including a finger ring, copy-cat AirPods, and a high-end speaker. And fresh after WeWork and Juul just lost both their CEOs this week, eBay’s leader is stepping down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Intelligence from The Economist - Call to account: Trump-Ukraine intrigues

President Donald Trump’s call to his Ukrainian counterpart is under ever-greater scrutiny. An unexpected impeachment inquiry has started; how will it end? For the world’s small-island states, climate change is literally an existential concern. So they’ve banded together to become a potent negotiating force. And, why India’s science funding features so much mysticism and cow dung.