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Today’s tech recs: Ben recommends TENS therapy, an electrical alternative to acupuncture (it’s tech, technically). Cassidy recommends Covatar for unique, personalized digital art like NFT avatars.
Climate change poses an existential threat to the ski industry. A warmer climate means less snow and less now menas a shorter season for snowboarders and skiiers. NPR correspondent Kirk Siegler first covered the issue 15 years ago as local station reporter in Aspen. Now he returns to that world-renowned destination and tells Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott about one resort's efforts to push the nation toward clean energy while it continues catering to the carbon-generating, jet-set crowd.
Check out Kirk's full All Things Considered story here: n.pr/3rse2xP
Both interviews today are with author Douglas Stuart. The first about his Booker prize-winning Shuggie Bain; a story based on his own life growing up a queer son of a single mother struggling with addiction. He told NPR's Scott Simon that he hoped people could find comfort in this story. Next, Stuart spoke to NPR's Ari Shapiro about his new book, Young Mungo. It's a story about two boys separated by faith who end up falling in love with each other. Stuart told Shapiro that when he "write[s] about heartbreak or sadness, I'm really only doing that to make the tenderness and the love shine more."
We chat with Kat and Ada-Rhodes from Tear It Up to discuss taking the fight for Trans lives into the streets and the struggle to make trans pain visible.
It's a question a lot of you posed after Texas banned abortion by completely cheating the Constitution: what if a liberal state did the same thing but for gun control? Well, CA has done exactly that. Hear the breakdown and Andrew prediction for what will happen to this bill. After that, we've got really bad news. Remember how Democrats had almost forced a level playing field nationally by gerrymandering aggressively in Maryland and New York? Well, some fair minded judges just undid that.
Ranjan Roy is the co-author of Margins, a Substack newsletter about the financial markets. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter and its implications. Join us for this 'emergency' episode where we discuss whether Musk will improve the service, whether he can pull it off, and why he's making the move.
We’re joined by Richard Nieva, reporter at Buzzfeed, who, along with his colleague Aman Sethi, just published a massive investigation into Worldcoin, a company that aims to distribute crypto to people around the world in exchange for having their eyes scanned by an ominous biometrics device called the Orb. We discuss the long list of major issues with Worldcoin’s operations—including faulty technology, delayed payments, labor exploitation, colonialist extraction, and much more—as uncovered by Richard and Aman’s reporting.
Follow Richard: https://twitter.com/richardjnieva
Follow Aman: https://twitter.com/Amannama
Articles we discuss:
••• “What Did You Do With Our Eyes”: This Startup Promised People Free Crypto If They Scanned Their Eyeballs. Now People Feel They've Been Scammed | Richard Nieva, Aman Sethi https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/richardnieva/worldcoin-crypto-eyeball-scanning-orb-problems
••• Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users | Eileen Guo, Adi Renaldi https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoin-cryptocurrency-biometrics-web3/
••• Crypto Startup That Wants to Scan Everyone’s Eyeballs Is Having Some Trouble | Ellen Huet https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-16/worldcoin-the-eyeball-scanning-crypto-unicorn-hits-signup-snags
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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
TJ Raphael is back to talk about the legal implications of the loosely regulations in the fertility industry that turned sperm donations into actual humans with feelings of betrayal years later. Also, Hasta la Moskva: A Russian warship sinks and a British politician skates.
Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start with Jared Kushner’s big, beautiful, brazen payday from Saudi Arabia, raising $2 billion from the regime he stridently defended as the Trump administration’s lead man in the Middle East. Compensation for services rendered, or an investment in a second Trump term? The suspected gunman in Tuesday’s Brooklyn subway shooting is in custody, but the debate it’s renewed on NYC policing remains predictably heated. Elon Musk may be buying Twitter, if the platform’s board accepts a fittingly Twitter troll offer of $54.20 a share – emphasis on the 4/20. The “iron river” of U.S.-made firearms keeps on flowing south into Mexico. We’ll discuss how a longshot first-of-its-kind lawsuit from the Mexican government aims to stop the bloodshed by going after gunmakers. And the New York Times is telling its reporters to consider spending less time on Twitter, drawing the ire of the quintessential extremely online reporter, Taylor Lorenz. Finally, we wrap things up with a quick reaction to Bill Maher’s recent appearance on Joe Rogan to talk about centrism.
"The Hash" hosts discuss today's top stories ranging from Elon Musk's bid to take over Twitter for $54.20 per share to Solana's NFTs debuting on Rarible.
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Consensus 2022, the industry’s most influential event, is happening June 9-12 in Austin, Texas. If you’re looking to immerse yourself in the fast-moving world of crypto, Web 3 and NFTs, this is the festival experience for you. Visit coindesk.com/consensus2022 to get your pass today.
This episode has been edited by Michele Musso. Our Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl. Our theme song is “Neon Beach.“