Category: Retired

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Odessa - Part 2: Friday Night Lights

In 1988, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, was so good that it became the inspiration for a book, movie and, eventually, the television series “Friday Night Lights.” And in the decades since, as West Texas has weathered the unsettling undulations of the oil industry, football has remained steady. 

So after the pandemic hit, the town did what it could to make sure the season wasn’t disrupted. And at Odessa High School, where the football team struggles to compete against local rivals, the members of their award winning marching band were relieved they could keep playing. 

In Part 2 of Odessa, we follow what happened when the season opened — and how the school weighed the decision to start against the possible risks to students’ physical and mental health.

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Life Raft - What If We Just…Made Our Houses Float?

With flood risk increasing and flood insurance rates likely following suit, it seems like there's got to be a better way to tackle the challenge.

For example: could we make our homes float when the water comes?

This week we talk to an architect who has devoted her professional life to that question, and we visit a Louisiana community where some people have decided that it makes more sense to temporarily float a house than to elevate it on stilts.

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While we figure out what the future holds, we’d love to extend the biggest and warmest thank you to everyone who made this possible. Thanks, especially, to everyone for listening, and for submitting the questions that made this show possible.

In the meantime, follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

And if you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF or WWNO to help keep the show going!

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Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

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Land of the Giants - The Moonshot Factory

Since they were Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have had big ideas for technologies that could change the world. Only now, they have Google's nearly limitless resources to turn those ideas into reality. Some of Google's projects seem like a vision from the future. Others have crashed and burned. This is the story of two moonshots, and the world we might live in someday.

  • Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
  • Enjoyed this episode? Rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
  • Want to get in touch? Tweet @recode.
  • Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.
  • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Land of the Giants - Planet YouTube

When Google bought YouTube, it went from being a company that helps users search the Internet, to a company that shapes the Internet itself. With 2 billion users, YouTube generates its own gravitational pull on society and culture worldwide. And as an open platform that allows anyone to upload videos, it's a force that even Google can't quite control.

  • Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
  • Guest co-host: Peter Kafka (@peterkafka)
  • Enjoyed this episode? Rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
  • Want to get in touch? Tweet @recode.
  • Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.
  • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Odessa - Part 1: The School Year Begins

Odessa is a four-part audio documentary series about one West Texas high school reopening during the pandemic — and the teachers, students and nurses affected in the process.

For the past six months, The New York Times has documented students’ return to class at Odessa High School from afar through Google hangouts, audio diaries, phone calls and FaceTime tours. And as the country continues to debate how best to reopen schools, Odessa is the story of what happened in a school district that was among those that went first.

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Life Raft - Could Flood Insurance Sink Us Before The Water Does?

Everyone knows flood insurance isn’t the most exciting topic. What this episode presupposes is: maybe it should be?

It’s not difficult to imagine a future in which climate change-fueled storms and floods depopulate our coastal communities. Generations of Louisianians have been moving northward for decades, after all.

But could the rising cost of flood insurance actually drive people away sooner? That’s the question we’re exploring this week. We talk to two experts who explain the history of flood insurance in the United States, where the program is headed, and why flood insurance affordability is a political problem.

Rebecca Elliott is an assistant professor of sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her book is called Underwater: Loss, Flood Insurance, and the Moral Economy of Climate Change in the United States.

Andy Horowitz is an assistant professor of history at Tulane University. His book is called Katrina: A History, 1915-2015.

Do you have a question you want us to explore? Send it to us! There’s a super simple form on our website.

Follow us on social media for bonus pictures and occasional memes. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!

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Land of the Giants - Chrome and the Android Wars

Today, nearly all of the world's smartphones are powered by Android. Which means Google is the gatekeeper to the Internet for billions of people. The story of Android is the story of how Google became so big. And it started with an existential threat. With Google in survivalist mode.

  • Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
  • Enjoyed this episode? Rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
  • Want to get in touch? Tweet @recode.
  • Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.
  • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Land of the Giants - The Search Begins

Some of the core values that built Google's runaway success — innovative technology to the max, an intellectually playful and open culture, and a corporate aspiration to do good ("Don’t be evil") — set it up for the existential questions it faces today. We examine how two grad students with a plan to search the Internet launched a company that would eventually become the gateway for the Internet for the entire world.

  • Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
  • Enjoyed this episode? Rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
  • Want to get in touch? Tweet @recode.
  • Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear next week's episode by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.
  • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Life Raft - What Would It Take For Louisiana To Go Carbon Neutral By 2050?

Gov. John Bel Edwards wants Louisiana to dramatically cut its emissions by 2050. What would it take to get there?

This week on Life Raft, reporter Tegan Wendland breaks it down for us. We talk about where Louisiana’s emissions come from, what changes need to be made to reduce them and the hurdles standing in the way, and do a little imagining about what New Orleans might look like in 2050.

Do you have a question you want us to explore? Send it to us! There’s a super simple form on our website.

For bonus pictures and extra fun vibes, follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.

If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!