On The Gist, let’s imagine what’s in that “enhanced” Michael Cohen tape.
Born in the 1990s, the 24-hour news cycle was especially unkind to women. The media of the age consistently bashed women’s sexuality, ambition, and presentation of women such as Monica Lewinsky and Nancy Kerrigan (case in point: a Washington Post article that asked, “Is Nancy a bitch?”). Journalist Allison Yarrow explores this double-standard and its repercussions in her new book, 90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality.
In the Spiel, that was an interesting interview, right? To go with it, Mike pulls statistics on the plight of American women in the ’90s compared with the ’80s.
Courtney Barnett released her debut album in March 2015. By the end of the year, she had been nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist, Spin named her the Songwriter of the Year, and she won four ARIA Music Awards in her native Australia. In this episode, Courtney Barnett breaks down the song "Depreston," which began with a visit to an open house, on a house-hunting trip she took in the town of Preston.
The first Augur assassination markets have arrived.
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What scams? Ethereum’s vision for decentralized apps is only growing bolder.
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Bitcoin's price is nearing $10K on a single, troubled exchange. CoinDesk’s Anna Baydakova joins Editor-in-Chief Pete Rizzo to discuss the mysteries around WEX.
What does a decades-old ruling on the First Amendment tell us about the right of associational privacy today. Bradley Smith of the Institute for Free Speech comments on the ongoing relevance on the 60th anniversary of NAACP v. Alabama.
Is New Delhi playing catch-up with Beijing? Zimbabwean women standing in landmark elections; will Eritrea's political landscape change now that the war with Ethiopia is truly over?
If you're like millions of other people, you hate making phone calls. "Why can't I just text," you might think, "and only call if there's an emergency?" Google may soon have a solution with Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. For many this feels like a startling and innovative convenience -- no more awkward conversations making appointments or routine check-ins, right? Yet critics of this concept warn we may be approaching something much bigger, and much more dangerous, than a simple piece of helpful software. If computers begin effectively impersonating you, how will you be able to prove your own identity?
You wouldn’t know it from the tired decor at TGI Fridays today, but this family restaurant has a sexy past. It was once a game-changing singles bar, which arrived on the cusp of the sexual revolution. We go back to the 60s and 70s to experience the original Fridays, and find out how it has changed the way we meet, date and marry.
Prepare to have your destiny as a listener reshaped by paternalistic influences! We have on a wonderful guest, David Kyle Johnson of the Great Courses series to talk about the Season 1 Finale of The Orville (available on Hulu) and the ethics of the prime directive, a classic of the Star Trek Universe. Also, does anyone get a Brigadoon vibe from the planet in this episode? Didn't get to bring that up in the show, so easter egg for folks who actually read these.
Next Week's Material: We're doing Dune finally!!!! I waited 15 whole episodes before subjecting Thomas to the David Lynch version. But now it's here! There's so much to cover it's almost certainly gonna be a two parter, so strap in.
