In today’s episode, the authors of two recently released nonfiction books search for meaning in art. First, Elizabeth Barks Cox’s Reading Van Gogh: An Amateur’s Search for God chronicles her infatuation with the painter’s writings, especially those on spirituality. In today’s episode, Cox joins Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins for a conversation that touches on the artist’s eye for beauty and despair – and why the author says she fell “a little bit in love with him.” Then, Harvard professor Imani Perry’s book Black in Blues tells the story of Black history through the color blue. In today’s episode, Perry speaks with Here & Now’s Scott Tong about the many ways blue appears in African American culture, art and literature.
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What Could Go Right? - The Progress Report: Crime Is Down, Fear Is Up!
On this week’s episode, Zachary and Emma dig into three surprising pieces of underreported good news. Illinois becomes the first state to ban AI from acting as a therapist, which is sparking a debate about ethics, tech limits, and vulnerable users. Global deaths from extreme weather have hit record lows in 2025, and in the U.S., the FBI’s final 2024 crime stats show a dramatic drop in murder, violent crime, and property crime, even as public fear remains sky-high. As always, Zachary and Emma cut through the noise to uncover the facts and provide your weekly reminder that progress is happening.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - The nepo baby premium, frothing markets, and Apple vs. Apples
It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our rapid run through the numbers you need to know.
On today’s episode: John Legend croons; CPI inflation soothes; Same job as mom? You’ll earn more, dude; Apple vs. Apple, a courtroom feud.
Related episodes:
Why every A-lister also has a side hustle
The DOJ's case against Apple
The Intergenerational Transmission of Employers and the Earnings of Young Workers
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Short Wave - Alive Or Not Alive… Is A Tricky Question
In this Back To School episode we consider the "List of Life": the criteria that define what it is to be a living thing. Some are easy calls: A kitten is alive. A grain of salt is not.
But what about the tricky cases, like a virus? Or, more importantly, what about futuristic android robots?
As part of our Black History Month celebration, developmental biologist Crystal Rogers and Short Wave co-host Regina G. Barber dig into what makes something alive, and wade into a Star-Trek-themed debate.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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Audio Mises Wire - You Can’t Yell “Chicken Jockey” in a Crowded Theater (Except When You Can)
The hackneyed argument for government regulation of speech -- yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater -- has always been a red herring. As Murray Rothbard wrote, private property rights should be front-and-center when dealing with free speech issues.
Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/you-cant-yell-chicken-jockey-crowded-theater-except-when-you-can
Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3325: Machines That Forgot to Fail
Episode: 3325 Machines That Forgot How to Fail: An AI Guest’s Perspective on Reliability. Today, our guest, ChatGPT, talks about machines that forgot to fail.
The Stack Overflow Podcast - The future of Vue is you (and You)
Ryan welcomes Evan You, the creator of Vue.js, to explore the origins of Vue.js, the challenges faced during its development, and the project’s growth over a decade. They dive into potential integrations for AI, future developments for Vue.js, and the sustainability of open-source projects.
Episode notes:
Vue.js is a progressive JavaScript framework that’s approachable, performant, and versatile for building web user interfaces.
Check out what Evan and his team are doing to create the next generation of tooling at Void Zero.
Vue was ranked as the eighth most-popular web framework in the 2025 Developer Survey.
Congrats to Stellar Question badge winner Hari, who won for asking the question JavaScript - Track mouse position.
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It Could Happen Here - Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #29
The gang discuss the deployment of National Guard and federalization of police in Washington DC, a Heritage Foundation economist being appointed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a shooting targeting the CDC headquarters.
Fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-help-for-bukets-asylum-case
Sources:
https://www.cvesd.org/parents/family-and-community-resources
lausd.org
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/business/trump-bls-ej-antoni.html
https://x.com/AngulusTerrarum/status/1955320816855294169
https://x.com/JosephPolitano/status/1955041060197114136
https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/stephen-miran-federal-reserve-board-e7855877
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-bls-appointment-ej-antoni-alarms-economists-2112440
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/business/bls-nominee-trump
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/ej-antoni-trumps-pick-lead-bls/story?id=124579471
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8600x7dnn4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5loldo4Vmno
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array(3) { [0]=> string(184) "https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/78d30acb-8463-4c40-a5ae-ae2d0145c9ff/35ee63d6-50f4-4abe-83d6-b339013877b5/image.jpg?t=1755197917&size=Large" [1]=> string(10) "image/jpeg" [2]=> int(0) }The World in Brief from The Economist - Ukraine halts Russian advance; Israeli minister approves West Bank settlement plans, and more
Ukraine’s army stabilised the front line in Donetsk, an eastern province, according to local officials.
Philosophers In Space - The Dark Forest and Dark Forest Theory pt.2
The darker the forest, the brighter the philosophy! Despite all odds, we press on against the horrors of both the fictional and our real universe to talk about what happens when you try to do sociology AT SCCCCCCAAAAAAALLLLLLEEEEEE! Besides parsing the end of the book, we parse the precepts of Dark forest and whether it holds water, what are plausible objections, and what does this tell us about the reality of conflicts at smaller scales.
The Dark Forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Forest
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Content Preview: Death's End pt.1 and the Ethics of Survival