Listened to Tribalism, Anger and the State of Our Politics from On the Media | WNYC Studios

An extended conversation with Lilliana Mason about tribalism, anger and the state of our politics.

If solidarity and the recognition of mutual self-interest are the keys to moving past our fractious moment, it can be hard to see how we'll get there. Anger and tribalism appear to be at an all-time high, creating political and societal rifts that seem unbridgeable. Indeed, it is hard to believe that only 70 years ago, the country was deemed by political scientists to be not polarized enough. In 1950, the American Political Science Association put out a report that suggested that the parties were not distinct enough and that it was making people's political decision making too difficult.

Over the next few decades, they became distinct alright. Lilliana Mason is a political psychologist at the University of Maryland. When we spoke to her last fall, she told us that most people think they know exactly what each party stands for — leaving us with two camps that both seek to destroy the other. 

Listened to The "Pentagon Papers" Of Our Time by Bob Garfield from On the Media | WNYC Studios

A monumental report from the Washington Post reveals years of lies, futility and corruption.

On Monday, the Washington Post released the fruits of a three-year investigative effort: the "Afghanistan Papers," a once-secret internal government history of a deadly, costly, and ultimately futile entanglement. The hundreds of frank, explosive interviews — along with a new tranche of memos written by the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld — revealed the extent to which American leaders misled the public on their efforts to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, rout the Taliban, expel Al Qaeda, install democracy, and undo corruption. In this podcast extra, investigative reporter Craig Whitlock tells Bob about the monumental story that the Post uncovered — and the extraordinary effort it took to report it out. 

Read An octopus caught a bald eagle in a death grip. Thanks to some salmon farmers, the eagle survived by Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN (CNN)
A team of salmon farmers are feeling pretty proud after they were able to rescue a bald eagle from an octopus off the northwest tip of Canada's Vancouver Island.
Complete clickbait, but then how could you not?
Listened to The Dead Consensus from On the Media | WNYC Studios

The latest on Trump's impeachment, its parallels to the Andrew Johnson trial, and the rise of the "illiberal" right.

As House leaders begin drafting articles of impeachment, examples from the Nixon and Clinton eras abound. This week, On the Media rewinds to the 19th century — and the turbulent impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Plus, what a debate between two right-wing intellectuals means for the future of conservatism.

1. Brenda Wineapple, author of The Impeachers, on the acrimonious trial of Andrew Johnson. Listen.

2. Matthew Sitman [@MatthewSitman], co-host of the Know Your Enemy podcast, on the rise of illiberalism among the conservative intelligentsia. Listen

Watched "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" Strike Up the Band from Amazon Prime
Directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino. With Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle. Midge performs at a USO show ahead of touring with Shy while Susie learns the ins and outs of contract negotiation. Abe and Rose grapple with their new financial situation.
Watched "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" It's the Sixties, Man! from Amazon Prime
Directed by Daniel Attias. With Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle. Midge struggles with Susie taking on a new client. Joel meets a mystery girl, Mei, who is as frustrating as she is intriguing. Abe initiates a new project with a group of young beatniks. Midge and Joel deal with their divorce.
Watched Jadene Mayla: The Harmonic Bridge Between the Tech Space and Nature from YouTube

Carcinogenic EMF radiation from devices is transmutable via ancient Egyptian applied physics. Harmonic Artworks also open the gateway to co-create with the higher harmonic engineers of the natural world. The result = EMF shielding + human evolution.

Technology allows us a certain utility upon which we have become dependent, yet electromagnetic radiation entering our body from the devices we carry and wear is a known carcinogen; with scientists and doctors in 40 countries warning us about 5G raising our exposure from 6Ghz to 300Ghz. Harmonic Artworks applies ancient Egyptian physics to design authentic, aesthetic EMF shielding and offer a vital reconnection with higher harmonic intelligence. Known to the ancient Egyptians as NeTeRs, from which the word Nature is derived, these elemental forces hold the keys to sustainable technology and thus our future on Earth. The company achieved the target application in 2015 and after a break is poised to collaborate with producers of wearables and other products used in close proximity to the body.

Bio:
Jadene Mayla is a multimedia artist with an MFA in Applied Craft + Design from both Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art, a BLA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon, a certificate in Permaculture Design from Cascadia Permaculture Institute, and a certificate in BioGeometry Foundations Training from the Vesica Institute for Holistic Studies. She maintains an active studio practice and has exhibited at the Port of Portland, Gresham Arts Committee Industrial Show, Findlay Group, Spectacular Design, Legacy Modern, Furthermore Gallery, Horsehead Gallery, Bar Maven, Launchpad Gallery, Cascade Gallery, Seven Virtues, Stylus Grooves, The Mansion, the Division Design Initiative, and the Synesthesia and Burning Man arts festivals. Her work
has been published in Nothing Sacred, the Clearwater Environmental Connector, Lake Oswego Neighbors Magazine, Alternatives Journal, the Portland Mercury, the Eugene Weekly, Untitled Magazine, the Center Street Literary Journal, Southern Oregon Magazine, and Natural Awakenings Magazine.

Her awards include May 2016 Artist of the Month for Findlay, a $12K scholarship for strength of proposal to the MFA AC+D program from PNCA/OCAC in 2013, Eco-Biz status since 2007, and first place in the H.O.P.E.S. national design competition in 2005. She has served on the National Honor Society and as Vice President for the American Center for Sustainability, given invited talks at Clackamas Community College and Ujima Center, lead workshops at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, Northwest Regional Permaculture Gathering, Village Building Convergence, and SE Portland Permaculture Convergence, and she was a co-founder of the Eugene City Repair Project.

I missed this particular coffee meetup earlier this year. Jadene pitched this idea to me this morning. Sadly having seen this I’m unlikely to think it has any basis in science at all despite her protestations that it does. Of course this also doesn’t mean that one could make it the basis of some type of lifestyle business, which is what she’s attempting to do.
Listened to The Indigenous memory code by Lynne Malcolm from ABC Radio National
Traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines hold the key to a powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world.

Have you ever wondered how ancient indigenous cultures maintain so much information about the thousands of species of plants and animals—without writing it down? Traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines are key to a powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world. It's intricately tied to the landscape and it can be applied in our everyday lives.

Duration: 28min 49sec
Broadcast: 

Another Lynne Kelly interview, but this one focuses more on the indigenous peoples of Australia and their memory techniques. Also some discussion of “dreaming” and songlines with Karen Adams here.

Originally bookmarked on December 07, 2019 at 01:13PM

Listened to Lynne Kelly: unlocking ancient memory storehouses by Richard Fidler from ABC Radio

Lynne Kelly is a science writer who was researching the methods used by ancient cultures to retain vast amounts of information about animals and plants.

She was looking into the way knowledge was recorded through stories, song and dance.

On a journey to Stonehenge in England, Lynne was struck by the thought that the makers of that monumental stone circle were doing the same thing.

Lynne's research suggests the stone circles of England, the huge animal shapes in Peru, and the statues of Easter Island, were not so much objects of superstition, but tools allowing people to create a huge storehouses of knowledge.

An academic with diverse interests including spiders, history, and scepticism, Lynne applies the memory 'code' to manage her own stores of facts and information.

Duration: 48min 28sec
Broadcast: 

Great introductory interview on Lynne Kelly’s work on indigenous memory just after her book The Memory Code came out.

Originally bookmarked on December 07, 2019 at 01:08PM

An informal mnemonics podcast

I started out using Huffduffer to collect a handful of podcast interviews with LynneKelly on her work with mnemonics, but noticed a handful of others that had already been using various tags like “memory” and “mnemonics” on the service as well.

While I know there are some podcasts dedicated directly to memory, most of the ones I’ve tagged/highlighted in my list are one-off episodes or radio interviews that stand alone. I’ve also gone through a few past posts on the forum about podcast episodes relating to memory and tagged them as well.

I’ve seen a dozen or so other posts on the forum here in which people have mentioned particular podcasts, so I’ll mention that Huffduffer is a great audio-based web tool for finding, discovering, and collecting audio content. It also provides iTunes subscribe-able audio feeds for every account, collective, and even tag on the site.

If you’re interested in the topic of “mnemonics” you can subscribe to the public RSS feed on Huffduffer and you’ll automatically be updated in your podcatcher of choice whenever anyone else in the community uses Huffduffer and tags an audio file with the same “mnemonics” tag.

Happy listening and collecting.