Saturday, January 24, 2009

Carnival of Podcasts

Tyler Cowen Says Once Banks Are Nationalized, Privatization Is Hard

Levitt Sees U.S. Moving Toward Nationalizing Banks

Harvard's Goldman Sees Russia Worried Over Ruble Weakness

Luigi Zingales Opposes U.S. Bank Nationalization

Burns Says Comparison of Obama to FDR Is `Over-Emphasized'

Paul Krugman Sees Need to Get Stimulus Plan Out `Fast'

Komileva Says U.K. Forecasts `Not Pessimistic Enough'

Pimco's Clarida Sees U.S. Banks Moving Toward Nationalization

Eric Raymond on Hacking, Open Source, and the Cathedral and the Bazaar

A History of History
In the 6th century AD, the bishop of Tours began his history of the world with a simple observation that “A great many things keep happening, some of them good, some of them bad”.

For a phrase that captures the whole of history it’s among the best, but in writing about the past we are rarely so economical. From ancient epics to medieval hagiographies and modern deconstructions, historians have endlessly chronicled, surveyed and analysed the great many things that keep happening, declaring some of them good and some of them bad.

But the writing of history always illuminates two periods – the one history is written about and the one it is written in. And to look at how the writing of history has changed is to examine the way successive ages have understood their world. In short, there is a history to history.


Bad Science and Outsiders
KATHRYN HUNTER on Othello, autism with DANIEL TAMMET, Paul Dirac by GRAHAM FARMELO and Bad Science with BEN GOLDACRE


Anti-planning
British prime minister Harold Macmillan, when asked by a journalist what was most likely to blow a government off course replied, Events, dear boy, events. So how much can any government really plan in advance, given that unexpected events invariably happen?
Randal O'Toole outlines his case against government getting involved in large scale planning projects -- which he says almost always leads to disaster.


The story of highways

Islam and philosophy - Tariq Ramadan

The knee files - part one, part two

Ways of being in Polish, English and Russian
Mary Besemeres explores the different emotional and social worlds that she inhabits while using either Polish, English or Russian, each of which allow her different ways of being.

Meet the Naked Scientist
Why Naked? Dr Chris Smith has appeared on ABC RN every week for some years both on The Science Show and Breakfast. This Cambridge don and doctor has offered a lively, insightful and often cheeky interpretation of new research and has now produced a second book of the highlights. His prize-winning programs and website, called The Naked Scientist, continues to break moulds -- as he tells Nicky Phillips.

Trumpeting maths and science

One laptop per child

Nursing in Australia and the UK
Professor Linda Shields from Curtin University of Technology in Perth has written, together with Professor Roger Watson from the University of Sheffield in the UK, about the state of nursing in Australia and the UK.
She talks about the international nursing shortage which threatens the health of Australians, the nursing recruitment drive and the difference in education of Australian and British nurses, and about the treatment of nurses by health authorities in both countries.


Charles Darwin in Australia

The Trials of the Templars

At dawn on 13 October 1307 all the Templars in France were arrested by royal order, on the charge that they had been involved in secret blasphemous rituals. This led to other arrests of Templars in Europe, and an investigation by Pope Clement V. The University of Sydney Rare Books and Special Collections Library recently obtained trial documents from the Vatican archives, which John Pryor discusses with Rachael Kohn


Inside the minds of murderers and sex offenders

Ken Feinberg: what is a life worth?
Meet lawyer Ken Feinberg. It was his job to hand out US$7 billion dollars to the families of those who died and to those injured in the September 11 attacks. How did he deal with claims from the families of wealthy financiers, illegal aliens and heroic firemen? And how did he deal with grieving loved ones, squabbling relatives and a shocked nation?

Buckminster Fuller

Policy Responses to the Financial Crisis
Dr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System

Fiscal responsibility and the recession

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