Dispatches from a happy Hullian

It's been a while since I posted, and this has been sitting on the notepad for a while…

When I was at work, I listened to a lot of podcasts to damp down noise from the floor while doing not-too-intense work. At home, I find time here and there — while cooking, sometimes while the kids play if the kids are off doing their own thing, while on the bus to grab a car… it's a small luxury to let a chunk of consciousness run around with smart, different folks across Internet audio.

Here is what I manage to listen to regularly:

Spark from CBC Radio: Nora Young has the best radio voice among living radio hosts, in my opinion (Lister Sinclair gets best ever). The podcast is mostly about technology, but in an expansive, humane way that often focused on usability, accessibility and the creative uses people come up with for existing technologies.

Death, Sex, Money from WNYC is a show of long-form interviews touching on the title topics (usually all three of them) with people who have lived through some interesting stuff.

Planet Money from NPR is a show about economics for laypeople — sometimes they do a show on explaining a hyped topic (What is a collateralized debt obligation? What just happened to the Chinese markets?). Sometimes they look at something mundane and explain the minutiae (t-shirt manufacturing, raisins) and sometimes they follow a person's cunning business plan with an eye to what economic mechanisms are in play underneath (a y taxi medallion empire, for instance).

More or Less from BBC Radio 4 is a show of statistical fact-checking: from political claims to memes about toxic levels of banana consumption (hint: absent a health condition that makes you super-sensitive, you will have trouble keeping down enough bananas to kill you via potassium or radiation poisoning). It's funny, chatty and a neat way to think about all steps of the statistical process while finding out what's preoccupying Brits who listen to or make geeky podcasts.

I also listen to and enjoy Savage Love (US politics and relationship advice), Polyamory Weekly (charmingly indie relationships and media watching), Radiolab (lovingly crafted, humane stories touching on science) and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (passionate lectures on a huge range of history, mostly military and political, with lots of quotes from original sources and psychological guesswork — and a voice and delivery that I like but is hard to be neutral on).

Any suggestions I might like, especially in the 15–30 minute range?

I think it was audrawilliams that got me on to Digger, by Ursula Vernon. I've been nibbling my way through it for a week or two, and it is a funny, strange, silly, pretty and humane story with sympathetic characters and a touch of Douglas Adams. The main character is a staunch rationalist wombat named Digger who takes a wrong turn while tunnelling and gets entangled all sorts of things in a very strange and unfamiliar land. And apparently, after 752 panels or something like that, it has wrapped up, so start now and have a complete work waiting there for you. I've still got two thirds of the story to go.

I've also been enjoying some of the Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold — just finished Brothers in Arms, which also is about two thirds of the way between straight SF space opera and Douglas Adams weird, with a bit of Adrian Mole thrown in for good measure. I find suspension of disbelief a little tenuous with Bujold sometimes, but it doesn't matter because when she's over the top, she is also funny and clever, and the suspension-of-disbelief trouble is more on the end of improbable plot and less on the part of her main characters, who are generally sympathetic and believably crazy. I've got one more Bujold book borrowed from commodorified (which, to her, is probably a “Lois book”), and it is probably next on my reading stack.

So, we found that Oscar was having a blast in a laundry basket in front of a mirror. Then I took some video footage (not thinking, I took it portrait-sideways, which is why the laptop is on its side). Then Oscar saw the video of him, and I had to take another video of him enjoying the video of himself in the mirror. I'm sure someone has thought of this before, but we were laughing.

( Recursive baby )

And yes, he was similarly excited at this video too.

Here are some stills of Oscar and the mirror (without recursion):

( Non-recursive baby )

After all that new media excitement, Oscar is now sleeping soundly beside me, for now…

teinm_laida gave me some random questions:

if you had a time machine, what time period would you be most tempted  to relocate to?

I think the future, definitely, to see how it all turns out. Say, 2210, under the assumption that my English may be quaint but not entirely useless, and some serious history will have happened by then.

what was the last film that really moved/disturbed you and why?

I think the most disturbing one lately was The Idiots, by Lars von Trier — cultiness, mental illness and black comedy are always a disturbing mix.

what is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?

It's hard to sort out a ranking of them, but my elementary school teachers — Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Lang and Annick stand out — and our awesome ahead-of-his-time principal Mr. Rennie really went out of their way to put lots of stimulating stuff in my path. It can't always be easy to be long-time elementary school faculty, but they were awesome anyway.

least favourite vegetable? ;)

Probably Brussels sprouts, but even they can be saved with black pepper and butter.

would you bungee jump?

No, I think the days when that made any sort of sense for me are past — I'll take my life-and-limb risks doing yard maintenance and bicycle commuting, now.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
( ... )
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Get onto the bus!"

It's a fantastic excuse to drink Tuborg beer and eat those crackly-with-sugar butter cookies.

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/21097.html

In a previous life I sat on Media Council at Dawson and didn't stand up for the Plant's right to be obnoxious in the Gay Leprechauns Incident. We actually hauled the editor over and took the whole thing way too seriously. I kind of regret that, I hope they're managing to be good and offensive from time to time.

Boycotts are all well and good, and sanctions have their place, but the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments bullying Denmark over some cartoons... time to raise a can of cheap beer in solidarity.

1. What is your favorite action movie?
Does Pirates of the Caribbean count?

2. What is the worst movie you've ever seen?
Napoleon Dynamite was beyond lame and has only got worse with mulling over.

3. Do you prefer comedy or drama?
Give me a sharp comedy any day.

4. Recommend a good tear jerker:
Parts of The Pianist.

5. What movie are you looking forward to seeing soon?
Nothing really burns at my pocket -- but I'm looking forward to a Six Feet Under marathon on DVD.