Interim post -- extra "Podcasts of the Week"

I’m currently working on the next idea for a post, but in the meantime, some good “Podcast of the Week” recommendations have been piling up, so I would like to share a few of those.

The Nerdist, June 13, 2015 with Jim Norton

Comedian Jim Norton and host Chris Hardwick have a thought-provoking conversation about the nature of sexual compulsion or addiction. One key insight – hopefully without giving away too much – is that as men age, whatever the compulsion might be, they are more likely to find themselves realizing they can be happier without it.

WTF, July 21, 2016, with Chuck Klosterman

On the heels of Klosterman’s new book “But What If We’re Wrong?”, he sits down with Marc Maron, and together they give you a taste of what’s in the book. A couple highlights: arriving at some points about how technology and culture change human perceptions and experience; also, Klosterman wonders how historical perceptions of the past radically over time – like, could a US president who is considered to be good or great now eventually be re-evaluated as poor. And what if that were Lincoln?

99% Invisible, March 29, 2016, “The White Elephant of Tel Aviv”

Very interesting story from the podcast about design, architecture and the like, about the central bus station in Israel’s capital city, a development project that is widely seen as a failure. Imagine an even more vast version of New York’s Port Authority bus station, but with more than half the retail store locations vacant. In a succinct 35 minutes or so, reporters from Israeli radio tell the story of the station’s architecture, the way it was proposed and carried out, with a first skeleton built in the 1980s then abandoned until the economy picked up again in the mid-1990s. Then, after its completion, the station quickly became dirty and poorly maintained within just a couple years, and a lack of foot traffic for retail stores tucked into far flung and maze-like corridors caused more and more stores to close as time went on. It’s an interesting story, well told, with pieces of audio including the sales pitch made to the retailers, promotional advertisements, interviews with key players in the story, and more.