Since the weather as of late’s been ideal for scoootering to and from work, I’ve got more than a bit behind in my podcast consumption. However destiny–in the form of my garage door trapping me and my scooter in its grip until my mirror snapped right off last week, putting me off road until I get replacements–intervened and I started listening again today on the bus.
I recommend several:
- CBC’s C’est la vie “about life in French speaking Canada.” In English, though there’s always a “word of the week” en français. Their coverage of Haiti added a human dimension to the earthquake tragedy of earlier this year.
- CBC’s Dispatches, which aggregates stories from around the world–Asia, Europe, Canada, Latin America, even Antarctica
- The Onion video podcast, because it’s freakin’ os-some.
- BBC’s More or Less, a populist stats nerd feast.
- BBC’s In Our Time and Thinking Allowed, which look at issues of social science and social history.
Bear in mind, though, most are on summer hiatus or reruns. All are available though iTunes in Canada–for free.
Thinking Allowed (get it! ha!) hosted a discussion about social capital a couple of weeks ago. Social capital theory–it’s value and how it’s been lamely co-opted by Robert Putnam (and his ilk) at the expense of the eminently superior work of Pierre Bourdieu–is a particular interest of mine. So I wrote in to the show. And they read my letter–the only letter on the topic they selected!
Time to order those mirrors…
