telophase | Podcasts

meganbmoore just won an mp3 player, so I listed some podcasts I listen to on a semi-regular basis in her comments. Reposting here.

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Podcasts I listen to:

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/ <-- Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, science and skepticism podcast. Usually about 1 hr 20 min. Weekly

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/5x5/index.asp <-- Skeptic's Guide 5x5, science and logic, About 5-7 minutes. Weekly

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php <-- NPR has a multitude of podcasts of its shows - I listen to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (news comedy, weekly, 1 hour), This American Life (1 hr, weekly), Planet Money (news and commentary on the economic crisis, 20-30 min, almost daily, I don't listen to most of them XD), Hmmmmm...Krulwich on Science (2-5 min, weekly), and occasionally Car Talk (1 hr, weekly).

KERA is my local NPR station, and they put out KERA's Think (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183228 - daily, 1 hr, interviews with all sorts of people and topics, I just download the ones that seem most interesting) and Everything You Ever Wanted To Know ( http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=7070852 - weekly, 1 hr, local call-in show to ask questions about ANYTHING).

WNYC's RadioLab - http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ - is a seasonal (six shows a season) weekly radio show on science topics with a unique and interesting (to me, at least) editing style.

http://www.writingexcuses.com/ <-- Writing Excuses, weekly, 15 min. Podcast on writing with a focus on SF/F/H.

http://www.anythingghost.com/ <-- Anything Ghost (20 min-1.5 hours, usually about 45-60 min, put out whenever he gets enough stories) Podcast with the host just reading ghost stories listeners send him. I'm a hardcore skeptic at heart, but the anthropologist in me loves hearing ghost stories. :D Part of the charm of this is the host's inability to pronounce names and places.

http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hh <-- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. 30 min- 1 hour, put out whenever he gets the time. Past episodes available by download or on CD. I LOVE this guy's history shows. He's a history fanboy and it shows. :D He actually MADE ME INTERESTED IN THE COLD WAR, that's how good he is.

Dan Carlin also puts out a political podcast on a weeklyish basis called Dan Carlin's Common Sense (http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/cs 30 min-1 hour) which is a refreshing breath of fresh air from both the raving lunatic right-wingers and raving lunatic left-wingers, as Carlin seems to be a raving lunatic moderate. I don't listen to every show, just one every now and then.

I also listen to a variety of paranormal podcasts because the anthropologist in me is fascinated by the subculture (if I were still in anthropology now, I'd be rarin' at the bit to do an ethnography of a local ghost hunters' club), but I don't inflict those on other people because if you're not a believer and don't have another reason to listen, they're infuriating. :D (But I'll list them on request!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All right, you asked for it! XD It's fascinating to start working out all the little in-groups and factions that populate the paranormal world - some of these guys like each other, some of them don't, there are gusts that say one thing about EVPs, demons, or orbs, and guests that say another, and so on. I don't listen to them regularly enough to have more than a vague feel for the factions, but it'd be interesting to work them all out. XD

Crossroads Paranormal - http://cprshow.podomatic.com/ - It's been a while since I've listened to this one, so I've forgotten exactly who the host is/hosts are and how it's set up.

Beyond Reality - http://beyondreality.planetparanormal.com/ - These are the Ghost Hunters guys themselves, Jason and Grant. About as mainstream as you're going to get in the paranormal world. XD

Darkness Radio (used to be Darkness on the Edge of Town) - http://www.darknessradio.com/ - They're a radio show on Saturday and Sunday nights that offers the shows as podcasts afterward. 3-hour shows (yes you read that right!). If I'm thinking of the right show, I like the on-air chemistry between the hosts a lot in this one. That's the sort of thing that makes or breaks radio shows and podcasts. The radio station they're on has a lot of right-wing ranting shows, so you'll get ads for them periodically in the recording. Just FYI for anyone mystified by that: it's the radio station, not this particular show, putting those ads in. (When they switched to this station, they got a lot of people emailing in wondering if they were promoting a particular political agenda because of that, so they had to be Very Clear in explaining that no, it was the Radio Station. XD)

EERIE Radio - http://www.eerieradio.com/ - Er, I can't actually remember anything about this show. I don't think I've listened to it in a while.

Ghostly Talk - http://www.ghostlytalk.com/ - A 3-hour weekly show. Sometimes the hosts drive me nuts, sometimes they don't. I stopped listening after a friend of their passed away and they talked about him a lot, because it was depressing me and I didn't feel the need to be depressed over the death of a total stranger because there's only so much emotional energy I can spare, and I haven't picked it up on a regular basis since.

Ghostology - http://ghostology.podbean.com/ - I listen to this off and on and haven't yet decided how well I like the hosts. They're from Texas - Austin, I think - so it feels a bit hometown. :)

Hometown Tales - http://hometowntales.com/ - A lot of urban legends, stories, stuff like that. 30-minute shows.

The Paracast - http://www.theparacast.com/ - More on the UFO/conspiracy-theory end of the paranormal spectrum than the ghostly end. I like the hosts, though, IIRC.

Rogue Radio - http://paranormalcafe.podomatic.com/ - Used to be Paranormal Cafe. Haven't listened enough to remember anything about the show.

Paranormal Podcast - http://paranormalpodcast.com/ - Another one that pays a bit more attention to the conspiracy theory/alien/etc end of the spectrum.

The 13 Skulls - http://www.the13skulls.com/ - This one is recorded in Arlington or Irving, so it's right at my back door. XD Mostly paranormal news, with an occasional guest or interview. The host does paranormal news on a couple of other shows.

The Skeptical Viewer - http://www.skepticalviewer.com/ - See, I love these guys. Why? Because they're believers who spent an inordinate amount of time debunking the Ghost Hunters. XD (What? You thought that everyone in the paranormal subculture believed in everything else! By no means! There's gotta be some sort of Geek Hierarchy-type chart that could be made of who thinks who's right and who's wrong.)

Podcasts

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