podcasts: brief mentions
Sep. 18th, 2007 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radfrac_archive_fullToday I listened to a Guardian Unlimited podcast of a lecturer on the Society of Antiquaries (founded 1707). God damn, there's nothing hotter than a dotty old man. Seriously. He says primly that creativity and intellectual life are withering in the universities, and I have to go get a glass of water.
One of the many jewels of the great podcast serpent's hoard is the archive of NPR's All Songs Considered, teeming with concerts you desperately wish you'd been at. This is how I discover how good the Arcade Fire sounds with the wind blowing through it -- that is, in the looser, rougher arrangements and recording quality of a concert -- which I guess makes sense with the technical direction they've been taking -- which you all know more about than I do, but anyway.
And this, from possibly my favorite Quirks & Quarks broadcast ever. (Their new theme music is also sexy):
[N.B. The punctuation is not my fault.]
What particularly rocks about this is that it's a useful *reproductive* strategy -- subordinate males who are, um, compliant, survive to mate and produce more offspring, whereas those who don't, or who aren't offered the option, are killed 50% of the time. Gay sex actually increases your chances of getting to have straight sex.
My only caveat is that they apparently put the crayfish into quite small tanks for the experiment, which makes me wonder if the behaviour is a result of decadent civilization's close quarters, rather than an ordinary real-world strategy.
Podcasts. The only thing that keeps my brain from being completely taken up with NOC and NAICS codes.
End of the school/work day. Home to try to study. Or more probably to write, since I suspect I'm too thick to absorb anything else about Shakespeare tonight. Being in school always has the paradoxical effect of making me want to do more creative work. It stimulates the mind, which would be fine -- which would be ideal -- if I didn't need to spend seven point five hours a day not writing fiction.
And so on. Not complaining; I'm enjoying it. Just bemused, knowing I'm going to try to fit too much in, and get frustrated, but wanting to try it anyway, because too much is much better than not enough.
{rf}
One of the many jewels of the great podcast serpent's hoard is the archive of NPR's All Songs Considered, teeming with concerts you desperately wish you'd been at. This is how I discover how good the Arcade Fire sounds with the wind blowing through it -- that is, in the looser, rougher arrangements and recording quality of a concert -- which I guess makes sense with the technical direction they've been taking -- which you all know more about than I do, but anyway.
And this, from possibly my favorite Quirks & Quarks broadcast ever. (Their new theme music is also sexy):
[N.B. The punctuation is not my fault.]
The life of the Red Swamp Crayfish is a complicated one. Living in the streams and swamps of the Southern United States, these lobster-like creatures are always in close contact with their neighbours. So, a hierarchy of who's who is very important. If you're much bigger than the crayfish next door, you're the boss. But, if your neighbour is about your size, you're going to have to compete to figure out who's in charge. Most of the time, this is going to involve fighting, but some male crayfish have a different strategy. They prefer to make love, not war, literally. Dr. Donald Edwards, a Regents' professor of biology and physics at Georgia State University, studies these animals and has discovered that one form of conflict resolution is through what he calls pseudo-copulation. The activity resembles what happens when a male and female crayfish couple, including the depositing of sperm by the dominant animal. Dr. Edwards believes this developed as a safe alternative these crustaceans use to sort out their social ranking.
What particularly rocks about this is that it's a useful *reproductive* strategy -- subordinate males who are, um, compliant, survive to mate and produce more offspring, whereas those who don't, or who aren't offered the option, are killed 50% of the time. Gay sex actually increases your chances of getting to have straight sex.
My only caveat is that they apparently put the crayfish into quite small tanks for the experiment, which makes me wonder if the behaviour is a result of decadent civilization's close quarters, rather than an ordinary real-world strategy.
Podcasts. The only thing that keeps my brain from being completely taken up with NOC and NAICS codes.
End of the school/work day. Home to try to study. Or more probably to write, since I suspect I'm too thick to absorb anything else about Shakespeare tonight. Being in school always has the paradoxical effect of making me want to do more creative work. It stimulates the mind, which would be fine -- which would be ideal -- if I didn't need to spend seven point five hours a day not writing fiction.
And so on. Not complaining; I'm enjoying it. Just bemused, knowing I'm going to try to fit too much in, and get frustrated, but wanting to try it anyway, because too much is much better than not enough.
{rf}
