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I really liked their followup to the Patent troll episode. Very good. And I do hate when they play coy about things like "WE WERE SHOCKED THEY WOULDN'T ANSWER US...GOSH GEE WIZ" but the audio from the trial was hilarious.
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Jun 4, 2013 09:01
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Oh God, that awkward, awkward cross. At first I was stunned by Crawford's testimony and wondered how anyone could have such low self-esteem as to pretend to not know the meaning of "'s" when applied to a noun. Then, when they went through the estimated numbers after the trial... it would be the first thing I would say to every person I met if it meant a got $16,000,000 for almost no work.
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Jun 4, 2013 10:36
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soggybagel posted:I really liked their followup to the Patent troll episode. Very good. And I do hate when they play coy about things like "WE WERE SHOCKED THEY WOULDN'T ANSWER US...GOSH GEE WIZ" but the audio from the trial was hilarious. Uh no it was not good didn't you read all the posts that explained that people who worked on the story are something something or something evil. Clearly we must avoid listening to this show at all costs to avoid the jack-booted hegemony that is NPR.
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Jun 6, 2013 19:54
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Drunkboxer posted:Uh no it was not good didn't you read all the posts that explained that people who worked on the story are something something or something evil. Clearly we must avoid listening to this show at all costs to avoid the jack-booted hegemony that is NPR. That "something something or something evil" might actually have some substance for you were you to read the posted links! Good post, though, I really liked it! Phone posted:Here's the big, hard hitter: http://shameproject.com/report/adam-davidson-corrupt-wall-street-booster/
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Jun 6, 2013 21:19
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Gio posted:That "something something or something evil" might actually have some substance for you were you to read the posted links! Good post, though, I really liked it! Thanks! Also that stuff doesn't have anything to do with the quality or content current episode. I appreciate all the freedom fighting you are doing though, its really inspiring.
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Jun 6, 2013 22:05
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You know you may have a point. I think I will take the word of some scummy reporters because This Time It's Different!
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Jun 6, 2013 22:23
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Gio posted:You know you may have a point. I think I will take the word of some scummy reporters because This Time It's Different! Shut the gently caress up and go back to D&D.
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Jun 6, 2013 22:27
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Did you guys actually read the links? I suppose not because I don't know how someone can read them then go "GOD stop attacking my public radio you worthless bleeding hearts". He's been shown to have seriously questionable journalistic ethics, having clear conflicts of interest and an ideological axe to grind in his financial reporting. I don't know about the patent episode in particular what is said, but if I'm interested in the topic I'll go elsewhere first before I go to a guy who has not done that great of a job accurately reporting things. but w/e great episode boy were those NPR anecdotes good haha really shed a light on the situation
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Jun 6, 2013 22:52
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Gio posted:Did you guys actually read the links? I suppose not because I don't know how someone can read them then go "GOD stop attacking my public radio you worthless bleeding hearts". He's been shown to have seriously questionable journalistic ethics, having clear conflicts of interest and an ideological axe to grind in his financial reporting. I don't know about the patent episode in particular what is said, but if I'm interested in the topic I'll go elsewhere first before I go to a guy who has not done that great of a job accurately reporting things. Dude I mostly agree with you and am tempted to completely dismiss you due to how dickish you're being.
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Jun 6, 2013 22:55
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I'm being a dick because Drunkboxer is. I mean, w/e, I'll admit the episode is probably not a travesty of journalism and may actually be decent, I just think mocking people who don't wanna listen to Planet Money because they don't trust them is dumb given their track record. I'll probably listen to the episode and not hate it tbh.
Gio fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 23:04
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Phone posted:I was wrong about the welfare statement, it was specifically their week-long program on disability in the US. Here's a decent summary of it here: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread...whats-left-of-o I really think I lost a few brain cells reading this link. I'm not sure how this guy listened to a story about the diminishing opportunities for low-skill workers is resulting in a dramatic increase of disability claims and people essentially signing themselves up for a future at the poverty line and heard a story about "disability-queens" and wrapped it up into his narrative of BIG-BANKING wanting to privatize everything. Oh, and by the way Social Security is a perfect and golden system and there are no flaws and if anyone ever says different they are obviously a fascist owned by the BIG-BANKS. It's like watching Fox News in the mirror. Same stupidity, different ideology.
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Jun 6, 2013 23:43
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Gio is at least contributing to some discussion of substance whereas Drunkboxer is just making some garbage-rear end sarcastic meta-post about some strawman criticism.
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Jun 7, 2013 00:05
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What discussion "Company bad ergo episode bad"? Lots of companies are bad. I dare say most major league companies are, to some degree, not awesome morally, but that doesn't have anything to do with an episode of This American Life.
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Jun 7, 2013 08:37
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Whether you like their reporting or not, can we at least agree that the patent system is fundamentally broken? I think that is bigger issue. It is also a reason why I couldn't be a journalist. I couldn't sit there and act coy (read have journalistic integrity) with those smug jerks while they circumlocute every question. I'd be up much more accusatory in trying to force a reaction out of them. They know exactly what they are doing and they know that the law is on their side currently because how long it takes for bureaucracy to catch up. I read something interesting on DF that I think applies here. When looking at two sides of a case like this, look at what each side is arguing. Typically if the law is against you, you argue the facts. If the facts are against you, you argue the law. Pretty clear to me which side Crawford is on.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:17
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It's pretty hard to not get heated up when moneymen and lawyers act like they don't know exactly what they're doing. I really wish there was less tolerance for that kind of double talk.
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Jun 7, 2013 21:54
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Hitch posted:Whether you like their reporting or not, can we at least agree that the patent system is fundamentally broken? I think that is bigger issue. Fundamentally broken, no. Requires fixing, yes. There's a pretty big gulf, and I've seen a lot of lovely internet libertarian types talking about how this episode was proof we need to just straight abolish patents and all. Our patent system is a strong one, it just needs to be modernized better.
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Jun 7, 2013 23:57
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Tatum Girlparts posted:Fundamentally broken, no. I agree. I'm no way in favor of abolishing patents, but I think modernizing our patent system is a soft way of putting it. It's accurate, but this has been an issue for years. When I was in college, I had to take a few courses on patents and how to study the prior art in our area (biomedical engineering) in order to avoid potential litigation as well as protect our own ideas. Even back then we talked about how patents were a tool that had morphed into something much more perverse than intended -- and that was with medical device patents. Technology patents are typically worse. After all these years I still haven't seen any major movements towards a solution.
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Jun 8, 2013 06:10
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Hitch posted:Even back then we talked about how patents were a tool that had morphed into something much more perverse than intended -- and that was with medical device patents. Technology patents are typically worse. After all these years I still haven't seen any major movements towards a solution. I honestly don't think you will. I'm obviously just an internet idiot with kneejerk opinions and all that, but from just paying attention to the news for the past ten years, I've learned an axiom: if something makes people with very flexible morals lots of money, despite a net negative effect on society at large, even at the cost of forward movement in technology, peace, and prosperity, it will perfectly resist every kind of reform until it reaches critical mass and crashes down on all our heads. And after that, it will be slightly reformed, but in a very watered down way, so that the people who best weathered the storm can continue making slightly less obscene amounts of money on it.
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Jun 8, 2013 09:01
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doctorfrog posted:I honestly don't think you will. I'm obviously just an internet idiot with kneejerk opinions and all that, but from just paying attention to the news for the past ten years, I've learned an axiom: if something makes people with very flexible morals lots of money, despite a net negative effect on society at large, even at the cost of forward movement in technology, peace, and prosperity, it will perfectly resist every kind of reform until it reaches critical mass and crashes down on all our heads. And after that, it will be slightly reformed, but in a very watered down way, so that the people who best weathered the storm can continue making slightly less obscene amounts of money on it. I think you might be right. Maybe I'm naive because I am not seeing the bigger picture with regard to the progression of politics over the past century, but it seems to me that we have hit a point where very little substantive legislation gets passed. Each side has become so polarized and so hellbent on preventing the doomsday legislation being pushed by the other party from passing that our ability to compromise and pass anything worthwhile is essentially gone.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:30
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Hitch posted:I think you might be right. Maybe I'm naive because I am not seeing the bigger picture with regard to the progression of politics over the past century, but it seems to me that we have hit a point where very little substantive legislation gets passed. Each side has become so polarized and so hellbent on preventing the doomsday legislation being pushed by the other party from passing that our ability to compromise and pass anything worthwhile is essentially gone. The system was intentionally established to be slow to change to avoid momentary passions to change the course of the entire country. There is a problem with deadlock, but it isn't as looming or as unique to this time as people make it seem.
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Jun 13, 2013 22:12
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Was anyone else waiting for the NSA story on This American Life this week? After all, it was their take on what happened in America this week, and that was a pretty big story -- at least I thought. Maybe they're waiting to do a full show on it?
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Jun 19, 2013 19:01
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Hitch posted:Was anyone else waiting for the NSA story on This American Life this week? After all, it was their take on what happened in America this week, and that was a pretty big story -- at least I thought. I'd think it be hard to now--what's actually going on isn't entirely clear.
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Jun 19, 2013 19:38
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fivre posted:I'd think it be hard to now--what's actually going on isn't entirely clear. Yeah, the story was breaking throughout the week they were reporting on, and it's too big a deal to fit in one segment of a show anyway. They touched on it a bit, anyway.
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Jun 19, 2013 21:46
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This story was good in my opinion. I couldn't help but laugh when the government official suggested a ridiculous plot with a high speed boat after studying maritime law, like Barry Zuckercorn from Arrested Development: "take to the sea!"
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Jul 1, 2013 20:37
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Awesome Arrested Development reference, I laughed pretty hard. It was a very interesting story, but I'm not sure I like the way in which it was presented. Don't get me wrong, I know how I come down on this issue. But I thought they could have done a better job describing how/why people want to delay these proceedings. Maybe go into the background more of the fate of refugees in the U.S. They talked about a couple individuals that were arrested in Kentucky, but how did that relate/not relate to these Iraqi refugees. No one wants to let someone in that is going to be a potential risk, but how are those on the list guaranteed to not be a risk. Not a bad story, I just wanted more details.
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Jul 2, 2013 19:00
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I really enjoyed the episode/segment covering the fellow who helped Iraqi US collaborators come to the United States via speedboat. The first time I heard This American Life was when my Biology teacher played one of the Halloween specials centuries ago back in high school: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/319/and-the-call-was-coming-from-the-basement It's a good one.
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Jul 3, 2013 21:32
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yes posted:House on Loon Lake is one of the rare episodes with only one story arc and is pretty much what got me into This American Life That one's my favorite. It's my go-to episode when wanting to introduce someone to TAL. Scenes From a Mall got me into TAL. The act with the Santa feud story is fantastic!
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Aug 6, 2013 04:38
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I know it was a rerun but the recent episode on summer camps was really good and did a good job articulating the reasons why camp people hold that time in such high regard. Also if you have a summer camp that you were particularly fond of as a kid, look into being a counselor for said camp. Some of my best high school memories were of our school's band camp, but getting to go back twice in college as a counselor for that same program was a thousand times more fun and rewarding. It's still the best job I've ever had, despite being paid almost nothing.
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Aug 6, 2013 05:50
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C-Euro posted:I know it was a rerun but the recent episode on summer camps was really good and did a good job articulating the reasons why camp people hold that time in such high regard. That is a really good episode. I think they should do an updated version of it, though. I've never been to a camp, so I can't be sure about what can change the atmosphere of it or kid's attitudes toward it, but I imagine it's different now with the Internet being more popular than it was in the 90s. A kid in the episode talked about how all school year she missed her camp friends, but if that was her now she could add them on Facebook and not have that emotional connection towards it. Would be interesting to see how different the kids then and now are.
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Aug 6, 2013 07:26
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I'd love to see them do a bit more on the various types of camps, too. Some camps are weeks-long programs that are basically a whole long vacation from the family and do evolve the strong tribal behavior they had in this program. Others are shorter and more intensive (only a week long) although the counselors will usually stay the whole summer. Those can generate really strong emotions too as you're trying to get the very most out of the experience and not have anything go wrong. Day camps are another type as well (the sessions are like the first kind but the kids go home each night so it's more like structured play). Even something just comparing how the counselors act in those circumstances would be neat to see.
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Aug 6, 2013 20:19
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Sorry to sound  , but was this week's episode really "a story of this American life"? You've got an Eritrean ex-pat living in Sweden, talking to Eritrean hostages being held in Sinai, and I feel like they just aired it to say "the Middle East is hosed, guys  ". Again, it just didn't have that personal, almost local touch that I expect TAL to have.
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Aug 16, 2013 22:32
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C-Euro posted:Sorry to sound Wait wasn't that Radio Lab? I swear I just listened to that story 2 days ago.
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Aug 17, 2013 03:05
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calandryll posted:Wait wasn't that Radio Lab? I swear I just listened to that story 2 days ago. No, the latest Radiolab episode was about rabies and the Milwaukee procedure, which was nuts.
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Aug 17, 2013 04:34
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C-Euro posted:No, the latest Radiolab episode was about rabies and the Milwaukee procedure, which was nuts. You're right! I listened to them back to back and couldn't remember.
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Aug 17, 2013 13:23
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C-Euro posted:No, the latest Radiolab episode was about rabies and the Milwaukee procedure, which was nuts. When they mentioned a bat I thought "it can't be rabies, they already did a show about that." Turns out I was thinking about a story on This American Life.
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Aug 17, 2013 14:02
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I was skeptical the whole way through the most recent TAL episode. Something still strikes me as odd about the whole thing. Clearly it's an incredibly awful set of circumstances, but is she not enabling the hostage takers by publicizing and requesting funds for their ploys?
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Aug 17, 2013 23:41
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Hitch posted:I was skeptical the whole way through the most recent TAL episode. Something still strikes me as odd about the whole thing. Clearly it's an incredibly awful set of circumstances, but is she not enabling the hostage takers by publicizing and requesting funds for their ploys? They would take hostages even if their was no guarantee of money. At least she got some people out of there, which is better than doing nothing.
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Aug 18, 2013 01:06
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I'm listening to this week's episode right now and if this first story does not mention a universal basic income I'm going to be upset because it is the 900 pound gorilla in the room for those 'in the know'.
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Aug 21, 2013 19:28
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Oh man. Just listening tothis week's ep. "Rest Stop." Jonathan Goldstein's interview with those people from West Virginia was so awkward. What a bougie shithead he was. Yeah, sometims people don't leave their state. Way to judge, ya dick.
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Sep 2, 2013 23:06
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I always thought of Rest Stop as one of their worst episodes ever and I'm surprised they replayed it. It was one of those times they went out and hoped to get some great stories but simply didn't and probably couldn't afford to waste two days of work. The main story in How I Got Into College is pretty good (perhaps one gripe with the show is that it's really a one-story show, and not about getting into college at all). Even if it's not the greatest ever, it's a exactly the sort of thing I'd expect TAL to do. It is in some way a very American story, and it provides the opportunity for the questions that it seems the show likes to discuss. In contrast to stories about Eritreans in Sweden and lackluster repeats, it's nice to have a good one.
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Sep 14, 2013 03:17
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