The Historical, Informational, and Educational Podcast Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Rapidly Going Deaf > The Historical, Informational, and Educational Podcast Megathread

zonar: Jan 4, 2012; That was a BAD business decision!

They're referring to the armed guard, presumably. Not the best metaphor in the world.

I unsubscribed from Skeptoid as soon as I heard about what he was doing - it's one thing to shill for money, it's another to do it when you're making plenty. I don't even mind donating if it's purely in a "can we make it easier for me to do what I do" sense, but to make that level of money and shill seems really greedy.

# ¿ May 12, 2013 01:53

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 00:45

zonar: Jan 4, 2012; That was a BAD business decision!

Mr. Squishy posted:

I don't know why so many radio programmes aren't pre-taped. It's not like it matters at all. I guess it's just how things are done.

With some (e.g. Kermode & Mayo's Film Reviews, which likely doesn't fall under this thread's remit), it's due to audience participation. I imagine that programmes like IOT came after the establishment of other radio, and it just became the way things are done at the BBC. It's likely cheaper to do it this way than to record 1-2 hours of IOT and then cut it down to forty-five minutes, but one should also consider that the editors probably aren't historians and thus might cut important details.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2014 15:41

zonar: Jan 4, 2012; That was a BAD business decision!

MeatwadIsGod posted:

I haven't listened to the newest Hardcore History, but does it cover things like the Arab revolt and things like that? A while back I read Lawrence in Arabia and really enjoyed it (slightly fawning portrayal of TE Lawrence aside), and I'd like to hear him go in-depth on that aspect of WWI. As much as I've enjoyed the Blueprint for Armageddon series, at this point I'm waiting for Carlin to get back to one-offs about lesser known events like the Muenster Rebellion. As much as I love these sweeping series on WWI, The Mongols, and The Roman Republic, they're released over the span of a year or more and I like getting totally different topics covered every few months on the show.

He hasn't yet, but he mentioned at the end of this one that he intends to at least touch on it. His apparent issue is that World War I is one of those many topics that has the potential to sprawl massively, hence why he's focusing on the Western Front, America, and Russia just to ensure that the episodes will actually come out.

That said, he dove through most of 1917 this episode, so I'll wager there's only 2-3 episodes left, depending on if he intends to discuss post-war negotiations in any substantial detail (I'd wager not).

# ¿ Jan 12, 2015 04:30

zonar: Jan 4, 2012; That was a BAD business decision!

outlier posted:

That's interesting because I was slightly taken back by his depiction of the tsar in the latest episode, whom he paints as disinterested in ruling, at least relative to his devotion to his family. I'm reading Orlando Figes "A Peoples Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution" at the moment, and it seems to tell an entirely different story: an ill-prepared ruler who nonetheless is over-fascinated with administration and wedded to the idea of the tsar as an autocratic ruler, over-confident of his expertise and although eager to think of himself as protector of the peasantry, completely disconnected from the realities of what is going on.

Carlin is trying to tell the story of WW1 and not the Russian Revolution of course, but it seemed like a strange emphasis to take, eliding the role the the tsar's incompetence played in igniting the revolution.

I'm not a historian, but different historians place different emphases on aspects of the tsar's personality. I forget if Figes notes how much of a ditherer Nicholas was in terms of policy, but there's certainly some historians who point out how weak of a ruler he was in terms of personality.

There's likely some truth to both -- out of his depth, often focusing more on his family than his job, but devoted to maintaining the position of the Tsar because that's what he was born to do, without recognising that ceding some of his power might be necessary to keep himself in power.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2015 12:02

zonar: Jan 4, 2012; That was a BAD business decision!

GraPar posted:

I think the thing with Bragg is that, although he is definitely being a little rude because he has to be for the show to work, it definitely must come across as worse on the radio than it does for everyone in the studio. Plus, bear in mind that the majority of guests on any particular episode are repeat visitors, so it's not like they're total strangers, and it seems that nobody gets too offended by it.

These are both good points to bear in mind and getting academics to stay on track can be a lot like herding cats on some issues.

Of course, I think there's episodes where he's calmer and where he's ruder (one of the Industrial Revolution episodes comes to mind), but he often strikes a necessary balance. It's also gotten better, I feel like, with the introduction of the post-show extras, where we can at least hear some off-the-air relaxation from the clock.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2015 06:37

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