Want to get smarter during your commute? There are a lot of fantastic podcasts that will teach you new things in a thoroughly entertaining way. Here are 13 podcasts that will expand your brain with cutting-edge science and cutlural analysis.
    
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The Awl offers a nice intro to some classic radio horror. Lights Out is the subject, along with creators Wyllis Cooper and Arch Oboler.
You can find some Lights Out records at the Internet Archive and at this OTR site. Chicken hearts must be supplied by the listener.
(thanks to Jesse Walker)
Part of Fred Rogers's routine on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was feeding his fish. After recieving a letter from a blind little girl, he was careful to verbally tell viewers when he fed them:
Dear Mister Rogers,
Please say when you are feeding your fish, because I worry about them. I can't see if you are feeding them, so please say you are feeding them out loud.
Katie, age 5
Katie's father noted that she really does cry. Mister Rogers included Katie's letter in an anthology of letters that he received from children. In it, he reflected:
Since hearing from Katie, I’ve tried to remember to mention out loud those times that I’m feeding the fish. Over the years, I’ve learned so much from children and their families. I like to think that we’ve all grown together.
Link -via Alyssa Milano | Image: WQED
A magnificent LEGO creation by LEGO enthusiast Iain Heath aka Ochre Jelly. Release the KR-KN!
The Legend of the KR-KN: A rare species of Space Kraken, known to exist only in the vast Dreighton Nebula, were sought out using the the Jedi’s most powerful clairvoyants, and brought under the Alliance’s control by flying super-computers directly into their brains. Many brave Ewok pilots were unwillingly sacrificed to accomplish this difficult task. Far from being cruel to the Kraken, this arrangement was completely symbiotic, as the creatures had evolved to prey on starships, their diet being composed entirely of metals such as quadanium steel.
[Source: Ochre Jelly on Flickr | Via OW]
Way
back when, Michael Levitt was told by his fellowship advisor that he should
use the new technique of gas chromatography to study farts. When Levitt
asked him why, he replied "Because you’re pretty much of an
incompetent, and this way if you discover anything, at least it’ll
be new, and you’ll be able to publish something."
That started Levitt's journey into becoming the world's foremost expert on flatulence:
Levitt published thirty-four papers on flatus. He identified the three sulfur gases responsible for flatus odor. He showed that it is mainly trapped methane gas, not dietary fiber or fat, that makes the floater float. Most memorably, to this mind anyway, he invented the flatus-trapping Mylar “pantaloon.” [...]
The great variety of flatus smells — from person to person and from meal to meal — presented a quandary for the second phase of the study, the evaluation of various odor-eliminating products. Which — whose — wind should represent the average American’s? No one’s, as it turned out. Using mean amounts from chromatograph readouts as his recipe and commercially synthesized gases as the raw ingredients, Levitt concocted a lab mixture deemed by the judges “to have a distinctly objectionable odour resembling that of flatus.” He reverse-engineered a fart.
Mary Roach of Salon explores the matter in great (and when we say great, we mean it) details, including things like a pill that deodorizes your fart from the inside, the theory of fecal self-poisoning, and more: Link
Image: I'm Not a Cloud, I'm a Fart from the NeatoShop, which carries a surprisingly neat Fart-related items.
Earlier today, the nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards were announced simultaneously at four science fiction conventions in the US and UK. This year saw a record breaking 1,343 valid nominating ballots cast. The winners will be announced on Sunday, September 1, 2013, during the Hugo Awards Ceremony at LoneStarCon 3. Here are this year's finalists!
[Source: Virtual Shackles | Via Dorkly]
You remember Animaniacs? How it was awesome? And kind of twisted? And had Slappy the Squirrel, who was the best ever? And how the Warner Bros. (and the Warner sister, Dot) would change the ending to their theme song every episode? YouTuber TammieRD has assembled a supercut of all the alternate endings, at least the ones available on DVD. The video’s a few years old, but I just saw it, and there’s never a bad time for Animaniacs. Click play and revisit your childhood.
(via: Boing Boing)
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It's a good time to be Adam West. The '60s Batman TV show is returning — kind of — in a new DC comic titled Batman '66, a digital-first comic based entirely on the classic, campy series. We've already mentioned how the cult-classic show will get an awesome and long-awaited action figure series, but hold onto your cowl, because Mattel's Batman '66 SDCC exclusive figure will be of Batman dancing the Batusi.
That’s it, I want a 64-pip operating system now.
Every penny counts these days. Don't trust your precious loose change to just any old bank. Let a warrior princess guard your hard earned cash with the Wonder Woman Bust Bank from the NeatoShop. This mighty fabulous bank is shaped like your favorite superheroine.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Wonder Woman items and great Money Banks.
