Show 856

Dec 28, 2017

1. Netflix send-up of Silicon Valley, subscription scams, Good, Bad & Ugly, sports musings, the Xmas tree, Russian humor, food follies
2. Interview with Gary Taubes about his book The Case Against Sugar

Show 855

Dec 21, 2017

1. Yams are sweet potatos, the "interstellar asteroid" is not a spaceship, Interview with Jefferson Morley on The Ghost, a biography of James Angleton
2. Part II of Jefferson Morley The Ghost, The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton

Show 854

Dec 14, 2017

1. Sexual misconduct, Will Durst on 2017, GB&U, The Bomb documentary, a fly in the wine
2. They finally oust Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe, HUD neglect, net neutrality, Bernie Sanders comments on The Paradise Papers, tech follies including Bitcoin and how your writing style identifies you

Show 853

Dec 7, 2017

1. Curb Your Enthuiasm, Paradise Papers, battery breakthrough?, light pollution, juries - you get what you pay for,
2. tech PR vs reality, firing Garrison Keillor, GB&U, plate techtonics, botox story

Show 852

Nov 30, 2017

1. Fixing Voyager on the fly, 9-11 lawsuits, college vs semi-pro sports, quotes from new book on CIA master spy Angleton
2. The dangers of sugar per Dr Robert Lustig, YIMBY group ignores supply & demand, Florida real estate scams, fears of intelligent machines, slipping in to Jet Propulsion Lab a look back with Donald Rose

Show 851

Nov 23, 2017

1. Mugabe cashiered. YIMBY assholes followup. JFK: mock trial in Houston, Dallas conference. Visitor from interstellar space. Trump depresses the nation. How Silicon Valley hooks us: a caveat from The Guardian.

Show 850

Nov 16, 2017

1. Report: author Franklin Foer at Stanford. Harpers Magazine stats. Bob Berman on Saros 136. E-commerce shipping woes. Bargain book bonus. Digital data detox.
2. See show 775, segment 2.

Show 849

Nov 9, 2017

1. The downside of high tech. JFK records retained. CO2 at 800,000 year high. Social media: its threat to democracy. Facebook & Google running amok.
2. Excerpts from World Without Mind by Franklin Foer. Computer scientist Donald Rose talks about Artificial Intelligence.

Show 848

Nov 2, 2017

1. Public double-cross -- again. Solar system invaded. JFK records release: the true numbers. 100th anniversary of the Soviet Union -- yawn. Che Guevara, 50 years on. Luther: 500 years on.
2. Obit: Fats Domino. Communism: alive and well in China. Chicoms: embracing AI technology. Dont Hassel The Hoff. Colombian coffee. Tech gone haywire.

Show 846

Oct 26, 2017

1. JFK records release scam. 225 years of the Old Farmers Almanac. The NFL and the First Amendment. Our usual fare.
2. Reprise: Jefferson Morley interview. Our man in Havana.

Show 847

Oct 19, 2017

1. UCI med school goes in for quackery. Obits: Jake LaMotta and Bobby Heaton. The Juice is loose. Also, David Lopez. Non-saluting the flag. Dementia test.
2. Vegas shooter: gambling creep. Obit: Arthur Janov, the Primal Scream guru. Scientific research of dubious value. Thomas Midgley: a one-man scientific disaster?

Show 845

Oct 12, 2017

1. Santa Rosa burns up. RexTillerson thinks Trump is a moron? Robert Mugabe: still a jerk, but hanging on. Larry David returns to HBO. Gerrymandering. Google engulfs.
2. Cleanliness in Western society. Handwashing: a recent development. 60th anniversary of Sputnik. A look at Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

Show 843

Oct 5, 2017

1. Thoughts and analysis of the tragedy in Las Vegas.
2. A remembrance of the man who prevented World War III in 1983.

Show 842

Sep 28, 2017

1. Some musings on Hawaii. Usual show opening. Quackery. Paper currency issues.
2. Russiagate. Google, Amazon, Facebook: public enemies? More insidious tech.

Show 834

Sep 21, 2017

1. Interview with Martha Brockenbrough about her book, “Alexander Hamilton - Revolutionary.”
2. Part 2, Alexander Hamilton interview. More eclipse chat. Usual show fare.

Show 835

Sep 14, 2017

1. Musings on Geography. Deep Politics. Can AI tell if you’re gay? (good grief) Using DNA to tell what you look like. Thoughts on rain.
2. More on the late great Dick Gregory. Yet more corporate mergers. Science topics. Goodbye, Cassini - a look at the mission’s accomplishments and findings.

Show 836

Sep 7, 2017

1. Our Australian correspondent, Pamela Taylor, joins us to talk Eclipse Tourism - plus a look at Australian slang.
2. Reprise episode: Mark Anderson, author of “Shakespeare by Another Name.”

Show 838

Aug 31, 2017

1. The “American eclipse” - an eyewitness report, assisted by Pamela Taylor, our Australian correspondent.

Show 839

Aug 17, 2017

1. Trumpian antics. Miscellaneous Parallax musings. Dangers from tech companies. Questions on antibiotics.
2. Andreas Kluth on Hannibal (reprise).

Show 840

Aug 10, 2017

1. Good, bad, and ugly - new and old. Stealing pistachios. Trump at the Boy Scouts.
2. Political hitman Roger Stone - via a brief quote gathered for us in LA anyway. Can AI produce poetry? The new tech monopolies. Archival humor. Are planets 9 and 10 orbiting beyond Pluto??

Show 841

Aug 3, 2017

1. Trump vs. his supporters. Job issues: tech run amok. Summer of Love at 50.
2. Micro-dosing. Good, bad and ugly. Bad behaviors. Planetary science.

Show 832

Jun 22, 2017

1. Current events and the usual fare.
2. Miscellaneous stuff. The attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, 50 years ago this month.

Show 830

Jun 15, 2017

1. Some introspection. Trump's hilarious cabinet. Our usual boilerplate. Indonesia's killer kretek cigarettes.
2. Obits: Fred Kummerow (opponent of trans fats); bipolar baseballer Jim Piersall; Jack O'Neill (wizard of wet suits); Manuel Noriega; sinister media maven Roger Ailes; Zbigniew Brzezinski (author of the USSR's Afghan debacle); actor Roger Moore; Adam West (THE Batman).

Show 829

Jun 8, 2017

1. Trip to the Azores.
2. James Brown's anti-drug spot. Adventures in Iberia, part two.

Show 828

May 18, 2017

1. Summer of Love turns 50. Also from 1967: satanic lion in SF. The MMR shot. Ten peculiar laws.

Show 827

May 11, 2017

1. Trump fires Comey. Obit: Robert Pirsig. Usual fare. Weaponizing Anthony Weiner.

Show 826

Apr 20, 2017

1. GOP war on science continues. EPA under siege. Skepticism over Syria. Monsanto sued.
2. Proxima Centauri verified. Archival material revisited.

Show 825

Apr 13, 2017

1. Don Rickles obit. US entry into World War I centennial. Politically correct language (call-in from Dr. Chris Leslie of the Institute for Improved Language).
2. Excerpts from Neil Sheehan's classic Vietnam book, A Bright Shining Lie.

Show 824

Apr 6, 2017

1. Goldman Sachs: still in the saddle. Raiders saga review. Salton Sea sickness.

Show 823

Mar 30, 2017

1. Serbian comedy candidate. Obama's red phone call to Putin. Marc Ambinder's bizarre Washington Post piece denying the Deep State.
2. Realities of the Deep State. Excerpt of Peter Dale Scott radio interview.

Show 822

Mar 23, 2017

1. Is Trump at war with the Deep State? Respected investigative journalists deny Russiagate.
2. Review of Chuck Berry's career with musicologist Kyle Larsen.

Show 821

Mar 16, 2017

1. Replumbing India. Daylight savings conspiracy. Wild turkeys in Davis. Goat yoga. Cyber security. Cold turkey on tech addiction.
2. Social media evils. Russian hacks. Taibbi quotes on Trump. Bacteria helping your health.

Show 820

Mar 9, 2017

1. Trump on the march... to doomsday? Obituary: David Lamb. Zealandia. Breeding fighting cattle.
2. Water & Power: A California Heist (a Nat Geo special), interview with director Marina Zenovich and attorney Adam Keats.

Show 818

Mar 2, 2017

1. Two plays in LA: Pacino in Tennessee Williams, Oscar Levant aided by Phil Proctor. Stories of the artists.
2. The usual top of the show. Is Trump crazy? Meteorite dust in your gutter? Paleo vegetarianism. The "smart" hairbrush.

Show 817

Feb 23, 2017

1. Usual boilerplate. NSA secrets. CIA psychic astronauts. Taxpayer support of NFL. Testosterone oversold. Bacteria and B.O. Bison murder.
2. Election aftermath. Voter suppression and election theft. Miscellaneous criminality.

Show 816

Feb 16, 2017

1. Parallax returns from hiatus, 2017.