99% Invisible: 100 Objects #11: Brannock Device
In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device. The metal contraption transformed the way we measure feet…
Planet Money: Economics in the Alien Franchise Isn’t Science Fiction
Even if you’ve never seen an Alien film, you probably know about the monster in the franchise. The Xenomorph has an elongated head, a second set of jaws that protrude…
Printing Money: The Economics of Small Press
We’re obviously in a really strange time for the arts in general: you’ve got a crap economy, everything costs more money, arts funding has dried up, and nobody has a…
Why Leonardo was a saboteur, Gutenberg went broke, and Florence was weird – Ada Palmer
Renaissance history is so much wilder and weirder than you would have expected. Very fun chatting with Ada Palmer (historian, novelist, and composer based at the University of Chicago).
Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving
Some people might think this book offers a smoking gun of complicity: Aha, those sanctimonious New Englanders were just as tied to slavery as the Southerners! But complicity seems too…
Linux After Dark – Episode 115
With the price of RAM and storage through the roof, what are we going to do when it comes to supporting people who come to us for IT advice?
In our Time: The Theory of the Leisure Class
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most influential work of Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929). In 1899, during America’s Gilded Age, Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class as a reminder…
We Found The Radical Solution To Skyrocketing Grocery Prices
Zohran's plan for city-run grocery stores has drawn intense pushback from critics. But government-run stores already exist in the U.S. One chain with 250 locations charges at least 25% less…
Vimeo lays off most of its staff just months after being bought by private equity firm
Vimeo just got hit by a brutal round of layoffs, according to a report by Business Insider. Staffers are posting on various social media sites that the layoffs have impacted…