Didactic Synapse
hip-hop, politics, education, movies, books, killer robots, and video games
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Well, I failed miserably at blogging every day, and I haven’t been podcasting very often, either. Fortunately, however, I’ve recorded a new show for you. WOOP WOOP! Enjoy.
DS #92: Gargling with Chemicals
Top Links
- I forgave the Nazis despite what they did to my family
- A Century of Controversy: Accidents in West Virginia’s Chemical Valley
- US DOJ didn’t go after banks
- Take Action: Tell Shell’s new CEO to scrap arctic drilling
Current Events
- Chemical spill in West Virginia
- Fracking news
- Affluenza defense works
- Cancer treatments in France compared to USA
- Colorado shooting victim’s father forgives shooter
- NYT and Guardian urge Obama to grant clemency to Edward Snowden
Economics
- Goldman Sachs workers take one for the team
- The pope, Obama, and a former banker walk into a slum: Does the 1% still win?
- USA Today editorial on High-Frequency Trading
- HFT — Lasers!
Education
- I would love to teach, but…
- In what other profession…?
- Milwaukee voucher school collects $200,000, closes
Hip-Hop
M/A/R/R/S:Â Pump Up The Volume
Let’s kick the new year off right — with a new SynCast! This time we’ve got stuff about South Sudan, fracking, MOOCs, and carnivorous fish. Also: What it means to live a hip-hop life. Enjoy!
Top Links
- GM doesn’t owe $450 million in retiree benefits, says US judge
- The selling of ADHD: Diagnoses, prescriptions soar after 20-year marketing campaign
- Duke University: Public Domain Day
- Take Action: Free Chelsea Manning
Current Events
- Horomone-disrupting chemicals found in water at fracking sites
- Peter Singer on “Batkid”: Heartwarming causes are nice, but let’s give to charity with our heads
- Freed Pussy Riot members speak out against Russian prison system
- How Hollywood cloaked South Sudan in celebrity and fell for “the big lieâ€
Economics
- Lunch with Financial Times: Ha Joon Chang
- GOP debunked on food stamps
- How cash handouts are remaking lives in Brazil
- Outsourcing costs twice as much as doing things with government workers
Education
- Thousands of black and latino kids lost their schools in 2013
- The Online education revolution drifts off course
- Teaching isn’t rocket science — it’s harder
- James Baldwin: Talk to Teachers
Killer Robots, Etc
Hip-Hop
Big long show this time. Lots of stuff about education! Enjoy.
DS#90: A Leaning Tower of PISA Stories
Top Links
- Major General Michael Lehnert calls for closing Guantanamo Bay prison base
- Fort Worth: A case study in fracking’s bad side
- Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule our Schools
- Take Action:Â Congress must investigate drones
Current Events
Economics
- Japan is showing the world that stimulus works
- A Hard lesson from Motown: They will steal your pension
- DN: Detroit bankruptcy
- Demos Report on Detroit
- Fast food CEOs take in taxpayer-subsidized pay
- Fast food workers of the world unite
- Pope 1, Wall Street 0
Education
- Diane Ravitch responds to Bill Gates
- Vanity Fair on Microsoft and “stacked rankingâ€
- PISA!
- Shanghai teens top international education ranking, OECD says
- Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of Tsinghua University High School in Beijing, responds
- The Guardian on PISA results
- WSJ: Two cheers for Shanghai
- Jan 2013:Â Class a major factor in PISA results
- The fetishization of international test scores
- WSJ: Let’s end the education arms race
- Forbes: Education is working just fine
Killer Robots, Etc
- Debbie Morris is an amazing person
- Our government has weaponized the internet. Here’s how they did it.
- Why Chaucer said ‘ax’
Hip-Hop
Mantra
Hooray — a new hour of me talking! Plus sound clips from Clerksand The Jerky Boys. Enjoy!
Top Links
- Vicky Pryce: “Prison clearly does not workâ€
- Rand Paul plagiarized three pages of his latest book
- Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova may serve rest of her jail term in hospital
- Take Action:Â Elizabeth Warren for President!
Current Events
- Obama apologizes for what insurance companies are doing
- Insurance companies didn’t give enough notice
- Sarah Palin: Debt is like slavery
- Brown releases proposed CA fracking rules
- Proposed fracking rules in Illinois raise ire of environmentalists
- Bill Moyers: Fighting the Good Fight
Economics
- Professor of economics and law says JP Morgan’s fine should have been 22 times bigger
- The Jerky Boys: Punitive Damages
- TPP Exposed
Education
Killer Robots, etc
- US drone strikes break international law, report says
- A drone warrior’s torment
- Roomba suicide?
- Dumb Ways to Die
Hip-Hop
- Just me talking
Hey, it’s been less than four years since the last show. Here’s another one to cram in yer ears. You’re welcome.
DS #85: You Need Blegga Blehbleh
Top Links + Action
- “No, I’m not going to the World Cup”
- New data shows school ‘reformers’ are getting it wrong
- Don’t hurt that robot! How morality muddles perception of a mind
- Take Action: Due process for Edward Snowden
Current Events
- Brazil protests take to the pitch as People’s Cup highlights evictions
- Dilma Rousseff summons Brazil cabinet over protests
- Fracking’s threats to drinking water call for cautious approach
- 5-year-old girl takes on Westboro Baptist Church with lemonade stand
Economics
- Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) overview
- High frequency trading is bad for normal investors, researchers say
- Ha Joon Chang reviews Mark Blyth’s book on Austerity
- Mark Blyth on Austerity
- Cartoon: Inequality is Real
Education
- Business majors are the most underemployed graduates in America
- Education technology: Catching on at last
Killer Robots, Etc
- Kirobo the talking robot makes for one very creepy space companion
- Marion Nestle on food marketing and public health
- The Obesity Era
- Dave Hester of ‘Storage Wars’ sues A&E — ‘The series is faked’
Hip-Hop
Lupe Fiasco: “Hurt Me Soul”
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