Didactic Synapse
hip-hop, politics, education, movies, books, killer robots, and video games
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This episode has a gross title, but it’s a real quote from Dark Pools, the book I’m reading right now about high-frequency trading. Also this episode: stabbing people with letter openers, psychotic robots that follow you into the bathroom, killer super weeds, and cinder blocks to the face! Enjoy.
 DS #82: Trading Through The Puke
Top 3 Links of the Week
- Herbicide-resistant “super weeds†increasingly plaguing farmers
- Dying veteran writes to George W Bush and Dick Cheney
- United by loss, Israeli and Palestinian dads call for a joint nonviolent intifada against occupation
- Take Action:Â Tell Obama not to appoint fracking advocate Dr. Ernest Moniz to Dept. of Energy
- Also:Â A Place at the Table
Current Events
- 14 adults “cured†of HIV
- New LBJ tapes: Nixon sabotaged Paris Peace Talks to win election
- Dying Veteran Tomas Young on DemocracyNow
- BBC documentary podcast: After Saddam
- Democracy Now: Iraq is a failed state existing in “utter devastationâ€
- Torture at Guantanamo
- The Geography of defense cuts (infographic)
- After three years, BP is finally headed to court
- Companies, environmentalists agree on new fracking rules
- Windfarm sickness spreads by word of mouth, Australian study finds
- India covering canals with solar panels
- Two boys killed in Afghanistan airstrike
- Wisconsin legislator admits to never having transvaginal ultrasound
- New Pope chooses “Francis†after the saint of the poor
- Pope Francis’ Junta Past
- CPAC’s “Trump the Race Card†forum derailed by an actual segregationist
Economics
- Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson: Let banks go bankrupt
- Ha-Joon Chang on laziness and poverty
- Will robots create economic utopia?
- EU’s financial tax is likely to spur trading exodus
- American University law student: SEC will regulate HFT
- Australia finds HFT fears “overstated†but considers minimum hold time
- Demos Report:Â Cracks in the pipeline part two: HFT
- European officials cap banker bonuses at one year’s salary
- Vandana Shiva on Democracy Now
- Take action against super weeds: JustLabelIt.org
Education
- Value-added teacher evaluation models fail kids and communities
- 100 education experts write to the Independent to protest misguided UK education reform
- Black Agenda Report: Why isn’t closing 129 Chicago public schools news?
- Water into wine? Jeb Bush, Cheapistas, and education reform
- Scott Walker proposes expanding voucher school program in Wisconsin
Killer Robots, Etc
- General Stanley McChrystal on drones
- Pentagon robot hurls concrete blocks
- MarionetteBot fuses Kinect and mannequins
- Tongue computers are just the beginning
- Print your own AR-15
- Dogs understand human perspective: Study
- First came the Russian meteor, now the meteorite deals
- JJ Fad: Supersonic
Hip-Hop
Snoop Lion on Tavis Smiley (Sorry, the PBS embed isn’t working.)
This week I’m back with 77 minutes of news and perspectives on fracking, movies, gun violence, economics, and killer robots. Buckle up and tune in!
Action of the Week: Fight Media Consolidation
Top 3 Links of the Week
- BusinessWeek: To prevent massacres like Newtown’s, expand Medicaid
- Documentary film: The Inconvenient Truth Behind “Waiting for Supermanâ€
- Pain continues after war for American drone pilot
Current Events
- Connecticut School Shooting
- RIP Victoria Soto
- Amish community response in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania (2006)
- Tim Wise: Of heroes and hype: Mass murder and the absurdity of the “more guns†crowd
- Jeffrey Sachs: America’s real freedoms
- Why most mass murderers are privileged white men
- Davey D: An open letter to the media about the Sandy Hook shooting
- Greek hospitals suffer in ailing economy
- Fracking
Economics
- Dirty white gold: Monsanto in India
- HSBC: Too big to jail, the new poster child for US two-tiered system of justice
- DemcoracyNow: Matt Taibi on HSBC
- DemocracyNow: Barlett and Steele on The Betrayal of the American Dream
- Paul Krugman on robots and economics
- Microwave vies with fiber for HFT
Education
- 2010 Merit pay study: Teacher bonuses don’t raise student test scores
- Brookings Institution: Class size: What research says and what it means for state policy
- Maryland schools chief calls for three-year moratorium on standardized testing
- Rhode Island teacher’s resignation letter
Killer Robots, Etc
- BusinessWeek: Robot workers: Coexistence is possible
- It’s time to target Cerberus
- Ban helium balloons, academic warns
Hip-Hop
B. Dolan: “Which Side Are You On?”
This week we look at riots at Foxconn, the horrible reviews for Maggie Gyllenhall’s dumb new movie, and regrets of a-bomb scientists. Strap in and enjoy!
DS #74: Foxconn and the A-Bomb
Top 3 Links of the Week
- Dave Zirin on the NFL Referee lockout
- Chronicle of a death foretold
- Are we asking too much from our teachers?
Current Events
- Jeffri Chadiha on referee lockout at EPSN.com
- Drug testing: Peeing to participate
- No criminal charges for “pepper spray copâ€
Economics
- What’s behind the Foxconn worker riots?
- Don’t tell anyone, but the stimulus worked
- Tax cuts don’t lead to economic growth
- Fed warns high-frequency trading firms
- Senate panel looks into high-frequency stock trades
- China Labor Bulletin: A Decade of Change
Education
- UW-Madison lab works with controversial data for Chicago schools
- The scientists’ petition: A forgotten wartime protest
- ESP: How do students get better?
- PBS Frontline: Dropout Nation
- Education drama ‘Wont Back Down’ fails to make the grade
- School reform’s propaganda flick
Killer Robots, Etc
Hip-Hop
Sadat X: “Gamer”
This blog is not going to become just a dumping ground for the podcast, I promise! I just haven’t had much time to post stuff here. Start of school be crazy, yo. (In case you’re not subscribed, I update the SynaStream daily, usually more than once a day. So check that.)
Anyway, this week’s show is all about Hooters (the restaurant), a pendulum named Elizabeth Warren, union thugs in Chicago, morons making movies as well as morons murdering because of movies, and robots making noodles. Enjoy!
DS #73: Hooters and the Pendulum
Top 3 Links of the Week
- Hooters: Fun for the Whole Family
- Hungary seeks to change IMF credit terms
- Eric S. Piotrowski: Gyllenhall’s right — attack on teachers a fairy tale
Current Events
- Cop claims teen assaulted him, video shows he assaulted teen
- REM orders cease and desist against FoxNews
Economics
- ECB’s Nowotny calls for high-frequency trading ban
- Life & Debt Trailer:
- Scott Brown, Wall Street’s hope to stop Elizabeth Warren
- Elizabeth Warren’s DNC speech:
Education
- Right-wing agenda drives movie on education
- Chicago Teachers Union: The Truth in Black and White:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=prM0HWKrWVI
Killer Robots, Etc
Hip-Hop
- Parappa the Rapper: Bathroom Rap Battle
This week I explain how drug dealers in Brazil act in a more ethical way than do corporations in the US. Plus Starhawk and Hopsin — the most unlikely pairing in the history of sound! Enjoy.
DS #71: Brazilian Drug Dealers Are More Ethical Than US Corporations
Top 3 Links of the Week
- Drug dealers say no to crack in Rio
- IMF says bailouts Iceland-style hold lessons in crisis times
- Tom Morello: “Paul Ryan is the embodiment of the machine our music rages against”
Current Events
- Silversun Pickups ask Romney campaign to stop using “Panic Switchâ€
- K’naan, too!
- Ryan denies taking stimulus money, then admits he did
- July marked worst month for Army suicides
Economics
Education
- Poll: NCLB has made American education worse or no different
- Clovis Unified district sued over abstinence-only sex education
- A Profit Without Honors: Against the Business Model of Education
Killer Robots, Etc
- Chameleon 2.0: American defense robot can creep into rooms and disguise itself
- Work for the military? Don’t be evil, says ethicist
- Synthetic skin for animatronic robots gets more realistic
Hip-Hop
Ill Mind of Hopsin #5 (DANGER: Bad words and misogyny.)
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