ποΈ Two recent episodes of EconTalk reminded me why it was the best podcast around:
- Devon Zuegel on Inflation, Argentina, and Crypto brought back memories of living with hyperinflation in 1990s Serbia
- Roland Fryer on Educational Reform was simultaneously frustrating and fun
The driveway test
This is when you spend a couple of extra minutes in your car, parked in the driveway, because you want to finish that truly engaging episode of a podcast. I just made it up, but I’m sure it’s been used before.
This interview with Roland Fryer by Russ Roberts easily passed it. Roberts is a sharp interviewer who does not throw out easy questions, and more than once he asked one milliseconds before it crystalized in my own mind. The truly engaging part is that Fryer had well thought-out answers to each.
It helps that the topic was close to my heart, of course. Some of the experiments in education β paying students per book read, etc. β were done in Washington DC, and I am a DCPS parent myself. Lucky that we won’t need to implement the scheme in our own household, since we would have to file for bankruptcy faster than a crypto billionaire.
π Still, 2022 is the best year to be alive, and 2023 will be better. Many reasons, but JWST should be a big one for everyone. This episode of the Joy of Why podcast nicely explains why.
A not so great Plenary Session π episode this week, in which Vinay wonders why people are leaving academia for industry while his guest explains how important page breaks and pictures are in NIH grant proposals he reviews, while “the science is all the same”.
Infuriating!
Two excellent episodes of Healthcare Unfiltered π in two weeks:
More podcasts with both would be a very good thing. Highly recommended!
π Out of the two podcasts about randomized controlled trials that came out this week, I much preferred this one. Confirmation bias.
Frustrating to listen. Yes, well-done RCTs are prohibitively expensive and many good ideas are box-checked to death. The solution isn’t to ration RCTs, but to make them less costly (and not just in money) π
π A fantastic episode of EconTalk this week: Richard Gunderman and Russ Roberts discuss “Master and Man”, Tolstoy’s short story about two men in a snowstorm, but also about capitalism, sociopathy, and religion. This one will easily make it into the year’s top 5.
Itβs only the first episode, but The Joy of Why looks to me like the podcast RadioLab used to be, in content if not in sound design. Canβt wait for more π
After long last, an episode of Conversations with Tyler worth linking to: Lydia Davis on language, translations, short stories, thick books, and much more π