User:Singkong2005/pn

My favorite podcasting, news and search pages.

Podcasting
If there's a program or a particular episode that you think I'd like, please let me know. Email me, or leave a comment on my talk page.

Programs I'm most interested in are in bold.

Note: On this page, ABC refers to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (radio).

Current podcasts to check out
Saturday Extra (ABC)
 * A World Without Waste - 4 part series by the ABC and BBC.
 * Torn Curtain - The Secret History of the Cold War - 4 part weekly series starting 14 May 2006 on Hindsight. No transcripts available on Hindsight, so be quick.
 * The rise and fall of the 8 hour day: part two – the trade-off (Hindsight, ABC, 23 April 2006)
 * Sydney Futures Twilight Symposia - every 6 weeks or so from 1 June '06 till just before the March '07 state election. Attend for $22, or listen to the podcast. Also check the series blog.
 * West Papua. Very informative. Rear Vision examines the period between the end of WW2 in 1945 through to the Act of Free Choice in West Papua in 1969, focusing on the historical debate about Indonesia's claim over West Papua and Australia's role in that claim.

Regular programs
ABC: what's coming up this week

Science programs

 * All In The Mind (ABC)
 * In Conversation (ABC) (presented by Robyn Williams)
 * Health (ABC), incl The Health Report
 * The Science Show (ABC) (guest viewpoints; presented by Robyn Williams)
 * Show all ABC Science programs

Society, culture & history

 * The World (BBC), [http://www.theworld.org/rss/index.shtml Specials archive
 * The Changing World (BBC), Archives
 * Hindsight (ABC). Social history - usually about Australia, sometimes international.
 * Rear Vision - the historical context of current events in the news.

Interviews & guest speakers

 * Ockham's Razor (ABC) (presented by Robyn Williams)
 * Late Night Live (ABC)

Current affairs & international issues

 * Background Briefing (ABC)
 * Saturday Extra (ABC)

General knowledge

 * Self-improvement Wednesday (ABC) - wide range of topics; pretty basic, not in-depth.

Other subject areas

 * The Philosopher's Zone (ABC)

Check

 * http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radioprogrammes/documentaries/ - old programs are streamed, new also available in MP3.
 * http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/ (ABC)*http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/
 * Big Ideas (ABC)

Search for podcasts

 * SpeechBot. Searches the audio files of popular US radio programs. You can be taken to the exact points in the shows where the subject is being discussed.


 * PublicRadioFan.Com. Public radio programming from around the world. See categories, e.g. documentary pods... (Review: Listen to the World, Jan. 28, 2003). My comments on specific programs:
 * Earth & Sky program list - some interesting; programs are so short that it's easier to just skim the page, but additional resources & more extended interviews are linked at the bottom.
 * ABC Radio National programs A-Z

News
I don't watch or read a lot of news these days. It seems too depressing, pointless, and focused on the sensational, personal tragedies of a few people in Western countries. Followed by sports news. If you know of a better news service, please let me know!

Economics: I like reading Ross Gittins. The problem is, I don't know enough about economics to read as critically as I'd like.

Check this: News Search Engines (2003 review)

Google alerts allow you to monitor specific issues. Choose weekly - have a life, don't be a news junkie.

Indonesian news
For language practice and to keep up-to-date... Kompas, Liputan6, Media Indonesia and www.detik.com.

Searching
Currently testing some metasearch & specialist engines for researching. Google is often good enough, but these engines have some advantages:


 * Turbo10. Interesting and useful interface. Claims to search the "Deep Net", but customizing the databases to do this is not easy, as it doesn't explain which databases do what.
 * Google Scholar A bit hit and miss - some very useful stuff, but also some very obscure, esoteric stuff. Sometimes it's only the title, sometimes it's an abstract, but they can suggest further directions for research.
 * Google Books Lots of info here. It's difficult to read large amounts, but you can always go and find the book if you really want it.

Will also look at:


 * Vivisimo - automatically organizes hits into categories.
 * Gimenei - can search by country.
 * Meceoo - can block pages, or search only (say) .org sites.

And of course, one can take the old-fashioned, slow but rewarding approach, and read a good book on the topic.

Alerts

 * ProFusion - has page and search alerts. Actual results don't seem any better than Google.

Forums
Sometimes forums or discussion lists can provide useful answers. Try these:
 * Worldchanging (choose a category and click "Go." Some interesting appropriate technology articles.)
 * HowStuffWorks - covers a wide range of topics.
 * CREST has some good discussion pages - see also the links on left side of this page.
 * Dr Karl's science forum

Searching wikis

 * Qwika - includes wikia (at least some), and machine translations of Wikipedia in various languages.
 * Clusty Wikipedia search
 * Search Wikipedias with LuMriX
 * Wikipedia Bookmarklet for IE(?)
 * For more, check Wikipedia:Searching Wikipedia:Tools