Podcast focusing on the social sciences, humanities and arts.
Episodes
Thursday Jun 01, 2017
Thursday Jun 01, 2017
Bad drivers beware: Phil & Matt say to stay home on rainy or snowy days. Phil starts his work-at-home life and gets Matt to provide some guidance on what not to do. Even though Matt was sick, we are committed to getting these episodes out!
Academics & The Changing Nature of Work (13:34)
As a way to open an ongoing discussion on academic careers, Matt & Phil talk about their schooling and career trajectories. What it takes to be a professor in today’s academic environment has changed from what were the historical benchmarks. H-Indexes are an example of what seems to count these days. The university hasn’t been the only field to be forced into altering their practices. Phil brings in Richard Sennett’s “The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism” (2000, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.) as a guide to start to understand how the structural changes to the nature of work have also changed our identities and sense of self. Entrepreneurship, just-in-time labour tactics, the need to market transferable skills and the need to adapt to the rhythms and flows of changing employment all play a role in how we experience new arrangements of our working life. It was a fragmented conversation about an increasingly fragmented aspect of our modern world. The show will pick-up and expand on these themes in future episodes. In the meantime, keep on 'trucking.
Recommendations (1:05:15)
- Matt recommends Pete Seeger’s Little Boxes and Bob Seger’s Turn the Page
- Phil recommends the TV series Fargo (FX Network)
Concluding thought: In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category - Noam Chomsky
Semi Intellectual Musings is officially one month old!! A huge thanks to all our listeners. It really has been a fun time, and we are looking forward to many, many more episodes of the show. Stay tuned.June 1, 2017Matt & Phil
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Sunday May 28, 2017
Sunday May 28, 2017
Phil & Matt start this episode by talking about their favorite writing implement: pens. Phil is reminded of the West Wing, again. While retelling the story of how we got our first unsolicited podcast advice, we had to do our first content edit after Phil told the listener to !@#$ off... Fortunately, the show moved on to things that actually matter.
Conferences & Making SSH Matter (16:10)
As academic conference season gets off to a start, Matt & Phil talk about how and why academics share their goods in public. If you’re looking for a large academic gathering of SSH like-minded folks, check out Congress 2017 organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Phil makes the claim that academics go to conferences to network, receive and and offer feedback on work, and contribute to publicizing SSH. Respect the time limit allotted, and practice before you present. It’ll make for better conferences all around. Conferences are also great places to network across disciplines.
Matt & Phil start to talk about relevance, and how SSH can be made to matter. Phil discusses Bent Flyvbjerg’s “Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again” (Cambridge University Press, 2001). Matt get’s going on the inability of fully understanding how biases impact our observations. Phil tries to tie Flyvbjerg’s approach back to conferences, arguing that speaking publicly about values, power relations and biases is important work.
Recommendations (59:50)
- Matt recommends NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
- If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, Phil recommends the podcast Sleep with Me.
- And, Matt & Phil both recommend to be nice to one another.
Concluding thought: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” -Maya Angelou
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Friday May 26, 2017
Friday May 26, 2017
Phil & Matt talk about how the little Sanderson will soon be coming into the world. Matt recounts his most recent parenting class and shares his birthing plans. From that, Phil is reminded of his bachelor party and realizes that Matt has a deep-rooted shady Surrey side. The move is called the Surrey Shuffle, according to Matt.
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (18:24)
Matt & Phil deep dive into Ray Bradbury’s dystopian tale of a world obsessed with suppressing books. No spoiler alerts here, Matt & Phil tell all and reveal that Fahrenheit 451 is possibly more a tale about life than censorship of books. To follow along, read a few synopses of the book here and here. If you haven't read the book, don’t worry about it. Sit back, listen then tell us your thoughts on Bradbury’s oeuvre.
Ray Bradbury narrated the book, which is fantastic! The audiobook can be found on YouTube, here.
Recommendations
- Matt & Phil recommend to keep on reading!
Concluding thought: If books could be seen as dangerous, podcasts must be incendiary.
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Friday May 26, 2017
Friday May 26, 2017
Phil & Matt talk about their recent landscaping adventure, sharing their annoyance of black flies. Phil talks about lawn grass and an easier option: a clover lawn. They show that two social scientists can indeed do manual work--but neither could everyday!
Hockey Cards - Part 1 (17:56)
Matt & Phil are joined by a collection of hockey cards from Phil’s past. They crack open a few binders and boxes of cards from the 1990’s. The story goes that it all started with a convenience store-owning uncle, but turned into a collection of life and hockey memories. From Manon Rhéaume to Patrick Roy, and (Captain) Kirk McLean to Martin Brodeur, Matt & Phil talk about their favorite goaltenders. Take a trip down memory lane with this episode all about cards.
Recommendations (1:02:14)
- Matt recommends to watch the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.
- Phil recommends a few books from Lee Gutkind: “Keep it Real”, “The Art of Creative Nonfiction”, “At the End of Life” and one by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard “Writing Creative Nonfiction”
Concluding thought: The gum from packs of hockey cards always got chewed.
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Sunday May 21, 2017
Sunday May 21, 2017
Phil & Matt talk about cooking. Matt tells us his secret ingredient to making a killer bechamel sauce and Phil gives us his take on sweet n’spicy BBQ chicken and homemade turkey stock. Warning: this intro will make you hungry! Admittedly, it was a meat heavy conversation. Phil’s pasta sauce can be made vegan, which is how he normally likes it.
Logical Fallacies & Fantasy Politics (15:09)
Mel settles in to talk about logical fallacies, truth tables & syllogisms. Matt & Phil find out that they could either be a podcast, be on the internet or are the internet. It got a bit confusing to the non-initiated, but Mel does a good job at walking us through the details of logically sound v.s. empirically false arguments. Our baseball team fandom differences are put aside as we go off the rocker and talk fantasy fiction and politics in the era of Trump. Mel brings up The West Wing episode titled Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc as we go down the rabbit hole on this one. Aye yai yai! Mel’s favorite fallacy is Ad hominem (Tu quoque), which is the “you too” argument. Matt goes meta on us, Phil wants to see more civility in arguments and Mel simmers us down, bringing the conversation back on point. We make connections around emotions, oratory and politics, revealing the shortcomings and limits of truth tables and logical expressions.
Mel makes a strong argument that all undergraduates should take a course in philosophy to hone critical reasoning and argumentation skills. Stronger writing will result. Matt & Phil couldn’t agree more, especially in the current political climate.
We end on a connection between works of fiction and logic. Phil asks how logic can operate in a fantasy world. Mel sheds light on how the world building that is done in fantasy (and high fantasy) needs to create the conditions for logical arguments, while not being factually or empirically true according to our earthly world. Sarah J. Maas’s ‘Throne of Glass’ series is an excellent example of this, according to Mel. Phil realizes that Plato and Aristotle had creativity and the arts in mind the whole time.
Mel’s tips: find a passion, discuss a counter point, debate openly and follow a sound structure. This, especially in writing and arguing, is a good thing. Trust us.
Links
- Purdue OWL has a good primer on fallacies: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/03/
- “Brief” description from Stanford on Syllogisms: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-logic/#SubLogSyl
- There is so much about truth tables on so many places. This Wikibooks page is the most succinct, if you accept that: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Formal_Logic/Sentential_Logic/Truth_Tables
Recommendations (1:07:43)
- Delhi2Dublin, the song we played was Apples (They’re Canadian too, ey!): http://www.delhi2dublin.com/
- Riverdale, a show based on the Archie comics that Mel loved as a youngin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdale_(2017_TV_series)
- Sarah J. Maas’s ‘Throne of Glass’ series: http://sarahjmaas.com/throneofglass/
- Girl Guides Canada: https://www.girlguides.ca/web/
- International Organizations: https://www.wagggs.org/en/
- Bath & Body Works lotion: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/p/eucalyptus-tea-body-lotion-021720066.html
Concluding thought: Slippery slopes are greased with logical fallacies.
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Follow Semi-Intellectual Musings on Twitter: @The_SIM_Pod
Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com
Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/
For full show notes: https://thesim.podbean.com/e/Logical-Fallacies-Fantasy-Politics
iTunes: https://goo.gl/gkAb6V
Stitcher: https://goo.gl/PfiVWJ
GooglePlay: https://goo.gl/uFszFq
Please leave us a rating and a review, it really helps the show!
Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah
Available at: http://www.cullah.com
Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Monday May 15, 2017
Monday May 15, 2017
Matt and Phil start talking about Cal Ripken Jr. Matt finally looked after his cousin’s kid and it went well after a short time of scream-crying. We then start talking about the flooding our region (and country) has experienced this past couple weeks, it was an unanticipated conversation, however, it was probably the most important intro that we have recorded. We talked about ways people can help out and the challenges facing people when they return. On that bright note, onto an episode about smallpox!
Smallpox & Montreal (18:20)
Matt digs into his archaeological sub-stratums on this episode and got bogged down in pre-modern history. Smallpox can be traced back to 10,000 BP when humans started farming and domesticating animals. Written descriptions of its treatment (inoculation) existed in India and China in the 11thC. CE, but it took 7 more centuries for the Europeans and Americans to ‘discover it’ (which also includes 4 centuries of introducing it in the ‘new world’). Peasants in Europe and people from the ‘Far East’ knew what to do.
Matt reads descriptions of smallpox and cholera and gives us some stats. Despite improvements in sanitation (cholera) and public health (smallpox), outbreaks of both diseases continued to happen in India until the 1930’s, whereas Canada and other wealthy nations all but eradicated it by the late 1800’s.
Matt gives a much briefer background on Montreal, its epidemic history and its sanitary conditions, all of which comes from “Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal” by Michael Bliss (Harper Collins, 1991). Montreal had a smallpox epidemic from 1872-80 and by 1881-85 there were no outbreaks, which lead to a false sense of security among the population which was localized into specific neighborhoods divided along linguistic and religious lines.
We go over some of the key actors of this story, focusing on R.M. Ross who was the main anti-vaccinationist that drummed up fervor among the less-inoculated French speaking populations in Montreal. The campaign started as an opposition to the idea of inoculation - ingesting ‘disease’ to avoid disease is actually maybe a logical fallacy (see our next episode!) – and morphed into an opposition to English Protestant power centered in city hall. As 1885 dragged on, techniques were developed ad-hoc by the municipality, they started ‘enforcing’ inoculation laws through placarding, detainment and forced inoculation. Matt picked this topic because he knew that Phil was going to glom onto the state formation dynamic at work. We talk about the on-the-fly approach in Montreal, but we also do note that everyone was trying their best despite the challenges they faced (seems to be a common theme for us).
We also talk about French-English relations, including spatial and religious divides, which was the reality despite the image that the tourism department was putting forward of Montreal as a cosmopolitan and progressive city (economically). Micheal Bliss also uses the rebellion, trial and execution of the Metis leader Louis Riel (1885) as a parallel narrative that mirrors the divides and questions about Canadian nationhood (racially, ethnically and linguistically). We finish up by talking about public gatherings and the emotions of epidemics.
Recommendations (1:12:12)
Matt recommended a hemp-based beer called Buzz, by Cool Brewery. We know, it’s an odd name, but tasty nonetheless. The beer is amber but it is crisp and dry, making it a good all weather/multi-sport viewing brewski. Phil recommends “The Sociologist & the Historian” by Pierre Bourdieu and Roger Chartier (Polity, 2015), which is a good primer and chalk-full of stuff Bourdieusians will like. While reading lately, Phil likes to sip on the latest batch of Glenlivet 12 year single malt scotch. Matt takes his whiskey (or whisky) with a single ice cube, ideally made from distilled spring water! (or the tears of a thousand unicorns will do just as well for him!)
Red Cross Quebec spring flood appeal information can be found here : https://goo.gl/b4vv4x
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Follow Semi-Intellectual Musings on Twitter: @The_SIM_Pod
Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com
Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/
For full show notes: https://thesim.podbean.com/e/smallpox-montreal
The show on iTunes: https://goo.gl/gkAb6V
The show on Stitcher: https://goo.gl/PfiVWJ
Please leave us a rating and a review, it really helps the show! Thanks for your support!
Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah
Available at: http://www.cullah.com
Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Thursday May 11, 2017
Thursday May 11, 2017
We have on our first guest, the disillusioned Leninist Evan who talks about anarchist anthropology! Evan’s had his name dropped on the show before so we figured it was time we had him on to defend himself. Matt is still in a state of nervousness about looking after a one year old because he has not read as many books as he should have. We recorded this episode in baby’s room which made Evan eyeball the crib for a post-pod nap.
Phil gives us a This Day in History challenge. Matt and Evan wonder how May 11, 1820 and 1997 are connected. They had no idea. In 1820 the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin’s ship set sail and in 1997 Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess. Answer: connected to evolutionary theory, progression or one might argue regression. You gotta watch Phil, always slipping in those connections.
Evan regales us with some library stories. No spoiler, but they were better than we thought! Turns out library stank sticks with you like a whopper and somehow Phil has never had a dull moment in a library. After the show Evan is planning his own treasure hunt in the film studies and gastronomy sections of the stacks to find our squirrely hiding places.
Anarchism & Anthropology (12:48)
What the heck is anarchist anthropology and who is this really interesting sounding guy, David Graeber? Evan gives the ‘I know nothing’ disclaimer and a brief backgrounder. He explains the intersection of anarchism, continental philosophy and anthropology: horizontal approaches to explore ‘everyday life’. Evan came at anarchism from disillusionment with Marxist-Leninism as a youth and an interest in continental philosophy. Everyone’s understanding of Marx was made easier by working low wage, alienating jobs. Evan met Matt at one of those jobs, who was later strong-armed into Matt’s Anth-100 tutorial group. It was like having a teaching reviewer in each class. The best feedback Evan gave: Matt teaches in a chaotic, discursive style. He has since tried to bring more structure and make connections clearer (let us know if he is succeeding).
Evan defines anarchism as active, a creative on the ground political action that is designed to be adaptable. David Graeber resists the label of ‘Anarchist-Anthropologist’ because it is not ‘who’ you are but ‘what you do’. Matt, Phil and Evan make Marxist connections, it being understood as an active and widely applicable philosophy. “Two Cheers for Anarchism” by James C Scott is Evan’s first recommendation. It uses a vernacular methodological approach to anthropology, which is essentially an horizontal or non-top down perspective. Examples: gardens in Guatemala, Henry Ford’s rubber plantation disaster and the worn paths at college campuses. This reminds Matt of emergent theory, trying to not impose theoretical frameworks before entering the field. The vernacular definition of anarchism seems to not match up with Evan’s definition. But where is the politics? According to Evan, experience is where politics should emerge, not the other way around. This lived, experiential approach is connected to continental philosophy. Does Graeber focus on this or is this Evan’s analysis? Evan, are you an anarchist? He is but it doesn’t make any difference. “If you are not a Utopian, you are a Schmuck” as Graeber the optimistic anarchist says. The anarchist ideal is therefore all around us, everywhere, organic and existing in our relationships.
Black Block vs. Optimistic Anarchism? Direct action is what anarchism can be boiled down to, are these actions purely symbolic or effective? Violence is more symbolic, Evan argues. Aesthetics of practicing (praxis) anarchism: Evan argues that the Black Block is dependent on peaceful protests. It scares Matt that peaceful protesters get lumped in with black block ‘extremists’ even if their violence is intended to be symbolic. Evan makes a great connection with Marcel Mauss and the Gift, a hugely influential book because it describes worlds that are alternatives. Matt connects Techniques of the Body by Mauss, Evan also appreciates this as he was a clunky body person just like Matt.
Neo-Liberalism: Anarchism should be seen as a methodological alternative, relying on cooperation and collaboration in our political actions. Phil brings in Trump and his atrocious policies and the French election results, asking what Evan thinks about all this? Evan appreciated the Trotskyite Mélenchon, Matt argues that the extreme right is small but vocal and that their messaging is uncomfortable because cultural norms have changed. Evan points to the recent turn-away from market economics. Phil connects ‘anger’ and the right, which is just as legitimate as any movement from the left but Evan argues that the left is more concerned with aesthetics then direct political action. Evan talks to “Direct Action and Ethnography” by D. Graeber, set in Quebec in 2001 (please email us David…).
Populism and the privileged right: Trump the anarchist, Trudeau the opportunist-anarchist? The president is ‘just like me’ and this worries Matt. Trump is selling how uncouth he is and Americans want to see this even though they are born into privilege. A Return to praxis, or the final nail in the coffin: If you want to be an anarchist, what should you do? Evan believes in further education, asking questions and making connections.
Some books by Graeber to read: “Fragments of an anarchist anthropology”, “Direct Action and Ethnography”. And, “Two Cheers for Anarchism” by James C Scott. Finally, a Podcast: The Intercept by Glen Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill.
Recommendations (50:36)
Astonishing Legends: a podcast that Matt describes as ‘rational conspiracy theory’ where they really dig into (pun totally intended) the research. Some notable episodes: Oak Island and the Knights of the Golden Cross.
On the Media: hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield is a social sciency take on media analysis which is always current and always relevant.
A blog by writer Sam Kriss
The Hockey PDOcast: is an analytics driven hockey show produced and hosted by a Canadian Dimitri Fillipovich. That’s pretty cool there then eh?
How to Write a Thesis in Three Years: A Practical Guide: a book by Stephen Harrison. Phil’s a little preoccupied by that whole thing at the moment.
Concluding thought: “Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below” (Noam Chomsky, 2008).
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Follow Semi-Intellectual Musings on Twitter: @The_SIM_Pod
Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com
Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/
For full show notes: https://thesim.podbean.com/e/anarchism-anthropology
The show is now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/semi-intellectual-musings/id1232065376
The show can also be found on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=138244&refid=stpr
Please leave us a rating and a review, it really helps the show!
Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah
Available at: http://www.cullah.com
Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Monday May 08, 2017
Monday May 08, 2017
Matt went for a baby care crash course by looking after his cousin’s son. This conversation regressed or progressed, depends on how you look at it, into a vague discussion on kinship and the significance of cousinhood. We were both confused as to what constitutes a 2nd cousin, there is an answer (5:45). Phil brings us back to the surface with his most recent experiences grading, of course this also quickly digressed into a conversation about grading philosophies and how as graders we should pay close attention to our emotional states. Turns out neither one of us wants to see another multiple choice test in the social sciences. BOOK IT!
Our Top Technology Teaching Toolbox Tips (14:37)
We wanted to do an episode early on about teaching, but these kinds of conversations can tend to be somewhat all over the place which is why Phil put together this list of teaching tools that he has used in the classroom. Matt had a heady day, so he just sat back, took the notes and asked questions.
We started off with a confession: we are both Luddites. Matt connected the Luddites to the invention of the printing press which he connected to the Protestant Reformation. CORRECTION: Turns out the Luddites can be traced to the late 1700-early 1800’s, we placed them a bit early it seems.
There are many recommendations in this episode, falling broadly within 5 categories. We finish up the conversation with another confession: WRITING IS HARD! It’s difficult for everyone, even for Stephen King. We also start talking a bit about classroom power dynamics using certain pedagogical techniques such as flipped Learning and the need to be authentic while presenting.
In-Class and Conference Presentations:
Prezi (21:14): pushing Power-Point to the brink, but with more functionality and ease of use, Prezi makes your classroom and conference presentations visually appealing and easier to make. Prezy saves your presentations to a cloud which means it is always available across multiple platforms. Prezi is free to use and you can seamlessly embed videos and audio. Prezi saves you time when creating a presenting and makes your presentation stand out against other linear styles of presenting information.
TED, TEDx, TED Ed (23:00). Quality content that is easily embedded into presentations and allows lecture content to be re-watched and expanded on at after class time ends.
Socrative (27:23) is a program that allows you to easily create assessment tools that combines fun games and easy to understand reports to follow students progress.
Jeopardy Maker (28:17): Website for making engaging and fun Jeopardy-style quizzes. Matt got a little too jazzed-up over this, Phil said that he incentivizes with candy…even for the losers.
The good old chalkboard (31:07): The primary tool of all teachers, for a good reason. We share some tips and experiences about using this underappreciated technology. The Walk, Chalk & Talk is explored here.
Collaboration:
Dropbox (35:36): Easy to use, even for these Luddites, and Phil likes it because you can easily share and unshare documents and he is not convinced other cloud based services are as easy to use.
iScanner (iTunes / GooglePlay) / Scanner Pro (iTunes) (36:59): Matt thinks this will ‘steal your retina’ Phil explains that it is a picture-to-PDF converter that he uses to snap shots of notes, comments and mind maps to then share with students. Really easy to use, helpful for continual feedback and makes collaborating easy when getting together physically is difficult.
Skype and GoogleVoice (38:10): Skype is a bit easier for multi-person conversations because of its ease of sharing screen screens, but either are adequate to chat with a student or a collaborator when physically getting together is difficult. Skype and Google offer phone numbers, like those landline number we used to all have. This additional avenue to communicate can only help collaboration (Here’s how to share your screen in Skype).
Office Hours (38:28): Whether it’s time one-on-one, or as a small group, office hours are an important part in connecting and collaborating with students. Phil and Matt both tell their students that “I’m your note taker”. This allows students to free up thinking power and when combined with some of the previous technologies, makes collaboration a breeze. Don’t forget your white board and your mobile scanner.
Time Management:
Toggl (42:50): This is a simple to use time tracker. You press record, define what activity you are doing, it makes easy to understand timesheet reports at the end of the week. It works on phones and a webtop browser, making it easy to use wherever you’re working. Matt likes this idea of pressing a button and locking in, he also offers up his own recommendation: work in 40-45 min intervals, this is the upper limit of human attention span. He says to set an alarm and you will find that if your attentions starts to waver it has probably been 45 mins. This apparently is called the Pomodoro Technique. Phil ponders in his head if this podcast is too long and we are losing people along the way? Let us know.
Doodle (46:06): This is a great meeting tool, easy to use and easy to modify, it replaces the 37 email long chain when trying to organize a meeting with three people, two weeks from now.
Citation Management:
End Note (46:32): While there are many citation management tools out there, for ease of use Phil recommends End Note. It allows PDF documents to be imported into the tool, allowing you to markup the file with notes. There are many citation management suites out there, find the one that works best with your workflow.
Writing:
Scrivener (48:18): Get away from using the standard linear text editing software. Phil makes a strong recommendation for adopting Scrivener to prepare lengthy manuscripts. Scrivener brings together all your data, chunks of text, folders and stacks of papers into one place. Scrivenor will become your writing engine. Through the use of binders, Scrivener organizes your writing into sections, and the cork board allows you to take notes on the fly. This allows you to you work with one window open, forcing your attention on what counts in our line of work: writing. There is now a tablet version that easily syncs your documents to a cloud. The tool also has a neat writing counter that tells you how much you need to write each session to meet your target goal. There are many many more features as well, go check it out for a free trial before you commit cash to it. Thanks to Leslie for introducing Phil to this!
Evernote (51:20). If Scrivner is the engine, Evernote is your virtual notepad. Keep things written down and easily allows you to declutter your mind. Evernote syncs with so many applications now that it has become the go-to note-taking, list-making, reminder-prodding tool. Obviously, these show notes would have been much better (shorter!) had they been written in Evernote.
Powerthesaurus.org (53:17). Easy to use thesaurus resource. It’s crowdsourced, offers several sorting options and at the time of writing this claims to have 19M synonyms. Get inspired.
Hardware:
MacBook Air / Chromebook (53:47): Phil puts forth a strong argument for using small, portable laptops. This allows you to write anywhere and doesn’t take-up much needed desk real estate. Battery life is generally good on smaller devices and can be easily paired with a more robust Bluetooth or USB keyboard (if you are anything like Phil and have a habit of pounding on the keys as if they are the ones responsible for writer’s block, a Bluetooth or USB keyboard is a wise investment). Matt waxed poetic about his little Netbook (RIP).
External hard drives (55:25): Make sure to keep backups -even if you save to a cloud service. Save everything twice, Phil says.
Wrapping things up on a broader note, Matt and Phil talk about dismantling power dynamics in the classroom through flipped learning and basically being an empathetic and hopefully, an authentic human being.
Last plug: 57 Ways to Screw Up in Grad School, by Kevin D. Haggerty & Aaron Doyle (University of Chicago Press, 2015). Some of the ways folks can screw up are applicable beyond grad school.
Even more Recommendations (1:03:37):
Matt brought in two by Orwell to talk about: Books v Cigarettes (Penguin) is a collection of articles and essays, including the title essay which is a cost benefit analysis Orwell’s two addictions. The second is Road to Wigan Pier (Penguin), which is an ethnographic account of Lancashire and Yorkshire and its coal industry in the mid 1930’s. The Elias book that Phil talked about (and for which he feels really silly not remembering!): The Established and The Outsiders by Norbert Elias & John L. Scotson (SAGE).
Concluding thought: Gesticulation is a good thing, whether during a presentation or a podcast, but doesn't help much when writing.
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Follow Semi-Intellectual Musings on Twitter: @The_SIM_Pod
Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com
Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/
For full show notes: https://thesim.podbean.com/e/technology-teaching-toolbox/
The show is now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/semi-intellectual-musings/id1232065376
The show can also be found on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=138244&refid=stpr
Please leave us a rating and a review, it really helps the show!
Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah. Available at: http://www.cullah.com. Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Thursday May 04, 2017
Thursday May 04, 2017
Metabolizing Marx’s metabolic processes while watching kabaddi shirtless: talk about ruptures! Phil watches his meadow grow while digging into the nesting habits of bats. Matt enthusiastically describes Kabaddi, an Indian sport that combines rugby and red rover with rhythmic breathing and unarmed combat. We watched a few clips of the game and decided that maybe we should just stick with golf (Phil watched this one while Matt was talking). Phil attempts to describe the intent of the podcast in a different way, inevitably fumbled the website link (again!), while Matt just totally pulled a blank. Marx & Metabolism (15:42) Phil and Matt talk about Marx through a political ecology reading. More specifically, Phil argues that paying attention to the notion of metabolism in Marx’s works is a powerful way to (re)frame his philosophical and political arguments. This could be a fresh way to apply Marx to our daily lives.Phil kicks us off by reading some quotes and using these to give a short overview of Marx and his understanding of political ecology. Matt suggests change found in the concept of metabolism could lead us away from a ‘structuralist’ way of reading Marx. We then talk around continuity vs ruptures/rifts and Phil hopes he can return to this in a later episode. Phil connects metabolic processes to Epicurean and Stoic philosophies, which was a new way of framing Marx and tracing his philosophic tradition (legacy?) for Matt. After some more ponderous speculation, Matt asks Phil the “So What Dude?” question: How can we apply this dynamic notion of Marxist-Metabolism to our daily lives (to think through political and economic changes, maybe). Phil brings up BitCoin as an example, showing that this seemingly new/novel currency that held the promise of being a great leveler/equalizer actually has gotten (appropriated?, subsumed?) by pre-existing relationships. Phil suggests that Marx can and should continue to be read in new ways and praises Foster for the track he laid out to explore the works from a fresh perspective. After that we (Matt?) decided that he “was done”. Keep it classy. Links For the Marx & Engel complete works, see here. For a controversy surrounding the complete works, see here. John Bellamy Foster “Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology” (Appearing in AJS, Vol.105(2), 1999). John Bellamy Foster “Marx and the Rift in the Universal Metabolism of Nature” (Appearing in Monthly Review, Vol.65(7), 2013. John Bellamy Foster “Marx’s Ecology” (Monthly Review Press) Recommendations (59:21) Matt recommended his favorite history podcast: Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (RSS can be found here). Dan also produces a US-International current events show called: Common Sense with Dan Carlin (RSS feed can be found here). The history show’s episodes are hours long where he takes a sweeping view (contextual) of some historical event or trend in the most engaging way. Some favorite episodes: 3 part series on the Persian Empire, the 5 part Mongol empire episode and the stand-alone episode on the Protestant Reformation called Prophets of Doom. Phil takes us to a deserted island: Oh no! Look out there! It’s Jenny trapped on a rock, there’s a storm coming, you gotta build a raft to save her AND yourself!! What will you do?? Good thing you have your dehumanized ‘helper’ Friday to push into harm's way! Yes, we are talking about the board game Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal. Phil and his better half have been playing this game for a few months; the instructions are 40 pages long, there are expansions available and really Matt’s main takeaway is that Friday, the ‘helper’ might be...some kind of ghost. Concluding Thought: Workers of the world unite! Happy May Day 😀 ---------------------- Follow Semi-Intellectual Musings on Twitter: @The_SIM_Pod Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/ For full show notes: https://thesim.podbean.com/e/marx-metabolism The show is now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/semi-intellectual-musings/id1232065376 The show can also be found on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=138244&refid=stpr Please leave us a rating and a review, it really helps the show! Music: Song “Soul Challenger” appearing on “Cullahnary School” by Cullah Available at: http://www.cullah.com Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Monday May 01, 2017
Monday May 01, 2017
Phil proctored an exam, the most exciting aspect of grad school, and passes on a few tips that he feels will help everyone in the room. Matt fueled up on some spring rolls before attending the most competitive used book sale of his life, you can hear the giddiness in his voice which qualifies him for at least 9 criteria of bibliophilic personality disorder. They finish by again trying to define their podcast and Matt struggles to not say ABSOLUTELY, in whimsical fashion.
Concussions and sports (14:28):
Phil has had concussions. Matt introduced us to his research and his own concussion history, which dates back to 1997, as a way of starting a conversation about stigma, gender and the shifting cultural perceptions of concussion and sports. Phil and Matt then got into the articles, starting with one about the writer's experiences witnessing her brother recover from multiple concussions while playing in the WHL. Matt and Phil deep dive into medical and social science perspectives on concussions. Phil floats some statistics around while Matt argues that women’s concussions (especially female teenage athletes) continues to be understudied, underreported and underappreciated due to the prevailing cultural and social assumptions around female athletics.
Matt and Phil then watch some clips about the NHL and concussions (54:25). They saw a video montage of Eric Lindros’ concussions, talked a bit about Sidney Crosby and how perceptions changed over time and finish with the (in?)infamous Canadian hockey commentator Don Cherry calling out players and the ‘new NHL’ for being ‘soft’.
After watching they return and talk about the Aaron Hernandez story. Matt brings in some neurophysiology: Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), hormonal disruptions, causes of dementia and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). CTE often gets mentioned alongside stories about ex-athletes who donate their brains to science (Boston U also has a donation program). CTE seems to be caused by DAI where the Axon, which is the middle section of the nerve cell, ‘shears’ causing a ‘damaged pathway’. Due to ‘neuro-plasticity’ the brain will re-route information along new or previously existing pathways, however the pre-existing ones get overloaded causing symptoms like cognitive fatigue or communication impairments and the damaged (non-used) pathway builds up a protein which has been linked to various neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Dementia and CTE. It’s intense but stuff we need to remember about our noggins.
Links:
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Emilie Medland-Marchen "Alone in the dark: The effects of concussions on Canada's greatest game" (appeared in the Gaunlet, April 25, 2017)
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Max Kutner "The Aaron Hernandez suicide: A football brain injury link?"
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Brain Injury Canada list-serv: http://multibriefs.com/optin.php?BIAC
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Reuters "Sport-related concussions more common in high school girls"
Recommendations (1:08:54):
Phil brought up a musical group that Matt hasn’t heard or thought about in years. Yes it’s the return of BONOBO! Where is my adult soother and glow sticks, Matt thinks?? (You just know we hung onto my giant cargo pants and multi-coloured suspenders, don’t you?!?). But seriously, it’s great music that you can study to, read to, dance to or do whatever you do.
Matt recommended the comedic-history podcast called The Dollop. Anyone who knows him has had this podcast recommended to them at least once. Because there are hundreds of episodes (and a forthcoming book, free plug!) Matt narrowed it down a bit: Ep. 150-James Sullivan and the 1904 Olympic Games and Ep. 250-Phantom of the Open. Matt also recommends the episode on the Iraq War.
Concluding thought: all our heads are actually quite soft.
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Email Matt & Phil: semiintellectual@gmail.com
Subscribe to the podcast: https://thesim.podbean.com/feed/
Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah
Available at: http://www.cullah.com
Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/