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Sources of Intelligent Audio for Commute?
confusus writes "Trapped in the daily routine of commuting for 1-2 hours every day, I started to ponder different ways of recycling commute-time waste. I tried listening to the radio, but 9.9/10, it ends up being just 'duh-whatever.' Then, I tried listening to audio books: it is really hard to find audio books that are tailored toward nerds. Thus I decided to find audio of interesting/geeky/nerdy/sciency interviews, talks, lectures. What would be the websites which provide such content?" I'd really like to find more informative downloadable audio content, too. Perhaps informed commentary and self-guided tours of historical and other sites, like national parks and significant buildings in the U.S. and elsewhere, basically self-guided audio walking (or driving) tours. Can anyone recommend a source?
If you commute 2 hours per day, 5 days
a week, 50 weeks a year (for a total of
two weeks "time off" for good behavior
each year), you pull in 500 hours/year
in a metal cage. If you do a decade of
work like this, that's about 208 days
in a car. Or, about the length of time
for a first-time non-violent felony
prison sentence, like robbery without a
real gun, grand theft auto (the real
thing, not the game), embezzlement,
and similar crimes. The difference
is that if you committed a real crime,
you'd at least have a chance of getting
away with it. But since you took this
crappy job, you're being sentenced to
a metal cage, without the benefit of
having potentially profitted from a crime.
Pray tell, what crime did you commit to
be sentenced to this metal cage that you
call "your commute"? Or do you not value
your freedom enough to demand or expect
something better out of life? (Don't be
ashamed if this is what you want for
yourself; the world does need cogs after all.)
As a bonus, you can even get it in Ogg.
yo.
It is a perfect setting - lots of free time, a CD player, and nobody else around. (You feel pretty stupid repeating words over and over again in a foreign language if you are around other people). All of the Pimsleur lessons are 30 minutes each.
If you are into space related science you may wish to listen to MP3s of the SETI Radio Network broadcasts. The topics are generally much broader than just SETI and the interviews with scientists and researchers are actually pretty good. They only produce an hour a week, but it will at least cover one of your commutes to work.
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/nitf/273/
They provide a basis for our legal system, and reflect some pretty important times in our history. Plus, there are inevitably arguments for and against that I had never considered, (Can I mod justices +1 insightful?)