counting backwards to zero

423-The_Invention_of_Money.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Prologue.

Ira Glass speaks with several members of the Planet Money team, who all found themselves—in the course of their reporting—independently asking the same stoner-ish question: What is money? Ira and Planet Money producer Jacob Goldstein discuss a pre-industrial society on the island of Yap that used giant stones as currency. The book that Jacob read about Yap is called The Island of Stone Money. (10 minutes)

Act One. The Lie That Saved Brazil.

A trip to a country where the fiction that is money completely fell apart. And in this same country, through a truly incredible piece of policy making, the government tricked a 150,000,000 people into believing their money had value again. Chana Joffe-Walt reports. (16 minutes)

Act Two. Weekend At Bernanke's.
Though the name of the Federal Reserve includes the word "federal," it's not actually part of the government. It's an independent institution tasked with something very simple, but very huge: Creating money out of thin air. And during this last financial crisis, the leaders of the Fed did things that they would never have considered doing in the past. Alex Blumberg and David Kestenbaum report on what the Fed usually does, and how, since 2008, it's taken a trip to what amounts to Fed Crazytown. (26 minutes)
Song: "We Do (The Stonecutters' Song)", The Simpsons

The_Simpsons_Stonecutters_Song.mp3 Listen on Posterous

via thisamericanlife.org

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SproutRobot!

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:28:00 -0800

Check out this website I found at sproutrobot.com

Grow your own groceries

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Buttersafe – Moths to a Flame

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:41:00 -0800

via buttersafe.com

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IBM's Watson AI Jeopardy practice match

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 02:17:00 -0800

via youtube.com

AI historical moment?

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:57:00 -0800

The science of war leads one to dictatorship, pure and simple. The science of non-violence alone can lead one to pure democracy...Power based on love is thousand times more effective and permanent than power derived from fear of punishment....It is a blasphemy to say non-violence can be practiced only by individuals and never by nations which are composed of individuals...The nearest approach to purest anarchy would be a democracy based on non-violence...A society organised and run on the basis of complete non-violence would be the purest anarchy

via en.wikipedia.org

Truth.

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I Disobeyed an Unjust Law

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:18:00 -0800

via idisobeyedanunjustlaw.com

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Human Planet - Web exclusive series trailer - BBC One

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:24:00 -0800

via youtube.com

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Shine your light on the world

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:32:18 -0800

Umi Says by Mos Def on Grooveshark for Android: http://listen.grooveshark.com/s/UmiSays/2340SY

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