Episodios

  • Episode 299-When Acronyms Become Words

    Episode 299-When Acronyms Become Words
    Nov 21 2025
    Acronyms are "words" that are abbreviations. But they differ from abbreviations because they can be pronounced like a word. Many of these acronyms, like the 'ZIP' in 'Zip Code,' aren't even known as acronyms anymore. In this episode, my friend Pete Mulvihill helps me decode some of the most common acronyms in modern lexicon.
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    48 m
  • Episode 298-What Do You Hear?

    Episode 298-What Do You Hear?
    Nov 21 2025
    Author John Stilgoe exhorts us to go outside, take a walk or a bike ride, and tune in to the world before us that we miss when we whiz by in a car. I implore you to do the same thing--but instead of paying attention to what you see, pay attention to what you hear.
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    12 m
  • Episode 297-The Real Mister Bojangles

    Episode 297-The Real Mister Bojangles
    Oct 14 2025
    I was listening to music the other day while driving to and from the dump, and one of my favorites came on: Mr. Bojangles, by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Like most of the songs that rise to the top of my favorites list, Mr. Bojangles has the best qualities of storytelling. But as I listened, I started thinking, something that always gets me in trouble. And, it did. I wanted to know: Who was Mr. Bojangles? Was he real? Well, it turns out that yeah, he was, but there’s a lot more to the story than a single person.
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    8 m
  • Episode 296-More Thoughts on Writing

    Episode 296-More Thoughts on Writing
    Oct 14 2025
    Some additional thoughts on the craft of writing.
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    9 m
  • Episode 295-The Most Complicated Machine Ever Built

    Episode 295-The Most Complicated Machine Ever Built
    Oct 3 2025
    Episode 295-The Most Complicated Machine Ever Built by Dr. Steven Shepard
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    19 m
  • Episode 294-Serendipity and Curiosity in Monterey

    Episode 294-Serendipity and Curiosity in Monterey
    Oct 3 2025
    I spent a great deal of my life in Monterey, California, most of it under the water while teaching SCUBA diving. I recently discovered a Monterey story that held me spellbound. It begins like this: A marine biologist, a mythologist, and a novelist walk into a bar...
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    11 m
  • Episode 293-Homage to Greatness Revisited

    Episode 293-Homage to Greatness Revisited
    Oct 3 2025
    An homage to Jane Goodall and others like her. This is a repost from 2021.
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    15 m
  • Episode 292-The Lessons of History

    Episode 292-The Lessons of History
    Jul 24 2025
    This essay contains an important story for the ages. Given current events, and the absolute truth that history does repeat, the lesson is plain, and chilling. 1492 and the years leading up to it in Medieval Spain, were times that should not be repeated. And yet…
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    14 m