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    Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
  1. Beta Sandwich Science Podcast

    Friday, September 27, 2013

    First off, allow me to play you the jam of my people:


    Spoiler: Bill Nye is not featured as a guest or host on this podcast. There is, however, plenty of science and it is discussed by guys so I guess that's close enough. Right? Right.

    This is Beta Sandwich Science Podcast.

    Welcome to the Beta Sandwich Podcast, your source for news and trends in the Molecular Biosciences.  Join us as we wax poetic about all things sciencey (yes, that's a word).  We go in depth about diseases, viruses, medicine, pharmacology, biochemistry and pretty much anything else that moves, crawls, flies or has otherwise transformed this giant rock into a living ecosystem.  If you are a crazy scientist, or you just like crazy science, you've come to the right place :)


    Relevant Links:
    Main Site!
    Episode Archive!
    Twitter!
    Download via iTunes!
    Facebook!

    Hosts Scott Barnett,Christian Copley-Salem, Dr. Del Jackson, and Karolina Balkenbush are all smarter than you when it comes to science. You might be able to win a debate over who the best Golden Girl is, but they have you beat on pretty much anything that's worth publication in some manner of scientific journal. It's cool though! They are smart in a non-threatening way, a way that reaches out to you and your tiny, tiny dinosaur mind with kindness and compassion. They know about lots of cool thing, mainly to do with molecular bioscience and they want to share that knowledge with you.

    I make no promises if you'll be able to comprehend any of what they say; God knows I had my head tilted to the side like a pug being asked about walkies for half of the podcasts. But what little I did understand was quite interesting! There are all sorts of comings and goings about molecules and what they may or may not do! This is important because I am told that all of us, myself included, are in fact made of molecules.

    Which is gross, but in a fascinating way.

    Content Rating: Clean as the inside of a autoclave.

    Average Episode Length: Around an hour.

    Drinking Game: Any time the hosts say a word you don't understand, drink. Any time the hosts say a word that you smugly recognize, drink twice. Any time a university is mentioned by name, drink.

    Release Schedule: Looks like it has a weekly release.

    The hosts are friendly and easy to listen to despite their discussion matter which can sometimes get a little complicated. Scientific discoveries are explained to the listener in as-close-to-layman terms as one can expect from a crew of scientists and what they talk about really is cool to hear. There are all sorts of fascinating studies and experiments and findings going on in their respective fields and the Beta Sandwich Science Podcast is a wonderful way to hear about what's going on.

    And in case you were wondering, a "beta sandwich" is a thing:

    ...

    Okay, I just tried to find an explanation of what a beta sandwich is and I seriously couldn't find anything that I understood. Just trust me, it's a real term. The podcast explains it during an episode so you should go listen instead of me trying to stare down a picture of DNA on Wikipedia that I'll never comprehend.


    Unintentionally Good Part: The section where they discuss how to handle grad school. It's funny and informative.

    Unintentionally Bad Part: This podcast does not work for a "background" podcast where you can do chores or something as you listen. If you lose the thread of whatever they're discussing you often miss an important explanation and then can't follow the rest of the story. Not a bad thing, just one of my preferences.

    Unrelated rating: Sixteen broken microscope slides out of seventeen.

  2. The Alton Browncast

    Monday, August 19, 2013

    If you're anything like me, then the next best thing to actually eating food is watching someone else deal with food and food-related objects. Food Network is one of the last channels I watch on an actual TV over actual cable television, and my favorite show has always been Good Eats. The show has a devoted Tivo folder, I loved his Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves and all that good stuff he's been on.

    AND NOW HE'S AVAILABLE IN PODCAST FORM!

    Wonders of wonders, miracles of miracles~

    Sorry, I just really like Alton Brown. He taught me a lot about cooking, not that I actually apply any of it to my boxed lasagna, but I still felt good learning about it.

    Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350F, then turn that thing off because you're going to listen to The Alton Browncast.   

    TV Host and Foodist Alton Brown reviews recent food news, chats with celebrities about their culinary passions, takes calls from listeners, and basically does whatever he flippin’ wants for 45 minutes.

    Relevant Links:
    Main Podcast Site, via Nerdist! This site also serves as an archive.
    RSS Feed!
    Get the podcast via iTunes!
    Alton's Twitter!   He replies to tweets by writing out a response on a Post-It and taking a picture of it! Hee!

    The Alton Browncast provides host Alton Brown (GO FIGURE, RIGHT?) a lovely little venue to talk about what really interests him in the food world. He will discuss recent food-related news, interview fellow creative chefs and food crafters, and answer cooking questions from his listening audience. It's a nicely balanced little podcast, shifting easily between topics as Alton delves into his knowledge and passion for all things food. If you like his personality on any of the plethora of shows he's been on you will find more of the same in this podcast.

    I gotta tell you right now, buttermilk and Cap'n Crunch cereal? Those things don't go together.

    Content Rating: Clean, and I really can't imagine this podcast ever being explicit.

    Average Episode Length: Set your timer for just a smidgin over an hour. You'll want the toothpick to be clean, with only a few moist crumbs sticking to it when you test for doneness.


    Release Schedule:  Once a week, with the release date most likely to be a Friday.


    Unintentionally Good Part:  Listening to Bobby Flay's story about making "queso" at his wife's behest. Cute story.

    Unintentionally Bad Part: Bad part, bad part, is there a bad part? Sorry, I'm an Alton Brown fan, so he gets a clean pass.  #@#$%!$ SLURPING DURING AN ICE CREAM TASTING SERIOUSLY THAT IS THE WORST NOISE IN MY EARS.   Aaaaaaargh okay, okay, I found a bad part! I give!

    Auwgh! Hate that noise.

    Unrelated rating: Two of those little yeast puppets from Good Eats out of three.



  3. The Crate & Crowbar Podcast

    Friday, August 9, 2013

    Games, game, video games. Who likes to talk about video games?

    EVERYONE AND THEIR CAT.

    Which is not a bad thing! I've reviewed and listened to (and still listen to) loads of podcasts that do nothing more than discuss video games, and you know what? Each one is a unique little beam of sunshine. Differing viewpoints, gotta love 'em.

    I like to listen to a set of friends sitting around and recalling the arcades they haunted in their youth, I like it when people flip their lids over the next generation of consoles, I like hearing the funny bugs and the stories of how people have accidentally written-over hundreds of hours of game play.

    So let us go once more into the breach, together, to discover and admire The Crate & Crowbar podcast.

    That's a great question that you just didn't ask but I'm thinking in my head.

    Relevant Links:
    Main Site!
    RSS Feed!
    Get the podcast via iTunes!
    Twitter!

    First off, to make sure this is your bag, The Crate & Crowbar is a PC gaming podcast. Let it be known that they will not be touching on subjects that involve your precious console-related hijinks. Your hosts include Tom Francis (@pentadact), Graham Smith (@gonnas), Marsh Davies (@marshdavies), Tom Senior (@PCGLudo), Chris Thursten (@cthursten) and the cool part, the part that made me nod at my monitor in appreciation, is that they all have experience within the PC gaming realm. That's neat, right? That's what drew me to the podcast in the first place, and I was not disappointed with what I had downloaded.

    Content Rating: Explicit because of swear words.

    Average Episode Length: Each episode is dang near TWO HOURS. That's a tremendous podcast length!

    Drinking Game: Pick a drink that catches your eye from Drunken Moogle, and then Google a stupid drinking game that relates to the game your drink is themed on.

    The Crate & Crowbar podcast is your weekly, ramble into the wide world of PC gaming. And I don't mean ramble in the way of an unfocused monologue, but more like walking out of your front door and heading out in whatever direction pleases you that day. After about two hours, you'll return to your front porch, open the door, and feel satisfied with how you spent your time.

    If Valve continues to be right about this and they keep working at this there will be some future where everything is free, but everyone is also rich, and no one understands why!

    The focus of the hosts' discussion is both wide-and-industry-savvy as well as the narrow-what-I-played-last-night zoom. For instance, in one episode they go from discussing Steam and Valve, to the overall play style of DOTA 2, to one hosts experience and recollection of how and why he plays. It's fun to listen to and the hosts are engaging and charming.

    Release Schedule: Weekly release on Friday.

    Music: None that I've noticed.

    Unintentionally Good Part: I'm a sucker for foreign accents.

    Unintentionally Bad Part: With the pace of a longer podcast such as this, you might find that when a topic you're uninterested in crops up it will last a lot longer than you'd please.

    Unrelated rating: Five out of five levels of Dagon.

  4. Hey, so, this podcast review is-

    SHUT UP. NO ONE CARES. NO ONE CARES BECAUSE IT IS ALMOST TIME FOR

    DRAGON CON.

    (suck it SDCC, you had your turn)

    I love Dragon Con. I would love it to pieces, but it is so structurally sound that my love would only further reinforce its foundations. Tens of thousands of nerds, crammed together in a few city blocks. I love the stars, the panels, the sight of tenacious nerds wearing full-body, rubber costumes in 95F+ weather. I'd rub my face in it if I weren't afraid of the contagious diseases I might pick up.

    But Viddyviddy, you say, why should I care? I came here for a podcast review! Well buckle up, toots, because I just found a peanut butter and chocolate collision with a podcast about Dragon Con.

    The Unique Geek – it's a discussion group, photo gallery, podcast, and dessert topping all in one.

    Woo! This is The Unique Geek podcast, featuring their "50 Days of Dragon Con Primer".

    Relevant Links:
    Main Site! You can send them a voice mail!
    RSS Feed!

    Content Rating: Explicit, and tagged as such in iTunes.

    Average Episode Length:  A quick glance tells me that the average length is about 50 minutes.

    It is, as the kids say, 'off the chain'.
    Dragon Con is the greatest 4 days of geekery you will be able to find east of the Mississippi, and The Unique Geek (UG) is here to give you the low-down on the hoedown. Any convention can be an overwhelming mass of people, events, and places and the UG is here to provide you with a helping guide to making the best of the 24 hour insanity that can be Dragon Con. They cover important topics ranging from the light hearted discussion of panels, to the super-super-incredibly-useful information about things like the disabilities services available at the convention.

    Bonus Content: You can watch a Dragon Con staff member navigate a hotel bathroom in his wheelchair to show examples of accessibility. Interesting stuff, and an eye opener if you don't have to deal with it.

    The hosts vary per their expertise on certain subjects, and features interviews with the President of Dragon Con, track directors, and people who get their hands dirty to make one of the nation's largest fan-run conventions function. Even if you're not going, it is a neat insight into how a horde of volunteers can entertain thousands of people for an annual weekend of nerdom.

    Drinking Game:  Take a drink every time:
    • The hosts mention a show you are a fan of
    • You recognize a celebrity name
    • The 501st are mentioned
    • One of the hotel names is said

    Release Schedule: Damn near every day. They take this '50 Days' thing seriously, folks.


    Unintentionally Good Part: This podcast makes me think of Dragon Con, and I look forward to Dragon Con the same way little kids look forward to Christmas. I think I have it better, because although Santa is pretty rad, my holiday involves copious amount of alcohol and the guys from Myth Busters.

    Unintentionally Bad Part: Some episodes have less-than-average mic quality. Not too bad, but I had to fuss with my volume a few times.

    Unrelated rating: Four disturbing Leeloo costumes out of five.