IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts: Home of the Brave: ‘The Neighborhood’ →

There’s a new episode of I Better Start Writing This Down coming in four days, which means a few things:

1. There’s still enough time to listen to the most recent episode, ‘Miniature Boxes of Cereal.’
2. I need to make another IBSWTD Favorite Podcast pick.

Luckily, I’ve known what it would be for a couple of weeks now.

Scott Carrier is one of my Mt. Rushmore storytellers. He’s known for his work on This American Life, as he should be. He’s lived quite the life and somehow, lived to tell about it. And tell he does. He’s got one of the most distinctive voices I’ve ever heard—nasal and child-like and somber and melancholy and honest and—dare I say—happy. All at the same time. And his capital-V Voice as a writer is pretty damn distinctive as well. He’s always thinking and saying and relating unreasonable thoughts and ideas in the most reasonable of ways.

When I heard from Nick van der Kolk (the creator of Love + Radio, another outstanding source of stories and sound design) that Scott Carrier had started his own podcast, something that I’d always hoped he’d do, it was as close to a prayer being answered as an atheist can get.

‘The Neighborhood’ is the “weirdest” of the stories Carrier has released so far, a sound collage that makes perfect sense and none, all at the same time. IBSWTD owes a debt of gratitude to Scott Carrier. I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty certain that, had I never come across Scott Carrier’s work, I might not be making my own little podcast of my own.

Not a Homeroom Mom →

Bryan Reardon, writing for Galleys, on Medium:

In the effort to blaze a trail and smooth gender relations for generations to come, I have delved into the wisdom I gleaned from ten years of being a stay-at-home dad.

I’ve done a lot of things in my life that, at the time, I thought were important and could (and should) have an impact on The World. Never once did I imagine myself as a stay-at-home dad and certainly not as the father of a little girl. But now that I’m in the midst of it, I’m starting to imagine the next twenty years or so, and what it will be like sending my daughter out into the world, the product of a home that does not reflect most of our society, and certainly not many of our societal norms. I literally buzz with excitement when I think about it.

Facebook May Host News Sites’ Content, Fit of Shit Ensues →

Ravi Somaiya, Mike Isaac And Vindu Goel, writing for The New York Times:

With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half a dozen media companies about hosting their content inside Facebook rather than making users tap a link to go to an external site.

I’m shocked/not shocked by the internet’s reaction to this news. On one hand, yes, it is a dumbing-down of sorts. And it will, by extension, put different hierarchies of news outlets all on the same level within the eyes of the FB masses. But at the end of the day, in 2015, you have to pick: do you want to be a fossil in a museum—or an attraction in a well-trafficked zoo?

Inside Apple's Top Secret Health and Fitness Lab →

Good Morning America and Yahoo! News:

Apple, known for keeping its product developments under the strictest of lock-and-key, gave ABC News exclusive access into its top secret health and fitness lab, where only Apple employees became test subjects for the new Apple Watch.

Apple engineers, managers and developers have been secretly volunteering for the past year in this state-of-the-art lab to participate in rowing, running, yoga and many more fitness activities in order to collect data for the Apple Watch’s inner workings.

Serious question: do other tech companies go to these extremes?

The Invention of the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Steven Levy, writing for Backchannel, on Medium:

The AeroPress gets its name from a sister product made by the same company: the Aerobie, a dinner-plate-sized ring that outflies a Frisbee by a mile. I know all about the Aerobie because one of its most fervent enthusiasts is the famous MIT hacker Bill Gosper, who travels with a trunkful of Aerobies in his car. (Gosper’s license plate reads… “Aerobie.”) I found it fascinating that the same wizard of aerodynamics who had invented the Aerobie has whipped up turbulence in the world of coffee.

If there’s a better way to make a single cup of coffee, I don’t know what it is.

My Saga, Part 2: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Passage Through America →

Karl Ove Knausgaard, writing for The New York Times Magazine:

On the other side of Duluth, the road continued through the wooded Minnesota landscape, the blazing sunlight filtering through the treetops creating ceaseless, shadowy patterns on the snow-covered asphalt. I had told Mark we would arrive around 5 p.m., but it soon became obvious that we would never get there on time. I tried texting him, but the message didn’t go through, probably because there was no money left on my phone account. Peter offered to call him, and I accepted gladly.

When he hung up, Peter said that Mark sounded like the archetypal American. I asked him what he meant. He shrugged, it was nothing specific, just the way he spoke.

I considered the strangeness of that: That everything Norwegian, all that was particular to the west coast of Norway and to the Hatløy family, had been completely obliterated in just two generations in the U.S. If it had been my grandfather Johannes who had emigrated instead of his younger brother Magnus, I could have been the one sitting there, up in North Dakota, an American waiting for my Norwegian relative who was roughly the same age as me and to my surprise had announced his arrival this very Sunday.

I told Peter. He laughed and said he had never met anyone less American than me.

Part 2, of an overall mind-bogglingly good piece, is not quite as romantic as Part 1 (he gets out of his head more and has to do some actual reporting), but it does the trick. I thought the ending needed a bit more ruminating, but I savored reading this, putting it off the way you save a good bottle of wine for an important night.

Sexual Violence and the Warped Tour →

Paul Adler, writing for Cuepoint, on Medium:

But over the past half-decade, a handful of alt-scene, so-called “Warped Tour” bands have found themselves accused of sexual misconduct with minors. Musicians have been convicted of crimes, and other bands have been condemned for their apparent advocacy of physical and sexual violence, especially toward women. Of course, the bands and the tour are separate entities, and Warped isn’t legally responsible (moral responsibility is another matter) for the actions of its acts. Nonetheless, it’s tempting to let these scandals color the general perception of the tour. More difficult is untangling the nuances of this new age of opprobrium.

I’m sure this will be reported and cited with the same veracity and frequency as misogyny and sexual violence in hip hop.

Thousands Have Already Signed Up for Apple’s ResearchKit →

Michelle Fay Cortez and Caroline Chen, writing for Bloomberg:

Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.

“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”

I was going to post this and direct my commentary towards those who rag on Apple products, or modern mobile technology in general, but I decided on this instead—a hearty ‘shame on you’ to the Apple Fans who, while tuned into the event announcing ResearchKit on Monday, amped up the snark and the stupidity on Twitter re: how bored they were by this segment of the presentation. You all proved just how vapid and self-centered Apple Fans can be. This wasn’t The Bachelorette Idol’s Got Talent. It was an announcement that’s going to, literally, save lives.

/via 9to5Mac

IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts: Radio Diaries: ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story’ →

Having a podcast means getting other people to listen to your podcast. It isn’t easy. I’m always asking people to rate/review my show on iTunes, or tell a friend, or pledge a dollar or two on Patreon. I realized the other day that what I should also be doing is following my own advice by telling others about my favorite shows. So here’s my first IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts pick: the 3/10/15 episode of HowSound: ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story.’ Here’s HowSound’s Rob Rosenthal, writing for Transom.org:

In 1996, Joe [Richman] produced Teen Diaries. He gave tape decks to teenagers to document their lives. The result, intimate portraits that, most likely, would have resulted in a very different piece had a producer been present during the field recordings. One of these diaries featured Melissa Rodriguez. It was called Teen Mom. Sixteen years later, Joe handed out recorders again to several of the original diarists, including Melissa.

A few things:

1. Radio Diaries, Richman’s podcast/radio show, is awesome. You should listen to all of the available episodes. ‘Walter the Seltzerman—It’s Not Easy Being Last’ and ’Strange Fruit—Voices of a Lynching’ come to mind as two of my favorites.
2. The Teenage Diaries Revisited series is also a must-listen. All of them, but especially the episode highlighted here.
3. HowSound, the podcast that is highlighting said episode, is also worth your time. It’s a little inside-baseball sometimes, but it’s worth it if nothing for the recommendations about other great shows.
4. Make sure you listen to the HowSound edition of ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story’ that I’m linking to here, since you get to hear the story as well as an interview with Richman and Melissa.

So that’s my first IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts pick. I hope you enjoy it and if you do (or don’t) please feel free to let me know on my Twitter or the show’s Twitter.

‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck’ Trailer →

Corban Goble, writing for Pitchfork:

Frances Bean Cobain, Cobain's daughter with Courtney Love, is an executive producer of the film. The documentary features "dozens of Nirvana songs and performances as well as previously unheard Cobain originals," according to a press release, in addition to "no-holds-barred access to Kurt Cobain’s archives, home to his never-before-seen home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, personal archives, family archives and songbooks."

May 4th, HBO. Start dirtying-up your flannel and bust out your women’s sunglasses.