Podcasts

I love the challenges of work.  Sometimes I have no idea how we're going to solve one problem or another when I leave for work in the morning, but so far we've always come up with something.  I've come to believe that engineering has a lot less to do with any sort of intelligence or creativity and a lot more to do with grit and what will often pass for stubbornness.  One thing that I've always enjoyed doing is listening to music while working.  I almost always have Pandora up on my browser while working, but recently music just hasn't cut it.

You see, one of my responsibilities is programming what is called a pick and place machine, which is used to place electrical components on a printed circuit broad.  This is a very pleasant activity; I can just put in my headphones an immerse myself in my work for hours on end.  However, as part of my efforts for continual process improvement, I developed a method for making the programming process much easier, and it doesn't take near as much concentration as it did before.  Because of this, music just hasn't been cutting it for me.  Therefore, I have found some podcasts that have kept me perfectly happy.

The first one that I found is the Phil Vischer podcast.  I first heard of Phil Vischer from the program that he he made recently called "What's in the Bible."  It turns out that he was also the founder of Big Idea Productions, the company that produced Veggietales, and acts as the voice of Bob the Tomato.  He sounded like a really interesting guy, and it turns out he does a weekly podcast on current events.  I've gotten a ton of enjoyment listening to his shows; sometimes I'll even turn on the show and listen to it at home.

Another podcast I've found is called Amicus, which is a fascinating look at the Supreme Court.  Each episode has audio from oral arguments at the court, and the thing that shines through in these arguments is just how brilliant everyone on the bench is.  The justices have such a profound understanding about how ruling one way or another will impact how the law will be interpreted and applied in other circumstances, often circumstances that seem completely unrelated.  It really makes you appreciate how difficult a task it is to keep the law both logical, just, and consistent.

The other thing about the Supreme Court you get the impression of that isn't quite as pleasant is just how wildly different the Court has ruled on different cases over time.  It is disturbing to think how differently the law has been interpreted over time due to differing views made by the Court, no matter how brilliant they are.  I really want law to work like physics where every action brings about a clear, foreseeable  reaction and judges simply follow the predetermined algorithm to calculate what that response is.  I suppose it comes as no surprise that the equations of justice are largely hidden from the mind of man, and that our wisest of legal scholars with the best of intentions looking at the same facts will reach differing conclusions, and millennia of philosophy and legal theory have done little to reach consensus.   It actually is a pretty good argument for the need of an omniscient, just God to rule over all.

Another podcast I heard about is called Hardcore History.  This is a wildly popular podcast by a man named Dan Carlin, an amateur history buff who takes an in-depth look at some historical topic.  My favorite episode was a four hour look at the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the reign of Charlemagne.  He has a way of putting into perspective why people behaved the way they did, like his explanation of the factors contributing to the first and second red scare.  He also does a podcast on current events called Common Sense, which is equally fascinating.

Anyway,  these are some the things I've derived a great amount of enjoyment from over the past couple weeks.  Omni Vincit Amor.