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Podcasts – the new radio

There was a time when I habitually listened to the radio – magazine shows, music, and even – in darkest times – talk-back. Nowadays, it’s podcasts.

At  best, radio is immediate ( it usually beats TV to breaking news, for example ), and can be a mine of information. It’s a  companion by proxy,  and there’s a low-level intimacy with favourite hosts.

At worst, it’s full of aging-remedy ads, and dinosaurs whining about ‘PC gone mad’ . Wealthy breakfast hosts masquerading as ordinary blokes make soothing noises and cheer on callous right-wing governments.

podcasts - the new radioBut for me  and many others,  podcasts – an audio format only available online – signal goodbye to  all that.

So What’s the Attraction?

Continue reading “Podcasts – the new radio”

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Ernest Ranglin

Via a friend, who sent the link with this explanation;

Ernest Ranglin pretty much invented Ska guitar playing. Most famous for his guitar playing on ‘Little’ Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’ in the early ’60s. He’s also played guitar for Prince Buster, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jimmy Cliff & a heap of others This is the album of his I have entitled “Below The Baseline” – an amazing performer. Saw him when he supported Massive Attack & Horace Andy back in the early ’90s .

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Healthier Eating via Embarrassment

chapati bread with avocado lettuce tomato and garlic
chapati bread with avocado lettuce tomato and garlic

For the last year or more, in an attempt to make up for past excesses,  I got fastidious about diet.

The excesses are a back-story for another time. Enough to say for now that apart from quaffing way too much, I’d been a smoker for years. So in addition to low-level neurosis, I was below-par physically.  The ( even ) older version of me was in for Grim Times.

So when a friend loaned me a copy of T Colin Campbell’s  The China Study it lit a spark. The back cover quotes The New York Times’ reaction – to the original study – which it says ” …  can be considered the Grand Prix of Epidemiology…”.

My txt reaction was briefer. Continue reading “Healthier Eating via Embarrassment”