The daily show Friday night episode about “THE empty seat”:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/fri-august-31-2012-

The Old Man and the Seat. John Finnemore must be happy to see his game was played backwards…

Seriously, I am not American but still I’m scared about the possibility of Mitt Romney winning the election.

The Convert 8/10/12

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/471/the-convert

This story is about a FBI undercover informant whose spying job in a mosque turned out to be an epic fail. You have to call it an epic fail when the spy was turned in to the FBI by the person being spied on, because the spy was being too suspicious.

When I was listening to the story, I constantly felt the need to facepalm. This informant, Craig Montielh, considered himself as being good at his job. But seriously, that was not the case. Look at this part from the transcript:

Craig Montielh:
I would have to, in a very strategic way, get their views on jihad. And I got so good at it, in their view, that they wanted to enhance it. So I was to speak to, I think, 10 Muslims a day regarding jihad.

Mohammad Elsisy:
It was to the limit that one of them told me, he keeps calling him by phone and keeps saying to him, “Jihad, jihad.” I was like, you know, wait a minute.

Sam Black:
He would whisper “jihad” into the phone?

Mohammad Elsisy:
Yeah, into the phone.

…I mean, seriously?

———————

Loopholes  8/24/12

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/473/loopholes

A lawyer outsmarted insurance companies and earned huge amount of money by buying  annuities on the life of someone who was terminally ill. But the insurance companies were not happy being outsmarted. They sued him.

It is a very interesting story (although the first part about people in 17-18th century Europe pursuit “legitimate” suicide by killing kids was kind of disturbing). The trial has not take place yet. Personally I think it is unfair to charge the lawyer for this financial scheme (if forgery was indeed involved, that’s another story).  He was playing with the rules set by the insurance companies within the law. As he said in this podcast, the idea of earning profits from other people’s death itself was not wrong. It was not a very comfortable thought, maybe not even one worth being encouraged. Whenever there are rules, there will always be someone poking around them, testing the limits.

There are some interesting discussions on the ProPublica page of the story (x) as well. I was not surprised to see most of the comments had a “take that, insurance companies” attitude. I kind of agree with them too. After all, it’s an individual-versus-big-companies sort of story. In reality, sadly individuals seldom win.

Audio books and podcasts are fun. When I’m doing things that do not require intense concentration, I would usually put some stories on. I started to listen to more podcasts after I discovered the android app Podkicker. In my opinion, this software need a lot of improvements. But still, it made downloading and organizing podcasts much easier. As I listened to more and more of them, I decided maybe I should keep some notes about them. Mental note: mental notes is not as good as actual notes.

In this note I want to write about the episode “Unraveling Bolero” from Radiolab (x). This Radiolab short tells a story about a scientist Anne Adams, who quit science to pursuit a career of an artist. One of the impressive paintings she did was “Unravel Bolero”, which was a visual representation of Maurice Ravel’s famous composition “Bolero”. Both the music and the painting was beautiful and breathtaking. However, those works might have showed the early symptoms of a deadly neurodegenerative condition, Primary progressive aphasia (PPA). This condition alters the way that brain functions. The altered perception may give rise to new creativity.

I high recommend this episode. It is a very good story. The journal references can be find at the end of the Radiolab website for this episode. I found this paper very easy to read and fascinating (x). Despite the story being kind of sad, the links it indicated between art and science were still amazing.

Music with repetitive patterns are attractive, like Bolero. Or like Canon, although it is less repetitive. I also hear that little kids like repetitive nursery rhymes more than anything else. It is interesting how much we are allured by repeats. A lot of diseases can be caused by abnormal repeats in genetic sequences, too. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe it’s not. Who knows.

P.S. The idea of repeats reminds me of another Radiolab podcast “Loops” (x) that I listened to a long time ago. It is not 100% relevant to this topic. I just think it is a pretty fun episode too.

John: I think I found the answer to your final problem.

Sherlock: What is it?

John: 42.

That’s why I can’t write fanfictions…

Happy birthday Benedict Cumberbatch! Today my dashboard is flooded with birthday wishes for him from fans all over the world. It is quite a nice feeling. Before this guy, all my celebrity crushes were about semi-famous-but-not-really seiyuus or bands. *pushing up glasses like a hipster* It is nice to know there are a gazillion of people having the same feelings too.

The first show I watched featuring Benedict Cumberbatch was Sherlock. It was a successful series in so many perspectives. Even so, the character of Sherlock Holmes still stood out most distinctively. Then Frankenstein totally blew my mind. After that I started to seek other shows and interviews of his. He is an inspiration to me that the ultimate self-contentedness comes from continuous pursuit of excellence. That’s definitely a nice attitude to have towards life.

Talking about Sherlock, I just saw the list of Emmy nominations of this year. Hooray for Sherlock’s nominations! It is a good thing that this show is well appreciated in the states. So that maybe when the third season is finally on air, we can watch it as soon as the British audiences do. Ah, the hiatus has been so long already. A bit too long.

It is true that I began to listen to Cabin Pressure because of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was  BRILLIANT (saying that word in Author’s voice) as the magnificent man on a flying machine. However the more I listened to the show, the more I was overwhelmed by the writer, John Finnemore’s wittiness and awesomeness. Up to now I might have repeated every episode of Cabin Pressure for at least 5 times, and it still cracks me up so hard.

While waiting for the new season to be made, I started searching for other things written by John Finnemore. Here I’m quoting this sketch from John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. It is probably not the most funny scene from the show. But interestingly, when I find my facebook feeds overwhelmed by verbal punches about various issues, I think I share John’s feeling…

===========

JF: I know, like the other day - my nephew got me to play tennis with him and I was awful

KATE: Oh no!

JF: Yeah, he wiped the floor with me. He’s only twelve

KATE: God, poor you

JF: I know. I mean, I was never brilliant at it, but I used to play every weekend, I was alright.

KATE: I suppose you’re just out of practice

RUDE MAN: Well yeah, and also you’ll have put on a lot of weight.

JF: What?

RUDE MAN: Uh, well, no offence but you are quite fat now. I assume you weren’t when you were playing tennis every week.

JF: Sorry, have we met?

RUDE MAN: No. Oh, sorry, yeah I should have said - I’m the sort of person that likes to speak my mind.

JF: Oh

RUDE MAN: Yes, that’s the thing about me, I’m afraid I don’t really hold with political correctness. I mean, when you think about it, why should I have to filter what I say because someone else might not like my opinions? No, I just call a spade a spade… Oh, Kate’s gone.

JF: Oh, well that’s very, um…refreshing, I suppose.

RUDE MAN: I think so, it’s more honest, isn’t it?

JF: Do you find people sometimes get offended?

RUDE MAN: Well, sometimes, yes, but the way I see it, I speak as I find and if people don’t like it, that’s their problem, really

JF: I agree, actually. You’re quite right

RUDE MAN: I’m glad to hear it. Because I’m that kind of a Marmite person actually, people either love me or hate me.

JF: Yeah, I bet they do. Well, um, if you’ll excuse me…

RUDE MAN: What?

JF: Well I need a wee.

RUDE MAN: Oh right, okay.

JF: Excuse me. (undoes zip) So, how do you come to know-

(splashing sound)

RUDE MAN: What- what are you doing?

JF: Hmm?

RUDE MAN: You said you were going to the loo

JF: No, I didn’t, I said I needed a wee. Oh, sorry, I should have said. I’m the sort of person that just wees on the floor.

RUDE MAN: That’s disgusting!

JF: Yeah, that’s the thing about me. I’m afraid I don’t really hold with going to the loo. I mean, when you think about it, why should I have to go off to a little room because someone might not like my urine? No, I just wee where I stand. It’s more honest, isn’t it?

RUDE MAN: But you’re splashing me!

JF: Yeah, well people do get splashed sometimes, but the way I see it, I urinate where I like, and if other people don’t like it that’s their problem, really.

RUDE MAN: You’re disgusting!

JF: Yeah, well I’m kinda like a Marmite-flavoured toothpaste person - people hate me.

(Source of Transcript: X )