List Envy

We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants. And there are no more impressive shoulders to stand on than the great physicists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This week, Mark is in conversation with author and teacher Katherine Benfante, to determine who wins physics.

• (00:00) - We need physics!
• (00:32) - Introduction
• (02:37) - Katherine’s pick: Sir Isaac Newton
• (05:01) - Mark’s pick: Joseph Swan
• (07:29) - Katherine’s pick: James Clerk Maxwell
• (13:53) - Mark’s pick: William Shockley
• (15:41) - Katherine’s pick: Ernest Rutherford
• (19:13) - Mark’s pick: Heinrich Hertz
• (21:22) - Katherine’s pick: Albert Einstein
• (25:23) - Mark’s pick: Guglielmo Marconi
• (28:12) - Katherine’s pick: Stephen Hawking
• (33:26) - Mark’s pick: Alexander Graham Bell
• (37:04) - Midamble
• (40:01) - Building the final list
• (42:59) - Honourable mentions
• (43:46) - Katherine’s p ick: Sir Isaac Newton
• (46:40) - Scattered

Hands up who overthinks stuff? Did you really put your hand up? Is anyone else putting theirs up? Did you put yours up too quickly? Maybe you were too slow? And what is a hand meant to do once it’s up in the air, anyway? I mean, we’re always being told to wave them like we just don’t care… how does a person do that?

And breathe.

Kim Witten helps people turn their overthinking into expert thinking, and she joins Mark to build a top-5 list of ways to tame the gremlins in our brain.

• (00:00) - You are in charge
• (00:40) - Introduction
• (01:21) - Why the brain?
• (03:30) - The vice of advice
• (06:13) - Kim’s pick: Make a top-5 list of you
• (11:33) - Mark’s pick: Walk for a 10-song playlist
• (15:06) - Kim’s pick: Get some perspective
• (18:52) - Mark’s pick: Occupy your chimp
• (22:26) - Kim’s pick: Treat feelings as feedback
• (25:20) - Mark’s pick: Make the right thing the easy thing
• (28:28) - Kim’s pick: Get stuff out of your head
• (32:04) - Mark’s pick: Dance like nobody’s watching
• (34:33) - Kim’s pick: Be like Alice
• (39:00) - Mark’s pick: Meditate for 15 minutes
• (45:31) - Midamble
• (46:42) - Building the final list
• (48:00) - Honourable mentions
• (54:01) - Hold That Thought

Staple a jelly doughnut to your ear, set your spleen to channel 27 and ask your favourite albino squirrel to a dance. Lex Friedman joins Mark to discuss their top-5 songs by “Weird” Al Yankovic that aren’t parodies.

Lex is, among many things (musician, improviser, podcaster, game developer and consultant), a turbo Yankovic fan, and it’s quite possible that even Al himself might struggle to come up with a better list.

• (00:00) - Stay weird, Al
• (00:40) - Introduction
• (01:04) - Getting into Weird Al
• (05:52) - Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
• (08:02) - Lex’s pick: Word Crimes
• (11:06) - Mark’s pick: Everything You Know is Wrong
• (14:26) - Lex’s pick: Trapped in the Drive-Thru
• (18:16) - Mark’s pick: Albuquerque
• (21:41) - Lex’s pick: Hardware Store
• (24:04) - Mark’s pick: Christmas at Ground Zero
• (26:49) - Lex’s pick: Skipper Dan
• (28:33) - Mark’s pick: Your Horoscope for Today
• (31:04) - Lex’s pick: Frank's 2000" TV
• (32:49) - Mark’s pick: The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
• (37:27) - Midamble
• (39:40) - Building the final list
• (40:55) - Honourable mentions
• (45:17) - The music of Liam & Lex
• (48:00) - More of Lex Friedman

Rhythm is a dancer. The rhythm is gonna get ya. And you must not, under any circumstances, stop the beat.

This week, Stephanie Fuccio joins Mark to pick their top 5 songs that drag them to the dance floor. At the end of this, you’ll either leave with an earworm or the need to jump on a mini-trampoline for a bit.

• (00:00) - We have to dance
• (00:17) - Introduction
• (00:58) - When do you dance?
• (05:41) - Steph’s pick: Missy Elliott - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
• (08:40) - Mark’s pick: Brush Shiels – Fields of Athenry
• (10:37) - Steph’s pick: Girls' Generation – 소녀시대
• (12:31) - Mark’s pick: Deee Lite – Groove is in the Heart
• (16:46) - Steph’s pick: Donna Summer – The Last Dance
• (18:43) - Mark’s pick: House of Pain – Jump Around
• (20:25) - Steph’s pick: Walk the Moon – One Foot
• (24:47) - Mark’s pick: Madness – Baggy Trousers
• (26:36) - Steph’s pick: Elderbrook – Glad I Found You
• (36:54) - Midamble
• (36:54) - Mark’s pick: Reef – Place Your Hands
• (38:57) - Building the final list
• (41:09) - Honourable mentions
• (47:23) - Ai and Podcasting

Whether they go “pew pew”, “what is this thing called ‘love’?” or “Give me your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle”, androids have, it turns out, been a staple of sci-fi films for a century.

This week, Ayesha Khan joins Mark to rank androids from sci-fi films.

• (00:00) - Cold open
• (00:19) - Introduction
• (02:00) - What is an android?
• (03:38) - Ayesha’s pick: The Terminator, from Terminator 2: Judgement Day
• (07:32) - Mark’s pick: Marvin, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• (10:29) - Ayesha’s pick: Ava, from Ex Machina
• (13:16) - Mark’s pick: Ash, from Alien
• (15:46) - Ayesha’s pick: Evil Maria, from Metropolis
• (20:58) - Mark’s pick: The Terminator, from The Terminator
• (24:33) - Ayesha’s pick: The Stepford Wives, from The Stepford Wives
• (26:54) - Mark’s pick: David, from AI
• (31:39) - Ayesha’s pick: Data, from Star Trek
• (35:10) - Mark’s pick: C-3PO, from Star Wars
• (39:28) - Midamble
• (41:28) - Building the final list
• (44:39) - Honourable mentions
• (48:03) - Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*