EPISODE 250. JASON CONCEPCION. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. THE GREATEST LETTERS SEGMENT IN THE HISTORY OF PODCASTS. MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU.https://podbay.fm/p/escape-hatch-formerly-dune-pod/e/1746364475

Developers are constantly testing how online users react to their designs. Will they stay longer on the site because of this shade of blue? Will they get depressed if we show them depressing social media posts? What happens if we intentionally mismatch people on our dating website? When it comes to shades of blue, perhaps that’s not a big deal. But…

We return to speaking to Joseph Haughney about his recollections of the Arpanet and its long-term impact. We ask other founders how they feel about what the internet has become. We also speak to internet early founder Hans-Werner Braun’s daughters about how they reconcile themselves to the world their father helped create.https://www.inc.com/comput…

It is the late 1970s and early 1980s and the Arpanet is in decline. NSFnet is on the rise in its place. Why did the Arpanet get eclipsed by other networks, and is that OK?https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks#episode-5

Louis Pouzin is a French academic who some experts say deserves more credit for his contributions to the internet. But is that true, and should any one person be give all the credit?https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks#episode-4

It’s the 1970s and both the government and academia are doing everything they can to spread the word of the Arpanet. But as the Arpanet gains popularity everywhere after its 1972 coming-out ball in Washington, D.C., through its new phone book, it also faces detractors who don’t want it to be available to all.https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks#episo…

Many historians say the Arpanet (and ultimately the internet) was born on October 29, 1969. But is that really when the Arpanet began, and who should be given credit for this key moment in internet history?https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks#episode-2

After World War II, the U.S. had to change the way it communicated if it was going to keep up with the Soviets in the Cold War, especially once Sputnik was launched. It was the vision of a Missouri boy called Lick that would solve those communication issues and spark the creation of the internet.https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks#episode-1…

It’s back to the Oscars stage for Jon and Andy, to talk about this year’s nominees for Best Original Score, and it’s back to some age old questions: Do we want our music made out of notes or blobs? Does reading up about these scores get in the way of our curmudgeonly opinions? And, how much music should a musical’s music music?https://www.settlingt…

To start 2025, we’ve chosen another selection from Tony MacMahon’s and Tom Davis collections, featuring among others sessions from the 1973 Fleadh Ceoil in Listowel. In 1973, Tom was in Listowel and managed to record a variety of well-known musicians, including Joe Burke (1939-2021, this time on tin whistle) playing a haunting air An Droighnean Don…

A Philosophy of Planetary Computation: From Antikythera to Synthetic Intelligencehttps://longnow.org/ideas/a-philosophy-of-planetary-computation/

In this special live episode, recorded at the Hay Festival, Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Gillian Kenny and comedian Seán Burke to learn about medieval Irish folklore.We’re focusing on the lore and stories from Gaelic Irish culture. Gaelic culture remained the dominant set of cultural and societal beliefs on the island of Ireland well into the 17th c…

In this episode, Greg Jenner is joined in 15th-Century England by Dr Lydia Zeldenrust and comedian Robin Ince to learn all about the early history of book printing. 2024 marks the 550th anniversary of the first book printed in English: a history of Troy, produced in 1474 by William Caxton. In the decades that followed, numerous printing shops would…

Greg Jenner is joined in medieval Europe by Dr Mary Bateman and comedian Mike Wozniak to learn all about the legends of King Arthur.Most of us have heard of Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. But where do these legends come from? Arthur first appears in the writings of a 9th-Century monk, but he’s not the king we know tod…

Julian Gough sums up his career as follows: “I just sit in my room and write.” Well, I think being an acclaimed children’s author, novelist, stage playwright, poet and top-ten Irish musician is a little more impressive than he’s letting on…... https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/julian-gough-the-egg-and-the-rock-ep249/…

She's the woman of the moment: after a sequence of acclaimed and award-winning poetry collections in both Irish and English, Clare poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa has delivered a sensational non-fiction book, "A Ghost In The Throat", nominated in two categories in the Irish Book Awards. In today's episode, Doireann joins Darach and Peadar to talk about he…

We've spoken about fairy forts before. However, in the context of our recent discussion of placenames and bearing in mind the widespread incidences of Ráth and Lios in towns across Ireland, we decided to bring an expert in. Sinéad Mercier, co-author of "The Men Who Eat Ringforts", drops in to tell Darach and Peadar all about these structures which …

Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire is a lecturer in TU Dublin and a well-travelled chef and TV presenter. He's the world's leading expert in Irish food history, so why he agreed to appear on our podcast, we'll never know. Gearóidín and Peadar chat with Máirtín about the history of Irish ingredients, ancient cooking methods, and an absolute heap of cheese.Why …

Some people out there wouldn’t see a rabbinical calling and a love of Irish dancing and sean-nós singing as a likely pairing. Those people have not met Darach’s guest this week. Saoirse Cecelia Beyer is a New Jersey-based rabbi with a passion for traditional Irish singing and dancing styles which has taken her to fleadhs all over.In this week’s epi…

When we in Ireland think of Irish-America, our minds tend to rush towards rivers died green, New York cops and maybe even a Massachusetts political dynasty. But there’s a lot more to the story than that. In particular, the Appalachian region, crossing multiple states, has its own culture and identity distinct from its neighbours in the South and Mi…

Taylor Swift broke the Irish Internet today when she wore a geansaí. It launched a thousand versions of the same joke - she looked a bit like one of the Clancy Brothers. In today's BONUS episode we look at the history of the Aran sweater, what knitters know that the others don't, diddly-eye erasure and much more. https://podbay.fm/p/motherfocloir/e…

"Hamlet has been performed in Klingon" Aisling Carolan.For a poet, the fact that the Irish word tír (country) and the English word tear (a sad drop of water) sound the same is profoundly significant. For a linguist, however, this is a coincidence and a cursed one at that.How much weight should we attribute to similar sounding words with similar mea…

Are you here for an affair? Ah yes, an episode of Settling the Score, very good sir – this one’s about Simon and Garfunkel’s song score to Mike Nichol’s classic 1967 satire The Graduate. How was this movie pioneering in its use of music? Do these famous songs engender sympathy or skepticism for the characters, or both? And, it’s okay to ask: do the…

t’s all been leading to this: Episode 200. We turned to our Top Men to celebrate the milestone, the showrunner of House of the Dragon Ryan Condal and the writer showrunner of Veep Dave Mandel! Their movie props collecting podcast The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of just wrapped S7, so they were ready to go DEEP into all the incredible props, artwork,…

TOMORROW is the season finale of Presumed Innocent. TODAY we have the director of FIVE of Presumed Innocent’s amazing episodes, Greg Yaitanes. Greg gives us behind the scenes details of working with Jake Gyllenhaal and the rest of the incredible cast, and then he joins the Escape Hatch Five Timers’ Club as we cover another entry in the Dad Movie Mt…

In this episode, Dara and Isy are joined by the astronaut Helen Sharman to learn about how humans learned to survive in space - with some diverting conversations about glitter, cat statues, hibernation, and shell suits.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026mrk

BWWWWAAAAHHHH! It’s finally time to talk about Inception. M.G. Sieger returns for his 3rd Nolan on the pod.https://podbay.fm/p/escape-hatch-formerly-dune-pod/e/1710115200

HEY! Did you watch Civil War? Wanna talk about it? We did, so we recorded a very special bonus episode on it. We invited our dear pal and media tech journalist Peter Kafka because he had thoughts! Plus, Jason completely takes over the pod for this ep, so don’t miss it!https://podbay.fm/p/escape-hatch-formerly-dune-pod/e/1713370797…

This is the One. We tackle one of the all time greatest works of art and the cornerstone of a beloved holiday tradition, as we watch Peter Jackson’s unmatchable translation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And joining us is the greatest genre podcaster in the game, and Maiar level Tolkien expert, the co-host of…

In this episode, Jake goes through some of the newer features of the View Transition API, along with some vaguer ideas that are planned for the future.https://offthemainthread.tech/episode/new-view-transition-stuff/

This week, from 2023: Steve Albini was long synonymous with the indie underground, playing in revered bands and recording albums by the Pixies, PJ Harvey and Nirvana. He also often seemed determined to offend as many people as possible. What led him to reassess his past? By Jeremy Gordonhttps://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2024/may/15/from-the-ar…

This week, from 2021: After a painful breakup and the death of her father, one writer retreated to the coast of Brittany in winter where she tested the powerful effects of a daily swim in the icy sea. By Wendell Steavensonhttps://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/jan/08/from-the-archive-cold-comfort-how-cold-water-swimming-cured-my-broken-heart-p…

John welcomes writer and director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) to discuss experimentation, subjectivity and adaptation as they take an in-depth look at his screenplay, Oppenheimer.They explore Chris’ writing process, how to make non-linear structures work, finding the story in real-life events, being kinetic on the page, the impor…

For those who haven’t heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the fourth and final part of a four-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock, this time mostly focused on what Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman did after leaving the band.https://5…

For those who haven’t heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the third part of a four-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock.https://500songs.com/podcast/song-172-hickory-wind-by-the-byrds-part-3-the-parsons-tale/…

For those who haven’t heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a multi-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock.https://500songs.com/podcast/song-172-hickory-wind-by-the-byrds-part-two-of-submarines-and-second-generations/…

For those who haven’t heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the first part of a multi-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock.https://500songs.com/podcast/song-172-hickory-wind-by-the-byrds-part-one-ushering-in-a-new-dimension/…

Episode one hundred and forty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Hey Joe” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and is the longest episode to date, at over two hours.https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-147-hey-joe-by-the-jimi-hendrix-experience/#more-1124

This week’s episode looks at “All You Need is Love”, the Our World TV special, and the career of the Beatles from April 1966 through August 1967.https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-150-all-you-need-is-love-by-the-beatles/

Episode one hundred and fifty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks, and the self-inflicted damage the group did to their career between 1965 and 1967. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also…https://500songs.com…

For those who haven’t heard the announcement I posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “All Along the Watchtower”. Part one was on the original version by Bob Dylan, while this part is on Jimi Hendrix’s cover version.https://500songs.com/podcast/…

Greetings peoples of the internets! And welcome to part five, the last part of this series looking at the history of Shoegaze. https://hicks.design/troika/troika-53-shoegazin-part-5-black-artists

Greetings peoples of the internets! And welcome to part four of this series looking at the history of shoegaze. https://hicks.design/troika/troika-52-shoegazin-part-4-2020s

Part 3: 2000s:Greetings peoples of the internets! And welcome to part three of this series looking at the history of Shoegaze. https://hicks.design/troika/troika-51-shoegazin-part-3-2000s

Greetings peoples of the internets! And welcome to part two of this series looking at the history of Shoegaze. https://hicks.design/troika/troika-50-shoegazin-part-2-1990s

Shoegaze. Once a derisory term invented by music journalists to describe how the bands barely moved, staring at their vast array of effects pedals. Now the term is embraced positively, and thanks to platforms like TikTok, is more popular than ever before with a new younger audience. https://hicks.design/troika/troika-49-shoegazin-part-1-origins…

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and it’s hard to imagine a world more alien and different from Earth. It’s known as a Gas Giant, and its diameter is eleven times the size of Earth’s: our planet would fit inside it one thousand three hundred times. But its mass is only three hundred and twenty times greater, suggesting that althou…

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 became known as his annus mirabilis ('miraculous year'). While Einstein c…

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss megaliths - huge stones placed in the landscape, often visually striking and highly prominent.Such stone monuments in Britain and Ireland mostly date from the Neolithic period, and the most ancient are up to 6,000 years old. In recent decades, scientific advances have enabled archaeologists to learn a large amount ab…

Paul Erdős (1913 – 1996) is one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the 20th century. During his long career, he made a number of impressive advances in our understanding of maths and developed whole new fields in the subject.He was born into a Jewish family in Hungary just before the outbreak of World War I, and his life was shaped by the ris…