What are some pod casts worth checking out and why?
What are some pod casts worth checking out and why?
Quick edit. I had no idea pod casts were so popular. Thank you all for posting. I have a lot of content to check out.
97 comments
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I like behind the bastards, you get to learn the history of both living and dead ass holes in some good detail.
If I want a laugh at pop culture, the weekly planet is my go to, it's funny chat about comic books, movies and comic book movies. Plus the back catalogue is huge so chances are they've had an episode about something you've liked. I just really like laughing at things I've enjoyed.
Also check out debunking a murderer. Remember making a murderer on Netflix? Turns out that doc was bullshit, dude totally did those murders. Hear the prosecutors side and all the evidence the Netflix show left out.
Finally, slow burn. A long format episodic deep dive into recent history. Each season covers some important events, like Nixon, tupac and biggie, Bill Clinton, etc. I learned a lot from it.
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I second Behind the Bastards. I would also check out Knowledge Fight if you like making fun of Alex Jones. Dogg Zzone 9000 is great for just laughing your ass off.
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I tried behind the bastards, and really liked the first few (older?) episodes. But it soon felt too shallow, especially when the main host isn't speaking -- imo the other guests were only there to provide quips. Personal opinion, of course. Maybe this got better?
I switched over to QAA to scratch this itch for laughing at conspiracy theorists.
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Knowledge fight is pretty great, but at some point it started to sound way too scripted. I find it a bit weird especially since it's comedians hosting.
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Also check out debunking a murderer. Remember making a murderer on Netflix? Turns out that doc was bullshit, dude totally did those murders. Hear the prosecutors side and all the evidence the Netflix show left out.
I don't know one way or another but it was pretty clear that there was a lot of shaky evidence and a lot of coerced confession stuff which definitely doesn't seem like justice. There was also a second season of that show where they brought in a much better lawyer (who specializes in exonerating false convictions) and showed some more significant problems with the prosecutor's case and also that the guy's defence lawyers were not the most competent (and IIRC also uncovered that the guy's brother in law had a collection of r*pe porn images on his laptop)
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Citations Needed, excellent reporting on the way corporate news distorts various issues to shape public opinion, occasionally with historical examples going back to the antebellum period.
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I'm seeing a lot of stuff with the lable citations needed, who is the creator?
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Label looks like this
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Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi
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The Darknet Diaries. It covers cyber crime and security and they have a lot of interesting episodes.
The freedom for flash drives is a particularly interesting one.
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Ep 45 & 46: Xbox Underground
Ep 92: The Pirate Bay
Both are fantastic.
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Darknet Diaries - interesting (and mostly first hand) stories about hacking, the dark web, etc. it’s so crazy how some of these hackers (good and bad) get access to data/companies.
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I recently started the podcast and I enjoy the old episodes but the new episodes seem to have a lot of unnecessary filler
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The Dollop is a good palate cleanser to go with Behind the Bastards. Both history podcasts with a comedic bent, but Dollop is usually much more light-hearted/bizarre happenings.
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The Dollop: now with 90% less child murder than Behind the Bastards!
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Its true, I was the mics
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5-4
Lefty lawyers discuss Supreme Court cases and why the Supreme Court sucks. They've got a backlog going back years, covering 100+ cases with analysis for every decision, concurrence, and dissent. Also special episodes discussing specific Justices and their jurisprudence, a miniseries about the Federalist Society, and lots of eps about law school in general.
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On the subject of the US Supreme Court, I can also recommend What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law.
It started out as What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law, in which 99% Invisible host Roman Mars talked with US SC expert Elizabeth Joh about the various constitutional crises Donald Trump kept driving the country into. But then Biden got elected, so they made it more general. It’s still fascinating though.
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No Such Thing as a Fish. Made by the fact researchers for the British show QI. Hosts are intelligent and have good rapport with eachother. Light hearted, interesting, something I can zone in and out of a bit.
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Seconded! They often invite guests over as well, who are pretty well versed in their own field. Funny British humour with 4 facts in an hour? Sign me up
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Exactly!!!
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Noted!
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So many good ones. I'll just paste the (slightly edited) podcast descriptions of three I enjoy here:
Twenty Thousand Hertz A lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.
Under the Influence Under the Influence gives listeners a rare backstage pass into the hallways, boardrooms and recording studios of the ad industry. Fascinating (and humorous) stories that connect the dots between pop culture, marketing and human nature.
Freakonomics Radio Uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.
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Freakonomics is always solid.
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I'd like to recommend The Trojan Horse Affair. Its a limited series and a few years old now, but a a really interesting listen
Its about the scandal in the UK in 2013, where an anonymous letter 'exposed' an Islamist conspiracy in Birmingham schools to radicalise children.
The investigation in the podcast is helmed by two people; a rookie journalism grad who is muslim, and an experienced white journalist. The contrast in perspectives and emotion between them adds to it
And yeah it'll probably make you angry, and for those not in the UK it might key you in a bit on the tensions that do and don't exist with British Muslims, how they're viewed and treated by lots of parties here (including the Government)
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Binged it and it was good.
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The Formosa Files. Two history geeks living in Taiwan, giving an incredible look into its past. I am not a history guy, but a friend recommended it. I started listening to give it a quick listen. I can't put it down. Absolute hidden treasure.
The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
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AntennaPod hell yeah!
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It's so good!
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All the other ones surprisingly suck compared to AntennaPod
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Thx!
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Old Gods of Appalachia: It's a beautifully made slice of southern folk horror with a slow burn story, the ambience of being lost in the woods, and a narration like a gospel preacher worshipping cthulhu.
The Wrong Station: Well written stand alone weird fiction with a narrator that sounds life the uncanny valley took human form to stare at your tits while trying to pick you up at a bar. The content ranges from period pieces to high sci-fi, app with a horror lean and the into is fantastic.
Knifepoint Horror: Soren Narnia, of all the names, seems to do these alone. There's no into, no talk, just right into a story and right out, leaving you to think about what you just listened to. The production value is great, the content is amazing, and there's a mystique to it that others lack.
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Cautionary Tales
We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups - and they are all true. Tim Harford (Financial Times, BBC, author of "The Data Detective") brings you stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, and hilarious fiascos. They'll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser.
I think the description is better than what I can write.
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Dan Carlin's history podcasts are amazing. No ads or anything so you don't have to sit through 15 minutes of sponsors
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A few from my list:
- Darknet Diaries - Interviews with interesting people around hacking and cybersecurity. This includes a lot of the actual criminals themselves and you get to hear their motivations and how they did what they did. Really neat for understanding the minds of folks who do bad things.
- FiveThirtyEight Politics - This one is good for staying abreast of US politics, polling. While the political bias of the hosts is pretty obvious, this is less punditry and more about the numbers.
- Risky Business with Nate Silver Maria Konnikova - A neat podcast covering risk, poker and politics. Just a good listen for thinking about risk and probabilities in life.
- The Lawfare Podcast - Lawyers talking about the law, and how it shapes and is shaped by whats in the news. Great for getting a legalistic view of the world.
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Co-signing 538. Great podcast, especially for those that are good at processing/understanding data
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Depends on what you're looking for. Most generally, I'd suggest Conan O'Bien Needs A Friend. Aside from the excessive ad breaks, the guests and discussions are almost always interesting.
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Kinda depends on what you're looking for. Going through my podcast app:
Dimension 20 is a bunch of CollegeHumor actors doing DND campaigns. I don't play DND but have enjoyed this so far.
The Dollop is a couple comedians riffing about strange people and events from history. More entertaining than educational but you might expand your knowledge a bit as long as you don't put too much weight in their research.
Blowback is a history podcast that goes over major historical events that people probably know of but not much about. The production quality is amazing and the research is really good. It's like listening to a well-made documentary. Plus they got Jon Benjamin as a guest actor for season 1.
Welcome to Nightvale is a surrealist horror/comedy with a fun vibe. Lots of memorable one-liners.
My Dad Wrote a Porno is pretty funny, although I felt like the bit sort of wore out after a few episodes and stopped listening. Seems to have an audience and still be going so maybe it picks up.
Citations needed is a solid critique of news narratives.
Monday Morning podcast is okay if you want to hear Bill burr rant to himself for a while. He's been doing it for like 13 years so there's probably gold in there, but I think he's better when he has someone to riff with. Only listened to a handful of episodes though.
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The Adventure Zone is good for the same reason as Dimension 20. A lot of DnD 'actual play' podcasts are people who play a great game of DnD, but don't make a great podcast.
TAZ is a bunch of comedy podcasters who decided to play DnD for a goof, and it works. The first arc has a rough first couple episodes, but it turns into one of my most beloved pieces of media across any format.
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These are the ones I listen to the most, I think all of them are weekly
- secretly incredibly fascinating. They talk about a simple topic and expand it with a lot of trivia and the hosts are very funny.
- 99% invisible. Mostly about architecture that you don't notice but they give a lot of cool info (lately some episodes get off topic or I simply don't like them but they have a huge archive that I listen to)
- my brother my brother and me: just stupid comedy from 3 brothers giving "advice"
- dear Hank and John: the brothers Green giving science-ish advice
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https://www.theskepticsguide.org/
Generally a science education/communication podcast, but they're really good at teaching critical thinking skills and just talking about cool advances in science, technology, and everything in between.
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Search Engine with PJ Vogt. They do deep dives into all kinds of things and it's full of interesting information.
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I'm still completely unsure as to why PJ as a person got cancelled. The whole story is just opaque. I love Search Engine, I wish it were a tiny bit funnier though.
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i agree. Not as good as the OG podcast but it has found it's form over the last few months
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A few I've been big on lately:
The Meat and Dairy Network Podcast - A British humor surrealist comedy podcast about the inner workings of the meat and dairy industry.
The Horror Virgin - A guy who hates scary movies has two friends who make him watch them.
The League of Ultimate Questing - High production actual play DnD podcast. Very funny with some fun hooks.
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Always glad to see a fellow beef head out in the wild. Beef out!
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Bigsoftitty.png
Pretty much every single episode is the funniest goddamn thing I've ever heard
Their story of being at the last tenacious d show is gold standard shit
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I’d recommend The Blindboy Podcast, in which one half of the comedy rap duo the Rubberbandits talks about whatever’s taken his fancy that week. Sometimes it’s an hour about sniffing the crotch of a rented tuxedo, other times it’s a long, rambling conversation with Hollywood actor Chris O’Dowd. Or he could go on a deep dive about the history of a tennis ball.
I used to listen to a lot of podcasts. These days Blindboy’s is the only one I’m guaranteed to listen to every week.
I’ll also heartily recommend The Memory Palace.
It’s not as frequent as it used to be, but it’s always pleasant seeing an episode pop into my feed. They’re usually no longer than 15 minutes, and are a lovely little lens on some previously unknown facet of American history.
A Brief Eulogy for a Commercial Radio Station is the kind of writing that makes me sad, because I know I could never write something so beautiful.
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I enjoy a podcast or two, and i only see a few here i know, so heres a few favourites that i didn't see yet,
Battleground: Ukraine, podcast that was being started about historical battles at the same time as the march on Kyiv happened. They pivoted and have kept abrest of events weekly since then. Its been very valuable during times the rest of the media aren't covering it.
Age of Napoleon, an all time favourite, Everett Rummage is a well researched unassuming host. His excursion into the history of Haiti and its ties to the Napoleonic era is some of the best podcast hours i've ever spent.
Philosophize This, Stephen West is the happiest podcaster in a state that most philosophers would refer to as alive. He has gone through so many philosophers from all ages and gives them all a fair go.
Capitalisn't, Bethany Mclean and Luigi Zingales take an issue with the capital system today, interview an expert, and discuss.
Debunking Economics, Welcome to the mind of economist Steve Keen. The most heterodox economist kicking goals today. Slightly MMT but has some disagreements, and shines a new lense over the field of economics.
Dot Social, Interview Podcast for the fediverse curious. Don't know if anybody here would be interested in that kind of thing though...
Rest is Politics UK/US, both UK and US ones are great. These political current affairs podcasts are hosted by former political insiders. Their insights are valuable, even if you disagree with them. The podcasts motto is "disagree agreeably". Rory Stewart and Allastair Campbell's discussion on the Iraq War was an extremely poignant and honest moment and is well worth listening.
Climate Deniers Playbook, Same guy from Climate Town on YouTube, but even more annoying because he's right there in your ear holes telling you about all the ways Big Oil is going out of its way to fuck you, and specifically you, over.
The Tally Room, Ben Raue interviews a guest or two on Australasian elections. He analyses and discusses the electoral possibilities in upcoming elections, and historical electoral practices. This is not a politics podcast, its an election analysis podcast. Therefore he generally only strays into the policies of a certain party as it impacts on the electoral outcomes of the government area in question.
I hope theres some podcasts in there that interest people.
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I'm a huge fan of Small Town Murder. 2 comedians discussing a different murder (even the odd serial killer) each week.
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My favorite podcasts are super geeky:
- The Hackaday podcast: https://hackaday.com/category/podcasts/
- The Pick, Place podcast: https://www.pickplacepodcast.com/
(They're both available on just about every podcast platform)
Hackaday is catered to a much more general audience than The Pick, Place podcast which is all about the PCB manufacturing/assembly industry. So if you're a geeky sort you'll love Hackaday because just about everything they talk about is super interesting (to geeks) and it's never boring (unlike a lot of other geeky podcasts where the hosts can ramble on for too long about topics that are only mildly interesting).
About the Pick, Place podcast: Never in a million years would did I think I could enjoy such a podcast. They go over the steps and equipment used to make the circuit boards that live inside all the electronics we use every day and it's way more interesting than you'd think! Like, did you know that most professionally-made circuit boards go through the equivalent of a dishwasher? As in, they're washed... With (denatured/deionized) water! Furthermore, these washing machines only need their water changed out like once a month (or sometimes after several months) then they take the little bits of metal it collects over time and they sell them to companies that deal with precious metals (because they'll have multiple pounds of tiny balls of tin, silver, gold, etc).
Oh man I learned so much interesting obscure shit from that podcast! I love it 👍
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Pick, place looks good, cheers.
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Bad Hasbara is a hilarious listen and extremely cathartic
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Hidden Brain. It's a psychology podcast, but it's aimed at anyone who wants to understand their minds more. I'm not in the field of psychology, but I certainly enjoy it.
Soft Skills Engineering for software engineers, about soft skills. They have fun.
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Triforce (by Yogscast guys) is excellent.
It's just three funny, kinda nerdy, guys chatting shit. No scripting. Minimal ads. Funny stuff.
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I've really been enjoying ranged touch network of podcasts lately. They have: Baldur's Gate replay podcasts (mages and murder dad's), Stephen King book podcasts (just King things), fallout games podcast (too much future), video game academia discussion (game studies study buddies), sci fi/fantasy book club (shelved by genre), A homestar runner retrospective podcast (homestuck made this world)
I think they're leftists, they're certainly anti-liberals at least, and they are funny and knowledgeable about things and I always learn more about anything when I listen to their content.
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Among The Stars and Bones is a great fiction podcast.
Selected Shorts is best for short stories read live.
This American Life is the OG podcast with such great stories.
Aria Code, it breaks down great opera arias and the plots behind them.
Cocaine and Rhinestones, a crazy look at the history of the country and western greats.
Expanded by To Be Magnetic, it's an actually helpful self help podcast. Truly. A touch woo but don't be put off by it.
Every drag queen podcast is worth listening to because you will learn things about sex you never considered possible. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo and her Listerine and Tictacs will blow your mind. (I am not recommending these ideas but it's hilarious).
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- Trillbilly Worker's Party - Kentucky-centric Marxist jokers hanging out. They always know how to put a smile on my face, even if they're talking about bleak stuff.
- Fun City - Well produced live role playing of Shadowrun. The game is a few years in and I am just invested.
- ALAB - Lawyers talking shit. They're funny and I like learning about interesting cases. One of the characters they covered actually sued them and settled for an interview on the show.
- Desert Oracle Radio - Joshua Tree-centric paranormal stuff. Good for an old X-Files head like me.
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That ALAB sounds right up my alley, thanks.
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History podcasts I like:
Revolutions. Well known; Mike Duncan goes through various revolutions through history in an excellent, detailed narrative.
American History Too!: two academics from the university of Glasgow have various guests on to discuss different topics from American history. They know their stuff and are really charismatic.
In Our Time: BBC podcast that's been going since the early 2000s. A panel of academics are interviewed and discuss a topic on which they are all experts. Incredibly well researched and interesting, though not especially humorous.
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"I had no idea pod casts we so popular"
I'm sorry... what? The small child across the street from you has been running like four podcasts for the last two years, and your dog is getting ready to start his third one next week. Statically, you are running at least two of your own, apparently without even knowing. I'm recording my ninth episode this week, as I type this. This episode brought to you by Squarespace and Manscaped...
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I live under a rock compared to most people.
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Don't listen to that guy. You're in for a treat, my friend.
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- RadioLab: so many great episodes on random topics, some absolute gold here.
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: relatively new, from the author of the best still book of the same name. So far, great!
- Planet Money: US focused but still really interesting. Economics focused, non political.
- The Inquiry: BBC deep dive on current affairs.
- The Forum: BBC deep dive on various topics, some really interesting stuff.
- Critical Role: its critical role....
- The Kākā: NZ focused economics and politics.
- Unexpected Elements: BBC science podcast.
- The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: very deep dive into the history of philosophy.
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Ooh! The Kākā looks good. Shall be checking out.
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Bernard Hickey is pretty good. Enjoy.
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- Fall of Civilizations: in depth look at how and why civilizations fell.
- Completely Arbortrary: all about trees and sometimes tree-like things, super funny and wholesome, love these guys.
- Hello from the Magic Tavern: improv comedy with a (sometimes super slowly) evolving story featuring a human, a wizard, and a talking badger. I fall asleep to this all the time. My favorite bit is sometimes they play their world's version of D&D, Offices and Bosses 😂
- Levar Burton Reads: Levar's favorite stories, expertly narrated by him. Best vibes ever!
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This list looks very interesting, I'll have to check them out, Completely Arbortrary really appeals.
Edit: I listened to the first two fall of civilizations, it is really good. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Valley Heat. It's a fictional podcast about a freelance insurance adjuster who is trying to figure out who's using his garbage can as a drug drop for ambian and kind of just messed up everyone's lives trying to figure it out.
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Sounds great. Just added it.
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Cumtown. Three comedians from New York just riffing about anything and everything. I think it's hilarious (usually) and they have some imo legendary bits, like Ben Shapiro getting raped by Mr. Feeney when he was a kid, Judge Dredd vs. The Mask, them talking mad shit about Jordan Peterson and making fun of his voice; even just talking about a hypothetical of one of the guys buying $40,000 worth of chocolate to commit fraud with.
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Steven Seagal fatly going around corners.
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I grew up playing D&D and really enjoyed learning about the history of the game from When We Were Wizards.
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Aaaand thats going on my To Listen list.
Kind of hungering for new podcasts right now, and this sounds like one I didn't know I needed.
Thanks!
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Please Stop Talking.
The main podcast is usually just a bunch of hosts getting together to share life stories, discuss some random topics and laugh and joke around (sometimes jokes can be dark and/or very stupid, but I find them funny as hell).
Besides that, they do Poundering Spooky Tapes (by the way all their podcasts are based on PST acronym). They watch a (usually) horror movie and discuss it. There are also commentary tracks available if you want to watch the thing with their live commentary on it.
Perilous StoryTelling is a DnD podcast that they do, very entertaining to listen to. They have two campaigns available, Folk and Dagger did not have a proper ending to it due to a key member leaving not in the best way, while Subliminal Space is new and is still coming out.
And finally they record Press Start Turbo, a fully gaming related podcast where they cover news, do interviews with people from the industry and cover a game that they all play for the episode and share thier thoughts about it.
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Pendejo Time.
Jake and Thomas are two guys with fucked up pasts, just shooting the shit and improvising.
The only podcast that scratches the cumtown itch.
My favourite bit:
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Science VS: They investigate the science behind trends. E.g. ozempic, protein powder, the male g-spot, weed strains etc. With citations for everything
Gastropod: The science and history of various foods
Radiolab: Documentaries on a wide range of subjects. Usually from an angle you wouldn’t expect
Wong Notes: Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong interviews other artists from a musician’s pov, which leads to much more interesting conversations than your usual interview
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If you feel like getting even more depressed about the state of the world;
Popular Front is a grassroots war/conflict reporting podcast by british journalist Jake Hanrahan, about different ongoing and developing conflicts around the world.
Kinda depressing, but often times far, far ahead of the large media house news cycles. Also offers a little bit of hope, with reports of why and how people on the ground are going against oppression of various kinds.
P.S. anyone know how one could bold comment/post text in the Jerboa app?
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like this?
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Yes, exactly like that - thanks! I also realize now that apparently I'm blind for not seeing all the text formatting options right there under my nose.
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Decoder Ring.
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Security Now is great for getting Tech/Security industry information explained in a way that's fairly understandable even if you're not immersed in it.
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'Sawbones: a marital tour of misguided medicine' is a show about the history of medicine in the 'smart person explains thing to funny person' genre. Medical doctor Syndey Mclroy goes over the history of a disease or treatment at her Podcaster husband Justin.
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Hey Riddle Riddle - best humor and host interaction of any podcast I've listened to.
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- Crash Course Pods: The Universe, with John Green & Dr. Katie Mack. Talks about how the universe came into existence.
- Volts, with David Roberts. Talks about electrification and the energy transition.
I don't listen to many podcasts, but those two are pretty great.
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- NPR's Planet Money, Life Kit, Throughline, Body Electric
- Global affairs: The Rachman Review, Drum Tower, Foreign Policy Live
- Misc: HBR IdeaCast, Chasing Life, Hidden Brain, The Climate Question
- India related: The Morning Brief, Parley by The Hindu, Ideas of India, The Times of India Podcast, The Sandip Roy Show, Grand Tamasha
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Ken and Robin talk about stuff. Two TTRPG game designer/writers discuss gaming, history, conspiracy theories, occultism, and horror.
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Breaking Points has amazing coverage on American politics which matches up with reality unlike those CNN casters which keep getting "surprised" their coverage turned out to be wrong.
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Third eye drops
Excellent podcast about philosophy, psychedelics and psychedelic assisted therapies, maps etc. Tons and tons of Dr's of science guests and the host is just amazing
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MoneroTalk and MoneroTopia. The hosts and guests passionately care about human freedom through economic freedom and it's a really wonderful podcast.
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What if instead of fiat it was ones and zeros and you could buy carfentanil with it
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97 comments