I've been awake for four hours and the only thing I have yet managed to do right is feed rats. That's not nothing, but my next plan is to go return things to BPL in the hopes of getting one more entity on the face of the Earth to not be displeased with me.

In the meantime, have this list of podcasts I listen to in an effort to distract myself.

This American Life

Ira Glass' well-known NPR show, investigating the nooks and crannies of life in America. Ranges from individual interesting stories to wide-ranging investigations of culture, community, and occasionally crime.

Radiolab from WNYC

Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich host this generally nerdy investigation into... stuff. Of particular interest to anthropologists and cognitive scientists who find their interests often overlap.

A Gobbet o' Pus
Quackcast
Persiflager's Infectious Disease Puscast

Three medical podcasts by Dr Mark Crislip, infectious disease specialist, blogger at Science-Based Medicine, and wiseass extraordinaire. The first is a series of short, snarky case studies; the second, a what he refers to as "evidence-based ridicule" of pseudoscience in "alternative medicine"; the third, a technical review of ID literature, which used to count as CME before he got tired of jumping through hoops for the certification.

Punt PI

Steve Punt, a British comedian, becomes a private investigator and pokes his nose into famous historical mysteries. Both intelligent and dryly humorous in the way you can only really get out of the BBC.

Thinking Sideways

A group of geeks introduce an unsolved mystery and then chatter aimlessly about it for roughly an hour. On a par with Wikipedia as an actual research source (they link better ones on the episode pages), but entertaining fluff for listening to on commutes. They don't sound drunk, but some of the theories they come up with suggest they tape these things at three in the morning.

Sword And Scale

A podcast to go with their short, punchy write-ups of various mysteries and crimes. Best for listeners who are undisturbed by tales of psychopathy and serial killings.

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

Both a video and an audio podcast, where conspiracy theories are covered deadpan by people who secretly have a great deal of common sense. A pretty good, if necessarily simplified, overview of both the lunatic fringe view and the real situation, on a wide variety of sensationalistic topics. Coverage is about equal on the wingnut and moonbat sides.

Stuff To Blow Your Mind

These are basically Cracked listicles in podcast form. Enthusiastic and humorous coverage of topics to win trivia contests with.

Stuff You Should Know

What it says on the tin. Covers the truth behind wild conspiracies, solid fact behind current controversies and sensational news stories, and everyday science explanations that most people ought to know but don't.

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