Vorige week blogde ik over de beste ontdekking van de afgelopen maanden: de podcast van This American Life. Hierbij genoeg luisterplezier voor een jaar, samengesteld door Thijs Niks.

455: CONTINENTAL BREAKUP

Originally aired 01.20.2012

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/455/continental-breakup

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/455.mp3

If you’re like us, when the words “European debt crisis” pop up in the news you feel a little worried, and a little like taking a nap. Turns out, there’s a story behind this story. One that’s filled with guilt, and drama, and betrayal, and 100-year-old dreams come true. Alex Blumberg of Planet Money guest hosts.

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453: NEMESES

Originally aired 12.16.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/453/nemeses

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/453.mp3

This week, stories where a longtime standoff keeps both sides coming back for more. Including a story about the time in Poland’s recent history where the country’s two political blocks came together and believed, however briefly, they’d be able to set aside their differences. And another story about a college rivalry gone viral, and personal.

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449: MIDDLE SCHOOL

Originally aired 10.28.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/449/middle-school

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/449.mp3

This week, at the suggestion of a 14-year-old listener, we bring you stories from the awkward, confusing, hormonally charged world of middle school. Including a teacher who transforms peer pressure into a force for good, and reports from the frontlines of the middle school dance.

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447: THE INCREDIBLE CASE OF THE P.I. MOMS

Originally aired 09.23.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/447/the-incredible-case-of-the-pi-moms

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/447.mp3

What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur?

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441: WHEN PATENTS ATTACK!

Originally aired 07.22.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/441.mp3

Why would a company rent an office in a tiny town in East Texas, put a nameplate on the door, and leave it completely empty for a year? The answer involves a controversial billionaire physicist in Seattle, a 40 pound cookbook, and a war waging right now, all across the software and tech industries. (Transcript in PDF)

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440: GAME CHANGER

Originally aired 07.08.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/440/game-changer

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/440.mp3

A professor in Pennsylvania makes a calculation, to discover that his state is sitting atop a massive reserve of natural gas—enough to revolutionize how America gets its energy. But another professor in Pennsylvania does a different calculation and reaches a troubling conclusion: that getting natural gas out of the ground poses a risk to public health. Two men, two calculations, and two very different consequences. (Transcript in PDF)

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435: HOW TO CREATE A JOB

Originally aired 05.13.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/435/how-to-create-a-job

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/435.mp3

It seems like every politician has a plan for putting people back to work. But we and the Planet Money team couldn’t help but wonder…how do you create a job? Can politicians truly create many jobs? Is it possible the whole thing is just well-intentioned hot air?

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427: ORIGINAL RECIPE

Originally aired 02.11.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/427/original-recipe

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/427.mp3

The formula for Coca-Cola is one of the most jealously guarded trade secrets in the world. Locked in a vault in Atlanta. Supposedly unreplicable. But we think we may have found the original recipe. And to see if the formula actually might be Coke, we made a batch. Or, anyway, we asked the folks at Jones Soda and Sovereign Flavors to whip up some up, to see if it tastes like Coke. The recipe is here.

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423: THE INVENTION OF MONEY

Originally aired 01.07.2011

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/423.mp3

Five reporters stumbled on what seems like a basic question: What is money? The unsettling answer they found: Money is fiction. 

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419: PETTY TYRANT

Originally aired 11.12.2010

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/419/petty-tyrant

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/419.mp3

In Schenectady, NY, a school maintenance man named Steve Raucci works his way up the ranks for 30 years, until finally he’s in charge of the maintenance department. That’s when he starts messing with his employees. Teasing them at meetings. Punishing them with crummy work assignments. Or worse things, like secretly slashing their tires in the middle of the night.

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405: INSIDE JOB

Originally aired 04.09.2010

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/405/inside-job

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/405.mp3

For seven months a team of investigative journalists fromProPublica looked into a story for us, the inside story of one company that made hundreds of millions of dollars for itself while worsening the financial crisis for the rest of us.

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403: NUMMI

Originally aired 03.26.2010

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/nummi

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/403.mp3

A car plant in Fremont California that might have saved the U.S. car industry. In 1984, General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI as a joint venture. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system: How it made cars of much higher quality and much lower cost than GM achieved. Frank Langfitt explains why GM didn’t learn the lessons—until it was too late.

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396: #1 PARTY SCHOOL

Originally aired 12.18.2009

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/396/1-party-school

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/396.mp3

This year, The Princeton Review named Penn State the #1 Party School in America. It’s a rotating crown—last year it was University of Florida, before that it was West Virginia University. So we wondered: what’s it like to be at the country’s top party school?

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392: SOMEONE ELSE’S MONEY (2/2)

Originally aired 10.16.2009

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/392/someone-elses-money

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/392.mp3

This week, we bring you a deeper look inside the health insurance industry. The dark side of prescription drug coupons. A story about Pet Health Insurance, which is in its infancy, and how it is changing human behaviors—for example, if you have the pet health insurance, you bring your pet to the vet more often, and the vet makes more money and…well, you can see the parallels.

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391: MORE IS LESS (1/2)

Originally aired 10.09.2009

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/391/more-is-less

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/391.mp3

An hour explaining the American health care system, specifically, why it is that costs keep rising. One story looks at the doctors, one at the patients and one at the insurance industry.

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381: TURNCOAT

Originally aired 05.22.2009

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/381/turncoat

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/381.mp3

A well-known activist—an anarchic, revolutionary activist—is accused of spying on other activists for the FBI. The strangest thing about the rumor is, it’s true. How Brandon Darby transformed from cop-hater to federal witness. Plus, a story by Etgar Keret, about a boy who betrays his people with a pair of shoes.

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360: SWITCHED AT BIRTH

Originally aired 07.25.2008

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/360/switched-at-birth

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/360.mp3

On a summer day in 1951, two baby girls were born in a hospital in small-town Wisconsin. The infants were accidentally switched, and went home with the wrong families.

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355: THE GIANT POOL OF MONEY

Originally aired 05.09.2008

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/355.mp3

A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s?

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347: MATCHMAKERS

Originally aired 01.18.2008

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/347/matchmakers

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/347.mp3

Sabir, a young man in Afghanistan, thought he’d found true love but he couldn’t afford a wedding. So two foreign aid workers, friends of his, decide to come to his rescue. They soon find out making a lasting love match isn’t as simple as writing a check.

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323: THE SUPER

Originally aired 01.05.2007

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/323/the-super

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/323.mp3

In 1980’s New York City, rent is rising: it seems out of control, and residents struggle to keep up. So Jack Hitt helps organize tenants, and threatens a rent strike. This does not go over so well with his building super, who, as it turns out, is a very dangerous man.

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322: SHOUTING ACROSS THE DIVIDE

Originally aired 12.15.2006

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/322/shouting-across-the-divide

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/322.mp3

A Muslim woman persuades her husband that their family would be happier if they left the West Bank and moved to America. They do, and things are good…until September 11. After that, the elementary school their daughter goes to begins using a textbook that says Muslims want to kill Christians.

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304: HERETICS

Originally aired 12.16.2005

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/304/heretics

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/304.mp3

The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who cast aside the idea of Hell, and with it everything he’d worked for over his entire life.

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290: GODLESS AMERICA

Originally aired 06.03.2005

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/290/godless-america

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/290.mp3

At a time when House Majority Leader Tom Delay calls for enacting a “Biblical world view” in government, when Christians are asserting their ideals in the selection of judges, in public school science classes and elsewhere, This American Life spends an hour trying to remember why anyone liked the separation of church and state in the first place.

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287: BACKED INTO A CORNER

Originally aired 04.15.2005

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/287/backed-into-a-corner

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/287.mp3

Stories about people who end up making choices they’d rather not make, when their options begin to run out. Sometimes this works out great; sometimes not so great.

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282: DIY INVESTIGATOR

Originally aired 02.11.2005

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/282/diy

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/282.mp3

After four lawyers fail to get an innocent man out of prison, his friend takes on the case himself. He becomes a do-it-yourself investigator. He learns to read court records, he tracks down hard-to-find witnesses, he gets the real murderer to come forward with his story. In the end, he’s able to accomplish all sorts of things the police and the professionals can’t.

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275: TWO STEPS BACK

Originally aired 10.15.2004

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/275/two-steps-back

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/275.mp3

Ten years ago, when he was still a reporter for NPR’s All Things Considered, host Ira Glass did a year-long series on a Chicago public schoolwhere things were getting better. Test scoreswere rising.

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253: THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Originally aired 12.05.2003

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/253/the-middle-of-nowhere

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/253.mp3

Stories from faraway, hard-to-get-to places, where all rules are off, nefarious things happen because no one’s looking, and there’s no one to appeal to.

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220: TESTOSTERONE

Originally aired 08.30.2002

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/220/testosterone

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/220.mp3

Stories of people getting more testosterone and coming to regret it. And of people losing it and coming to appreciate life without it. The pros and cons of the hormone of desire.

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218: ACT V

Originally aired 08.09.2002

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/218/act-v

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/218.mp3

We devote this entire episode to one story: Over the course of six months, reporter and TALcontributor Jack Hitt followed a group of inmates at a high-security prison as they rehearsed and staged a production of the last act—Act V—of Hamlet.

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206: SOMEWHERE IN THE ARABIAN SEA

Originally aired 03.01.2002

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/206/somewhere-in-the-arabian-sea

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/206.mp3

Life aboard the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea that’s supporting bombing missions over Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Only a few dozen people on board actually fly F-18s and F-14s. It takes the rest of the crew—over 5,000 people—to keep them in the air.

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204: 81 WORDS

Originally aired 01.18.2002

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/204/81-words

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/81.mp3

The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.

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203: RECORDINGS FOR SOMEONE

Originally aired 01.11.2002

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/203/recordings-for-someone

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/203.mp3

All the stories in this week’s show center on personal recordings that one person made for just one other person.

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175: BABYSITTING

Originally aired 01.05.2001

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/175/babysitting

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/175.mp3

Stories of babysitters, and what goes on while mom and dad are away that mom and dad never find out about.

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172: 24 HOURS AT THE GOLDEN APPLE

Originally aired 11.17.2000

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/172/24-hours-at-the-golden-apple

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/172.mp3

The This American Life producers document one day in a Chicago diner called The Golden Apple, starting at 5 a.m. and going until 5 a.m. the next morning. We hear from the waitress who has worked the graveyard shift for over two decades, the regular customers who come every day, the couples working out their problems, various assorted drunks, and, of course, cops.

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118: WHAT YOU LOOKIN’ AT?

Originally aired 12.18.1998

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/118/what-you-lookin-at

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/118.mp3

Stories about seeing and being seen. Taped before a live audience in Town Hall in New York City in December 1998, this was a co-production with WNYC New York, featuring live music by the pop band They Might Be Giants and the This American Life Orchestra.

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115: FIRST DAY

Originally aired 11.13.1998

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/115/first-day

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/115.mp3

Stories of the first day on the job, the first day in a relationship, the first day in school. On the first day, any first day, we’re expected to live by the rules and customs of the culture we’re entering, but we don’t know those rules and customs just yet.

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109: NOTES ON CAMP

Originally aired 08.28.1998

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/109/notes-on-camp

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/109.mp3

Stories of summer camp. People who love camp say that non-camp people simply don’t understand what’s so amazing about camp. In this program, we attempt to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between camp people and non-camp people.

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104: MUSIC LESSONS

Originally aired 06.05.1998

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/104/music-lessons

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/104.mp3

What’s frustrating about music lessons, what’s miraculous about them, and what they actually teach us. This show was recorded in front of a live audience at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, with help from KQED-FM, during the ‘98 Public Radio Conference in San Francisco.

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88: NUMBERS

Originally aired 01.02.1998

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/88/numbers

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/88.mp3

Numbers lie. Numbers cover over complicated feelings and ambiguous situations. In this week’s show, stories of people trying to use numbers to describe things that should not be quantified.

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84: HAROLD

Originally aired 11.21.1997

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/84/harold

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/84.mp3

A parable of politics and race in America. The story of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, told two decades after his death. Washington died on November 25, 1987.

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77: PRAY

Originally aired 09.26.1997

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/77/pray

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/77.mp3

Can the secular world and the religious world understand each other?

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74: CONVENTIONS

Originally aired 08.29.1997

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/74/conventions

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/74.mp3

What happens when people with one common interest gather in monstrous, fluorescent -lit halls for the weekend? Sometimes they drive each other crazy, sometimes they fall in love.

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65: WHO’S CANADIAN?

Originally aired 05.30.1997

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/65/whos-canadian

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/65.mp3

Notes and stories about the Canadians among us. Are they in fact any different from red-blooded Americans? They claim they’re not. Skeptical Americans put their position to the test.

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61: FIASCO!

Originally aired 04.25.1997

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/61/fiasco

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/61.mp3

Stories of when things go wrong. Really wrong. When you leave the normal realm of human error, fumble, mishap, and mistake and enter the territory of really huge breakdowns. Fiascos. Things go so awry that normal social order collapses. This week’s show is a philosophical inquiry in the nature of fiascos — perhaps the first ever.

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27: THE CRUELTY OF CHILDREN

Originally aired 06.21.1996

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/27/the-cruelty-of-children

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/27.mp3

Stories about kids being mean to each other.