Podcast Review: In Our Time

In Our Time is a podcast from the BBC about the history of ideas presented by Melvin Bragg or to be formal Lord Bragg of Wigton. The other presenters are usually academics from various British institutions with a speciality in the area being discussed.


Content
The topic and guest presenters will be introduced by Melvin Bragg who will then act as a moderator and interested layperson with the discussion between the academics. This usually produces a clear and interesting discussion of the idea being featured. I have heard shows about probability, the Arab Conquests, the Riddle of the Sands and Lysenko. The themes from the BBC's website are Science, Religion, Philosophy, History and Culture.

There is an archive, but it only allows streamed content to be accessed rather than downloaded and only the latest weeks podcast can be downloaded from iTunes or other aggregation sites.

Technical
The audio quality is excellent which is not really surprising with a podcast from a major broadcast organisation. Streaming from the BBC website or downloads via iTunes are reliable and quick


Overall
I do like this podcast a lot as it is interesting and very good at explaining complex issues. Highly recommended, though it hardly needs my endorsement to be successful.

Avast me hearties its Talk like a Pirate Day

Talk like a Pirate day annually on September 19th.

This meme has lasted a long time now and I say full ahead and board any lily-livered swabs that aint willin' to play!

HotT Teddy Bear army thoughts

For when my finances improve I think I've seen the next Hordes of the Things army that I want to purchase. Even though it is in 28mm rather than my preferred 15mm or 6mm. It's Eureka's 7 Year Picnic range with Teddy Bears in 18th Century military uniforms available in the UK from Fighting 15s. I'm not sure which army to base the colours on as the Austrians and Prussians were the main participants, but Russia is traditionally the bear and a Russian army would allow the use of a hero in terms of Bearon von Muenchhausen. The other more fantasy/whimsical options could be making a jack in the box as a lurker. The stronghold could be a picnic blanket with hamper, bottles of ginger ale and cakes on it.

Army List
Unit	Number	AP	Total AP
Rider General	1	2	2
Artillery	2	3	6
Cavalry (Riders)	2	2	4
Grenadiers (Blades)	2	2	4
Line Infantry (Shooters)	4	2	8
Options
Lurker	Jack in the Box	1	1
Hero	Bearon von Muenchhausen	1	4
Warband or Shooters	Pandours	2	2
Airboat	Balloon	1	3

Gaming Podcast Review 21 Yog-Radio 29 and 30

Just as my regular slot got established I ran into enough RW problems to stop it, I'm now going to relaunch Wednesdays as a reviews wednesday for all types of media and products not just pocasts.

To start I'll cover the two latest Yog-Radio episodes which will conclude season 1 of Yog-Radio. As I've already reviewed Yog-Radio before I won't cover much except the specific content. Yog-Radio 29 has an interview with S.T. Joshi which was interesting, particularly about the versions of the stories that he has restored to match Lovecraft's originals. And 30 has a shout out to me. Yay! The Dan Harms interview is interesting too and I think Paul of Cthulhu has become a good interviewer now with the RPG authors. These episodes keep up the ususl high standards of Yog-Radio and I look forward to season 2. As an aside please try and support them either by buying products through their site, becoming a patron or donating.

I'll be back next wednesday with another review and will probably get on with my comparative review of Castles & Crusades, RQII and Warhammer FRP2 soon.