Sweden’s Child of Light (0:36)

Guest: Christopher Oscarson, Professor of Scandinavian History and Swedish Literature at Brigham Young University

December 13th is Saint Lucia Day which is especially big in Sweden. And it’s a little ironic because this song about Saint Lucia and the saint herself both come from warm, sunny Sicily. Now, it’s biggest devotees are in the dark, cold north. How did that happen? (Originally aired 12/13/18). 

 

Don’t Get Suckered By Bogus Reviews When Shopping Online (10:11)

Guest: Tommy Noonan, Founder of ReviewMeta

In the rush to get last-minute gifts on Amazon, it’s easy to get duped by a fake or poor-quality product. By the time it arrives, it’ll be too late to find a replacement before Christmas. So maybe you just stick to products with loads of five-star reviews? Well watch out for that. Lots of them are bogus and some sellers actually pay people to write good reviews. (Originally aired 11/11/19). 

 

The Value & Price of our Attention (27:36)

Guest: Nick Seaver, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University

We’ll be spending time with friends and family over the next few weeks. And we bet you’ll notice occasionally how often everyone is on their phones. We check them something like 100 times a day on average –even when we don’t really need or want to be on them. It’s frustrating, but phone and app makers have specifically designed their products to compel us to check as often as possible. The more time we spend on them, the more money they make. So why, then, are these same companies now offering features to help us limit the amount of time we while away on our phones? (Originally aired 9/19/19). 

 

Have a Merry Spooky Christmas (51:08)

Guest: Leslee Thorne-Murphy, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean, English Department, BYU

Does Andy Williams really sing “There’ll be scary ghost stories” in one of our most beloved Christmas songs?  Yep!  But those spooky tales have no place next to jolly Santa and the babe in the manger, do they? Well, not in America and not today. But ghosts were very much part of the holiday once upon a time in Victorian England. So, when Charles Dickens had ghosts visit Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve, he didn’t invent the idea out of thin air, so to speak. He was giving families across Britain just what they wanted –a good spine tingle. (Originally aired 12/20/18). 

 

How to Be More Lucky (1:03:52)

Guest: Tina Seelig, Professor of Practice in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University, Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), Author of “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20”

When Tina Seelig’s son turned 20, she published a book for him. “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20” became a bestseller. Getting the book published was a stroke of luck. But not the kind of “lightning strike” luck you might be thinking. Seelig used the strategies she teaches her entrepreneurship students at Stanford to increase her chances of lucking into a publisher who would make her a best-selling author. Ten years later, she’s got an updated version of “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20.” It’s a “crash course on making your place in the world,” and whether you’re worried about your kid who’s off to college, or feeling stuck in a holiday rut yourself, Seelig’s ideas might help. (Originally aired 7/18/19).