The Cultures

• Finnish school kids' meal bag vs. British school kids' meal bag (Twitter)
• UK Government Communication Service blog post example

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• The Progressive Case for Breaking Up the BBC – while increasing public funding for the good things it does!
• Things we're watching and reading, including:
• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
• It's a Sin (Channel 4)
• Catch Me If You Can (Wikipedia)
• Kajillionaire
• Another Round

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• The Lab-Leak Hypothesis by Nicholson Baker (New York Magazine)
• Did America Use Bioweapons in Korea? Nicholson Baker Tried to Find Out (New York Times book review)

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• America's Next Authoritarian Will Be Much More Competent by Zeynep Tufekci (The Atlantic)

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

Sorry for the poor audio quality on Adrian's bits, he accidentally turned down the gain on his mic, and while we were able to boost the volume, that introduced a bunch of noise!

• Jesse Singal's tweet linking to Vice's story on Penguin Random House staffers' reaction to their publishing Jordan Peterson's next book

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

Sorry for the poor audio quality on Adrian's bits, he accidentally turned down the gain on his mic, and while we were able to boost the volume, that introduced a bunch of noise!

• A giant leap forward by DeepMind in AI protein-folding prediction
• How to start reading again

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• The rise and fall of Adobe Flash
• Flash Game History
• The 'Screen Time' debate

Naomi's virtual travel instructions!

• Look for music from the country
• Search on BBC Sounds (there's a prog called World Music Road Trip and also sometimes stuff in From Our Own Correspondent)
• Also try documentaries, especially Storyville
• Find the best movie you've never seen from that country
• Internet search for recipes from there
• Look online for specialist ingredients
• Is there takeaway from there one could get?
• Can you do a few minutes of language learning via Duolingo etc? Just enough to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you?
• Who's their most famous writer? Read a short story
• Have they ever had a movie up for best foreign picture Oscar, or best short or best documentary?
• Where would you stay? Pick a hotel. Have a look on Google Street View to see where you "are"
• Is there a board game (or video game!) from that country to try?
• What sights would you try to see if you were there? Can you find virtual tours online?
• What do people drink in a cafè or bar there?
• Can you learn to sing something that's popular there or written there?
• Put the radio on all day from that country
• Change your Twitter/social media localisation to that country Is there a bath product/perfume/smell from there?

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
• Ghosts (BBC)
• The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
• Upload (Amazon Prime)
• Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (Viki)
• After Life (BFI Player)

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

• BBC journalists told not to 'virtue signal' in social media crackdown (The Guardian)
• Official BBC social media guidance
• What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers' Brains? (Huffpost)
• The creation of Boris Johnson by Tanya Gold (Unherd)

Follow us at @culturescast, and our hosts on Twitter at @adrianhon @naomialderman @andrhia

We're on Mastodon at @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]