In this episode, we chat with Lang Elliott, one of the world’s gifted soundscape recordists who bills himself as equal parts a naturalist, author, speaker, poet, recordist, sound producer, photographer, cinematographer, and moviemaker. He explains his technique, how he developed his craft, and introduces us to his new app, Pure Nature 3D Soundscapes, available on the Apple Apps Store.
The voices of nature are an important indicator of the health and welfare of the natural world. Right now, our stewardship is lacking, as evidenced by the relative health of the earth's ecosystem. In this episode we talk about a few things that we can do to make inroads in this all-important responsibility, and we introduce Lang Elliott, a soundscape recordist who makes it his life mission to record the soundscapes that provide the natural music of planet earth.
The Nine Million Club (Repost) by Dr. Steven Shepard
Ever wonder what all those credits and titles actually mean when you watch a movie? In this episode, we chat with my friend Robert Verlaque, a celebrated actor who also understands the movie and TV business from an academic perspective. Listen and enjoy--now you'll finally know what a gaffer does!
In this second track, Davyd Betchkal, Senior Bioacoustician at Denali National Park, speaks about the need to balance preservation and conservation.
In this first of a two-episode interview with Davyd Betchkal, Senior Bioacoustician at Denali National Park in Alaska, Davyd talks with us about his job with the National Parks Service and his commitment to preserving the wildness of his home state.
Richard Nelson, anthropologist, naturalist, sound recordist, lover of the natural world, and friend, died last week. This is my remembrance of him.
Ixtoluca is the only term I have ever searched for on Google that returned precisely zero hits--that's right, none. The name refers to a structure built by Cortez, south of Mexico City, in the early 16th century, as a place to process silver. Today, it's a little-known ruin that is one of the most spectacular, eerie, and beautiful places I've ever stumbled upon.
An interview with Essex County, Massachussetts-based Sound Recordist Phil Brown. The introduction and closing sounds are from his impressive collection.
A few minutes of escape from the mundane...a soundscape recorded at the peeper pond on our friends' property in northern Vermont. Sit back and relax...it's something we don't do often enough.
Dr. Lynda Ulrich is a dentist in the small town of St. Albans, Vermont. She is also the founder of Ever-Widening Circles, An online resource for interesting knowledge nuggets, insights, and just plain good news. In this episode, host Steve Shepard interviews Dr. Ulrich.
What would it be like if we harvested avian and terrestrial species the same way we do marine life? It might surprise you--have a listen, and think about it.
A few clips from my many conversations with taxi drivers (and a few others) while traveling. They're the heart and soul of our country--of ANY country--and they're immigrants, all.
An homage to the voices for the natural world who inspire us to be better: Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earle, EO Wilson, and Sir David Attenborough.
Have you ever thought about becoming a commercial diver? You know, the ones that wear those helmets and all that cool gear and dive to incredible depths? In this episode, we talk about what it's like--and what you have to know to do it well.
If you’re thinking about taking a SCUBA class, you’ll have to know a little bit about the science behind it before you can do it safely. As a former diving instructor and commercial diver, I can tell you that, yes, there are some hazards involved in diving, but if you take a course, you understand the physics behind the journey from above the surface to below it, and you practice the techniques, you’ll have the time of your life. In this first of a two-part series, we talk about sport diving; in...
Computer and network security are topics that have never been more in the news than they are today. On the one hand, we all want to be connected, to have access to other people and information, to be part of the globally connected planet. On the other hand, every connection, every facet of online presence is a potential attack point through which hackers can gain access to personal data. The good news is that there are common sense things that everyone can do to protect ourselves—but we have to ...
Some of the best advertising campaigns ever done were somewhat accidental. This is one of the best I can think of. Enjoy--a story from the early 20th century.
In 1971, my custom, hand-built Spanish guitar was destroyed by a baggage claim belt in Dallas. The man who rebuilt it is one of the best examples of passion and curiosity I know. But there’s a lot more to this guy than meets the eye. I could ask the question, how did an engineer become a guitar repair guy? Even that’s only half of the story. You’ll enjoy this one.
Language, they say, is the window into the soul of a country or a culture. Based on what we talk about in this episode, souls and cultures must be pretty funny places.
Sometimes, looking at something from different perspectives can change the way we think about it. In this episode, we look at the origins of genetics, a little botany, and ultimately, turn our attention to genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs. Things are not always what they seem.
This is the third Podcast in a series of three about one of the technology ecosystems that’s profoundly changing the world. In our first episode of the series, we talked about the technologies that live in this ecosystem: The Internet of Things, Big Data, Analytics, Cloud, machine-to-machine communications, and artificial intelligence. In the second episode, we looked at one application of this ecosystem that’s truly planet-changing: the protection of fresh water. In this third and final episode...
1968: What a culturally iconic period in America. On the one hand, the Summer of Love, the Monterey Pop Festival, and the Civil Rights Law of 1968 were happening, and the astronauts of Apollo 8 saw the far side of the moon for the first time. But dark things were happening, as well: Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy fell to assassins, riots fractured the country, Vietnam was in full swing, and young people began to question the old school thinking that ran the country. A great migration began...
A high-speed train designed in the shape of a kingfisher. Paint colors based on hummingbird feathers. Water purification systems designed by a beetle. Photosynthesis that creates plastic. All these and more are real--we're actually doing these things--because we're paying attention to nature.
The Earth's most precious resource is water--yet we waste a HUGE percentage of it because of leaks in municipal water systems, inaccurate agricultural watering practices, and other practices. In fact, 60% of the water pumped out of the ground worldwide for agriculture never reaches the plants. Yet Deep Sky Vineyard, a tiny (by agricultural standards)vineyard, in the dry heat of Arizona, saved more than 1.5 million gallons in 2018 alone, because of sophisticated field monitoring practices, thanks...
There's a family of technologies emerging on the scene that will change the way we think about the role of technology in our lives. They include Internet of Things, Big Data, Analytics, and a few others. Technology is remarkable, but even more so when we assign it to a specific challenge, then stand back and watch. In this episode, we see what happens when we pair a small business--Deep Sky Vineyard in Arizona--with technology offered by nioLabs in Denver. The results are staggeringly important....
Climate change, or global warming, or whatever you want to call it, is one of the most emotion-charged topics on the table today. It has become politically weaponized, yet it shouldn’t be, because it’s one of the greatest threats we face as inhabitants of this planet. If you believe that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the problem, you’re partially correct—but only partially. There’s another challenge, and it’s a far bigger problem—it’s called entropy. When I first decided to dig i...
On February 26, 1975, disaster struck in lower Manhattan when the AT&T switching center that served the area was consumed by fire. 104,000 customers and 170,000 telephones were out of service. A restoration of that magnitude should have taken a year, but the Bell System marshaled its resources and service was restored in 22 days--a true Miracle on Second Avenue. This is the story. You can see a documentary of the recovery here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_AWAmGi-g8.
In 1885, 350,000 head of cattle traveled overland from Fort Worth, Texas to Abilene, Kansas. In 1886, there were none. Why? This episode looks back at the great cattle drives of the American Southwest--and what led to their demise. The reasons will surprise you.
I sometimes run across little bits of interesting information that aren’t enough for a Podcast on their own, but they’re too good to ignore. So for this episode, I’ve pulled a bunch of them together into a long stream of just interesting stuff. Hope you like it.
