Month: March 2022

Stars End S3E06

“The Podcast Was Alone in the Galaxy for Thousands of Years – Millions of Years”

Did you know that sleep podcasts are a thing? Podcasts that people listen to go to sleep.

You can imagine it, can’t you?  Someone like Sam Waterston, Tony Shalhoub, or Jane Lynch probably reading poetry in a quiet, soothing voice.  Like, what?  I don’t know.  Something in the public domain probably.  Wordsworth?

Calm is all nature as a resting wheel.  
The kine are couched upon the dewy grass;  
The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass,  
Is cropping audibly his later meal…

I’m sleepy already.  Most poets will do, but not Emily Dickinson.  Everyone who’s anyone knows that all of her poems can be sung to the tune of the Yellow Rose of Texas.  Try it, it’s fun!

Because I could not stop for Death-  
He kindly stopped for me-   
The Carriage held but just Ourselves-   
And Immortality.

We’re not one of those. If you’re reading along with us, this time we’re talking about “Heatsink” and “Billibotton” from Prelude to Foundation.

We’ve left the depilated pates of Mycogen behind, but the strangeness remains.  Hari and Dors arrive in Dahl, where all the men luxuriate in their impressive black mustaches and sweaty people provide half of Trantor’s power while in various states of undress.  Also, Dors buys TWO knives (“I’ve got two hands,” she explains) and she and Hari fight off a bunch of street toughs.  Plus we meet Hari’s future adoptive son Raych and hear the first arcane and enigmatic legends of a planet called “Earth.”

Plus, a bonus: Foundation shines at the Visual Effects Society Awards!

Join us! No one could fall asleep to this one!

Stars End S3E05

“We Have Something Far Better than Religion We Have a Podcast”

Introducing this episode puts me in mind of Tom Lehrer’s Alma, which was inspired by, as he puts it, “the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read.”  The amount of prime humor that one mathematician can fit into a three-and-a-half-minute sound clip is impressive.

Hari Seldon, our protagonal mathematician, isn’t nearly so funny.  In fact, he seems to take himself quite seriously.  But he does get to participate in the juiciest, spiciest, raciest scene in the entire Asimov canon.  And that includes the non-fiction.

That scene is also startlingly strange.  We’ll talk about it.  Then we’ll move on to other grandiose notions like the nature of religion, governmental ethics, and Pascal’s Wager.  Also, there is a robot!

Join us as we follow Hari and Dors through the remainder of their sojourn in Mycogen.  You’ll be glad you did!