JARich86

Hi Longest Shortest Time fans, If you want to join the discussion on the latest LST, head over to longestshortesttime.com! You'll find thriving comments sections there devoted to every episode. Thanks! ---Josh

From 'Mad Max' to 'San Andreas' to 'The Avengers,' the most popular movies of our times are about how we fear our world will end. We're obsessed with stories of drought, natural disaster, nuclear war, zombies, aliens and robots. We fear the day science fiction turns into science fact, and while some movie apocalypses are basically pure make-believe, others seem eminently possible. So what are we doing about the threats of water and energy shortages? And are we destined to play out the doomsday scenarios we see in popular science fiction? In this special bonus episode taped live at the UCB Sunset theatre in Los Angeles, Jack O'Brien, Alex Schmidt and Michael Swaim are joined by three amazing guests to answer these questions and elaborate on the current state of the end of the world. On the science-fiction front, they're joined by Akiva Goldsman, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of 'A Beautiful Mind' and 'I Am Legend'. And on the real science side, they're joined by Eric Fitch, whose company Purpose Energy is turning wastewater from beer into renewable energy, and Jon Freedman, whose working to shape international and domestic water policies on behalf of GE Water & Power.

In Ron Howard's 1985 movie 'Cocoon,' a group of elderly people living in a Florida retirement community become magically rejuvenated by aliens. It plays out as a fantasy, a hilarious what-if scenario about old people acting young. The movie seems more fiction than science, but in the 30 years since the film's release, the branch of medicine devoted to curing aging has grown into possibly the next big thing. Aging has only been a problem since the beginning of time, a disease born into us by the very nature of being alive, but scientists believe we're not far off from therapies that could extend our lifespan by decades and keep us feeling like we're in our 30s the whole time. Jack O'Brien is joined by Laura Deming, a 21-year-old venture capitalist, who is funding the therapies of the future that will slow the process of aging. They discuss some of the breakthroughs in the field and Laura debunks some myths about current life extension treatments. Jack is then joined by Fiona Ginty, a principal scientist at GE working on the microimaging of cells. Fiona shares how this technology will aid in the fight against aging as that process might be built into our DNA.

Casey and Danielle kick off the show by telling us all the Housewives questions they want answered. Don’t forget to set your DVRs to the RHOBH premiere Dec 1!

Hey HHHeads! I could use your help... If I'm promoting HH to a potential listener who's never heard it...what's a great 15-30 second clip that would sell them on the show's humor? Thanks for your help...your suggestion might even end up in a future HH promo! (But shhh...keep that on the DL.)

Hi Earwolf forums! Want to get the scoop on an upcoming Howl show where YOU can submit content? Check out details about "Howl Magazine" here! https://medium.com/@RadioTFB/howl-magazine-submissions-18293e9a7c4c ---Josh

I fully agree with Matt on this, but I think I can give a good devil's advocate summary of where the other side is coming from... Matt repeatedly insists that we need to put these (Kozelek/Meadows') comments in context, and think about the intent behind them, but he's actually overemphasizing the importance of intent. The critical issue is not what they meant, but how these comments are heard. Matt, you're a sophisticated consumer of comedy, so when you hear Tim Meadows make a joke like "White people ask me if I'm Don Cheadle, black people say 'Don't rob me!'" you realize he's skewering how black men are perceived in America. You know there's layers of satire and self-deprecation beneath the text of that joke. But not all (maybe not even most) people will hear it that way. They'll hear Tim say that, and laugh, and think "It's funny because black men really are all criminals! And now a black man is saying it so it must be true!" And so a harmful stereotype gets reinforced. And when that joke ends up on Twitter, without the giant quotation marks around anything said on the stage of a comedy club, he may as well be saying "Black men will rob you." Which gives people inclined towards prejudice a little more fuel for their rhetoric, and the world becomes a little bit more racist. Think about a film like Starship Troopers. It's a satire of jingoistic military culture, and the mentality that leads to preemptive strikes. But the satire is subtle and artful enough that most people who saw the film missed it entirely, and just cheered at seeing aliens blow up. The argument here is: it's a bad message to send, whatever the artist's intent. When Kozelek played that not-especially-funny song about the journalist, he may well have been an ornery guy being ornery, nothing more. (Though if you think "War On Drugs Suck My Cock" proves he's an equal opportunity offender, you should read this: http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/515-sun-kil-moon-yells-at-cloud-the-problem-with-male-pattern-violence/ . The phrase "patriarchal herd mentality" is invoked.) But to a woman in the crowd who doesn't know who Laura Snapes is, who doesn't know about Kozelek's history, who just bought a ticket because "Benji" is a tremendous fucking album, he's just on stage, telling some anonymous woman she totally wants to fuck him, and the crowd is laughing, and now she feels deeply uncomfortable because Kozelek and a whole room of fans are cracking sexual jokes at some woman's expense. Maybe Kozelek isn't misogynist, but the song was, and the reaction was, and a whole lot of misogynist attitudes have now been reinforced. And you can understand why people worried about the reaction to Kozelek or Meadows would turn to social media to push back against it. Now, if you take this line of thought to its logical conclusion you end up in some nasty places, but it comes from a coherent, well-intentioned place.

If you could add one sound effect to the Spontaneanation arsenal, what would you add? Also: Have you ever played collaborative storytelling games such as Fiasco or Apocalypse World? I love them, and the way stories are generated in Spontaneation reminds me of playing those games.

I'm not even sure if I should advertise this, because it's stealing a little thunder from my Coen Bros themed podcast (www.acceptthemystery.net)...but in the interest of completeness, we're watching every movie Joel or Ethan Coen have ever worked on, including a barely remembered film called "The Naked Man," starring Michael Rapaport and written by Ethan. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120767/ This film...is next level bonkers. It's not on iTunes or Amazon, it was never even released on DVD, but for some unholy reason it's on Netflix. Highly recommended.

Well, sure, but that doesn't mean you're owed a cone of silence on a plane. It's a vehicle of mass transportation, not a library. Find your silent spaces elsewhere.

Great episode, but Besser's views on cell usage in airplanes make no sense. We can use phones on buses, or trains, or other crowded spaces; the no-phone rule for planes only exists because airlines were worried cell usage would interfere with navigation. When that proved to be a trumped-up concern, the rule stayed in place so airlines could gouge consumers with $15 Go-Go wifi. Most of what we do with phones these days doesn't require voice. Why shouldn't I be allowed to text, email, and browse the Internet on a plane? Because of the paternalistic impulse to create an "unconnected" space for a few hours? And if someone next to me wants to make a quick phone call to, say, coordinate with the person picking him/her up from the airport, why shouldn't they be allowed to? Because it might annoy me slightly? Whether my seat mate wants to have a phone conversation or a conversation with the guy across the aisle, I don't have some inalienable right to silence. That's why I bring headphones.

http://soundcloud.com/fringepodcast/slingin-cream/s-LzQQA Thanks!

Love the show, thought I'd make a Plugs song. Enjoy! http://soundcloud.com/fringepodcast/plugs-by-josh-richmond/s-u6NBi