mefi's own Horace Rumpole ...
November 7, 2013 11:51 PM   Subscribe

on "You're the Expert" [via mefi projects] a podcast featuring academics interviewed about their specialty areas by comedians in front of a live audience.

Here is a sample of the 15 interviews available:

Dr. Rick Weissbourd on Adolescent Moral Development
An astronaut who scuba dives under the ice in Antarctica, Dr. Jessica Meir
Dr. Anna Frebel, on Stellar Archeology (she's billed as "the Indiana Jones of the cosmos" on the site)
Dr. Jo Shapiro, an otolaryngologist
Harvard Metagenomicist Peter Turnbaugh
and Mefi's own Horace Rumpole discusses the fascinating world of Early Modern Books.

Funny, engaging and stimulating...even if you don't know what otolaryngologists and metagenomicists do! Have a listen!
posted by chapps (17 comments total) 44 users marked this as a favorite
 
I believe I will listen to this today. Nice work!
posted by wenestvedt at 3:22 AM on November 8, 2013


This was lots of fun to do, and actually pretty informative on the subject of special collections librarianship, which is a rare combination. Thanks to Aizkolari for introducing me to the live tapings of the show in Cambridge.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:12 AM on November 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also featuring Metafilter's own Myq Kaplan.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:23 AM on November 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is such a great idea for a podcast. Thanks!
posted by likeatoaster at 7:30 AM on November 8, 2013


Thanks for posting this. The show is great live and I really recommend checking it out if you ever can. I will eventually get Chris on MeFi and then he can post the shows as gig to IRL.

Also Horace killed it on his show, so if you only listen to one episode, listen to his. My favorite comedic bit so far was in the show with the MIT Extreme Quantum Physics guy.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:30 AM on November 8, 2013


If you are in Cambridge or Brooklyn you could catch a show live.
posted by chapps at 8:41 AM on November 8, 2013


I was in the audience to show librarian solidarity with Horace Rumpole. He had some great stories, and showed his mastery of knowledge on the subject of "What is the rarest [thing] ?"

At the end, Chris Duffy, the host, was saying to everyone he talked with, "Hey, he was great! Wasn't he great?"
posted by initapplette at 1:00 PM on November 8, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you're going to listen to just two, after Horace's I'd like to recommend the Integrated Reporting Specialist. At first I was disappointed that he was from the Business School, and not some weirdo scientist. I couldn't imagine how business reports could be interesting but it ended up being fascinating, and gave me a look into an area I know nothing about. The guest was a really good speaker, and I came away with an altered view of how businesses (can) operate.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:28 PM on November 8, 2013


That was absolutely delightful, and it makes me want to come back as Horace Rumpole in my next life. I envy both your sweet job (and its requisite acquisitions budget), and your amazing knowledge base.

I did pretty well on the jargon quiz, only coming up empty on the last two, probably because I'm more familiar with 19th and 20th century books, and whatever I might know is self-taught. Though isn't foxing also thought to be caused by fungal infections, not just impurities in the pulp? Or is the spore the impurity? Looking it up on Wikipedia seems to indicate maybe, but frankly if you don't think it is, I'd trust your expertise over any other source. It seems crazy that we wouldn't know decisively.

Cool, cool, cool. That was fun.
posted by Toekneesan at 9:34 PM on November 8, 2013


It sounds from Etherington & Roberts that it's a fungus that produces an acid which oxidizes the iron in the paper. But it's definitely not something I know a ton about.

If you enjoyed the jargon, this is the rest of the list--I gave him way more than there was time to cover.

Book snake
Crushed morocco
Gauffering (pronounced "gophering")
Hinman Collator
Ink balls
Laid paper
Manicule
Palimpsest
Sextodecimo
Volvelle
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:20 AM on November 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


The Hinman Collator, and Hinman's work; thanks to this list I just learned about that. Fascinating. The others I didn't know and just read about were Volvelle and Gauffering. I also don't know what Book Snake refers to, but couldn't find a web definition.

To steal a joke from Myq Kaplan, I think this remaining list could also be used to construct some pretty interesting book titles, though the results might tend more toward porn than noir. I will leave the actual work of doing that to others.

I've done letterpress and fine art printing, using plates, wood, linoleum, and stone, so I've actually used Ink Balls, Laid Paper, and Bone Folders. I've even made paper and built a few handmade books, just to see how, and to help friends who did it professionally. In my current job I help manage the production of quite a few books, and while the hardcovers we make are printed very differently than they were back then, they are constructed using a lot of the same techniques and processes we've been using for the past couple of centuries. They're smyth sewn to ribbons, and made from high rag content, acid-free paper. Typically with cloth over boards and handsome endsheets. I know most books published today aren't, but all of our books get an initial high quality, ANSI Z39.48-1992 standard, archival run. Our exceptionally high production standards are one of the reasons I love my job. On the other side of that though is the fact that after that initial run is sold, the books then go into Print on Demand on platforms all over the world, producing low-cost and affordable, entirely mechanized one-offs, that are typically printed in the same UPS zone as the customer and delivered with the glue still warm. Book production technology has come a long way, but there are still corners that kick it old skool.

The Etherington & Roberts link was also really COoL.☜pun I guess we do know decisively, and the answer is, it's complicated.
posted by Toekneesan at 8:42 AM on November 9, 2013


How to Make a Book Snake

The ones we use are velvet with lead shot, and don't have googly eyes.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:31 AM on November 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Okay, now those did come up when I searched, but I over-thought it and figured it had to be something more technical.
posted by Toekneesan at 10:39 AM on November 9, 2013


My son and i listened to the podcast on a road trip to see the grandparents today... He is intrigued to learn your brain is half eagle!
posted by chapps at 8:21 PM on November 9, 2013


Ahhh, that was so fantastic! I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the questions at the end.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:40 AM on November 10, 2013


Is there a way to download these podcasts directly without exposing my computer to iTunes?
posted by charlesminus at 9:50 AM on November 12, 2013


Yes, I think you should be able to get the mp3 directly from this link.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:47 PM on November 12, 2013


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