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benzenedream — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:34:33 -0800

What songs have sampled the philosopher Alan Watts? The Books' song "All our base are belong to them" has an Alan Watts sample, as does Giraffes? Giraffes! song "I Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Are Me And We Am I And I Are All Our Together: Our Collective Consciousness' Psychogenic Fugue". There must be a ton of other songs containing Watts' quotes. I thought there was a Lemon Jelly song as well, but can't find a reference to it at the moment.

For those of us who didn't go to Harvard. . .

Ndwright — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:26:53 -0800

Are there any sites or blogs dedicated to pointing out great courses and lectures not to be missed on iTunes U? The Mefi post with this question's origin.

What is the best podcasted public lecture series?

surenoproblem — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:31:47 -0800

I'm looking for a podcast of public lectures from prominent people in their fields: people like Jeffrey Sachs, Peter Singer, Toni Morrison. Many universities offer public lecture series online. Which is the best podcast, in terms of big-name speakers and well explained ideas?

Help me find academic lectures in Japanese!

kinakomochi — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:23:34 -0800

Looking for academic lectures in Japanese freely available on the web Just got back from Japan a few months ago and trying to keep my academic Japanese up to scratch has proved quite difficult. I'm looking for lectures (a la Stanford's Youtube lectures) that I can listen to in my spare time. Social sciences/ linguistics are best but I'll take anything I can get.

Culture me for cheap!

zoomorphic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:21:03 -0800

Help me pick out the best play, opera, lecture and art exhibit to see this winter in NYC. I'm a lowly wage slave who can't shell out $300 to see every Broadway sensation that comes to town, so I'd like to attend one incredible event in each category with a high return-on-awesome factor so I can walk away cultured but not impoverished. My criteria for lectures is open-ended: I'll easily enjoy most anything aside from hard science data, so if you've got a lecture marked on your calendars that is truly, earth-shatteringly rad, share. No Nerd Nite stuff--it's a great concept that devolved into a meat market. I enjoy lots of concept art about social issues, as long as it's smart: more like Kara Walker at the Whitney, less like the frothy superhero costume exhibit at the Met. I've never seen an opera in the US, but I'm a sucker for decadent costumes and pageantry more than the quality of voices (which my philistine ears can't really distinguish from the understudies' performance, I'd imagine), and I have no idea how to judge the merits of the Met calendar based on subject and talent. Should I spring for a Mozart/Wagner staple or a more modern piece? As for plays, I lean towards lovely dialogue over experimental acting or camp, but I'm such a theater rookie that I'd rather not take my own advice on such matters. I hate hate hate most musicals, so advise with caution.

So what would you sleek New York MeFites attend if you rarely spend more than $80 on anything beyond a metro card? I'm going alone, so I've got only myself to worry about. Let's assume I can spare $25ish on the art exhibit, $100 on a play, $100 on an opera, and $50 on a lecture.

Are there other high quality lecture sites besides TMS and TTC?

clueless22 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:23:00 -0800

Are there other high quality lecture sites besides TMS and TTC? I'm looking for similar sites like TMS or TTC which offer high quality lectures recorded by world renown professors. I do know that there are many universities that have opened up their curriculum like MIT or Berkeley but I'm looking for these paid site in particular.

educational mp3s - speeches/radioshows/lectures

figTree — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:46:51 -0800

looking for social science lectures and/or radioshow interviews Im looking for mp3s i can download do make me smarter while on the bus. Im looking to get informative mp3s on

-economics
-psychology
-technology/the future
-human geography
-philosophy

amoung other areas. Preferably im looking for something that is not just under a broad "science" banner if its a radioshow, since i would like to know more or less what sorts of topics to exactly expect, but a radioshow would be great as its likely more entertaining/pleasurable to listen to.

For example, i am interested in the theories of macro economics, itd be great to have an interesting set of mp3s that are enjoyable to listen to and dont rely on me having a video of the lecture (when they are writing stuff down). Im not sure if many such "podcast lectures" exist?

thank you!

Youtube college lectures

bbranden1 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:46:33 -0800

Help me find longer lectures on Youtube. Is there a browsable index of what's on posted on Youtube (something more detailed and descriptive than the left sidebar on the homepage, the channels page, or the few video links that show up on any given page)? I'd like to find something to watch on my ipod at the gym, something to hold my interest for fifteen to sixty minutes, but not videos of laughing babies, music videos or teenagers beating up each other. Doing a search for "university lectures" leads me to the several UC Berkeley lecture series and the inspiring lecture from the fellow with pancreatic cancer. Is it possible to move beyond that into other college lectures or even multipart courses (arts or science), discussions, longer films, the unexpected? How do I find them?

Free learnin'!

inoculatedcities — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:10:58 -0800

Where can I find video webcasts online similar to this UC Berkeley archive? I've been enjoying the UC Berkeley video webcasts immensely but am looking for more lectures in the humanities and, especially, graduate courses in history and English literature. The only other site I know of is MIT's Open Courseware but I'm not really looking for notes, syllabi, or reading recommedations (which is all I can ever find there). I'm just looking for video lectures, including panel discussions. Any links would be greatly appreciated.

Hmmmm. I might just join a club. Even if it would have me as a member.

miss lynnster — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:53:32 -0800

May I pick your brain for a moment? Yeah, thanks. See, I'm thinking I want to join some clubs or groups or organizations in the Bay area to inspire myself as well as to meet more creative, vibrant, funny, smart, interesting people my age. Tell me, what does the Bay area offer that might really enrich my life here that I might not know about? I'm back to working at home right now which is way too solitary. My language classes have helped me to realize that it's definitely about time I get more deeply involved in the community here, that I should expand my horizons and meet more cool peers. Preferably active people who are youthful & energetic about life (living on the Peninsula, I'm currently surrounded by soccer moms who act like 30-40 is a hundred freaking years old, and I just can't allow myself to relate to that. Sorry. Nuh uh.).

If there are groups for people really into world travel, design or culture that would be cool too. Also wouldn't mind taking a digital photography class. Basically I'm open to all suggestions, including good places for fun events, workshops, high quality classes or lectures, music, writing courses, volunteer organizations... even quirky stuff is ok. I'm basically just open to hearing about anything interesting you've found that you've had good experiences with & enjoyed. Anything kickass stuff you can recommend? (No computer clubs please. I spend WAY too much time behind this damnable thing already.)

Big bonus points if there happen to be tall, dark, handsome, non-crazy, unattached & heterosexual men (with an attraction to me) present in said groups. ;)

Saving an mp3 of a Camtasia produced lecture?

Asherah — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:37:41 -0800

How do you breakout and save an audio file recorded in a Camtasia presentation? My Pharmacology professor currently uses Camtasia Studio to post Powerpoint slides with recorded audio lectures. She's admittedly still getting the hang of the program and on her behalf, I'm trying to determine how she would go about saving an mp3 file of just the audio that could then be downloaded and burned to a cd, or used on portable music players.

I've checked the Camtasia help manuals and while they're loaded with info, I couldn't pinpoint my answer. I'm not a user myself and am not familiar with the interface (can't download external .exe files here at work, either, so that's out.) If it helps, I think she uses version 4.0

How do I get long audio files onto my iPod?

ruwan — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:47:14 -0800

I have series of lectures that I'd like to listen to on my ipod. Each lecture is about 60-65 minutes long, and there are about 35 of them. But for some strange reason, I can't get them to transfer to my ipod... I have them all loaded up on a playlist on iTunes and I can listen to them on my computer (MacBookPro) just fine. It seems that iTunes will not let me sync these lectures (or the playlist) to my ipod (30 gig, 5th gen). I'm sure there's enough space (the files are 350mb total, and I have 4gb free), and I've even tried it by clicking "manually update my songs", and even if I drag the lectures one by one from my library to my ipod, the lectures will not transfer.

(I have not experienced any other problems with transferring any other songs to or from my ipod.) Any ideas?

Aural pleasure?

you're only jung once — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:25:18 -0800

Is there a good online resource for lectures on .mp3? Particularly in fields (soooo mefi) of liberal arts, psychoanalysis, culture, internet and politics. Oh and my girlfriend (yeah right) wonders if theres any fashion/Jane Austen stuff out there? Please help me find something interesting for a long car journey!

Sneaking into university lectures for free?

wackybrit — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:37:06 -0800

Ignoring the ethics, can you attend/sneak into university classes and lectures for free? Steve Jobs has said several times that he dropped out of college, but continued to sneak onto campus and "drop in" to any classes he felt interested him (this is how he became interested in typefaces and aesthetics). This tale made me wonder about the few times I've wandered onto campuses with old friends, etc.. the security is rarely good. Libraries often have card systems, but you can walk around the campus easily (this may have changed after 9/11?).

Forgetting the ethics of the situation, has anyone here managed to wander into classes and get free tuition? How well do professors check the attendance of their lectures? Do you think it'd be possible to pull off? Obviously you wouldn't get any credits and you'd probably minimize contact with the academic staff, but how far could one possibly go with it?

How do you get to be their favourite teacher?

szechuan — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:10:22 -0800

Calling all academics: What advice can you offer a first-time university lecturer in terms of preparation, presentation, and holding student interest? I'm starting as a part-time lecturer teaching a class to final year undergraduates next year. I'm a professional, and the class is directly within my area of expertise. That said, I've never lectured before, and I'm wondering what people have found works when you're first starting out (and don't have years worth of prepared lectures, handouts and experience!). Is it worth the effort to create powerpoint presentations (shudder), or is it easier to hold attention with a few key statements written on the whiteboard? Do you favour full lecture notes, or simple handouts with lists of key points, or do you give them nothing and let them fend for themselves? Socractic method? Assigned seating? Bueller?
I realise every class and every lecturer is different, but I'd be interested in MeFite views.

MP3 Lectures

gwint — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 08:24:19 -0800

I'm looking for free lectures in mp3 format. Science, history, philosophy, etc. Lectures from college courses might be nice or something along the lines of the Long Now Seminars.