Mashups, I know, are sooooo 2006, but still they persist. Sounds For The Space-Set is a new collection from mashartists RIAA (22 free mp3s). Sun Ra meets Space Odditey mates with the Four Tops– and that’s just in the first song. Try “Salvador Dali Teaches Rex Harrison How To Say ‘Butterfly’” (Dick Hyman “The Moog and Me,” Salvador Dali interview, Chicks on Speed “Wordy Rappinghood”):

“The Wonder Is All Around Us” (Vangelis “Alpha,” Dr. Michael Shermer and James Randi interview: “Skepticality” podcast interview, Ken Nordine “Satellite”):

Found at WFMU’s Blog.

HV audio was all over pubradio last weekend. Jake Warga searched Ethiopia for “The Perfect Photo” on All Things Considered. On This American Life Scott Carrier, in Salt Lake City, watched “The Lake Effect” form as SLC mayor Rocky Anderson debated FOX New’s Sean Hannity.

I finished a bike “Trek through Yellowstone, Part 2” for Weekend America. “Part 1” was the weekend america before, as was Scott C’s “Steelhead Fishing” trip. And a final grand total of 384 stations broadcast our “For the Fallen” special.

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum has an exhibition and website showcasing design done for people who don’t have money, power outlets or even running water. As a designer, I have often worked on projects aimed at the 10% that do have all those things and more (although, ironically, some of those projects were items such as travel brochures for expeditions to places like Mongolia where you can get away from all those trappings of wealth whenever you get sick of them). While one often pays at least some attention on usability and impairment issues, the reality is that most of the focus is on creating something cool, unique and that gets away - as much as possible - with using the latest and greatest.

I have found, however, that accomodating design (i.e. the equivalent of curb-cuts in sidewalks) makes it easier for all audiences to use a product or a site. Many of the items you’ll see on this site look like they’d be useful even in a first-world environment. It makes you think about how many design resources are wasted because they’re aimed at a narrow, mostly wealthy audience. “But hey, the beautiful finish on that Apple flat-panel display really makes it run better.”

This week’s HV cast is for Memorial Day, part one (of 2) of our special “For the Fallen“: Host Major Robert Schaefer, U.S. Army Special Forces, a Green Beret and poet, reveals his love-hate relationship with the bugle call “Taps.” We join a “Military Honor Guard” in Long Island, recorded by Charles Lane. We hear interviews with World War Two and Vietnam vets from the public radio’s StoryCorps and This I Believe series. Composer Phil Kline sets to music the slogans Vietnam soldiers etched into their lighters, in Zippo Songs. And we attend the daily ceremony by Belgian veterans honoring the WWI British soldiers who died defending a small town in western Belgium (produced by Marjorie Van Halteren and Helen Engelhardt).

“For the Fallen 1″ mp3 23:00):

A story on last night’s NPR ATC, “Studying a Koala Mystery in Eastern Australia” was the first of a new series from Jim Metzner (Pulse of the Planet). The series Science Diaries puts recorders, and blogs, in the hands of scientists “to let these dedicated folks tell their own stories.”

For the next week the story is an NPR Story of the Day podcast, “I can see his bum…”:

From CindySheehan’s diary at the Daily Kos:

I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”

–CindySheehan Daily Kos: Diaries

Announcer’s eye-view at Cape station

Empires, yes: plural. Jay Allison is an institutional instigator and prolific producer. Here’s a few core pubradio foundational orgs he helped found:

• AIR- Association of Independents in Radio
• SoundPrint- the longest-running non-fiction documentary series in public radio.
• Atlantic Public Media- a production and training organization, focusing on public media.
• Cape and Islands Radio- Massachusetts listener-supported public radio stations.
• Transom- Showcase & Workshop for New Public Radio
• PRX- Public Radio Exchange, distribution, peer review, and licensing of radio pieces
• NPR This I Believe- Engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives

Here’s an ancient piece of his, posted on the Transom Inspiration page, “Rejection”:

Gathering of the Generals: Samantha Broun- Nature Stories Podcast, Emily Botein- Stories from the Heart of the Land, Jay, Viki Merrick- Atlantic Public Media

I spent a few days this month in Wood’s hole observing the emperor in action. Typical day includes phone-coaching some Alaska kid in an AK studio reading his I Believe essay, working w/ Emily Botein on their new Nature Conservancy funded series Stories from the Heart of the Land, adapting his bicycle to my much-smaller height so I can mic-while-biking for said series, writing his chapter of a new book on pubradio, polishing production w/ Viki Merrick of the new HV special “Father Figures,” getting a BBQ ready for his kids, and checking out that night’s squid fishing.

Oh, one more thing, Jay also likes the bikes w/ big engines:

Jake Warga’s hunt for “The Perfect Photo” in Ethiopia ran tonight on NPR All Things Considered. Here’s the slideshow:
Jake’s: site | videos.