Topical

Applied Weekly.

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50: Television

Published 19 February 2016 • 27 minutes, 12 seconds

Television has changed a lot over the years, both in regards to technology and also how we watch it. Russell and Jelly take a look back at the sorts of things that have impacted the shows they love, like how stories have become more and more continuous in nature, how things have started to transition to the internet, and how the advent of high-definition affected things.

49: Pronouns

Published 12 February 2016 • 20 minutes, 35 seconds

Pronouns are something you learn about as part of basic English, but they play a big role in people’s lives. Russell and Jelly look at how pronouns can make people feel excluded—or worse, offended—and discuss how simple changes can make big differences.

48: Languages

Published 5 February 2016 • 23 minutes, 25 seconds

Languages! They’re what separates us from things that don’t have languages, and like any good standard, there’s also a whole lot of them out there. Russell and Jelly chat, in one of their all-time favourite languages, about what it’s like to know multiple languages (or not know, in Jelly’s case), how languages are learned, and how it affects their work and travel.

47: Chat Rooms

Published 29 January 2016 • 23 minutes, 53 seconds

Chat rooms are everywhere on the internet, and are part of what makes it a great communication tool, but often it can devolve into a cesspool of hatred and offensive behaviour. Russell and Jelly discuss why this is the case, where the overall problem lies, and how this can be solved in the future. You know, for the sake of the children… and the cats.

46: Space Exploration

Published 22 January 2016 • 24 minutes, 8 seconds

TV shows like Star Trek have explored the concept of space travel for decades, and more recently, we’ve started to see a transition to looking at it in a more current light, with movies like Gravity and The Martian. This begs the question: are we going to explore space in the real world, and are we likely to see that in our lifetime?

45: Murder Porn

Published 15 January 2016 • 24 minutes, 24 seconds

Shows that investigate the narrative around a murder are becoming incredibly popular, with podcasts like Serial and the new Netflix series Making a Murderer. The real questions, though, are: why this type of show is so compelling, and is it actually reducing someone’s pain to a story for the purpose of entertainment?

44: Living Overseas

Published 8 January 2016 • 23 minutes, 22 seconds

Taking up residence in another country is an exciting thought for many people… but where do you even start when you make the decision to move to a different part of the planet? Jelly gets all the details on this special crossover episode, from finding a place to live to getting cash out at the airport.

43: New Year’s Resolutions

Published 1 January 2016 • 17 minutes, 37 seconds

Once a year, people all over the world make the decision, short-lived though it might be, to better themselves. They make the commitment to go to the gym, eat better, or quit a bad habit, causing Jelly and Russell to question why this happens, and whether it can ever actually be successful.

42: Santa

Published 25 December 2015 • 21 minutes, 58 seconds

Christmas is here and Santa has been and gone for another year, causing Russell and Jelly to take a hard look at the cultural phenomenon that is Santa Claus. Kids love him and parents proselytise him, but he’s not exactly the most modern of characters… so while they’re at it, our hosts bring him into the modern world with a little inspiration from their favourite superheroes!

41: Batteries

Published 18 December 2015 • 21 minutes, 36 seconds

With Apple moving to devices that charge using a lightning cable, Jelly feels like it’s the perfect time for he and Russell to look at the things that power our modern devices, from the disappointing lack of inductive charging to tales of espionage within the industry.