Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Uncovering the real story in Iraq is getting harder.  Western journalists have become targets, just like American soldiers.  And reporters now take elaborate precautions to avoid being killed or kidnaped.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the hazards of war reporting...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Where’s James Bond when you need him?  You have to wonder about the spy business after the dubious information that was used to justify America’s war against Iraq.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an argument for revealing all the secrets to the public.  And, a look back at Anthony...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Eric Liu is on a campaign to restore America's civic joy. To make voting fun again, with late-night dance parties for Miami voters, participatory election street theater in Akron,Ohio; and a giant election scavenger hunt in Philadelphia. He says there's no such thing as not voting: choosing not...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It started as a joke.  Danny Wallace put a small ad in a London newspaper.  It simply said “Join me” and invited people to send a passport-sized photo.  The only problem was, no one knew what they were joining.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of Danny Wallace’s “Join Me”...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

“Good fences make good neighbors." Robert Frost writes in Mending Wall.  Is he right? Maybe homemade chocolate chip cookies or lending a lawnmower are more neighborly. I guess it depends on who your neighbors are.Read more

a preacher on the prairie

You know the earth is round, the sky is up, and your dog loves you.  But HOW do you know those things?  This week, how we form opinions – the psychology and brain chemistry behind our beliefs.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There’s another September 11th.  On that day thirty years ago, a military coup overthrew Chile’s elected president, Salvador Allende.  Newly declassified documents show the C.I.A.’s extensive involvement in the coup.  On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Pinochet file.  Also,...Read more

camera

When we’ve had enough of reality, we often seek escape in a movie.   But we don’t have to shut off our brains when we visit the cinema.  Some films actually encourage us to use our minds.  This hour, we explore philosophy through the lens of filmRead more

Fitbit and notebooks

A few years ago, the notion of the "quantified self" was the domain of a relatively small group of hackers, engineers, and computer enthusiasts. Now, under its many names—lifelogging, self-tracking, fitness monitoring—it's become one of the fastest growing segments of the technology...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

You’re part of the “Freedom Movement,” - a group of anti-globalization anarchists.  You’re blowing up security stations to fight “The Corporation.” Sounds like a scene out of Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests of a few years ago, doesn’t it?  But it’s not.  It’s...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Salman Rushdie's new novel is called "The Enchantress of Florence." It's a tale of two cities, consisting of stories tucked inside stories tucked inside stories...along the lines of Scheherazade's stories of "One Thousand and One Nights." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Salman...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Russia and China.  They were the two Communist giants.  Now each is carving out a new future.  By most accounts, China is doing it better.  It’s still an authoritarian state, but the economy if booming.  And Russia?  Well, it’s capitalism’s wild...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For decades, men have written about their first sexual experiences, but there’s almost no literature like that for women.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, memoirist Mary Karr reflects on her first kiss and other rites of passage for girls.  Also, Jonathan Kozol describes...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Read any good life-list books lately? How about "1,000 Places You Must Visit Before You Die?" or "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die." There's no shortage of "life-list" books to read these days. What's next? "1,000 Life-List Books You Must Read Before You Die"? Probably. We'll explore...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Think that a TV series based on the Coen Brothers' 1996 black comedy crime thriller, "Fargo," is a bad idea? Then you haven't seen "Fargo," The TV series.  Creator and showrunner Noah Hawley talks about how he transformed the iconic film into the critically-acclaimed, award-winning TV series.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everyone knows what comic books are about, right? But it's not all about people in long underwear hitting each other. This hour on To the Best of Our Knowledge, heroes, anti-heroes, and regular folks strutting their stuff in black and white.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Seven hundred million people get their music from the Internet. More than 10 million people own iPods.  Does this mean that compact discs and record companies are going the way of the gramophone and eight-track tapes?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll look at this digital...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Survival.

The oldest living things on the planet and a list of everything you’ll need to know after the apocalypse.

But there’s one thing no one can survive. And that’s death. Or maybe not...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

This hour we combine two seemingly unlikely things: food and death. But when you think about it food and death really do go hand-in-hand. From the Last Meal to the new phenomenon of Death Dinners. Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Space, the final frontier. But is science fiction the final frontier when it comes to being a literature of ideas? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll wax philosophical about science fiction with two of the genre's greatest writers -- George R.R. Martin and Ursula K. Le Guin....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever heard of Dan Rice?  Probably not.  But if you were alive around the middle of the nineteenth century chances are you would know his name.  That’s when Dan Rice made his mark in “the show business.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the life and times of Dan Rice.  And...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

With shows in Milan, Paris and New York, it's fashion month across the Western World, and people are turning their eyes to runways. But does fashion really matter? Truth is, the garment industry is worth trillions of dollars, and employs millions of people. In this hour, we take a look at the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In the wake of a number of high profile shootings over the past year, people are talking about policing, racism, and injustice. But there's one issue we don't really talk all that much about: fear.This hour, we take a closer look at negative stereotypes about African American men, how those...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Shhh… I have a secret… Now, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Classic spy joke – but not so funny when it's true. In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, we'll go the dark side of secrecy - warrantless wiretapping, secret CIA prisons, "extraordinary rendition,"...Read more

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