Virtually Speaking

Once again, Sean Carroll – author  The Particle at the End of the Universe – & Matt Strassler talk particle physics, time and space and the importance of the Higgs Boson particle with Host Alan Boyle. Hosted in Second Life by the Exploratorium. Follow @seanmcarroll @mattstrassler @b0yle  Links Alan wrote about their Feb 2013 conversation here http://preposterousuniverse.com/ http://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/the-higgs-particle/why-the-higgs-particle-matters/why-the-higgs-particle-matters-2/ Royal Society Winton Prize for science books

What needs to happen in order to make a working health care system – for 99% of us – out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)? Links and more Social & political commentators Richard Eskow & Stuart Zechman discuss. Follow @RJEskow @Stuart_Zechman The VS Media Panel: Avedon Carol, Cliff Schecter, Dave Dayen, Dave Johnson, Dave Waldman, Digby, Gaius Publius, Joan McCarter, Marcy Wheeler & Stuart Zechman.

Political satirist Culture of Truth bases The Bobblespeak Translations on the Sunday Talk Shows — in this case, This Week on ABC — then creates the 'most ridiculous moment' for Virtually Speaking Sundays. We create a separate podcast and post the copy here.

Part 1 - digby asks Marcy Wheeler about her investigations into the NSA:  including denial of domestic spying, Snowden, political ramifications of the revelations and how all this relates to journalism. Part 2 - Filibuster. What happens now that an up or down vote is a reality. Plus commentary from political satirist Culture of Truth More on filibuster. Follow @digby56 @emptywheel @bobblespeak

Tom Levenson hosts Allan Adams, a theoretical physicist working at the intersection of fluid dynamics, quantum field theory and string theory.  His latest work uses the physics of black holes to study turbulence in quantum liquids.  He is currently working on disorder in many-body systems and pondering the duality between 2d gauge theories and topological 4-manifolds.  Adams earned his AB from Harvard, his MA from Berkeley and his PhD from Stanford before spending three years at Harvard as a Junior Fellow.  In 2006, Adams moved to MIT where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and CTP. Tom notes that Allan, an MIT colleague, is that rarest of rare birds, a string theorist whose work has some connection to the observable world.  We're going to be talking about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, beginning with some recent work of Allan's and then getting a little bit more philosophical...

Joan McCarter and David Waldman discusses the implications of the Reid Rule, and the future of the filibuster in the Senate. David (KagroX) has been working on this issue for at least 6 years, as reported today by CNN.    

The reality-challenged far right wing of the Republican Party coming to power is not a new development in American politics. Geoffrey Kabaservice discusses the post-war history of the conservative wing of the GOP, from Goldwater's Birchers to today's Tea Party in his book, Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party (Studies in Postwar American Political Development)    

Political satirist Culture of Truth bases The Bobblespeak Translations on the Sunday Talk Shows — in this case, Meet the Press and This Week on ABC — then creates the 'most ridiculous moment' for Virtually Speaking Sundays. We create a separate podcast and post the copy at VirtuallySpeaking.us

Avedon Carol & Dave Waldman discuss populism, the PPACA as yet another example of technocratic centrist failure, declaring surrender in the drug wars as Colorado passes weed tax and, the Village's slavering for Obama failure in his second term. Jay Ackroyd moderates. Plus political satire from Culture of Truth. MORE Follow @Avedon_Says @KagroX @JayAckoyd @Bobblespeak

Ian's been raising a bit of ruckus these days. You can read about his history of the failure of the netroots to influence Democratic politics and therefore US policy makers, which engendered a number of reactions.  This week we discuss the issues embodied in three of Ian's recent posts: Baseline Predictions for the next sixty years A New Ideology How to Create a Viable Ideology CMike transcribed some of the conversation

Maia Szalavitz – neuroscience journalist at TIME – specializes in drug and alcohol addiction. She and Jennifer Ouellette begin with the recent MDMA ("Molly") deaths.

Political satirist Culture of Truth bases The Bobblespeak Translations on the Sunday Talk Shows — in this case, Meet the Press and This Week on ABC — then creates the 'most ridiculous moment' for Virtually Speaking Sundays. We create a separate podcast and post the copy here. Follow @Bobblespeak

Joan and Jay discuss the politics of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; Harry Reid's filibuster reform talk; expanding social security; and the results of the 2013 elections and the attendant exit polls. Follow @JoanMcCarter @JayAckroyd @Bobblespeak Plus political satire from Culture of Truth.

Stuart and Jay discuss the likelihood and causes of a delay in the imposition of the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Then Stuart outlines some reforms that would improve competition in state health care markets that might be part of a deal to postpone the mandate until 2015. Or perhaps longer. Stuart writes about PPACA here. Follow @Stuart_Zechman @JayAckroyd  

Alan Boyle, science editor, NBC News Digital talks with David Brain about the MAVEN orbiter mission and what it means for Mars science and exploration.  Dr. Dave Brain - Co-Investigator on the MAVEN science team -serves as a science advisor for Invisible Mars: Science on a Sphere education and outreach. He is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.