The Extra Dimension

Over the last year-and-a-half, most of the education world has had to quickly adapt to a new model that we had never used before. Distance Learning has certainly been a journey, and one that will probably continue shaping education even as we go back into our physical classrooms.

The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly thrust many of us into a world where we find ourselves working from home. How is that affecting the people going through this, and how is it reshaping society at large?

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was killed at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve him. His death sparked weeks of protests, marches, police brutality, riots, and political change. Join Ian as he struggles to process everthing that has happened to his community.

The illnesses that we have faced over the course of human civilization have been heavily influenced by the cultural and technological contexts that they interacted with. Rebecca Dean, Professor of Anthropology comes on the show to teach us about it!

Bikes are fairly simple machines, but very finely tuned. What things can you do maintenance on yourself, and what things require the services of a bike shop? Crystal Sursely of Lowertown Bike Shop joins us to answer all your pressing bike maintenance questions!

COPPA is not a new law, but there are certainly some new developments for how it applies on YouTube. Content creators are now required to mark their videos as "made for kids" or not. What does this mean, and what are the consequences?

Ian was recently invited to guest on the IEEE RAS Soft Robotics Podcast, hosted by Marwa ElDiwiny. They chat about how robotics and podcasts can be used in a high school education setting, as well as home automation and how robotics is affecting society in general.

Getting into podcasts can be a daunting task, since there are so many choices to make. How do you find interesting shows? How do you listen to them? Is there an app for that? We're here to help! This episode will give an overview of the different options you have for listening to podcasts, and serves as a companion to our Podcast Players Roundup on Second Opinion Reviews.

Ian sits down with author Naomi Kritzer to chat about her brand-new book, Catfishing on CatNet! They talk about the book, its themes of online friendship, privacy, and tracking, as well as digging into some delightful local references. Plus, a few details about the sequel came up as well!

We all love our technology: it does many many things to improve our everyday lives. But what is it doing to our planet? How can we use our technology in an environmentally responsible manner? Ian interviews experts from LineageOS, iFixit, the Rebble Alliance, the Washington County Environmental Center, and Tech Dump to talk about the many different aspects of reducing the environmental impact of consumer technology.