The Gist

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BEST OF THE GIST: Pop Music Edition Aug 26, 2023

Show notes

Each week on Best Of The Gist, we give you something from the past week and a deep cut from the archives, and this week we're starting off with Mike's Tuesday Spiel, in which he listens to the #1 song "Rich Men North Of Richmond" for the first time and reacts. Then we rewind to 2017 for his interview with NPR music critic Ann Powers about music's roll in the sexual revolution. "Tutti Fruitti…good booty." Yes, that was the original lyric.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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Listen Now: Sports Explains the World Aug 26, 2023

Show notes

Sports Explains the World unveils some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you've never heard - And they're all true. From the teenager who wrote a Wikipedia page that got a young athlete signed to a million-dollar deal - to the Ugandan National basketball coach who was really an undercover agent for the CIA, these stories will amaze and move you at every turn. Reported by award-winning journalists across the globe, Sports Explains the World reveals the human side of athletics in provocative and unexpected ways. You'll never view sports the same way again.

Enjoy Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/setw_tg

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Plastic Straw Critics Were Always A Straw Man Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

A new study shows that paper and bamboo straws are WORSE for the environment and the human body than plastic straws in important ways. Plus, the death of Yvegeny Prigozhin was confirmed by his ol' pal Putin. And an interview with Guy Nattiv on his new film, Golda.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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Forgiving The Fumble-Fisted, Not The Underhanded Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

USC professor Peter Kim, author of How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired, says that when the violation is one of competence, we're forgiving, but when it's one of integrity ... we do not. Broad treatises on trust that fail to distinguish between the two types are destined to not just fail but do more damage than if we just lied. Also on the show, when songs topping the charts are reviewed by those trailing in the polls. And Andrew Yang on the Vivek-quake.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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Candidates Going "Full Prigozhin" On The Leader Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

Tonight's Milwaukee debate presents a chance for the absent Donald Trump's fellow Republicans to offer a frontal assault, a sideward glance, or a kiss on the backside. Plus, the free-floating anxiety of death tolls estimated and unknown. And we're once more joined by Martha Hodes, author of My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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Hijacking A Memory ... And Also An Actual 12 Year Old Aug 22, 2023

Show notes

Martha Hodes is now a professor of history at NYU, where she teaches students techniques of interweaving their first-person accounts and the historical record. But in 1970, she was a 12 year old flying back from Israel, when her plane was hijacked. Her new book, My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering, tells that story, then it examines the story she and the other victims told themselves over the years. Also on the show, listening to (for the first time) the #1 song "Rich Men North of Richmond." And there is only one new car that sells for under $20,000 ... and the consequences are dire for a certain studio audience.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

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Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack

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Uber Uber Alles Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

Uber is actually turning a profit, and it's looking like it could realize the once-seeming-long-shot goals of its founders and investors. Ali Griswold, who writes the Oversharing Substack Newsletter joins us to discuss. Plus, a Russian rocket fails. And, at a meet-up of the BRICS nations, South Africa, Russia, and China are, in fact, there to make friends.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

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BEST OF THE GIST: Politics-On-A-Stick Edition Aug 19, 2023

Show notes

The Iowa State Fair is in its final weekend, and, along with deep-fried delicacies, politics was in the air. That reminded us of Mike's 2019 visit to Iowa ahead of the 2020 election, so we thought we'd replay his take on a political tradition that is very Midwestern. Then we rewind to this past Wednesday to listen to Mike's Spiel about the U.S. Women's National soccer team crashing out of the World Cup, and who (or what) was to blame.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

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To Sound The Maui Sirens? Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

Herman Andaya, Maui's emergency chief decided not to sound sirens before the fires scorched Lahaina, which seems like an obvious mistake. But all the officials agreed, to do so would have been a contradiction of policy ... and perhaps a dangerous one. Andaya was pushed out anyway, though he was, to some extent, the author of his own fate. And how much was Barbenheimer Hollywood's salvation? We talk franchise movies and box office with John Campea. And superheroes aren't the only ones failing to deliver the goods. Superconductors—at least room temperature ones—remain works of fiction.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

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Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack

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Trump Diehards And De-Meh-Crats Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

With 151 days until the Iowa Caucuses, we're joined by Amy Walter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and the host of The Odd Years, a Cook Political Report podcast. She says that if Trump is to be felled, it won't be through arguments that strike Democrats as especially powerful. Plus, a Ron DeSantis debate prep dump. And the military's recruitment woes cannot blamed on woke-ism.

Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist

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Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack

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