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The Rise of a Fast Fashion Juggernaut Feb 13, 2022

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In just a few short years, the Chinese fast fashion company Shein upended the way countless young women shop online. It’s approach could soon shape the way everyone else shops, too.

Guest: Louise Matsakis, freelance technology reporter

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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How Safe is the Metaverse? Feb 11, 2022

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Facebook’s first crack at the metaverse has a problem: kids. Underage users seem to be flooding Horizon Worlds, potentially putting themselves at risk.

Is Meta doomed to repeat Facebook’s mistakes?

Guest: Will Oremus, technology news analysis writer for the Washington Post.

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What You Don’t See At The Olympics Feb 10, 2022

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As the Winter Olympics unfold in Beijing, a darker reality remains: China’s abuses against the Uyghurs, an ethnic minority in the country’s Xinjiang region. While much of the world remains glued to the sports coverage, Uyghurs in the diaspora are calling on people to pay attention to China's treatment of their family members back home.

Guest: Gulchehra Hoja, a Uyghur journalist with Radio Free Asia.

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The Canadian Trucker Revolt Feb 09, 2022

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The Ottawa truckers protest is neither exclusive to Ottawa nor strictly composed of truckers. And its supporters are hoping to head to a city near you.

Guest: Jesse Brown, editor-in-chief of Canadaland.

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When Planned Parenthood Burns Down Feb 08, 2022

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With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, abortion access is under fire in states around the country. At Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville location, the clinic faced that literally when an arson attack burned the building to the ground. How will providers rebuild when the things they stand for are so threatened?

Guest: Tory Mills, director of community engagement for Planned Parenthood’s Knoxville Health Center.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The NFL’s Race Problem Feb 07, 2022

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Until last month, Brian Flores was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and one of only three Black head coaches among the NFL’s 32 teams. That number has since dropped to one.

On Tuesday, Flores announced he was suing the NFL, alleging that the league's hiring practices are racist. His suit comes almost 20 years after the creation of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for senior positions, and eight years after Colin Kaepernick was black-balled from the sport for kneeling during the national anthem—begging the question of how much has really changed in that time.

Guest: LZ Granderson, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of ABC News’ “Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Code That Runs Your Life Feb 06, 2022

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Banks, healthcare providers, and retailers around the world still rely on COBOL, a programming language originally developed in the 1960s. By all accounts the code is powerful, practical, and very rarely problematic. But the small group of people who still know the language are aging out of the workforce.

What happens when there are no more COBOL coders left?

Guest: Clive Thompson, journalist and author of "Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World."

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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Spotify’s Joe Rogan Mess Feb 04, 2022

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For Spotify, the last month has seen a cascade of controversies around its exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Is it time for the streaming service to rethink its role as a podcast publisher? And is it even possible to moderate podcast misinformation?

Guest: Evelyn Douek, lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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A New Kind of Gun Control Feb 03, 2022

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A popular, outgoing liberal mayor in Silicon Valley is taking on gun rights groups with a splashy municipal ordinance fashioned to curb gun violence—and be the first of its kind. Gun rights groups are foretelling doom for the new law, and the NRA called it a “ridiculous publicity stunt.”

Does this city’s initiative have the hallmarks of a breakthrough on gun violence prevention? Will lawsuits tank it before anyone has the chance to find out?

Guest: Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose, California.

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The Mineral The Future Is Built On Feb 02, 2022

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Cobalt is the most important mineral of the future. It’s a key part of lithium-ion batteries, which power cell phones and laptops, not to mention electric cars. That demand is giving rise to a mining industry in Idaho, which sits atop a giant cobalt deposit. But the environmental costs of extraction raise questions about what “clean energy” really means.

Guest: Michael Holtz, freelance journalist and author of “Idaho Is Sitting on One of the Most Important Elements on Earth.”

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