Made some more tweaks this week based on your feedback, with small expansions to the guest and new podcast sections. And I scaled back the Pod Takes. I’m trying to keep the length from getting out of control.

As always, I’m grateful for any and all feedback. Thanks for reading!

5 Pod Takes

1) “Algorithms don’t decide what’s fair. People have to do that.”

Listen: Undiscovered: Party Lines (25:17)

• That’s Annie Minoff, explaining why having a ”neutral” computer algorithm draw fair political districts isn’t possible.

• The pod dives deep into North Carolina’s partisan gerrymander and the math-based challenge to it that’s in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

• My take: A fantastic explanation of the problems created by the precision gerrymanders data and computing power make possible.

• Also: Vote!

2) “Earth rings like a bell. But the moon rings more like a gong.”

Listen: On a Mission: Music of the Spheres (12:43)

• So says host Leslie Mullen, summing up the POV of NASA colleague Bruce Banerdt.

• That revelation comes during the debut of a new pod from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory focused on the InSight robotic explorer of Mars. Banerdt’s the lead scientist on the project.

• Banerdt and his team, among other awesome things, will place a seismometer on Mars to hear what the red planet sounds like.

• Spoiler: The bell of which Banerdt speaks rings during earthquakes, for instance, but humans don’t hear the sound, which travels through earth at a frequency below what humans can hear.

• My take: Hope Mars sounds like this.

3) “I suspect I will never be anything but utterly confounded and just in awe of such a strange, impactful human being as Richard Simmons.”

Listen: Missing Richard Simmons: 18 Months Later (18:23)

• That’s the expert opinion of host Dan Taberski, in this short update, aka “Missing Missing Richard Simmons,” on Simmons’s status as well as others’ featured during last year’s podcast phenomenon.

• Spoiler: Simmons is still (mostly) missing from the public eye. He did write a Facebook post about someone close to him who passed away.

4) “The wonderful part about the internet is that loners and geeks and people who think that there’s no one else like them in the world can turn on the computer and find out there’s millions of other people out there like them in the world. Well, the racists are finding out the same thing.”

Listen: The Press Box: CNN and the Bomb, the Francesa Controversies, and Megyn Kelly (6:53)

• That’s co-host David Shoemaker, with a gut-punch of a kicker.

5) “It’s like going under the knife in a hospital where there’s really no doctors.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Annie, Jack o’ Lantern (5:17)

• That’s Annie, with something to think about for next Halloween.

• She adds: “It’s just some amateurs kinda working at your face.”

• My take: Ouch. Sorry, Annie.

Go Deep

1) “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”

Listen: Heat Rocks, Dissect

• Author Joan Morgan joins Heat Rocks for a 50-minute examination of Hill’s classic album to mark its 20th anniversary.
• Dissect kicks off an eight-part deep dive, exclusively on Spotify.

2) Rudy in the Former Soviet Union

Listen: Trump, Inc.

• The Trump-focused pod goes deep on Trump acolyte Rudy Giuliani.

3) The Making of “Homecoming”

Listen: StartUp

• Gimlet goes meta with a four-part series focused on how the TV version of its pod got made.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Albom, Mitch Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Attell, Dave Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith

Axelrod, David Off Message, Political Gabfest

Brill, Steven The Axe Files

Caine, Michael Kickass News

Chehadé, Fadi Ted Talks Daily

• Technology architect talks ways for society to benefit from technology.

Clinton, Hillary Recode Decode

Costello, Elvis Freakonomics Radio

Cruz, Wilson The West Wing Weekly

Daltrey, Roger WTF with Marc Maron

Daschle, Tom The West Wing Weekly

Diaz, Joey The Joe Rogan Experience

Dubus III, Andre Otherppl with Brad Listi

Dunham, Lena Armchair Expert

Ellis, Jason Curious with Josh Peck

Fountain, Ben Bookworm

Glaser, Nikki Good One

Godin, Seth The Tim Ferriss Show

Gray, John Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Hagan, Joe Longform Podcast

• Author of the “Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine” talks about researching and writing his excellent book.

Harris, Sam The Ted Interview, The Tim Ferriss Show

Hill, Jonah Fresh Air

Jenkins, Brad Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

• Funny or Die DC’s exec producer talks politics, comedy.

Kass, Sam The Sporkful

• Chef talks about cooking Barack Obama’s lucky pasta.

Kazan, Zoe WTF with Marc Maron

Keisling, Mara Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

• Convo with the director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Kelly, Michael Remote Controlled

Kinnear, Greg Remote Controlled

Koy, Jo The Adam Carolla Show

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. The Children’s Book Podcast

• Have you read the Lunch Lady books a million times with your kids? I’ve read the Lunch Lady books a million times with my kids.

Lee, Bobby Anna Faris is Unqualified

Malek, Rami Playback

McChrystal, Stanley Gen. The Moment with Brian Koppelman

McGrath, Amy Pod Save America

Minhaj, Hasan Off Camera with Sam Jones

Monáe, Janelle The New Yorker Radio Hour

Moore, CeCe Nobody Told Me!

• Convo with the investigative genetic genealogist.

Musk, Elon Recode Decode

Neyfakh, Leon I Have to Ask

Neville, Morgan Studio 360

Perry, Steve Inside the Studio

• Welcome back, Steve Perry!

Palmieri, Jennifer Skimm’d From the Couch

Pollak, Kevin Doughboys

Pollan, Michael Endless Thread

Redzepi, René Bon Appetit Foodcast

Reitman, Jason Recode Media with Peter Kafka

Richie, Lionel Oprah’s Master Class

Ringwald, Molly The a24 Podcast

Roberts, Julia The Goop Podcast, StartUp

Sanford, Mark The Ezra Klein Show

Sasse, Ben Kickass News

Scaramucci, Anthony Inside the Hive

Schmidt, Steve The Axe Files

Smith, Tracy K. On Being

• Convo with the U.S. poet laureate.

Strong, AshLee Skimm’d From the Couch

• Convo with the press secretary for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Taffer, Jon The Adam Carolla Show

Talamon, Bruce It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

• The photographer talks capturing images of black musicians.

Tenacious D You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Traister, Rebecca Recode Decode

Turner, Julia Women in Charge

Varda, Agnès Monocle 24: The Big Interview

Wahlberg, Mark Pardon My Take

Wojnarowski, Adrian The Lowe Post

• NBA media heavyweights talk Jimmy Butler, Washington’s awful team.

Notable New Podcasts

1) On a Mission

If you love: Mars, NASA, Robots, Science, Space

• Eight-part series from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory focuses on the InSight robotic explorer of Mars.

2) Front Burner

If you love: Canada, News

• CBC News debuts a daily new podcast.

3) Bag Man

If you love: Money-stuffed Envelopes, Politics, Serials, True Crime

• Rachel Maddow’s pod dives deep into the crimes of Richard Nixon’s disgraced vice president Spiro Agnew.

4) Shedunnit

If you love: Agatha Christie, Detectives, Mysteries

• The new pod from Caroline Crampton “unravels the mysteries behind classic detective stories.”

5) Proof

If you love: Deep-Fried Oreos, Food, Mysteries

• The America’s Test Kitchen pod “goes beyond recipes and cooking to solve food mysteries big and small.”

6) Kingpins

If you love: Gangsters, Money, Power, True Crime

• The pod focuses on “the leaders of organized crime rings, and how money and power corrupted and changed their communities.”

7) Chapo: Kingpin on Trial

If you love: Drug Wars, Gangsters, Money, Power, Trials, True Crime

• VICE’s Spotify exclusive goes eight-episodes deep into El Chapo’s “high-stakes case through the stories of people caught up in the drug war in the U.S. and Mexico.”

8) Standoff

If you love: Paranoia, Power, Remote Cabins, Serials, Sieges, The Feds

• Slate’s narrative pod asks what really happened during the standoff at Ruby Ridge. Ruth Graham hosts. ‏

9) The Rewind with Guy Raz

If you love: Behind the Scenes, Exclusivity, Music, Origin Stories

• Raz “digs into the stories behind some of the world’s most famous artists and musicians,” exclusively on Spotify.

10) Function with Anil Dash

If you love: Cultural Criticism, Games, Tech

• Dash’s pod asks, “What goes into the technical choices that change our culture?”

11) Lethal Lit

If you love: Crime, Detectives, Fiction, Murder

• Join “teen detective Tig Torres as she investigates the twisted mystery of the infamous Lit Killer murders.” It’s a six-part series.