It would be catastrophic to try to listen to a podcast or audio book while I drive, it would take far too much concentration.

If I'm the driver, I can only listen to audiobooks I've already read. That way I don't have to concentrate as hard, since I know what's coming. And David Sedaris is downright dangerous to listen to as a driver.

I realized I read by some sort of gestalt method, recognizing the entire word rather than interpreting the collection of letters.

I do this. I kind of...eat the words whole, if that makes any sense.

I have no trouble listening to audiobooks and podcasts on my commute, but it's mostly just cruising.

I listen to podcasts while working too, but oftentimes I couldn't tell you what I just listened to. So I'll just listen to it again. Can't listen to audiobooks while working.

I kind of...eat the words whole, if that makes any sense.

I did one of those college psychology tests where they use Freshmen in psych classes as guinea pigs for the older students. The test was to look at a jumble of five letters and see how long it took to see what the word spelled. I completely wrecked my particular test because I didn't give the tester time to push the stopwatch before I knew what the word was, and then I glanced at the rest of the list and figured them out too. I think he decided to throw my results out. It's fun out on the far end of the Bell Curve.

We listen to: "You Must Remember This," which is on Hollywood history and feels like a film class with a smart professor who also likes gossip. "No Such Thing As A Fish," which has four of the research elves from the QI program discussing facts and being HILARIOUS.

We also listen to WTF and Greg Proops "Smartest Man In The World."

In financial game news (really!), has anyone seen this about Pokémon Go?

Relatedly, I saw somewhere a comment that they should make Neko Atsume Go.

Omg. This sounds like an onion story--"family hiking in woods finds half naked Justin Trudeau in a cave"??

[link]

family hiking in woods finds half naked Justin Trudeau in a cave

Why is this even a news story? It's like a common occurrence in Canada, right? A "dog bites man" story.

Why is this even a news story? It's like a common occurrence in Canada, right?

I'm sure it is. Like running into a half-naked Bill Clinton at a resort.

Now he's surfing on the West Coast (fully clothed). [link]

Scarily, the period in recent human history which it most reminds me of is the 1930s, and we all know how they ended.

Right? I feel like coming out and saying that seems alarmist or Godwinny or whatever, but there are some seriously valid parallels. It's scary. I am grateful we don't do proportional representation at times like these.

Can I interest you in an old (dated), charming, and extremely cheap house? [link]

YES! That is adorable. Can I trade my not quite so old, not nearly as charming but possibly more valuable on paper house? Oh, wait, I should consider the weather...

I vastly preferring Reading the Thing to Watching a Video for gaining information but I like listening to podcasts while I do something that conflicts with reading. Online videos tend to get bookmarked or otherwise saved so I can watch them "later, when I feel like it" and that never comes.

I have to concentrate hard to hear the words and put them together into meaning, and my mind drifts away mid-sentence.

I have this issue oftentimes, also, which may be why I have my set of a few podcasts that I know how to listen to while I drive or wash dishes or whatever and don't venture far afield of them. I also love the little rewind-30-seconds button for whenever I think, "wait, what are they talking about?" And driving hits that sweet spot where it takes enough of my attention to allow me to focus on what I'm listening to (or thinking about, it's excellent thinking time) without being distracted by the REST OF THE WORLD the way I am if I try to just sit and listen and do nothing else.

why can't I just work straight through the day? Why do I need so many breaks in my life???

I think that is your pesky humanity, Jesse! I actually have a tab open on my desktop at work to remind me to take breaks every 20 minutes because otherwise I might work straight through for hours and that leaves me exhausted and grumpy and is not really more productive. So.

Re: having stuff on in the background while cleaning or whatever - I always liked having a baseball game on TV for this. Nothing much happens for long stretches of time, the announcers are pretty amusing and pleasant sounding, if something exciting does happen they will show it again. I learned a lot more about the Atlanta Braves than I ever would have predicted through TBS showing games all the time back in the day.

OK, I started this post over three hours ago and I'm sure the conversation has moved on but I AM HITTING POST ANYWAY. Dammit.