Getting a medium-sized dog brings a lot of joy and happiness into a house, and also some side effects: you start to walk a lot. As since January I have found myself the owner of a semi-whippet mixed breed called Hannah, I must say I have suddenly realized I have close to one or two hours of “extra” time dedicated to wondering through the neighborhood. The question then becomes: how to use this amazing extra time that all of a sudden appeared in my agenda? Well, after unsuccessfully trying to have meaningful conversations with her (apparently the birds and rabbits are more interesting than me) and listening to music (nice, but seems a bit too redundant), what could I do? Well, listening to podcasts seemed like a good option.

After completing the Web 2.0 summit podcasts (well, it’s from 2006/7 all right, but it is interesting to see what people thought then of what the future might become now), I found one extremely interesting treasure buried in iTunes (through the recommendation of an ex-manager): TED Talks. These talks have turned my previous monologues with poor Hannah into listening seminars on the origins of evil, romantic love, if our brains are really blank slates when we are born, who really likes classical music, exploring oceans and the evidences of existence of life in other planets. Meanwhile, Hannah can safely and happily chase birds and find rabbit trails. To each their own.