What am I listening to?

So I have a little bit of a commute and I love to listen to podcasts in the car when I am driving.  I also have a tendency to listen to podcasts when I am doing stuff around the house like cleaning or cooking. My listening falls into a few categories: Technology, Political and Blues (Hockey). As my podcast application I enjoy using Overcast (link). These are the podcasts that listen to religiously.

Blues (Hockey)

I grew up in St. Louis and for some reason latched onto Blues Hockey as a kid and always loved going to hockey games. Having moved away from St. Louis, podcasts have been a great source of information and commentary about Blues Hockey.

• Blues NHL Podcast (iTunes | Website) – Great podcast with former players Jamie Rivers and Darin Kimble. They also recently added Garry Henson, the D2 Head Coach at McKendree University. They really get into the behind the scenes and the why of things happening on the ice. Bonus, they talk about the local hockey scene as well.
• St. Louis Blues “The Drop” Podcast (iTunes | Website) – Cool podcast that has a ~20 minute podcast recapping each game. Good listen to get a little deeper into each game and some of the performances in each of the games.
• Blues Hockey Podcast (Website) – I like this podcast because the hosts have more of a fan perspective.
• Let’s Go Blues Radio (Website | iTunes) – Another good fan focused podcast.

Politics/Current Affairs

• The Axe Files with David Axelrod (Website | iTunes) – Obviously, the host is democratic leaning and was a part of the Obama administration, but his guest list has included some people that would not be democrats. Found the conversations to be insightful and informative.
• Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates (Website | iTunes) – I really love this podcast and how they debate issues. Sometimes the guests are better than others, but for the most past the debaters really work on their arguments and stay out of petty arguments. It really challenges me to think about my beliefs on certain subjects.
• Slate Plus Podcasts (Website) – I am a Slate Plus subscriber so I listen to a few Slate Podcasts.  My favorites are Political Gabfest (Website), Amicus (Website) and Working (Website). I listen to the others depending on the topic that they are discussing.
• Common Sense with Dan Carlin (Website | iTunes) – This podcast probably stretches my thinking the most. I really enjoy getting Dan’s take on things and my thinking on some things has really been enhanced by some of his episodes.
• Voice of San Diego Podcast (Website | iTunes) – Ran across this website in the run up to the November elections.  That had a great run down of all the local initiatives and what I thought we pretty unbiased opinions on the ballot measures. If you live in San Diego, I think this is a must listen. So much so that I am not an official supporter of VOSD.
• Good Schools For All by Voice of San Diego (Website | iTunes) – With three young kids, education is obviously a priority for my family. I enjoy the balanced approach that this podcast takes on important topics affecting education in San Diego and beyond. One recent episode was very educational on charter schools and how they work.

Technology

• Data Engineering Podcast (Website | iTunes) – This is a new podcast, so the jury is still out on this podcast, but I will be watching very closely to see how this one evolves.
• Software Engineering Daily (Website | iTunes) – I do not listen to every episode of this podcast, but they have a few good data focused discussions as well.
• Data Skeptic (Website | iTunes) – Another data focused podcast that covers a number of different areas in the data world. Really enjoying the data discussions on this podcast.

Extras

Just a few other miscellaneous podcasts that fall into categories all their own.

• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (Website | iTunes) – A fair warning that some of these are long, but they are super interesting. The episodes on World War I (Blueprint for Armageddon) are awesome and explain a lot of what happened in the world later. His latest episode “The Destroyer of Worlds” about the nuclear age is similarly awesome.
• NPR Fresh Air (Website | iTunes) – I really enjoy the long interviews when they feature someone that piques my interest.

So, I think that about does it for my list.  What are you listening to? Any podcasts that are missing on my list that you think I should be listening to? Let me know in the comments.