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I'm into podcasts - mostly of the NPR variety. I have recently lost my Ipod Shuffle and it has truly been a painful withdrawal. My ears yearn to have drone-like voices telling me the latest updates on news, film and books only to be replaced by a thunderous silence... it's agony.

One of my more recent subscriptions is to the Planet Money podcast.


Planet Money started as a special episode of This American Life that attempted to explain the housing crisis (more on that here). It has since grown into the world's most depressing (and often pretty dense and boring) blog, twitter and podcast. I am not into finance and it is all quite over my head. P.M. claims it's trying to make it easy to digest, but it still bores the snot out of me and/or leaves me terrified. That being said, yesterday's podcast was really awesome. Haven't you ever wondered - just what IS money?! You actually probably haven't - I know I didn't think much about it. The professor they speak with is English (read: easy to listen to and smart-sounding) and has a facinating take on just what money is and what it isn't.

Click here to take a listen.