Peter Rukavina's Podcast

A CBC “Off the Beaten Track” episode in which I talk traveling to Boston for Prince Edward Islanders. Originally aired on August 18, 2000 on CBC Radio’s Mainstreet program in Prince Edward Island. As with all of these pieces, I prepared a script for host Matthew Rainnie and me; it went like this: Peter’s Boston Survival Guide Introduction: It’s easy for Islanders to get to Boston.  We should do it more often.  This is the six-minute guide to getting to Boston in one piece and having fun while there. Step One: Getting to Boston The best flight to Boston is the 6:15 a.m. Air Nova flight direct from Charlottetown, which arrives in Boston 2 hours later at 9:13 a.m. It costs a lot to stay in Boston – might as well maximize your time there by arriving early! The earlier you reserve this flight the better – it can range anywhere from $250 to $1200.  There are usually seat sales three or four times a year. As usual, it’s cheaper to fly if you stay over a Saturday night. You only need 15,000 Aeroplan or Can

You can listen to a piece I taped with Jim Carroll on doing business with a New Hampshire company from Prince Edward Island. (I recovered only a portion of the MP3 from Internet Archive).

A CBC “Off the Beaten Track” episode in which we go “down the road and under the ground.” We start with the 25th anniversary of the book How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive and finish with The Septic System Owner’s Manual; both books were illustrated by Peter Aschwanden. Originally aired on July 21, 2000 on CBC Radio’s Mainstreet program in Prince Edward Island.

A CBC “Off the Beaten Track” episode in which I talk about books about pregnancy (coincident with the pregnancy of my partner Catherine). Originally aired on May 5, 2000 on CBC Radio’s Mainstreet program in Prince Edward Island.

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This final, seventh, episode of Consumed by Technology focused on access to the Internet by students in public schools; it aired on August 20, 1996. Wayne Collins was the host. With the growth of the Internet as an educational tool, the question of how to control what information students have access to has become a controversial issue. There have been several stories in the news recently about students gaining access to pornography, bomb making instructions and other “questionable” materials. The reaction from educators has ranged from the introduction of electronic monitoring to the insistence that students and their parents sign waivers before students are let loose on the ‘net. Show Notes Bombs

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This sixth episode of Consumed by Technology focused on computer bugs; it aired on August 13, 1996. Karen Mair was the host. Late one August night in 1945, U.S. Navy Captain Grace Hopper and her co-workers were hard at work in their computer lab at Harvard University. They were frustrated. Their project, a pioneering computer called the “Mark One” wasn’t working. And after trying everything they could think of, they still couldn’t figure out why. Finally, someone located the trouble spot: using ordinary tweezers, they extracted a two-inch moth from the computer’s insides, a moth that was causing the computer to short-circuit. And so was born the world’s first “computer bug”. Transcript INTRO: Late on

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This first fifth of Consumed by Technology focused on information privacy and the use of unique ID numbers by companies to track consumers; it aired on August 6, 1996. Karen Mair was the host. Have you ever had a day where you’ve felt more like a number than a real person? Telephone numbers, calling card numbers, bank account numbers, bank machine numbers, credit card numbers… sometimes it seems impossible to do anything these days without one number or another. Transcript INTRO: Have you ever had a day where you’ve felt more like a number than a real person? Telephone numbers, calling card numbers, bank account numbers, bank machine numbers, credit card numbers… sometimes it seems impossible to do

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This fourth episode of Consumed by Technology focused access to information; it aired on July 30, 1996. Karen Mair was the host. It used to be that in rural communities on Prince Edward Island, the local telephone operator was the “central clearinghouse” for all types of information. If you wanted to know what the hymns were for church on Sunday, or whether Mrs. MacIsaac had given birth yet or what the price of apples at the general store was, you’d just pick up the phone and ask. The last rural telephone operator left service almost 20 years ago, but the idea of a “central clearinghouse” for information is still alive and well. Show Notes These are the original links that I released with the episode

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This third episode of Consumed by Technology focused on the rhythms of digital working; it aired on July 23, 1996. Karen Mair was the host. Farmers live from season to season. Car makers live by the model year. Monks live a lifetime of coming to understand God. Politicians live by their terms. Every sort of work has its own rhythm, and these rhythms can profoundly affect people’s everyday lives. Show Notes These are the original links that I released with the episode; each is a link to the Internet Archive’s cache of the site at the time. Jazzed up Hotwired Microserfs Working at McDonald’s Mad as Hell The Unabomber Manifesto Network Center for Repetitive Motion Disorders

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Internet Archive and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This second episode of Consumed by Technology focused on the economics of moving around information on the Internet; it aired on July 16, 1996. Karen Mair was the host. In 1837, a retired school teacher named Rowland Hill wrote an essay which shook the world of “moving information from place to place,” an essay which is perhaps even more relevant today than it was when he wrote it. Show Notes These are the original links that I released with the episode; each is a link to the Internet Archive’s cache of the site at the time. About Rowland Hill and the Mail Royal Mail History Mass Postal Service after 150 Years: A Review Essay The Post Office Canada Post United States Postal Servic

In the summer of 1996 I presented a series on CBC Radio’s Island Morning program, produced by Ann Thurlow, called Consumed by Technology. I’ve managed to recover the audio of the episodes, along with the “show notes” and transcripts, from The Wayback Machine and I’m posting each episode here for posterity. This first episode of Consumed by Technology focused on the coming of the commercial realm to the Internet; it aired on July 9, 1996. Wayne Collins was the host. It’s hard to believe that only two years ago we were talking about the Internet as a lofty academic sort of place where you could do things like search the Library of Congress catalogue and read research papers on fruit fly migration patterns. The business world has now discovered the Internet and it’s as if a giant shopping mall has suddenly moved in next door to the old “Internet public library.” Show Notes These are the original links that I released with the episode; each is a link to the Internet Archive’s cache of the site at the time.