Well, ever since I won the Zune at CodeMash 2007, I have been listening to a lot more music in my car. Well, when I had the 6-hour drive to Washington, D.C., in August to go to the Agile Conference, I thought I might enter the 90's (or is it the 80's) and start listening to books on tape. Well, after searching around the internet for a good source (read: lots of selection and cheap), and I was astounded. What is up with charging $20 for a downloaded book. UGH! Deciding to make lemonade, I started searching for podcasts to start listening to. There were, of course, the standard ones like Hanselminutes and .Net Rocks (which I don't listen to as much anymore), but I found two other really great ones:

Astronomy Cast

After seeing Lawrence Krauss in August, my interest in astronomy was re-kindled. So, I went looking for something to listen to. What a stroke of luck that I stumbled upon AstronomyCast. The hosts are Pamela Gay, a physics professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Fraser Cain, the publisher of Universe Today. I love how they describe the show as a "fact-based journey through the universe." They strive to not just explain what we know, but also HOW we know it. This is important, as they discuss topics such as The Big Bang, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. It is very educational for me to understand what the lines of evidence there are for these. Of course, everything seems to always point back to the Cosmic Background Radiation, which is pretty cool. Also, as an added bonus, Pamela Gay has one of the sexiest voices I've ever heard.

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Bruce Carlson does a great job of taking current political issues and topics and presents them in light of 200+ years of history of the American government. I like his direct approach to giving the facts, as well as linking the probably cause and effects over time. I love early American government history, and it is great to have a source for understanding some of the historical reasons for where we are today.