For the first episode back I decided on a project called Faces of Addiction by Chris Arnade which focuses on the stories of people living with addiction in the New York neighbourhood of Hunts Point.

Just before we get into it, this episode deals with topics of a sexual nature, including sex work and fetishes, if this is not your cup of tea, then I recommend you don't listen.

Let us not speak of the time between episodes, but let us glory in the fact that I managed to get one out at all :)

Episode 20 of Purser Explores The World brings us the Sex Workers Opera, a performance piece produced and presented in London, made by sex workers in an effort to tell the stories of sex workers the world over, both good and bad.

You can find out more about the Sex Workers Opera here:

http://www.sexworkersopera.com

And in the show I promise to link to a review of the performance, so here it is (warning, site deals with fetishes around spanking and is adult in nature).

http://pandorablake.com/blog/2014/05/sex-workers-opera/

The ausvotes2013.com site is a political blog with a difference. Rather than being blatantly partisan or featuring the usual suspects it provides an opportunity for new writers and voices from all sides of the political spectrum to discuss, debate and explore the issues in the upcoming election.

This episode is a bit of an experiment, it's the largest "round table" discussion I've ever conducted with not two or three, but five of the writers from AusVotes sitting down and discussing why they write for the site and what they hope to get from it.

Show Notes:

For the notes this episode I'm going to link to each of the people on the round table, their blogs and twitter accounts.

Paula Matthewson

Blog: http://dragonistasblog.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Drag0nista

Andrew Tiedt

Blog: http://mrtiedt.blogspot.com.au/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/mrtiedt

Ed Butler

Blog: http://shoutingatthevoid.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fakeedbutler

El Gibb

Blog: http://bluntshovels.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluntshovels

Damian Walker

Blog: http://theunderwhelmingblog.blogspot.com.au/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DamienCWalker

Dr Mel Thomson and Dr Michelle Harvey are a Microbiologist and Forensic Entymologist who have combined their powers to launch a new research project into how effective maggots are in debriding the wounds caused by a particularly nasty bacteria called M.Ulcerans.

This in itself is cool, however what makes it extra cool is the fact that they're reaching out to the community both to help fund their project (they're crowdfunding it) and build a level of public engagement from the start.

Show Notes:

Mighty Maggots Pozible page: http://www.pozible.com/mightymaggots (goes live 8th May)

Mighty Maggots Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mighty-Maggots-at-Deakin/129319170596521?ref=ts&fref=ts

MIghty Maggots twitter: https://twitter.com/mightymaggots

Flesh Nom Bug twitter: https://twitter.com/fleshnombug

I'll be honest, I'm not a great fan of economic theory. The world of the international currency exchange leaves me cold. However, the explosion of the cryptographic digital currency Bitcoin has caught not only my eye but that of the rest of the world. I thought I would turn to a couple of experts to find out a bit more about the great BTC. Aimee Maree is an Open Source Architect and world citizen who's been involved with Bitcoin since 2010, while Richard Chirgwin is a science and technology journalist who's been reporting on Bitcoin for just as long.

Show Notes

Aimee has helpfully provided a few links to help explain everything from Bitcoin to why the current situation in Europe could be fueling the current value jump for Bitcoin.

http://libertycrier.com/forum/top-5-things-you-should-know-about-litecoin/

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/04/20134572639241668.html

MtGox: Worlds largest Bitcoin exchange mentioned in the show - https://mtgox.com/