Summary
From a rhythm that weaves itself through memory to our relationship with deep time, Josie Long presents a countdown of numerically-inspired short documentaries.
The Everywhen Featuring Dave Johnston-Pitt and Sam Juparulla Wickman Produced by Jaye Kranz
The Yelling Birds of the Presidio Featuring Jenny Phillips, who also shared the field recordings used to create this piece Produced by Kalli Anderson and Kaija Siirala
Counting to Six Accordion played by Kaveh Ghaffari, Tonbak by Farhad Asadi and Pedal Steel by Michael Eckert Produced by Arif Mirbaghi
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.5 | Today's Shortcuts is brought to you by the number 14, which is what my daughter believes my age is. |
| 0:13.7 | It was just a totally different world. |
| 0:16.8 | This is shortcuts. |
| 0:18.6 | As if I was intruding on nature. |
| 0:21.6 | Brief encounters, true stories, radio adventures and found sound. |
| 0:28.3 | The noise had regressed to a level that hadn't been seen since the 1950s. |
| 0:35.0 | Today, our perspectives of time are not from point A to B. |
| 0:40.3 | Numbers. |
| 0:41.3 | Our past is our future and our future is here today. Look at the time right now as you're listening to this. |
| 1:10.7 | Where I am, it's 422 on a Tuesday afternoon. |
| 1:17.2 | The week before this will go out on the radio. |
| 1:24.1 | A past moment, masquerading as the present tense, living on in the future. |
| 1:32.3 | I want to start today by challenging your understanding of chronology and time with the everyone. |
| 1:50.2 | An understanding of time that's grounded in indigenous cultures, |
| 1:54.1 | in which the past and the present and the future are not discrete things, |
| 1:58.5 | not a chain of events extending back to a beginning, |
| 2:02.1 | but things that exist simultaneously in constant conversation with one another. |
| 2:12.6 | The trees have a story, the birds have a story, the snakes have a story. |
| 2:18.3 | And this story will go on forever. |
| 2:22.3 | So I don't care how old it is, it's ours. |
| 2:26.3 | Western science, the biggest, oldest, biggest and bestest. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.