Michael's Essay; Food security; Mailbag - 'Like' essay; Doc - Les Petits Frères; Margarethe von Trotta; Mailbag - Mary Robinson; Doc - Nothing is as it sounds; Goldman Sachs; Thomas Pynchon

Michael's Essay: On conspiracy. (0:00:25)

Global Food Security: The ample diets of people in the developed world don't just contribute to obesity; they are also a threat to global security.  We throw out 1.3 billion tons of food every year -- that's about a third of all the food produced in the world. Meanwhile, food shortages and rising prices have already caused massive unrest, contributing to revolutions and riots. Michael talks to Tim Benton, the UK Champion for Global Food Security. (0:04:33)

Mailbag: 'Like' essay: Your comments on, like, last week's essay - (0:27:00)

Documentary: Les Petits Frères - "Friends of the Elderly" - The Montreal organization called Les Petits Frères believes human connection is essential to life. Its motto is "Flowers Before Bread". And its mission is to seek out lonely, isolated seniors, and pair them with younger friends. Les Petits Frères now flourishes in eight countries, but for the past fifty years, its only home in Canada has been in Quebec. A documentary by David Gutnick. (0:33:55)

Feature interview: Margarethe von Trotta: From her first film, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, to her most recent film about the philosopher Hannah Arendt, Margarethe von Trotte has earned a reputation as the world's leading feminist director.  Her films explore politics, the lives of women and how the personal and political intersect. Last week, Ms. von Trotta received the Herbert Strate Award in Cologne, Germany, for her artistic achievements in film. (0:44:49)

Mailbag - Mary Robinson: Your comments on climate change and climate justice (1:12:51)

The Deaf Musician: Peter Stelmacovich owns three bass guitars, and dreams about becoming the next Geddy Lee. And he's not letting the fact that he's almost entirely deaf stop him from making music, or joining a band. Once a week, he jams with a group that calls itself "Below the Belt". And while his fellow musicians have perfect hearing, Mr. Stelmacovich has technology. (1:19:52)

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Goldman Sachs, But Were Afraid to Ask (A new Sunday Edition feature series) : Five years ago, the investment bank Goldman Sachs was instrumental in pushing the world to the brink of economic annihilation. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi once called it "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." In the opening segment of our new series, Michael talks to William Cohan, author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World. (1:31:11)

Pondering Pynchon: In its 1973 review, the New York Times called Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow", "a work of paranoid genius, a magnificent necropolis that will take its place amidst the grand detritus of our culture."  Michael explores some of that grand detritus -- and the mythology of the world's second-most famous literary recluse with Samuel Thomas, the organizer of International Pynchon Week (yes, there is one.)(1:53:19)