I listen to a lot of podcasts especially when I’m driving miles and miles out to one of my favourite campsites. Here is a list of some of my most loved ones …
13-minutes to the Moon – A friend introduced me to this podcast and it has stayed with me for months. I listen to episodes over and over again. It truly elevates my mood to hear all the things that I love come together – space flight, computers, IoT, human achievement; it doesn’t get better than this.
The Lex Fridman Podcast – the art of the long-form long since forgotten. In this day and age of 15 sec attention spans a la TikTok the long form has all but gone. Books are a kind of long form too and I love books of all kinds. In these short-attention-span days the art of thinking for oneself to internalize ideas that mold and meld your own mind has all but disappeared. We need to rediscover those skills and Lex does a fine job of edging us all closer to that forgotten skill.
In 2021, Pal intensified his focus on Bitcoin. I had been following him for years before that and now that he started to delve into my specialty he really got my attention. Raoul launched a crypto-focused newsletter that provides the latest developments and insights related to cryptocurrency. This podcast I’ve linked to here provides his narrative in his own voice over the ideas in the newsletter. Pal also covers Ethereum and the decentralized finance sector.
Pal once tweeted:
“While everyone seems to celebrate every single new BTC high, let me remind you of where we are going… The Halving runs tend to get between 1 and 2 standard deviations overbought versus trend, and it occurs usually around 18 months. This would give a rough price target between $400k and $1.2m by end of 2021 (not an exact science, but context).”
I’m still waiting for that high but given my base buying price ($1 therefore 54,000X as of this writing (Feb. 28, 2024)) I don’t care how long I have to wait!
Security Now – Steve Gibson – what can one say. I’ve listened to Steve for so long it feels like I’ve never been without this mentor by my side ever. His website too is amazing and has saved me from being hacked too many times to mention. If you care at all about computer security issues, how you could be hacked and what’s going on in the IT world today then this is a must listen-to. From his website you can also get transcripts and downloadable video versions of each podcast!
Deep Mind The Podcast – inspirational – truly inspirational. There are only 17 episodes in the two seasons presented. Go listen to them if you want to emerge highly optimistic about having AI in our world in the days to come. And get introduced to one of the greatest minds on our planet – Demis Hassabis.
Astronomy Cast – I became an amateur Astronomer when my science teacher – Mr Breedyke – taught me to build a telescope when I was in school and 16 years old. We ground out a glass lens from an inch thick piece of glass and with it saw the rings of Saturn. What a rush! Since then I’ve been a member of the Planetary Society and volunteered my time to do Computational Astronomy for free and for the good of humanity. If you want to join us you can’t do better than to start here.
This Podcast Will Kill You – from tonsils to parvovirus to osteogenesis imperfecta and even the bends in scuba diving – all explained in ways that help anyone understand. A friend told me that his family listens to this podcast when they’re traveling on their camping trips and — I found a podcast I can love too.
Strong Songs hosted by Kirk Hamilton – I love the way Kirk breaks down a popular song. I get a lot of insight into what goes into making a great song through Kirk’s words.
The Band of Brothers Podcast – Once there were a bunch of men who took what they were set to do and did it seriously, with effort and to the best of their ability. Sadly in our world today too many people are what my daughters call ‘flaky.’ I listen to episodes of the podcast then pull out the relevant episode of the TV series and then read Stephen Ambrose’s book. Every time I cycle through this routine of mine I find more to apply to my life. I watch Band of Brothers at least twice each year and it keeps me on a even keel and spurs me on to achieve more and more as my life progresses. It gives me hope that there are still people out there that care about ‘the right’ things in life.
Round out your information diet with The Pacific and Masters of the Air by the same producers – Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.