In Episode 19 of Cory Thinks Out Loud, Cory responds to a question about sobriety and ends up exploring something much deeper.

What starts as a simple tip turns into a wide-ranging conversation about addiction, environment, cultural narratives around alcohol, and the idea of stepping outside the “stadium” of the social script many of us are born into.

Cory talks about reflection, changing environments, questioning assumptions about drinking, and how tools like AI can help people examine the roots of their habits rather than just treating the symptoms.

Toward the end of the episode, Cory lands on a realization about gratitude being the best “high” he’s found so far — but unfortunately the final portion of the recording was cut short due to a technical audio issue.

We’re currently looking into what caused the sound to drop out and will revisit that idea and expand on it in a future episode.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Don’t Drink Today (app)

• The Cure for Alcohol (book)

• Rise From the Ashes (album)

• CharlieWorks.org

Episode 19 of Cory Thinks Out Loud.

In this quick “emergency episode” of Thinks Out Loud, Cory Gardener shares a discovery that might change the way we learn: musical learning.

Inspired by childhood classroom songs and modern AI tools, Cory explains how he created a series of albums—Spanish 101, French 101, German 101, and Italian 101—that teach the basics of a language through music. The idea is simple: repetition + melody = memory.

Instead of memorizing vocabulary lists, listeners learn phrases, pronunciation, and useful expressions through catchy songs and review tracks that reinforce the material.

Cory also talks about the inspiration behind the project, the role music plays in memory and learning, and how this experiment could evolve into a whole new way to learn subjects—not just languages.

If you’ve ever wished learning felt more like listening to your favorite playlist, this episode might spark some ideas.

Music: Spanish 101, French 101, German 101, Italian 101

By Cory Gardener & CharlieWorks

Learn more: https://charlyworks.org

In Episode 17, Cory talks about the release of the new album “The Church of the Great Outdoors.” The album is inspired by ideas from the book The Cure for Religion and explores curiosity, questioning authority, philosophy, and personal spirituality.

Topics in this episode include:

• Releasing the album The Church of the Great Outdoors

• Playing songs “The Man With the Plan” and “The Little Blue Rock”

• Philosophy, Socrates, Carl Sagan, and asking questions

• Sobriety and leveling up in life

• Meditation, equanimity, and learning from uncomfortable emotions

• The difference between kindness and niceness

• The slow pitch softball community and building SportsTown

• A wild mini-tornado story outside the police station

This episode is basically Cory thinking out loud about life, recovery, curiosity, building things, and trying to understand what the hell is going on while we all ride around on this little blue rock in space.

Album: The Church of the Great Outdoors

Available now on Spotify and streaming platforms.

Thanks to family, friends, community, and everyone supporting the journey.

Episode 15 wraps up with a real “builder update.”

Cory talks about the momentum building around CharlieWorks as projects begin moving from ideas into real collaborations. The first payment for an app project just came through, signaling the start of what Cory hopes will become a growing network of builders creating useful tools together.

The episode also shifts into a conversation about SportsTown softball, local leagues, and the broader idea behind building communities around sports, competition, and shared experiences.

Originally the show was supposed to end with Cory playing his EverQuest-inspired rap track “Team Manaburn,” a song dedicated to the wizard crews from the Mithaniel Marr server. However, due to a sound issue during recording, the track couldn’t be played in the episode.

Instead, Cory closes things out talking more about the process of building—apps, music, communities, and ideas—and how the goal right now is simple:

Keep building. Keep collaborating. Keep moving forward.

Sometimes things go perfectly.
Sometimes the tech breaks.
But the work keeps going either way.

A wide-ranging conversation that starts with the idea of organizing under the Universal Life Church for philosophical or tax-exempt community purposes and quickly expands into everything else we’ve been building and exploring.

We talk about the concept behind AI-assisted governance from The Cure for Governance—using AI to analyze massive legislation, simulate outcomes, and reveal who benefits from complex systems. From there the conversation jumps into baseball analytics and the idea of using AI-driven “Moneyball 2.0” strategies to potentially improve the Los Angeles Angels roster.

Along the way we cover real life too—softball games, creative projects like the Face the Music / EverQuest album, nostalgia around Will Clark and a signed Texas Rangers hat, and how AI can act as a tool to understand complex systems—from government bills to sports strategy.

In the end it’s about one core idea:
Use AI to make sense of complicated worlds, empower people with better information, and build smarter systems together.

Welcome to Episode 14 of Cory Thinks Out Loud.

Yes… I accidentally call it Episode 13 near the end of the video.
No… I’m not re-recording a 42-minute podcast. 😅

In this episode I talk about:

• Shoutouts to the EverQuest Wolf Pack and Kazmodon’s birthday
• Playing a rap track I made for the Enchanters
• Digging through old boxes, journals, and accounting homework
• The business strategy simulation from Cal State Dominguez Hills
• How that experience helped me land my first finance job
• My great-great-grandfather’s trunk from Fort Garland, New Mexico Territory (1875)
• Thoughts on AI, hiring systems, and why resumes might be broken
• My “Food or Poison” kitchen test using AI to analyze ingredient labels

This episode ended up being almost exactly 42 minutes, so shoutout to Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy —
the answer to life, the universe, and everything. 🌌

⚠️ Privacy note
Some personal information visible in the video has been covered for privacy.

Explore more of my work:

🌐 https://CharlieWorks.org
Music, books, podcast episodes, and projects all live there.

Good inputs → good outputs.

Thanks for listening.
See you next episode. 🌎

Penny Variance: Minority Report, Office Space, and the Future of Governance

At 3:57am, I woke up with a systems question in my head.

What if aggregated phone data could predict accidents before they happen?
Would we want that?
Who decides?
Where does freedom sit inside predictive systems?

This episode of Penny Variance starts with Minority Report, detours through the Geto Boys and Office Space, and lands somewhere surprisingly practical: personal responsibility.

Instead of attacking institutions, we explore adaptation.
Instead of fearing AI, we use it as a mirror.

From scanning ingredient labels and asking:

“Food… or poison?”

…to rethinking consumer incentives and economic feedback loops — this conversation examines how small, individual decisions compound into structural change.

Healthier inputs → stronger individuals → better products → stronger economies.

We also preview a broader inquiry: “The Cure for Governance.”
Not a political attack — but a structural question about incentives, accountability, and freedom inside predictive technology.

Unfiltered. Experimental. Systems-oriented.
High care for people. High curiosity about structure.

And a special shoutout to Kalynn — sending you strength, clarity, and steady energy. You’re in my thoughts.

—

🎵 Intro Track:
"The Penny Variance" — Cory Gardener
https://suno.com/s/1LzRbbnEt0o9U6T1

🎙️ Food Is Fuel, Friends Are Medicine

Episode 11 is a short check-in — raw, simple, real.

Today I reconnected with one of my childhood best friends after almost 20 years. Same birthdays. Same neighborhood. Same chaos. Full circle moment.

We talk about:

• Why friendships can literally change your life

• What isolation taught me during my drinking years

• Sobriety Math (Hannah invented it)

• Why food is fuel

• How meal prep saves time, money, and mental energy

• Systems thinking in everyday life

• Efficiency as freedom

I break down my chicken-and-rice prep system, air fryer workflow, timers, and process design — not because chicken is magical, but because intentional living is.

This episode is about leveling up quietly.

Health. Brotherhood. Systems. Gratitude.

If you’ve ever felt alone — don’t give up.
Reach out. Someone else might need you too.

🎵 Closing the episode with “Food Is Fuel” from the new album The Human Story:
👉 https://open.spotify.com/album/6RsJdNKy8TtDrBEJl1YrNA?si=fpBCx0JsRnStcQDch7m5Ng

—

If you want to come on the podcast:
📩 [email protected]
🌐 CharlieWorks.org

New music out now:
🔥 Rise From The Ashes — inspired by The Cure for Alcohol
📣 The Human Story — available on Spotify

Today my dad joins me for a spontaneous conversation about the Declaration of Independence, freedom of speech, Iran, generational perspective, and what it feels like when a topic makes you uncomfortable.

We talk about equanimity — welcoming discomfort instead of shutting it down — and why honest discourse matters, especially when you don’t fully agree.

Truth doesn’t need protection. It needs investigation.

In this episode of Cory Thinks Out Loud, what starts as a light AI experiment quickly turns into something much deeper.

Cory runs a live three-way conversation between ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity — exploring breakthroughs in solar energy and how AI is accelerating optimization across every industry. Engineers are using higher intelligence to refine systems that have existed for decades. The result? Massive efficiency gains.

But the conversation pivots.

If time is the most valuable asset we have… what happens when you nearly lose it?

Cory reflects on near-misses with death — moments that could’ve gone differently. The fragility of it all. The randomness. The wake-up calls. The realization that optimization and acceleration mean nothing if you’re not present.

He talks about aging parents. His 82-year-old dad. Casino trips to Pechanga. Three-card poker. The unspoken understanding that these moments are finite.

Scott Herman comes up — not just as a fitness personality, but as a symbol of discipline, longevity, and showing up consistently over time. What does it mean to build a body? A life? A legacy?

This episode moves between:

• AI acceleration

• Solar breakthroughs

• Near-death perspective

• Fitness and structure

• Father-son memory

• The math of time

It’s about scale vs depth.

You can optimize the grid.
You can optimize production.
You can even optimize yourself.

But you cannot optimize mortality. Yet?

And maybe that’s the point.