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#158 - Magnus Ranstorp is a Swedish academic, hostage negotiator, teacher and author who has been researching and writing about terrorism for more than 30 years.

He is an encyclopaedia on modern terrorism and political violence. He was also the first author to seriously map out the Lebanese Hezbollah and its connection to Iran, Syria and international terrorism.

And so, the insights and experience Magnus brings to the current moment are extremely valuable. 

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 04:22 – How Has The Nature Of Terrorism Changed Over Time?
• 24:22 – October 7th & HAMAS
• 30:52 – HAMAS Financing & Terror Financing
• 52:36 – Israel – Palestine
• 1:09:41 – Biggest Terror Plots That Were Foiled
• 1:18:56 – Sweden Caught In Fundamentalist Islam Crosshairs
• 1:29:31 – HAMAS Gaining In Popularity Throughout The World
• 1:36:47 – Magnus Takes Us On A Tour Of Gaza
• 1:43:41 – Magnus Reflects On His Memoirs
• 1:52:41 – Anders Brevik & Difference Between Political & Religious Radicalisation
• 2:23:09 – Islam & Violence?
• 2:26:41 – Philosophical Differences Between Islam & West
• 2:51:11 – How Much Are Swedes To Blame For The Parallel Societies?
• 3:01:10 – Most Effective Propaganda Magnus Ever Saw
• 3:11:55 – Serendipity In Magnus’s Life

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Magnus Ranstorp Memoirs

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🎙️: https://atlasgeographica.com/explorers-podcast/

#157 - Matt Breen is host of the Explorers Podcast, which  focuses on the great explorers and adventurers of history.

I think I’m right in asserting that this is unlike you will have heard Matt before. He hasn’t done a dedicated long form podcast elsewhere, and so this exploration into the history of the show and how his worldview has been shaped by the explorers he studies is all new material. 

And so we go behind the scenes of The Explorers Podcast, the early days, how it started, the podcast growth, the business of content, to even the possibility of one of matt’s stories going to Hollywood. 

We then lean into some of the Explorers Matt loves and take a couple tangents in that direction to then finally rounding out with the traditional question on serendipity.

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 01:37 –  The Elon Musk Tweet
• 07:37 – Matt’s Journey Into Podcasting
• 15:57 – Process Of Creating An Explorers Episode & Storytelling
• 30:07 – How Long Before You Started Gaining Momentum?
• 34:35 – The Business & Economics Behind The Show
• 43:07 – Hollywood Taking On Explorers Podcast
• 49:43 – Matt Loves Australia
• 1:02:57 – Which Explorers Does Matt Love Most?
• 1:08:58 – Blind Traveller James Holman & Histories Great Forgotten Explorers
• 1:22:38 – What Would Be The Most Fascinating Time Period To Be An Explorer In?
• 1:29:22 – Is There Any More Room For Exploration?
• 1:37:14 – Conversation Between Any Two People Of History Dead Or Alive
• 1:49:22 – The Role Of Serendipity In Matt Breen’s Life

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Bryan Bashin – James Holman The Blind Traveller
• Charlie Walker – One Of The Great Modern Adventurers
• Scott Rank – The Great Explorers Of History

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New Yorker Article - Great Carbon-For-Cash Hustle

#156 - Heidi Blake is a writer at the New Yorker, author of two books, and recently wrote the most amazing magazine piece about the carbon offsetting market and some of the greenwashing schemes at its core. 

In this podcast we cover top to bottom Heidi’s story in the New Yorker, details about the characters involved, greenwashing, offshore finance, south pole, and the huge potential but also gaping flaws of carbon offsetting. 

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 01:10 – Carbon Trading Schemes & How Incentives Lead To Greenwashing
• 10:12 – South Pole & Heuberger (Business At The Core Of The Story)
• 23:57 – What Is The Global South?
• 25:37 – Kariba Project (Archetypal Story For How This Works)
• 30:10 – How Much Corporate Dollar Is Spent On These Schemes?
• 35:10 – There May To Much Complexity To Ever Overcome?

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Duncan Mavin – Lex Greensill Scandal
• Oliver Bullough – Moneyland

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Number Go Up - Zeke Faux

#155 - The general consensus for Zeke’s book is that is that it’s the better half of Michael Lewis’s ‘Going Infinite’. 

‘Number Go Up’ documents, first hand, from the Bahamas to Cambodia to El Salvador to the halls of power of US, the wild mania of crypto and the insanely eclectic, deranged and interesting characters that colour in those lines. 

Zeke opens up unlike he has for a podcast before. 

His answer to the role of serendipity in his life at the end is beautiful, his reflections of what is required for good journalism is amazing, and his documentation of crypto’s wild ride and its consequences is perfect.

There is plenty for everyone is this.

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 01:47 – Has ‘Number Go Up’ Been Overshadowed? & Why Zeke Always Dreamed Of Doing An Adventurous Non-Fiction Book
• 09:17 – Why Crypto Is A Goldmine Of Content
• 23:28 – Tether
• 31:12 – Listing Crypto’s Damages
• 41:48 – Pig Butchering (Horrible Stuff Also Mentioned In Matthew Freidman Episiode)
• 53:37 – SBF Exclusive + How Crypto Enables The Scale Of These Scams
• 1:02:55 – Offshore Finance & Crypto
• 1:14:33 – How Collapsed Is Crypto?
• 1:19:47 – a16z Rug Pulling Everyone?
• 1:27:47 – Zeke’s Relationship With Michael Lewis
• 1:35:10 – Comparing Bubble Mania’s Over History
• 1:37:17 – Trying To Extract Every Possible Thing From The Interview With SBF
• 1:47:59 – How Journalists Get The Best Stories + How The Book Has Changed Zeke’s Career
• 1:53:41 – Hindenburg Research
• 1:57:57 – Serendipity In Zeke’s Life & Discussing David Grann
• 2:11:57 – County Zeke Is Bullish On & Conversation Between Any Two People Of History

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Scott Patterson
• Bradley Hope
• Matthew Friedman (Pig Butchering)
• David Grann

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#154 - The following is with David De Jong who is the Middle East Correspondent for the Dutch Newspaper, FD. He lives in Israel, and has been reporting from the ground since the early hours of October 7th.

Some of you may recognise him from an earlier appearance he made on this podcast, talking about his book Nazi Billionaires, but for this episode we exclusively talk about David’s first hand experience over the last 2 and a half weeks, which includes the horror of being among the first reporters on the ground to some of the sites hit worst from October 7th through to disinformation and how to think about the media coverage of this conflict so far. 

00:00 – Introduction
01:09 – Recalling The First Few Days First Hand Experience
18:24 – Sentiment Changes Among Israelis
28:38 – ‘It’s Getting Harder For Jewish & Arab Israeli’s To Live Together’
34:00 – How Do You Get Reliable Reporting From Gaza?
36:48 – Social Stigma Among Israelis
40:54 – Dissecting The Media Coverage

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• David De Jong Twitter
• Curious Worldview Newsletter
• David De Jong Nazi Billionaires

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#153 - Lex Greensill's Pyramid Of Lies by Duncan Mavin.

What if I told that you that Credit Suisse, one of finances most foundational banks was helped brought to it’s knees by a charismatic bogan playing posh from Bundaberg…

This podcast is about a fella called Lex Greensill… who, among many other things, roped the likes of (Brexit instigator) David Cameron, current prime minister Rishi Sunak to even Vision Fund, Uber and WeWork investor, Masoyoshi Son into his sprawling supply chain finance scandal.

The full story of how Lex talked and awkwarded his way into the central halls of power is immense, and the guest on todays podcast, the incredible investigative journalist, Duncan Mavin, wrote a book documenting all of this called, pyramid of lies

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 02:02 - Lex As A Bloke & How He Became Who He Is
• 15:20 - Could The End Have Justified The Means?
• 22:02 - Separating The Legitimacy From The Fraud
• 32:12 - Similarities & Differences Between Lex & Adam Nueman Of WeWork
• 36:32 - My Soft Spot For Lex & The Role In David Cameron In All Of This
• 46:32 - People Risking Their Reputations + Where Is The Due Diligence?
• 52:47 - Cancer Of Offshore Finance
• 1:06:27 - Greensill's Role In The Collapse Of Credit Suisse
• 1:10:43 - Who Were The Victims Of Greensill Capital?
• 1:12:08 - Duncan's Direct Message To Lex
• 1:14:22 - How Often Does An Anonomys Tip Get The Ball Rollling?
• 1:17:20 - Do We Live In An Age Of Unprecedented Fraud?
• 1:19:54 - Serendipity, Bullish Country & Conversation Between Any Two People Of History

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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Investigative Journalism Starter Pack
• Offshore Finance Starter Pack

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#152 - This is a podcast about human trafficking and modern slavery.

The guest is Matthew Friedman, and he is the CEO of the Mekong Club, which is an organisation that mobilises the private sector to take action against human trafficking and modern slavery.

In this conversation, Matthew reveals unsettling story after unsettling story of human trafficking, modern slavery and scams. And in and among it all, he explains how it could be possible that today there are more slaves than has ever been before.

Time Stamps For Matthew Friedman

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 01:32 - Horrific Story From Nepal/India
• 05:25 - UN Versus NGO's Versus Private Sector
• 11:19 - There Is More Slavery Today Than There Ever Has Been
• 15:40 - What Does Matthew Do To Stop Resentment?
• 20:25 - How Are Slavery Statistics Collected?
• 22:30 - How Does Rising Middle Class In Developing Economies Affect These Numbers?
• 28:50 - Pig Butchering & Harmcore
• 38:56 - Coming Face To Face With The Criminals
• 46:50 - The Role Of Offshore Finance & Money Laundering
• 52:40 - The Geography Of All Of This
• 1:00:10 - Red Light District In Amsterdam & 'Taken' & Jeffrey Epstein
• 1:11:30 - Africa
• 1:14:20 - China & Specific Example Of Manufacturers Exploiting Slavery & Greenwashing
• 1:29:30 - Role Of Serendipity In Matthew Friedman's Life & Bullish Country & Conversation Between 2 People

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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Investigative Journalism Starter Pack
• Martin Schibbye - Cards Of Qatar

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#151 - The following is with the debut Italian on this podcast, the one and only Luca Dellanna.

Luca is the extremely successful author of 9 books, and he writes these alongside his day job, as an independent consultant advising businesses across the world at the intersection of risk and behavioural psychology 

This makes him the best communicator of the subject of todays conversation, which funnily enough is the very same title of most recent book... Ergodicity.

Time Stamps For Luca Dellanna

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 01:23 – What Is Ergodicity?
• 05:53 - Why Does Ergodicity Matter?
• 15:23 - Fat Tails & Power Laws
• 22:43 - Consultants & Skin In The Game
• 29:50 - Ole Peters & Ergodicity In Insurance
• 39:58 - The Perfect Example To Explain Ergodicity + My Attempt At Applying Ergodicity To Cricket
• 48:31 - Behavioural Change Is Non Ergodic
• 51:35 - Kelly Criterion In Nature + Survivorship Bias & Lindy
• 1:07:58 - The Influence Of Nassim Taleb
• 1:16:03 - Serendipity & Ergodicity

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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Russ Roberts #150
• Scott Patterson – Chaos Kings
• Nassim Taleb & Incerto Podcast

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#150 - Russ Roberts ladies and gentlemen.

One of the true OG’s of podcasting and in fact so OG, that Russ is one of the mediums earliest adopters, Russ has been at this racket for nearly 20 years now since he debuted EconTalk in 2006. 

And although economics is literally in the title, the show expands well beyond the narrow domain of theoretical economics – it is much broader and has transformed over the years into one of the most authentic reflections of a hosts shifting curiosities.

And with guests the likes of Milton Friedman, Thomas Pikety, Christopher Hitchens, Michael Lewis and even the great and elusive Nassim Taleb, you can see why EconTalk is one of the most appraised shows out there.

Time Stamps For Russ Roberts

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 02:23 – Christopher Hitchens
• 07:32 – Good Communication Versus Good Talking… (Podcasting?)
• 29:53 – Do Certain Cultures Create More Good Communicators Than Others?
• 35:46 – Nassim Taleb All The Way Down
• 59:08 – I Run A Theory By Russ + Russ Reflecting On EconTalk
• 1:12:03 – The Role That Serendipity Has Played In Russ’s Life
• 1:17:23 – Country Russ Is Particularly Bullish On
• 1:22:51 – Conversation Between Any Two People Of History

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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Christopher Hitchens Mortality
• Ben Burgis – Life Of Christopher Hitchens
• Scott Patterson – Chaos Kings
• Nassim Taleb & Incerto Podcast

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#149 - After climbing the peak of China's Elite, Desmond Shum had to flee his country of birth out of fear of being disappeared.
 
He was on the inside of the political apparatus along with his former wife, a multi billionaire who would later go on to be disappeared, and together, but in the years before they built their empire of the backs of being cosy with the most powerful elites right up the tippy top of the CCP mountains-cape. 

These relationships coupled with an incredible ambition and nouse for business led Desmond to multiple business deals that were not only extremely lucrative, but also interesting as a case study into the tide lifting all boats phenomenon that was a booming china ins the early 2000’s.

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 05:13 - Dealing With Abuse & The Chinese Caste System
• 16:39 - Status, Vanity, Social Awareness & How Desmond Used It To His Advantage
• 31:13 - Navigating China's Politics & Attention To Detail
• 37:19 - Corruption & Guanxi
• 49:13 - Desmond's Lifestyle When He Was At The Top
• 53:48 - Dynastic Wealth & Desmond's Relationship With Whitney & His Son
• 58:58 - Whitney's Disappearance
• 1:04:13 - Whitney's Elite Guanxi
• 1:12:18 - Desmonds Biggest Deals & The Tide That Lifts All Boats
• 1:26:13 - Whitney's Disappearance
• 1:29:28 - How Rich Chinese Hide Their Money  
• 1:38:03 - Does Desmond Still Feared Being Disappeared?
• 1:39:23 - Fallout After Publishing Book & Discussing Jack Ma
• 1:45:43 - China's Future
• 1:47:23 - 'I Signed My Life Away When I Decided To Publish The Book'

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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Geoff Raby