Mark Synnott is a climber best known for pioneering big-wall first-ascents. His expeditions have taken him to places like Alaska, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, Patagonia, Guyana, Venezuela, Pakistan, Nepal, India, China, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Russia, Cameroon, Chad, Borneo, Oman and Pitcairn Island. Closer to home, Mark has climbed Yosemite’s El Capitan 24 times, including several one-day ascents. He is also the author of the book "Into the Ice," about his 2022 Northwest Passage adventure. 

We talk about climbing, his book "Into the Ice," the Northwest Passage, living nomadically on a boat, the paralels between mountaineering and climbing, climbing in the arctic, close calls, spending 29 nights on a porta-ledge, serendipity and synchronicity with the Inuit, and more!

Photos and links are on the podcast show notes page

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Anonymous Andrew is the host of the podcasts Cultimatum, the Culture of Cults; Digital Dating with Anonymous Andrew; and The Weekend Rant. 

We talk about cults, what they are and how they attract members, how they maintain power over their members, how they abuse their members (some of this might be disturbing), narcissism, escaping from cults, how to avoid cults, how to recognize cults, and more.

We also talk about online dating, dating apps, scams, how to use dating apps, what to avoid, etc. 

And we talk about sobriety, drugs, alcoholism, AA, vaping, and more.

Links can be found on the shownotes page

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Stacey Harper was a cocaine dealer in the 1980's in Los Angeles. He built the business into an small empire, but got arrested. In prison, he studied everything he could and bettered himself. When he got out, he stayed clean and started his own legitimate businesses. He is the author of "The Cocaine Chef: The Story of the Mix Master," and other books. He also coaches people in Financial Empowerment, Personal Growth, Career Development, and Life Transformation. 

We talk about growing up in Los Angeles, Nation of Islam, getting into the drug-dealing business, taking over his boss' operation, the differences between powder cocaine and crack cocaine, the cocaine epidemic, where the word "crack" came from, the connection with the Medellin Cartel, getting arrested, the racist drug laws regarding cocaine, cooking crack, spending ten years in prison, maintaining hope in prison, stae vs federal prison, how to survive in prison, writing, history, the moors, algebra, the dark ages, Mansa Musa, the Olmec statues, the origin of the separation of the races, writing the book, helping others, and more. 

Find Stacey's book and links on the shownotes page

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What happens when you catch thieves in the act, trying to steal your outboard motor? What do you do with the bodies? No, I haven't caught thieves in the act, or had to dispose of bodies, and I hope I never do, but I did write a short story about it. 

To subscribe to my free newsletter and get a short story every month, go to https://paultrammell.substack.com/

To supprt the show, go to Patreon here

Brian Hite, Ph.D., is known as "The High-Stakes Performance Whisperer," blending over 30 years as a professional stuntman with advanced expertise in performance psychology. With a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology and a Master’s in Sport Psychology, Brian helps leaders, athletes, first responders, and creatives see through the illusions of stress and pressure to unlock clarity and achieve extraordinary results.

Brian’s career includes over 100 film and television credits, a Screen Actors Guild Award for 24, and a decade coaching soldiers as a Master Resilience Trainer for the U.S. Army. Today, he shares his expertise through programs like PressureX, PhaseX, and FACTs; his podcast Flow Under Fire; and keynotes that inspire audiences to rethink their potential.

We talk about goals, creating our futures, recognizing opportunity, overcoming fear and anxiety, being a stuntman, avoiding injury, getting hit by cars, stretching and flexibility, seeing the good in the bad, finding motivation for self-employed people, eliminating pressure, visualization, focusing on the moment to maximize success, and more.

"Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Links are on the shownotes page here.

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Alan Katz is a writer and producer of film and TV. Over the course of his career, he has written movies and TV shows like HBO's iconic Tales From The Crypt and Showtime's Outer Limits. He now produces four podcasts. Entertainment Weekly called the first season of his "The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast" the "Best Film Podcast of 2022."

We talk about making film and TV shows, writing scripts, HBO, difficult camera shots, creating the Crypt Keeper on Tales from the Crypt, improvisation, Whoopi Goldberg, how a bad movie can turn your career, podcasting, being traumatized as a child, letting the secret out, becoming a storyteller, Dads from the Crypt, getting into podcasting, a sperm-donor story, the downfall of American Government, the cultural value of creative people, and more.

Links are on the podcast shownotes page here

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Brian Hathaway is a documentary filmmaker and a sailor, currently circumnavigating. He is also a recovering addict. We talk about sailing, the community of cruising sailors, rehab, being diagnosed bipolar, lithium, self-medicating, burning his house down while on meth, living with the social consequences of sobriety, lightning, solo sailing, and more.

Links are on the shownotes page here.

Support the show here.

Dr. Mort Orman, M.D. is an internal medicine physician and a 40-year anger elimination and stress elimination expert. He has written 23 books on how to eliminate anger and stress without using drugs, relaxation exercises, or other traditional management techniques. He is the creator of the 10-session Angry No More anger elimination program, the Anger Internal Causes Framework, and The Ultimate Anger Elimination System. Dr. Orman has led more than 100 anger and stress elimination workshops for doctors, nurses, lawyers, business owners, entrepreneurs, other professionals, the clergy, and even the F.B.I. He has also been the official sponsor of National Stress Awareness Month in the U.S. every April since 1992. His newest book is “Dr. Orman’s Life-Changing Anger Cure.”

We talk about the effects of anger on the body, mind, and emotions, his past anger issue (which he compares to John McEnroe), how the brain deals with anger, how we interpret situations that lead to our anger, how to get past this and eliminate anger, the difference between anger management and anger elimination, how the media makes us angry, his book, his anger elimination course, the two truths (whenever we are angry, we are either wrong about something - or we have an incorrect life philosophy), meditation, and more.

Find links on the shownotes page here.

Support the show through Patreon here.

Heather O'Neill is a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Her work includes When We Lost Our Heads, a #1 national bestseller and a finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal, The Lonely Hearts Hotel, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads, and Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels, which were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O’Neill has also won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. The Capital of Dreams is her most recent novel. Born and raised in Montreal, O'Neill lives there today.

We talk about her childhood, reading and writing, books, The Capital of Dreams, breaking into traditional publishing, the craft of writing a novel, cultivating creativity, poetry and prose, simile and metaphor and more. I also read passages I highlighted from the book and we discuss them.

Links and show notes are here 

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Miriam Schulman is the author of "Artpreneur," a book about making a living off our creativity. After witnessing 9/11, she left a lucrative hedge fund job to focus full-time on her art. Since then, her story and art have been featured in major publications including Forbes, The New York Times, What Women Create, Art of Man, Professional Artist magazine, and Art Journaling magazine. Her artwork has also been featured on NBC’s “Parenthood” and the Amazon series “Hunters” with Al Pacino. 

We talk about getting past the starving artist mindset, pricing our art, limiting beliefs that inhibit artists, the value of taking risks, building confidence, beating procrastination, cultivating creativity, the value of email marketing over social media, embracing your weirdness, why we shouldn't let AI write for us, failure and having haters, advice for self-published authors, the future of marketing, and more.

Podcast shownotes are here 

Support the show through Patreon