In this episode I express gratitude for those creatives who make fantastical stories in games and literary fiction. I am also careful to acknowledge the parents who support, nurture, and cultivate creativity in their offspring as I reflect on my own mother doing the same for me. I discuss my reaction to Hogwarts Legacy so far, how it's reignited my love for the fantastical worlds of role playing games, and what led me away from RPG type games in the first place. I hope you enjoy!

Links:

Hogwarts Legacy

Sega Genesis

Sonic The Hedgehog

Streets of Rage

Streets of Rage 2 Ending Theme (Absolutely Beautiful)

Playstation 2

Inner Universe

Mega Man 8

Dig Dug

Pac Man World 2

Radiata Stories

Indigo Prophecy

Kingdom Hearts

Harry Potter

The Dresden Files

Tekken 7

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Immortal Jellyfish

Einstein's Fridge

In this episode I discuss music. Specifically my gratitude and appreciation for electronic music and some of the folks who were instrumental both in pioneering the field and telling the story of the field as it came to be the awesome thing we know today.

Links:

Atomic Dog

Jacob in the Wilderness

Founders Podcast

Black Techno Matters

The Belleville Three

Electronic Music

Assembling a Black Counter Culture

Blues People

Sylvester Weaver

Don Lewis

MIDI

The Ballad of Don Lewis

Ikutaro Kakehashi

I Believe In Music

An Age Without Samples

Nothing But Thieves

George Clinton

Roland Corporation

Atomic Dog (Extended Version)

In this episode I address the question: Why do I sometimes refer to myself as a heretic? Whenever the topic of religion comes up, which it does somewhat frequently for me, I answer simply that I am a heretic. My full thoughts on religion are quite simple, but can also seem complicated to those accustomed to religious people who conform to the orthodox views of their religion. Alas, I talk about it here and also find some folks at whom I can toss some gratitude.

Links:

Heresy

Adon Olam

C.S. Lewis' Trilemma

Apologetics

Dead in Sin

Jewish Views on the Afterlife

Constantine and Pagans

Tikkun Olam

Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems

Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman

In this episode I admire human adaptability and express gratitude for physical health. I reflect a bit on 2022 and muse about what may be in store for 2023. Happy New Year to you all!

Links:

Hard Work Running Cadence: https://genius.com/The-us-army-airborne-hard-work-lyrics

Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda: https://a.co/d/3jsnfrQ

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Louis V Gerstner Jr: https://a.co/d/cq67avS

Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky: https://a.co/d/3OMLYAv

In this holiday episode I do a bit of story time. Inspired by my sister to share "cool stories", I'll talk about some experiences I had while working in law enforcement while also expressing gratitude for those who commit themselves to public sector work. Whether it be cops, social workers, firefighters, EMTs, etc., those who try to tackle some of society's hardest problems have my gratitude. Perhaps once you hear some of the stories I'll tell you'll find some gratitude for the folks working to make society better in your life too.

Links:

Exploring: https://www.exploring.org/

LASD Explorers: https://lasd.org/explorers.html

DC Reserve Police: https://joinmpd.dc.gov/metropolitan-police/reserve-police-officer

Reserve Policing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_police

Domestic Violence & Law Enforcement: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/22/us/domestic-incidents-police-officers-danger/index.html

Police Pat Downs: https://www.fletc.gov/sites/default/files/imported_files/training/programs/legal-division/downloads-articles-and-faqs/research-by-subject/4th-amendment/terryfriskupdate.pdf

How Tasers Work: https://www.britannica.com/topic/TASER

Pepper Spray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_spray

In this episode I express fascination and gratitude for science, recent developments in nuclear fusion, and muse about how our hyperconnected ability to know everyone and everything might explain strong emotional reactions towards anger or anxiety that many of us feel. There's so much information to consume and as inherently creative creatures at our core, the delay between how quickly everyone and everything is available and our biological, mental, and social "muscle memory" can process all that leads to a "does not compute" moment of anxiety. Alas, I am hopeful that we will adapt as we take advantage of emergent social phenomena and sentiment to become a sort of super-organism consisting of virtually localized communities of information consumers and curators. This may be the longest episode summary yet.

Links:

Nuclear Fusion & Press Conference: https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-national-laboratory-makes-history-achieving-fusion-ignition\

Nuclear Fission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission

Nuclear Fusion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission

Periodic Table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

Whole Earth Discipline by Steward Brand: https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-national-laboratory-makes-history-achieving-fusion-ignition

How Many Smartphones in the World: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world

Website: https://justhere.club

Twitter: https://twitter.com/justhereclub

In this episode I talk about why I'm an entrepreneur, what I've learned so far, and my gratitude for inspirational and creative heavyweights who've come before me on the entrepreneurial journey. If you're someone who's on the fence about whether to start your own company or not, or just curious about how to think about that sort of decision, perhaps this episode will help you to unleash your creative passion.

Links:

Master Your Destiny: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/master-your-destiny-daniel-ford/

Here's To The Crazy One's: https://youtu.be/tjgtLSHhTPg

Becoming Steve Jobs: https://amzn.to/3uNyBpK

Steve Jobs The Lost Interview: https://amzn.to/3VRHfPX

Bicycle for the Human Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmuP8gsgWb8

Fastest Way To Wealth: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/fastest-way-to-become-a-millionaire-is-the-hardest-says-money-expert.html

Akio Morita: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita

Edwin Land: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land

Madame CJ Walker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker

Self Made TV Series: https://www.netflix.com/title/80202462

Super Founders by Ali Tamaseb: https://amzn.to/3HAB0vF

Ed Catmull: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Catmull

Creativity Inc: https://amzn.to/3VVfc29

Sam Walton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton

Made in America by Sam Walton: https://amzn.to/3URvebV

In this episode I'm showing some gratitude for John Stuart Mill and his work On Liberty. From there I discuss broadly how I feel about freedom of expression and it's importance.

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill: https://amzn.to/3UvIPWq

Founding Fathers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States

Don't Ask Don't Tell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell

In this episode I talk about my deep belief in crypto as a tool to digitally represent truth that we can strap to the rocket of computation to make abundance available to the world and to create more abundance. If my voice sounds weird it's because it was recorded quite late (or early?) and the fatigue was deep. Thank you for listening!

The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto: https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html

Cryptography Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography#Cryptocurrencies_and_cryptoeconomics

The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman: https://amzn.to/3Viryky

Concentric Circles: https://byjus.com/maths/concentric-circles/#:~:text=Concentric%20Circles%20Meaning,is%20known%20as%20an%20annulus

Kurt Gödel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del

Operation (Math): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_(mathematics)

Mathematical Symbols: https://www.smartick.com/blog/mathematics/algebra/mathematical-symbols/

Why counting is complicated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting

Turning anything into a number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function

Einstein's Fridge: https://amzn.to/3AUkWkb

Steve Job's Bicycle for the Human Mind: https://youtu.be/KmuP8gsgWb8

In this episode I cover my hacker origin story and walk you through the basis for my love of technology. As we proceed from here I want to deep dive into a lot of the technical creativity and goings on that I believe are solid reasons to be optimistic and hopeful for the future and this episode is the start of that.

Links:

Hacker Manifesto: http://phrack.org/issues/7/3.html

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Stephen Levy: https://amzn.to/3OqFQwS

Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours: https://amzn.to/3Xq1e9y

The Matrix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

Reverse Engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering

How to ask questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Android Open Source Project: https://source.android.com/

Sony Developer Portal: https://developer.sony.com/

XDA Developers: https://www.xda-developers.com/