Nerd Farmer Podcast

The Seattle Sounders went to MLS Cup last year and were sadly and soundly defeated by Columbus. In the off-season, the Sounders lost some beloved players including Gustav Svensson, Kelvin Leerdam, and Joevin Jones. We also had some off-season homecomings with Fredy Montero and Kelyn Rowe.

After an extended off season, due to Covid-19, the 2021 MLS season will start for Seattle on April 16 at Lumen Field against Ozzie Alonso and Minnesota United. We invited on two of my favorite writers from the Sounders beat, Miki Turner of Sounder at Heart and Ari Liljenwall from MLS.com, to preview the roster and the season ahead. We talked comings and goings, remaining holes, new formations, and predictions for the season.

Cast of Characters

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For a lot of people conversations about personal finance are gauche and to be avoided. As a result, I regularly see people, including former students, lament not getting a meaningful education in personal financial matters: debt, credit, saving, retirement, etc. Some states require a course in financial literacy as a graduation requirement but Washington State is not among them. So I brought on two guests to talk about teaching both students and adults about personal finance.

This conversation features Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani. He is the Director of the Center for Economics Education at Northern Kentucky University. He is joined by Brian Page. Brian is an award winning teacher and now serves as the Senior Director for Partnerships & Advocacy at Next Gen Personal Finance.

When in doubt, remember the advice of Marshawn Lynch: “Keep an eye on your mentals and your chicken.”

Going Further

Cast of Characters

Here’s what we know for sure know: on January 27, recently elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer was involved in an incident where at 2am he stalked and confronted a Black newspaper delivery driver, Sedrick Altheimer, who was doing his normal route in the neighborhood.

But Troyer’s version of events and Alexander’s version of events differ: We know for sure Troyer called a special police dispatch number rather than 911, like you and me might have done; we know that 42 units were initially dispatched to the incident; we know that according to Althiemer an officer drew his gun; we know that according to Troyer on the call, Alexander threatened to kill him; we know that Troyer’s version of the story now differs substantially from the responding officer, Troyer’s own statement in the initial call, and statements made by Altheimer.

We know all of this from the reporting of Jim Brunner in Lewis Kamb from the Seattle Times. So, I invited them on the show to talk about their reporting on the story and their unanswered questions of which there are many. Give this a listen and then decide for yourself.

Going Further

Cast of Characters

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

One of the things that moving to Abu Dhabi has taught me is that I have some intellectual blindspots that I want to use the show to help address. For example, I recently realized in talking to a student from Pakistan that I have only a rudimentary knowledge of the history of South Asia, pre-1947. I shamefully don’t know a ton about the classical African Empires, etc. So we are going to be throwing in a new wrinkle in the show called Nerd Farmer Academy. These will be periodic interviews with academics about topics in history, sociology, and economics.

The first Nerd Farmer Academy episode centers on the interwar period in Europe and the rise of fascist states in Spain, Germany, and Italy. Our guest is Beth Griech-Polelle. She is the Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. She came on to talk about the interwar period, the death of European empires, and lessons for today. She is really, really passionate about this time period and I think it comes across in our conversation.

Look for future Nerd Farmer Academy conversations about the history of Black Arabs and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). If there’s a topic you’d like to hear discussed, shoot us an email: [email protected].

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member