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Manchán Magan explores the mysterious and elusive Síle na Gigs, the grotesque carvings embedded in the walls of churches, barns and castles all over the country.

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Manchán Magan investigates the quirks, conundrums and wonders of Ireland. In this episode he beholds some of the unsettling and alluring creations of one of Ireland's greatest artists, Dorothy Cross.

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In this episode, I sit down with YouTube storytelling master Johnny Harris to discover how he creates his videos. Johnny Harris has proven he can make pretty much anything go viral, from breakfast and lottery tickets to bread-making and extra virgin olive oil. We look at his entire creative process, breaking down exactly what makes his storytelling so addicting to watch. We cover the complete workflow: writing, drafting, editing, visual composition, and sound design. By the end of this video, you'll walk away with practical tools to become a better visual storyteller yourself. Enjoy!

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00:00:00 Intro

00:00:35 The Video Process

00:09:18 How to Research for a Documentary

00:10:10 The Marketing for a Video

00:13:15 Scripted vs Unscripted Content

00:15:18 The only app I use to read articles [Readwise Reader]

00:16:44 Full Breakdown of Johnny Harris' 4M View Mormon Video

00:45:34 Balancing Personal Passion vs Views

00:50:27 Every Story is a Promise

00:51:47 Highlighting Paradoxes in Human Stories

00:58:56 The "There's More Going On" Approach

01:03:20 Vox vs Independent YouTube

01:04:26 Pillars of YouTube Writing

01:05:27 Dealing with the Details in Complex Stories

01:07:19 The Art of Surprising Viewers

01:11:33 Learning from The Economist

01:18:11 Human Stories

01:21:05 Craftsmanship in the AI Age

01:24:02 How Would Johnny Harris Teach a University Class

Johnny Harris

https://www.youtube.com/@johnnyharris

https://www.patreon.com/johnnyharris

https://www.instagram.com/johnny.harris/

I also made a website that helps you learn from the best writing of all-time: https://writingexamples.com/

Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.

Follow me

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Why does it feel like we have less money for groceries, even when the official price stats say otherwise? It’s a question many of us are asking as we watch our grocery bills climb. While essentials like butter and bread continue to rise in price, it's the smaller luxuries: chocolate, coffee, and olive oil that really seem to sting.

To discuss, Seán is joined by Caitríona Redmond, Consumer Columnist for the Irish Examiner…

Yiyun Li reads her story, “Techniques and Idiosyncrasies,” from the March 17, 2025, issue of the magazine. Li is the author of eight books of fiction, including the novels “Must I Go” and “The Book of Goose,” and the story collection “Wednesday’s Child,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024. A new nonfiction book, “Things in Nature Merely Grow,” will be published in May.

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Why has the United Kingdom, historically one of the strongest democracies in the world, become so unstable? What changed? Late Soviet Britain: Why Materialist Utopias Fail (Cambridge UP, 2023) demonstrates that a major part of the answer lies in the transformation of its state. It shows how Britain championed radical economic liberalisation only to weaken and ultimately break its own governing institutions. The crisis of democracy in rich countries has brought forward many urgent analyses of neoliberal capitalism. This book explores for the first time how the 'governing science' in Leninist and neoliberal revolutions fails for many of the same reasons. These systems may have been utterly opposed in their political values, but Abby Innes argues that when we grasp the kinship in their closed-system forms of economic reasoning and their strategies for government, we may better understand the causes of state failure in what remains an inescapably open-system reality.

Abby Innes is Associate Professor of Political Economy in the European Institute at the LSE.

Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter.

Manchán Magan heads towards a forgotten Gaelic stronghold in Co. Wexford, the Macamores, where old dialects and customs survive. He is joined by the great local folk archivist Michael Fortune to explore superstitions and lore. (A Red Hare Media production)

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I was live with Kevin Kelly earlier today. Thanks to all of you who joined us – and if you didn’t have a chance to join us live, you can watch the recording right here.

We discuss:

* Population decline, its causes and implications.

* How AI agents might eventually become integral economic entities, not only producing but also consuming, creating a new type of economy.

* Why we both see technology not just as a complexity generator but as an opportunity and possibility enhancer.

* How we could go about governing and incentivizing AI systems ethically – and whether they could surpass human morality standards.

* Why Kevin believes in the universal right of mobility to encourage global competition for human talent and improve global well-being.

* And in the end, I asked Kevin: If 1994 Kevin could read 2025 Kevin’s blog, what would blow his mind? I was surprised by his answer.

Enjoy!

In this episode Manchán learns about a phallic rock on the Beara Peninsula known as Pete Micheál's God.

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In this episode Manchán travels to Tydavnet in Co. Monaghan to hear stories about a fire-proof Irish saint.

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