Positive thinking has long been thought of as important to your health and wellness.  Mark and Jeff do a deep dive into how that works and what positive thinking means to them.  As usual we discuss things we learned in the past week (often space related), a few corny dad jokes and media we are consuming.  Check out our facebook group for links to the topics we cover (we basically fact check ourselves)

Mark and Jeff discuss the concepts of Corporatism vs Capitalism vs the need to regulation in modern western societies.  In particular discussing where capitalism and be made accountable for decisions that affect society and the environment.  As usual there are a few dad jokes, things we learned in the last week and media we a currently consuming.

Back after a week's hiatus, Mark and Jeff discuss the significance of synchronicity and it's impact on your life.  When are things coincidences and when are they more than that?  We also discuss things we learned this week including tales of time travel and what media we have been consuming.

In this episode Mark and Jeff discuss fake bands and in particular the virtual band Gorillaz.  A band that has had a fair bit of success and was created as a bit of a thumb towards the music industry.  The band has a complicated and detailed back story for the animated band members.  Gorillaz is the brainchild of Damon Albarn (from Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (a graphic artist known for Tank Girl)

There are a lot of misconceptions about what ASMR is and why people might like it.  Mark and Jeff discovered that ASMR is not really what they thought it was and its a little odd/unusual, bordering on fetishness.  Today's episode is a little shorter than usual but in this episode Jeff/Mark used an additional microphone to capture some ASMR trigger sounds.  Unfortunately this podcast is recorded in mono, so you won't get the full effect of the sounds in each ear but you can hear the sounds of the triggers chosen for ASMR.  Neither Mark nor Jeff were triggered by these sounds.

Mark and Jeff explore the famous photo essayist W. Eugene Smith and his life, particularly when he went to Japan to cover something called Minamata disease.  One of his most famous images was taken there and there was a feature film based upon his life and travels to Minamata starring Johnny Depp.  The movie is excellent but did not do well at the box office and is a little harder to find.  Worth your time as Johnny Depp does an excellent job portraying the difficult photographer that was Eugene Smith.

Dr. Temple Grandin is know for two things, her autism and how she has used it to help inform her professional career in Animal Science.  She has singlehandedly changed the food processing industry by making it significantly more humane.  She is a fascinating individual and the main topic of this podcast.  As usual we discuss what we learned in the past week, as well as what media we have been consuming.

Mark and Jeff take stab at predictions for 2024.  Recorded during the Christmas break, Mark and Jeff discuss what they were most surprised about from last year as well as predictions (with differing confidence levels) for 2024.  This episode covers a lot of territory and is pretty free ranging.  Enjoy and have a happy new year!!!

Mark and Jeff discuss how a retirement age of 65 was originally arrived at.  Hint, it's not what you expect and its not scientifically arrived at.  The original reason for a social security program was to support people whose physical jobs were something they could no longer do to support themselves, but few were expected to take advantage of the programs at the time they were introduced.  Times have changed and so have expectations.  Not Christmassy (sp?  is that even a word?) and not a rerun

Bryan Johnson is a Silicon valley millionaire (almost billionaire) who sold his company at the age of 34 and now focuses on his anti-aging quest through the Blueprint protocol.  This protocol is an open source method of trying to extend your life based upon empirical data and evidence based science.  He sounds a little crazy (and he may be) but there is something to what he is proposing. It's also important to note that he is not running this to make money.  He provides his entire system for free.