The Most Important Question

By Important, Not ImportantSociety & Culture Science Technology

The Most Important Question episodes

August 30, 2019 Fun Talk: Break the Glass in Case of Need of Party Playlist.
Fun Talk is here to help you start the holiday weekend by drowning out the people you actually know with two strangers talking in your ears! This week those pessimistic strangers that everyone loves to love, Quinn & Brian, chat about Quinn’s fairweather nature, apartment searching, Scott Reinhard’s sweet-ass maps, asking our Presidential and Senatorial candidates questions, finishing the get-it-done draft of Quinn’s book, the different ways that people approach writing, and some sweet-ass globes.
FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, we don’t have a topic, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us staying on topic and pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Tuesdays.
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Links:
Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Check out these sweet maps: scottreinhard.com/Mapping-and-Visualization
Globe Makers: instagram.com/globemakers
Shazam Discovery Top 50 Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/shazam-discovery-top-50/pl.eba7614f65cd42ff8868b2d8181f49f4
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
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40 min
August 27, 2019 #78: How to Be A Better Ancestor
In Episode 78, Quinn & Brian discuss: Planning for chaos.

Our guest is Bina Venkataraman, author of the upcoming book The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age and a teacher in the program on Science, Technology, and Society at MIT.

Fair warning, so you don’t get upset like Brian did: this is not a real telescope. But you should still be excited, like Brian is now, because Bina is awesome and her book sounds fantastic. As you can probably tell from the title of Bina’s book, this is actually a pretty positive episode! Of course, because we can’t let the silver lining distract you from the thundering cumulonimbus above our heads for too long, we will remind you that a book like this is only necessary because we’re pretty much one Instagram filter away from it being Mad Max out there.

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Trump’s Book Club: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Preorder The Optimist's Telescope: writerbina.com/the-optimists-telescope

Twitter: twitter.com/binajv

Bina’s TEDTalk: ted.com/talks/bina_venkataraman_the_power_to_think_ahead_in_a_reckless_age

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Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

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Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
1 hr 11 min
August 23, 2019 Fun Talk: Incoming Calls from the UN (They Have the Wrong Number)
It’s Fun Talk, and you know what that means – it’s a conversation that’s fun! ...or, sometimes, super sad. But that would be a bad title. Anywho! This week, Quinn and Brian chat about whether you’d rather have a break or replays, the Emmett family’s ALS fundraiser, Chernobyl 2.0, insensitive polls, your feedback about this podcast (good and bad), podcast swapsies, Brian’s Giphy stats, postcards from Antarctica, sponsoring Science Hack Day San Francisco 2019, vegan protein bars, the most dangerous movie ever made, moving as far away from Quinn as possible, joining a basketball league, and Quinn’s vacation vacation.
FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, we don’t have a topic, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us staying on topic and pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Tuesdays.
Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!
Links:
Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Sarai - Winner Represent (Pepperjuice Remix) by Pepperjuice: soundcloud.com/pepperjuice/winnerrepresent
Science Hack Day San Francisco 2019 (it’s FREE!): http://sf.sciencehackday.org
“'Aquarela': Inside The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made”: www.indiewire.com/2019/08/aquarela-the-most-dangerous-movie-ever-made-documentary-1202048704/
Connect with us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
39 min
August 21, 2019 BEST OF THE BEST: Where Does Ebola Go From Here?
In Episode 62, Quinn & Brian asked: Where does Ebola go from here?

Our guest is Karin Huster, a Field Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, where she is currently bouncing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. She spent a decade in the trauma ICU before flinging herself head first into humanitarian efforts across the globe. She’s sorta the Forest Gump of humanitarian field nurses; if there’s a health-related outbreak, or a storm-related outbreak that turns into a health-related outbreak, she’s there – and she’s inspiring as hell!

The latest Ebola outbreak started in the Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2018, which is the worst on record for the DRC and the second largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history. Ebola is a beast of a disease, the kind of thing Hollywood uses as a go-to when they need a horrible disease outbreak. However, we do actually have some experimental drugs for treatment and a promising vaccine, thanks to recent medical advancements, but they don’t seem to be doing a lot to slow the spread of this disease. But why? We get into it in this episode, and Karin explains in further detail in a beautifully written New York Times opinion piece, “Why Couldn’t My Ebola Treatment Center Save This Baby?”

Trump’s Book Club:

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Support: http://doctorswithoutborders.org

“Why Couldn’t My Ebola Treatment Center Save This Baby?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/opinion/ebola-treatment-democratic-republic-of-congo.html

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-huster-a225352/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/reunionislagirl

Read all of Karin’s articles: https://muckrack.com/karin-huster/articles

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
1 hr 15 min
August 16, 2019 Fun Talk: Café Gratitude Mental Breakdown Day
In this week’s Fun Talk, Quinn & Brian chat about how Brian’s bar (eating) habit is destroying the environment, Brian being too sexy for more Instagram stickers, the mysteries of Costa Rica, Auntie Anne’s Alex’s Lemonade Stand partnership, tidally locked planets, big emotions on the East Coast, bending the mother effing arc of history, and Journey releasing on iOS.
FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, we don’t have a topic, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us staying on topic and pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Tuesdays.
Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!
Links:
Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade 2019: https://www.alexslemonade.org/event/279/register
Connect with us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant
Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
---
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
37 min
August 13, 2019 #77: Please, Please, Please Do A Good Job, Colorado
In Episode 77, Quinn & Brian discuss: How Colorado can fix this wholllllle thing with one little election.

Our guest is Mike Johnston, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado and the first in our series of conversations about the 2020 elections.

The 2020 Senate elections are going to be really important because flipping the Senate is one of the only protections we might have from another four years of a Republican President – or, if we want to think a little more optimistically, it will allow a new President to make more significant and impactful changes to policies that affect everyone, everywhere.

Colorado is the state where we're most likely to flip a seat, so it’s really going to set the tone for the rest of the 2020 elections.

And we like what Mike has done with his political career so far. As a State Senator, he passed major legislation that opened the doors of college to undocumented students, invested in renewable energy, and won a fight with the NRA to pass common sense gun safety. As Mike said when he announced his campaign, “Colorado deserves a U.S. Senator who will run to our hardest problems and show the leadership to pass real progressive policy.”

Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message at anchor.fm/important-not-important/message!

Trump’s Book Club:

Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Support Mike at https://www.mikejohnstonforcolorado.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikejohnstonco/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeJohnstonCO/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeJohnstonCO

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore: https://www.amazon.com/These-Truths-History-United-States/dp/0393635244

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
1 hr 1 min
August 09, 2019 Fun Talk: Medicine Cabinets: Pro or Con?
Fun Talk is the most funnest talking you’ll hear all week, on this podcast feed, and this week Quinn & Brian dive into why plant names are the best, recommending products like Oprah, the vegan cheese struggle, wanting to be eaten by an alien, some great new comics that have come out recently, there’s some really good anime(?), medicine cabinets: pro or con, our reignited fear of asteroids, and your friendly reminder that you should be joining us at L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade Stand if you will be in the area.
FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, we don’t have a topic, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us staying on topic and pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Tuesdays.
Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!
Links:
Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade 2019: https://www.alexslemonade.org/event/279/register
Plant Delights Nursery: www.plantdelights.com
UnReal snacks: getunreal.com
Mylk Guys: www.mylkguys.com
Connect with us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant
Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
37 min
August 06, 2019 #76: Save the Corals, Save the World
In Episode 76, Quinn & Brian discuss: What you don’t see (any more) when you snorkel.

Our guest is Dr. Kim Cobb, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology who specializes in climate change, specifically how the extremes of climate change are changing in the ocean due to anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. She describes herself as 40% Climate Scientist, 40% Mom, and 20% Indiana Jones, somehow managing to balance research in remote areas of the world with raising four children. So she’s definitely badass, probably super human.

Dr. Cobb, like some of our other guests who are researching the future of climate change impacts, is doing so with increasing urgency and desperation in a valiant effort to help us avoid the worst effects of climate change. As science and Dr. Cobb’s body of work are actively attacked by politicians, policy makers, and the public, she and her colleagues are being forced to stand up and scream that we need different policies, now, to keep our communities clean and safe – and we’re happy to at least offer our roof as another place to shout from.

Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!

Trump’s Book Club:

Merchants of Doubt by Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Dr. Cobb’s lab: shadow.eas.gatech.edu/~kcobb

Twitter: twitter.com/coralsncaves

Citizens’ Climate Lobby: citizensclimatelobby.org

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
1 hr 11 min
August 02, 2019 Fun Talk: It Behooves
Another week, another Fun Talk. Today, Quinn & Brian chat about this dope ice cream they found at Salt and Straw, Quinn’s quiet life in Virginia, looking forward to checking out The Boys, squeezing peanut butter and jelly right into your mouth, Brian looking for a place to move in with with his girlfriend, the most annoying thing about living with Brian is how perfect of a roommate he is, using MyFitnessPal to track Brian’s macros and calories, the L.A. pier to pier swim, and Water Country USA.
FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, we don’t have a topic, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us staying on topic and pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Tuesdays.
Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!
Links:
Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Salt and Straw flavors: saltandstraw.com/flavors/#
Connect with us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant
Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant
Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
---
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/important-not-important/message
26 min
July 31, 2019 BEST OF THE BEST: It’s Getting Hot in Here, and America’s Poor Are Dying Faster Than Everyone Else
In Episode 50, Quinn & Brian discussed: How D.C. and LA are dealing with urban heat issues.

Our guests are Yesim Sayin Taylor and Molly Peterson. Yesim is the founding Executive Director of the D.C. Policy Center and Molly is a renowned reporter focusing on the environment and climate change (and our first returning guest!).

We all remember when Nelly said, “It’s getting hot in herre,” but not a lot of people remember the whole verse: “It’s getting hot in herre, so take off all your clothes / all of the poor minorities in America are suffering and dying before everybody else / Uh, uh, uh, let it hang all out.” But it’s a shame, really, because if we’d just paid more attention to Nelly’s important message back in 2002, maybe we wouldn’t be facing this problem today.

Trump’s Book Club:

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns

Links:

Learn more at https://www.dcpolicycenter.org

Yesim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yesimsy

Check out https://pactio.us/host/molly-peterson

Molly on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mollydacious

Greater Greater Washington: https://ggwash.org

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Check us on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Podcast Masters
1 hr 1 min

About The Most Important Question

From the publisher's feed

The most important question in today's world of climate chaos, AI psychosis, and crumbling democracy is: what can I do? Your host, Quinn Emmett is completely unqualified to answer it, so he's calling the people that already are.