The Pixel Meditations

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In this episode Steve talks about being a child in the 90s and what it was like to get into video games. He tells his story about discovering the NES and the SNES, his best friend being a huge Genesis fan, and finally, what it was like to choose between the PlayStation and the N64.

This is a story that is bigger than Steve. It covers what made 90s games special, the difference between being a child and an adult gamer, and how knowing more about video games doesn’t necessarily make you appreciate each game more.

Lastly, there are some questions Steve seeks to answer a few questions.

Do the games we play as children affect us forever?

Was gaming in the 90s anti-social?

What were the best parts of gaming in the 90s.

What can people take away from the 90s?

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thepixelmeditationsation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song.  Taiwan Jon

Listener Survey: Please help us and leave us some feedback! This will only take 2 minutes.

Find Steve

Twitter: @thinkinvagabond

Website: The Thinking Vagabond

cover picture: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/wolf-wolves-dog-lupine-canine-3022813/

PHOTO

technology-computer-equipment by kevinrodenphotography

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app! Such as Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

In this episode, Steve and Toby talk about Jack London’s famous novel, Call of the Wild. Seeing as Hollywood just released a movie based on the novel, it seemed like an appropriate time to make a podcast episode about the book.

This episode covers the basic plot then goes into many of the themes in the book as well as Toby and Steve’s opinions. Some of the themes covered include the beauty and harshness of the Yukon, dog behavior, London’s commentary on modern society, and the idea of genetics and social Darwinism.

If you love nature, literature, or good story telling, you will enjoy this episode. This episode is a little more serious than some of our episodes due to the dense topic, but nonetheless, it is a fascinating exploration on Call of the Wild.

Join the Conversation

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thepixelmeditationsation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song.  Taiwan Jon

Listener Survey: Please help us and leave us some feedback! This will only take 2 minutes.

Find Steve

Twitter: @thinkinvagabond

Website: The Thinking Vagabond

cover picture: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/wolf-wolves-dog-lupine-canine-3022813/

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app! Such as Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

In this episode, Steve interviews Daniel Rios, who is about to finish climbing all of Taiwan’s top 100 peaks, which mostly difficult alpine treks over 3,000 meters. 
They talk about the history of these peaks, the difficulties and reason to even attempt these hikes, the skills needed to mountaineer, and their favorite and least favorite part of these hikes. There is a short conversation about gear and hiking in the rain, and anyone who is interested in trekking and mountains is bound to enjoy this episode. 

Join the Conversation

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thepixelmeditationsation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song.  Taiwan Jon

Listener Survey: Please help us and leave us some feedback! This will only take 2 minutes.

Find Steve

Twitter: @thinkinvagabond

Website: The Thinking Vagabond

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app! Such as Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

In this episode of the Pixel Meditations, we uncharacteristically weed into this developing and profound world event. Nobody knows where this crisis will go and how long it will last. We get into differences between different responses around the world and how some countries are clearly doing a better job at responding than others. We address our specific experiences in Europe and Taiwan and how this virus has already impacted our lives. Finally we end on a note of optimism and an appeal to solidarity and strength during these trying times. Stay safe everyone!

Join the Conversation

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thepixelmeditationsation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song.  Taiwan Jon

Listener Survey: Please help us and leave us some feedback! This will only take 2 minutes.

Find Steve

Twitter: @thinkinvagabond

Website: The Thinking Vagabond

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

Subscribe To our podcast on your favorite podcast app! Such as Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify and Pocket Casts.

In this episode, we talk about the classic video game, Bioshock. We talk about the atmosphere, the audiotapes, the story, and the combat. Everything from Rapture, to Big Daddies and Little Sisters, to plasmids is covered. The philosophy of Bioshock, objectivism, determinism, and the lack of free will also plays a huge role in this podcast episode. 

Join the Conversation

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thepixelmeditationsation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song.  Taiwan Jon

Listener Survey: Please help us and leave us some feedback! This will only take 2 minutes.

Find Steve

Twitter: @thinkinvagabond

Website: The Thinking Vagabond

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/3djunior/

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

Subscribe To our podcast on your favorite podcast app! Such as Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.

In this episode of the Pixel Meditations we talk about the development of hiking in the 20th century. We cover aspects of hiking during this time such as its early philosophical underpinnings represented by thinkers such as John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. We get into major outdoor accomplishments of this time such as the summiting of Mount Everest and the development of thru-hiking in the United States. Finally we talk about the development of hiking infrastructure during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps as well as hiking in the modern era and how the advent of the internet has profoundly impacted the perception of nature and how youtube has given people a new view into the natural world. Please follow us and enjoy the episode!

Join the Conversation

[email protected]

reddit.com/thepixelmeditations

Twitter: @thepixelmeditation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song. 

YouTube – TaiwanJon

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

In this episode, we talk about Matthew Walker’s book “Why We Sleep.” We cover how and why we sleep, which includes circadian rhythm and adenosine, as well as how caffeine works.We then move on the benefits of sleeping for memory and for learning new skills as well as how students and employees can do better work with more sleep. On the flip side, we also talk about the negative effects of sleep deprivation, especially on mental health and performance, but we also had to mention how fatigued drivers can actually be more dangerous than drunk drivers.

We had to talk about dreaming and REM sleep. We go into the benefits of dreaming and whether or not we should analyze dreams or not.

Lastly, we talk about society and sleep. We argue that sleep should not be stigmatized.  

CHECK OUT THE BOOK HERE: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Join the Conversation

[email protected]

reddit.com/thepixelmeditations

Twitter: @thepixelmeditation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song. 

YouTube – TaiwanJon

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

In this episode we cover one of the most beloved classics of modern video gaming. We tackle this episode from the perspective of what it was like to play this game when it was first released and what it is like to play it in 2020, highlighting the aspects that truly stand out and aspects that may be dated. We get into the combat system, deep plot, and rich characters that make this one of the truly best video games of all time. Also, we get into the upcoming Final Fantasy VII remake and our hopes and expectations for this new installment of the FFVII saga. Hope you enjoy the episode!

Intro – Opening Bomb Mission from the FFVII soundtrack

Join the Conversation

[email protected]

reddit.com/thepixelmeditations

Twitter: @thepixelmeditation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song. 

YouTube – TaiwanJon

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

In this episode, we talk about Studio Ghibli’s most successful movie, Spirited Away. This famous animation from Miyazaki is one of the best selling animations of all time. We talk about the plot, our favorite characters, fan theories, and themes such as capitalism, Japanese culture, and conservation. 

Join the Conversation

[email protected]

reddit.com/thepixelmeditations

Twitter: @thepixelmeditation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song. 

YouTube – TaiwanJon

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/

In this episode, we add another addition to our Nature series which we recently started, this time with the focus on the history of hiking. We cover the topic from prehistory, through the middle ages up until the industrial revolution and right up until the beginning of the 20th century. We get into aspects of how society changed and developed over these vast periods of time and how this undoubtedly had a profound impact on the way people thought and conceived of nature. This was a really fun episode to record and we will definitely be making another episode in this vein in the future covering hiking more from the perspective of the 20th century to modern times. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode!

Intro song: Mummer’s Dance – Loreena Mckennitt

Books Mentioned:
A Sand County Almanac – Aldo Leopold
Mountains of the Mind – Robert Macfarlane

Join the Conversation

[email protected]

reddit.com/thepixelmeditations

Twitter: @thepixelmeditation

Special Thanks to Jonathan McDougall for creating our outro song. 

YouTube – TaiwanJon

The Pixel Meditations is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://pixelmeditations.wordpress.com/