Episodes

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

Dubai’s Artificial Islands

Over twenty years ago, Dubai began constructing the world’s largest artificial archipelago of islands, designed to be a lavish oasis for the super-rich. Today, the islands stand mostly empty and some are sinking back into the sea, but the developers and government of Dubai refuse to give up on the mind boggling mega-project. Let me tell you about this astonishing feat of engineering, how it did work–kind of, but also hasn’t panned out the way they hoped, and why they’ll probably never let this one go no matter how bad an idea it was.

January 31, 2023January 30, 2023

New Year’s Resolutions

Why most New Year’s resolutions fail, the Babylonians and Romans, putting our hands on a peacock, setting and getting goals, habit formation, motivation vs. discipline, believing you deserve to have what you want, and what procrastination really is (you’re not lazy).

November 23, 2022November 23, 2022

Bonus Episode: More Theranos Updates (Elizabeth Holmes’ Sentencing & Sunny Balwani Trial)

The Theranos saga continues. Updates on Elizabeth Holmes’ sentencing and Sunny Balwani’s trial and verdict.

November 22, 2022November 22, 2022

Roanoke: The Lost Colony

Colonialism and utopianism, as Thomas More coined the term, have been linked since the early sixteenth century when European explorers began taking stock of newly accessible lands that would later become colonies. Colonists had the expectation of achieving a much better life by settling in “new” lands, while producing a dystopia for the original inhabitants. Optimistic colonists didn’t always find what they expected, but for centuries they continued to emigrate and settle, driven by utopian projections of what their new lives would be like. Today we talk about one of the first colonies in the New World and how it all went wrong.

November 8, 2022November 7, 2022

Paradise to Hellscape: Salton Sea and Other Terrible Places

Let’s talk about an environmental catastrophe that turned a tourism and wildlife paradise into a toxic wasteland. This is something that we’re starting to see happening all over the world and that’s only going to become more of a problem in the future thanks to climate change.

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022

The Church of Love (Chonda-Za)

The Church of Love: Chonda-Za, Love Angels, lonely hearts, and a whole lot of questionable love letters. Plus, self-delusion and seeing things for what they are.

October 11, 2022October 11, 2022

Cryptocurrency Part 2

In Part 2, hopefully we’re gonna have a little more fun talking not about techno-utopia, but actual physical utopian communes based around the love of crypto. Cryptoland, Cryptopia, Satoshi Island, Bitcoin Beach, Bitcoin City, and actually, the entire country of El Salvador.

September 27, 2022September 26, 2022