WanderLearn Podcast

• Podcast

Gary Arndt has a new podcast called Everything Everywhere Daily.

I highly recommend subscribing to it. 

I talk with Gary about:

• How does he come up with topics to discuss
• Why he doesn't do 3-minute podcasts (but he usually keeps it under 10 minutes)
• Where does Nike's "Just Do It" slogan come from
• Which are his most popular podcasts?
• How GPS works
• What are his 2021 travel plans

Listen to my two other podcasts with Gary:

1. Living Among the Riots in Minneapolis
2. How to Become an A-list Travel Blogger

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• Podcast

Kyle and Leanne Huebner did what few large families dare to do: embark on a one-year world tour.

COVID-19 cut their journey short by three months, but they still walked away with plenty of experiences and lessons.

They share much on their detailed blog, Global Teen Adventures. 

We discuss the key questions you may have:

• How did they pick the 43 countries they ended up going to?
• How did they manage to book flights for 7 when the max is usually 6?
• What lessons did they learn?
• What did they pack?
• How did their packing strategy evolve?
• How did COVID-19 impact them?
• Where do they plan to go next?

Sponsor: Sawyer

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• Podcast

Jaco Oosthuizen attended the Safari Club International show 22 years in a row. 

In 2020, he was named The Hunter of the Year.

I ask Jaco Oosthuizen:

• How have things have changed for hunters since the previous century?
• Does hunting have a place in the 21st century or is it outdated?
• Why do poachers poach?
• What does he do that other hunters don't do?
• Why do hunters only target old males? Why not hunt old females too?
• Why can't we convert all the hunting zones into photographic safari zones?
• Will hunting still exist in the next 50 years?

Hear his answers in this 30-minute interview:

Here are my other hunting-related podcasts.

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• Podcast

About six months ago, Underknown's What If channel hired me to interview two prominent NASA astrophysicists. They wanted to find out what would happen if Earth became one of Jupiter's moons.

I'm unsure why they wanted to know that since Underknown had already produced a video that answered that topic, but I adore astronomy, so I was happy to visit my old stomping ground: the NASA Ames Research Center.

Underknown said that this was urgent, so I did everything I could to interview two top astrophysicists with almost no warning. 

Unfortunately, six months later, they still haven't released the video I shot. I knew they would only use a snippet of what I filmed, but still. Nada. 

And it's not because I shot a crappy video. Underknown hired me a couple of months later for another project, so I couldn't have screwed things up too badly the first time.

I feel terrible that these two astrophysicists complied with my last second request and I haven't had anything to show them. 

Six months ago, I shared the audio and video podcast with my Patrons. It's an exclusive group, so I figured that Underknown wouldn't notice or care.

I never planned to share it on the WanderLearn podcast. 

However, now that Underknown has done nothing with the content for 6 months, I think it's time that the general public enjoys this conversation.

I'm doing this as a public service. I'm not taking any ads for this episode. 

My voice wasn't supposed to appear in the final cut, so that's why my voice rarely appears, and, when it does, it's distant. 

You should watch this video by Underknown:

In this episode, you'll hear from the world-renowned NASA astrophysicist Jack Lissauer. 

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• Advice
• Politics

It's a perverse question, but what's an acceptable number of unarmed people that the police may accidentally shoot every year?

Of course, many people's knee-jerk answer will be, "Zero!"

If you answered that way, it's time to take a deep breath and relax.

We're going to embark on a cold-hearted exercise that requires rationality, logic, and a heavy dose of realism. The implications are profound and important, so please bear with me.

After reading this long article, you're welcome to write a constructive comment at the bottom. Include what you think is a reasonable number of annual unarmed deaths and why. I will update this article as I get thoughtful and intelligent feedback. 

Listen to this article

This is an 8,600-word article. Although there are some useful graphs and videos, some people might prefer listening to the article. That's why I included it on my WanderLearn podcast. 

The Black Lives Matter Thesis

A central argument in the Black Lives Matter movement is that (white) cops are disproportionately killing Black men, especially unarmed Black men. It's Exhibit A in a long list of exhibits that prove systemic, structural, and institutional racism in America's police.

This argument has been repeated so many times that it has become an axiom. Thus, questioning the Black Lives Matter thesis is tantamount to questioning whether our planet revolves around the sun.

We won't question it. Instead, we will seek to do is to quantify it. 

Metrics: Quantifying success and failure

Metrics allow us to objectively measure the size of a problem. Metrics help us measure our progress.  

Metrics also help us answer crucial questions: when can we declare victory? When will we know that we've solved this crisis?

In other words, when can we put down our signs, stop protesting, hug, give each other high-fives, and scream, "Mission accomplished!"?

Declaring victory ought to be based on facts and evidence, not a group's feelings or one man's opinion.

Therefore, we must set reasonable benchmarks. 

We must quantify where we want to be. What does a fair and just world look like, numbers-wise?

Assuming the current number of police killings of Blacks is disproportionately high, then what number would be disproportionately low?

And what number would be tragic, but understandable?

To understand what I mean, consider other tragic numbers. Every year, hundreds of babies die at daycare centers, thousands die in traffic accidents, and millions die of preventable diseases. 

Since society is not vigorously protesting all these deaths, one could conclude that these deaths, while sad, are understandable. Our society deems that all those preventable deaths are tragic but tolerable.

Therefore, the aim of this article is to help you calculate 3 numbers regarding the number of US police killings of unarmed victims:

1. A shockingly high number that's worth protesting about.
2. An expected number that we can begrudgingly live with and accept.
3. A remarkably low number that's almost worth celebrating.

Great. Now let's analyze the data.

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