What People Do

Noah Gibbs is a fellow tabletop gamer and Kansas City metro local. But he’s got even stronger feelings about the local gaming and convention community than me. He’s been working with a charity convention to raise funds for local causes for a few years. He still games regularly (I’ve lapsed). And, guess what, his connections at local gaming conventions led him to the Kansas City metro years ago. Fo...

Georgios is a philosophy student and one who brings others along with him. Now, when I say he’s a philosophy student, you think, ahh, he’s taking a class.  No.  Georgios has a job. He lives in the real world with us outside academia. But he carves out time to study Aristotle and other writers and thinkers for fun and wisdom in the time he isn’t working.  That’s so amazing, this is my second time i...

This episode gets into every angle of a musical instrument you’ve, for sure, heard yet may not know what it’s called.  Elliot Kanshin Kallen touches on the history of this Japanese flute, the emotions you can conjure from it, how it compares to other breath instruments, and, best of all, plays some notes for us a few times to make a point. We even talk a little Zen Buddhism (because it ties into t...

It’s a new year, 2024, and that means James Gomes re-read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse for the umpteenth time. It’s a short book, it’s in the public domain, and Gomes says he gets something new out of it every time.  I know that happened for me. He set up an online book club, and I read along with him. I had read the book a few years ago, and based on my reading this time, I didn’t remember as much...

I interviewed Kevin Jones about soft skills in security and law enforcement work for another podcast here . I enjoyed the conversation so much, and I was so intensely curious about his work in law enforcement, that I asked him to drop in for this podcast to talk about his career in law enforcement as well, near the end, about his transition to private security at a regional airport and now oversee...

I met the Stoics a long time ago, as an adult, sitting in a field outside a local library and reading Epictetus’ Enchiridion (the Handbook). In fact, it was probably one of these copies .  Well, before Epictetus, there were the Cynics, and their philosophy was a little harder to follow. The famous Diogenes lived more like the animals than the Greeks around him, enjoying the sunshine, wearing whate...

There is a beautifully un-nail-down-able question-and-answer I have been rolling around, like a stone in a rock polisher, for many years now: What is consciousness?  It’s the big thing that seems to separate us from other animals: We are conscious or self-reflective or imaginative or reasoning in a way that other creatures, great and small, do not seem to be.  This quest, which has carried around...

I enjoyed working for a few years with David Doherty with a multimedia publishing and events company in veterinary medicine. My favorite part was, every couple months, I'd go break into his office, sit down and ask him about sales. I thought his philosophy was fascinating. I don't like sales, but if I had to think about sales, heart about sales, wrap my head around sales ... I enjoyed doing it wit...

I used to work at a magazine for video store owners. By the time I’d gotten there, it was a vanity publication for the gigantic red-headed stepchildren of Hollywood: home entertainment companies. You know, the big money and focus went into the movies heading to cinema, and direct-to-video/DVD/Blu-ray and the home release of those movies was … not as cool, not as big, etc. My interviewee, Mike Kell...

I stumbled onto James Gomes (pronounced "GOHMZ," not "GOH-mez") on Reddit.com, which I have since abandoned as a forum for anything other than dumb questions, confirmation bias and echo chambers. However, I found a few interesting people along the way, like James. We were both into old books, and I was surprised to hear he'd read and re-read a particular book, like, every year ... for many years....

One role-playing game changed the way I think, or confirmed the way I think—now I don’t know which.  It was Mage: The Ascension . The tabletop role-playing game had players take on the roles of modern mages. The difference was, in previous RPGs, mages are usually spell-casting wizards. In Mage, magic works by imposing will upon the world: A mage wants something to happen. They try to learn how to...

Pet owners complain about the rising cost of veterinary prices. What’s to blame? This is a special bonus episode of What People Do that I've produced as a part of sponsored content for Animal Health Digest, a premier content curation service collecting and commenting on actionable information for people working in animal health.   I talk with Dr. Jennifer Sperry about the rising cost of veterinary...

Hey, gang. I was getting out new episodes of What People Do every Tuesday for a few months. Then my backlog run out Aug. 1. Surprise! I'm back. Not to tell you the backlog is back and the schedule is back (I am scheduling interviews, and this will keep going), but to say I'm working on a new podcast, too. This short 7-ish-minutes-long solo ramble covers what this podcast is and continues to be, an...

The Greenies inventor is at it again … a new dental treat on the market.   This special podcast is a collaboration with Animal Health Digest, a premier content curation service collecting and commenting on actionable information for people working in animal health. I talk with Joe Roetheli, PhD , about something almost all dog owners buy: treats. Roetheli and his wife, Judy, were the masterminds b...

It started before college. But when he showed up and could organize his life and calendar the way he wanted, well, there was so much TV to watch. All the time. And Michael Strumsky hit college during not “destination television,” but during the era of DVDs and online show sharing. He could watch and re-watch shows all the time, at all hours, any time of day.  What did he do? What did he do?  He ea...

I read books all the time, but very, very rarely do I read a book more than once.  That was Leo Tolstoy’s Confession. I had seen references to the Russian great’s short work of religion, morality and personal experience.   Basically, Tolstoy hit middle age, wildly successful as an author with a happy family, and he wanted to die by suicide. For years, he struggled, and the short work is the story...

There are some dudes who play cricket in a big grassy field out here between a walking trail and some suburban homes. There’s a long stretch of concrete in this Kansas suburban field, and a port-a-potty nearby. Some Saturdays I would walk by and see these guys out there, but I felt weird about stopping and asking about their game of cricket.  So, I found Ganesh online. And he answered all my dumb...

Some content creators get so busy that they can't find time to plan, film, edit, post and promote their own stuff online. They turn to a growing international corps of creatives to do it.  This guy’s one. His favorite claim to fame right now? Editing a Minecraft video from Mr. Beast that now has 1.7 million views. Holy crap snacks.  Now, he might be off to his next greatest adventure, leaving rura...

In recent years, I have fallen back in love with New Age, space music , and the droning, atmospheric, accessible Neoclassical genre. Imagine music to TV shows, movies and moods that don’t exist … or only exist in the composers’ and performers’ own heads.  Works like Max Richter’s Sleep and Johann Johannson’s Virðulegu Forsetar have played and replayed in my head as I lie on my bed dozens of times...

I stumbled onto James Payne on Reddit.com, where he asked folks in my town if they’d go check on, and take measurements of, a big piece of public art he’d loaned to the city a few years ago.  I know that art! I’ve gotta talk to this guy!  And he agreed.  I got to ask Payne about his art sensibilities, how he got entranced by big sculptures, and the moment spirals grabbed his attention.  If all wen...

Pamela Topjian published a book last year about her experience escaping an abusive partner and figuring out how she’d wound up there in the first place: I Didn't Come This Far to Only Come THIS Far.  She was once trapped in a terrible marriage. Now, she lives a life she says she never expected to live. How did she get from there … to here?  She tells us.  You can, of course, run off and read Topji...

I can’t share his name, but he calls in from France. He wanted to join the military, and he’s serving a five-year stint. He’s gotten promotions, and after basic training, he got into exactly the unit he yearned for. He doesn’t regret his choice to join the military. He wanted a unique, powerful experience. He wanted to join that brotherhood of men and women that develops only when you’re pushed yo...

The folks at the gaming convention Kantcon let me interview Gabi Dyck of Gamer Girl Jewelry recently to help me help them promote my favorite gaming convention in the country. (Full disclosure: It's them. They're my favorite. But I’ve only ever been to Kantcon over and over again for years, so I’m biased.)  You’d think with tabletop RPGs roughly 50 years old that hand-made dice would have totally...

Ultimately, I think the fundamental question we tumble into, like rolling down a mountain of sharp, rocky points, bloodied and bruised at the bottom of the Mountain of Life time and time again, is, “What are we supposed to do with this life?” The philosophers phrase this question in many ways: What is good? What is God? What is truth? What is kindness? Why do we gather together? What are the best...

Josh was an atheist. But Josh’s mind was blown, in a good way, in experiences where he consumed psychedelic drugs. Here, he talks about his pre-psychedelic world, his mind shift, how religions might be onto something, and the benefits and dangers of psychedelics in this one.  Let me be clear: In talking to Josh openly about his experiences, I am not recommending anyone follow his path. I’m not tel...