Mere Mortals Conversations

How will the entertainment of the future be different than today? In Episode #190 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: the continued presence of live entertainment, virtual reality and on demand viewing, requiring realness even if it could be faked, why you would want to be your first and last customer, how CRISPR could even the beauty standard playing field, how we would personally use CRIS...

What would you do to make the UFC or watching MMA more exciting? In Episode #189 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: advertising on product features that doesn't make us want to buy it, the mask you can use for doing drug deals and collar to spy on your dog, adding electrified cages to the UFC, adding elements of WWE to real fighting and Juan's experience getting dragged down...

Would you walk away from a utopia if its very existence was dependent on the abject suffering of one child? In Episode #188 on 'Injustice' Juan and I discuss: the basic plot of the fantastic short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, why people might actively create injustice in the world, the internal processes we use to justify with doing morally dubious things, times in our life when we have f...

Paul Boyd is the Head of Academy Program (Upper Levels) and Choreographer in Residence for Queensland Ballet. Paul grew up in Wagga Wagga during the 1960's and found his passion for dance, and in particular for ballet. Over his long career as a dancer he got to perform across the world and even in front of royalty. After retiring from actively dancing he still maintains an absolute passion fo...

What has Juan learned about being humble since joining a CrossFit gym? In Episode #187 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: starting as a beginner (even in an area where you are experienced), whether there is any benefit to showing off in a training sense, how to criticise someone's ideas in a useful manner, how to cope with stress and areas in life where trying to improve would be detr...

Why are there so many rules in the Buddhist texts that forbid monks from having intercourse with sexy monkeys?  In Episode #186 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: my recent hilarious reading of the Vinaya Pitaka, the strict rules of monastic Buddhism, biting caterpillars that cause erections, more and more cryptoscams, the impure motives of scientists, some funny hypotheticals on how w...

After a turbulent 2020 what did the Mere Mortals takeaway from the whole Corona madness? In Episode #185 on 'COVID Learnings' Juan and I discuss: that feeling in the air when everybody is anxious, why we went through a collective period of grief, stoicism and how one can prepare for hard times, the changing perception of health to take a longer-term outlook, why excessive news consumptio...

Do you set yourself monthly goals and if so, how many do you set? Juan and I on the first week of every month go over our progress from the previous month and where we are heading for the next. Emphasis as always is on the shortcomings; what we didn't achieve in the previous month's goals and how we will fix that for the month that comes. We hope you get some value from this series, show...

What happened to me (and my calves) after I attempted my first 3/4 marathon, unbelievable pain is what happened! In Episode #184 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: my longest run of 31.65 km and Juan's description of the aftermath, some of the stats that show the point of hitting the wall, learnings I gained from running this distance, why the universe might not make sense but that do...

What are some creative ways you would use $1 Million in cash if there were some questions of its legality? In Episode #183 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: forcing people to jump in rivers and setting up a lemonade stand gang, creating art and opening a museum, stories of criminals who were hunted by the police, a funny tale of the stoner nerds I encountered at the park and how we wo...

Why does Bjorn Lomborg believe that the current discussion & solutions for climate change are not only unhelpful, but will hurt the poor? In Episode #182 on 'Climate Change' Juan and I discuss: Bjorn Lomborg and his book False Alarm, the outcomes predicted by the UN climate science reports, analysing how much good $1 spent can achieve across varied categories, why some of the propose...

Alyse Grace was a highly experienced Business Development Manager and Public Relations Consultant, who transitioned into her own online business project, took on new challenges, became an ironwoman, started the "Trillions" podcast and much, much more! Alyse joined Juan for Conversation #48 and discussed the ways she broke the rut she was in, the way to attract mentors and their importanc...

Unreasonable confidence and an assertive attitude can be positive traits in a lot of situation, but when can they lead you astray? In Episode #181 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: Juan's troubles with being too assertive in personal relationships and at work, why having a more chilled out attitude can help in a lot of situations, making yourself humble when starting something new, s...

Yodellers, debaters, salsa dancers, contortionists and sales people beware; the Mere Mortals may not like you! In Episode #180 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: why certain skills may not be an attractive thing to have in a friend, what sort of TV show would make us watch +100 hours, Juan getting click baited by a shit show, how some things can change their qualia with an extra bit of...

The Ultimate Rule: Pet a house in perfect order while pursuing skateboarding child-cats & comparing the truth with your shoulders back! In Episode #179 - Rules For Life, Juan and I discuss Jordan Peterson's book called '12 Rules For Life' and go through a thorough breakdown of what we found useful and what did not stand out. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out! Timeli...

Brendan Jayo is the handstand man! In Conversation #47 we discuss all things handstands including: the reason people balance on their hands, common injuries that occur from this exercise, what it is like to teach other people in a group setting, personal inspirations and the best handbalancers at the moment, how long it takes to learn a 60s handstand, where Brendan gets his memes and whether we ar...

What is it about cryptocurrency that brings with it the dark side of hustlers & scammers? In Episode #178 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: my recent shithouse banking experience, crypto makes sense but has some dodgy people in the community, the extreme left and extreme right, the complexity of the financial systems and what our fitness goals will look like when we are older. As alwa...

Do you like cauliflower and if so, explain to me how you managed to burn off your taste buds? In Episode #177 - Meanderings, Juan and I discuss: disgusting foods that we have tasted, Juan's lack of care for taste, the dropping sperm counts of men due to plastics, items nowadays that could become very valuable in the future, why I hate buying things, the scale of difference between a good/shit...

Are humans lazy, hard working or somewhere in between? In Episode #176 - Hard Work, Juan and I discuss: the episode between Lex Fridman and Simon Sinek on the Lex Podcast, our personal thoughts on skipping out on sleep to do more work, Juan's hatred of people who clock in and clock out of their job, why 100 hour work weeks are a bad idea, how much pressure one should apply to get the most out...

Welcome to Mere Mortals Conversation #46. Tofe Evans is the author of the book 'Everyone Has a Plan Until Sh!t Hits the Fan'. To some, he’s known as that kid who ran a race down the slopes of Mt Everest but most of the time he gets called ‘crazy’ or ‘nutcase’ more times than his name. All for the right reasons though. As a firm believer of pushing the boundaries of what the human body an...

Why do people read? In Episode #175 - Musings, Juan and I discuss: another examination of some ideas from Simon Sinek, a clarification on my purpose for doing the podcast, why a small act of volunteering can have an exponential/compounding impact, the areas in our lives that act as bottlenecks for action or achieving goals, my genetic makeup that forces me to read, ensuring you are reading a book...

Share some stories with us of when you have behaved (knowingly or not) like a complete asshole! In Episode #174 - Meanderings, Juan and I discuss: sneaking into organisations and causing havoc, the meme economy and where to get the best memes, our recent bulk spamming on Instagram, why it might be necessary to be impolite on occasions, insulting people about their age, our first ever photobombing...

Simon Sinek says to start with WHY, so why do we do the Mere Mortals podcast? In this themed episode on 'Podcasting' Juan and I discuss: some minor changes that are coming to our themed episodes, improvements/changes we have noticed in ourselves in the last 1.5 years, the definition of what a podcast is, Simon Sinek's book and our reasons for continuing to put time/effort into this...

In the long-term is it better to be more focused upon the management of your time or energy? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: why it can be stressful to always be trying to be the most efficient possible, why we both have changed our opinion on time & energy, the difference between long-term and long-long-term, why actively asking for constructive criticism is importa...

What are some steps that one could take to get expelled from a monastery in a plausibly deniable way? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: why it might be useful to be less serious at work, how inefficient we all actually are at our jobs, why Nike was inspired by the last words of a death row inmate, the fun times of chimpanzees in cars and usefulness of anteaters, sweati...