Mitch Wonders

A comment from Bill Maher and a counterpoint from Neil de Grasse Tyson sent me down an interesting rabbit hole. Maher often points to old footage of the Apollo 11 crowds and notes how lean and healthy people appeared compared to today. Tyson, on the other hand, reminds us that modern medicine has dramatically increased life expectancy, reduced infant mortality, and turned many injuries, illnesses,...

I've lived in Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, and now nearly 10 years in Texas, and no matter where I've gone, every town seems to have a story. Every city seems to have that place. Maybe it's a stretch of road people avoid at night. Maybe it's a building everyone swears is haunted. Why, after thousands of years of human history, do we keep creating ghost stories? Thi...

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, but the giant datacenters being built across Texas finally got Mitch's attention. What began as a simple question—what exactly is a datacenter?—quickly turned into something much bigger. Why are companies spending billions of dollars building AI infrastructure in places like Abilene, Texas? Why do these facilities require so much land, power, and investme...

This week is Mitch's Summer Vacation: A Week Without Wonder. I gathered DT, Holly, Mook, and The Professor because I figured for one week we'd stop wondering about things and just enjoy summer. Unfortunately, after thinking about it for about six minutes, I realized that's complete BS. You can't have a Week Without Wonder. Not on this show. Not with this crew. So there is work to b...

Suppose I told you that for more than a century, people have been searching the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas for a source of gold that nobody has ever been able to relocate. One man found it, but perished before being able to return or direct others. Another man came upon it, but dogged if he could find his way back in the unforgiving canyons of the Guadalupe Mountains. And what if I told you...

Sitting on the porch watching the Texas Hill Country settle down for the evening, with mesquite and wood smoke hanging in the air, Mitch finds himself thinking about responsibility. Not the kind we should avoid—the kind we've quietly carried for so long we barely notice it anymore. A reflection on work, reliability, adulthood, and the possibility that there may be something in your life you ca...

People celebrate the milestones — marriage, careers, children, retirement — but almost nobody talks honestly about what comes after. In Episode 199, Mitch and good friend Michelle talk about the reality behind major life changes: shifting identity, pressure from every direction, the mental load, exhaustion, sacrifice, and the quiet realization that adulthood rarely looks the way you imagined it wo...

Okay, Major League Baseball finally did it. They've got AI calling balls and strikes now. Yep - the pursuit of accuracy. On paper that sounds like progress. But not everything that CAN be fixed, SHOULD be fixed. Sometimes the flaw is the feature. Everything's right, no reactions, no coach/player/umpire arguments or contested calls. Nothing happens, we just move on. But if nothing happens,...

Testosterone’s everywhere right now. Everywhere you look—someone’s telling you your levels are low, your energy’s off, your edge is gone… and they’ve got the fix. Three months ago, we thought we'd make up our own minds, so we launched a three phased test. Not because anything was broken. Not because we were chasing some magic number. We wanted to learn for ourselves. Mitch Wonders is where Tex...

Boredom used to be an opportunity - let's see what we can come up with today, remember? But today, we live in a culture built around certainty, comfort, and control — we’ve engineered so much of life to avoid discomfort. Ben (a good pal from Kentucky) and I discuss today and try to remind us that not all value comes from control — some of it comes from the uncontrolled, the uncertain, the unex...

Biohacking is the practice of using science, technology, and lifestyle changes to "hack" your own biology for improved performance and longevity. While biohacking can offer legitimate health insights, the industry is also rife with individuals who have used its language to promote unproven, deceptive, or even dangerous "secrets." We'll discuss both - the unproven and the &q...

There’s a moment — and I don’t know exactly when it happens—but there’s a moment when time stops being something you measure…and starts being something you can hear. So the question is — What are you going to do once you hear it? Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’sbig questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curious Texan — takes a plainspoken look at today’s world with humor...

Last year around Christmas, my son and I were driving around Austin… and we kept seeing these Waymo cars everywhere. City streets. Side roads. Out where you don’t expect much of anything. At first I thought—maybe I’m just noticing them more. Or maybe it's just Austin. It's not. Bigger picture? This isn’t about cars or removing the need for humans. This is about how much of our lives we’re...

My son and I went back and put it to the test—you don’t have to spend $80 to drink good bourbon. We ran three bottles under $30 head-to-head—and they still hold up. If you’re chasing labels instead of value, you might want to hear this. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’sbig questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curious Texan — takes a plainspoken look at today’s world wit...

I'm gonna sit down with an old buddy, John, today. Working together in heavy equipment manufacturing, John and I spent years making decisions that affected people, operations, and outcomes. In this episode, we look back at some of those calls — what we saw at the time, what we missed, and how they actually played out. No theory, just how it went. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets l...

We like to think we’re in charge. We build cities, make plans, argue about the future like we’ve got a say in how all this plays out. Then you look at something like Yellowstone… and it reminds you — we’re not running the show. Not even close. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’s big questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curious Texan — takes a plainspoken look at today’s w...

Tennyson wrote that in springtime a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Spring has a way of stirring things up, awakening things whether we like it or not. Sometimes people decide it’s safer to protect their peace and keep life small — Mitch isn’t so sure that’s wisdom. This week’s Field Manual entry is simple: maybe let that baggage go… we ain’t dead yet. From pondering AI and the “new n...

I’ve been wondering, and we’ll discuss, not for the first time, that the EV market will not be the dominant, world saving segment of the automotive industry in the United States. They'll have a niche, but not what was projected. From pondering AI and the “new normal,” to ghost stories in the Grand Canyon, to wondering what “living your best life” really means, Mitch invites guests and listener...

I admit, I'm kind of jumping out of my skin with the anticipation of NASA collaborating with Space X and others to send people back to the moon, and then on to Mars. It seems like a given, we're gonna do it. Yes. Technically, scientifically, and financially, the United States has the capability to send humans to Mars. But..why? And how doe the new Artemis program compare with Apollo? SO MU...

If you’re anything like me you’re getting fed up with the plethora of "impactful" financial information coming at you and you just want someone to bundle it up, tell me what’s important, and let you move on with your day. This week we do that, and touch on some common financial things that you can actually make sense of. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’sbig questions....

So Buckle Up, Champ! I heard someone say once that by 60 you’ve got the wisdom of three 20-year-olds. I don’t know if that math works… but I do know this — at some point in life, you know too much to keep playing small, regardless of your age. Feedback link: https://tinyurl.com/kc2e4wu3    Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’s big questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curiou...

Part one of a three part series! Testosterone has become one of those topics that shows up everywhere—on podcasts, in ads, YouTube popups—and it’s usually framed as something that’s either broken or urgently needs fixing. We'll be the judges of that! Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’s big questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curious Texan — takes a plainspoken look a...

I haven’t done this in a long time, not since episode 1. Going it alone. Enough has changed in the last eight months that it feels kind of dishonest in some way not to pause and take a look around, kind of reassess where the heck I am. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’sbig questions. Each episode, Mitch — a cranky but curious Texan — takes a plainspoken look at today’s world with...

The street didn’t raise us — it just gave us a place to be raised. If the place itself was the virtue, it would’ve worked for everyone. We remember how it looked because that’s easy. What mattered was expectation and consequence. Today, Mitch, Holly, and DT take a look back at the streets that raised them. Memories? A few. Lessons? Many. Mitch Wonders is where Texas porch talk meets life’s big que...

I hit the retirement trail in 2025. Yeah, it’s good. Damn good, some days. But retirement didn’t flip a switch that told me to shut it down and kick it, I think you know me better. Retirement doesn’t lower the bar. It hands you the bar and asks where you’re going to set it. This week, The Professor and I discuss a few good points about this mixed paradigm. (great word)