The Happiness Quotient

A muse on the 91st anniversary of my father's birth, 18 March. And reflections on how the Mystery of Mallory and Irvine's fate has taken a personal tone.  Thanks to Oliver and Chris Wood, Jano Ricks and The Wood Brothers management, as well as their publicist Kevin Calabro for granting us the rights to use HAPPINESS JONES for our theme music. We are deeply honored.  Find The Wood Brother...

Can you imagine achieving at the age of 16 what other dream their entire lives of doing and even then never take the first step toward embarking on the journey of their dreams? Our remarkable guest today knew from a very early age that she wanted to sail around the world, alone...in her own boat. It appeared as if everyone in her sphere were conspiring against her, to dash her dreams….well, I shou...

Do you think you have what it takes to climb Mount Everest? Did you ever think about what it might be like,  and if you did it, would you kill a bunch of brain cells and come home…..different? Or, maybe not at all….?   Fact is, today’s guest feels that a person of moderate physical capacity could take on The Big E given the right conditions, with the use of bottled oxygen....  He also says to clim...

It never ceases to amaze me in the way people are brought into your life - today’s guest I discovered when I began researching the garbage and human waste problem on Mount Everest and the KHUMBU region of Nepal -  In Episode #90 and in a recent streaming event about the garbage and human waste problem on Everest I discussed how Everest has been referred to as the HIGHEST GARBAGE DUMP ON THE PLANET...

I recently hosted a live streaming event for the Musa Masala organization, who in their multiple capacities of forwarding safe and ethical mountain travel are raising money for the Wongchu Memorial Hospital….a good cause indeed.  Our event talked about the garbage and human waste problem on Everest and the KHUMBU region - if you look for episode #87 of this podcast you’ll remember my interview wit...

Today we welcome back our inspiring and intrepid Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hiker and filmmaker, CHRIS CARTER, who I caught up with on a LIVE Instagram session on July 9, 2021….where he was camping in Jackson, Montana….(population of about 111)…. The first time I spoke with Chris was in Episode 67 to talk about his beautiful and moving documentary about his Pacific Crest Trail through hike called TO...

Episode #88 on The Happiness Quotient: America’s only full-time professor of art crime.  Erin Thompson studies a variety of relations between art and crime, including the looting of antiquities, museum theft, art made by detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the legalities and ethics of digital reproductions of cultural heritage.  Erin Thompson has discussed these topics for the New York Times , CNN, N...

Today, a special guest, Peter Hillary, son of the first man to ever climb Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary,…..Peter himself has climbed Everest twice. In addition to being an accomplished mountaineer Peter is a speaker , and he raises funds for Himalayan Foundations around the world....  Together with his sister Sarah Hillary, they manage the intellectual property of the Ed Hillary estate. I can...

Greetings to you all - this is a special edition of the HQ. In April I had the honor of doing an Instagram Live event with my old friend Renan Ozturk to talk about Everest, creativity, filmmaking and, yup, nutrition in the mountains. I mean, we’re talking to a guy who used to sustain on candy bars and Ramen and coffee at altitude. The event was hosted by one of our 2019 Sandy Irvine Search Expedit...

TODAY I HAVE A GUEST OF UNIMAGINABLE INSIGHT AND TALENT WITH US, THE PULITZER PRIZE WINNING JOURNALIST REPORTER, JOHN BRANCH OF THE NEW YORK TIMES TO TALK ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK Sidecountry: Tales of Death and Life from the Back Roads of Sports In 2017 I received a request  from today’s guest, whom I’d never met before, but as you’ll find out in the interview, I was well familiar with his work,  John...

This episode has a transcript for hearing impaired. COVID19 wasn’t all bad. A ton of musicians and recording artists invested themselves in projects that they wouldn’t normally have been able to do if they were on tour. On Tour is where the Wood Bros find themselves for much of the year, at least pre-covid. Back in September of 2020 I talked with Oliver where he was at his home in Nashville, The W...

Episode #83 is an amazing story of Mount Everest with six time summiter and the climber leader of our 2019 expedition to search for the body of Sandy Irvine, New Zealand's Jamie McGuinness.  The original intent of my interview with Jamie was to talk about the expedition of ours in 2019, which has since become a National Geographic film called Lost on Everest and is the subject of a book by NY...

The didgeridoo, the long wooden musical instrument dating back 10,000 years or more, are commonly and rightfully associated with the aboriginal culture. Today I’m going to introduce you to an ambassador of the Aboriginal culture, a fascinating man with a deep and learned understanding of his culture and also of the didgeridoo and the art and dance that goes with it.  I first met didgeridoo musicia...

Thirty years after he successfully summited Mount Everest from the north side, Port Townsend, WA resident Andy Politz is leaving Base Camp AT THE TIME OF THIS POSTING for his second ascent. Age 61, Politz' first expedition to Everest was on the West Ridge in 1985. During that season was the very first guided expedition in the history of Everest. Today, Andy reports seeing 1,000 or more tents....

"The only disability is a bad mindset," says former NFL linebacker David Vobora, who went  from the TOP OF HIS GAME, to the agony of defeat and addiction, and in so doing, discovered his true calling. David was picked LAST in the NFL draft of 2008...which earns the dubious moniker of MR IRRELEVANT. This is anything but a football story, and how wrong the Mr. Irrelevant tag was...for a pe...

ELISABETH SHARP MCKETTA is a storyteller and the author of eight books: INCLUDING Fear of the Deep (2016) and Fear of the Beast (2019), both collaborations with artist Troy Passey; the biography Energy: The Life of John J. McKetta, Jr. (2017), a true story of a coal miner–and my grandfather!–who set out to change how America uses energy; and a children’s book titled We Live in Boise (2019).  SHE D...

The man with more boots-on-the-ground experience searching in the Death Zone for clues to the Mystery of Mallory & Irvine, Jake Norton, is our guest today.  Jake was 25 when we first met on Mount Everest in 1999. He first climbed Mount Rainier with his dad at age 12. By age 18 he was guiding for Rainier Mountaineering and soon was leading international climbs around the world.  Although we wer...

This is an episode about grit, about life and death, about the extremes of human endeavor, how far a human being can possibly go when they put 100% of themselves into something….it’s about heart, friendship…. This episode is set within the backdrop of the greatest mountain on the planet….Mount Everest, Chomolungma, goddess mother of the world….. Today’s episode welcomes back my ever talented frien...

LITERALLY: THIS IS THE TALK THAT INSPIRED THE 2019 SANDY IRVINE SEARCH EXPEDITION, which led to the film LOST ON EVEREST by National Geographic and Mark Synnott's book THE THIRD POLE: MYSTERY, OBSESSION, AND DEATH ON MOUNT EVEREST.   This presentation is one of only two sold out events EVER at the Leura Hill Eastman Performing Arts Center at Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg, Maine.  The presentat...

This recap episode recounts the inspiration for this podcast coming into existence. While training for Mount Everest in April of 2019, my daily routine would include a strong hike up into Tuckerman or Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. Many times I felt the presence of something, someone. Looking back, I believe that the essence of Sandy Irvine, who disappeared on Mount E...

Music Soothes the Soul.  MUSIC FOR THE SOUL - this is a good one. DAMN good. Highlighting the very best clips from my music interviews on The Happiness Quotient, consider this a Get Stoked for the Weekend or Week or Day or Life starter kit. Each short clip is accompanied by a cut from each of the musician's respective studio albums. Featuring these fine musicians and their tune following: Dan...

Seth Walker literally dropped out of college to eek every ounce out of his guitar. He grew up in a small commune. Learned to play the cello, guided by his musician parents. When he first heard the sounds of T Bone Walker (no relation), he was hooked on the Blues.  Seth has been a touring musician for decades. That is, until Covid shut things down. He said it was as if he was on a spinning, flaming...

The Happiness Quotient #71 The Legend of CLARENCE GATEMOUTH BROWN This episode of the The Happiness Quotient can be found in audio only format at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/8029682 And on YouTube at this address:  https://youtu.be/BDXmcezMIwQ Clarence Gatemouth Brown did not want to be known as a bluesman. He called his brand of music "American and World Music, Texas Drive and Swing&q...

What was the fate of famed British mountaineers George Mallory and Sandy Irvine? And were they the first to climb Mount Everest?  Today's guest is noted historian and author Tom Holzel to talk about his fifty plus year fascination with solving the mystery of Mallory & Irvine.  Mallory and Irvine’s disappearance on Everest on June 8th 1924 has captivated and intrigued  generations of mount...

Inspired by two back-to-back dreams in which I walked and learned from masters of ancient wisdom, I reflect about the teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche. Given the impeachment proceedings taking place in the United States, these dreams and Nietzsche's principles for becoming an exceptional individual are timely and prescient for our future.  It's all about individual accountability and bec...