John and Mike dug into the archives for a classic - the legendary "Russia episode," originally recorded August 2019 but never released until now. Your favorite podcast hosts plumb the depths of history to give their loyal readers a tour of Russian civilization the likes of which has never seen before. If you have any curiosity at all about our mysterious neighbors to the East, you'll want to listen to this one the whole way through.   Musical Accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooUX8_jDHxc   A few corrections: first, Proto-Indo European originated around 2,500 BCE, not 2,500 years ago. Second, Voltaire was a deist, not an atheist (practically the same thing!). Third, the population of Russia that were serfs in the early 19th century was roughly 30-40%, not "more than half". Remember, we are amateurs and encourage you to trust but verify everything we say.   Excellent encyclopedia article on Stalin. Reads better than Wikipedia: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Stalin    

Dispatches from the Armchair

Episode XI - Russia

The Armchair is back!  John and Mike are coming at you today with some thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it winding down, or is the worst yet to come? Will our society come out of this crisis stronger than ever, or fatally weakened? The Armchair has absolutely no clue, but face it, neither do you, so why not join our hosts for some good old fashioned thought-provoking discussion? Good sources of coronavirus stats (to the extent that anyone can still trust anything anymore) : https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/ Overview of the 3 Cs: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10900000/000615287.pdf  

Edition X - COVID

Extra! Extra! The Armchair hits the ground running in this special Dispatch surveying the ongoing Hong Kong protests! In a first for the history of this podcast, we bring in a special guest to help flesh out the issue: impromptu Hong Kong correspondent Yannick Kwan. If you're looking for the lowdown on this rapidly evolving world event, look no further - John, Mike, and Yannick have got you covered.

Edition IX - Hong Kong Protests

John and Mike dug into their archives, and are positively chuffed to bring you an exclusive recording of a conversation they had one day last spring. The topic? That most peculiar of nationalities, the English. Few peoples have had a greater influence upon history than our friends from across the pond. But who are the English? Where did they come from? And how did they become masters of the largest empire the world has ever seen? Tune in to find out. Cheers!

Edition VIII - England

Fear not, dear readers! John and Mike are back with a very special Halloween episode. Fright, terror, horror, anxiety, dread...there's no better day than today to spend some time with our two hosts as they get to the bottom of the deepest, most primordial of human emotions...fear. 

Edition VII - Fear

Dispatches from the Armchair is back! In this inaugural episode of Season 2, Mike and John talk about Burning Man, the cultural event/art expo/music festival/counter-cultural community that forms each year deep in the Nevada desert. John gives us a basic primer on life on the ground. As usual, our conversation goes all over the place, and this time we spend the second half digging a bit deeper into Buddhism, something that has captured Mike's interest in recent months. For more info on Burning Man: burningman.org For the translation of the Dhammapada that Mike was talking about: https://www.amazon.com/Dhammapada-Easwarans-Classics-Indian-Spirituality/dp/1586380206 For some killer young adult literature, check out the Animorphs series. We really can't do it enough justice.

Edition VI - Burning Man

John and Mike get right to the point in this short, punchy episode about their experiences with meditation. If you have ever been curious about basic meditation and its effects on novice practitioners, look no further. And if you are a more advanced practitioner, we would love to hear from you! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dispatches.from.the.armchair The two main types of meditation we discussed are described in more detail here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassana The organization that sponsored John's recent adventure: https://www.dhamma.org/ Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z49bfaXGX78 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bss4sDltSuo    

Edition V - Meditation

What is happiness? Is it worth pursuing? Can we truly be happy? John and Mike tackle these questions in their usual manner: by running around them in wide, unpredictable circles and somehow making it back in one piece. Gender roles, Russian novelists, country music, and an unprecedented level of autobiographical candor from our hosts make this episode an instant classic. Believe us when we tell you, this one was worth the wait. Reading List: The Republic by Plato The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevski Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Link to the Japanese population pyramid we talked about in the outro: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Japan_sex_by_age_2015.png If you like us, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast through iTunes or whatever other app you may be using!

Edition IV - The Pursuit of Happiness

It's the holidays, and what better place to be than in your favorite Armchair! John and Mike get together between episodes to bring you this bite-sized wintry blurb of festive fun. Settle in and enjoy a free-form discussion on the origins of Christmas and the meaning of the winter holiday season. Our hosts could go on for hours about this stuff, but you'll have to settle for just 45 minutes of good conversation to hold you over until the New Year.   Notes: Mike never did get to the connection between St. Nicholas and Christmas...for those who were wondering, St. Nick was remembered as a generous giver of surprise gifts. That gift-giving spirit was picked up and channeled through centuries of folk memory to enter 19th century Western canon as Santa Claus and sell you Coca Cola products.  

Xmas Special From the Armchair

John and Mike set their sights on the future of world civilization in this edition of the show. The conversation makes its way through a ridiculously broad array of topics and showcases our hosts' love of history and armchair futurology. Our longest show yet, it wastes no time and is packed to the brim with...well, exactly what our listeners have grown to expect from the Armchair. Corrections: -Julius Caesar brought about the end of the Roman Republic, not the Roman Empire. -The photographs of US soldiers in the Forbidden City John was thinking about are from the Boxer Rebellion, not the Opium war.  The Boxer Rebellion was another major European invasion of China, involving what became known as the 8-Nation Alliance: the Empire of Japan, the Russian Empire, England/UK, the French Third Republic, the United States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy. -At one point, John mentions that Russia is not a nation-state.  He should more accurately state that the Soviet Union was not a nation-state.  The Soviet Union tried to be a nation-state united under the banner of Communism, but it ended up being a multi-ethnic empire where the Russian core ruled over a vast periphery of Central Asian people and white Europeans.

Edition III - The Future of Political Order

In the second edition of Dispatches from the Armchair, Mike and John talk about their experiences with, and perspectives on, raves and rave culture in the United States. Stay tuned at the end for notes and some final thoughts.

Edition II - Raves and Raving

John and Mike sit down on this inaugural episode of Dispatches from the Armchair to discuss the culture wars that increasingly dominate American society and media. The conversation touches on Nazis, Jesus, personal excellence, and more before coming back home for an assessment of the deeper forces that drive today's social and political conflict.

Edition I - The Culture Wars

Pursuing the truth from the comfort of our homes.

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Dispatches from the Armchair

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