Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan – Details, episodes & analysis

This is a continuation of my (I hope) never-ending conversation with Cameron Shayne, martial arts expert, legendary movement/yoga teacher, iconoclast, deep thinker, gentle bad-ass, and all-around awesome dude. Learn more about Cameron and Budokon University, which he runs with his wife, Melayne (also awesome!).

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Bas…

This is the “director’s cut” of the article I posted a few days ago, tracing the ancient origins of the eternal political debate back to the conflicts between an agricultural approach to social organization and the hunter-gatherer approach. What’s old is new and what’s new is ancient.

Paleontologist-Futurist Michael Garfield is devoted to helping navigate our age of accelerating weirdness and helping cultivate the curiosity and play we'll need to thrive in it. As host and producer of Future Fossils Podcast, Michael refuses to be enslaved by a single perspective, creative medium, or intellectual community, walking through the walls between academia and festival culture, theory and practice — speaking and performing everywhere from Moogfest to Burning Man, SXSW to Boom Festival, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to Long Now's Ignite Talks to The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Transition music: “Olympus Mons,” by Michael Garfield. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.

Intro messages from Mike in Washington, Adam in the UK, and a human from an undisclosed location. I discuss a few topics suggested by listeners, including:

“Should I have kids?”

“What about yoga?”

“What’s the deal with asexuality?”

“How has your sense of your personal future changed as you’ve aged?”

Also, what’s the deal with ice machines in hotels? Who’s using all that ice? What are they doing with it?

Here’s the promised link to the discussion thread where you can chime in on these fascinating topics and anything else that moves you.

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If you’ve read my recent post of the same title, you can skip this one, which is mostly for folks who listen to the podcast, but haven’t checked out what’s happening at Substack yet.

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Zen Rahmoun is living what may be the story of our age: that of the refugee. Whether triggered by war, climate change, political upheaval, or economic collapse, one in 95 people around the world have been forced to leave their home, resulting in over 82 million refugees. Well over a thousand people drown every year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to find a better life in Europe. Zen was almost one of them.

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Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.

Here’s a charmingly raw rendition of one of my all-time favorite Funkadelic songs, “Can You Get to That?,” covered by Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers in their car. (Don’t miss the photobombing by the guy in the way back.)

Tangentially Speaking with Chris Ryan is a reader-supported publication. To get access to bonus content including bonus episodes, newsletters, and exclusive blog posts, please become a paid subscriber.

In the past year or so Simon Rex’s life has changed in ways nobody could have anticipated, but the man himself has changed very little. He’s just as funny, thoughtful, kind, and generous as ever. I love this guy. I’m pretty sure you will too. Check him out in Red Rocket, streaming on Redbox, Prime Video, VUDU, Vudu Movie & TV Store or FlixFling on your Roku device.

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Also, if the frequency of these emails is too much for you, I’m asking for ways to cut it down to one a week/month for folks who prefer that. Stay tuned, and please forgive the inbox clutter while I work this out. Should be soon.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Featured tunes: “These Days,” by Robert Harley; “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.

Tangentially Speaking with Chris Ryan is a reader-supported publication. To get access to bonus content including bonus episodes, newsletters, and exclusive blog posts, please become a paid subscriber.

Mike Lang taught me to enjoy beer and Rush when we were 16 years old in 1978. We’ve been brothers-by-choice ever since. In addition to being one of the smartest people I know, Mike has direct family ties to Ukraine, speaks Russian fluently, and is deeply interested in the history of the region, so he seemed like a good person to chat with about what’s going on there now. Please consider subscribing to my hybrid newsletter/blog/podcast.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Featured tunes: “Down in Belgorod,” by The Paul Winter Consort; “Smoke Alarm,” Carsie Blanton.

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Tangentially Speaking with Chris Ryan is a reader-supported publication. To get access to bonus content including bonus episodes, newsletters, and exclusive blog posts, please become a paid subscriber.

What's the relation between "truth" and meaning? Can we scientifically verify our visions while tripping? Are psychedelics tools or teachers? Is astrology "real?" Why has "myth" come to mean something that isn't true in recent years, when no one ever claimed that myths were any truer than novels or poems? These and other questions are discussed (but not really answered) in this episode recorded on a bright, chilly Sunday afternoon in Kaş, Turkey.

Intro music: "Brightside of the Sun," by Basin and Range; "Blue Sky," by Dwayne Hoover; "Smoke Alarm," by Carsie Blanton.

This episode is sponsored by OMGYES.com. Click here for 10% off your lifetime membership.

Should I welcome you, or thank you for welcoming me? My appreciation for the Blindboy podcast. Lifeguard lessons. Why a dog with a bone isn't your friend. Do circles explain more than lines? (Is an NFL locker room the closest thing in the straight world to a gay bath-house?)

Intro music: "Brightside of the Sun," by Basin and Range; "Free Your Mind (And Your Ass Will Follow)," by Funkadelic.

This episode is sponsored by OMGYES.com. Click here for 10% off your lifetime membership.