Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Questions and Answers: Volume 37

Starting point is 00:00:00 In the north, things are getting colder, snow is starting to fall, and the days are getting shorter. It's also the season for gift giving. As I can't personally give all of you a customized gift, I can do the next best thing and answer your questions. Stay tuned for the 37th installment of questions and answers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison. Then your yoga teacher says that sex traffic children are being sacrificed by sex. Satanic liberals, but it's all okay.

Starting point is 00:00:44 The Great Awakening is coming. What is happening? Every week on Conspiratuality Podcast, we explore the fever dreams that suck friends, family, and wellness gurus down the right-wing cult spiral in a search for salvation. Let's get things started. Ellen Massaro on Facebook asks,

Starting point is 00:01:10 Gary, you have to pronounce many foreign names and places. What do you do to make sure you're getting them right? Love the show. Alan, you get a special sticker on your homework because this is the one question that I have been waiting for someone to ask. This is actually one of the most difficult things I do, and it's something that I have to go through at least once per episode, if not multiple times. So for starters, I'm not sure that I always get it right.

Starting point is 00:01:38 That being said, I do try very hard to get it right, at least as well as I can, given that I speak English. If the word comes from a very common language, such as Arabic, Spanish, or Chinese, the simplest and easiest thing to do is to put the word into Google Translate and let it pronounce it. I'll also usually see what it sounds like in English. However, Google Translate is not always correct. The next option, if available, is to check the IPA pronunciation. IPA stands for the International Phenetic Alphabet, which you might have seen.

Starting point is 00:02:13 at the beginning of some Wikipedia entries. If the article has an IPA pronunciation, I can cut and paste it and put it into a site called IPA-Reeder.com. If Google Translate and the IPA pronunciation agree, then I'll usually go with that. However, sometimes there is no IPA pronunciation available. In those cases, I'll try to find another source, and this will often mean finding a YouTube video

Starting point is 00:02:42 where someone uses the word, preferably in the original language. Some online dictionaries provide pronunciations as well. Where it really gets confusing is that sometimes there are different pronunciations floating around. I think I've gotten better at it over time, but even if I can get the correct pronunciation, I still have to actually say it, which can often be the sticking point, because some sounds are just hard to say in some languages. And in such cases, I just do the best I can. can. The point is, there's a lot more that goes into getting a correct pronunciation than

Starting point is 00:03:18 most people realize. And there have been rare cases where I spent the better part of an hour, just trying to find someone saying a word. Thomas Nicolason on Patreon asks, with a holiday season upon us, I was wondering about gifts. What is a meaningful or useful gift you have received? Maybe something that you use when you travel, do photography, or record your podcasts. generally I do not like getting technical gifts and this is mainly because if I need something for say photography or podcasting I want something very specific

Starting point is 00:03:51 and unless you happen to know a lot about those subjects and most people I know don't then you aren't going to be getting the right thing I usually just get stuff like clothing or household items because I usually forget to buy those sort of things for myself Jordan from the Discord server asks, I have an inside baseball question. Do you record different ads for different localities? For example, are there ad read you do for ads that will only air for listeners in the U.S.

Starting point is 00:04:18 and others only for listeners in the UK and so on? Or is every sponsor the same globally? The answer is no. And this is because almost every advertiser is just looking to advertise in one country. About 80% of this podcast audience is in the United States. which is the market that almost every advertiser is targeting. If it's a digital product that can be downloaded, then there's no real need to run different ads.

Starting point is 00:04:45 If you are listening in a different country, the ads you will hear on this show will be very different. Some listeners outside the United States and Canada will hear mostly inserted ads that are not read by me. But if you live in the U.S. and Canada, you might hear mostly ads that are read by me. Dog on a swing on the Discord. Discord server has a similar question and asks,

Starting point is 00:05:08 Hey Gary, do advertisers have any say in what type of episodes their ads will appear in? I imagine some companies wouldn't want to see their products associated with the baton death march, but would be happy to be in front of an episode on roller coasters or pumpkins. The answer is no. And in fact, believe it or not, the subject has never even been brought up. I think most advertisers know what they're getting themselves into when they advertise on this podcast. And they realize that even if the subject,

Starting point is 00:05:36 and a cheery one, it will at least be handled in a responsible way. Also, even if they wanted to appear on certain episodes, I couldn't really do that because I often don't know what I'm going to be doing an episode on until a day or two in advance. The only exception to this is if someone is doing a baked-in ad on a fully sponsored episode, and I've only done a handful of these since the show began. Carl Fruden, or Freuden, from Facebook asks, We're on a one-day cruise stop at Vila Franche Sumer, halfway between Monte Carlo and Nice.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Given such a short stop, what city would you choose to visit and why? Well, Carl, the good news is that you can't really make a bad decision here. Both Nice and Monaco would be good options. However, if I were you, I'd go to Monaco. If for no other reason, then you can say that you visit in Monaco, which is another independent country. Monaco is really small, and you can literally walk across the country in about hour. You can also see all the luxury yachts that are there, check out the Monte Carlo casino, and pretend you're a high roller at least for a few hours. And if you do go to Nice,

Starting point is 00:06:42 I would suggest visiting the Matisse and Chagall museums. They're both very nice. Tom Allen from Patreon asks, what is your rule of thumb for how stable a topic needs to be before you make an episode? Historical stuff is pretty stable. Interpretations change slowly, but technology topics that are very important to our lives may evolve quickly. I'm thinking of energy, AI, humanoid robotics, etc. Tom, it isn't an issue of stability. There needs to be something to actually talk about. Of the topics you've listed,

Starting point is 00:07:14 I've actually done episodes on most of them, including electric cars and most forms of energy. I've seen lots of theoretical technologies that have been talked about that never really pan out. So until something has actually been developed and put into use, I don't really think there's much there to do an episode on. I have done episodes on the James Webb Telescope and Starship,

Starting point is 00:07:37 both of which were in its early stages when I did the episode, and I've done follow-up episode since. That being said, I've been researching topics like artificial intelligence and quantum computers, but I'm not really sure if I'm ready to do an episode that makes sense, given the show's time constraints. Hey, Falk, from Patreon, S. I love to hear about the many UNESCO sites and how many you visited. Please keep it up.

Starting point is 00:08:00 As you do so many World War I and World War II episodes, What was the most interesting or moving site that you visited during your travels? Cheers from Vancouver Completionist Club. Well, hey, Falk, you can see the complete list of the UNESCO sites that I've been to on my website. As of this recording, I have been to 414 sites around the world. And I visit more every year, even though I don't actually visit them, because I've visited them in the past, and they're just put on the list every year. As far as moving sites created to World War I and World War II,

Starting point is 00:08:32 it would have to be either Auschwitz or the American Cemetery at Normandy in France. That being said, there are a lot of interesting World War II-related sites in Belgium and the Netherlands as well. The museums at Bastogne, Eindhoven, Nymegan, and others are some of the best war museums you're going to find anywhere in the world. Carl Williams on Facebook asks, with Olivia doing the research for some of the episodes, do you let her choose from the list, or is the episode choice solely yours? Well, Carl, she actually has quite a bit of leeway in what ideas she wants to pursue. I do have a master list of show ideas, and some of those do come from that list, but she has also come up with her own ideas.

Starting point is 00:09:13 We meet once a week to go over which episodes will be worked on, so I have an idea of what she'll be doing and can approve it before she puts in the work, researching and writing. Basically, it's a lot easier to write and research an episode if you're interested in the topic, not just doing something because you're told to do it. Kevin O'Keefe on Facebook asks, It's a simple but complex question. In the age of AI,

Starting point is 00:09:36 how can people make money off of just being curious and learning? Well, Kevin, I'm not sure why learning and curiosity are things you need to necessarily make money from. Curiosity is, by its nature, something exhibited because you're interested in something. If your goal is just making money, then it's not really curiosity. And there's certainly nothing wrong with learning something to improve your employability. But that being said, I don't think that AI is a cause for doom and gloom, at least not for people who are willing to learn. Artificial intelligence might very well replace many white-collar jobs that are just busy work, but there will always be a need for people who are knowledgeable and learned. Also, AI can be used to turbocharge your learning. Some of the initial research that I've been seeing on the use of AI as an educational aid has simply been astounding.

Starting point is 00:10:27 By using artificial intelligence as a tutor, some people are able to double or even triple the rate at which they can learn certain topics. Nina Schmidt on Facebook asks, I am a language teacher. Based on your extensive travels, what do you think are the most important phrases someone should know when visiting a foreign country? I think this is pretty easy. Hello, goodbye, yes, no, please thank you, excuse me, how much is this, and then basic phrases for getting food, lodging, and transportation. With that, you might not be able to have a conversation, but you will be able to perform basic tourist functions.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Beyond that, I'm sure you can think of other scenarios that would probably be worth knowing some phrases for. The final question comes from Elizabeth Lowe over on Patreon, who asks, Gary, I'm very reluctant to become a member of the Completionist Club, despite all the impressive benefits. I make quilts, which means I sit at my sewing machine for several hours at a time, and I love immersing myself in your episodes. If I become a completionist, I'll only have one episode at a time. Currently, I have only about 150 episodes to go before I join that elite group, but I'm holding back.

Starting point is 00:11:38 Love the podcast, and I've gotten several friends hooked on it too. Well, Elizabeth, there is a very simple way to resolve your dilemma. Once you join the completionist club, you can then begin your journey to elite platinum status in the club by listening to every episode twice. And if you achieve, that, then there is diamond ultra status for those who listen to every episode three times. And beyond that, well, you probably need to seek professional help. And that concludes this month's Q&A episode. If you want to leave a question for next month's show, you can join the Facebook group or the Discord server or support the show over on Patreon, because those are the places where I will announce it.

Starting point is 00:12:25 The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups,

Starting point is 00:12:51 you too can have it read in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Questions and Answers: Volume 37

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