Playlists
Curated episode collections exploring ideas across multiple episodes.
Prove It: Authentication, Digital Identity, and the Science of Knowing Who You're Talking To
Seven episodes on the science and engineering of digital authentication -- from the mathematics of SSH keys and digital signatures to the death of passwords, the rise of passkeys, and the hardware roots of trust that underpin the entire system.
The System: Democracy, Governance, and the Mechanics of Political Power
Nine episodes on how political systems actually work -- from the architecture of democratic backsliding and the logic of neoliberalism to alternative governance models, technocracy, and what happens when states fail.
The Art of Nations: A Guide to Diplomacy, Protocol, and Back-Channel Power
Eight episodes on the hidden mechanics of international diplomacy -- from the rules of protocol and the secret world of diplomatic pouches to back-channel communications, motorcade security, and the boutique embassies of Jerusalem.
Follow the Money: Financial Crime, Shadow Economies, and the Hidden Architecture of Global Wealth
Eight episodes on the secret plumbing of the global financial system -- from money laundering mechanics and shell companies to KYC regulations, high-frequency trading, and the art of reputation management for the ultra-rich.
When It Matters Most: A Listener's Guide to First Aid and Emergency Response
Six episodes on the science and technology of emergency response -- from the AI-driven logic of first aid decision trees and infant CPR techniques to how emergency calls are routed, how triage actually works, and why life-saving skills are so hard to retain.
The $4 Miracle: How Global Supply Chains Actually Work
Six episodes on the hidden mechanics of global trade -- from the logistics wizardry behind AliExpress and the disruptions of the Chinese New Year to the language of Incoterms, the economics of air cargo, and what happens when the supply chain collides with geopolitics.
How the Internet Actually Works: A Deep Dive into Networking Infrastructure
Ten episodes on the real engineering behind the global internet -- from BGP routing and the OSI model to fiber vs. copper, mobile network hierarchies, and the physics of in-flight Wi-Fi.
The 2026 Iran-Israel War
A listener's guide to the escalating 2026 conflict -- electronic warfare, proxy forces, nuclear dimensions, espionage, and the geopolitical alliances shaping a multi-front war. Updated as the conflict develops.
Living with ADHD: A Complete Listener's Guide
Twenty episodes on understanding, managing, and thriving with ADHD -- from brain chemistry and late diagnosis to medication, productivity systems, AI tools for executive function, and the science of sensory overwhelm.
The Fine Line: Antisemitism, Free Speech, and Jewish Identity
A listener's guide to episodes examining the global rise in antisemitism, the debate over where criticism ends and hatred begins, the legal battlegrounds of hate speech law, and the experience of Jewish communities navigating an increasingly hostile environment.
The Spy's Toolkit: A Guide to Intelligence Tradecraft and Espionage
Eighteen episodes on the history and craft of human intelligence -- from Renaissance-era Black Chambers and Cold War number stations to wartime HUMINT operations, regime-change mechanics, and the hidden reality of today's global intelligence landscape.
Operation Epic Fury: The US-Iran War
A listener's guide to the joint US-Israel strikes of late February 2026, the decapitation of Iran's leadership, and the first 72 hours of a war that reshaped the Middle East.
Wartime Civilian Resilience: Living Under Fire
A listener's guide to the science and engineering of surviving a conflict zone -- shelter, emergency communications, sensory overload, survival psychology, and the practical tools for staying functional when the sirens don't stop.
The July 2025 Twelve-Day War
A listener's guide to the twelve-day conflict between Iran and Israel in July 2025 -- the weapons, the defense, the electronic battlefield, and life on the home front during the first direct kinetic exchange.
When the Body Overreacts: A Listener's Guide to Allergy and Immunology
Seven episodes on the science of immune hypersensitivity -- early allergen introduction, leukotriene biology, particulate matter health effects, air quality indices, Israel's chronic pollution problem, and the chemistry of desert dust storms.
Breathing Better: A Listener's Guide to Asthma and Respiratory Health
Eight episodes on the mechanics of breathing when things go wrong -- asthma triggers, leukotriene biology, the two-week lag of Singulair, smart inhaler tech, long COVID's respiratory effects, and the difference between asthma and autoimmune lung disease.
Getting Moving Again: A Listener's Guide to Exercise and Physical Rehabilitation
Six episodes on the science of recovery and physical resilience -- returning to fitness after surgery, the engineering of the human heart, the logic of emergency triage, restorative sleep science, home first aid essentials, and AI's role in assistive technology.
The Gut After Surgery: A Listener's Guide to Digestive Health
Twelve episodes on the biology of the digestive system after gallbladder removal -- bile acid chemistry, microbiome science, gut-brain signaling, PPI dependence, and the practical work of rebuilding a functional gut.
How Drugs Actually Work: A Listener's Guide to Pharmacology
Eight episodes on the science of medication -- from the mRNA platform revolution and AI-driven antibiotic discovery to the long-term risks of acid blockers, the polypharmacy problem, the evolution of medical truth, drug approval reform, and the logic of tapering sleep medications.
What You Put In Your Body: A Listener's Guide to Nutrition and Food Science
Seven episodes on the science of what we eat, drink, and breathe -- vitamin D biology, the neurochemistry of alcohol and withdrawal, Vyvanse and diet interactions, VOC off-gassing from plastics, the polypharmacy problem, and tobacco policy's enforcement failure.
Seeing Clearly: A Listener's Guide to Vision and Eye Health
Three episodes on how we see and what can go wrong -- modern vision correction options beyond LASIK, the real science behind display eye strain, and the blue light myth versus the genuine sleep biology it obscures.
Reading the Sky: A Listener's Guide to Weather, Climate, and Natural Phenomena
Eight episodes on the science of what happens in the atmosphere and oceans -- AI weather forecasting, desert dust storms and their chemistry, clear air turbulence, tsunamis, ocean swells, light pollution's biology, and the particulate matter that urban air events deliver.
Beyond the Textbook: A Listener's Guide to Women's Health and Reproductive Medicine
Six episodes on the biology of reproduction and the hormonal systems that underpin it -- from the living intelligence of breast milk to the parathyroid glands, mRNA vaccine science, stem cell donation, and the future of precision and personalized medicine.
The Invisible War: State-Sponsored Cyberattacks and the New Battlefield
Five episodes on state-sponsored cyber warfare -- from the elite hacking units that live inside your network for years and the first autonomous AI-driven cyberattack to the background radiation of the internet and the classified cloud infrastructure governments use to fight back.
The Drone Age: Autonomous Weapons, AI in Combat, and the Future of Warfare
Four episodes on the revolution in unmanned warfare -- from the paradox of defending against cheap drones and the rise of AI-controlled weapon systems to high-altitude surveillance platforms and the global conflict map that drone proliferation is reshaping.
Manufacturing Reality: Information Operations, Psyops, and Military Influence
Four episodes on the use of information as a weapon -- from Israeli military censorship and strategic leaks to AI-powered influence campaigns, the psychology of maximum military alert, and the secret government cloud infrastructure that processes it all.
Beyond State Armies: Non-State Armed Groups, Hybrid Forces, and Middle East Security
Four episodes on the non-state dimension of modern Middle East conflict -- from how the IDF manages a citizen-soldier hybrid force and Egypt's strategic role as mediator to the professionalization of armed factions and what it actually costs to maintain a security state.
Beneath the Surface and Beyond the Horizon: A Guide to Naval Warfare
Five episodes on the modern maritime battlefield -- from submarine stealth physics and carrier strike group mechanics to chokepoint strategy, Arctic militarization, and the ships that project national power across every ocean.
The High Ground: Satellite Warfare, Space Dominance, and the Orbital Battlefield
Three episodes on the weaponization of space -- from the grey zone of satellite interference and the mechanics of running a military satellite constellation to the AI systems that see through enemy camouflage from 500 kilometers up.
The Global Garrison: US Military Bases, Force Projection, and the Infrastructure of Power
Five episodes on how the United States positions and sustains military power around the world -- from the history of overseas basing and the classified networks that connect it all to the economics of permanent conflict preparedness and what maximum military alert actually looks like.
Accountability in War: International Humanitarian Law and the Courts That Enforce It
Three episodes on the legal architecture of armed conflict -- from how international courts define genocide and issue arrest warrants to the history of disarmament efforts and the mediation strategies that try to prevent the next round of fighting before the current one ends.
AI for Builders: Coding Assistants, Agentic Workflows, and Productivity at Scale
Nine episodes on using AI as a practical building tool -- vibe coding, AI memory architectures, voice-controlled agents, ideation at scale, and the evolution from chat to autonomous digital coworker.
AI and the Future of Work: Economics, Labor, and the Productivity Paradox
Nine episodes on what AI actually means for employment -- from the upskilling imperative and remote work shifts to the productivity paradox, recruiting overhaul, and the long-term question of who benefits from the automation dividend.
AI Safety, Alignment, and Governance: The Hard Problems
Ten episodes on the governance challenges that come with powerful AI -- from RLHF and guardrails to autonomous weapons, cultural bias, government digital twins, and the authenticity crisis that AI-generated content is producing.
AI Music, Creative AI, and the Copyright Reckoning
Six episodes on how AI is reshaping creative industries -- from the rise of AI-generated music and Hollywood-quality video to the intellectual property crisis, deepfake erosion of trust, and why vinyl still outsells predictions.
Jerusalem Through the Ages: Ancient Life, Sacred History, and the Weight of the Past
Eight episodes on Jerusalem's deep history -- from daily life in Herodian Jerusalem and the excavation of the Pilgrimage Road to the frankincense trade, the city's divided past, and what archaeology reveals about 700 BCE kitchens.
The Science of Sound: Audio, Perception, and Why Your Brain Shapes What You Hear
Six episodes on audio from every angle -- the physics of spatial sound, why vinyl refuses to die, what display blue light actually does to your eyes, how learning styles interact with auditory input, the neuroscience of space that makes you feel safe, and what makes a podcast speaker actually good.
How Aviation and Transportation Actually Work: A Technical Deep Dive
Twelve episodes on the engineering and operations behind modern aviation and transportation -- from fly-by-wire controls and flight operations centers to GPS spoofing, turbulence physics, North Atlantic routing, air freight, and the EV transition.
From First Words to First Fears: A Science-First Guide to Early Childhood
Ten episodes exploring the developmental science behind your child's first years -- language acquisition, allergen introduction, co-sleeping safety, sharenting ethics, and what 'educational' toys actually do.
Inside the Brain: A Listener's Guide to Psychiatry and Mental Health Science
Eleven episodes on the science of what goes wrong in the brain and what we can do about it -- from the brutal history of psychiatry before medication to cutting-edge treatments for depression, schizophrenia, trauma, and phobias.
How Television Actually Works: Broadcast, IPTV, and the Streaming Transition
One comprehensive episode -- plus essential context -- on the technical evolution of TV delivery, from DVB-T terrestrial broadcast and IPTV protocols to the cord-cutting transition, and what legacy infrastructure is still carrying the signal.
Crypto, Blockchain, and the Decentralized Web: Beyond the Hype
Six episodes on the practical reality of blockchain technology -- from CBDCs and smart contracts to IPFS, decentralized storage, and the peer-to-peer internet that idealists have been trying to build for decades.
Forever Files: Data Permanence, Digital Preservation, and the Fight Against Bitrot
Seven episodes on keeping data alive -- from the physics of NFC tag decay and how checksums catch silent corruption, to the Internet Archive's precarious mission, the coming data sovereignty divide, and one team's plan to vault humanity's knowledge on the Moon.
Who's Watching: A Practical Guide to Digital Privacy and Cybersecurity
Ten episodes on the real threats to your digital privacy -- from data brokers, metadata, and telemetry to zero-click exploits, VPN myths, and why SMS authentication is the weakest link in your security stack.
Taming Information Overload: Documentation and Knowledge Management
Seven episodes on building sustainable knowledge systems -- from contemporaneous notes and AI-assisted meeting documentation to unified AI workspaces, managing tool sprawl, graph-based organization, and the deep history of how humans have always tried to order information.
Signals, Sabotage, and the Invisible War: A Guide to Electronic Warfare
Eight episodes on the electromagnetic battlefield -- from Mossad's supply chain operations and GPS spoofing to EMP hardening, AWACS air command, and the intelligence tradecraft that happens before a shot is fired.
How We Treat Other Species: Ethical Tourism, Animal Welfare, and the Biology of Wild Creatures
Four episodes on humanity's complicated relationship with animals and travel -- from the ethics of sloth selfie tourism and primate research to five destinations that change how you see the world.
Borders, Power, and the Rules of the World: A Geopolitics Listener's Guide
Nine episodes on how the international system actually works -- from how countries were invented and airspace was divided, to how the ICC issues arrest warrants, why Switzerland hosts everyone's back-channel talks, and what Greenland has to do with Arctic security.
Never Dark: A Guide to Home Energy, Backup Power, and Electrical Resilience
Eight episodes on keeping your home and home office powered through outages -- from UPS systems and LiFePO4 batteries to solar energy, electrical safety, power quality, and the global chaos of incompatible electricity standards.
The Science of the Workspace: Ergonomics, Voice Control, and the Home Office That Works
Six episodes on designing a home office for sustained deep work -- from standing desk mechanics and bias lighting to microphone selection, dictation accuracy, and the surprising science of what powers the best voice workflows.
The Home That Protects You: Fire Safety, Electrical Systems, and Structural Engineering
Ten episodes on making your living space genuinely safe -- from apartment fire survival and electrical grounding science to earthquake engineering, structural red flags to spot before buying, and the industrial-strength adhesive that replaced bolts in skyscrapers.
How LLMs Actually Work: Inside the Models That Changed Everything
Fourteen episodes unpacking the inner mechanics of large language models -- from training data and fine-tuning to hallucinations, guardrails, scaling limits, and what comes next.
The Housing Crisis Explained: Real Estate, Mortgages, and the Israeli Economy
Eight episodes on the economics of housing -- from the global affordability crisis and Israel's unique mortgage system to Jerusalem's ghost towers, state land ownership, and the dual economy that shapes who can actually afford to buy.
How Language Works: Acquisition, Memory, and the AI Translation Gap
Six episodes on the science of language -- how babies acquire first words, why we forget early childhood, why adult learners plateau, how authors mask their identity through style, and why AI models perform dramatically worse in non-English languages.
AI on Your Own Hardware: A Guide to Local AI and GPU Computing
Twelve episodes on running AI at home -- from the transformer breakthrough and the GPU arms race to quantization, inference servers, small language models, and the future of local agentic AI.
Big Iron and Legacy Systems: Why Old Computing Never Dies
Five episodes on why the oldest computing architectures keep running the world's most critical systems -- from mainframes at the core of global banking to COBOL, supercomputing frontiers, and the stubborn persistence of legacy technology across industries.
Money, Work, and the New Labor Reality: Personal Finance for the 2026 Economy
Nine episodes on navigating money and careers in a disrupted labor market -- from salary negotiation and Israel's cost of living to central banking basics, UBI, what AI is doing to career ladders, and the hidden taxes of international freelancing.
Talking to the Machine: A Guide to Prompt Engineering and AI Interaction Design
Nine episodes on the craft and science of communicating with AI -- from system prompts and lazy prompting to context engineering, outcome architecture, and the shift from chatbots to designed AI workflows.
The Renter's Survival Guide: Tenant Rights, Evidence, and the Fight Against Bad Landlords
Eight episodes for anyone who rents -- covering tenant rights across different legal systems, how to document disputes, recording consent laws, what global cities do differently, and the no-drill hacks that get around lease restrictions.
Servers, Storage, and Redundancy: A Builder's Guide to Serious Hardware
Ten episodes on building reliable computing infrastructure at home and in the lab -- enterprise hardware on a budget, high availability design, file systems, RAM, workstation CPUs, and the cloud storage layer that ties it together.
Build It Yourself: The Advanced Smart Home and Homelab Guide
Eight episodes for people who want to actually own their smart home -- from protocol wars and ESP32 projects to resilient distributed homelabs, privacy-preserving security cameras, and the future of the home hub.
Why We Believe What We Believe: Social Psychology, Persuasion, and the Architecture of Influence
Eight episodes on how people think, decide, and get manipulated -- from cognitive biases like the sunk cost fallacy to organized scam networks, intergenerational psychology, the boundary between faith and delusion, and what AI therapy reveals about mental health care.
Signal and Noise: A Guide to Telecommunications and Wireless Networks
Nine episodes on how wireless communications actually work -- from the invisible spectrum we all share and the satellite revolution to the death of physical SIM cards, cell broadcast emergency systems, and why airplane mode exists.
Building Better Cities: Urban Planning, Transit, and the Future of How We Live
Fifteen episodes on the hidden systems that shape our cities -- from skyscraper economics and zoning laws to car-free futures, smart sewers, and the fight for walkable neighborhoods.
Version Control and Developer Workflows in the AI Era
Seven episodes on how development workflows are evolving -- from Git's limitations for solo creators and large media assets to vibe coding, AI benchmarks, environment management, and scaling static site architectures.
Different Operating Systems: A Guide to Neurodivergence Episodes
Ten episodes exploring neurodiversity beyond ADHD -- the spiky profile, autism and pattern-seeking, sensory processing, social needs, giftedness, and how AI is reshaping the landscape for neurodivergent minds.
From Chatbots to Agents: The Rise of Autonomous AI Systems
How AI is evolving from chat interfaces to autonomous agents that browse, code, schedule, and delegate -- and the risks that come with that shift.
The Right to Repair: Tools, Techniques, and the Fight to Fix Your Own Stuff
Five episodes covering everything from safe soldering and adhesive science to the Framework Laptop's modular revolution and AR-assisted repair.
The State of Email: Privacy, Precision, and the War on Digital Litter
Four episodes on mastering email -- from military-grade communication techniques to exposing the hidden surveillance built into every marketing blast.
Building a Smarter Home: Bluetooth, Batteries, and Decoupled Brains
From Home Assistant to Frigate NVR, our episodes on building a smart home that actually works -- without vendor lock-in.
Mold, HEPA Filters, and the War for Clean Indoor Air
From spore cannons to tracking pixels of the physical world, our deep dive into mold prevention, remediation, and the science of HEPA filtration.
The Whisper Revolution: Building Better Speech Recognition
How OpenAI's Whisper transformed speech-to-text, and what it takes to fine-tune, benchmark, and build custom ASR tools in 2026.
When Old Tech Meets New Threats: Obsolescence, Mold, and Keyboards
A deep dive into the surprising connections between technology obsolescence, household challenges, and the enduring appeal of mechanical keyboards.
The Multi-Monitor Deep Dive: Ergonomics, Standards, and the Ultrawide Debate
Everything you need to know about building a multi-monitor setup -- from connection standards and mounting hardware to the ultrawide vs. multi-panel showdown.
RAID Is Not a Backup: The Complete Guide to Data Survival
Seven episodes on the art and science of keeping your data alive -- from ZFS recovery to billion-year archives and the IPFS frontier.
Jerusalem Unplugged: Transit, Water, Land, and Urban Identity
Six episodes exploring the quirks, challenges, and hidden forces that shape daily life in Jerusalem -- from light rail enforcement to church-owned land.
Open Source vs. Open Weights: Navigating AI's Licensing Maze
Three episodes unpacking the confusing world of AI licensing -- what 'open source' actually means in 2026, and why open weights aren't the same thing.
Behind the Curtain: How My Weird Prompts Gets Made
The meta-episodes where Corn and Herman discuss the show itself -- from the original concept to the AI pipeline that produces 800+ episodes.
Escaping the Golden Cage: The Practical Guide to De-Googling
Three episodes on reclaiming digital sovereignty -- from de-Googling your life to choosing privacy-respecting Android ROMs and understanding AI's feedback loops.
The Shield and the Sword: Israel's Defense Technology Stack
Three episodes exploring the technology behind Israel's defense systems -- from Iron Beam's laser interceptors to cyber warfare and nuclear ambiguity.
USB, Cables, and the Chaos of Hardware Standards
From USB-C's promise of universality to the deadly lack of PSU cable standards, our episodes on the tangled world of physical connectivity.
Iron Beam and the Future of Directed Energy Defense
How Israel's laser-based Iron Beam interceptor works, and why directed energy weapons could reshape the economics of missile defense.
Eyes Everywhere: The OSINT Revolution in Open Source Intelligence
Eight episodes on how flight trackers, ship transponders, satellite imagery, and AI geolocation are democratizing intelligence gathering.
The Glass Threads: Undersea Cables and the Fragile Internet Backbone
Four episodes on the submarine cable network that carries 99% of intercontinental data -- and why it's more vulnerable than you think.
Reclaiming the Night: Sleep Science and Circadian Rhythms
Five episodes on the science of sleep -- from blue light myths and sedation vs. rest to radical circadian lifestyle optimization.
Life After the Gallbladder: The Complete Recovery Series
Seven episodes covering everything from the immediate aftermath of cholecystectomy to long-term nutrition, fitness, and managing bile reflux.
Proving Reality: Deepfakes, Voice Cloning, and the Fight for Truth
Five episodes on the rise of synthetic media -- from AI watermarking and C2PA verification to the unsettling power of modern voice cloning.
Beyond Egg Cartons: The Science of Sound, Noise, and Acoustic Design
Five episodes on taming sound -- from urban noise pollution and workspace acoustics to spatial audio mapping and sensory overload tech.
The Mesh Myth: Building a Home Network That Actually Works
Five episodes on home networking reality -- why mesh often disappoints, when wired wins, and how to future-proof your network for the AI era.
Parenting in the Age of AI: Baby Tech, Screen Time, and Development Science
Six episodes on the intersection of parenting and technology -- from smart baby monitors and developmental milestones to the screen time debate.
The Strategy Lab: War Colleges, Deterrence, and Global Power Projection
Five episodes on military strategy -- from war college education and combatant command structures to the psychology of deterrence and multi-front alliances.
Buy It For Life: The Case for Durable Goods in a Disposable World
Three episodes on the BIFL philosophy -- from industrial-grade headlamps and server-class PC hardware to the broader economics of durability.
Quantum Computing: The Hype, the Reality, and the Encryption Crisis
Three episodes separating quantum computing fact from fiction -- and exploring what it means for the future of cryptography and AI.
90 Seconds to Safety: Emergency Preparedness in the Modern Age
Six episodes on preparing for the worst -- from portable power and mesh networks to government continuity planning and the UX of bomb shelters.
Pixels, Prompts, and Latent Space: The Science of AI Image Generation
Six episodes exploring how AI creates images -- from diffusion model fundamentals and ComfyUI workflows to ControlNet precision and the text rendering problem.
The Physics of Proliferation: Iran's Nuclear and Missile Programs
Three episodes examining the technical realities of Iran's nuclear enrichment, missile integration, and the strategic calculus of counter-proliferation.
Beyond the Blacklist: Impact Investing, ESG, and the Future of Ethical Finance
Episodes exploring the evolving world of impact investing -- from social impact bonds and sustainability-linked finance to the greenwashing debate and aviation's carbon accounting.