Nerd Farmer Podcast

Reggie Middleton is an investor and expert in the fields of DeFi (decentralized finance) and cryptocurrency. He made his name by investing in the real estate market in the early 2000s and then shorting much of Wall Street prior to the 2008 crash. In early 2013, he filed several patents for the technology and infrastructure of what has become known as decentralized finance.

We invited Reggie on the show to talk about blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts, and the future of decentralized finance. He laid out a worldview and use case for blockchain technology far more ambitious than anything we expected going into the interview.

We originally planned to release this later this month, but it’s too good to hold onto.

Cast of Characters

• Reggie Middleton – Twitter
• Veritaseum – Twitter

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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On the evening of March 3, 2020, Manuel Ellis, a thirty three year-old Black man, was murdered by police in South Tacoma. For the last year, local police via the media and official statements have downplayed the amount and types of force used by officers on the scene.

For over a year, activists, led by Ellis’ relatives and the Tacoma Action Collective, have sought a thorough investigation and charges for the police involved in the killing. On May 27, Washington State AG Bob Ferguson charged three officers involved in the killing with a combination of second degree murder and manslaughter charges.

Kari Plog from KNKX, has been covering this story for over a year. We invited her on to talk through the probable cause statement issued by the State AG and where the case stands today.

Cast of Characters

• Kari Plog – Twitter

Going Further

• Prior NF coverage of the Ellis case
• The probable cause statement in the case read by Evelyn Lopez on Crossing Division
• Support KNKX (Support quality local media, always!)

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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Dr. Tiffany Smith is a former K-12 educator, podcaster, and story collector. While working overseas she taught in Morocco and Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Her graduate dissertation is about the push and pull factors motivating Black K-12 teachers to leave the US and teach overseas, in particular in UAE. This is how she and I crossed paths.

Tiffany is also the host of a podcast called (A)Broad in Education where she interviews what she calls Black edpats, teachers who have left the US and are working in international schools. We talked about her story as a teacher, her research as an academic, and what she has learned on her podcast from interviewing dozens of Black educators.

Cast of Characters

• Tiffany – Twitter

Going Further

• A profile of Tiffany – Small Planet Studio
• Tiffany’s podcast – (A)Broad in Education
• Nate’s appearance on Tiffany’s Podcast

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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On April 23, 2021, Derek Chauvin, the police officer that murdered George Floyd, was convicted in a Minnesota court. Two months prior to Floyd’s killing, in March of 2020, another Black man named Manuel Ellis was killed by officers in Tacoma, Washington.

Ellis’ killing was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, but the investigation into his death has been plagued by issues. As of recording, an announcement of a prosecuting decision is allegedly imminent and the officers that killed Eliis remain on taxpayer funded paid leave.

One of the major reasons we know about any of this is because of the activism of the Tacoma Action Collective and one of its members in particular, activist and filmmaker Jamika Scott. Jamika joined us to talk about the investigation, policing in the region, and how she as an activist has been targeted by law enforcement.

In the second segment, we talked about Jamika’s film project, Matriarch, a web series about the role of women as leaders in groups and families.

Cast of Characters

• Jamika – Twitter
• Tacoma Action Collective – Twitter
• Jamika’s Film Project, Matriarch

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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Covid has disrupted every aspect of our society, but its impact on education may be its most long lasting. Pierce County is blessed with a wealth of higher ed institutions: UWT, Evergreen Tacoma, University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma Community College, Pierce College, and Bates & Clover Park Technical Colleges are all of such quality that we take them for granted.

As we emerge from the pandemic, school leaders across the world are re-imagining the work at their institutions. At the same time on the student end, after rejecting online instruction at full tuition rates, many 2020 high school grads took a gap year. They will hopefully be returning to campuses later this year. It is going to be a very interesting fall.

We invited two college presidents, Allan Belton from PLU and Ivan Harell from Tacoma Community College, onto the show to talk about all these issues and others facing their schools, faculty, and students.

Cast of Characters

• Ivan Harrell – Twitter
• Allan Belton – Twitter

This episode was sponsored by Pacific Lutheran University

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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In April, Melissa Santos* published a story in Crosscut about nearly 200 Washington State police officers with documented credibility issues. The offenses range in severity, but the violations are serious enough that prosecutors around the state are obligated to disclose them to defense teams when the officers testify or provide evidence in a case, a Brady Disclosure. When that story broke, we reached out to Santos about coming on and talking about her investigation. She suggested we wait until later in the month and do a 2:1 and include a recap of the Washington Legislative Session.

We debated breaking this into two separate episodes, but instead decided to drop a double album, a la Wu-Tang Forever. If you specifically want to hear about the Brady List story, jump to 34:43.

*Yes, Santos is a member of the NF Smoking Jacket Society

Cast of Characters

• Melissa – Twitter

Going Further

• Santos’ Story in Crosscut
• A Crosscut Story Stream about the Brady List 
• Melissa on Matt Shea – the Domestic Terrorist in the Washington State Legislature
• Support Crosscut

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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The OL Reign regular season begins in May. We wanted to do a season preview with the Dean of NW Women’s Soccer, Susie Rantz. We talked about new arrivals to the team, Coach Farid Benstiti’s 4-2-3-1 scheme, the rough start for the team in the NWSL Challenge Cup, and the status of Megan Rapinoe.

If you are an OL Regin fan there’s a ton here including some smoke to Rose Lavelle rumors. If you’re new to WoSo, welcome aboard, this conversation is a great intro to OL Reign and Susie is a great follow.

Cast of Characters

• Susie – Twitter

Going Further

• Ride of the Valkyries – An OL Reign Blog
• Rapinoe on Nerd Farmer
• Megan Oyster on Nerd Farmer
• Bev Yanez on Nerd Farmer

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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The Seattle Sounders went to MLS Cup last year and were sadly and soundly defeated by Columbus. In the off-season, the Sounders lost some beloved players including Gustav Svensson, Kelvin Leerdam, and Joevin Jones. We also had some off-season homecomings with Fredy Montero and Kelyn Rowe.

After an extended off season, due to Covid-19, the 2021 MLS season will start for Seattle on April 16 at Lumen Field against Ozzie Alonso and Minnesota United. We invited on two of my favorite writers from the Sounders beat, Miki Turner of Sounder at Heart and Ari Liljenwall from MLS.com, to preview the roster and the season ahead. We talked comings and goings, remaining holes, new formations, and predictions for the season.

Cast of Characters

• Ari – Twitter
• Miki – Twitter

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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For a lot of people conversations about personal finance are gauche and to be avoided. As a result, I regularly see people, including former students, lament not getting a meaningful education in personal financial matters: debt, credit, saving, retirement, etc. Some states require a course in financial literacy as a graduation requirement but Washington State is not among them. So I brought on two guests to talk about teaching both students and adults about personal finance.

This conversation features Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani. He is the Director of the Center for Economics Education at Northern Kentucky University. He is joined by Brian Page. Brian is an award winning teacher and now serves as the Senior Director for Partnerships & Advocacy at Next Gen Personal Finance.

When in doubt, remember the advice of Marshawn Lynch: “Keep an eye on your mentals and your chicken.”

Going Further

• NKU Center for Economic Education
• Dr A’s YouTube Channel
• Brian’s Blog with NGPF

Cast of Characters

• Dr. Al Bahrani – Twitter
• Brian – Twitter

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Here’s what we know for sure know: on January 27, recently elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer was involved in an incident where at 2am he stalked and confronted a Black newspaper delivery driver, Sedrick Altheimer, who was doing his normal route in the neighborhood.

But Troyer’s version of events and Alexander’s version of events differ: We know for sure Troyer called a special police dispatch number rather than 911, like you and me might have done; we know that 42 units were initially dispatched to the incident; we know that according to Althiemer an officer drew his gun; we know that according to Troyer on the call, Alexander threatened to kill him; we know that Troyer’s version of the story now differs substantially from the responding officer, Troyer’s own statement in the initial call, and statements made by Altheimer.

We know all of this from the reporting of Jim Brunner in Lewis Kamb from the Seattle Times. So, I invited them on the show to talk about their reporting on the story and their unanswered questions of which there are many. Give this a listen and then decide for yourself.

Going Further

• Kamb and Brunner’s original story on the incident
• Kamb’s prior appearance on NF
• Troyer’s 2017 appearance at Adult Civics Happy Hour on police community relations

Cast of Characters

• Jim Brunner
• Lewis Kamb

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS