Nerd Farmer Podcast

The United States imprisons twice as many people per capita as Vladimir Putin’s Russia and four times the number of communist China. The Prison Within is a documentary about mass incarceration and the harm it does to the incarcerated and all of us. 

Our guest this week is Katherin Hervey. She is the writer and director of the film. We talked about her motivations for making the film, what she learned about our punitive system of mass incarceration, and what all of this tells us about the US.

Cast of Characters

• Katherin Hervey – Homepage & IMDB

Going Further

• The Prison Within 
• #ProtectPhoeun – A Cambodian-American being targeted by ICE
• Direct Download Link  

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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Danny Caine is the co-owner and proprietor of the Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas. He is also the author of How to Resist Amazon and Why a zine/audiobook about the business practices of Amazon and how they harm society. We discussed his book and the monopolistic, predatory market behavior that Amazon engages in: data mining, exploiting marketplace sellers & sub-contractors, union busting, etc.

In the second segment, we talked about some alternatives to Amazon products that we utilize, like our friends at LibroFM (remember to use promo code “Tacoma”), rather than Audible and the recent choice to move Channel 253 to Libsyn, rather than hosting our shows on Amazon Web Services.

Cast of Characters

• Danny Caine – Twitter

Going Further

• How to Resist Amazon and Why (Audiobook – LibroFM)
• The Raven – Danny’s Bookstore
• Direct Download Link  

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 July 13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a year over year price rise of 9.1%. Driven by rising food and energy costs, the United States is experiencing the worst inflationary period since 1980. We wanted to get to the bottom of the causes of this inflationary cycle (nope, it’s not stimulus checks), how people can protect themselves from inflation (congrats, vegans), and how long this inflationary cycle might last (shorter than you think).

Our guest is our favorite economist, Bill Dickens. Bill is a utilities economist and chief economist and president of BJNJ. His work typically focuses on hydro, natural gas, and smart grid technologies. But he’s always up for a conversation about macroeconomics.

Special thanks to Rep. Strickland for introducing Bill to us last summer.

Cast of Characters

• Bill – LinkedIn

Going Further

• Bill’s Summer 2021 Inflation Explainer
• July CPI Report
• Direct Download Link  

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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This week, we are discussing police unions and how they protect bad actors. But it is also a conversation about the elected officials who don’t hold law enforcement accountable. This conversation is in part a response to the decision by the Pierce County Prosecutor to not charge Officer Phan for his vehicle attack in January 2021. It is also partly in response to the ongoing “slow-strike” Tacoma Police are engaging in. Lastly, it is inspired by the ongoing controversy around Ed Troyer, the disgraced Pierce County Sherriff, who is facing criminal charges.

Our guest, Aaron Brickman, is a Labor Relations Specialist who has worked with several major national unions. He joined us to discuss police unions, their contracts, and why so often police officers get to keep their jobs after committing gross misconduct.

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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Over the month of June, the US Supreme Court released a series of rulings that upended established precedent (accepted legal patterns) in American society. They weakened the first amendment’s establishment clause, the fifth amendment’s Miranda protections, the ability of states to regulate gun ownership, the EPA’s ability to issue regulations regarding climate change, and most notably gave states the green light to ban all abortions within their borders.

Other rights appear on the chopping block with the court’s belligerent 6-3 DGAF Conservative majority and their peculiar reading of the US Constitution. 

So we put up the Bat-Signal and were able to connect with legal nerd and policy activist Summer Stinson. Summer has a JD from the University of Oregon, was a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and currently leads the Economic Opportunity Institute. 

She appears today on the show in a personal capacity.

Cast of Characters

• Summer Stinson – Twitter

Going Further

• The courts as an instrument of American decline – Don Moynihan, referenced in the show intro
• Economic Opportunity Institute – Summer’s Main Gig
• Washington Paramount Duty – Summer’s Side Project
• The Supreme Court Went Off the Rails Long Before Dobbs – Ezra Klein Show 

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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Dave Clark is the founder of Seattle Sounders blog, Sounder at Heart and a former color commentator for Tacoma Defiance. He came on the show to offer a mid-season check-in on the state of the season for both teams.

We also discussed the Emerald City Supporters’ decision to retire Take ’em All, a choice we both support.

Cast of Characters

• Dave – 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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The host of this show is not a crypto true-believer but I do dabble in the digital asset market. I remain unconvinced about the long-term value of current cryptocurrencies, but I think there is potential utility in the underlying technology. This is a conversation about both that doubt and that technological potential.

Jonas is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and is the host of Defire. His show is about cryptocurrencies, DeFi (decentralized finance), and NFTs. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Terra Luna Ecosphere and the crash of the crypto market in May, we brought him on to talk about lessons he’s learned and the real-life use cases for the technology behind cryptocurrency.

Only ⅓ of the world’s cryptocurrency assets are held by Americans. I think Jonas is an important voice in this conversation because he’s not one of the usual suspects–he’s not a right-wing “cryptobro” spouting Austrian economics and anarchocapitalist platitudes. 

Cast of Characters

• Jonas – Twitter

Going Further

• In Defense of Bitcoin Maximalism – referenced in the show
• Defire – Jonas’ 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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You know how we say “Black Twitter,” “Legal Twitter,” “Academic Twitter,” or “Soccer Twitter”? What if those were real and distinct communities? What if there was a smaller “[Whatever You’re Into] Twitter” free of ads, SPAM, and corporate ownership by Meta and Elon Musk? That’s Darius Kazemi’s vision.

Darius is a computer programmer and digital artist. He is also an outspoken critic of corporate social media companies and the creator of Friend.Camp, a decentralized social media network he built and moderates. He’s an evangelist for these kinds of communities, networks run by groups with shared interests, shared values, and diligently moderated by members of the community. He joined us to talk about how people can build these sort of communities. He’s even written a guide on how to do so. Give this a listen and see how you can Run Your Own Social.

Cast of Characters

• Darius Kazemi – Twitter

Going Further

• Darius’ Website – Tiny Subversions
• Run Your Own Social
• Done with Facebook and Twitter? Try building your own private social network – Fast Company
• Mastodon – the Open Source Twitter Alternative
• Scholar.Social – the Mastodon Server for academics and educators, discussed in the episode

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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Vilson is a veteran of the classroom, a math teacher from the Bronx, and the author of This is Not a Test, Jose is currently away from the classroom pursuing a Ph.D. from Columbia.

He and Nate discussed lessons they’ve learned from their past education advocacy, finding your voice as an advocate, and how we can reclaim the narrative from the moral panickers and conservative race hustlers on issues of race and gender in schools. 

Cast of Characters

• Jose Vilson – Twitter

Going Further

• This is Not a Test

• EduColor Movement

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