Let's Know Things
A calm, non-shouty, non-polemical, weekly news analysis podcast for folks of all stripes and leanings who want to know more about what's happening in the world around them. Hosted by analytic journalist Colin Wright since 2016. letsknowthings.substack.com
Episodes
This week we talk about the NOAA, FEMA, and the SSMIS.
We also discuss Arctic ice, satellite resolution, and automated weather observation stations.
Recommended Book: Superbloom by Nicholas Carr
Transcript
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is a US scientific and regulatory agency that tackles an array of environmental, climatic, and weather-related issues, alongside its responsibilities managing oceanic ecos...
This week we talk about OPEC, the Seven Sisters, and the price of oil.
We also discuss fracking, Israel and Iran’s ongoing conflict, and energy exports.
Recommended Book: Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf
Transcript
The global oil market changed substantially in the early 2000s as a pair of innovations—horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing—helped the plateauing US oil and gas market boom, unlocking a bunch of sh...
This week we talk about tit-for-tat warfare, conflict off-ramps, and Israel’s renewed attacks on Iran’s nuclear program.
We also discuss the Iron Dome, the Iran-Iraq War, and regime change.
Recommended Book: How Much is Enough? by Robert and Edward Skidelsky
Transcript
In late-October of 2024, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against targets in Iran and Syria. These strikes were code-named Operation Days of Repentance, and it marke...
This week we talk about drone warfare, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and total war.
We also discuss casualty numbers, population superiority, and lingering munitions.
Recommended Book: The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith
Transcript
Eight years after Russia launched a halfheartedly concealed invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, under the guise of helping supposedly oppressed Russian-speakers and Russia loyalists in the area, in Februa...
This week we talk about gene-editing, CRISPR/Cas9, and ammonia.
We also discuss the germ line, mad scientists, and science research funding.
Recommended Book: The Siren’s Call by Chris Hayes
Transcript
Back in November of 2018, a Chinese scientist named He Jiankui achieved global notoriety by announcing that he had used a relatively new gene-editing technique on human embryos, which led to the birth of the world’s first gene-edited bab...
This week we talk about greenhouse gases, renewable energy capacity, and China’s economy.
We also discuss coal power plants, natural gas, and gigatons.
Recommended Book: What If We Get It Right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Transcript
In 2024, global CO2 emissions hit a new all-time high of 37.8 gigatons, that figure including emissions from industrial processes, oil well flaring, and the combustion of fuel, like petroleum in a vehicle.
A...
This week we talk about kidnappings, ransoms, and bitcoin.
We also discuss crypto wealth, robberies, and memecoins.
Recommended Book: The Status Game by Will Storr
Transcript
In 2008, a white paper published by someone writing under the pen name Satoshi Nakamoto proposed a method for making a decentralized asset class called a cryptocurrency that led to the creation of bitcoin, which was implemented and began trading in 2009.
While ther...
This week we talk about the NHTSA, CAFE standards, and energy efficiency.
We also discuss incentive programs, waste heat, and the EPA.
Recommended Book: Africa Is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin
Transcript
In the United States, fuel-efficiency laws for vehicles sold on the US market are set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA. They set the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE standards by which vehicle-make...
This week we talk about the Marshall Plan, standardization, and USB.
We also discuss artificial intelligence, Anthropic, and protocols.
Recommended Book: Fuzz by Mary Roach
Transcript
In the wake of WWII, the US government implemented the European Recovery Program, more commonly known as the Marshall Plan, to help Western Europe recover from a conflict that had devastated the afflicted countries’ populations, infrastructure, and econom...
This week we talk about British India, Kashmir, and water treaties.
We also discuss the global order, sovereignty, and tit-for-tat escalation.
Recommended Book: Power Metal by Vince Beiser
Transcript
When then British India was partitioned by the British in 1947, the country carved up by its colonialist rulers into two new countries, one Hindu majority, the Union of India, and one Muslim majority, the Dominion of Pakistan, the intentio...
This week we talk about AI chatbots, virtual avatars, and romance novels.
We also discuss Inkitt, Galatea, and LLM grooming.
Recommended Book: New Cold Wars by David E. Sanger
Transcript
There’s evidence that the US Trump administration used AI tools, possibly ChatGPT, possibly another, similar model or models, to generate the numbers they used to justify a recent wave of new tariffs on the country’s allies and enemies.
It was also rece...
This week we talk about smishing, Huione, and scams.
We also discuss money laundering, the Cambodian government, and Tether.
Recommended Book: The Longevity Imperative by Andrew J. Scott
Transcript
The portmanteau ‘smishing’ combines SMS and phishing to refer to the practice of using text messages to trick the recipients of said messages into revealing information that allows scammers to access their victim’s accounts on various platfo...
This week we talk about taxes, reciprocity, and recession.
We also discuss falling indices, stagflation, and theories of operation.
Recommended Book: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Transcript
Stagflation, which is a portmanteau of stagnation and inflation, is exactly what it sounds like: a combination of those two elements, usually with high levels of unemployment, as well, that can cause a prolonged period of economic sluggis...
This week we talk about Studio Ghibli, Andrej Karpathy, and OpenAI.
We also discuss code abstraction, economic repercussions, and DOGE.
Recommended Book: How To Know a Person by David Brooks
Transcript
In late-November of 2022, OpenAI released a demo version of a product they didn’t think would have much potential, because it was kind of buggy and not very impressive compared to the other things they were working on at the time. This p...
This week we talk about Elon Musk, deportations, and the First Amendment.
We also discuss electric vehicles, free speech, and Georgia.
Recommended Book: Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Transcript
Greenpeace is a protest-focused, environmentalist nongovernmental organization that was originally founded in Canada in the early 1970s, but which has since gone on to tackle issues ranging from commercial whaling to concerns about genetic engineer...
This week we talk about tariffs, consumer confidence, and trade wars.
We also discuss inflation, GDP, and uncertainty.
Recommended Book: A Brief History of Intelligence by Max S. Bennett
Transcript
On January 20, 2025, mere hours after being sworn into his second term in office as President of the United States, Donald Trump announced new 25% tariffs on most incoming goods from Canada and Mexico, accusing the two allies of failing to h...
This week we talk about Euromaidan, minerals deals, and propaganda.
We also discuss European security, NATO, and the western-led world order.
Recommended Book: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Transcript
In February of 2014, pro-Russian protests racked parts of southeastern Ukraine and Russian soldiers, their uniforms and weapons stripped of flags and other identifying markers, occupied another part of Ukraine called Crimea.
This was seemingl...
This week we talk about Luna 2, soft-landings, and Firefly Aerospace.
We also discuss the private space launch industry, lunar landers, and regolith.
Recommended Book: The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey
Transcript
In 1959, Luna 2, a Soviet impactor-style spacecraft, successfully reached the surface of the Moon—the first-ever human-made object to do so.
Luna 2 was very of its era; a relatively simple device, similar in many ways to th...
This week we talk about arabica, robusta, and profit margins.
We also discuss colonialism, coffee houses, and religious uppers.
Recommended Book: On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson
Transcript
Like many foods and beverages that contain body- or mind-altering substances, coffee was originally used, on scale at least, by people of faith, leveraging it as an aid for religious rituals. Sufis in what is today Yemen, back in the ...
This week we talk about H5N1, fowl plague, and viral reservoirs.
We also discuss the CDC, raw milk, and politics.
Recommended Book: Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
Transcript
In late-January of 2025, staff at the US Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, were told to stop working with the World Health Organization, and data, and some entire pages containing such data, and analysis of it, were removed from the CDC’s web presence—the collectio...
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