The Accent Podcast: Recent Episodes
Aznaur Midov
The Accent Podcast is a series of interviews with entrepreneurs, investors, business and thought leaders.
In addition to learning about the guests’ fields of expertise, the listeners would have an opportunity to get to know them on a personal level.
Dr. Peter Brand is an ancient historian and Egyptologist specializing in history and culture of ancient Egypt during its imperial age (ca. 1550–1100 BCE). He is author of The Monuments of Seti I and their Historical Significance: Epigraphic, Historical and Art-Historical Analysis (Brill, 2000), and has written numerous articles on Egyptian kingship, monumental art and construction, history, popular religion, warfare, and diplomacy during the late Eighteenth Dynasty and Ramesside period. Since 2001, Dr. Brand has served as director of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall Project, which is recording, conserving, and interpreting hundreds of scenes and hieroglyphic texts carved on the walls and columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall. Dr. Brand has appeared in over twenty documentaries for the History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic.
GET THE BOOK - Ramesses II, Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh: https://amzn.to/3RufmMS
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:35 Teaching Egyptology
08:20 How pyramids were built
12:50 Ancient Egypt through 18th Dynasty: Akhenaten, Tutankhamun
26:30 Beginning of 19th Dynasty
31:15 Seti I
35:50 Ancient Egypt’s source of wealth
38:25 Egyptian army
40:25 Ramesses II – Childhood
45:05 Prince Ramesses II
49:45 “Female Household” and wives of Ramesses II
01:04:05 Ramesses II takes the throne
01:09:55 Highlights of Ramesses II reign
01:15:05 The Battle of Kadesh
01:21:10 Interpreting Hieroglyphs
01:27:40 Pharaohs or Kings?
01:30:40 Decline of Ancient Egypt
Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy (which we discuss in the interview).
SELECT BOOKS BY JEREMI SURI:
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Civil War by Other Means: https://amzn.to/3F5DXSC
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The Impossible Presidency: https://amzn.to/3RQTRI1
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Liberty’s Surest Guardian: https://amzn.to/3toGe8R
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:20 The Civil War never ended
03:05 Formation of the Republican Party
07:50 Causes of the Civil War and the reasons for North winning
14:15 South after the Civil War
19:00 Why Abraham Lincoln is the best president in the US history
20:10 John Wilkes Booth
22:55 Andrew Johnson is the worst president
26:20 Alexander Watkins Terrell
29:45 Moving on after wars
31:00 Ulysses S. Grant Presidency
34:45 Disputed 1876 Elections
38:10 Electoral College must go
45:55 Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur
50:45 Grover Cleveland – first President from the Democrat Party
53:50 Republicans and Democrats switching agendas
55:40 Cancers in American institutions
01:00:55 Rating the recent Presidents
01:04:45 Most Overrated and Underrated Presidents
01:07:00 How you should read Jeremi Suri’s books
Dr. Konstantin Batygin is a Professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology. Professor Batygin and his colleague, Michael Brown, have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which they have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the Sun.
Support the Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:45 Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg
03:35 Encounter with conspiracists
06:40 Rumors of Alien space crafts
10:15 Where to look for life in the Universe
12:50 Planet Formation
17:20 Discovering planets
25:20 Pluto is no longer a planet
27:40 Planet Nine
34:30 Hypothesis of other cosmic bodies
35:15 Primordial Black Holes
43:15 Music Career
52:25 Scientific awards
57:40 Immigration to Japan and USA
01:01:30 Lex Fridman
01:02:30 Parents influence
Dr. Allen Frances is a Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He is best known for serving as chair of the American Psychiatric Association task force overseeing the development and revision of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Dr. Frances is the founding editor of two well-known psychiatric journals: the Journal of Personality Disorders and the Journal of Psychiatric Practice. During the development of the current diagnostic manual, DSM-5, Dr. Frances became critical of the expanding boundaries of psychiatry and the medicalization of normal human behavior, problems he contends are leading to the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of the "worried well" and the gross undertreatment of the severely ill. Dr. Frances is the author or co-author of multiple books within the fields of psychiatry and psychology.
Dr. FRANCES's BOOKs:
Saving Normal: https://amzn.to/497dxxq
Essentials of Psychiatric Diagnosis: https://amzn.to/494eRBe
FOLLOW Dr. FRANCES ON TWITTER: / allenfrancesmd
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: / theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:25 Changes since Saving Normal
02:30 What is DSM?
06:20 Inflation of diagnosis in children’s mental illnesses
14:10 Pharma advertises mental illnesses directly to people
17:00 Nature or Nurture – the root cause of mental illnesses
21:35 Psychotherapy
25:35 Depressions should not be confused with normal mammalian phenomena
29:35 Addiction to medication and drugs
37:45 Selecting psychiatrist
Brian Fagan is an Archeologist, Author, and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara. He has written a number of books on archeology, humans, and, most recently, climate change. We discussed Early Humans, the history of hunting, the most influential civilizations, and the effects of localized climate change, which by the way, has nothing to do with politics but rather the history of the phenomena.
TIMESTAMPS
01:10 Did humans evolve from apes
04:25 Hunting of early humans
12:45 Neanderthals
14:40 Humans walked out from Africa
20:50 Most important human tool
22:50 Complexities of archeological discovery
27:25 First Civilizations
32:55 Most influential Civilizations
34:45 Inca Civilization
37:55 Were there lost Civilizations (Atlantis)?
40:50 Why Civilizations Fall
44:35 Localized climate change
50:25 The Future of the human race
James Pan is a former Hedge Fund manager who, a decade ago, returned funds to outside investors and converted his firm into a family office. If you search for CP&E Partners' letters, you will see the phenomenal performance that James has achieved, and he did it as a one-man-shop. In this interview, we discussed James' investment philosophy, investment process, current holdings, and many other things.
Books James is Ayn Rand's fan, so don't forget to read Atlas Shrugged: https://amzn.to/3sqGEel
Support the Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
02:05 Absorbing information
03:45 Path to a Family Office
09:15 Defining Value Investing
13:30 Looking for investment ideas
15:30 First thing to see in a stock
19:30 Valuing companies
25:10 Concentrated vs Diversified portfolio
31:10 Meta
34:30 Latest investment – U-Haul
43:35 Management assessment
44:50 NOL as part of the valuation
46:20 Rolls-Royce
49:05 Writing Call Options
55:35 Investing with Dyslexia
59:15 Definition of Happiness
Dr. Scott Aaronson is Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and computational complexity theory more generally. For the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years, he is on leave to work at OpenAI on the theoretical foundations of AI safety. In this interview, Dr. Aaronson discussed a quantum computer, its comparison to classical computers, and its use cases. He also shared his take on the potential role of quantum computers in Artificial Intelligence.
Get Scott Aaronson's Book
Quantum Computing since Democritus: https://amzn.to/3E290yb
Read Scott Aaronson's blog: https://scottaaronson.blog
Support The Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:45 Misconceptions about Quantum computing
03:00 Quantum Computer vs Classical Computer
08:30 The Schrodinger equation
18:00 What is Quantum Computer good for?
28:45 The look of Quantum computers
43:40 Quantum Error Correction
46:50 Quantum computing in AI
55:25 Would you choose Machin Learning or Quantum Computer for a major
57:50 Take on Michio Kaku’s book Quantum Supremacy….(oh, well)
Joby Warrick is a best-selling author and a national security correspondent for The Washington Post. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he served for 24 years with the Post’s national and investigative staffs, reporting from Washington and scores of cities around the world. He is the author of three two nonfiction books, including “The Triple Agent”, a New York Times best-seller about a CIA operation in Afghanistan; "Red Line", and “Black Flags”, a narrative account of the personalities and events that gave rise to the Islamic State. “Black Flags” was listed as one of the best books of 2015 by the New York Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous other publications, and it was the recipient of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.
BOOKs:
Black Flags: https://amzn.to/3QE46NK
The Triple Agent: https://amzn.to/49zq5On
Red Line: https://amzn.to/3FYaLxo
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:35 The most surprising thing about ISIS
03:30 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
06:45 Afghanistan after the Soviet Union
08:00 Zarqawi in al-Jafr prison
10:05 Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi
13:00 Al-Qaida of Iraq, and Zarqawi’s weaponization of religion
17:30 Black Flags
20:00 The US invasion of Iraq
28:00 Big pause after Zarqawi
31:50 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the Rise of ISIS
38:00 A typical ISIS Fighter
40:30 New ISIS
43:10 Roots of Islamic Radicalization
47:00 Joby’s books
Tapio Schneider is a climate scientist and a professor of environmental science and engineering at the California Institute of Technology. His research is focused on understanding how the turbulent dynamics of the atmosphere, from clouds to large-scale weather systems, shape Earth's climate. Ultimately, his goal is to develop a set of physical laws that govern climate.
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:20 Climate Change or Global Warming?
04:25 Greenhouses and their effects
07:25 The worst-case scenario
12:30 Genesis of Thoughts on Climate Change
17:35 Melting of Ice Sheets
23:20 Disagreements on the Climate Change
27:50 Main emitters of greenhouses
30:35 Solutions to Climate Change
33:50 Do EVs make a difference
39:00 Why not switch to renewables
Tim Staermose is the founder of the African Lions Fund, which invests in sub-Saharan African “Frontier” economies, excluding South Africa. Tim is also an investment writer, and his website - www.GlobalValueHunter.com - is full of global value investing ideas.
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:10 Perception of Africa (Factfulness book)
08:25 Long or Short-term opportunity: Main Thesis
13:25 Asian model will not work in Africa
16:10 Leading Industries
18:35 Valuations in Africa
21:55 Investment process
29:25 Banking Industry in Africa
32:10 Position sizing
35:10 Hedging
38:50 Taxation of the fund
40:15 Largest position (NMB Bank - Tanzania)
48:45 Recent investments (KCB Bank, Equity Bank, Safaricom – Kenya)
52:40 Selling stocks
Dr. Lalich is Professor Emerita of Sociology at CSU Chico, where she was awarded the Professional Achievement Honor. She is recognized international authority in the fields of Cults and Coercion and has written numerous books and articles on the subject.
In this interview, Dr. Lalich discussed cults, who tend to join them, her experience being in a cult, children raised in cults, and many other things.
Support the Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
Dr. Lalich's BOOKs:
- Escaping Utopia: https://amzn.to/43L7AmB
- Bounded Choice: https://amzn.to/45XDtdw
- Cults in Mind: https://amzn.to/3MSYUU2
- Taking Back Your Life: https://amzn.to/3oLHpgB TIMESTAMPS
01:05 The definition of Cult
08:05 The profile of a person joining a cult
11:00 Cult recruiters
12:20 Personal cult story
26:50 Is everything a cult?
28:20 Strangest cults
29:55 The largest cults
31:55 Children in cults
41:00 Social Media’s Role in cults
42:40 Pulling your loved ones out of the cult
44:15 Building a cult
48:00 Lalich Center on Cults on Coercion
Nolan Bushnell established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Nations Restaurant News "Innovator of the Year" award, and was named one of Newsweek's "50 Men Who Changed America". He has started over 20 companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry.
NOLAN's BOOKs:
Shaping the Future of Education: https://amzn.to/3Sqrssq
Finding the Next Steve Jobs: https://amzn.to/3ShSB0I
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
WATCH THE ACCENT ON YOUTUBE: www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:40 Nolan Bushnell’s Biopic
03:25 Story behind Atari
05:25 Birth of Computer Space!
07:35 The Story of Pong
11:00 Creating a new industry
12:05 Steve Jobs at Atari
15:20 Warner’s mismanagement of Atari
18:20 Nolan Bushnell’s story
25:45 Chuck E. Cheese
29:25 Catalyst Technologies: ETAK Navigator
32:00 Kadabrascope + Pixar
34:10 Raising Eight! children
38:10 Blitz
After reading the book “Philip and Alexander – Kings and Conquerors” and being blown away by a remarkable story, I absolutely had to invite its author, Dr. Adrian Goldsworthy, to the Accent. He is an ancient historian and novelist, who has written more than a dozen of non-fiction and fiction books, primarily focused on Ancient Rome (Check his books below). In this interview, we discussed Philip's role in the meteoric rise of Alexander and the life stories of this father-and-son duo.
BOOKs: Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors: https://amzn.to/445ti56
Caesar: Life of a Colossus: https://amzn.to/435Qteh
Augustus: First Emperor of Rome: https://amzn.to/3PIWWsy
Historical Novels:
The Wall: https://amzn.to/3O7uJL3
Vindolanda: https://amzn.to/3PGLlu6
The Full Collection of Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NWnvZX
SUPPORT THE ACCENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
02:10 Underrated Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great
08:10 Philip on his way to the Throne
13:45 Philip’s reforms
21:05 Little casualties in wars
25:25 Taking Philip seriously
29:45 Philip II’s death
36:40 Alexander is the New King
43:05 First campaign
51:10 Diplomacy of Philip and Alexander
54:55 Defining Battles of Alexander
01:02:00 Conquering Empires is not Conquering the Provinces
01:06:45 Death of Alexander
01:07:00 Philip vs Alexander and their Roman counterparts
01:13:10 Dreams and Upcoming Books
01:17:15 Classics Influence on Dr. Goldsworthy
Amit Wadhwaney is a Portfolio Manager and Co-Founding Partner at Moerus Capital Management. He has over 25 years of experience researching and analyzing investment opportunities in developed, emerging, and frontier markets worldwide, and has managed global investment portfolios since mid-90s. Prior to founding Moerus, Amit was a Portfolio Manager and Partner at Third Avenue Management, where he founded the international business and was the manager of the Global Value Fund, Emerging Markets Fund, and International Value Fund. In this episode, we discussed Moerus' investment philosophy, current investments, position sizing, time of exit, and value investing in general.
Support The Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:30 Jean-Marie Eveillard
06:50 Negative Environment for Value Investing
13:40 Which countries to invest in and which to avoid
20:20 Definition of Cheap and a current holding
27:50 Despegar as a value investing play
38:05 Position sizing
43:10 Existing positions
48:00 Looking for investment ideas
59:10 Currency risk
Tre Nation is the frontman of a hugely popular band, Ghost Hounds, whose latest single, "The Last Train to Nowhere," is playing all over the world. In this interview, Tre shared the story of the band, his musical taste, his upbringing, touring with Rolling Stones and ZZ Top, and many other things.
Get the latest Ghost Hounds album, "First Last Time": https://amzn.to/3sYJCa3
Support The Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:25 Origin of Ghost Hounds
05:05 Ghost Hounds’ Music Style and Tre’s Voice
06:45 Song-writing process
08:55 New Album: First Last Time
11:30 Music Videos
14:00 The Band’s Manager
16:40 Motivation to keep going
18:35 Art vs Business
21:30 Growing up in San Antonio
25:15 Music or Physics
30:30 From Gospel to Rock-n-Roll
35:05 Tre’s preferred music style
39:50 Touring with Rolling Stones
44:20 Blitz
Gerald Posner is the author of thirteen acclaimed books, including New York Times bestsellers CASE CLOSED, WHY AMERICA SLEPT, and GOD's BANKERS. He is a contributor to Forbes. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. “A merciless pit bull of an investigator,” concluded the Chicago Tribune.
In this interview, we discussed Case Closed, a comprehensive and absolutely mind-blowing investigation of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Gerald covers the backstories of the main characters of the saga, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, and whether or not they had links to CIA, KGB, or Mafia.
Links to select books:
Case Closed: https://amzn.to/44F8wsB
Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America: https://amzn.to/3qXfnQo
God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican: https://amzn.to/45AW26G
Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11: https://amzn.to/3Z0DJ8m
Support the Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:55 Lee Harvey Oswald’s bio as the proof
07:40 Many “IFs” in the JFK case
12:50 Conspiracy about placing Oswald in the sniper nest
15:45 The most plausible and the dumbest conspiracies
19:20 Magic bullet
25:20 Jack Ruby
33:35 Yuri Nosenko – defected KGB agent
38:15 Is Gerald Posner a CIA agent?
42:50 Does new information change the conclusion?
46:50 Writing books across the spectrum of important issues
Carlo Cannell started Cannell Capital in 1992 with just $600k, and the fund grew over time to over $1 Billion. Unlike most fund managers, Carlo returned a portion of the assets back to investors, even though it meant less management fees. But that is not what Carlo is known for. Carlo has a superb track record investing in small-cap stocks, which he tends to hold for many years. Besides investing "long," his repertoire includes short-selling and occasional activist campaigns, which he discusses in this interview in detail.
Disclaimer: No Investment Advice. The information shared in this episode has no regard to the specific investment objective, financial situation or particular needs of any specific recipient.
The Book Carlo mentioned:
A Money Mind at Ninety by Philip Carret: https://amzn.to/3D6uCZK
Be the first to support The Accent at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:55 Carlo on Carlo
05:00 Carlo’s investment style
13:05 Investment Process
16:00 Favored industries
19:20 Due Diligence
25:50 Investment Activism
28:45 Common Mistakes that Boards and Managements make
33:55 Valuing companies
35:45 Exiting positions
40:35 Shorting stocks
52:05 Sizing of Short Positions
55:40 Role of LPs
01:01:10 Returning half a billion to investors
01:05:35 Investment Management business is unique
01:08:15 Advice for individual investors
Dr. Robert Cialdini has spent his entire career conducting scientific research on what leads people to say “Yes” to requests. The results of his research, his ensuing articles, and New York Times bestselling books have earned him an acclaimed reputation as The Godfather of Influence. His books, including Influence and Pre-Suasion, have sold more than five million copies in 41 different languages.
TIMESTAMPS
01:45 First encounter with influence
04:30 Principle of Unity
14:20 Principle of Social Proof
18:50 Principle of Reciprocation
21:25 Principle of Scarcity
24:20 Cialdini Institute
26:25 Principle of Authority
29:50 Principle of Liking
32:50 Principle of Commitment and Consistency
35:30 Pre-Suasion
38:00 Growing up in Post-war Milwaukie
42:20 Favorite childhood memory
48:10 University and writing The Influence
51:10 Influence at Work
53:15 Blitz
Dr. Donald Hoffman is a cognitive psychologist and famous science author. He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Hoffman studies consciousness, visual perception, and evolutionary psychology using mathematical models and psychophysical experiments. His research subjects include facial attractiveness, the recognition of shape, the perception of motion and color, the evolution of perception, and the mind–body problem. His latest book, The Case Against Reality, argues that the world is nothing like the one we experience through our senses.
Subscribe to Accent Podcast on Youtube to see all episodes: https://www.youtube.com/theaccentpodcast
The Case Against Reality: https://amzn.to/46pkLLS
Be the first to support The Accent at: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:40 Take on AI, AGI, and ChatGPT
11:40 Threats of AI
13:45 Human Vision and Face Perception
18:00 Looking for Eyes
26:55 The Case Against Reality – Evolution by Natural Selection
34:55 Why Hoffman is wrong
39:55 Spacetime is Doomed
48:00 Thousand dimensions
50:25 Men vs Women Seeing colors
55:00 Designed simplicity
01:00:35 Reality misleads us
01:06:05 Consciousness
01:12:05 Dreams
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show, a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, and the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers. Watch this episode with visual aid at www.YouTube.com/theaccentpodcast, and enjoy many more unpublished episodes.
Dr. Shermer's books: Conspiracy: https://amzn.to/43cPsll
Why People Believe Weird Things: https://amzn.to/45bkRX4
The Believing Brain: https://amzn.to/3MquA4c
Support The Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:35 The First Recorded Conspiracy Theory
04:05 Defining Conspiracy Theory and Who Falls for Them
12:40 The Umbrella Man – JFK Conspiracy
15:15 The 9/11 Conspiracy
17:20 Types of Conspiracy Theories (OJ Simpson)
22:25 Where there is smoke, there is fire
26:55 The Deep State
30:35 Changing Mind on Conspiracy Theories and UFOs pictures
35:15 The Skeptic Society
37:25 ChatGPT
39:25 Backward Masking
42:50 How to think like a Scientist
47:40 Social Media’s Role in Conspiracy Theories
49:50 Being Michael Shermer
John Kleinheinz is the CEO of Kleinheinz Capital Partners, the investment advisor for the Global Undervalued Securities Fund, a global-macro-themed hedge fund that at its peak managed $4 billion. In the 1990s, he was a partner in an investment firm where he managed the Russia Value Fund, one of the earliest funds to invest in Russia, and formed at the inception of the Russian stock market following the voucher privatization program in 1994.
John is a Chairman of the Board of Overseers for The Hoover Institution and on the advisory board of SIEPR (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research).
John's adventures in 1990s Russia are the basis for Josh Haven's book The Siberia Job. After reading the book, I had to speak to John to dig deeper into the events described in it, and boy, did I enjoy it. We also discussed John's investment philosophy and where he sees value in today's markets.
This Episode is one of many on the Accent Wealth sub-channel on YouTube. If you enjoyed it, subscribe at www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:40 Privatization in 1990s Russia
05:20 Russian Gold Rush
11:10 Illusive auctions for Russian companies
13:45 The results of the Russian investments
18:20 Life in Russia and Co-existence with Mafia
24:15 Kleinheinz Capital’s areas of interest
31:35 Investment process
36:15 Japanese market
40:10 Texas Central
44:00 The Hoover Institution
Paleontologist Jack Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur embryos. Horner's research covers a wide range of topics about dinosaurs, including their behavior, physiology, ecology, and evolution. Due to struggles with the learning disability, dyslexia, Horner does not hold a formal college degree but was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Montana in 1986. Also in 1986, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. He's a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University and is widely acknowledged to be the inspiration for the main character in the book and film Jurassic Park.
Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
02:25 T-Rex with feathers
10:30 Most intelligent dinosaurs
13:30 Historical misconceptions about dinosaurs
17:30 Interest in Dinosaurs
20:35 Verity of Dinosaurs across the World
21:40 B-Rex and Dinosaur's Soft Tissue
31:45 Favorite Dinosaur – Maiasaura
45:50 “Undiscovering” dinosaurs
49:55 Dino-chicken: How to Build a Dinosaur
56:45 The Jurassic Park
01:02:35 Is Jurassic Park possible?
01:06:15 On Jack Horner's Books: Digging Dinosaurs, and Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up
01:06:50 Life as a Dyslexic
In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Avi Loeb, the longest-serving chair of the Astronomy department at Harvard University, the best-selling author, and one of the most influential people in Space (according to Time Magazine). We discussed Alien life, Interstellar objects visiting the Earth (Oumuamua), the limitation of the multiverse, time travel, and A.I. astronauts. We also discussed Dr. Loeb’s exploration projects, including Galileo Project and Starshot initiative that is working on a technology that would allow sending probes to Alpha Centauri and reach it within our lifetimes. Watch this episode with visual aid at www.YouTube.com/theaccentpodcast.
Dr. Loeb's books: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth https://amzn.to/3mPCScc
Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life https://amzn.to/40A3Wts
My Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:00 Are we alone in the Universe?
04:45 Oumuamua
10:40 Galileo Project
12:10 Mainstream pushback against the alien origin of Oumuamua
26:50 Fermi Paradox
32:45 Biggest challenge for human space travel
38:30 Multiverse and String Theory
45:00 Reconciling Skeptics and String Theoreticians
54:00 Starshot Project (Alpha Centauri)
01:01:50 Time Travel
01:03:25 Dreams
Jim Rogers is a legendary investor, philanthropist, and author. In 1973, Jim Rogers and George Soros founded one of the most successful hedge funds in history, the Quantum Fund. By 1980, Quantum Fund returned more than 40 times the initial investments (vs ~50% for S&P). Unlike Soros, who continued running the fund, Jim retired from the industry and went on to travel the world, the adventures that he covered in his books. He now lives in Singapore and continues investing his own wealth.
In this interview, we discussed the global economy, the Federal Reserve, Inflation, investing, and Jim's life and career.
My Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
01:50 The state of the world economy
03:50 Do we need the Fed
06:10 Thoughts on the inflation
10:40 Investing in Commodities
14:15 Investing in stocks
16:35 Learning Chinese
18:55 What can prevent China from becoming the largest economy
19:40 Learning from Singapore
21:40 Jim Rogers
28:30 To the Wall Street
30:20 Starting Quantum Fund
33:00 Investment Biker
36:40 The Second World Trip
38:00 Botswana
39:50 Undervalued countries – Uzbekistan
41:20 Investing in Commodities
45:35 Gift to children
49:35 Blitz
51:20 North Korea
Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate. In this interview, we discussed his most famous research projects - Asymptotic Freedom (which won him Nobel), Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals. He shares his take on whether or not we are in a Simulation, risks and benefits of Artificial Intelligence, and even shares the type of tattoo he would get.
TIMESTAMPS
01:00 Dumb Questions
02:20 Understanding the Black Holes is not useful
03:40 Choosing the subject of research
06:25 Biggest breakthrough in physics in his lifetime
08:00 Axions
15:20 The Big Bang
19:30 The most beautiful equation
21:15 Are we in a simulation?
23:25 Dangers of Artificial Technology
28:40 Childhood and Parents
31:55 Favorite Childhood memory and Hobbies
35:20 Choosing his profession
38:25 Asymptotic Freedom
46:00 Receiving Nobel Prize
51:35 Does every scientist strive for Nobel Prize?
53:25 Anyons
01:01:00 Time Crystals
01:02:40 Anyons, Time Crystals, or Axions
01:04:40 Family and Career
01:07:00 Blitz
Olivier Chastan is the founder and CEO of Iconoclast, a company acquiring and managing the intellectual property of iconic entertainment artists, creators, and brands. Over the past year or so, Iconoclast acquired the IP of Tony Bennett, The Band, The Murder, Inc. (Ja Rule, DMX, etc.), DJ Diplo, and many others. Olivier has more than 20 years of experience in the music industry, including a decade of running VP Records, one of the largest independent labels in the USA.
We spoke about the music industry's ecosystem, investments in music catalogs and their valuations, his adventures in the music industry, and many other nerdy music-related things.
Timestamps
01:35 Iconoclast
02:55 Music Business
10:15 Attorney’s role
11:55 Artists’ revenue streams
12:55 Who gets paid more artists or the writer
17:55 Covers are paid
18:55 Story behind Iconoclast
24:55 It’s not about Maximizing cash flow
28:40 Valuations of music catalogs
32:10 Is the future technological change included in the price
36:55 Practice helps separate emotions from investment
42:55 The 1960s-70s were a unique era
47:25 Do Interest rates affect music catalogs’ valuations?
50:15:20 Murder, Inc. acquisition
52:25 Irv Gotti is an extraordinary entrepreneur
59:25 Growing up in a village around Bordeaux
01:11:00 Photography
01:17:05 Move to the US and career change
01:23:00 Bass is underrated
01:27:00 VP Records and Greensleeves
01:32:00 What saved the music industry
01:38:30 Irving Azoff
01:46:30 Memorable career moments
01:50:10 Blitz
Marin Alsop is a chief conductor of ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. She is the first woman to lead a major US orchestra (Baltimore Symphony), and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Marin is featured in the documentary The Conductor, which follows her journey from student to conductor, delving into women's struggles in music.
Timestamps
01:25 Styles of conducting
03:25 Beethoven, Metronome, and Tempo
05:30 Selecting a repertoire
08:15 Marin’s Creative Process – analyzing a score
10:00 Hearing the Score
12:35 Lessons from parents
14:00 Girls don’t become conductors
16:00 Biggest accomplishments
Watch more than 50 Episodes of The Accent Podcast on www.YouTube.com/TheAccentPodcast
Marina Toybina is a six times Emmy Award winning costume designer, who is behind the fascinated costumes of The Masked Signer show on Fox. She won awards for her work at The Masked Signer, Super Bowl Halftime Show (w/Katy Perry), 55th Annual Grammy Awards, SYTYCD, and X Factor.
Marina was born in Moscow, USSR, but when she was 11, her family immigrated to USA, settling in Phoenix, AZ. Her incredible journey from constant struggles to the pinnacle of the industry is one that is worth hearing!
TIME STAMPS
01:20 The Masked Singer and its costumes
07:00 Creating costumes
12:40 What it feels like to win an Emmy Award
16:30 Life after the Emmy’s
17:55 USSR - beginning of the journey
23:35 Choosing a career as a fashion designer
25:00 Starting a Fashion Line – GLAZA
29:20 First celebrity client
31:35 Pivot to Costume Design
34:30 X-Factor and SO You Think You Can Dance TV shows
38:00 Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show with Katy Perry
44:55 Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Usher, and Ariana Grande
46:35 Stylist for Eminem and Dr. Dre video, and conversation with Dre.
48:20 Working with Celebrities
50:00 Why do people in the Entertainment industry fail?
52:40 Outside of your comfort zone
54:30 Ten years of nothing before holy shit
57:50 Determination vs Competition
01:01:10 Friends, family and future
01:06:10 Blitz
Watch more than 50 Episodes of The Accent Podcast on www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast
Graham Weaver is founder and managing partner of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm that invests in software and services businesses. With over 20 years of experience in private equity, Graham founded Alpine based on the belief that exceptional people create exceptional businesses, a PeopleFirst philosophy that guides the firm’s choices today. When he’s not inspiring growth at Alpine, Graham teaches a top-rated strategic management course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business or posts on his blog - www.GrahamWeaver.com.
In this interview Graham takes us to a journey from his childhood in suburbs of Ohio, to his school athletic life, college, and career. He then walks us through early days of Alpine, which despite underperformance of its first fund, ultimately became one of the best performing firms in the industry.
Jeremiah Tower is likely the first Celebrity Chef in the US. A food lover from childhood, he had no formal culinary education before beginning his career as a chef at Chez Panisse, making the place famous for its authentic cuisine that is currently known as California or American style cuisine. Jeremiah later opened one of the most famous restaurants in the country in 1980s - The Stars, which became the major attraction for celebrities. Anthony Bourdain produced a fantastic documentary on Jeremiah - The Last Magnificent, which tells his story.
I sat down with Jeremiah to discuss details that weren't included in the documentary, and we covered everything from his early childhood to his latest experiments with the restaurant industry.
Jim Grant is the founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of financial markets popular among some of the most famous investors. Over past 35+ years of the publication, Grant developed a cult following on Wall Street.
In this interview we discussed Modern Monetary Theory and its limitations, Keynesian and Austrian Schools of Economics, recent government actions in response to COVID, Jim's life, career, and founding Grant's Interest Rate Observer.
Dominique Crenn is the owner of Atelier Crenn restaurant in San Francisco, and is the only female 3 Michelin Star Chef in the US. In her recent memoir - Rebel Chef: In Search for What Matters - she shares her fascinating life story from French orphanage to the pinnacle of culinary art.
In this interview we discussed Dominique's journey: influence of her parents, challenges she had faced (she didn't have a formal culinary education), building Atelier Crenn, her battle with cancer, and many other things.
01:10 How is Atelier Crenn adapting to COVID?
04:45 Changes COVID will bring to the restaurant industry
08:20 Restaurants move towards healthy choices
10:10 Thoughts on her Memoir
15:00 Adoption & childhood
17:30 Favorite childhood memory
18:40 Mother’s teaching
23:45 Young Dominique
24:15 Leaving France
26:00 Jeremiah Tower
30:45 The origin of confidence and how it was applied at Stars
34:17 Nature vs Nurture
37:40 Blending past experiences and starting Atelier Crenn
42:00 Netflix – Chef’s Table
44:20 Choosing investor, and balancing art and business
46:30 The role of Michelin Stars
50:02 After achieving everything one could dream of, what drives her now
52:00 French President’s dinner and Allen Ducas
55:12 Women in the Restaurant Industry
56:55 Defeating Cancer
59:30 looking for the biological mother
01:00:50 Blitz
Eicca Toppinen is the founding member of the multi-platinum metal band Apocalyptica, which has a cult following around the world. Its first album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos was released in 1996 and turned the heavy metal music upside down due to the band unique sound - the new music style is now called Symphonic Metal. In this interview we covered the history of the band, changes in the music industry, Eicca's life and creative process, and collaboration with Metallica & other bands.
Time stamps:
00:15 Streaming live concert
03:23 How are albums and features songs are written
08:24 Creating a band
14:53 International tours
17:00 How do musicians make money
18:50 Genesis of Apocalyptica
24:00 Plans for future
27:30 Metallica’s 30-year anniversary
29:00 Describing each member of Apocalyptica
33:48 Describing each member of Metallica
35:44 Getting to know Eicca
39:30 Choosing to become a musician
45:00 Writing music for Movies and Plays
47:27 Process of writing a music
50:49 Main motivation
54:54 People Behind the curtain
Given the amount of information about COVID (often contradicting), I thought it would be a good idea to have a discussion with an expert to make sense of it. I interviewed Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, whose team has been working on COVID response from the very beginning. We covered everything from How COVID affects human body to Vaccines to Hydroxychloroquine to conspiracy theories, and everything in between. Dr. Wachter also answered a bunch of my trivial questions:
- Does he wipe groceries and mail?
- Is he comfortable going to a Gym?
- Does he think it is safe to send kids back to school?; and many other questions.
You can find more episodes on www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast
Rough outline:
01:33 Who is Dr. Robert Wachter
03:22 How COVID affects people with different pre-existing conditions
07:45 Effective treatment, but not Hydroxychloroquine
15:00 Vaccines are coming in February 2021?
21:22 Why is COVID picking up again?
26:27 Do masks actually work?
30:50 Shortage of PPE and Testing – supply in China
36:10 First signs of the Storm
42:35 Is COVID human made virus?
44:56 Day-to-Day activities: Wiping groceries? Fly? Eat out? Gym?
57:28 Digital transformation of medicine
Tom Steyer is a Political Activist, Environmentalist, and Philanthropist. He is well known to the general public for his recent run for Democratic Presidential Nomination (2020 election), and for his career as a founder of Farallon Capital - a multi-billion hedge fund. Tom was recently appointed by the Governor Gavin Newsom to Co-Chair California Task Force on Business and Job Recovery that is focused on re-opening CA for business post-COVID lockdowns.
We spoke about BLM protests, COVID, Tom's run for Democratic Presidential Nomination, his childhood, lessons he learned from his parents, and philanthropy.
01:45 George Floyd and Black Lives Matter
03:20 Structural Racism in USA
07:12 Co-Chair of Task Force for reopening California after COVID
09:20 There is no going back
12:11 Reconciliation of the struggling economy and booming markets
14:20 Grade CARES ACT and Federal Reserve’s response to COVID
16:43 Administration’s response to COVID too bad?
20:25 How fun was the Presidential campaign?
23:30 Those arguments on the stage – are they real?
25:43 Childhood in New York
26:30 Tom’s Mother and what he learned from her
30:00 Philanthropy is a Rich person writing a check – it is not sustainable
Vitaliy Katsenelson is a famous value investor and a CEO & Chief Investment Officer of Investment Management Associates. Vitaliy has written several books on investing, including Active Value Investing and The Little Book of Sideways Markets.
We spoke about value investing, Vitaliy's investment process, his view on diversification, his biggest mistakes, his bucket list, and many other things.
Time stamp
00:40 Who am I
02:14 What’s Value Investing?
05:50 Is Warren Buffett a value investor or a GARP investor?
07:20 Diversified stock portfolio vs concentrated stock portfolio
09:50 When do you sell stocks
11:32 Case study: Twilio
15:15 Vitaliy’s stock picking process
17:14 Learning from biggest losers: Electronic Arts
22:14 The investment management Industry gets dumber and smarter at the same time
25:20 Time management between investing, writing, and having a family
28:07 Investment advice to non-investors: unusual budget
33:47 USSR influence on a future investor
37:38 From analyst to CEO
38:30 Blitz
41:51 Advice to youth
Visit:www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Music: Bensound.com
Lou Ferrante is a former mobster of the Gambino Crime Family, who did his time in prison, and then turned his life around becoming a bestselling author and a sought after TV personality.
Lou’s book, “The Mob Rules: What Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman”, became a best seller and was named The Best Business Book by Forbes. It was subsequently translated into 16 languages. His TV project, “Inside The Gangsters’ Code”, explores different gangs around the world and has been successfully running on Discovery Channel since 2013.
We spoke about his path to the Gambinos, his arrest, his time in prison, the transformation he has gone through, his books, John Gotti, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, and many other things.
01:45 Who is Lou?
03:30 Writing a bestseller
10:15 Fake diversity
12:00 Meeting George Weidenfeld
14:30 History of Mafia – contradictions
16:54 What is mafia?
19:20 Growing up in Queens
24:00 Crime in DNA
25:20 Prison stories
29:51 Mafia’s role in the streets
32:50 Day-to-day in Mafia
38:20 Snitching - Sammy “The Bull” Gravano
43:50 Arrest
47:00 Times have changed – Snitching 2.0
55:57 Prison is the greatest thing happen to me
1:01:45 “Mein Kampf” and other first books
1:04:00 Life advice to youth
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
soundtrack: Bensound
Fengsuo Zhou is a President of Humanitarian China, a non-profit organization that is focused on development of a civil society in China to promote rule-of-law, human rights, and freedom of expressions.
Fengsuo was one of the student leaders during the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, and after the massacre ended up on the list of 21 Most Wanted issued by the Chinese government.
In this interview we discussed what happened at the Tiananmen Square 30 years ago, Fengsuo's role in the protest, his arrest, and the life afterwards.
01:35 Humanitarian China - support to political prisoners
04:30 Million people on Tiananmen Square
05:23 China erases memory of the Massacre
06:25 Going back to the Square
09:35 From mourning to political protest
15:10 Becoming a student leader
21:34 Democracy within reach
24:35 Massacre starts
26:00 List of Most Wanted
27:36 Arrest and Prison
30:15 Exile
35:30 Current Hong Kong protests
37:42 How would China be different if student movement succeeded
40:40 Hope for China
41:47 Beyond totalitarian regime
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Soundtrack: www.bensound.com
Dan Primack is a Business Editor of Axios, where he runs the daily Pro Rata newsletter and hosts the daily Pro Rata podcast, among other things.
Previously, Dan was with Fortune.com as Senior Editor, where he covered deals and dealmakers, from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road. At Fortune, Dan launched a very popular newsletter, Term Sheet, which covered venture capital, Wall Street, M&A and other deal-related topics.
Prior to Fortune, Dan was an Editor-at-large with Thomson Reuters, where he launched both peHUB.com and the peHUB Wire email service.
Here you have it - ALL "must subscribe" daily newsletters about deal and dealmaking were created by the same person - Dan Primack.
In this interview we covered various subjects, from Uber's IPO and Slack's direct listing to Dan's favorite music band.
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Guy Kawasaki is the Chief Evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. He is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley). Guy is widely known around the world for his books and speeches on entrepreneurship, and his early work at Apple alongside Steve Jobs.
We covered many subjects, from his childhood in Hawaii to his path to Apple, and from his student record to 15 books he has written, including recently published Wise Guy. We also covered entrepreneurship, venture capital, business operations and many other subjects.
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Keith Teare is a serial entrepreneur, who has built two $1 billion dollar companies, helped to raise a billion dollar VC fund, and was in the founding team of TechCrunch.
Born in the UK, he learned how to code at an early age, and later started his first tech company. If you think it sounds familiar, you are wrong: Keith ran the company to pay for his passion - political activism.
We covered many subjects: from the class-conscious United Kingdom to blockchain, from bootstrapped companies to venture capital trends, from Karl Marx to a rapper Lil Backwood, and from Keith’s childhood to his life advice to young people.
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Javier Mendez is the founder and head coach of American Kickboxing Academy, the leading Mixed Martial Arts teams/schools in the world.
Throughout his spectacular career he has won world championships himself, and raised numerous world champions in both Kickboxing and MMA.
Javier's notable students include Daniel Cormier (UFC Heavy- and Light-Heavyweight champion), Cain Velasquez (former UFC Heavy weight champion), Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC Lightweight champion), Luke Rockhold (former UFC Middleweight champion), and many others.
In this interview we spoke about Javier's life and career, genesis of Mixed Martial Arts, qualities required to become a champion, and his famous students.
For more episodes visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Tom Kalinske is Chairman of Doodles, one of the many Ed-Tech ventures he has been involved in.
Throughout his fascinating career, Tom has built several multi-million dollar Ed-Tech companies, changed the video gaming industry as the CEO of SEGA America, revived Barbie doll and created He-Man and The Masters of the Universe animation series as the CEO of Mattel.
Each of Tom’s business endeavors could have been a bestselling book; and the fact that he had so many of them makes Tom a truly remarkable businessman and an entrepreneur.
For more episodes visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Heidi Ridley is CEO of Rosenberg Equity, one of the premiere quantitative investment management firms with $22 billion in assets under management.
Her life story is fascinating: she was born in Iran; her family lost everything during the Iranian Revolution, had to leave the country to an start everything from scratch in the US. On top of this, Heidi's personal career path is truly remarkable - from her job as a restaurant manager, to the CEO of the most male-dominated filed (quantitative investing) within one of the most male-dominated industries (asset management).
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
PJ Pereira is a Co-Founder and a Creative Chairman of Pereira O’Dell, one of the leading advertising firms. Over its relatively short history, Pereira O'Dell won every major industry award, including countless Cannes Lions and Emmy Award.
In his native Brazil, PJ is known as the author of the best-selling book, Gods of Both Worlds.
His life story is inspiring, his view of the advertising business is unique, his passion for martial arts is contagious, and his love for his family is limitless.
www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Michael Hoffmann is a Co-Founder & President of one of the best-known placement advisory firms - Probitas Partners. Since inception in 2001, Probitas Partners has raised nearly 90 funds and over $68 Billion for both established and emerging investment managers.
Michael's knowledge of the alternative asset management space, in particular private equity and real assets, makes his view on the today's trends especially valuable. Whether you are a top PE firm raising your 10th fund or a newly created "shop" raising your very first fund, you will find something interesting in this discussion. You will also learn about Michael's life and career as well as the story behind Probitas Partners' from its very first official meeting at 9:30 am on September 11, 2001 to its present state.
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
Soundtrack: bensound-memories
Thomas Weisel is the founder of Montgomery Securities, an iconic boutique investment bank that was sold to a predecessor of today's Bank of America.
Upon exiting Montgomery Securities, he started another investment bank, Thomas Weisel Partners, which was later sold to Stifel Financial, where Thomas currently is a Co-Chairman.
His success stories in business, in sport, in art, and other areas of life have one theme in common - he pushes himself extremely hard to become very competent in the subject-matter. This can be said about other successful people, but when you hear Thomas' story, you realize that he takes it to a whole new level.
Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com
music: bensound-memories