Totally Unrelated: History, books & banter among friends: Recent Episodes
Totally Unrelated
A bunch of Eastern European friends blabbing about history, books, media and random trivia. Occasional venting sessions.
Episodes drop every other week, on Wednesday.
Shoot us an email at the.totally.unrelated.podcast@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TUnrelated Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/totally_unrelated_pod/
Pavel Coruț was a member of a counter-espionage unit. Then, after the fall of the communist regime in Romania, he started writing spy novels, blurring the line between fact and fiction and introducing a series of conspiracy theories into the public discourse regarding the country's recent past. At the same time, Romanians' appetite for all things religious, spiritual and esoteric was growing at a steady pace. Sensing an opportunity, other former secret service members re-branded themselves as spiritual healers and conspiracy peddlers, becoming key players within the emerging conspirituality movement. 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/15/russia-kgb-psychic-oleg-kashin https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/19/archives/emigre-tells-of-research-in-soviet-in-parapsychology-for-military.html https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09668130802630870 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/nationalistic-spy-novels-strike-chord-in-romania-1506123.html Use a translation tool for the following Romanian-language sources: https://www.scena9.ro/article/niste-bubuli https://www.scena9.ro/article/pavel-corut-conspiratie-biografie https://www.scena9.ro/article/pavel-corut-conspiratii-securitate-carti 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔: Music: Rainy Dusk Groove [Full version] by MusicLFiles Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/11861-rainy-dusk-groove-full-version Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Inspiring Noir Piano Waltz by MusicLFiles Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8785-inspiring-noir-piano-waltz Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: The Big Adventure by Sascha Ende Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/431-the-big-adventure Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Foreign Worlds by Frank Schroeter Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10862-foreign-worlds Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
What is conservation financing? And do rich people really care about the environment? We'll explore the story of James Goldsmith, hostile takeover baron who was among the first promoters of the idea of debt-for-nature swaps. Would the face-eating leopard play nice outside the world of business or is nature just business as usual?
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/L4LlmtQuWXc
Shoot us an email at the.totally.unrelated.podcast@gmail.com
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𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔:
The following music was used for this media project: Music: Hard Boiled by Kevin MacLeod Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3857-hard-boiled License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The following music was used for this media project: Music: Backbay Lounge by Kevin MacLeod Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3408-backbay-lounge License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The following music was used for this media project: Music: An Evil Wynd by Tim Kulig Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9830-an-evil-wynd License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The following music was used for this media project: Music: Secret of Tiki Island by Kevin MacLeod Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4331-secret-of-tiki-island License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Late Night Radio by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7613-late-night-radio License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Nicolae Malaxa was the quintessential Romanian robber baron: building his fortune by securing lucrative deals with the state, schmoozing with royalty and fascists alike. Heck, he even took his chance for a few years behind the Iron Curtain, bribing Romanian Communist Party officials. And then, he went to America!
Diana and Eliza discuss all the man's shenanigans and how he has benefited from a significant reputation laundering within the current discourse in Romania.
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The news continues to be bad and so, Diana and Irina revisit an old favorite to help them ward off cynicism, hopelessness and a general sense of doom about the future. Re-reading Terry Pratchett's Guards!Guards!, they talk about the horrors we let enter our world, the terrible people we allow into power and how we need to still hope that despite all that, we can still improve society (somewhat).
Illustrations by Paul Kidby and David Wyatt (Discworld Emporium)
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Anguish by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3373-anguish
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: A Night In The Suburbs by MusicLFiles
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8209-a-night-in-the-suburbs
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://cemmusicproject.wixsite.com/musiclibraryfiles
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Dark Forces March by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/536-dark-forces-march
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://www.sascha-ende.de
The gap in our knowledge about nutrition might surprise many, especially those who think that their 'common sense' intuitions or prejudices are enough evidence to base their judgements on. Irina and Diana discuss misconceptions regarding weight loss, what it means to be healthy and the difficulties in conducting research into nutritional science.
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Irina have a bit of a venting session regarding people who can't seem to mind their own business. Also, those that are unable to understand the different impact of bad takes 'it's just my opinion, man!' in private versus in the public sphere.
A critique of body-shaming, fake feminism and general shitty behavior. As always, with a Romanian twist.
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
From the construction site, into the kitchen and on to other gig work - listen to David recount his journey so far. Going back and forth between Romania and the United States, getting into trouble, making friends and grabbing any opportunity to make a tough life slightly better.
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
National flag carriers have been known to struggle and sometimes even succumb - Malev, Swissair, Sabena - and it seems like the Romanian airlines (TAROM) are going through a three decade-long circling of the drain. And all this even before the pandemic hit!
In this episode, Diana and Ioana discuss some of the 'interesting characters' behind the rocky trajectory of TAROM- from Eastern Europe's second largest airline, to a hotbed of nepotism, corruption and debt.
=== Avtiation enthusiasts can also follow this episode on Youtube where samples from a local plane spotter's collection are included in the video ===
Photo credits go to ClujSpotting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clujspotting/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cluj.spotting/
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Hustle culture is back at it. Some might say it never went away. From being permanently on your grind - whatever that means - to cranking up your productivity, Diana and Larisa discuss all the dubious work and career-related 'advice' that gurus have on offer (for a fee, of course).
Is is actually a good thing to be productive all the time and is procrastination always the enemy? Who are you being productive for? And how do you know when your facing an important decision in your life?
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Communism in Romania, Ceausescu, food shortages, blackouts and general austerity. This is the story we all know and many of those who lived during the last days of the regime experienced. But what led up to this mess? And why are there still Communist nostalgics out there? Was the West just trolling Ceausescu when they called him the 'good communist'? Diana and Ira discuss both stories they've heard from everyday people about the regime, as well as the analysis of the era by political economist Cornel Ban.
Sources:
Cornel Ban - Sovereign Debt, Austerity, and Regime Change : The Case of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romania, East European Politics and Societies, Volume 20, No. 10, pp. 1-34
Cornel Ban - What brought Romania into a sovereign debt crisis in 1981? (blog post)
Cornel Ban - Romania’s neo-Stalinist developmentalism (1965-1989) (blog post)
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Our Story Begins by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4181-our-story-begins
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Eastern Europeans had high hopes for the future of their respective countries as they sought to emulate a Western liberal democratic model. A few decades down the line, disdain and resentment have soured the mood. Diana and Irina use Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes' book The Light That Failed to discuss the shift in mood towards liberalism since the 1990s, whom people (should) blame for this and how all this fits into the larger puzzle of current events.
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Larisa continue their conversation on the minefield that is the recruitment process. What are some of the most annoying or straight-up awkward questions people trying to get hired are likely to encounter? And what creative ways might your future supervisor expect you to use your socks? Find out by listening to this here episode!
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Many red flags can pop up during job interviews. Some of them reveal a lot of unpleasant things about how your future workplace. Larisa and Diana discuss some of these warning signs and how to avoid wasting your time with employers that mistreat their workers, ask them to perform several roles for meager pay or simply stunt their growth in positions that offer no prospects.
Music
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
This episode is all about the practical benefits that a basic understanding of science can bring to your health and well-being. Diana and Irina talk about how being able to distinguish between legitimate sources and quackery can improve your daily life and sometimes even save you from a lot of pain, or weird juicing overdoses.
Visit Irina's
Web page: https://irinamateies.ro/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/IrinaMateie%C8%99Nutri%C8%9BieOncologic%C4%83
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Irina take a reluctant look at the weird world of political fanfiction. If politics is show business for ugly people, why are some people so eager to get them naked and involved in (sticky) situations?
Reading:
McDreamy, McSteamy and McConnell, by Samuel Ashworth, Longreads, September 2019
Maggie x Ronald: Dribble-Down-Economics, by Isaacdoesart, maybejude
Music:
Late Night Radio by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7613-late-night-radio License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
V for Varoufakis | NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE mit Jan Böhmermann Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afl9WFGJE0M&ab_channel=ZDFMAGAZINROYALE
Diana and Adel discuss Warren Farrell's unfortunate oeuvre from 1993, in which he does a Weininger and discovers that women are bad, actually. We learn that men are the most secretly oppressed group out there, their needs neglected for millennia, and plagued by the many dangers of female attractiveness.
On the plus side, the episode also includes some random banter on the topic of pies and balls. In that order.
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Trains are great and we need more of them. But you know what's not? Railway scandals! Diana and Adel learn about the Strousberg affair, a 19th century railway scandal that acted as a catalyst for a major financial crisis and signaled the less than auspicious birth of the Romanian railways.
Trigger warning for Bismarck and the Long Depression (cries in Millennial tears). Monarchy fanboys/girls/nbs might also want to proceed with caution.
Sources:
Lessons from the Long Depression, by Steve Davies, Institute of Economic Affairs
Crisis Chronicles: The Long Depression and the Panic of 1873, Thomas Klitgaard and James Narron, Liberty Street Economics
Money, Morals, and the Pillars of Bismarck's Society, Fritz Stern, Central European History, Volume 3, Issue 1-2, March 1970 , pp. 49 - 72
Bierce, Eminescu and Their Investigations of the Railway Business, Lucian-Vasile Szabo, Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Ephemerides ; Jun2013, Vol. 58, Issue 1, pp. 119-132
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Irina continue their discussion on the healthcare system in Romania. What's med school like and what lies beyond? Lots of weird anecdotes and difficult career choices, it would seem. How bad is corruption within the health system and has anything changed in the past decade? How could we start to fix some of the issues within the system and - most importantly - can 90s euro-dance sensation Dr Alban help us?
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Irina talk about the pros and cons of the healthcare system in Romania. What role do the public and private sector play? What is the nature of a true emergency? And why is the privatization of the healthcare system the ultimate wet dream of the Romanian political class?
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and Adel discuss the role that Poiana chocolate - a popular local chocolate brand - played in Kraft's hostile takeover of Cadbury. They also reminisce about growing up amid Romania's turbulent transition to a market economy in the '90s and contemplate why, sooner or later, everything ends up becoming a Lidl store.
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana and David talk about Otto Weininger, masculinity and the history of misogyny throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Highlights from Weininger's 'Sex and Character', the magnus opus of one of inceldom's least known Founding Fathers.
Sources:
Bram Dijkstra - Idols of Perversity
Otto Weininger - Sex and Character
Françoise Gaillard, Colette Windish - Naked, but Hairy: Women and Misogyny in Fin de Siècle Representations, South Central Review, Volume 29, Number 3, Fall 2012
Misha Kavka - The "Alluring Abyss of Nothingness": Misogyny and (Male) Hysteria in Otto Weininger, New German Critique, No. 66, Special Issue on the Nineteenth Century, Autumn,1995
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
What is noise, actually? How do we define noise pollution? And who is allowed to produce it and why? By the turn of the 20th century, those living in cities began to notice the high levels of noise pollution in their environments, and its impact on their well-being. It was especially the middle classes that would shape the ways in which people experienced public space and the noises that were permissible therein.
Exploring the first anti-noise movements and their activism's legacy today. Heaps of classism and hating on lower-class women who play on second-hand pianos.
Sources:
Peter Payer - The Age of Noise. Early Reactions in Vienna 1870-1914
The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion, by Interboro
The Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise, by Peter Andrey Smith, New Yorker, January 2013
New York's War on Noise, NY Times archives
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Diana, Irina and Bogdan discuss why burnout is so common in the tech industry. What with crunch culture, unpaid overtime, and toxic work environments, it seems like it's not all tits and champagne in an industry that has been hailed by many to be the solution to personal and societal issues alike. There's talk of mental health, working conditions and peculiarities of the tech industries in Romania and Malta.
Music:
Lo-Fi Hip-Hop 03 by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7848-lo-fi-hip-hop-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
What's all the hubbub about cancel culture? Diana and Irina discuss one of the many, many articles written on the subject in the past few years, and provide their 'very nuanced,' 'highly astute,' and 'definitely correct' ideas on whose head should be on the chopping block.
===TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of sexual harassment and rape ===
Article referenced in the episode:
The New Puritans, by Anne Appelbaum (The Atlantic, August 31, 2021)
Horrible labor practices brushed under the carpet of 'customer obsession' might sound like the pinnacle of soulless corporatese right from Jeff Bezos' mouth. However, many of the things companies such as Amazon are doing right now bear a striking resemblance to the 19th century horrors of the meatpacking industry in the U.S. and the British Empire.
==WARNING: Episode may contain hexes!==
Books referenced in this episode:
Joshua Specht - Red Meat Republic
Lizzie Collingham - The Hungry Empire
Neil Irvin Painter - Standing at Armageddon
Find out why Irina is the ultimate literary Karen, as she goes off on an hour-long rant about some of the top-rated books of fiction on Goodreads in 2020.
Can you just shrug off news of alien contact just because it comes from your dad who is cringe? Are you interested in detailed descriptions of heavy curtains amid cannibalism, oppression and incest at the hacienda? And just what exactly happened to that twice-dead leper?
Diana and Irina continue their discussion of Jonathan Haidt's book and Abby Shapiro's hilariously bad review of it. There's talk about what innateness really means in scientific terms, and moral foundations. Also, quite a bit about riders and futile attempts to steer their unruly elephants.
P.S. No elephants were harmed during the making of this episode, regardless of their political convictions.
References for this episode:
Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind
Clasically Abby - 6 Tips to Get Through to Liberals
Siddhartha Mukherjee - The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
We all have our disagreements, but why does it sometimes feel like the person on the other side sees the world in such a radically different way? Diana and Irina discuss Jonathan Haidt's take on this issue, in his book The Righteous Mind. They also reference a hilariously bad review of the book made by self-described 'Conservative influencer' Abigail Shapiro (more commonly known by all those bombarded with her ads on Youtube as Clasically Abby) and the many ways in which Haidt's and other researchers' insights are misconstrued in the public sphere.
References for this episode:
Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind
Clasically Abby - 6 Tips to Get Through to Liberals
Diana and Irina continue their discussion about Mukherjee's book and talk about important questions such as: What does it mean - from a scientific point of view - when we say something is genetic? Why are gender and identity so complicated and, most importantly, why even men? :P
How many times have you heard/read this before: 'Look, I know it's not politically correct to say this about X, but this is what the science says.'
Well, what does the science say? Turns out, a lot of things, Whether we're talking about gender, race or identity, nuances are a big thing. And as Siddhartha Mukherjee highlights in his book, our understanding on such topics has been distorted in the past by both prejudices and people just doing bad science (looking at you, Galton!)
References:
Siddhartha Mukherjee - The Gene. An Intimate History
Burkhard Bilge, (March 28, 2004): Why Europeans are getting taller and taller-and Americans aren’t., The New Yorker
Diana and Eliza talk about how time is a flat circle and how - whether you're a 19th century feminist or just a woman on the internet nowadays - you'll often find yourself having the same arguments about the basic humanity of women. We react to a public exchange between Romanian feminist Sofia Nadejde and literary critic and politician, Titu Maiorescu on the topic of female intelligence. The only difference being that back then, it wasn't just incels who were seriously into skull shapes and sizes...
Books referenced in this episode:
Stefania Mihailescu - Din istoria feminismului romanesc
Adrian Dohotaru Socialistii – O mostenire (1835-1921).
He might have been Vienna's most beloved son, but if there is one group of people mayor Karl Lueger didn't love back it was - yes, you've guessed it - the Jews. Diana and Eliza talk about how Lueger rose through the ranks, switched allegiances, discarded principles that were no longer useful to him and spouted the most fashionable bigotry du jour, all in an effort to become mayor of Vienna.
Books and articles referenced in this episode:
Brigitte Hamann - Hitler’s Vienna
Carl Schorske - Fin-de-siecle Vienna
Robert S. Wistrich - Karl Lueger and the Ambiguities of Viennese Antisemitism
Hey, we all make mistakes. Vienna, however, has a few more oopsies in its recent history than the average Josef. This episode, Diana and Bogdan discuss the first generation of politicians who left their mom's basement and - drawing inspiration from antisemitic authors like Liebenfels and List - made a career out of inciting violence and hatred against any non-German groups within the empire, but especially the Jews. First up: Georg von Schonerer!
Books referenced in this episode:
Brigitte Hamann - Hitler’s Vienna
Carl Schorske - Fin-de-siecle Vienna
Diana and Irina are back and they're still annoyed with Greg and his defense of the one percent! This time around, it's time to dissect some more Mankiw bullshit about why we can't have (more evenly distributed) nice things. From genoeconomics (bay-beeh!) to why we shouldn't change anything for fear of disturbing the gentle creatures known as job creators, disruptors and other assorted 'people of means,'
Words. These building blocks of communication can be rendered into ever-so-many potholes that will wreak the Chevy of human dialogue. Diana and Irina talk about the academically-sanctioned bad faith arguments of American economist Greg Mankiw, in his essay titled 'Defending the One Percent.'
Irina comes clean about her unhealthy media consumption habits. We complain about the way couple dynamics are portrayed and why so few productions engage with the non-epic side of healthy and loving relationships.
We are also definitely showing our age through our references.
Know any movies or series that feature well-written couples and would warm our hearts? Shoot us an email at the.totally.unrelated.podcast@gmail.com
P.S. The dog was asleep during this episode. If you squint and wiggle your ears you might hear him snore.
We start off by talking about the wholesome parts of fanfics and fandoms. How they act as a great catalyst for creativity, solidarity and joint action for members. Then we swerve right into the horrible mess that is the work of yet another fash fanfic writer and the not so great community of enthusiasts that Lanz von Liebenfels gathered around himself.
P.S. For those of you who told us the dog was the best part of the previous episode, he makes a guest appearance once again, yawning his way through most of our discussion.
Books referenced in the episode:
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke - The Occult Roots of Nazism
Brigitte Hamann - Hitler’s Vienna
Diana and Irina discuss the parallel rise of eugenicist and occult movements - from Francis Galton to the founder of the Theosophical Society, Madame Blavatsky. They then talk about Austrian writer Guido von List - big fan of runes - who drew inspiration from both occultism and scientific racism for his proto-fascist fanfics that would go on to create the lore of 20th century fascist movements.
Books referenced in the episode:
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke - The Occult Roots of Nazism
Brigitte Hamann - Hitler’s Vienna