Social Distillation

**Book spoilers for these chapters.*** It's fitting these chapters bounce from Matt to Perrin as they are two characters of the same values but completely different mental affinities. So we get to compare and contrast as the story unfolds. First Matt being Matt. Heath brings back Suian's story about her uncle. This personality leads to his acquiring of fireworks and a sparked curiosity about what makes them go boom. Then we see a lot of his character around the best laid plans.... And how they go wrong. Perrin on the other hand, is going through a different issue. He's structured. And damn it all if there are forces disrupting that structure at the moment. Including some feels. And of course, Loial. He's excited about beds so that's the meme picture.

Trying to keep that content coming. This one we stay free of politics as we needed a mental break ourselves. So we stick fitness and sciency stuff. The bodies energy systems and how they work. Since this is witchcraft to Heath, Sam gets us going with some back drop physiology on how the 3 main energy systems in the body operate. Then we go into how that relates to training and nutrition. Obviously, this could be a whole semester course but here's what you get in an hour. Like, share, sub. If you have fitness topics you want covered, leave them in the comments section.

As we've started we address the comments at the beginning. Great comments and keep them coming. The meat of the episode is all about the girls journey and the meeting of the Aiel. A lot happens in just a few short chapters. Then some spoilers at the end.

We pick back up with with the Dragon Reborn and don't cover a lot of ground because so much happens here. Perrin and gang arrive at Remen where Rand's Ta'veren footstep is obvious as well as other stinky footsteps. Then there's Aiel in a cage, some whitecloacks. And, oh yeah, more Dreamy McForsaken stuff that's super important. All through Perrin's eyes and thoughts.... Including a certain young lady catching his eye.... Or is it the other way around... To be continued. Also, we have been getting comments and feedback. Great feedback even. So we read some of the comments and address them. One in particular had a lot of good ideas about how we address spoilers and the fact that for us it's a reread and not the first time through (according to him this is rare and I'm glad we have something to set us apart). So we start to experiment with a little different format. We start as usual trying not to spoil anything for first time readers, but then after the first thoughts add a spoiler filled end. We'll make it clear when we transition as to not mess anyone's first read experience. Thanks guys and gals and we'll see you in the next one.

A few housecleaning points related to the last episode analyzing studies on the drugs not to be named. Specifically about who funded the very flawed study. Then some teases for where we're going next related to the big pharma document dump on April 1st as well as a Stanford study that I still need to read and break down. Then in our wheel house. Fitness discussion. Today's topic is program density. How to maximize your time in the gym. Time is the biggest excuse to not train so this is a big one. More on this to come since there's a lot of nuance so I just gave a 300ft overview.

We start with the girls after scrubbing pots (Hence the meme). They need to deliver a message. The plan.... A boy they know who won't break a promise even though he's a mischief. I (Sam) love the character that is Mat. This book really starts to develop him into the bad ass that he is. The ladies try and manipulate him, and ultimately get their way, but he does figure out the shenanigans. But now we introduce the ability of luck. He seems to bend chance. We go into the philosophy of what that may mean. The journey continues and now Mat is back in the mix.... Oh yeah, and Thom is along for the ride. Though he's a little hungover for the moment

We start with a fitness topic. The most overlooked principle of fitness in fact. Rest and recovery. Hopefully not overcomplicated but a lot of info here. Will Smith slap distracting around the world. Thoughts on manliness and appropriate reaction. And somehow Heath segues that into the environment and it works. Some background on different views with sources and then our own thoughts.

Annoyingly, we had to talk covid again because of the news cycle around the newly published study on the demon drug. But oh my, there's so much wrong here. We'll take you through it but here are the main points. First, it's actually not new. It took a long time to get published (probably for the reasons I point out). The paper was rejected by many peer reviews and conveniently accepted now. Just so happens a couple of positive news studies on the drug proceeded it. Second, it's all about the drop out rate. It's bad and lopsided. We'll show you the data. It not only is fishy but it changes the numbers reported in the results section. This is never explained by the authors. Then a quick 2 minute blip about the medical professionals on youtube. The pattern of avoidance with certain subjects. Enjoy peoples work without idolizing and you can sniff these things out. Link to study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115869

We're back and the news of the day is the Judge Brown hearings. Well apparently you can't define woman without being a biologist. Well Sam just so happens to be a physiologist, which is a biologist that is more specific t humans. This conversation revolves around the differences between sex and gender and why language matters. After some hiccups with filming around Honey Do's, we talk about Tess Holliday and her body positive anorexia diagnosis. No medical advice here, just a lot of wtf. Link to obesity impact on health https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5401682/

Where back at the Wheel of Time. Here we're centered around tower shenanigans. Verin has some stuff for Egwene. Oh mysterious Verin. The Girls get recruited for big bad dangerous stuff. Matt? Well he's on the mend. And well, shows off some skills at the warder yard. I go into how that's not random with his dad, who's not a lecherous drunk. F-ing stupid series.

This weeks social discussion revolves around the NFL. We talk about the balance between getting paid and having a team around you. Not much set up needed here in the description except I hate the argument that pits players vs owners on this. It's GMs and the salary cap that create the choice of getting paid or winning. As usual I come with data.

I know it's being beaten to death in the social medias, but I wanted give a slightly different perspective from my studies on activism. I really hadn't seen this discussion elsewhere (though I may just have missed) so hopefully y'all get a different perspective to take to the dinner table conversation. Also, looking at it this way can result in a more measured response. Always remember, the purpose of the activism isn't change. The purpose is outrage from the majority so they can justify burning it all down. On to training. Yay, no politics in this section. We talk about exercise selection and the concept of variety. We talk about how it can be overdone (muscle confusion methods) and when it can be highly effective (sorry powerlifters). It starts simple but I think I got a little complicated near the end. Sorry.

****Book Spoilers through Ch. 12**** We start with the Whitecloaks from the perspective of their leader, Pedron Niall. Good lessons in the difference between competence and narcissism. Also, how signal errors can enter into the mix, especially in a less developed era. Next we're through Perrin's eyes and dive into the personality types of the main characters as we lead up to the battle and the next journey. This is a deep set of chapters for getting to know Perrin and how he very much compliments Rand. We end with the girls heading to the tower with a debilitated Matt. Egwene's trauma shows through. We also get to meet Dain Bornhold.

***Spoilers for Great Hunt*** We finish book two. It's a tough flow conversation cause Jordan starts in book two with his style of bringing all the threads that lead to the moment together. And he does it from their points of view. So we bounce around a lot. Highlights. Eqwene's trials and development. Nyneave shows her leadership. Min shows her feelings. Ingtar is awesome. Turak is awesome. And the great irony of what ultimately pushes the Seanchan back. And I know the Meme is loosely related but it's relative to my comment of the "5 Five Go Forward" and the LoTR scene.

Heath really wanted to discuss the so called "Don't Say Gay" bill that just passed in Florida. So of course we had to break out the actual bill. Then discuss developmental ages and why they are important. We might have to go into that further in the future since we only got to surface level science here. Here's the link to the Bill. You can download the PDF versions. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/?Tab=BillText Really an important conversation for me because this is an example of when my people on the (actual) liberal left need to stand up and say "Too Far!"

****Spoilers*** We're back in the Great Hunt. Rand and the gang are back together. When we left off he had just lost the horn and dagger. Perrin, Mat, Ingtar, Verin, and gang find them in town. Rand's accidentally played the game well and this gives him an opportunity to find the horn. Only uh oh, there's a waygate in the manor blocked by Machin Shin..... So they go to the stedding...... Uh oh, Black Wind is there too. This sucks. Hurray, a portal stone. That's the ticket.... Then F----!

Now that the Witcher has released 2 seasons we finally found time to get together and talk it through. Three different viewpoints. Heath just seeing the show. Sam playing Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, and Chuck reading the books, playing the games. It's a long one but plenty of comic relief and source material discussion.

Here is the full version that has the non-Youtube kosher material. This is not an analysis of the efficacy of the drug. There are no recommendations. There's a little new data comparing it to other drugs but this episode is more about the censorship involved and the money behind it.

We continue the Great Hunt analysis. We start with Nyneave's testing for accepted. We talk the nature of the rings and Nyneave's strengths and weaknesses. Then Rand gets to Carhein and begins to see the game. he meets Thom again and needs help. All the while running from trollocs and falling in with the illuminators.

We took a few days to put together our thoughts on the Russian warfront. First we wanted to sort through the initial propaganda that was flying through social media. And second, Heath had some info that may give some insight on the inner workings of the Russian machine. After seeing it for the first time I immediately thought of the timing of things that were happening in the West that are integral for this whole situation to unfold. We start by giving a back drop while introducing a fellow named Aleksandr Dugin. Combining his ideals, actions, and influence with the fact that there's a serious issue with social media bots designed to do the very things he intended led us down a lot of rabbit holes. We create a set of data points in recent history and discuss them with several thought experiments. I feel this is pretty original analysis and we hope you enjoy. Some sources: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/ https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-intelligence-officers-hacking-offenses-related-2016-election

***Spoilers!!!!!*** We separated this section cause there's just too much spoilage. Jordan put so many hints for the future that the only commentary on this chapter can be speculating on what those hints were. So if you're reading along just know that there's so much important in there and start formulating your guesses to what they mean. And as far as the thumbnail for this episode.... It's a random tangent we took and I just so happened to have a meme for that.

Now we're leaving Fal Dara. Our three boys from the Two Rivers are hunting the stolen horn as well as the infamous dagger. Perrin and Matt discover Rand's little secret just in time for Rand to hop to a parallel dimension. The parties in both dimensions keep following the path as the fabric of time and space thins. Both parties meet very knowledgeable and integral ladies along the way. One beautiful beyond compare in intellect and physique. The another frumpy and seemingly absent minded. Poor Mat and Perrin. They drew the short straw on this one.

Where to start with this one. I started with an HIV story that was written to make you feel the numbers were super high. No lies, just bad presentation. But that's where the fun ended. British Journal of Medicine fact checked by facebook. Oh lord we can't make this stuff up. The deeper problem though is the new definitions of terrorism put forth by the Department of Homeland Security. Correct information that contradicts the authorities is now labeled "malinformation." Dangerous water we're treading in.

We're on to book two. Trying to cover ground each episode now so we go through everything in Fal Dara. Lots of character intro and some development. One possible major spoiler so we did the jazz hands though I think we talked around it pretty well.

**Spoilers** Taking it from Caemlyn to the End. We start in Caemlyn where Rand falls into the palace trying to get a view of Logain. Then take a trip to the Ways. And finally the confrontation at the Eye. Brief discussion of the newly introduced characters and to start with. For those that have been following from our WoT television episodes, we know Elaine, Gawyn, Galad, Mogase, and Elaida were completely excluded from the travel to the tower in season one. We also spend some time on breaking down the fortelling Elaida has while Rand is brought to Morgase. Then the Ways. I thought it was important to talk a little about how the Ways were different than the One Power. It not only adds strength I think to characters that don't wield it, it makes a lot of things going forward make more sense. Then the battle at the Eye. My mom was underwhelmed with this scene after an otherwise great book. I'd have to agree, even though it is made better on reread knowing the significance of the characters met. Also, we touched on the discussion surrounding the booming voice. We might have some interesting thoughts on the nature of the Eye as well as the voice.