The cup of tea. An unassuming choice it may seem, but the culture it engenders by its very nature creates a fascinating social vehicle. What some may decry as a stuffy or rigid exercise, actually can provide an insight into a community seldom found elsewhere. In this episode we will delve into the unique ways the English teatime can be used to crea…

Not all damage can be seen. Not all struggles happen in public view. When we hide our true pain from others, not only do we rob them of the ability to sympathize, but we turn away help we do not recognize from areas we do not expect it. In this episode I tackle a topic I have been putting off for over a year now. Mostly this was because of my desir…

We beg for it, we plead for it, offer deals, and go to great lengths to achieve it, but the moments of inspiration fall sparingly upon those who hunger most for them. Throughout history the pursuit of inspiration has been a mystery for all who have had the experience. The agreed upon position seems to point mostly toward the impression that the phe…

Choosing gifts is possibly one of the most stressful parts of participation, when it comes to the holidays. The desire to conjure an idea both uniquely appropriate, and unexpectedly welcome sets a very high bar not only for one person, but for possibly dozens at a time. This imperative often is broken down into a monetary metric. Gifts are ruled eq…

‘It’s the season, to bundle up! Not only ourselves, but our homes and buildings as well! As we transition from days spent running from the heat and humidity into days spent equally chasing them down, there are some useful techniques to keep in mind as we do. Maintaining a livable environment is not only a priority for comfort and efficiency, but ha…

What do you get the man who has everything? Why, everything, of course! Throughout history, attempts have been made to conquer vast swathes of the globe beneath a single banner and ruler. Some notable examples could even have been said to have effectively achieved a mythical domination. But, what does it actually take to win the biggest prize of al…

How do you change the makeup of a whole community? Where do you begin if you have an idea for a whole new way to live? Who gets to decide how we structure our lives and relationships in an ever evolving society? We live at a time when our ability to get into contact with each other has never been easier, and yet we live lives more isolated from act…

Halloween! The most contested, controversial, and confusing holiday on the western calendar. Half beloved, half derided, it seems to either engender disgust, or adoration. Its celebration alone can be seen as grounds for religious condemnation among certain sects, even as history itself tells a different tale. In this episode, we discover not only …

What is in a name? We are told that a rose smells the same no matter its title, yet we pin a great deal of our perceptions upon the smallest of things. Would there be an actual shift in our collective perception if the touchstones of our lives were suddenly given drastically different titles? What is the true significance of the few words we choose…

The idea of the mechanical beings we create inevitably dominating our species is a trope that goes back to before robotics were even possible. Even today, we seem to instinctively view any advancement in the development of Artificial Intelligence with a skeptical, paranoid, and even hostile perspective. But could our fears be the very thing that ma…

Cryptocurrency is ironically elegantly named. It seems, as the understanding of its function and meaning has become one of the most confusing new tasks in finance since the invention of fine print. The fact that the term NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token is likewise obtuse enough to be practically useless information among the general population. Y…

The brooding artist pulling greatness from the very depths of their soul; the greatest art coming from those who suffered much for their art; the haunting tragedy of artistic genius lost all too young… As a culture we celebrate The Arts as a sign of greatness within a civilization. The very foundations of a nation’s self identity can be based upon …

How strictly practical does a line of inquiry need to be to have merit? Is there value to be had in exploring purely fantastical possibilities? There was a time in our lives when this question was easier to answer in the affirmative; a time when pretending was its own reward. In this week’s episode we delve into the depths of my own penchant for ov…

What does it take to create a unique world for yourself, become someone completely different, and dive inside to explore and create amazing adventures? Most people spend hundreds of dollars on advanced game systems, all of the latest games, or even thousands building custom computers for just this purpose, only to see them rendered obsolete within …

Homes are the most beloved and important buildings we interact with on a day to day basis. Their structures not only serve to protect us from the harsh elements and provide security from the outside world, but also serve as a backdrop for memories and events that can follow us throughout our lives, sculpting us in unseen ways. Despite this integral…

Bias and Prejudice! Dirty words to throw around among modern society. Indeed, at a time of avid “social justice activism” the very hint of such a feeling is tantamount to full blown bigotry and xenophobia. Yet, the truth is, the development of bias and the implementation of prejudice is a normal and natural practice of human behavior. How then do w…

Poetry, while perhaps one of the oldest and most fundamental forms of shared art, has become a medium looked upon with shades of disdain among the average population in our modern society. Like abstract art, it can be viewed as too obtuse and esoteric for the public at large to approach. Once the center of celebrations in longhouses and mead halls …

Boldly launched amid the turbulent 1960s, the fantastic world of Star Trek has become a cultural icon for generations. It has existed in our collective memories for so long that we can take its guiding principles and established tropes for granted. What happens then when we decide to turn a more critical eye on a universe that has long been held up…

Our planet is in crisis. Our future is uncertain, and the challenges of becoming a multi-planet species are not only daunting, but likely to be the purview of the wealthy and privileged. How then do we act here, with our feet on the ground to save our planet for everyone else? Is there a new way to learn to live with our existing planet for the ben…

Never meet your heroes. But why? We as a culture are in love with the idea of exceptions and super-humanity. The natural converse of a media that exploits our own shortcomings for profit is the creation of manufactured images of idols, be they physical, mental, or emotional, that have seemingly no flaws at all. But, the reality is, people are very …

Love, love, love. Is there a more popular word? From tshirts to stickers, to songs, to stories and media of all kinds, it seems we are awash in it. Yet, what do we actually mean when we use the term? In specifics, the definition seems to morph from one situation to the next almost beyond recognition leaving only the vaguest of through lines to disc…

Preparing for the impending catastrophic end of the world has become a hobby and obsession for a portion of the population known as “Preppers”. Sales of “survival” gear and training for catastrophic scenarios have never been as lucrative. Even as this population marks more potential situations averted than any before it, we remain fixated upon the …

The unique look of the Motorscooter is commonly represented in media, but the particular physics such a format creates is far less well known. At a time when motorcycle safety training is compulsory in many places, the unusual challenges faced by those riding scooters remain all but unexplored. In this episode, I call upon years of experience spent…

The traditional gas powered scooter is a vehicle with roots going back to the world wars, but they remain something of a red herring in today’s society. In a nation obsessed with gasoline powered transportation, they have somehow been relegated to a side-note among popular culture; an oddity mentioned as an aside. And yet, the format and design of …

Words have a power, but what is it? Throughout religion and mythology the world over we are told of the unimaginable forces that can be wielded by the spoken word, but is it all overblown poetic license? What is the nature of the use and effect of language upon ourselves, our lives, and the very fabric of our perceived realities? In this episode I …

“Cool” has become a cultural monolith in the past hundred years, and an idea we all instinctively recognize, but what is its nature? Beyond the temporary fads or current trends, what is the essence of the thing we all mean when we point to the “Cool” itself? Who decides what is, and what is not cool, and how do we know what will be cool in the futu…

The “Million-Dollar Idea”, the proverbial “Better Mousetrap”, the secret hope of Tinkerers and Homemakers Everywhere… but, what is the reality between the moment of brilliance and the journey to homes across the globe? The process of inventing, and obtaining patents on unique ideas has evolved in fascinating ways over the years. Not only has the pa…

In this time of fuel crisis, I present Everything you could Ever want to know about Saving Gasoline! Or, at least, everything I can share about it… For those who are looking to buy new, to those shopping for what can be found used, to those trying to stretch what they can from the vehicles they have, this exhaustive episode delves into every possib…

The subject of evolution has been a battleground for the culture wars for generations, but what if we have been missing something key in the details of Both Evolution, AND the Culture Wars all this time? What surprising insights can be gleaned when we step away from the hot-button talking points and explore the more subtle stories that hide within …

A Special Bonus Episode - in response to the fruitless arguments filling the airwaves after yet another senseless tragedy. Instead of taking sides, or playing into the same old grooves of debate, this week I explore a New Perspective, and the possibility for a New Solution that might actually Satisfy BOTH sides of the issue… In a rare “unscheduled”…

From the retro-futurism of steampunk and dieselpunk to the dreams and fertile imaginations of the whistfully minded creatives the world over, the concept of the airship seems destined never to die. Both imposing and somehow gentle, they loom overhead and sail through the clouds like quiet whales in an areal sea. It has become taken as common knowle…

Time marches ever onward, but why? And, to what end? What stops time from moving around freely and how could it be made to run backwards? In an episode mostly exploring the sorts of free associating ideas that bounce around in my brain, I look at the interesting connections between certain scientific concepts, my own notions, and the existential an…

Few things haunt the first-world experience like that of moments of impending Boredom. In a culture replete with opportunities for entertainment at every turn, the average person finds themselves with no tolerance or ability to cope with a lack of stimulation. Nevertheless, these moments inevitably come about. Not only essentially unavoidable, bore…

I know what you’re thinking… who is this? The Sapient Simian has a New Name, a New Look, and a New Logo, but is the Same great show from the same creator! He who is “Nobody’s Prodigy but his own” - celebrating free thinkers and the independent intellectuals of the world by exploring ideas from outside the box! I hope you continue to enjoy! Support …

Goodness, pureness, and virtue are held up as ideals of high praise among our society, but where do such states come from? It can seem an odd question to consider how someone becomes “pure” and yet, the method has changed drastically in the past few centuries. As we collectively worship these states of imagined perfection, we also willfully condemn…

It has become the buzzword of our daily economic lives, but what do we really know about Inflation? Somehow turning to bank managers, money market men, and hedge funds to explain things seems like asking to be lied to, yet how do our very real experiences and daily struggles factor in? In this episode we attempt to explore the subject from the pers…

Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are among the most referenced touchstones of traditional philosophy writ large, and yet a comprehensive grasp of the idea behind their usage remains largely elusive. In this absence of understanding, the contemporary intellectual tends to seek refuge within the adamant position that the totality of such conceptions were …

As our lives are lived more and more in virtual spaces, and among man-made structures, we find our experiences too often consisting far more of manufactured realities. Presented with photoshopped images as a matter of fact, and a media environment too often constructed to present a contrived aesthetic, our own lives, and those around us can fall in…

What does it take to achieve great things? How do we define abilities and the differences between the able and the less able? As a culture, we have long fixated upon the idea of talent, often given by God. Seen as gifts that enable specific individuals to reach heights and achievements beyond their control, the concept serves as a balm to those who…

Money and business. Buyers and sellers. Competition and the invisible hand of the market. Our economy is an evolving ecosystem of producers and consumers, but who is producing and who is being consumed? The simple trades that formed the foundation of merchant behavior in our past have long been replaced by more complex and evolved systems of shares…

Night and day, hot and cold, childhood and adulthood, our lives are lived among recognized extremes, and yet it is the lines between these points that define us. From birth to death, within to without, and all points in between, we gather together to celebrate the times of change, and yet our modern society seeks to blend these collective experienc…

Music is not only a powerful art form that can make you move your body, stop to think, or vent your emotions. It is also a complex and intricate language through which we, as humans, can communicate on a level sometimes beyond words. While this experience is often one that occurs on an instinctive level, there are ways in which we can learn to reco…

Bigfoot, the chupacabra, unicorns, dragons, and fairies… our world is filled with tales of amazing creatures spanning the depths of time. Some, we have found. Some, we have killed. Some, however, we insist have never been, and never are. But, what do we actually know definitively about our universe? How do we know with such certainty things cannot …

The rise of environmentalism, after centuries of neglect, has become the great transformation of our time. Grasping, for the first time, our power to alter the very nature of the planet around us has been a long and slowly evolving shift of mindset not yet completed. What is the roll of humanity among the planet’s inhabitants then? How are our uniq…

Every decade has its flavor and style, driven by unique circumstances, but over time the essence of a cultural era can be forgotten, or even corrupted. In this episode we explore the particular motivations of each generation, and how their decisions led to an expression of life unique to their time. In particular, I delve into the forgotten ideals …

The transition to electric vehicles seems all but an inevitability. The serious consequences associated with fossil fuels have made that clear. Yet, despite the imperative, the transition has remained difficult and haphazard. In this episode, I explore the possible reasons for this, and put forward a solution that has been on my mind for some time.…

Crafting artwork is the act of struggling to represent a vision, feeling, or idea through the manipulation of a set of materials. Time and expertise can greatly facilitate the process, but ultimately the artist is faced with maintaining their inspiration through the tedium of actual creation. Over time, with the development of tools and methods, th…

Kids will be kids… There comes a time in every generation, and in every person’s life, when doing what you are told becomes a very real struggle. As we develop into adulthood, we are faced with periods where we experience an undeniable urge to deviate from expectations. These phases of life become almost cliché for the level of angst they contain, …

(Recorded at a slightly more pertinent time of year…) As we grow older, and our years sweep by more quickly in retrospect, it can be easy to forget the precious windows of time that lay the groundwork for our most foundational life experiences. With decades behind us, it can seem harmless to neglect seasonal celebrations among a busy lifestyle. In …

In a universe of untapped possibilities, we live within a culture too often bounded by certitudes. From the moment an idea is given voice, it is assaulted by assertions of what simply can and cannot be. Too often, even after the fact, events are dismissed as impossible by authorities who may have no firsthand experience that remotely relates. In an…