Dispatches from the Armchair John and Mike

Bitcoin, altcoins, shitcoins, whatcoins? Cryptocurrency has had a very strong 2021 and is back on everyone's mind. John and Mike have had the distinct fortune of cornering an expert on the matter and picking his brain for two hours. This episode features Simon Lee, founder of Crypto101Notes, a group that has the mission of teaching as many people as possible about the upcoming Bitcoin and crypto economy. Are you looking for a basic primer on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency? Right here. Curious about why there are other cryptos? Listen and find out. Trying to figure out WTF is dogecoin? You have come to the right place.
Check out our guest's project at https://www.crypto101notes.com.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/crypto101notes?lang=en
 

John and Mike dug into the archives for a classic - the legendary "Russia episode," originally recorded August 2019 but never released until now. Your favorite podcast hosts plumb the depths of history to give their loyal readers a tour of Russian civilization the likes of which has never seen before. If you have any curiosity at all about our mysterious neighbors to the East, you'll want to listen to this one the whole way through.
 
Musical Accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooUX8_jDHxc
 
A few corrections: first, Proto-Indo European originated around 2,500 BCE, not 2,500 years ago. Second, Voltaire was a deist, not an atheist (practically the same thing!). Third, the population of Russia that were serfs in the early 19th century was roughly 30-40%, not "more than half". Remember, we are amateurs and encourage you to trust but verify everything we say.
 
Excellent encyclopedia article on Stalin. Reads better than Wikipedia: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Stalin
 
 

The Armchair is back!  John and Mike are coming at you today with some thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it winding down, or is the worst yet to come? Will our society come out of this crisis stronger than ever, or fatally weakened? The Armchair has absolutely no clue, but face it, neither do you, so why not join our hosts for some good old fashioned thought-provoking discussion?
Good sources of coronavirus stats (to the extent that anyone can still trust anything anymore) : https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/
http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
Overview of the 3 Cs: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10900000/000615287.pdf
 

Extra! Extra! The Armchair hits the ground running in this special Dispatch surveying the ongoing Hong Kong protests! In a first for the history of this podcast, we bring in a special guest to help flesh out the issue: impromptu Hong Kong correspondent Yannick Kwan. If you're looking for the lowdown on this rapidly evolving world event, look no further - John, Mike, and Yannick have got you covered.

John and Mike dug into their archives, and are positively chuffed to bring you an exclusive recording of a conversation they had one day last spring. The topic? That most peculiar of nationalities, the English. Few peoples have had a greater influence upon history than our friends from across the pond. But who are the English? Where did they come from? And how did they become masters of the largest empire the world has ever seen? Tune in to find out. Cheers!

Fear not, dear readers! John and Mike are back with a very special Halloween episode. Fright, terror, horror, anxiety, dread...there's no better day than today to spend some time with our two hosts as they get to the bottom of the deepest, most primordial of human emotions...fear.