Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova

Been a big fan of both NS and MK for years. Read their books and I play poker. BUT - NS especially says “right” and “like” so often that some episodes are unlistenable. Really surprising that he has such strong verbal tics. But can’t wait for MK’s next book on cheating.

Unless someone is an oncologist or specialist, no one should be speculating whether Biden knew or didn’t know about the cancer, for many reasons. For one, it’s wildly insensitive and insulting to hear people immediately thinking he must have known last year (which is unlikely since aggressive cancer is fast growing and can metastasize in a matter of a few months), especially as someone who lost a parent from cancer that was not detected or diagnosed for over a year, and sadly that is very common, even with good healthcare. I get that people who have never been touched by cancer may jump to conclusions, but cancer is not one size fits all.

Grating theme song. Just wildly bad. Maria has always been tolerable at best since her days as guest pop psych reporter on the Gist with Mike Pesca. Has not taken the time to train out the vocal tics we all find, like, insufferable. Nate Silver, never the most engaging host, still is the credible wonk to guide us through interesting if not memorable topics. I do need a good game theory podcast. Not sure this is it.

I think the obsession with Trump is a little much. Maybe talking about politics on the broader scale, looking at for example political funding or something just …a new perspective. I don’t really see a new perspective in their discussion of politics.