#1 Planet Money: The Planet Money Workout (14 mins)
I bet you also have a gym membership.
Wonder how and why 24 Hour Fitness offers $400 2-year gym membership ($17/month), while other studios like Ritual Hot Yoga charges $250/month for its unlimited access? This episode explains how some I’ll-gym-next-week people (like one of my housemates) effectively fund regular gym users (maybe me) through these seemingly dirt cheap annual gym membership contracts. Fun fact, my housemate only went 3 times in a year and half, sooooo that’s about $133/session.
#2 Tribe of Mentors: Wait But Why — Tim Urban (1 hr 31mins)
What a cool dude.
Tim Urban is the man behind Wait But Why, which is one of the best blogs out there that attempts to explain complex topics in layman terms. Think Artificial Intelligence (yes, AI will takeover in couple decades), The Tail End (the moment when you realize you spend 90% of your time with your parents before college) and Why You Secretly Hate Cool Bars (I bet you do). In this episode, Tim Ferris (author of 4 Hour Body/Work Week/Chef) interviews Tim about journey in starting Wait But Why and his perspective on various topics. Definitely a thought-provoking and engaging conversation.
#3 How I built This: Southwest Airlines — Herb Kelleher (35 mins)
Best performing stock in 2014.
I love Southwest Airlines (LUV). I love it so much that it was actually the first stock I ever bought. Its great business model comes from its efficient passenger boarding method, fast gate turnaround time, and exclusive use of Boeing 737. In this episode, you’ll learn that Herb was the one who established Southwest as the efficient low-cost carrier that disrupted the air travel industry. Incredible funny guy who never stops smoking.
#4 Freakonomics Radio: How Big is My Penis (And Everything We Ask Google)? (34 mins)
I never Googled that.
I admit I downloaded this because of the click-baity title but this episode actually tells a deeper story of how Google knows us better than ever because of all the things we search for (even in incognito mode). The host’s interview with a Google statistician offers us many interesting and unexpected insights about our search data.
Spoiler alert: The top search that starts [with] “my husband wants” in India is “my husband wants me to breastfeed him.”
WTF.
#5 Planet Money: Anatomy of a Scam (22 mins)
Scammers are fucked up. They really are.
In this episode, the host digs into the stories behind what happens when you respond to these seemingly too good to be true ads online, saying that you can work from home and make $100k/year. Fucked up part is these scammers are going after 70 year-old grandmas with dementia.
#6 The Tim Ferris Show: The Erotic Playbook of a Top-Earning Sex Worker (NSFW) (2 hr 30mins)
What. A. Wild. Episode.
Definitely not safe for work because Tim keeps pushing for very detailed answers for which Alice is more than happy to provide. Alice is a legal sex worker who makes 7 figures annually at Moonlite Bunny Ranch and in this over 2-hour conversation, she answers everything from Threesome do’s and don’ts, plus the Big KO finishing move to the various types of clients she serves, including people who are disabled and are adult virgins. A truly fascinating and eye-opening episode.
#7 The Art of Charm: Vanessa Van Edwards | Captivate (1 hr)
The proven hack to more right-swipes on Tinder.
I listened to this one after my housemate, Nikhil, recommended it to me. Vanessa is a behavioral researcher and answers practical questions such as, what makes cool kids at school so cool?, what to do on first date and how to make your dating site profile picture so much more attractive. If you attempt in trying any of the tips, let me know how it goes; would love to hear about it.
#8 Freakonomics Radio: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask) (44 mins)
Hope you’re paying your credit card bill in full.
Everyone should listen to this episode because this should’ve been a mandatory high school class. It’s alarming to find out just many people are financially illiterate and can make or break their lives just by studying a financial cheat sheet when they turn 18.
#9 Planet Money: The Miracle Apple (14 mins)
Everything is GMO.
We should all be thankful that apples are now sweet and crispy because there was this one guy out there tasting hundreds of them every day until he stumbled upon the yummy one and started breeding it with other apple growers. But of course, the story grew a bit more complicated when apples became the top grossing item in the store and money was on the line.
Just confirmed with my parents actually, there was indeed only one type of apple available when they grew up in Hong Kong, which was Red Delicious.
#10 Twenty Thousand Hertz: Disney Parks (25 mins)
It’s done so well that you don’t notice it.
I came across Twenty Thousand Hertz from this Vox video (also a huge fan of Vox), and have picked couple interesting ones here and there to listen to. In this episode, two Disney imagineers explain what they do to make our experiences at Disney magical using sound. Pretty cool stuff.
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