Hi, thank you for listening. This is Stetson of the Holodoxa channel at Substack. Today, I’d like to introduce a new podcast venture. One we’re calling “Views from Cleve-Mandu.” This funny title is a mashup of the names of the hometowns of the hosts, Cleveland and Kathmandu. Which reminds me, I should actually introduce my co-host, Manjul.
Manjul is someone I’ve known for almost a decade now. He's a sharp guy. Our connection came courtesy of our wives. They’ve been lifelong friends. When we all get together, Manjul and I have a lot of interesting conversations. We come from different places, work in different industries, and have different perspectives. In an effort to add some structure to these conversations and figure out if they’re interesting to anyone else, we’ve decided to launch a podcast.
And yes, I know what you may be thinking, “Yet another podcast run by Millennial mansplainers. Do we really need another?” Well, maybe you’re right, but give us a chance to prove otherwise. We’re not professional podcasters, and there will be some growing pains. We'll work through them. Nonetheless, we think we can introduce listeners to a wide-range of novel, compelling ideas. We can get to all kinds of wonky details about genetics, history, or economics, but we can also take all complexity and compress it into engaging stories that are easy to understand and easy to remember. Plus, we can do this from two meaningfully different backgrounds. There will be times we venture into the wilderness of dangerous ideas and navigate some serious disagreements. Maybe even with you, the listener.
So to conclude this little introduction, I want to give some concrete details. We’re launching this September (the 22nd) with new episodes on Sunday evenings every other week. We already have five episodes ready to go. These touch on topics like parenting, the origins of humanity, the value of college, trends in the energy industry, and the opportunity cost of reading. We always welcome any feedback or any questions from any listener. We hope that we can count on you as fellow travelers on our journeys through the peaks and valleys of Cleve-Mandu.
P.S. I’ve already received some feedback on the audio. Generally, I think the episodes have been better than this recording. Plus, I still have to purchase a mic, and I’m figuring out which one is best still. I’ll try some other fixes in the mean time too. Any advice is welcome.
On Establishing a Vibe:
Manjul and I played around a bit with the various generative AI image creators, including the one built into Substack, to see what would fit best for our show. I’m sure this will evolve over time. Depending on where things go, perhaps we’ll invest in some help with designing marketing materials for the pod. It’s fun to see what these genAI tools turnout even though they tend to be quite generic and characterless. Here are some images we’ve left on the cutting room floor. Enjoy.
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