An undercover ATF agent is going full throttle on a highway to hell as he tries to infiltrate the most notorious motorcycle club on the planet.

This story contains police violence, descriptions of violence, and graphic imagery. Sensitive listeners, please be advised.

BIG thanks to Jay Dobyns for sharing his story with Snap. There is so much that we were not able to share with you about Jay’s experience. To find out more check out his memoirs “No Angel” and “Catching Hell.”

Special thanks to George Christie.

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Produced by Bo Walsh, original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff, artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 13 – Episode 34

No Angel

You hear a lot about metabolism. You probably know it has something to do with weight loss. And even if you don't go in for those supposed hacks around speeding up your metabolism, you likely figure you can at least increase it by exercising more.

This isn't actually the case, and my guest will sort through this and other misconceptions around metabolism on today's show. His name is Dr. Herman Pontzer and he's a professor of evolutionary anthropology and the author of Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy. We begin our conversation with an overview of how metabolism powers everything your body does from thinking to moving to simply existing, and how it uses the food you eat as the energy needed to fuel these processes. We then get into Herman's field research which shows that increasing your physical activity doesn't actually increase the number of calories you burn, but why it's still hugely important to exercise anyway. He also unpacks whether certain kinds of foods are better for your metabolism, offers his recommendations on how to use diet to lose weight, and answers the common question as to whether it's true that your metabolism goes down as you age.

Resources Related to the Podcast

AoM Podcast #691: What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors
AoM Podcast #552: How to Optimize Your Metabolism
AoM Podcast #475: How to Lose Weight, and Keep It Off Forever
AoM Podcast #636: Why You Overeat and What to Do About It
NYT article on what happened to the metabolisms of Biggest Loser contestants after the show
AoM Article: An Argument for Making Exercise (Not Diet) the Foundation of Weight Management

Connect With Herman Pontzer

Herman on Twitter
Herman's faculty page and lab at Duke

#793: The New Science of Metabolism and Weight Loss

A lot of people really dislike conflict and have a low opinion of it. They're uncomfortable with disagreements at the office, think there's no room for contention at church, worry that fighting with their partner means their relationship is destined to dissolve, and generally feel that heated arguments tear communities apart.

My guest today, Ian Leslie, used to be one of these conflict-averse people. But as he discovered in researching his new book, Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes, conflict not only brings us together, the lack of it, he says, just plain makes us stupider. Today on the show, Ian and I discuss why people get the idea that conflict is unproductive from watching online arguments and why these flame wars aren't actually indicative of the value of arguing offline. We then delve into this surprising value, from the way conflict makes us smarter, to how couples who have heated arguments are actually happier. Ian unpacks some of the myths around difficult conversations, such as the idea that they have to be done in a strictly rational and unemotional way to be fruitful, and he offers ways to approach conflict that will make it more productive, especially remembering to always prioritize the relationship above all.

Resources Related to the Podcast

AoM Article: The Rationality of Emotions
AoM Podcast #559: How to Handle Difficult Conversations
Podcast #648: Lessons in Building Rapport from Experts in Terrorist Interrogation (With Laurence Alison)
reddit — Change My View

Connect with Kevin Maurer

Ian's Website
Ian on Twitter

#799: Getting Along Is Overrated

If making small talk makes someone anxious, it may just be because they have a fear of such interactions, and my guest today, Rich Gallagher, can help them overcome it through his practice as a therapist. Or, someone’s anxiety around small talk can be based in part on simply not knowing how to do it, and in that case, Rich helps them by teaching them the mechanics of conversation, which he shares in his book Stress-Free Small Talk, as well as on today’s show.

Rich and I begin our conversation with how small talk is important as an on-ramp to bigger things, how it’s a skill that can be developed like any other, and how learning its mechanics can dampen the anxiety you feel about taking part in it. We then turn to these mechanics of making comfortable and effective small talk, including doing prep work, embracing tried-and-true openers, and avoiding talking too much yourself. We also discuss how to join conversations that are already underway, manage committing a faux pas, acknowledge others to build connection, and end a conversation gracefully. We end our conversation with small talk strategies for first dates and job interviews, and what to do when you go to a party where you only know the host.

#802: Stress-Free Small Talk

During World War II, Henry Beecher, an anesthesiologist serving in the U.S. Army, noticed that 32% of the soldiers he treated for horrific battle wounds felt no pain. A further 44% experienced only slight or mild discomfort, despite the fact they had shrapnel embedded in their bodies. Beecher hypothesized that the euphoria of surviving battle resulted in the release of a natural painkiller. When morphine was running low in Europe, Beecher thought he could harness the mind’s seeming ability to produce natural painkillers in a different way by injecting soldiers who were about to undergo surgery with a simple saline solution, while telling the soldiers they were receiving morphine. About 90% of these patients underwent the surgery with little or no pain.

Beecher’s field-expedient placebo treatments would go on to open up decades of research into the power of our expectations. On today’s show, my guest will walk us through that fascinating research, and how the connection between the body and the mind is a lot stronger and wilder than we know.

His name is David Robson and he’s an award-winning science writer and the author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World. David and I begin our conversation with how and why the brain operates as a prediction machine, and how the expectations it generates can shape the reality we experience. We then discuss how even when someone’s pain or condition is very real, the placebo effect can have an equally real effect on their physiology — even when people know they’re taking a placebo. We also get into the “nocebo effect,” where your expectation that a drug will have negative side effects, in fact produces those side effects. From there we turn to how the expectation effect has powerful results beyond the medical world, and shows up in the areas of sleep, diet, and fitness, including how thinking of doing chores as exercise actually increases the health benefits of that activity, how reframing your anxiety can turn it into a performance-enhancing boost, and how your perception of getting older hugely affects how you will actually physically and mentally age.

#803: How Your Expectations Can Change Your Life

In the 19th century, the source of the Nile River remained one of the greatest mysteries of geographic exploration. The story of how the British eventually found it is one of adventure, danger, and bravery, but also arrogance, envy, and resentment.

Here to offer some snapshots from this dramatic expedition is Candice Millard, author of River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile. Today on the show, Candice shares how two men who were very much opposites, Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke, ventured together on two years-long expeditions to locate the source of the longest and most legendary river in the world, the harrowing obstacles they faced in their quest, and how their partnership devolved into a bitter rivalry. Along the way, we discuss what made Burton such a compelling character, why we remember his name but not Speke's, and the African guide who was the unheralded hero in the achievements of both men.

#804: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

Enregistrée aux SUBS de Lyon lors de la seconde édition du festival « Littérature Live », cette version scénique de « Bookmakers » prend le pari de réunir les 16 premie.è.r.e.s invité.e.s du podcast grâce à un habile re-montage de leurs propos. Résultat : une super-master-class pour évoquer en 90 minutes l’essentiel des questions à se poser quand on veut écrire un roman, de l’éveil de la vocation à la signature du contrat. Avant, pendant et après l’écriture. Trois parties, trois chapitres, le temps d’une conversation susceptible d'éclairer la célèbre phrase attribuée à William Faulkner (qu’il n’a ni écrite, ni prononcée) : « Écrire, c'est comme craquer une allumette au cœur de la nuit, au beau milieu d'un bois. La littérature ne sert pas à mieux voir. Seulement à mesurer l'épaisseur de l’obscurité. »

En présence imaginaire de : Philippe Jaenada, Alice Zeniter, Delphine de Vigan, Tristan Garcia, Chloé Delaume, Dany Laferrière, Lola Lafon, Nicolas Mathieu, Marie Desplechin, Pierre Jourde, Sylvain Prudhomme, Alain Damasio, Hervé Le Tellier, Sophie Divry, Lydie Salvayre et Bayon.

(Spectacle créé à Brest, en janvier 2022, lors du festival Longueur d’Ondes.)

En partenariat avec Babelio.

Enregistrement : 22 mai 22 - Entretiens, présentation, lectures : Richard Gaitet - Prises de son, montage : Sara Monimart - Réalisation, régie : Charlie Marcelet, Baptiste Dupin, Sahar Pirouz - Musiques originales et mixage : Samuel Hirsch - Conception et mise en scène : Richard Gaitet, Charlie Marcelet, Samuel Hirsch - Illustration : Sylvain Cabot - Production : ARTE Radio - Remerciements : aux équipes lyonnaises des SUBS, du festival « Littérature Live » et de la Villa Gillet

Bookmakers

Bookmakers live avec 16 allumettes

An honest reckoning with the war on terror, masculinity, and the violence of American hegemony abroad, at home, and on the psyche, from a veteran whose convictions came undone

When Lyle Jeremy Rubin first arrived at Marine Officer Candidates School, he was convinced that the “war on terror” was necessary to national security. He also subscribed to a strict code of manhood that military service conjured and perpetuated. Then he began to train and his worldview shattered. Honorably discharged five years later, Rubin returned to the United States with none of his beliefs, about himself or his country, intact. 

In Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body, Rubin narrates his own undoing, the profound disillusionment that took hold of him on bases in the U.S. and Afghanistan. He both examines his own failings as a participant in a prescribed masculinity and the failings of American empire, examining the racialized and class hierarchies and culture of conquest that constitute the machinery of U.S. imperialism. The result is a searing analysis and the story of one man’s personal and political conversion, told in beautiful prose by an essayist, historian, and veteran transformed. 

Available November 1, 2022 from Hachette Audio as a digital download, and in Print and Ebook from Bold Type Books. 

Download: 
https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body/id1613361074
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781668611012-pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body
https://www.downpour.com/catalog/product/view/id/731809/s/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body/
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body
https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body-a-marines-unbecoming/584128
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body.aspx
https://www.audible.com/pd/Pain-Is-Weakness-Leaving-the-Body-Audiobook/B0B2HZVLDL?qid=1666988710&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=JAQJGM6FC0Z03Z8T0KXE
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Lyle_Jeremy_Rubin_Pain_Is_Weakness_Leaving_the_Bod?id=AQAAAEBC2l2aDM
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pain-is-weakness-leaving-the-body-lyle-jeremy-rubin/1141118002?ean=2940175512763
https://www.estories.com/audiobook/574431/Lyle-Jeremy-Rubin/Pain-Is-Weakness-Leaving-the-Body

Check out our other great titles and more at:
http://www.hachetteaudio.com	

Follow us at:
twitter.com/HachetteAudio
www.tumblr.com/blog/hachetteaudio
www.facebook.com/HachetteAudio

Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body by Lyle Jeremy Rubin Read by Garrett Brown, Author - Audio Excerpt

On the next Snap Spooked Special..."Sight Unseen." When the lights go dark...how can you be sure you're alone?  Part of Snap's terrifying "Spooked Week" of haunting, true-life stories. Be afraid . . .

Snap Judgment

Listen to the entire Snap Spooked Special "Sight Unseen"

Link’s dream of riding horses, a deadly new animal named after Pink Floyd, whether or not it’s ethical to eat a talking pizza and more on this week’s episode of Ear Biscuits.

Support Jake's fight against Lyme Disease here: https://www.gofundme.com/jakesidwell

SUBSCRIBE to This Is Mythical: https://goo.gl/UMXvuW

Follow This Is Mythical:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/ThisIsMythical
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ThisIsMythical
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThisIsMythical

Other Mythical Channels:
Good Mythical Morning: https://www.youtube.com/user/rhettandlink2
Good Mythical MORE: https://youtube.com/user/rhettandlink3
Rhett & Link: https://youtube.com/rhettandlink

Credits:
Hosted By: Rhett & Link 
Executive Producer: Stevie Wynne Levine
Managing Producer:  Cody D'Ambrosio
Editor:  Meggie Malloy
Graphics: Matthew Dwyer
Set Design/Construction: Cassie Cobb
Content Manager:  Becca Canote
Logo Design: Carra Sykes

Have We Crossed the Line? ft. Rhett & Link | Ear Biscuits Ep. 93

Listen to this call today with instructions about the Oil Games

#804: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

The Art of Manliness

Recent comments

Haruki Murakami

timivanilly

Ashley Gordon

Related tracks