Evan

Dad and husband, professor & attorney with overtones of geek, scholar and genealogist. DM/GM/Keeper. Podcast junkie. Views definitely personal.

[Bridget Phetasy @BridgetPhetasy]

Lots of emails and comments from people telling me they’ve had to stop listening to many of their favorite podcasters because of their hyper-fixation with blaming everything on Israel. I’ve been hearing it at BBQs so it’s not a shock. Normies find it off-putting.

[Matthew Harffy @MatthewHarffy]

New episode! ⚔️
We finally got him. @ConnIggulden joins us on @rock_swords 🗡️📚
Nero. Agrippina. Arnhem. D&D. Gemmell. Why fantasy is harder than #histfic. And the knot that didn't make it into A Dangerous Book for Boys.
Don't miss this one.
📺 https://t.co/6XxrciTyCn

[Evan @eknarfer]

J-M and I return after an involuntary hiatus to further our discussions of magic in Glorantha in a new episode of Exploring Glorantha.

https://t.co/W1NvVcebTC

We really enjoyed the discussion and hope you will too! Thanks for your patience!

@Iconic_Productn @Chaosium_Inc

[Brad Lemley @BradCLemley]

Here is a huge positive to modern life that gets no press.

I have an old 2009 Toyota, and the AUX port crapped out about a year ago. Went to YouTube. Young, enthusiastic guy explains how to fix it.

It is not obvious - involves taking the dashboard apart in a counter-intuitive way, but once you see it, it's a 15 minute fix.

There are actually dozens of videos showing how to do this, and they collectively have well over 200k views.

Had this happened in 1995, I would have just lived with it. But the combo of the replacement AUX jack available from Amazon and the video of the simple (but not obvious) fix, I fixed it.

I HAVE DONE THIS DOZENS OF TIMES. Replaced the control panel of my dishwasher. Replaced the ice maker in the fridge. Fixed a wonky sanding head on my drill press. Mastered a bandsaw technique that I use for my sculpture. On and on and on...

I think it is likely no exaggeration to say billions of fixes and skill upgrades have been performed worldwide that would not have been performed if it were not for the instruction freely given peer-to-peer on YouTube.

Take a moment to be happy about this. The busted item keeps performing, rather than going to the landfill. The person learning and doing the fix gains a sense of mastery and saves money. It's an unmixed blessing.

Stop doomscrolling. Think of what is busted in your house, find the YouTube video on how to fix it, and fix it.

[Evan @eknarfer]

A tremendous loss. A great actor and human being with an outstanding career. A brilliant Watson opposite Jeremy Brett!

[Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast @sherlockpod]

David Burke - Our Dr Watson (1934-2026)

All of us here are devastated to hear the news that David Burke passed away a few days ago. The man who we first saw as Watson and the man we still think of as "our" Watson.

Dear David, thank you. Thank you for all you gave us.

[Evan @eknarfer]

Never forget.

[Stewart Wiseman @stewartwiseman]

Today, the Civil Commission released Silenced No More: Sexual Terror Unveiled: The Untold Atrocities of October 7 and Against Hostages in Captivity — the product of more than two years of documentation, legal analysis, archival work, and testimony collection. It is the most important work I have ever been part of.

This report was born in the space between atrocity and denial. It documents patterns of sexual and gender-based violence committed during the October 7 attacks and in captivity, preserving evidence that too many sought to minimize, dismiss, or erase.

The work demanded confronting materials and testimonies of extraordinary brutality. Justice cannot exist without recognition, and recognition cannot exist without people willing to preserve the truth with rigor, care, and moral clarity.

What makes this report so significant is not only the scale of the investigation (hundreds of testimonies, thousands of visual records, years of analysis) but its insistence that these crimes be understood within the frameworks of international law, accountability, and human dignity.

Contributing to this report has been one of the most meaningful and consequential responsibilities of my life. Working alongside an extraordinary team of lawyers, archivists, and documenters, I had the privilege of contributing to the report’s legal findings and analysis under international human rights and international criminal law, helping document and assess crimes that many sought to deny, minimize, or erase.

I hope people will read the report in full, engage seriously with its findings, and understand what is at stake when sexual violence in conflict is denied, politicized, or ignored.

The truth deserves a permanent place in the historical and legal record.

Link to full report below.

@CochavElkayam @theCC07

[Evan @eknarfer]

According to (assuming accurate inputs) Gemini: You have been alive for approximately 23.40% of the history of the United States. To put that into perspective, you have been present for nearly a quarter of the nation's entire timeline.

PS next episode in the queue is Number 77.

[TheHistoryOfTheAmericans @TheHistoryOfTh2]

As of today’s date (which is only relevant because it is today), I’ve been alive for just under 25.8% of the history of the United States, counting from 7/4/1776.

Do the same calc (ok to use a LLM), and post your percentage in the comments! Feel free to round.

[Evan @eknarfer]

@richardrohlin Fist my bump!

[Evan @eknarfer]

@TheHistoryOfTh2 He was part of the soundtrack of my childhood, beloved by my parents, especially my Mom. I once wrote him and he sent me a note back. His artistic contributions are not diminished by his Stalinist politics (though his politics were largely bad). Where’s my pajamas?

[Evan @eknarfer]

@TheHistoryOfTh2 tangential to the Podcast but since I am far behind and have only recently listened to the early Spanish and the Drake episodes, this seems still relevant.

[Luke Caverns @lukecaverns]

The Strait of Magellan is so deadly (even in the modern day) that ~440 Years Ago, the Spanish Empire abandoned & doomed over 200 Conquistadors, & left them to their fate at the bottom of the world.

Eventually, when every single Conquistador died from exposure, being attacked by Native Patagonians, or starvation… the colony they built fell into ruins & was reclaimed by the wilderness.

By the late 1700s, nobody even knew where the colony originally was & it disappeared from the maps.

But, just last month, Chilean archaeologists Simon Urbina and Soledad González Díaz, in partnership with the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG), followed the original Spanish & English journals to a location along the Strait of Magellan—and using LiDAR, they finally rediscovered the lost colony of Puerto del Hambre “Port Famine” after over 400 years.

The original sources describe a silver Spanish coin being placed on top of a corner foundation block & the colony’s church… and when they excavated the site’s main structure, like something out of a movie, the 400+ year old silver Spanish coin was sitting right where the old journal said it would be.

LiDAR mapping is going to revolutionize archaeology & bring about an entirely new era of exploration🛰️

[Evan @eknarfer]

Very slowly catching up on episodes. I listened to this one (and several others) last week. Terrific information given with great storytelling and insightful research!

[TheHistoryOfTheAmericans @TheHistoryOfTh2]

OTD in 1607, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery spot land at Virginia Beach after an arduous and dissent-ridden crossing that had resulted in, among other things, John Smith being confined to Susan Constant’s brig.
https://t.co/13diFizLpY

[Evan @eknarfer]

@TheHistoryOfTh2 @HistoryWJacob Not just good, truly a great listen! I’ve been greatly informed by the entertaining presentation of history, a little of which I kind of knew, some I maybe half knew and a lot I knew nothing of. So well done. Truly impressive!

[Evan @eknarfer]

Excellent actual play of @13thAge Glorantha with co-designer @JonathanMTweet . A thoroughly enjoyable play through that nicely shows off the fun of the game and the world! https://t.co/krl3B7bJ6z

[Evan @eknarfer]

Amazing set of episodes for this excellent podcast!

[TheHistoryOfTheAmericans @TheHistoryOfTh2]

OTD in 1528, the tragic expedition of Panfilo de Narváez lands in Tampa Bay, more than 900 miles from its intended destination. Amazingly, it took a while for them to figure that out.
https://t.co/ky6uwkEdxL

[TheHistoryOfTheAmericans @TheHistoryOfTh2]

@BRyvkin Perhaps a useful link....
https://t.co/IfbNqZAZzb

[TheHistoryOfTheAmericans @TheHistoryOfTh2]

Doing our best to change this!

https://t.co/IfbNqZAZzb

[Evan @eknarfer]

He died in December 2023, but would have turned 89 the day after splashdown for Artemis II & there’s no better present for him than the return to the Moon. He would have been so proud of @NASA & America at 250. I miss him. His & thousands of other’s legacies were on the mission🇺🇸

[Evan @eknarfer]

The events of the last few days watching @NASA ‘s amazing Artemis II mission has filled me with a bittersweet mix of feelings. My father Prof. Richard “Dick” Franke began his working career with @BoeingSpace in Mobile and New Orleans working on the Saturn V S1C 1/3

[Evan @eknarfer]

He programmed fuel flow for the S1C & impressed his supervisor. He met my Mom and they ended up moving. He kept a love of space and exploration. He later got his a PhD in applied mathematics and taught at @NPS_Monterey for over 30 years. He would have loved to see Artemis II. 2/3

[Evan @eknarfer]

@KKriegeBlog Those are some outstanding miniatures!