Nerd Pride Radio

It's an episode! Chock full of Uncomfortable Topics, ecsalator science, a full raft of Pod-O-Matic questions, and some awesome Listener Betrayal. Just the usual nerd stuff. You don't need me to convince you that this is going to be your favorite hour of listening pleasure this week. Jump right in!

Enjoy!

I love Aidan- you know this. More Aidan-- that's my motto. Aidan Aidan for President 2020.

But put him on the mic. It is so off-putting to hear Mike responding to muffle, muffle snicker ha!

Agree. Either on the mic (preferable) or remain silent so he doesn't distract you from the show.

I've done the DNA ethnic background test from Ancestry.com, for both my wife and I. While the background is interesting (it just confirmed we're mostly German & English, which we already knew), there were a few trace ethnicities that were interesting. But the big value I find, since I'm a bit of a genealogy nerd, has been the fact that they'll notify you of possible relatives when other people take the test. Many of them are pretty distant, but that's still how I was able to find out that I am related through my mom's family to Princess Di and Princes William & Harry.

I haven't done the DNA test, but my aunt and uncle on my mother's side have. As far as my father's side goes I have input a lot of information into familysearch.org and have been able to go back the the first ancestor who came here. He was born in Florence, Italy in 1610! His name was Giovanni Patitte, but his name became Thomas Peter Poteet when he arrived. He is buried in Maryland and died in 1657. Funny thing, some have tried to argue that he was not the Poteet-Zero, but his son's name was Giovanni Poteet and from then on almost every generation had a "John" Poteet in it as tradition...all the way down to my Great Grand Father. We had thought it was just a popular name, but it would seem there is more to it than that. I was originally a John as well, but my parents changed their minds thinking the name John was too common...like "Ronald" would be cool or something, uggh.
Favorite relative's found so far:
Sir Roger Le Strange 5th Baron Le Strange of Knockyn 1327-1382 ( I just knew I was a Slytherin and being related to the Le Stranges confirms it)
Captain John James Poteet 1728-1783

Everyone until recently(including myself) assumed we were French and that continues to be the case among some relatives. It finally makes sense now, the fact that I have many of the traits of Thalassemia, but had no idea how I could have acquired it. "According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), thalassemia is most common in people from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Turkey." I am guessing Italy would count too, being a peninsula in the Mediterranean.

Thanks for letting me ramble on about myself.

I was able to track my mother's family to the original arrival in the New World, who was born in England in 1619 and arrived in Massachusetts sometime before 1640. I've been able to track my father's family back to Pennsylvania in 1750, but haven't been able to get back any further than that. I'd love to either get to Pennsylvania to do some in-person research, or hire a professional genealogist to see what they're able to track down. I'd love to get back to the original arrival on that side as well.

That's so cool. I wish I had more info from the other families that have married into my father's surname.

I want new content in Paranoia too!

I want to be able to fight (or be part of) the social media wars inside Alpha Complex.

I want to see Cult(s) of Personality where people identify with the 'Programmers of Yore" like the Kardashians, Kennedys or Trumps.

Rogue Makers cranking out R&D level weapons to fight the computer.

Hell, a game where the players are all anachropunks, using stuff from a forgotten age to take it to Friend Computer, like a horribly bloody version of Demolition Man, would trip my trigger in all the good ways.

JackSepticEye is stupid fun for watching somebody stream games.