Lana from Montana
In this episode, I find out that Montana is near the Canadian border.
We discuss - "More than four ingredients in a food? Lana won't eat it..."
My new discovery of Cherry coke with a hint of chilli - How did we ever survive without it?
Plus - If you are from the future - you will understand that sending birthday cards will eventually be part of history.
PLUS - Even better than that - Lana is the new leader of FUNKQUEST with a superb score of 288 1/2.
The half is for mistaking George Harrison for John Lennon.
But hey - we can all make mistakes when answering questions we have never seen before. You should try it - it's very FUNKY.
You can contact Lana on www.thefoodcodes.com
Check out the new leaderboard
Allen Wagner – Ambition and double deker buses
That's according to LA Therapist Allen Wagner.
In this episode - Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, London buses, ambition (& why people living in LA are shallow), what did Allen do every Sunday for months & months and why this impacts on a sense of self.
Plus, why do women feel the need to gossip as a kind of social currency?
Remember - in FUNKQUEST - contestents never know the questions in advance - it is purely a game of Funky Thinking on your feet (or webcam).
We need to get Talia (Mrs Wagner) on FUNKQUEST next to see if she scores more points. (Clue - she will..)
You can contact Allen via https://alosangelestherapist.com/ or https://marriedroommates.com/the-book/
Too busy to listen to the full episode? Watch the extract below.
As far as the scoreboard is concerned - Michael Sherlock is still top with 279 points.
#Funkquest – Michael Sherlock
Michael was the first contestant to play under the new FUNKQUEST rules AND the first person to be on FUNKY THINKERS TWICE.
Most podcasts and shows are just a glorified advert for the speakers coaching program, bootcamp or some other product.
In FUNKQUEST - the player has no idea what question is coming next.
What does this mean for you?
IDEAS only come from free flowing CONVERSATION.
Listening (without prejudice) to new ideas and speakers from outside your usual network.
PLUS - each question has a strict THREE minute time limit. So no multi headed long complicated stories to endure. Just short punchy bite sized ideas.
In this episode
In this episode -
Q1 - Michael picked the hippies - We discussed sales mixology and why bar tenders (good ones) are worth studying for all salespeople.
Q2 - Michael picked the space hopper - We discussed Michael's secret talent which is singing. Next time you meet her - ask for a quick rendition of "When the banana skins are falling,I'll come sliding back to you."
Q3 - Michael picked the shoe - (I suspect in time - most women will select the shoe - we might have to remove it). Michael discussed her concerns about her upcoming 50th birthday. Note from host - nothing happens. No dancing girls, no message from the Queen. Nothing
Q4 - Michael picked the guitarist - We discussed homelessness and people selling the next step/Big issue. Remember if we have a slot on the show for a badged seller of one of these magazines.Contact us to discuss.
Q5 - Micahel selected the roller skates - We discussed the opposite sex and emotions.
Michael can be contacted via http://shockyourpotential.com
Michael Sherlock - FUNKQUEST - Full episode
Too busy to listen to the full episode? Watch the FUNKY INSIGHT into homeless people selling magazines.
Melissa Clark – Lady on a mission…
Melissa Clark is on a mission - to empower women to be better - to do better and live better.
Local, regional and national - you name it...
To read some more about how the internet can help local groups - read Clay Shirky.
We don't do religion but do you know what the Muslim call to prayer sounds like?
How would you like to be woken up by a loud alarm clock with the Muslim call to prayer?
Thought not...
I have suffered with wanting to keep up with the news and world events and letting it enter my head too much...
Melissa like to keep up with world new too..
We worked out that you need to have some kind of door manager.
Not sure about the US but we call that person a bouncer over here.
You need a bouncer for your head and head space...
In true Funky Thinkers style, we came up with an idea.
Melissa would like to be stuck in a lift (elevator) with the oldest woman in the world.
That might be a stretch - but we wondered if anyone had any connections to a woman over the age of 90 (NINETY) and could get them on the show.
We would love to do a three way interview.
Too busy to listen to the full episode?
Watch the extract below
Bryan Falchuk – social media detox game – who is in?
Bryan Falchuck - how big is the world series?
Bryan Falchuck - Contact via www.bryanfalchuk.com
Recorded just after the Boston RedSox won the 2018 world series, Bryan gave me a quick lesson in how big it actually is.
Brief nugget about history and tradition - I looked up the Boston curse - vs something being manufactured in the last 20 years.
The environment cropped up. Maybe it is the next generation that accepts global warming - rather than the current one which could typically say "I don't believe in global warming"
I googled seaweed water blob and this was the first result I got. Coming soon to a running event - or a developing country near you...
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/247672-seaweed-based-water-pouch-aims-end-need-plastic-bottles
Bryan found that turning his phone resolution to black and white reduced use dramatically. Maybe we should all try it.
Too busy to listen to the full episode? Watch the extracts below
The BBC drowning in plastic trailer is below.
Dr Aaron Smith PhD – What does it take to make a good school?
Aaron Smith - Contact via wr.solutions
Dr Aaron Smith started with the question
"What does it take to make a good school?"
Like most Funky Thinker questions - it is harder than it appears at first glance.
It requires some sit down and talk time - Funky or what?
After a quick trip round the size of aircraft carriers at Norfolk Virginia and Portsmouth (UK), we decided that the worst place in the world to be was on the flight deck of one on 4th July.
The temperature is 110 degrees. (That's 43 Celsius - or very hot) and you are cleaning rust off. Nice
We got to talking about education and things which are required for a good school - that it is very hard to measure and therefore articulate in simple terms.
Like culture, the way things are done. Relationships between school and home and more.
I often wonder if the desert island question still has a place in the world.
Turns out it really has - not for the few minutes we allow it on the show - but for a wider group or team discussion.
Too busy to listen to the full episode?Watch these insights?
How to really detox from social media
Is testing in schools the only success measure?
What does it take to make a good school?
Tim Armacost – JOHN NOT ROBBIE..
Tim Armacost - Visit at http://timarmacost.com/ or
Tim Armacost is a musician.
I asked him off air if he was any good - just google his name...(or better still type his name into YouTube...)
What's it like to be children of US diplomats?
Well you get to go to baseball games as kids on the Japanese underground. (With no parents attached).
The Japanese still have the social contract - even today - that most other western countries have lost.
Tim has conflicting emotions because for the last few weeks - he has had no kids around the house - they have all flown the nest.
Luck vs skill and what is a professional musician anyway?
There is a cliche which says the harder you work - the luckier you get. Attributed to various people. Or is it skill ? Below is Tim's take on it.
How musicians make money in these days of music on tap via YouTube, Spotify etc?
In days gone by, record collections would take months and years to assemble. Incrementally, the fan would send money to the artist every time they bought a single or an LP. Now you can listen to the entire back catalogue of virtually any artist you can name.
The answer is the experience... Instead of just pulling up YouTube on your phone - you gotta go to a live event. Concert, gig, whatever you want to call it.
Who is the person Tim want to be stuck in a lift with?
Turns out it is JOHN Coltrane - video below - rather than Scottish actor ROBBIE Coltrane. You can tell the obvious differences in the two clips below.
Oh the amateurish mistakes we make when not properly prepared...
Makes for a better conversation though?
We also talked about 'bloodlines' for rock groups.
The Beatles/Sex Pistols vs heavy rock KISS - YES etc
In his younger life, Tim was a KISS fan but never painted his face...
What is it like to be a musician and be paid to mine/act/play along to backing music?
JOHN Coltrane
ROBBIE Coltrane
Plus - ever been to a wedding and thought the band/music was somehow a bit odd. Here is why...
Jonathan Pritchard – A map is the ultimate magic trick
Jonathan Pritchard - contact via Jonathan Pritchard.guide
This was by far one of the most existential conversations we have featured on the show.
Emotional Judo is a real thing - and the dot com is taken. So no point looking.
A map is the ultimate magic trick because if you have a piece of paper in front of you, you will know what is coming round the next corner.
It can't be any map - it must be a specific map - of the place where you are.
And that is the reason to use a consultant or a coach - because they have a map of where you are and what it likely to be round the next corner.
The glass half empty or glass half full thing got a twist. Einstein?
Everything is a miracle or nothing is a miracle
I am travelling half way across the world - to a different country - and it is like riding in a bus.
How cool is that?
Or - they don't even have wifi - what suckage...
Captain Cook cropped up.
He was a British explorer and navigator who made the first contact with the east coast of Australia (apart from the people who were already there) and the first circumnavigation of New Zealand.
In three voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved.
One of his maps is below.
Captain Cook map of Australia (approx 1770)
Modern map of Australia
Robert McGuinness – social media takes away people’s autonomy
Rober McGuiness -
Contact via https://soul-venturer.com/
It is odd - and a sign of the times maybe - that often people show up to be on the show and they have already figured out their own version of Funky Thinkers.
Robert McGuiness had an angle that people live in a certain culture meme. And we see that everywhere - in mass market TV, politics, the news.
It takes a certain type of person to break through or break out of that strait jacket. Funky Thinkers.
This episode uses the vehicle of the travel industry to discuss this.
In the 1970's when airfares became affordable - everyone in the UK went to Spain in the summer. (Or Portugal or Greece).
That became the cultural meme.
If there are any budding historians who listen to the show - we would be interested in having you on the show.
Robert thinks you guys are under rated.
There is a link to a show which was on BBC a while back where each episode featured the trials and tribulations of a family - who lived in a specific house in Liverpool.
Outside UK people may be unable to see it.
Plus - if you haven't seen it before - there is the link to the DHL advert virtually proving that nowhere on earth is inaccessible.
Robert also thinks that social media takes away people's autonomy. Never heard it described like that before. In that people are living their lives measuring against what other people like or do or think or buy.
Plus - forget all these apps that bring your food to you. At a time slot of their choosing. Next time I need some takeaway food - I am going to go to the shop - with cash - and buy it. You will have to listen to get the full story.
The twitter user interface cropped up for the first time.... Could do better.
Hudi Kowalsky – Yes you can – (gobble gobble like a turkey)…
Hudi Kowalsky - Contact via LinkedIn or http://www.hudikowalskymusic.com/
I felt a little awkward after recording this.
Hudi Kowalsky is a born and bred New Yorker.
Because I knew who Top Cat was and he didn't.
A video snippet of the classic Top Cat introduction is below.
(Top Cat is a cartoon version of The Phil Silvers show - Sgt Bilko where a gang of wiseguys continually get one over on the slow witted and generally ineffective "officials".)
I might need to change some of the questions - because the "what makes you roll your eyes every time you hear it ?" is starting to become a little awkward.
I think we have proved that all Funky thinkers have a dislike for rudeness, intolerance and general 21st century attitudes.
Watch this space...
Where is the one place - (well two) that if you went to - and could stay there forever - you would meet everyone you had ever met.
The answer is Trafalgar Square - London and Times Square - New York. The Eiffel Tower in Paris. Red Square Moscow. CN Tower Toronto.
We talk about what life is like in the ant colony that is New York City - downtown.
Tip - Whatever and however your life is chaotic and busy - you NEED to have something that takes your mind off it. As someone famous once said "It's a rat race and the rats are winning."
Hudi was a child of the 1960's listening to Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
Plus the story of the Prince who thought he was a turkey - the answer for treating him. Let him be a Turkey if he wants to be.
Tom Baker (Doctor Who) cropped up as did King Solomon - How did they know he was one of the richest men who ever lived? Did they dig up his bank card?
