Downright Dilettantes

Well our most highly-anticipated episode ever has finally arrived: Ten Day Silent Meditation Retreat. Both Jon and Jonas have spent 10 days in silence, and Jonas spent an additional 5 days volunteering at the organisation. We discuss a lot. What is meditation? What are the different types? What are the benefits? What's it like going on a silent retreat? And more! Our complete show notes are available at https://downrightdilettantes.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/11-ten-day-silent-meditation-retreat/

In this episode, Jonas starts from no music knowledge whatsoever and sits down to learn to play the piano. He quickly realizes that the piano is structured by a lot of underlying math and physics, which leads him on to the basics of music theory. As it turns out Jon has played piano as a child and later grew up to be a physicist without ever connected those two dots. Now, Jon's childhood finally makes sense.

In this episode of the downright dilettantes, Jon attempts to touch his toes and covers up his failed attempt by also running a marathon. We focus on the marathon, goal setting, how to prepare, what to expect, and more! You can see our show notes at https://downrightdilettantes.wordpress.com/.

This is Part 2 on psychedelics where Jonas’ tells the dramatic story of what it was like to go on an ayahuasca retreat for four days with two psychedelic ceremonies. Let’s just say it was an incredible experience! Afterwards we talk about Jonas’ experience with psilocybin truffles in various settings (indoors vs outdoors, music vs no music, etc.), and how he tried to mimic the setup that they use at Johns Hopkins medical school for their research on “inducing spiritual experiences” through the use of psilocybin. Finally, we discuss good advice for people that are curious about trying it themselves, which involves the very important concepts of “set” and “setting”. This episode was edited by Aileen Moroney. Check out the show notes at https://downrightdilettantes.com.

In Episode #8, Jonas explores alternative states of consciousness through two psychedelics: psilocybin and ayahuasca. This is Part 1 where we talk about what a psychedelic is and go through the history of its human use. We then discuss why you might try it yourself and answer the very reasonable question: isn’t it dangerous?!?! Be sure to check out Part 2 for Jonas’ own experience of guided ayahuasca ceremonies and self-administered psilocybin as well as important advice for how to ensure a good experience yourself. This episode was edited by Aileen Moroney. Check out the show notes at https://downrightdilettantes.com. 

In this episode of Downright Dilettantes, Jon puts his own money on the line to see if he can strategic place sports bets that guarantee him a profit. To give away the punchline, he makes 120 euros! This episode was edited by Aileen Moroney. The full show notes will be available soon at https://downrightdilettantes.wordpress.com/

Jonas sets up two websites: a personal site (https://jonaswied.wordpress.com) and a revamped version of the podcast site (https://downrightdilettantes.com). We discuss why you might have a personal site, and whether Jonas has gone too far in his mix of personal and professional information on his own site.

In this episode of Downright Dilettantes, Jon discusses his pursuit to design his own board game. We discuss what makes a good board game, why do people like board games, and how Jon's game turned out when he asked his friends and family to play. The show notes are available at https://downrightdilettantes.wordpress.com/

Jonas sets out to improve his posture. One posture brace, a re-designed office desk, and a homemade orthopedic pillow later, he is here to report back. What started as an exercise in fixing back and neck issues quickly devolved into a nightmare realization that his entire body - all the way down to his toes - has serious mobility issues. We discuss our society's poor-posture epidemic, what poor posture looks like throughout the body, and better ways to sit, move and sleep(!). 

Jon spends six weeks honing his sushi-making skills. We explore the history of sushi (spoiler: sushi is not even Japanese by origin?!), different types of sushi, proper sushi etiquette, as well as tips and tricks for how to make sushi yourself.

Jonas dives into the controversies of intelligence research and has his IQ professionally tested. This leads to him joining Mensa - the exclusive society for high IQ individuals. After a few rather unsuccessful Mensa-meetings, he is here to report back!

In this first episode of Downright Dilettantes, Jon tries out Stand Up Comedy. Watching, studying, performing. The complete shownotes are available at https://downrightdilettantes.wordpress.com/.