Mere Mortals Conversations

Can we actually predict the innate character/personality of someone, solely based on their face? Juan and Kyrin try and answer this question in this themed episode of 'Physiognomy'. The definition of physiognomy is hard to pin down, explaining why it actually appears to be a combination of science, pseudoscience and art. The debate also gets muddled due to the underlying nature vs nurture argument that rears its head after sufficient discussion.This led to a more practical discussion on whether judging people based on their appearance is useful. Whilst we all do this to some degree or another (i.e., consciously or subconsciously) it really does appear that context is the determinant for utility. In the future we may find that this subject becomes more relevant as AI and data-driven analysis of facial features (taken from Facebook for example) allow us to statistically prove that certain people's exteriors infer a greater propensity for certain actions, whether good, bad or neutral. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:14 - Mere Mortal Moments4:52 - Definition and etymology of physiognomy7:21 - Is it a science, pseudoscience or art?14:23 - Nature vs nurture and tighter definition21:13 - Judging a book by its cover, is it useful?28:12 - Context is everything33:00 - Conscious vs subconscious judging36:11 - AI and physiognomy43:54 - How to make physiognomy a real science49:09 - Trump has the eyes of a blue whale!51:26 - Outro and the physiognomy of the Mere MortalsAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

This week Kyrin got the chance to chat with Jacqui Ooi, the host of the 'What She Did Next' podcast. Jacqui has had an intriguing career, first starting off as a journalist/editor in woman's magazines before heading into the NGO sector and working in senior communications roles for large charities (notably ChildFund Australia and The Smith Family).Recently she decided to start her own podcast, focusing particularly on woman who have had non-standard career paths. Jacqui also shares Kyrin's love of travel and we went over some of her travel stories and times when you can feel unsafe in strange situations. To finish we had a couple of quick questions related to travel destinations, books and setting deadlines. This was a great conversation and we highly recommend you check out some of her episodes (a personal favourite was the one with Hetty McKinnon). As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:21 - Mere Mortal Moment3:37 - Recap of Jacqui's career6:11 - What drew her to journalism9:54 - The changing face of journalism & communications14:21 - Career transition into NGO's and charities19:24 - Downsides of voluntourism25:27 - Showing progress vs highlighting problems27:19 - Intrinsic motivation for WSDN podcast35:54 - How Jacqui chooses guests39:38 - Solo gap year at a young age46:45 - Unsafe situations while travelling53:17 - Next place to go after coronavirus56:44 - 'Becoming' by Michelle Obama1:01:47 - Setting yourself deadlines1:05:31 - Wrap up and how to connect with JacquiConnect with Jacqui:Website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcastAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Have you had an intense interaction with someone trying to convert you to 'insert religion here'? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: Kyrin's recent interaction with a crazy Jehovah's Witness, the best argumentative method to change another person's mind and the type of Mere Mortals mind states that leave the crew in their weakest and strongest positions.Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:37 - Crazy lady and her JW org conversion attempt3:45 - Was the crazy lady a great sales person?6:01 - How would you try and change your own mind?10:13 - The type of people who will change their mind rapidly14:12 - Trying to change another person's mind19:11 - Basing someone in reality23:41 - The only sane person in an insane world25:34 - Communicating in a slow, logical, smooth manner30:13 - Building rapport32:45 - When are you at your strongest/weakest?38:30 - Emotions controlling your decisions41:57 - The new Mere Mortals websiteAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5 pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

What did Kyrin get up to on his recent holiday to Hamilton Island? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: wearing a 20 kg weight vest to stop being too comfortable, the not-so-secret cardio weakness of the explosive Mere Mortals crew, coronavirus air travel and the definition of good customer service, overcoming claustrophobia and facing a new fear and how to better bond with your family on vacations.Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:18 - Chunky Juan's weight vest4:40 - Intentionally making yourself uncomfortable6:28 - Going beyond One-Punch Man8:04 - Humbled by cardio workouts11:43 - Coronavirus is the greatest thing to happen to air travel14:44 - First class customer service18:41 - Seasickness and vomiting20:56 - Diving on the Great Barrier Reef23:57 - Scared while scuba diving28:44 - Diving horror stories33:00 - Bonding on family vacations36:30 - Holiday after the holiday39:49 - Outro and video suggestionsAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Should you be getting up early to start the day fresh, or burning the late night candle to get your work done, which one works best?As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily vids @ 5 pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcasts.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Do you intentionally listen to a specific song/artist to recall a memorable time period? In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Music'. As usual the crew start of with some Mere Mortal Moments as well as the etymology and definition of the word. They then start listing some of their favourite artists and genres before diving into how music can evoke past memories and whether this is only a good technique or could potentially ruin songs.Music plays a big part in all our lives and has huge effects on us both consciously and subconsciously. Movies use soundtracks to create certain atmospheres/feelings and listening to sad music while alone or pump-up music for the gym can also have physical effects on our body and endorphins. To finish up the episode there is a discussion of some musical facts, such as the 1/10000 person perfect pitch phenomenon as well as the only band to perform on every continent. Timeline:0:00 - Intro and Ke$ha cover1:16 - Mere Mortal Moments4:40 - Etymology and definition of music9:44 - Favourite songs and artists of Juan and Kyrin12:55 - Using music to create memories/connections17:04 - What is a movie like with no soundtrack?18:52 - Specific memories evoked by specific songs22:22 - Creating mood altering playlists27:25 - Music in the gym31:03 - Perfect pitch and other musical facts38:09 - How to become the most famous musician in 20 years time43:36 - Where to hear more dulcet Mere Mortals voices?As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

It was a pleasure to welcome back Alex Troll, founder of PodUnion, a platform to listen to and host podcasts. We started off this interview talking about how to market yourself by simply providing value and letting that speak for itself. We then transitioned to transformative innovations that will change the world of the future. Alex predicts that the instant ability to translate between languages will open up a huge new space for ideas to spread and cross over barriers previously blocked by the inability to understand one another.This got us onto language formation and how much we actually use symbols and text nowadays. Despite that, there are still tremendous differences between languages (English, Spanish, German, Pidgin, etc.,) and these also result in significant cultural differences (the assertiveness of Germans for example). We end the interview by speaking about committing to something 100% and how to find fulfilment by following your interests and finding satisfaction. Alex is an awesome guy and we love everything he is doing over at PodUnion. If you like listening to podcasts download his app from the app store and give it a try. Also connect with him via any of the links below. Once again, thanks for listening, we really appreciate it. Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Intro and overview1:23 - Marketing through value addition5:15 - Jim Kwik and transformative innovations7:56 - Instant language translation will change the world12:46 - The next massive social media site14:17 - Languages of the future: symbols, memes, hieroglyphics?16:20 - Invented language of symbols (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/segments/257194-man-became-bliss)19:02 - Language in Papua New Guinea20:02 - Kyrin's journey of learning Spanish and its benefits25:50 - The deep voices and assertiveness of German28:00 - Committing 100% to a journey and looking back31:56 - Following your interests and finding satisfaction36:52 - PodUnion and the coming podcastConnect with Alex:Website: https://www.podunion.co/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podunion/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podunionAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

What is the greatest compliment that the Mere Mortals would like to be called? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: hot versus cold and if summer is better than winter, compliments that are the opposite of your natural ability, useless routines and Kyrin's OCD with pegs, doing uncomfortable actions and asking for discounts, Juan's hypnotic ability to control his minions and some hypothetical pictures that would be on the official Mere Mortals Only Fans account.Timeline:0:00 - Introduction0:38 - Hot vs Cold5:08 - Eating in winter is better10:20 - Muscle-bound goons12:35 - 50% bananas and hairless toads16:03 - Get out of your routine!16:57 - Useless routines19:52 - Action leads to confidence23:04 - Getting outside of your comfort zone25:03 - Juan's death stare28:03 - Behaving badly in Virtual Reality31:02 - The Mere Mortals hypothetical Only Fans account33:40 - Wind down and appreciationAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Do you set yourself monthly goals and if so, how many do you set? The Mere Mortals crew on the first Thursday of every month go over their progress from the previous month and where they are heading for the next. Emphasis as always is on the shortcomings and why they didn't achieve their goals and how they will fix that for the month that comes. We hope you get some value from this series, showcasing our own methodology. What do you do differently and why? Let us know in the comments, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Do you still watch the news and if so, how much? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: their new camera quality, personality versus character and which is more important, tips on making new connections and dealing with social snubs, how both MM's consume their news, why Kyrin likes to live in the squalor of ignorance and the absurd amount of daily emails that Juan receives.Timeline:0:00 - Intro and camera quality0:37 - Personality vs Character2:46 - Socrates is a jackass!4:10 - Choosing between personality vs character6:29 - Ray Dalio and P Diddy8:30 - Generating your own feedback12:28 - The opposite side of the coin13:13 - Dealing with social snubs and persisting15:14 - Consuming daily news17:58 - What is a news source?20:50 - Why Kyrin doesn't look at any news sites23:50 - Juan's 90+ daily emails25:40 - Where to connect with the positive, higher quality MM'sAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Learnings from podcasts, interviews, book reviews and reflection on how to push beyond a Mere Mortal.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show