Mon, 26 October 2015
In this episode I was joined from Fort Worth, Texas, by Justin "The Big Pygmy" Wren. Justin is a professional MMA fighter but his principal fight is for the rights of the 'forgotten' Mbuti Pygmy slaves in eastern Congo. Still only 27, Justin has packed a lot into his life so far. He has gone from the highs of 2 all-American wrestling titles and a place in The Ultimate Fighter house to the lows of addiction and suicidal ideation. Justin's faith has played a large part in his recovery from addiction and an even larger part in the events that found him heading to the Congo on 3 weeks notice in 2011. Justin was an inspirational, sincere, and humble guest. Justin has found the best way to ease his own troubles is to focus on the troubles of others. Wren's immediate plans are to fight for Bellator MMA and return to the Congo between fights to visit his beloved Pygmy family. Our conversation covered the following topics;
For full episode notes please visit the INSPIRELAND blog. Thanks. Dave |
Mon, 12 October 2015
In this episode I was joined by Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark Net: Inside the digital underworld. The Dark Net explores the vast and hidden network of sites that engines like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can't access. It's a world where people can be anyone they want and largely do anything they want. It's a world occupied by bitcoin, self-harmers, illegal drugs and cyber (and all too real) terrorism. Jamie was an excellent guest and thankfully his book is far from alarmist. Jamie met many of the people involved in the birth and growth of the most infamous corners of the dark web. Jamie tells the story of his journey through the dark web, and the story of those he met along the way, in a balanced and informative way. We meet trolls, a man convicted of possession of child porn, those tasked with policing online paedophilia, self-harmers, and a familiar camgirl (Vex Ashley). Our conversation included the following topics:
For full episode notes go to inspirelandpodcast. Enjoy the episode. Dave |