Podcast Benomtad

Open, friendly, philosophical discussions about a variety of topics with many different people

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Episodes

Monday May 05, 2025

From Emile: “The more ingenious are our tools, the cruder and more maladroit our organs become.  By dint of gathering machines around us, we no longer find any in ourselves.” (176)  I give an example from the book that Rousseau gives of how he might teach Emile to judge distances with his eyes, but Rousseau has a larger point of how education can teach us to live with our senses, using them and developing confidence in them, instead of defaulting to the use of devices.  
 
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For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-37ye2-189dd82
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Monday May 05, 2025

Smartphones are apparently making us dumb, which reminds me of Rousseau’s writing from Emile: “The more ingenious are our tools, the cruder and more maladroit our organs become.  By dint of gathering machines around us, we no longer find any in ourselves.” (176)  We talk about the drawbacks of relying on technology rather than our senses and knowledge.  
Please like, comment and subscribe!
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Sunday May 04, 2025

Thumbling’s father is a tailor and his son uses a tailor’s instrument, to, instead of sew together the pieces of the world, break it apart, revealing the things the wearers would prefer hidden.  Thumbling (Tom Thumb in English folklore a popular figure) is a hero we can all relate to because of his diminutive size, which leads us to embrace him if we don’t mock him (and it’s hard to mock him because of his pluckiness).  This is like the Christian archetype, where the low man is the hero rather than the high.
This story also emphasizes the parent’s, or at least the father’s, perspective, in that Thumbling requests to go out, is small in size, and returns home rather than founding his own at the end of the story. 
I think it is more about the irony of his smallness, his courageous character and the unmasking of hypocrisy in the world.  This, I think, is the gift of Thumbling (symbolized by his sole gold coin) to the world and the pride of his family.) 
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Sunday May 04, 2025

Unlike Hans Hedghog, another tiny deformity (sort of), Thumbling does not transform in this story.  There is a very different attitude from his parents as well.  This story is more like a variety of adventures that lead to maturity and showcase Thumbling’s wit.  
(from Grimm’s “Thumbling’s Travels” Discussion)
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Sunday May 04, 2025

Thumbling is also like the peripatetic Prodigal Son in his jumping around trades.  LL points out the world’s response to Thumbling is somewhat different from what you’d expect: a gang of robbers helps him and tries to enthrone him as their leader; he is kicked out and almost killed and eaten at an inn; a master doesn’t nourish him but his mistress also chases Thumbling out.  And through it all, his spirit remains undaunted.
(from Grimm’s “Thumbling’s Travels” Discussion)
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Sunday May 04, 2025

Thumbling comes home with the only coin he could carry, but he is alive.  He also stole from the king’s treasury.  However, when he returns, he is welcomed and the father willingly gives all his chickens to the fox for his son’s life.  The returning son receives all of the blessings and no opprobrium.
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Saturday May 03, 2025

We backtrack: Before becoming black pudding at the innkeeper’s he is taken in by robbers, who get him to steal from the king’s treasury.  He tosses out coins while evading the guards, taunting them like he did the master’s wife.  
 
After his escape from the pudding, he is almost eaten by a fox but saves himself by promising the animal his father’s chickens.  The fox takes him home, he gives his father his Thaler, and the fox is given all the chickens the father has.
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Saturday May 03, 2025

Thumbling leaves the master’s house and goes to an innkeeper.  Their maids dislike Thumbling because he tells their boss about their thefts.  Again, he is chased by a woman with a cloth.  She scoops him up, ties him and flings him towards the cows and he gets eaten.  He makes his way through the digestive system, calling out for help.  They can’t hear him at first, but then do but don’t know where he is.  The cow is killed and slaughtered and made into black pudding, but he is able to avoid the knife and is now able to make his escape.
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Saturday May 03, 2025

A tailor’s son decides to go out into the world, is given a needle-sword, and has his last meal from his mom. But the vapors carry him out into the world via the chimney.  He makes his way to a master’s house and is employed.  But the food has too many potatoes and too little meat so he protests publicly.  Enraged, the mistress chases him around while he taunts her from various hiding places.  Eventually she chases him out of the house with her cloth.
 
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9ys7q-189b2a1
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

Saturday May 03, 2025

We summarize and discuss the Brothers Grimm story “Thumbling’s Travels.”  The diminutive main character decides to leave home and make his way in the world.  He’s given a needle sword by his father, and his mother’s food’s steam carries him through the chimney to begin his adventures.  He meets a cast of characters, including a band of robbers and pilfering maids, and makes his way through a cow and various foods it’s made out of.  Finally, a fox he makes a deal with brings him home, where his father trades all his fowl for his returned son.  
 
This seemed like a fun story about a plucky young man who is thrust about in various circumstances but is able to evade all sorts of censure and danger, mocking many who try to capture him.  He does not slay a dragon or win a great love, but he uses his wit and heart to survive many dangers of the world, and he thumbs his nose at people who try to control him.
Please like, comment and subscribe!
For the full episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-wdupe-1899017
 
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

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Becoming Human

I view having deep, open conversations as perhaps the primary way I explore my and others' humanity.  I am looking for self-transcendence, knowledge, depth and love though exploration of experience, stories (such as myths and folktales), and ideas.  I hope you enjoy these conversations for personal growth and happiness, and thank you for listening. 

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