Meridians is a podcast about making connections across history, science and culture.

Welcome to Meridians, a podcast where we explore the fascinating intersections of history, science, and culture. I’m your host Charlie Noble, and I invite you to join me on a journey that uncovers the connections woven into the fabric of our world. In each episode, we’ll delve into the stories that have shaped our societies, the scientific breakthroughs that challenge our understanding, and the cultural narratives that resonate across generations. From the ancient wisdom of civilizations long past to the cutting-edge discoveries that illuminate our present, we’ll uncover the threads that link us all. 

My goal is to entertain and inform, grounding our explorations in the real world around us. There’s so much to discover, and I promise you—every conversation will leave you with new insights and a deeper appreciation for the complexity of our shared human experience. So, whether you’re commuting, cooking, or simply relaxing at home, I hope you’ll tune in and embark on this adventure with me. Let’s uncover the connections that unite us on Meridians.

Now that that overly scripted blurb is out of the way…

Just an introduction here to what this blog will be. It’s going to be a bit of a behind the scenes for each episode. I’ll publish the blog post probably around the same time as the podcast. maybe I’ll include some things I realized later that should have been in the episode. For this post I’m really just waxing about by writing process.

Research

I didn’t know what I was doing when I started doing research for this podcast. This is a learning experience for me. That’s not a cop out to say ‘don’t expect much, I’m just a dummy’ I won’t use that excuse. I’m learning more about writing and researching with every new episode.

Newspapers.com has been a huge help. It has exclusive content that I can’t find anywhere else. I’ve already used several articles from old newspapers and hope to keep using it for the foreseeable future.

Other research comes from doing some serious digging. Wikipedia does help give a broad picture, but I’ve learned to be careful with Wikipedia as it proved to not always have the most accurate information. It gets the weirdest things wrong sometimes (but not when people die, that they seem to have down!).

Research is probably the hardest part. Cross referencing things and trying to decide if I should trust ‘x’ or ‘y’ source alone because I’m looking up something so obscure that no one on the internet seems to care about it.

I’ve used the new flashy ‘ai’ assistants as well, of course. Perplexity.ai has been particularly good for helping me find sources. It does citation in its answers, which I find helpful and also it feels a little less unfair to the original source material.

Still, the ai assistants don’t get things right all the time either. I’ve gotten them to admit they told me conflicting information and then they elaborate why they fucked up.

Still, I’d never let them write for me. They’re too … everything, bleh. It would be disingenuous for me to just regurgitate what the ai came up with. I try to give a perspective in the podcast and I’m not going to have one if some bot is writing my script.

Public Speaking

I was not an orator growing up. I was quiet and didn’t have much to say. I was timid and shy. As an adult, I was forced out of my shell by necessity. For work I have to communicate a lot. I’m kind of obsessed with good communication and probably harp about it too much.

At home, with my family, I’m probably the biggest loudmouth. Spilling stupid jokes and anecdotes only I find interesting all over the kitchen table over a meal. I learned a long time ago that if you want to remember something, you should tell others about it. Repeating things you learn is a great tool (to the detriment of those around you).

None of this makes me a good orator, though. That’s the hardest part (Ok, really though it might be a draw between oration and research). Again though, like research, its just something I’m going to work on. I listen to every recording and take notes on what I should and shouldn’t do. This will probably take the longest for me to work out.

I do like to sing and do voices, though. That I’ve been doing that stuff A LOT since I was a kid. I’m so sorry in advance for all of that, lol. I’ll try to keep the singing to a minimum but I can’t guarantee anything about the voices. I’ll try not to offend anyone with voices (I’m THAT stupid). I’ll probably just use them from time to time to add texture to the show.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

I’m an IT guy (YOU’RE SO FUCKING SHOCKED), so the technical side of the podcast has been somewhat approachable. Don’t make fun of me for making this website with WordPress though. I do plan on making a custom website myself (Making websites has been a hobby (or job at times for nearly 20+ years). Right now the focus is on the content and the podcast itself.

I also do some music recording from time to time (I’ll spare you, that’s for me, I’m no Bob Dylan) so I’ve got some idea of how to mix and edit a show, though I’m still trying to fix my popping p’s. No amount of pop filters can save you for now.

Still, I try to never take a position that I’m an expert in anything. I’m sort of a ‘master of none’ type character. I have a philosophy of not trying to be the smartest guy in the room. Being inquisitive and curious is more important to me than clout. You don’t know what you don’t know until you find out that you didn’t know it and then you know it, you know?

Quality

I’ve spilled a bunch of admissions of not knowing what I’m doing here. But, I also want to say that I don’t intend on phoning this podcast in. I don’t like people wasting my time and I don’t intend on wasting yours, dear reader, dear listener.

Anyone listening to my podcast is taking their time to listen to my words about a topic. I intend to deliver clear and quality content that is accurate and isn’t filled with a bunch of inside podcast b.s.. I hate jumping in and listening to a new podcast that’s about ‘history’ only to hear 10 minutes of people yapping about nothing and talking to the audience like they’ve listened to every 100+ episodes previous. I won’t be doing anything like that. I can’t stand it. Its akin to the 5000 word blog post before you get to the recipe for Chicken Dumplings. Cmon!

I’ll work my booty off to make a good show and I hope you enjoy it.