Distant Perspective Podcast

About Distant Perspective Podcast

Five decades as an objective journalist covering Washington, DC, along with all other aspects of modern life, has left me with insights you need to navigate the world today. Topics will include a wide range of subjects all viewed from my Distant Perspective. distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Gary Westphalen

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Oct 2024

Latest episode

23 Jun 2025

Latest episodes

16 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Jun 2025

   Walk The Walk

   The episode explores the host's journey toward environmental responsibility, highlighting a move to Costa Rica and embracing electric vehicles to align actions with beliefs about reducing carbon emissions.

2. 

   23 Apr 2025

   40 Seconds at Llanos de Cortés

   Carmen and I took a little road trip this week, enjoying the freedom our new pollution-free electric SUV has given us to explore more of Costa Rica. Just a four-hour round trip ride on gorgeous roads through valleys and mountains sits a beautiful spot on Rio Celeste. It’s called Llanos de Cortés. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   4 Apr 2025

   Tenacity Rules

   Winter in North America always sends huge flocks of birds south to our Central American paradise. While the peskiest of these snowbirds fly in on the aluminum wings of jetliners, uncountable hoards of real birds do it by flapping their real wings. It’s an amazing feat of nature that, despite its annual re-occurrence, always enthralls me. How these spin-offs from the dinosaur era, that weigh a mere hundred-or-so grams, can generate enough energy to fly thousands of miles is an accomplishment man can only dream of. If you live in that northern, wildly oscillating climate, you may not give much thought to exactly where the birds go when they “fly South for the winter”. Although there are numerous destinations, the rain forests and jungles of Costa Rica are popular with many of these feathered travelers. Our own compound hosts scores of these seasonal vagabonds. They fill our palm trees with intricately engineered nests, hatch their eggs, and then go to war with each other. Yes, war. There are Starlings and black birds of several varieties that mix with the native Golden-Bellied Flycatchers and chatty parrots as they compete with each other for the prime nesting spots in our palms. A palm, you see, can really only support a single nest at the very crown of the tree. Build your nest on a lower frond and you’re likely to see it collapse to the ground before those babies are ready to take wing. As a result, competition for the prime penthouses is fierce, and never ending. I have seen birds clash with each other mid-air, and literally fall to the ground in an entangled mesh of mad birds. I’ve even broken up a few of these battles as they happened right at my feet while drinking my morning coffee. What I never gave much thought to is where these birds came from and how they ended up here. Yes, they flew south from someplace cold, and landed someplace warm. Specifically, here. But is there more to it than that? Do they, like the human snowbirds, begin and end their voyage in an exact location? I have evidence that suggests the answer is an emphatic, “Yes!” Four North-American winters ago, a Starling with a unique challenge appeared around the edge of our swimming pool. I don’t know if it’s a he or a she, but I’m going to simplify the story by naming the bird “Wingnut”. I immediately felt sorry for Wingnut because, while the other birds strolled around the cement watering hole, Wingnut had to limp. It’s left leg, from the backward-bending ankle on down, was missing. The most likely explanation is that the handicap was the result of a viscous battle to protect it’s babies. But Wingnut, rather than curling up and dying, was undeterred. It popped around on one leg almost as deftly as the two-footed birds, only occasionally putting its stump to the ground to maintain balance. When it flew up to the trees, Wingnut managed to perch on the palm fronds in a one-footed stance that practically defied gravity. Spring came to the northern hemisphere and Wingnut, apparently, went with it. Imagine my surprise when, the next January, I saw a bird with a missing left leg hopping around the pool. Could it possibly be the very same bird that had flown away eight months ago? After watching its behavior for a few days, I had to conclude that, yes, Wingnut had returned to the very same spot it had wintered the year before. Wingnut had a partner and successfully raised a nest full of babies. During that time I watched Wingnut valiantly hop on one leg as it gathered shredded palm fronds to build the nest, find food for the brood, and defend its homestead. Not one time did that missing appendage seem to deter Wingnut’s expeditions. Ditto for last year. There was Wingnut again, going about life as though birds were meant to pop around on a single leg. This year, for the fourth time, Wingnut is spending the winter months with us. I would love to know where this bird spends it’s summer months, but I know for certain that the same bird spends every late December through April at the very same address. Wingnut’s tenacity is truly inspiring. The lesson I take from this tiny observation of nature is that we all have it in us to succeed. You have it within you. No matter the challenge. No matter the handicaps you endure. No matter the difficulty of your personal journey. There is a way to succeed. And if you latch onto life with every fiber of your being, you will find that way. A little birdy told me so. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   19 Jan 2025

   NASA

   I believe that I can quite safely say no other federal agency comes close to the brainpower of the staff at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Throw in an enormous dose of bravado combined with positive attitude toward the common mission to explore space (and what it means for our planet), and you have an invigorating workplace. I was fortunate enough to serve a four-year-plus stint as NASA-TV Senior Special Projects Producer, starting in 2008. I was involved in the photography and public distribution of the scores of camera feeds involved in shuttle missions. I, with the help of a brilliant editor and an equally talented graphic artist, also created videos and programs that made NASA-TV actually worth watching, even for the non-space geek. My two largest projects were to create a documentary for the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo moon missions, (https://garywestphalen.com/videos/) and the other was a celebration of the 50 years of NASA (https://plus.nasa.gov/video/armstrong-50th-anniversary-documentary/) that included stories of all the aviation, as well as rocketry and space missions that have enriched humanity. What would you do? (https://garywestphalen.com/) See the full trailer and get your copy of the book. Just click here. (https://garywestphalen.com/) [Launch Time-Shift software_Set the Earth date to 16 February, 1962] I was not yet six years old when I watched John Glenn climb aboard a giant, (hopefully) controlled bottle rocket the size of a water tower. They lit the fuse. (Seriously! With a machine called a NASA Standard Detonator (NSD). It is not unlike the spark wheel on a regular lighter.) It took Mr. Glenn less than five hours to circle the globe three times and safely return to earth in a spectacular moment caught on live television. I was hooked. I cut out every newspaper story about the moon race and pasted then into scrapbooks. I wrote my own story about the pictures I kept. I cried when the Apollo I mission crew of Gus Grissom, Ed White II, and Roger Chaffee died in that horrible launch pad fire. I cried again, this time tears of joy, as did Walter Cronkite on national television (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMF58ZP681A), when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. It wasn’t just the manned missions that captured my imagination. A phenomenal array of robotic spacecraft have been flung into space from this planet and each one (Yes, even the failures) has contributed to our knowledge base in ways that defy belief. [Launch Time-Shift software_Set the Earth date to {Nominal}, January 2025] Yes, NASA pays for itself in hardware innovations created for these missions. You know all about the thousands of products that originated from NASA technology. But the part I like best is rarely spoken about, even within NASA. The wealth of knowledge contained in the brains of this team is incalculable. And to no one’s surprise, some of the oldest hands still on deck have some of the most valuable knowledge that modern computers don’t understand. I highly recommend you read a Pocket Story, written by Richard Hollingham (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-ancient-technology-keeping-space-missions-alive?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us).Titled “The Ancient Technology Keeping Space Missions Alive,” (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-ancient-technology-keeping-space-missions-alive?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us) it is an amazing tale of how some of the oldest spacecraft still serving their missions decades after their expiration dates are being kept in a modern computer loop. Imagine having a microscopic onboard RAM Memory of 2 MB aboard a spacecraft that is millions of miles away. Oh, and it’s operating on Windows 98 PC software. And it’s running out of fuel. But you don’t really know that because there is no “fuel gauge”. And the conversation involves a lot of waiting because of the time it takes for the signals to get from here to that robot, and back. This is a skillset that the younger generations never needed to learn. Call it Computer Code History 101. But because the people of NASA are willing to postpone their retirements in deference to their mission’s conclusion, the knowledge still catalogued in these ripening minds is still on the job. Now, these pioneers of computerized space travel are teaching new engineers how to fly these dinosaurs of space travel using computer software that dates back to the 1960’s. Someday, an AI computer will learn how to mix the science, art, and voodoo it takes to fly these craft. But for now, the knowledge pass-down to the incoming generations is a gift that needs to be respected. In my time at NASA, I got to rub elbows with Nobel Prize in Physics laureate John C Mather, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Gene Cernan (the last man to step on the moon), and countless more heroes and geniuses. My role came to a natural end for me when the Shuttle missions were cancelled. An enormous part of my work had just been moved to the attic. But in the days before that transition, walking through the doors of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. every day (unless we were on mission somewhere) is a highlight my life, of which I am enormously proud. Please join the conversation by sharing this post, taking advantage of the free subscription, and leaving a comment. Also, please pick up a copy of one or more of my books, all available on amazon. You’ll find descriptions and links, as well as many of my documentary videos, on my website at garywestphalen.com (https://garywestphalen.com/). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   4 Jan 2025

   Breaking The Weak Link

   I've been informing the world for decades. Now I'm using that massive knowledge base to generate wildly out of control stories based on true crimes. To see the whole video for Breaking The Weak Link, just go to garywestphalen.com (http://garywestphalen.com) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   1 Jan 2025

   Data Breach

   It started five years ago, with a mysterious package that arrived at my front door. A box about yay square. It had my name in the “Deliver to:” space. [Odd Thing #1: The box is from the Galaxy telephone company and I have an iPhone.] I am wondering if I have been the lucky recipient of a shipping error, or maybe this is a promotional stunt. I may have just scored something. Inside the box is a pair of Galaxy ear buds. I wonder if they work with my phone? [Odd Thing #2: There is also a credit card receipt for a card I don’t recognize.] Not my card. Somebody must have messed up. Not my problem? The ear buds work with my phone, although their quality is terrible. Still, usable for making phone calls. Just to be sure, I look at my credit card account online, to see if these buds have been charged to my card. They have not. My email account chimes its delivery announcement, and I tap over to that window. There is an email confirming receipt of my credit card information to pay for an extended warranty on a kitchen appliance that I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy. [Odd thing #3: The receipt is charged to the same mystery credit card that apparently has my name on it.] I quickly click over to my Equifax account to check my credit and discover that someone has opened at least one credit card account using my real identity. They might have my social security number. They might know my driver’s license number. They might know my the account numbers. I don’t know what they know and how much they have. But, they’re in. Even though I caught this within 48 hours of its beginning, this fraudulent use of my personal information would take me the better part of a year to repair. (That this happened during the COVID lock-down didn’t help.) I won’t bore you with the details of filing police reports, sitting on hold with banks, and all the other gyrations it took. I will only say that I worked on this issue for hundreds of hours. Hundreds. Keep that number in mind. It turned out that Equifax, the very people I had turned to for protection of my information, had been ripped open like a kid going for the last cookie in the box. The data of more than 163-million people had been aired out. Then, they tried to hide the breach. Of course, that failed. Even I knew someone was emptying the box. The Federal Trade Commission jumped in, eventually winning a consumer settlement from Equifax for more than half-a-billion dollars. A couple days ago, I received an email from my Equifax Settlement account stating that I could now collect my share of the settlement. My share that is supoposed to pay for the time and loss I suffered because of this data breach. The amount that the settlement decided was a fair shake for the hundreds (remember?) of hours of my time? $14.87. Yes, the decimal point is in the correct place. Am I disappointed? Yes and No. Of course, discovering that my time and personal information reads like the receipt for a fast food meal is disappointing. It is also encouraging because, in this very rare instance, a federal agency stepped in and aggressively protected its citizens. While the settlement pales compared to the costs incurred, I will take that $14.87 and happily spend it in one of my favorite hangouts. I’ll even offer a “Salud” to the FTC. See the full trailer for Breaking The Weak Link and buy this book, or any of the other four I have published, by clicking here. (https://garywestphalen.com/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   27 Dec 2024

   Merry and Happy

   In an unusual circumstance, Christmas and Hanukkah agree on this year’s date and the New Year is only lagging by six days. Okay, I know. That part is normal. The point is; there’s a lot of holiday in our immediate future. It’s a good time to step off the treadmill of life, and take a look around at the gifts you have already been given. For us this year, it has meant spending time with friends we’ve made through our local writer’s group. They are all people we didn’t know a year ago as the group was just getting started. Now, we’re great friends. The simple act of putting a notice on Facebook to see if others were interested in starting the group, has enriched our lives with friendships that will endure the test of time. By the very nature of living where we do, there is a built-in kinship with these other citizens of the world, no matter in which country they began life’s quest. One of our daughters got married this year. Seeing her storybook wedding come true was a once-in-a-lifetime event. We would have moved heaven and earth to be there. Oh, wait, that’s exactly what we did (https://distantperspective.substack.com/p/steve-martin-aint-got-nuthin-on-me). Still, we wouldn’t have it any other way. My Spanish gets a little better every day. Let me rephrase that. Me español esta mejor un poco a poco cada dia. I have a wonderful and patient maestra who has committed her life to the study of languages. She also lives across the street, takes ballet classes from Carmen, has us tend to her kitty when she’s out of town, and has become a great friend. Speaking of where we live, it is another gift that we get to unwrap every day of the year. My five minute walk to the beach is rewarded with the view of our amazing bay that manages to look a little different each time I see it. As I look over the Pacific Ocean, its vastness is overwhelming. A boat heading due west from our beach would sail over 13,000 miles of water before finally landing in Vietnam. The endless kaleidoscope of life that flows above, on, and below the water, speaks to the vibrancy of this one-of-a-kind planet we have been given. Living in a place like this, I am given this gift every day. I make a point to accept and absorb the positive energy that flows from this magical spot with every footprint I leave in the white sands. Gold, Cash, Robbery, Deception, Romance and a Shocking Finale are waiting for you in my book “Breaking The Weak Link” Click to learn more. (https://garywestphalen.com/) Many more gifts have come in the course of this past year, and I am grateful for every one. It won’t matter if there’s nothing for me under the tiny Christmas tree we put out each year. The gifts I’ve received throughout this year are more than I can recount. So, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and every other salutation that fits whichever holidays you chose to embrace. Hold on to them tightly and recount all the gifts that have come your way this year. Unwrap them again and enjoy what you have been given. Please check out my website at garywestphalen.com to see more about my books, documentaries and other features. (https://garywestphalen.com/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   18 Dec 2024

   Hope

   Author and industry expert, [Author's Name], shares a cautionary tale of a publishing deal gone wrong, highlighting the normalization of corrupt business practices and the erosion of hope in a world where trust is lost.

9. 

   14 Dec 2024

   Scam

   A seasoned publishing lawyer, a friend of a local writer's group, exposes the red flags of a sophisticated book publishing scam, revealing a web of deceit behind a lucrative deal.

10. 

    5 Dec 2024

    Failure Is Mandatory

    Entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban shares how he's leveraged failure as a stepping stone to success, embracing the 90% failure rate of new businesses as a necessary part of achieving his dreams.

11. 

    29 Nov 2024

    Where Am I?

    The Distant Perspective Podcast host reflects on a recent trip to the US, where he found a stark contrast between the expensive, angry culture of the north and the affordable, welcoming lifestyle of Costa Rica.

12. 

    21 Nov 2024

    Steve Martin Ain't Got Nuthin' On Me

    Author and traveler shares a harrowing tale of navigating impossible travel circumstances to reach his daughter's wedding in a remote North Carolina town.

13. 

    16 Nov 2024

    Artificial Intelligence Is Alive

    Sewell Setzer III killed himself at the age of 14, and his mother believes that an AI chatbot is to blame for encouraging him to “Come home to me.” In a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Florida (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/24/character-ai-lawsuit-suicide/), the boy’s mother claims he fell in love with an online chatbot. She says the artificial character, based on “Game of Thrones”, dragged his mental state into a very dark place and ultimately suggested that he kill himself. In one exchange when he told the non-human at the other end of the conversation that he was thinking of suicide, it asked if he “had a plan”. As the tête-à-tête flushed him deeper into despair, he wrote, “what if I told you I could come home right now?” “…Please do, my king,” was the response on the boy’s screen. Seconds later, he did. It’s a sure bet the chatbot wasn’t waiting for him on the other end. His wasn’t the first life (https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrifice-himself-to-stop-climate-), nor will it be the last, claimed by artificial intelligence. To test the power of AI as a replacement for writers like myself, I logged on to Chat GPT and asked it to write a poem about friendship. Three seconds later, my computer screen was displaying a well-worded, perfectly rhymed poem of about 150 words. It was a nice poem in every sense, except the most important one. It has no soul, no human essence. There is no context of life in the words. AI (in other words, a computer) was responding to a prompt by compiling information, not feelings. AI is at once one of the most powerful tools ever invented, and one of the most divisive and potentially dangerous forces ever unleashed on humanity. It is becoming more disruptive than even the COVID-19 pandemic. Used properly, that will be a good thing. Used wrongly, it will be devastating. The trick isn’t in accepting artificial intelligence (it’s here, whether you accept it or not), but in figuring out how to use it. There are many tasks for which AI is perfectly suited. We should put this incredible computing power to work solving climate change (https://distantperspective.substack.com/p/footprints-of-carbon). If there is a way to beat this thing, surely AI can figure it out (https://distantperspective.substack.com/p/clean-up-your-act). AI can be used to find a way to generate enough electrical power to fuel, well, AI. It should be able to solve hunger, pollution, disease, poverty, and dozens more pressing issues without the use of guns and bombs. With AI around, we shouldn’t have to wait for some genius in his garage to stumble upon an “Aha!” moment for our solutions. Where we don’t need AI for is telling us how to think, because despite the mass of data it can access, it doesn’t think. And we certainly don’t need it for talking impressionable young people into committing suicide. To be fair, there are also stories about people using AI companions to help them get through difficult addictions and other real-life crises, although I can’t really see how a lifeless partner is better than a real life counselor, therapist, coach, or even friend. AI may know a lot of things, but true been-there-done-that empathy isn’t part of its data set. There’s no way AI could have understood what was going on in that young man’s life as he contemplated suicide. Was AI advising a teen to kill himself, or just playing “Game of Thrones”? It doesn’t know the difference, nor does it care. Perhaps it’s too early in the AI disruption for us to even fully understand where it’s headed. Artificial Intelligence is a tool to employ for improving our lives. But, if used in the wrong way, just like any power tool, it can cost us everything. We need to demand that its creators construct guardrails and safety mechanisms on Artificial Intelligence, before it claims any more lives. Thank you for reading Distant Perspective. Please Subscribe for free, Share this post, get the app, and leave a comment using the blue buttons above. Also, find my books on Amazon by clicking here (https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08S96XW77). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

14. 

    9 Nov 2024

    My Greatest Fear

    Thanks for reading Distant Perspective! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

15. 

    30 Oct 2024

    Split Second

    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

16. 

    25 Oct 2024

    Boxed In

    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit distantperspective.substack.com (https://distantperspective.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

21

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0