Hello everyone and welcome to talk nerdy. This is our first episode of

2024 feels weird to say so today is January 8th 2024 and I'm the host of the show Dr.

Kara Santa Maria.

It still feels weird to say that too.

I've got a great episode for you this week and we've got so many good ones coming up

Thanks for sticking with us throughout the holidays. I hope that you had a restful time

I hope that it wasn't too stressful for you. It is definitely a difficult time in the world right now and you know coming from the field of psychology.

I guess my only real hope is that you're taking care of yourself,

you're taking care of your mental health and you're doing what you can to, yeah, to be okay

during these really, really trying times.

Before we do dive into the episode, I do want to thank those of you who make Talk Nurdy possible.

I know I say it every week, but TalkNurdy is and will always be 100% free to download.

It's we're on our 10th year now.

We actually launched in 2014, so we'll be coming up on our 10 year anniversary soon and many of you have been with me since the launch of Patreon

Which which happened after the show started so patreon is a

platform wherein you can pledge your support on an episodic basis, very similar to sort of the NPR or the PBS model here in the US for public television and public radio. Basically what it means is that you offset the cost.

You know, if you can afford to support the show,

you're making it so that those who can't

can still listen for free and they don't have to

pay a cent. This week's top patrons and kind of ongoing include Daniel Lange,

David J. E. Smith, Mary Niva, Brian Holden, David Compton, Gabriel F.

Hadamillo, Joe Wilkinson, Pasqualee, Gilati, and Ulrika Hagman.

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