Most of our media are owned by a handful of tech billionaires, but there's one place that still operates like the internet was never invented.

On the new season of the divided dial from On the Media, we're exploring shortwave radio, where prayer and propaganda coexist with news and conspiracy theories, and where an existential battle for the public airwaves is playing out right now.

Listen to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to practical stoicism. I hope you enjoyed my conversation earlier this week with James Rom on death, dying, and Seneca. If you missed it, be sure to give it a listen. It's really good. Also, personal favor, if you wouldn't mind, I'd love a few five-star reviews on Apple podcasts.

Recently, a few disgruntled passers-by have decided that this podcast is worthy of two and one-star reviews.

It's a little bit of a bummer to see that, so if you wouldn't mind taking a few seconds to help me balance that out, I would appreciate it.

If, of course, that is, you feel that this show deserves a five-star review, which I hope you think it does.

A couple of life updates for you. Winston is tear-assing around the house like a maniac,

and Jupiter is trying his best not to kill him, which I think is hard, since Winston is

constantly going after his tail and ankles. I'll admit that the interactions are funny to watch,

but I do feel bad for the old boy. He is very good with him,

though. And that's a pleasant surprise. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about,

last week we adopted a new puppy. That's about all I've got for life updates, so let's dive into

today's meditation, which is short, but may result in some long reflection. No random actions. None, not based on underlying principles.

And that's it. Doesn't seem like much, does it? Well, let's see what we can pull from this

nine-word meditation from Marcus. We've talked a few times about paying attention, prosaq,

and how critical it is to mind your mind.

It isn't practical for someone to expect to never take a random action, to never lose focus on

minding their mind, but, like the rest of the work we do as procoptons, it's not about being

perfect, it's about making a constant effort to become better. When Marcus says

no random actions, sure, he may be telling us to strive to perform zero random actions in our lives,

but the absence of sages and stoicism tells us that's not what any stooic would truly expect from us. No Stoic is

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