Episode 127 features Swapna Krishna, a prolific science communicator who’s written for Engadget and Wired, and recently just started her own YouTube channel.
We discuss arriving at that channel, being interested in just some of NASA’s history, going back to the Moon, the Tour de France, and much more…
Photo Credit: Bonnie Raley
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
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–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:01 – 00:00:23:31
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent palmer.com. In my own alternate timeline, I couldn’t appreciate Stormy Intrepid the humanity in 1996 as twister is the reason I love it. And if you wanted more about bridges, Rebecca just dropped a new episode of abridged. This is The Palmer Files episode 127 with Swapna Krishna, a prolific science communicator who’s written for Engadget and Wired, and recently just started her own YouTube channel.
00:00:23:44 – 00:00:57:31
Agent Palmer
We discuss arriving at that channel, being interested in just some of NASA’s history, going back to the moon, the tour de France, and much, much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:00:57:36 – 00:01:04:19
Agent Palmer
She’s.
00:01:04:24 – 00:01:31:59
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 127th episode is Swapna Krishna. She’s one of the best resources online for current events. News of the big place we call space. Whether it is her newsletter, YouTube channel or her prolific writing. You’ll learn something, but she’s also here because I wanted to talk to an expert about why I just can’t get into Artemis and the missions back to the moon, but that’s not all.
00:01:32:04 – 00:01:56:04
Agent Palmer
How did she arrive at being a science communicator? What’s her favorite piece of NASA history? Does she want to be an astronaut? Why? And how does this conversation turned to professional cycling? Learning to write and well, all of that and a whole lot more is coming your way shortly. But before we get there, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact my guest Swapna and myself in the show notes.
00:01:56:17 – 00:02:22:29
Agent Palmer
All of Swapna work. The videos, newsletter articles and more can be found at Swapna krishna.com. That’s Swapna Krishna. Com. Don’t forget you can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com. And of course email can be sent to the Palmer files@gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s get into countdown.
00:02:22:34 – 00:02:37:39
Agent Palmer
Swapna I am a fan. I’ll call it fan. It feels like fan is the right word of NASA. Up to when the Apollo and Soyuz get together.
00:02:37:43 – 00:02:39:52
Swapna Krishna
Yes.
00:02:39:57 – 00:03:09:51
Agent Palmer
I grew up in the era of the space shuttle, and I in my older, decades, went, like this. This this Apollo, Mercury, Gemini stuff is amazing. And I read as many of the, like, autobiographies of those astronauts and, technicians and engineers and what have you, as I could. I still stop when those two, spacecraft get together.
00:03:09:51 – 00:03:21:01
Agent Palmer
I cannot I I’m aware of the news, which you cover very well on your channel, but I’m aware of the news. I just can’t get excited about it.
00:03:21:05 – 00:03:42:25
Swapna Krishna
You’re not alone. Okay. I will say that, a lot of people feel that way. And I will say my love for space, my love for NASA, all of this comes from a love for that era. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. It’s so funny you bring that up. A lot of people don’t know that exists. And it’s like pretty much my favorite mission.
00:03:42:29 – 00:04:06:23
Swapna Krishna
And so they, you know, and so after that, you know, came Skylab, space shuttle, all of that. And, it’s funny because I, I just literally today finish up a video kind of summarizing where we are, how we got here, what the Artemis, what NASA’s Artemis program is, which is the program to return to the moon.
00:04:06:28 – 00:04:35:42
Swapna Krishna
And just the way I would describe NASA post Apollo is they have been underfunded based on what their lofty aspirations are and the aspirations put upon them by government officials, by political figures, by Congress. They put a lot of, of responsibility on NASA to be this, you know, prestigious organization that makes the United States look good and then doesn’t give them the funding to back that up.
00:04:35:47 – 00:04:58:49
Swapna Krishna
And then NASA has to come and basically scramble to figure out what to do. And I feel like that’s a lot of the reason that post Apollo is so lackluster for a lot of people. I will say I’m really excited about Artemis, but it’s so it’s taking so long to get here that it almost feels like really went to the moon 50 years ago, and now we’re going back.
00:04:58:49 – 00:05:04:55
Swapna Krishna
And yes, I’m very excited about what’s to come. But yeah, I get it. Well.
00:05:05:00 – 00:05:29:10
Agent Palmer
And so Artemis is great, but I think one of the problems inherent with Artemis and NASA, maybe as a from a PR perspective, is in all of the time that I have heard since the beginning of the rumors of Artemis and going back to the moon to where we speak right now, which is not when the episode released, but whenever you’re listening to this.
00:05:29:15 – 00:05:59:07
Agent Palmer
That’s the time it took us to go from like the fire in the Apollo one capsule to the moon, like the amount of technological things that have jumped. And I know that I’m talking as a, you know, 40 year old who grew up in with the early internet on a, you know, IBM 3.1 windows machine and dial up and in like the when I was eight in the early like, you know, early 90s.
00:05:59:07 – 00:05:59:56
Agent Palmer
And so I am.
00:05:59:56 – 00:06:06:57
Swapna Krishna
Laughing because I am also 40. Okay. And I also grew up this way. So it’s like we are like in sync.
00:06:07:02 – 00:06:33:21
Agent Palmer
But again, in our 40 year old lifetimes, we went to the moon in like, like less time, right? And while we’ve gotten from dial up to broadband and 4G and 5G and six G and whatever, and we have computers in our pocket more powerful than what went to the moon. No, no one knows what that like. We don’t report that stuff very well.
00:06:33:21 – 00:07:02:20
Agent Palmer
And it’s not I think the other maybe piece that gets lost is I, I, I love my country, but I wouldn’t consider myself a patriot. Like, I’m not like rah rah rah rah. But that was inherent in those, especially Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Like it was a, you know, you’re either with us or get out of our country like you’re not for us.
00:07:02:25 – 00:07:27:18
Agent Palmer
But that’s gone. Like there’s no national, like it doesn’t feel like there’s national prestige. And I don’t know that. Look, I’m. You and I are both coming at this from the shuttle era on. We we weren’t a we didn’t see a Saturn five launch. We only read about it or watched old films, but it feels like there was something extra about that era that just has not permeated into anything.
00:07:27:23 – 00:07:36:34
Agent Palmer
And it it’s not just the shuttle’s not sexy. It’s not. It’s not that. It’s there’s see, there’s I don’t know, there’s an ingredient that’s missing.
00:07:36:39 – 00:07:45:49
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No, you’re absolutely right. So the reason we went to the moon with Apollo was not science. It’s a lot of I like if you’re familiarity, it’s.
00:07:45:49 – 00:07:46:29
Agent Palmer
Much more.
00:07:46:34 – 00:07:47:12
Swapna Krishna
To know that.
00:07:47:12 – 00:07:49:31
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s more politics than science.
00:07:49:36 – 00:08:09:53
Swapna Krishna
But a lot of people don’t realize that it was politics. It was to beat Russia. That’s why we went to the moon and that’s why we didn’t go back. You know, we didn’t go back because we didn’t have a reason to stay beyond like that. That was palatable for the government. And that’s why, NASA’s hasn’t received that kind of funding.
00:08:09:53 – 00:08:38:07
Swapna Krishna
And that’s why we are where we are now. So you are absolutely right that there isn’t a kind of patriotic that is actually, I would argue that is deliberately not tied into Artemis. I think it is a conscious decision, for a few reasons. First, I think, they want to avoid the mistakes of Apollo, which is go there, boots on the ground and come back like they want to build a sustainable presence that’s long term.
00:08:38:07 – 00:08:59:06
Swapna Krishna
That’s a big part of Artemis. And second, to avoid Artemis is getting canceled. They are making this. Okay. And that’s this is my suspicion to have not NASA has not said we are doing this to avoid getting canceled, but to avoid arm is getting canceled. They’ve made this an international thing, like EASA is doing a lot of the building for, gateway, the space station.
00:08:59:06 – 00:09:27:22
Swapna Krishna
You know, Jaxa is going to have two astronauts on Artemus. I think it’s six with and they’re building Toyota on behalf of Jaxa is going to build the pressurized lunar rover. And so there’s a lot of international collaboration. And I think that’s purposeful. So I think literally they are specifically doing it that way as to, avoid the issues with Apollo.
00:09:27:27 – 00:09:47:03
Swapna Krishna
That being said, it is really interesting right now to watch. There is a little bit of a space race going on with China, because there is a very good chance at this point that China could get to the moon before NASA does. And so and nobody’s talking I mean, reporters are talking about it, but NASA is specifically like not talking about it.
00:09:47:03 – 00:10:25:03
Agent Palmer
So I one of the things as you talk and as I’m trying to piece together some of this as well, is that, there is perhaps a reverse let down that I think you and I specifically in that we’ve probably read those books and, and done some research. And I know Oppenheimer came out last year, but, von Braun, in every book talks about where we should be in 50 years.
00:10:25:08 – 00:10:59:54
Agent Palmer
And if you read any part of those speeches or any paragraphs in those books of where he expects us to be after Apollo, it’s I. And maybe this is why NASA is, you know, kind of burying some of the history is because it’s a letdown, like art. Oh, yeah. From the start, I hate to say this, Artemis is a let down because we should have a sustainable, viable presence in space much larger than exists now.
00:11:00:03 – 00:11:09:09
Swapna Krishna
Oh, yeah, I don’t think I definitely would not argue with that. A lot of people enjoy, the show For All Mankind. I don’t know if you watch that.
00:11:09:13 – 00:11:10:47
Agent Palmer
I know of it, but I don’t have.
00:11:10:47 – 00:11:29:29
Swapna Krishna
Apple, so I would highly recommend it because a lot of people watch it, including me watch it, are basically sad that this is what our space program looks like. By the 90s. They’re sending a mars mission. You know, it’s the idea of what if we the premises, what if the Russians beat us to the moon and we didn’t have that?
00:11:29:29 – 00:11:34:04
Swapna Krishna
Oh, we, you know, made it to the moon. Now let’s go home. Mentality.
00:11:34:04 – 00:11:35:09
Agent Palmer
Race kept.
00:11:35:09 – 00:11:58:42
Swapna Krishna
Going. Okay, so the first season is and like I think that if I remember correctly, it’s been a while since I saw the first season. But the show starts with that premise. Russia lands on the moon first. So it’s, you know, it’s like, you know, a moon base, and then it’s like, it’s like it’s like establishing that moon base, and then it’s like living, like living and working on the moon in a much bigger way than we do with the I.s.s..
00:11:58:49 – 00:12:25:32
Swapna Krishna
This is, you know, fantastic. But it’s, you know, just a handful of astronauts here and there, and then going to Mars, I think it was the third season was like the first trip to Mars, and it’s like in the 90s was the first trip to Mars. And like, it’s this alternate history that actually actively makes people sad who have, you know, the perspective to understand that, like, we kind of feels like we should be there at this point and we’re not.
00:12:25:33 – 00:12:52:50
Agent Palmer
Well, it’s it’s the I like the year 2000 happened and we didn’t get our flying cars, but we should have been doing something more right. Like, yeah, it feels like, oh, well, you know, I, I, I now cringe. I said it earlier, but I cringe with the whole, you know, we have computers in our pocket, more powerful than what was sent our astronauts to the moon.
00:12:52:50 – 00:13:12:02
Agent Palmer
And it’s like, but that’s not a good thing. Like, yeah, we have that. We we’ve shrunk it like we the science has should have evolved so we can just go. We can just go to the moon. Yeah. I’m not I’m not going to be a lunar tourist by any stretch of the imagination. I just don’t think I’m built for that kind of flight.
00:13:12:15 – 00:13:17:30
Agent Palmer
But just the sheer fact that that doesn’t exist is kind of like now.
00:13:17:35 – 00:13:32:36
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No, I, I definitely agree with you. It’s funny, my five year old this evening was talking about, asked me if I wanted to be an astronaut. I was like, yeah, but you know. Yes, sweetie, I didn’t want to be an astronaut. I was a kid. He has no concept of like, well, why don’t you just go to space?
00:13:32:36 – 00:14:02:22
Swapna Krishna
If you wanted to be an astronaut and, you know, you know, and we we’ve talked quite a bit about space, and so he I had to I have to explain to him again, you know, it’s hard to get to space. You know, not everybody gets to go. It’s, you know, it’s very difficult. And he was and he just doesn’t understand because for him, space is just somewhere we should be able to go when like I don’t disagree necessarily like it should I think it should I think I think we’ve done a lot I think we’ve done a lot in the last few years.
00:14:02:22 – 00:14:12:29
Swapna Krishna
But I think the decades before that I have a lot of fondness for the space shuttle. So I’m going to badmouthed the space shuttle in a minute. But I want to establish that I have it’s.
00:14:12:29 – 00:14:47:01
Agent Palmer
The only thing you and I have that’s tangible from NASA. Like not not talking brute Blue Origin or, you know, space. It’s for our generation, the only tangible thing we have that NASA did on a regular basis as far as putting things into orbit and bringing them back is the space shuttle. So while I also don’t like it, I can’t I can’t hate on it because it’s the only thing that like, they wield the TV a big, you know, for for anyone younger, a big CRT that could have killed the small child if it ever fell over.
00:14:47:12 – 00:14:51:28
Agent Palmer
And we got to watch some some shuttle launches and.
00:14:51:32 – 00:15:09:12
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, no. So we, I love the space shuttle. I have, like, a lot of love of nostalgic love in my heart for the space shuttle. Like when I see a shuttle in a museum or I see a picture, I’m like, oh, what a pretty spacecraft. But like, that thing was a mess. Like the space shuttle was a mess.
00:15:09:12 – 00:15:30:55
Swapna Krishna
And like, a lot of people are like, I don’t understand why they retired it. That needed to be retired very badly. It was not a safe spacecraft. I am kind of shocked, knowing what I know now, that we only lost two orbiters. Yeah. So it it just feels like we know not it feels like this is what happened.
00:15:30:55 – 00:15:41:26
Swapna Krishna
We went to the moon, and then we didn’t really know what to do next because Congress wasn’t going to fund moon base or, you know, like more moon missions. I saw I feel part of the.
00:15:41:26 – 00:16:08:42
Agent Palmer
Other part of it is and this is where your description of For All Mankind makes the most sense as far as continuing it, Russia’s collapse is the biggest hindrance to NASA going to Mars, because if Russia doesn’t collapse, because we beat them to the moon, then both nations just turn and race off to Mars.
00:16:08:46 – 00:16:13:13
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No, that’s and that’s exactly what happens in in. Yeah.
00:16:13:18 – 00:16:14:32
Agent Palmer
But because there’s literally a.
00:16:14:33 – 00:16:14:51
Swapna Krishna
Yeah.
00:16:14:51 – 00:16:30:58
Agent Palmer
But because one contender fell down. Yeah. Well I like NASA going to the moon was the knockout punch of the Soviet Union basically. And so there weren’t two and you were like, well you’re not going to we’re not going to let you go to the Mars by yourself.
00:16:31:02 – 00:16:52:52
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No. Like it was it was all political. There’s no political will to get us there. So NASA kind of had to figure out what do we do next? And they came up with the space shuttle and then it the design just got whittled down and whittled down and whittled down as they got less and less funding. And, you know, it just kind of then they needed somewhere to for the space shuttle to go.
00:16:52:56 – 00:16:55:53
Swapna Krishna
And so they built the i.s.s. like literally there’s.
00:16:55:53 – 00:17:28:51
Agent Palmer
Only like slightly shuttle related, but like to me the shuttle program is and I’m going to get the quote wrong, but I’m going to get the movie right. So I apologize. But like the the, the summation of the shuttle project is a line from, Armageddon where they’re getting ready to launch in one of the souped up shuttles, and he’s like, doesn’t it make you feel good to know that we’re in this big contraption built by the lowest bidder?
00:17:29:06 – 00:17:30:39
Agent Palmer
And it’s like the Steve Buscemi?
00:17:30:39 – 00:17:34:00
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I love that Buscemi’s line.
00:17:34:00 – 00:17:53:54
Agent Palmer
Feels like the reason that the shuttle really never captured anybody beyond us. And because for us, it was all we had. Right. Like the people who saw Apollo or like, know how the shuttle not. And that’s kind of in that one statement. It feels like that that’s the shuttle program to a T.
00:17:53:59 – 00:18:19:25
Swapna Krishna
Oh yeah. No. And like the shuttle program had a lot, a lot, a lot of problems. That being said, I do like it. I, I do think NASA did the best they could. Like, I think they were it was with limited funding. They did the best they could. And I do very strongly feel that, you know, I did I do think that that spacecraft was unsafe.
00:18:19:30 – 00:18:24:36
Swapna Krishna
But NASA didn’t know it was unsafe. Like in terms of it’s.
00:18:24:36 – 00:18:25:33
Agent Palmer
One of those they wouldn’t.
00:18:25:33 – 00:18:49:20
Swapna Krishna
Put. Yeah, they wouldn’t knowingly put astronauts in a spacecraft they thought was unsafe. Like, that is something I genuinely think of NASA. It’s and as we’re going through this, Boeing’s Starliner debacle, that’s the one thing I keep repeating. Like NASA will not put astronauts in a spacecraft they believe is unsafe. So, but that being said, so much came out after Columbia.
00:18:49:25 – 00:18:56:13
Swapna Krishna
That, that, you know, we learned so much about, you know, the reality of the spacecraft.
00:18:56:13 – 00:19:26:26
Agent Palmer
Well, I and I as much as I lament the loss of life for both orbiters that we lost, I think it kind of I there’s there’s a there’s a I have a I have a, a hard time not trying to see the good in it, which is it’s hard to get to space like if you discount the fire on of, of Apollo one and the this was whatever you call Apollo 13.
00:19:26:31 – 00:20:06:43
Agent Palmer
No one, you know, it from an American perspective. Internationally it was very different, but from an American perspective it was easy. Like they scheduled the launch. Maybe they scrub it, maybe they don’t. It goes up, it comes down. Right. It’s not until challenger that it’s like, oh, this is hard to do. Yeah. Like it’s not easy. And I think we, we forget that because even if you’re, it’s, it’s the and I, I was in it for a little bit and I feel like while it’s not the same at any stretch, it is when you’re responsible, you do all the things no one sees and then all the threats don’t happen.
00:20:06:48 – 00:20:22:55
Agent Palmer
And it’s like, well, then you’re not doing anything. Or like, you know, like there’s this thing. Yes. And it’s only when the thing actually fails that they go, yeah, oh, this is really hard, isn’t it? Oh, no, it’s not easy to get people to say if it was easy, we would be on Mars right now. Like I think.
00:20:23:08 – 00:20:56:58
Swapna Krishna
Exactly it is really hard and I think that is actually a good that’s a good a really good point because NASA has these in these just unreal safety checks to make sure, you know, you know, constant readiness reviews, constant like they’re constantly looking at this stuff, looking at every issue. And I do, you know, genuinely think that, you know, it is they take it very seriously when it comes to this stuff.
00:20:57:03 – 00:21:15:09
Swapna Krishna
But yeah. No, it’s it’s it’s, it’s it’s a lot. I am like I said, I do I, I am looking forward to the Artemis program. You know, I think it’s, I, I’m excited that we’re but it’s like it’s like this I’m excited we’re finally doing something. Yeah. Think that’s kind of where my excitement comes from. It’s like yes.
00:21:15:09 – 00:21:34:58
Swapna Krishna
Like maybe I will live to see, you know, a settlement and like, like that’s where we are at this point. Like it’s just at least we’re finally doing something that’s kind of that’s like. And like, I hate to, you know, I don’t I try not to dwell on it too much because it, it does like make me sad.
00:21:34:58 – 00:21:35:56
Swapna Krishna
Where.
00:21:36:01 – 00:21:40:42
Agent Palmer
How you could say it’s said Dan Smith how we’ve been.
00:21:40:50 – 00:21:53:26
Swapna Krishna
We’ve been like the shuttle program. This is what I was going to say before. And I can remember the shuttle program there was very little in terms of pushing the boundaries of spaceflight. There was very little innovation.
00:21:53:26 – 00:21:54:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:21:54:32 – 00:22:24:27
Swapna Krishna
So we lost decades because, that we could have been making progress towards the Mars, you know, a mars vehicle towards you know, new kinds of propulsion, new, you know, more powerful rockets. We lost so much time, and then we come up, the best, you know, NASA comes up with is slow us the current moon rocket, which literally uses engines, literally uses engines ripped out of the space shuttle.
00:22:24:27 – 00:22:52:05
Swapna Krishna
The Rs 25 engines on SLS are space shuttle engines. And it’s just like this is the best. I mean, I mean, and to be fair on SLS is maiden voyage on Artemis one. After all the propellant issues that for propellant loading took forever to get that, rocket tanked. The rocket performed beautifully, but it’s like, really? We’re like, the shuttle was designed in like mid 1970s and.
00:22:52:05 – 00:23:11:01
Agent Palmer
Feels like a step back. Like if you look I and I say this is a, you know, 60s era fan, boy, if you’re going to go backwards, just build another Saturn five like I don’t. Why would you build a smaller rocket than a larger like if you’re going to go backwards? Right. Like I just.
00:23:11:03 – 00:23:12:41
Swapna Krishna
Know. Yeah.
00:23:12:46 – 00:23:17:50
Agent Palmer
All right. So hard shift real quick. You said you you wanted to be an astronaut.
00:23:17:55 – 00:23:19:47
Swapna Krishna
I did, yeah, when I was young.
00:23:19:52 – 00:23:38:25
Agent Palmer
Very much so. I can tell you, this is our first major divergence, and this will show you exactly who you’re talking to. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. I had. No, I didn’t want to go. I wanted to help get you there.
00:23:38:30 – 00:23:41:50
Swapna Krishna
You didn’t want to be the guy. You wanted to be the guy that helps the gods, correct?
00:23:41:55 – 00:24:07:42
Agent Palmer
And that. And while I’m not, I. Well, you know, I, I ended off off of a science track and onto a communications track. I’ve always kind of maintained that guy behind the guy mentality. But yeah, you are still within science. I, I had I, I love to tell this story because I think it’s important that people know that there are things that just happened to you.
00:24:07:47 – 00:24:29:44
Agent Palmer
I had one good English teacher, and all of my science went out the window and I became a communications person. It was just one good teacher. Otherwise I might be an engineer. Right now. Who knows? But you, you you are in. I will call you. You are in science communication more than anything. And that’s a first of all.
00:24:29:49 – 00:24:52:16
Agent Palmer
Thank you. Super important. We need more of you. But you’ve been. It feels like maybe you’ve maintained your science track. Like my my, my science track is reading all those old biographies and stuff. It’s not like actually being part of it. So, like, what kept you on the track? Because I just got I got that I got literally one English teacher.
00:24:52:16 – 00:24:54:13
Agent Palmer
That’s it. Just boom.
00:24:54:18 – 00:25:23:16
Swapna Krishna
It’s funny because I was not. So I did not stay on the track. Okay. I came back to it. All right. After about ten years. So, I went to school, my school, my degree, my undergrad degree is in economics and political science. Okay. And I have a master’s degree in international relations. So I kind of went that route and actually just started writing online as a hobby.
00:25:23:20 – 00:25:24:27
Swapna Krishna
Just for fun.
00:25:24:29 – 00:25:25:45
Agent Palmer
That’s how I started.
00:25:25:50 – 00:25:47:33
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. Because, you know, we all had our GeoCities websites and like, eighth or ninth grade, so, like, why not keep, you know, like, as long as it was not weird for me to, like, start a blog, to start writing for newsletter, to start. You know, we grew up doing things like. Yeah. And so, so yeah. So, I started writing for fun.
00:25:47:33 – 00:26:16:36
Swapna Krishna
It, you know, but I was writing about books and not about science. Science, I was writing, I would often write about science books, about space books, but about books, not about science. And then, basically, I just, kind of decided I was done with that. I was like, I am done. I have a really good, ability, which is also a terrible ability to turn my hobbies into my job.
00:26:16:41 – 00:26:25:29
Agent Palmer
Okay. Yeah. And so it’s a, it’s a it, yeah. I mean, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve because I’ve, I’ve talked to enough people that are like, this used to be my hobby.
00:26:25:33 – 00:26:25:53
Swapna Krishna
Yes.
00:26:25:57 – 00:26:29:39
Agent Palmer
It’s like and now this is my job and I need to find a new hobby.
00:26:29:43 – 00:26:38:07
Swapna Krishna
That’s the problem. I have a really I’m really, really good at turning my hobbies into work. So I turn books into work and then was like, I don’t enjoy reading anymore.
00:26:38:07 – 00:26:39:09
Agent Palmer
Oh no.
00:26:39:13 – 00:26:54:38
Swapna Krishna
And I want to stop working so I can start enjoying reading. I do enjoy reading again, so I did come back. The love of reading did come back. So, I was like, okay, well, what do I want to do? I was like, I really still love writing. I love writing online. What are the things I want to write about?
00:26:54:38 – 00:27:17:58
Swapna Krishna
And like I always in my life have come back to space no matter what die hard Star Trek fan growing up, like just just very, very intense Star Trek fan. So like, that’s where a lot of my love for all of this, you know, the science of space, you know, Apollo, all of that comes from. And so I was like, you know, I would like to start writing about space and about science, and I think I could do this and be really good at it.
00:27:17:58 – 00:27:55:52
Swapna Krishna
So I started a newsletter writing about space, and then I started, kind of just pitching called pitching editors and finally I got a few, a few writing gigs, you know, a column here, you know, and they’re, writing about space. And then finally, Engadget hired me as a, reporter. Okay. I was on staff there for a few years, and that’s kind of where I really, learned a lot about, you know, I learned, like, I, I still, I say so many good things about working there because I really I enjoyed it so much.
00:27:55:57 – 00:28:10:18
Swapna Krishna
Really great people, really great. You know, for me, they really helped me a lot and become a better writer, become the, you know, kind of figure out how to do these things. Because I don’t have a professional journalism background. They help me learn a lot about how to be a journalist, like.
00:28:10:18 – 00:28:41:53
Agent Palmer
Yeah, you know, and I’ll, I’ll jump in and say, my undergrads in communications. I had a minor in journalism. By the time I start my blog. By the time you’re probably at Engadget, nothing I learned was relevant anyway. So like, we would you like it’s it’s one of those things that keeps me from getting another degree. It’s like nothing I’m going to learn.
00:28:41:55 – 00:29:12:42
Agent Palmer
I mean, look, I, there are arguments to be made. If I wanted to do philosophy that some of the stat stuff, stuff is universal, but if I’m not going to do that and I’m not, I’m just going to keep my own education by reading the books I want to read and like getting out there, but I, I feel like if if you had a good experience there that sets you up for learning all of the things, especially at Engadget, where the it it’s it’s not you’re not fighting against.
00:29:12:42 – 00:29:18:01
Agent Palmer
Well, this is the way we’ve always done it because they’re always after the next new thing.
00:29:18:06 – 00:29:35:29
Swapna Krishna
No, they were great. My editor is still one of my best friends. And he, we’re still, you know, we’re still, we still keep in very close touch. But he taught me so much about good writing and. Right. Because like, it was, you know, a 250 word news story. How do you do how do I distill?
00:29:35:29 – 00:30:05:48
Swapna Krishna
I learned so much about what from what I do now from there, how do I distill this very complicated topic with a lot of background into a 250 to 300 word news story? And it was just invaluable. So basically, I did that for a few years. And then kind of have been mostly freelancing since then. I left because I had, baby and being in a newsroom and with the, with the baby, he was in, you know, daycare.
00:30:05:48 – 00:30:24:21
Swapna Krishna
It’s not like I didn’t have, I would did not think that I could work, you know, and have him at home, and that would be okay. I could never do that. Just my own concentration would not work. But, you know, kids get sick all the time, especially when they’re babies. And so he was sick all the time, and I was just constantly having.
00:30:24:21 – 00:30:44:57
Swapna Krishna
And, like, just being in the newsroom. It didn’t work, so I left. But, I still freelanced for them. I still freelance for them sometimes. You know, I cannot, just cannot say enough good things about my experience there. But then I’ve gone on to do a lot of different things, and write for a lot of really incredible outlets about science and about space and about all this stuff.
00:30:45:02 – 00:31:20:28
Agent Palmer
So I as a as a very left turn. But that’s something that’s going to mirror almost verbatim the question I asked you at the very beginning of this episode. Since about the mid 90s, I have been watching, if not every then most stages of the tour de France. I cannot get into any other cycling. I will occasionally watch the Olympics.
00:31:20:33 – 00:31:47:42
Agent Palmer
And I am lucky enough in my backyard to have an outdoor metric track velodrome, that I will go to and watch in person. But like the Giro, the Volta, the other two big races, the Tour Down Under, the California for all of the other stuff, I cannot get into. So just like I can’t get into now in space.
00:31:47:46 – 00:31:48:26
Swapna Krishna
And.
00:31:48:31 – 00:32:02:06
Agent Palmer
Can’t get past just the just the tour de France, I can’t get into the rest of it. I don’t know, I, I feel like I’ve stunted somehow, but this is just who I’ve become.
00:32:02:11 – 00:32:30:36
Swapna Krishna
So I will say again, I don’t think you’re wrong in that. Like a lot. I tour de France is still my favorite race. It’s the one that is the one I watch religiously. Okay. Like that’s the only one I watch, like the entire, like, 6 to 7 hours of coverage every day, day in, day out. That is the only one I watch everything of for all 21 days.
00:32:30:41 – 00:32:41:50
Swapna Krishna
The other races I dip in and out of, like I watched the first week of the Giro this year and then have kind of it’s kind of one of those things, especially with the longer races. It’s very hard for me to go back once I’ve missed a stage.
00:32:41:55 – 00:33:02:50
Agent Palmer
So although I will say usually the recaps that like, and I’ve where Americans but like NBC is okay, I’ve actually fallen back on, thank god for VPNs. I watched the SBS coverage from from Australia because I think that’s really that’s the best one. And it should.
00:33:02:58 – 00:33:04:53
Swapna Krishna
Be. Yes, it’s the best one. Oh my God.
00:33:04:53 – 00:33:25:53
Agent Palmer
So that’s where I get my I get my recaps when when I watch the tour. That’s kind of where I watch it at. And I was I’m pleasantly surprised that they cover the women’s tour as well. So yes, I, I get all of it, but like, I, I can’t, I like flipping through the channels like the is on.
00:33:25:53 – 00:33:31:26
Agent Palmer
It’s like whatever. Like but like I can’t miss the tour. The front.
00:33:31:26 – 00:33:40:13
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No, I’m trying to think, who is that Matt something isn’t it. The, commentator for SBS? Yeah, it was Robbie McEwen for a while, and he was so good.
00:33:40:18 – 00:34:07:11
Agent Palmer
I mean, I, I like, I mean, I, I will also say there is something very, it’s not that it’s prestigious in that it’s a fancy race, it’s that it’s the super Bowl so that there are guys that will not ride the Giro to gear up for the tour de France. There are people that will skip the Volta if they did Pau or did well.
00:34:07:18 – 00:34:23:40
Agent Palmer
So it’s like it’s probably the only, you know, month on the calendar where you get to watch all the heavyweights at their peak at once, and then it’s like there and then everybody else is like, we’ll send the B-team to Spain.
00:34:23:40 – 00:34:36:59
Swapna Krishna
And it’s like, no, that’s exactly. And you get, you get the like, I think you get the drama that you don’t get in a lot of ways. Like you have Cav trying to beat Eddie Marx’s record. Yep. Which is going back this year to try to do it again. And I’m a huge cast that.
00:34:37:02 – 00:34:46:45
Agent Palmer
I was such a so I, I, I was shock I you know this is going to devolve but like I was such a fan of him and Sargon that oh my.
00:34:46:45 – 00:34:47:31
Swapna Krishna
God me too.
00:34:47:31 – 00:35:17:22
Agent Palmer
When the crap went down between them I was like, I was so did because now one of them’s hurt and the other one got kicked out. And now it’s like now. And like I come from like because we watched in the earlier years and like, I know everybody wants to put a weird blanket over the Armstrong era, but the thing that people forget about the Armstrong era is the sprinting for the green jersey in the Armstrong era with Robbie McEwen and Tom Boonen.
00:35:17:22 – 00:35:41:23
Agent Palmer
And like there, there were seven guys who could win the green jersey every year. And it was the best competition because it was like Mount Lance probably win again. Nobody cares. It’s like US postal is going to dominate, but who’s going to win the three? And so like there’s so many. Yeah I don’t know. It was just one of those things where I, I got into it because this is where I grew up.
00:35:41:23 – 00:35:53:26
Agent Palmer
And I have a velodrome in my backyard. And it kind of, you know, but how did you get into it? Because it’s not like cycling’s that like, you know. Yeah.
00:35:53:31 – 00:36:20:37
Swapna Krishna
It’s one of those things that people are like, oh, you know, do you watch sports? I’m like men’s cycling. And they’re like, what? Like I’m like, yeah, I know my husband, started working at a bike shop at the age of, I think like 13 or 14. So he was and it was during the Lance years. He was really, really into it and just kind of, it’s one of those things that he would watch it, you know, when we were dating and I would just kind of like water and be like, oh, what’s this?
00:36:20:37 – 00:36:42:22
Swapna Krishna
I find it’s watching cycling very soothing. Like, I just find it very like it. I really I just really, you know, because a lot of it is just, you know, the guys are biking and then, you know, for ten minutes at a time here and there, there’s a lot of action. Yep. But but yeah. No. And then so then, then like he kind of lost track of it and I kept going.
00:36:42:22 – 00:36:48:24
Swapna Krishna
And so now, like I’m the one in the house who loves cycling. He’s the one who just wanders in is like, oh, so who’s racing today?
00:36:48:24 – 00:36:50:19
Agent Palmer
No other sports. None.
00:36:50:20 – 00:36:51:24
Swapna Krishna
No, I don’t.
00:36:51:29 – 00:36:51:56
Agent Palmer
Because I’ve.
00:36:51:56 – 00:36:53:15
Swapna Krishna
Won occasionally.
00:36:53:15 – 00:37:18:28
Agent Palmer
Okay. Because I, I’m the other way. I have yet to find a sport I don’t like. Which I, I will, I will, I will get on a soapbox for a moment and I will say, baseball is one of my passions, but I. And I like college football, and I, I can watch the NFL, and I can watch soccer, and I can watch F1 and NASCAR in Indy.
00:37:18:33 – 00:37:43:13
Agent Palmer
And as we record this, to put this in a bubble like Memorial Day’s coming up. And so I get to watch Monaco, Indy and the Coca-Cola 600. And it’s just like there are going to be lots of horsepower is on my TV for like the entire day. Right? But one of the things, if you’re ever networking or at an event, you would do well to at least pay attention to local sports.
00:37:43:18 – 00:37:45:35
Swapna Krishna
Oh yeah. No living in L.A like it is.
00:37:45:35 – 00:38:04:08
Agent Palmer
I’m not. I’m. I’m near Philly, but I am not a Philly fan. I’m an Orioles fan because I get it from my dad and I. I’m not really an NFL guy, but like, I pay attention to the Eagles. I pay attention to the Phillies. I can talk about the fly. If you can talk about the local sports team.
00:38:04:13 – 00:38:19:34
Agent Palmer
You will always have something to talk. Just just pick up the paper, look on the internet and see who did what last night. Yeah. It’s it’s like a it’s a weird hack to get people to like you, even if you don’t care about their sport the same way.
00:38:19:39 – 00:38:33:41
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, that’s. I mean, pretty much all the watercooler talk here usually is. About what? Because Philly’s such a big sports, town, like, you know, who’s doing what. And so usually, you know, paying attention to like, the basics, just who’s playing.
00:38:33:46 – 00:38:59:57
Agent Palmer
I mean, when I was, when, when I was in retail, I had a, a manager who was like a big Pittsburgh guy. So, like, I would just gauge his mood based on if the Pirates or the Steelers had won the night before, and just not do things or do things, you know, just, so. All right, I have to get back to this because I don’t want to forget to ask.
00:39:00:01 – 00:39:04:39
Agent Palmer
You’ve been interviewed and you’ve been in a part of a lot of projects.
00:39:04:44 – 00:39:07:15
Swapna Krishna
I have many, many.
00:39:07:29 – 00:39:17:41
Agent Palmer
And and you’re a freelancer, and you can do anything you want. Yeah. And yet, in the last year, you started your own YouTube channel.
00:39:17:46 – 00:39:18:57
Swapna Krishna
Yeah.
00:39:19:01 – 00:39:40:31
Agent Palmer
Is that is that a lot? Because it’s not. That’s not easy. Especially as a writer, because you’re going to have to learn. Well, the writing part, I figured you got down, but the editing and the shooting and the technology and, the the the the, thumbnails and naming conventions, all of that, like, how have you adjust?
00:39:40:31 – 00:39:54:09
Agent Palmer
Obviously, I think being a journalist and having to learn things helps you learn to learn. So I feel like that. But how has your YouTube journey been? Because it you’re still in a new, very niche.
00:39:54:09 – 00:40:13:16
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, yeah. It’s a lot, it’s a lot. Which, you know, I think anybody who does YouTube regularly, no matter, you know, if they’re very experienced or not, can tell you it’s it’s a lot. It’s a whole new it’s a whole new thing for me. Completely new. I’m enjoying it. I will say that first, I am really.
00:40:13:16 – 00:40:36:03
Swapna Krishna
I do like learning. I mean, I think that comes. I don’t think that’ll surprise anybody who, like, is familiar with my work and the way I’m constantly trying new things, because I do. I like learning, I enjoy, I enjoy trying something new. I really like building community. I think it’s something I find, fun. I really like engaging with people, but doing that.
00:40:36:03 – 00:40:57:18
Swapna Krishna
So in that respect, it’s been a fun challenge. But YouTube is such its own thing. It’s even if you, like, consume content on YouTube, like there’s a different mindset when you’re producing and then you’re watching like, okay, what is you know, you start analyzing everything. Like what is resonating with me about this video? This isn’t something I’d normally watch.
00:40:57:18 – 00:41:16:59
Swapna Krishna
Why did I click on it? Why am I still watching it? You know, like that sort of thing. So there’s a lot of that going through my mind these days. But so I decided to start this for a few reasons. My husband’s been, like, encouraging me, to do this for a long time. Because he’s just, like, you’d be really good at that.
00:41:17:08 – 00:41:48:24
Swapna Krishna
He’s like, I think you’d be really good at this. And like, I’ve had some I’ve been part of so many freelance projects. I’ve had so many ups and downs in, you know, as a freelancer, so many ups and downs in my career. So many journalism is in just a very difficult place right now. There’s not, you know, I’ve the number of publications I’ve been a part of that have been shuttered, that have been, you know, that have been, you know, gutted, you know, personnel or money wise have like changed to like having AI.
00:41:48:24 – 00:42:14:42
Swapna Krishna
Right there, you know. Yeah. That sort of thing. There’s a lot you know, it’s scary and I just kind of I got to the point where I was like, I don’t really care if it’s super successful for a long time. The thing that drove me and my career was the next byline. So the the thrill of getting that dream publication of landing that article at the, you know, you know, keep going up and up.
00:42:14:55 – 00:42:26:27
Swapna Krishna
But I got to a point where I’m like my regular client, like my most regular client was wired, which is, if you’re a tech person, pretty much one of the top.
00:42:26:27 – 00:42:28:35
Agent Palmer
Yeah. You’re not going. It’s like much higher than that.
00:42:28:42 – 00:42:35:33
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. Like where what? Like so what I was like there I’m like, I’m writing regularly for this amazing public. Like what?
00:42:35:38 – 00:42:36:11
Agent Palmer
What’s next?
00:42:36:17 – 00:42:38:08
Swapna Krishna
What drives me I guess like is that.
00:42:38:13 – 00:42:51:17
Agent Palmer
The, the the interjecting question for me is, and now that you have YouTube, you have this. But while you were chasing the next deadline, nothing’s ever yours.
00:42:51:22 – 00:43:13:11
Swapna Krishna
That’s exactly what. And that that’s the other half of that. Okay. Part of it was journalism being in a scary place. And like, part of it is I didn’t own I still don’t own the vast majority of the work I’ve done. I don’t own it. It’s all work for hire. And I just was like, I want to own it.
00:43:13:11 – 00:43:29:43
Swapna Krishna
Even if it’s not a big even if I don’t, you know, hit it off and have a million followers in five years and all that, like, I don’t care. I’m fine with a small audience of people who really want to hear what I have to say. And, yeah, but I want to own it. I want it to be mine.
00:43:29:43 – 00:43:52:19
Swapna Krishna
I want all the work I put into something to be mine. And so that’s that’s why. So that that was basically the main reason, I just, I don’t I still have some great clients. I write for, and I think it’s important from the perspective of keeping my name relevant, keeping my science like journalism credentials, you know, like, active.
00:43:52:19 – 00:44:14:33
Swapna Krishna
So, you know, I still have a few places I freelance for, and I really like them. I have really good working relationship with them. But otherwise, yeah, it’s pretty much full time doing my own stuff, and it’s, like exhilarating. It’s thrilling. And it’s also very scary because, you know, you’re so dependent on these platforms, these algorithms, like, it’s just, you know, it’s not it.
00:44:14:46 – 00:44:40:04
Swapna Krishna
I do own the content and that is very freeing. And I can kind of part of what I was starting to struggle with is I really enjoy doing a certain kind of computer science communication, like explainers, like kind of distilling these complicated concepts down. And it there’s not a lot there. You know, there’s the like, science specific publications that don’t really need that level of, explanation.
00:44:40:04 – 00:44:54:02
Swapna Krishna
And then there’s the regular publications that just aren’t going to run that kind of content. So I was like, I know people want this because people ask me for this all the time, but nobody’s paying for this. And so I get to kind of do whatever I want, and that’s amazing. Well, you’re also dependent on.
00:44:54:02 – 00:44:54:33
Agent Palmer
That’s the other.
00:44:54:34 – 00:44:55:59
Swapna Krishna
Algorithm and all that, right?
00:44:55:59 – 00:45:22:46
Agent Palmer
Like you are. And I suffer this, and it’s how I met you, through like, I’ll be honest, I don’t know which social platform. One of them. Okay. But, like, one of the problems is, I’m always on the lookout for a future guest. I’m a blogger. I write once a week, so I’m always on the lookout for what is the next that.
00:45:22:46 – 00:45:53:26
Agent Palmer
Now, look, I, I set myself up pretty well. This episode is being recorded months before it releases. I’m drafted ahead like I’ve built myself this platform where, like, I’ve got some. I’ve got time to work, but it’s also talk about turning your hobbies into a job. I can’t turn it off. Like, if I meet somebody interesting, I really have to be like, wait until tomorrow, like, send an email inviting them on the podcast.
00:45:53:26 – 00:45:58:05
Agent Palmer
Don’t do it at this party. Like. Yeah, like, I really just don’t.
00:45:58:10 – 00:45:59:09
Swapna Krishna
I do, I.
00:45:59:09 – 00:46:19:50
Agent Palmer
Do, you know, hold it back. Like just be a normal person. And then and I, I’ve tried to separate it but like you, you can’t turn it off. And we’re all even when we disconnect like a thought, it’ll pop in like, oh, remember that person from like three weeks ago? You should have them on the podcast or like, oh, remember that thing?
00:46:19:50 – 00:46:30:07
Agent Palmer
You should write about that. And it’s like, it, it never goes away. Like it’s just. All right, now this is the I. This is where I live now. Yeah, yeah.
00:46:30:12 – 00:46:45:15
Swapna Krishna
So I have some of that. It helps that not much of my daily life has to do with space at all. I don’t really talk about it a lot in my daily life. I don’t like my friends. Know what I do. But it’s not something we’re, like, actively talking about all the time. Unless they want it.
00:46:45:20 – 00:47:04:35
Swapna Krishna
You know, when the northern Lights happens, you know, that whole thing clicks big. Yeah, I was working for a week, you know, and so I’m getting like a million texts from all my friends. But generally I don’t talk about it in my daily life. That’s it’s getting more muddled now that, you know, I have a kid who’s growing older and wants to, like, know more about the stuff because it’s cool.
00:47:04:40 – 00:47:22:48
Swapna Krishna
And he thinks it’s cool. And like, you know, going and speaking to his class giving it is speaking at his school, that sort of thing. So it’s starting to become more of my daily life. But part of it is I just really try to keep it to, like work. I try to keep it to work.
00:47:22:48 – 00:47:49:07
Swapna Krishna
But that being said, I’m also really bad at it. Because a space, you know, being in a news sector, like I can’t really plan ahead. I can only plan ahead so much. I the evergreen content that I try to produce, but usually there’s something coming up that is more pressing that I have to do. So I have like a million ideas for evergreen videos, and I rarely do them because there’s always something new that I, you know, want to cover that I need to talk about.
00:47:49:12 – 00:48:01:42
Swapna Krishna
But right now I keep it. I try to keep it as sustainable as I can. I, I, I, I’m very gentle with myself. Like my goal is to YouTube videos a week. If I only do one, that’s totally fine. If I decide to take off, you’re.
00:48:01:42 – 00:48:02:29
Agent Palmer
Still just you.
00:48:02:32 – 00:48:03:39
Swapna Krishna
That’s fine to just you.
00:48:03:39 – 00:48:25:51
Agent Palmer
Just me? Yeah. So I mean, really just. And that’s, you know, I, I, I, I keep seeing these gurus that are like, outsource, give up editing, editorial control, like, just do that and I, I’m, I, you’re shaking your head and I’m with you like, I, I’m going to edit this podcast. I can’t just be like that. I talk to this person like, here you go.
00:48:26:04 – 00:48:29:31
Agent Palmer
Hand it off like, no, that’s not that’s not mine anymore. And so.
00:48:29:31 – 00:48:30:03
Swapna Krishna
Yeah.
00:48:30:14 – 00:48:41:41
Agent Palmer
There’s you you you specifically did all this and got on the YouTube for ownership. The last thing you’re going to do is be like, yeah, I recorded this. Somebody else can edit it or somebody else can.
00:48:41:41 – 00:49:05:15
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. No, I think it’s very important, especially if you’re if I’m doing it all like I think it’s so important to do it all myself for various reasons, I might I outsource editing one day, like, I don’t know, possibly very possibly. But like I never want to become one of those people who hires five different people for my channel and then has to lay them off because I can’t afford to pay them because YouTube changed the algorithm.
00:49:05:29 – 00:49:23:31
Swapna Krishna
You know, like it’s one of those things where I always want it to. Yeah, maybe I might hire somebody to like, I don’t I don’t mean like, I’m like, I’m like, I don’t even know at some point. Yeah, sure. It would be really nice to, like, hire somebody to help, but I will never out. Like, there’s the things I will never outsource writing the scripts because it has to be me.
00:49:23:33 – 00:49:24:50
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, it has to be my voice.
00:49:24:50 – 00:49:30:35
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Your house, your channels. You like. It’s weird. If somebody else wrote your stuff.
00:49:30:39 – 00:49:42:21
Swapna Krishna
Yes. And like, I wouldn’t. It feels natural to say, like part. People always talk about like, oh, you’re really natural on camera. And it’s because, like, I write my own stuff, so I write how I talk. So, you know, when I’m.
00:49:42:26 – 00:49:48:44
Agent Palmer
Talking about knowing your actor, right? Like, exactly. Know how to write for me. Like, that’s. Yes.
00:49:48:49 – 00:50:12:37
Swapna Krishna
And so and like, I think it’s very important to write and research the scripts myself also because I need to have like space is so big at this point. Like space is big, literally. But also like, man, I’m like, yeah, like figuratively space. Just everything. Everything. Like there’s I always say like, there’s no way one person can know everything that’s going on with space stuff, because there’s so much going on.
00:50:12:44 – 00:50:30:44
Swapna Krishna
There’s a lot of stuff, I don’t know, a lot about. Like, I don’t know a lot about about I don’t know a lot about, like, like satellite besides, like, you know, the, the stuff that makes the headlines like satellite constellations, satellites, a lot of that stuff. I kind of, I mean, I know about it. I could talk about it for five minutes.
00:50:30:44 – 00:50:52:10
Swapna Krishna
I couldn’t talk about it for 20 minutes. It’s probably that it’s that level of knowledge. So like, I need to research this and if I’m going to make a YouTube video about it, I need to understand point by point, you know, I need to understand it. And always the way I have understood things is by, you know, like reading it, synthesizing it, talking to people and then like rewriting it, that’s all.
00:50:52:10 – 00:51:13:14
Swapna Krishna
Ever since I was like in school, that’s how I learned about things. And so and it’s the same thing. I think that’s really important editing. Like at some point, yeah, I, I would love to outsource it. But even then I think it’s important for me to do right now and for as I’m growing and as I’m building, maybe once I’m really established, sure, that’s a possibility.
00:51:13:14 – 00:51:17:53
Swapna Krishna
But like, I just I don’t know that I ever want to get big enough to where I feel like I need.
00:51:17:53 – 00:51:27:05
Agent Palmer
I’ve, I’ve, I’ve always said I’d rather have like a dedicated small following than, like a massive following.
00:51:27:10 – 00:51:28:07
Swapna Krishna
Yes.
00:51:28:12 – 00:51:28:42
Agent Palmer
And I don’t.
00:51:28:53 – 00:51:29:42
Swapna Krishna
Yes.
00:51:29:47 – 00:51:39:59
Agent Palmer
I don’t know if there’s like a weight to it where like, you feel the weight of that many people, but I would rather have a small dedicated than big large.
00:51:40:04 – 00:51:59:06
Swapna Krishna
I know I feel the same way, like people always are. Like like whenever I’m having something go viral because I have, you know, I’m on Instagram and like, it happens it, you know, once a month or so. I’m always just like, oh. And I’ll like usually like just close and like don’t check into whatever it is until it kind of fades because it’s overwhelming for me.
00:51:59:06 – 00:52:37:51
Swapna Krishna
When something goes viral, I don’t enjoy it. And like it’s not sustainable growth. Like I said, I enjoy building a community, and I don’t think going viral is a good way to do that. Yeah. Like it’s not like that’s not, that’s that’s not building a community. That’s, you know, and so anyway, so like, I don’t love that and like, I, I can’t remember what who I was talking to, but I was like I would much rather have like 10,000 subscribers and that be like my cap then have like a million subscribers where I like, I don’t really want things to get that big, like as it is, am as it is.
00:52:37:51 – 00:52:47:33
Swapna Krishna
And I know this is just part of how it works. Like I’m already having trouble keeping. I do all my own. The one thing I do, the one thing I don’t handle myself. My husband goes through my comments.
00:52:47:33 – 00:52:48:34
Agent Palmer
First okay, and.
00:52:48:34 – 00:53:02:29
Swapna Krishna
Deletes anything. Oh, nice. Racist. Sexist. Okay, just so I don’t have to see it, that was our deal because he was like really encouraging me to do this. I was like, okay, the one thing I don’t want to deal with, I’m happy to talk to people. I’m happy, but I don’t want to have to see those comments. He was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:53:02:34 – 00:53:23:17
Swapna Krishna
So he takes care of that. And I but I do everything else. And like, I’m having trouble keeping up at this point because it’s like it is just a lot of engagement, especially when you know, the algorithm YouTube algorithm finds you when it decides it likes you start surfacing your videos more and more, which is good for growth again.
00:53:23:17 – 00:53:40:59
Swapna Krishna
And it’s a good it’s that’s a good form of like building your channel. But it’s also like, you know, I’ve gone from like maybe 500 subscribers to, you know, almost 10,000 in 6 months. And like that’s, that’s that’s pretty fast growth for me to like I feel like that’s pretty fast. Fast growth.
00:53:41:01 – 00:53:45:20
Agent Palmer
Slow. But it’s I’m but I’m it’s been fun to watch. I will say.
00:53:45:26 – 00:54:00:26
Swapna Krishna
It is it’s been fun to experience. It’s been fun to see the people. Give me suggestions in the comments and then see them delighted the next time I take the suggestion. Like, that’s really fun because like, people like, I.
00:54:00:26 – 00:54:02:55
Agent Palmer
Hope it’s the actual community you’re building.
00:54:02:59 – 00:54:27:27
Swapna Krishna
Yes. And like, I’m open to, you know, someone was like, can you please, you know, like, can like one person was like, you talk so fast that I usually listen to YouTube videos on 1.5 times, and I have to slow it down to one time for one for you. Can you talk slower? So I went back. I watched a bunch of my videos and I was like, yeah, actually, objectively, I am talking really fast.
00:54:27:32 – 00:54:46:59
Swapna Krishna
So I like started practicing slower speech. And now my videos are like, all my videos are five minutes longer than they used to be. But like, it’s funny and like, just like little things, you know, like, I, I’m new at this. I’m still learning. And so yeah, I’m going to do things like that and then figuring out figure it out, make it better.
00:54:46:59 – 00:55:03:05
Swapna Krishna
But I do appreciate when like, you know, it comes from somebody like suggested my sign off for my video because I don’t have one. And like it. Yeah. Anyway, it’s nice. I like it.
00:55:03:10 – 00:55:07:33
Agent Palmer
You.
00:55:07:38 – 00:55:28:54
Agent Palmer
To me, Swapna is a hero. She’s a journalist. She’s a science communicator. And she’s finally getting some ownership over her own work. All three of those things should be celebrated. But it is also the fact that because of those things, she is also a teacher. And we need more of those, especially the ones who, like Swapna, aren’t in the classroom.
00:55:28:58 – 00:55:56:46
Agent Palmer
Even more important is someone like Swapna, with the knowledge and appreciation for where we’ve come. As we head back to the moon and move on to Mars and beyond. Sure, there are quite a few people out there covering space, but not all of them have the knowledge of and respect for how we got here. And perhaps that perspective is important, even if it isn’t directly part of whatever the current events story happening at any moment happens to be.
00:55:56:51 – 00:56:15:56
Agent Palmer
Where do we get our stories from? May vary, but a lot of it comes from YouTube and other social medias. So who we get our stories from becomes more and more important. Swapna is one of those voices worth paying attention to because not only does she know what she’s talking about, she’s also passionate about it. This isn’t her job.
00:56:16:00 – 00:56:34:57
Agent Palmer
This is her passion. And that’s what makes her stuff worth consuming. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 127. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact Swapna and myself in the show notes.
00:56:35:02 – 00:57:08:48
Agent Palmer
There you will find links to all of Swapna work in whatever form you prefer from text, audio to video at Swapna Krishna A.com. That’s Swapna Crisp and a.com. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur. Email can be sent to this show with the Palmer files at gmail.com. And remember your home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
00:57:08:52 – 00:57:16:42
Agent Palmer
You.
00:57:16:46 – 00:57:44:38
Agent Palmer
See?
00:57:44:42 – 00:57:47:06
Agent Palmer
All right. Swapna, do you have one final question for me?
00:57:47:08 – 00:57:52:11
Swapna Krishna
I do. Who are you rooting for in this year’s tour de France?
00:57:52:16 – 00:58:05:54
Agent Palmer
Oh, that’s a good question. I’m going to go with, So we we got Pogacar and we got,
00:58:05:59 – 00:58:06:46
Swapna Krishna
Zingo.
00:58:06:51 – 00:58:09:10
Agent Palmer
Bingo. I’m going to go. Well, we don’t know.
00:58:09:19 – 00:58:10:51
Swapna Krishna
Do we know if he’s writing yet?
00:58:10:52 – 00:58:13:00
Agent Palmer
I think he is. But I’m going to go with this.
00:58:13:00 – 00:58:13:51
Swapna Krishna
Yeah.
00:58:13:56 – 00:58:41:51
Agent Palmer
Someone else because this will come out. In theory, this should come out during the tour either either during it or right after or during or right after. And I’m going to go with I just want a third option. Yes, I know I, I as exciting as it was to watch the two of them duel up the mountains the last few years, I, I miss having, like, a third option.
00:58:41:52 – 00:58:43:10
Agent Palmer
I don’t like it. All right.
00:58:43:13 – 00:58:45:08
Swapna Krishna
Thomas, to win. Like, I don’t know if he’s.
00:58:45:08 – 00:58:46:36
Agent Palmer
Right, I don’t care, but I don’t.
00:58:46:36 – 00:58:48:00
Swapna Krishna
Really rooting for him last.
00:58:48:00 – 00:59:09:04
Agent Palmer
Year, I mean, I, I think Thomas may be the underdog story of the tour in the last two decades. However, like, he was on a powerhouse team. So I don’t know that it’s really the same, but I, I just I’m looking this is why I’ve kind of shifted my gaze to the green jersey of late.
00:59:09:04 – 00:59:10:02
Swapna Krishna
Yeah.
00:59:10:07 – 00:59:35:02
Agent Palmer
Because it feels like the most wide open. And we have the best storylines. And, you know, Cav coming back, is great, but, like, it always feels like the overall strategy that we used to see from teams going for the general classification and going, all right, we’re going to take today off and rest everybody in.
00:59:35:02 – 00:59:50:46
Agent Palmer
Okay. We’re going to go gung ho for this stage. And we’re going to try and I don’t know, use the wins to get a breakaway or you know, use the mountains to, you know, climb. I just I feel like it’s all gone to the green jersey because we have two top contenders and no. One. Yeah. The gap is so large.
00:59:50:46 – 01:00:12:01
Agent Palmer
So at this point, I’m rooting for the field. I’m rooting for anyone else like anybody else. Anybody. I mean, I my heart goes out to the fact that, like, I, I guess I guess I want a Frenchman like Alaphilippe in yellow was one of my favorite things of the last little bit.
01:00:12:01 – 01:00:16:49
Swapna Krishna
But just I love Julian Alaphilippe like genuinely.
01:00:16:54 – 01:00:42:15
Agent Palmer
Yeah he loves him. He enjoys being on the bike and it shows. But I will say because this is happening well we’re recording this well before I’m not so happy. We’re not finishing in Paris. Like I feel like it will be. It will, it will, it will feel like the tour up until the final stage and then it won’t.
01:00:42:15 – 01:00:44:12
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, yeah.
01:00:44:17 – 01:01:10:14
Agent Palmer
So I don’t know how I’ll react to that, but like, I’ve. Yeah, I’ve been pretty good. Like I’ve done a, like a recap, like my, my top five or top ten moments from the tour inconsistently. I think I’ve done six of the last ten years because sometimes I’m like, I’m not sure. But usually those are posts that are like fun to write because I’ll like, make notes every stage and be like, oh, this is and it’s been fun to revisit them.
01:01:10:14 – 01:01:17:40
Agent Palmer
But I, I at this point, I’m rooting for the field. I’m rooting for anybody. Any first time winner.
01:01:17:40 – 01:01:27:46
Swapna Krishna
That’s I’m just wondering, did you do one of your top moments, the year that Chris Froome started running at Mount Multiple? Do I want to.
01:01:27:52 – 01:01:30:43
Agent Palmer
You told me no I did. I like one of my.
01:01:30:43 – 01:01:41:57
Swapna Krishna
Favorite moments in any bike race I’ve ever watched were his bike breaks. Yeah. And he starts running up and then he’s like carrying his bike and you’re like, what is happening?
01:01:42:01 – 01:02:15:19
Agent Palmer
It’s it’s one of those moments that will go with like Lance cutting the corner. Like there are just these or or with Vinca and Pogacar when, you know, he almost crashed and he waited for a minute, like, there are just these, these moments, or, back when I was still in corporate America and I was working a job, and, I was late to a meeting because the mudslide happened, and they had to stop the, the stage.
01:02:15:24 – 01:02:24:42
Agent Palmer
Oh, yeah, I was riveted, and I was late to a meeting because I was just like, wait, what? There’s no road. How is this possible?
01:02:24:47 – 01:02:26:36
Swapna Krishna
I know it’s it. Really?
01:02:26:45 – 01:02:45:49
Agent Palmer
So I know, you know, for for anybody still listening, like, all of these things did happen in a bike race. Like it, it sounds ridiculous, but, like, that’s kind of the nature of it being like the Super Bowl. And everybody cares for that one moment and like to look at it. It’s just.
01:02:45:49 – 01:03:07:16
Swapna Krishna
Yeah, absolutely. You know, so my favorite like moments have ever like seen on TV were like in cycling. Look when Tony Martin was in yellow and then like broke his color film book is collarbone and his teammates like stop, pick him up, put him back on the like I will tear up talking about this and like, like cross the finish line holding him up on the bike so he can have yellow and one more day, like watching.
01:03:07:18 – 01:03:24:43
Agent Palmer
I’m watching Richie Porte, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Yes. Win one. It’s just like there are there. Like there are these moments that like, I will forget them all, but then like, while I’m watching the race, like they will come back to me.
01:03:24:57 – 01:03:42:46
Swapna Krishna
Yeah. And it’s just a team sport for individual glory. And these guys just sacrificed themselves so much. So, you know, like their team leader for their team leader. And like, you know it’s just I don’t know I love it I just I have a lot of love for it.
01:03:42:51 – 01:03:44:09
Agent Palmer
It’s wonderful.
01:03:44:14 – 01:03:44:50
Swapna Krishna
It is.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).