Month: June 2021

After reviewing a wheat beer from DuClaw, the boys review some of Iain McGilchrist’s findings on differences between the functions of the two hemispheres, and what they say about how we view the world.

The left and right hemispheres have very different perspectives on life. The right tends to look at the big picture, while the left tends to be more task-specific.

When the two hemispheres are cut, scientists are able to communicate separately with each side, and have learned some very interesting things about how the two sides of our brain function, and what biases they bring to the world.

McGilchrist is concerned that our society is becoming too left-brain focused, and believes we need a correction.

You might also like the companion episode, Analytical vs. intuitive thinking.

The boys drink and review Young Buck, a Maibock from Key Brewing, then knock out five topics in five minutes each.

The lab origin hypothesis. There’s a lab in Wuhan, China, that works on “gain of function” in coronaviruses, which, by an astonishing coincidence, is where the virus started — but somehow the idea that the virus came from the lab was a crazy conspiracy theory.

Zoom life — what we’ve learned about virtual meetings during the pandemic.

Sobriety checkpoints — are they legal? Should they be? They seem to reverse the presumption of innocence.

Vaccines — are you a crazy, awful, conspiratorial monster if you choose to avoid the vaccine?

9-0 SCOTUS decision on Catholic organizations being involved in foster care.

The boys review two homebrewed bourbon barrel-aged stouts — both from the same recipe. One from this year, and one from a couple years ago. Then they the change in parents’ attitudes towards safety.

In the 70s we didn’t wear helmets or knee pads, and we didn’t use seat belts. How much safer are we today? How much safer do we feel? It seems that we’re way safer, but feel more vulnerable.

What about sports? Do kids collect neighborhood friends and play ball, or do they have to wait until the adults organize it for them? Do they ever learn to make their own rules, negotiate and resolve conflicts?

What has caused this dramatic change in attitudes?

The boys review their Strauss challenge (in which they brewed two homebrews, one with 100% Vienna malt and one with 100% Munich malt), then discuss two different ways of approaching the world — the broader meaning vs. the specific, practical meaning — and how a skeptical / analytical view of the world contrasts with a more intuitive view.

One view might be called sentimental, or following an unprovable grand narrative, while the other might be called practical, rational, hard-headed or maybe “objective.”

Should everything be “rational”? Sometimes things that seem irrational have a hidden origin or meaning that shouldn’t be easily dismissed.

Why don’t these U.S. citizens get the same representation as residents of the 50 states?

P&C drink and review a west coast IPA from local Hysteria Brewing, then discuss statehood for DC and PR.

Is “taxation without representation” a fair way to characterize the U.S. attitude towards the District of Columbia.

The constitution says Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over the federal district. Is that a good idea?

Or … to put it the other way … do you want the seat of government under the control of one of the states?

And how about Puerto Rico? Should it be a state? Under what terms do we admit new territories as states?