Month: March 2023

P&C drink and review Xingu black lager and then take a look back at the government response to the Covid crisis. Do you remember all of this?

• “Three weeks to flatten the curve” became “everyone must stay inside until we have a vaccine.”
• From the start, they tried to crush the lab-leak explanation as a wild-eyed conspiracy theory.
• We were given contradictory nonsense about masks.
• We were told to wipe down surfaces to prevent the spread.
• We had to stay 6 feet apart.
• We were told that natural immunity is no good.
• Healthy young people were told they needed to get the vaccine.
• Everyone had to stay indoors, even though Vitamin D helps against Covid.

Why did virologists and epidemiologists make all the rules? Why didn’t we consult other experts? Economists, educators, psychologists …? Did our leaders consider the human cost? The economic cost?

Why did the government, academia, the media, and social media all sing the same tune and promote the same agenda? Isn’t that a little scary?

The boys drink and review Troeg’s Nugget Nectar, then discuss how men are stealing all the top places in women’s rankings.

While thinking about transgender ideology, the boys look at …

• Contradictions in transgender ideology
• What “transgender” means
• Can people be “trapped in the wrong body”?
• Examples of how men are stealing women’s thunder
• Where have all the feminists gone?

The gender fluidity / trans perspective is internally inconsistent, illogical, unscientific, and mind-bogglingly stupid.

Pigweed and Crowhill try their best to inject some sense and logic into the debate.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Paulaner pils, then discuss Lent and fasting.

Lent is the penitential season before Easter. Crowhill gives a basic history of Lent, and the boys discuss some common Lenten customs.

The 40 days of Lent are symbolic, similar to other 40-day events in the Bible.

Modern Lenten fasts are usually not as stringent as fasts in the past, and especially not as strict as the fasts the monks used to do.

Which leads us to Pigweed and Crowhill’s beer fast.

The Paulaner monks came up with a particularly strict fast in which they ate nothing and only drank beer and water for Lent.

Pigweed and Crowhill tried their own version of this fast and had nothing but beer and water for three days. They describe their experiences.

The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Banana by DuClaw, then discuss two short works by Tolkien.

In this latest installment of their “shortcut to the classics” series, Longinus joins Pigweed and Crowhill to review these very interesting stories.

Niggle is a quiet little man who would like to spend his life on his grand work, which was a painting of a tree. His neighbor, Parish, keeps interrupting him with irritating requests. Niggle reluctantly helps Parish, but fails to prepare for a long journey, and is caught unawares when the day comes.

The story can be interpreted as an allegory about death, Purgatory, and the beatific vision. It also touches on the legacy of a man and his art, and role of artists as subcreators.

Farmer Giles is a much sillier story about a simple man who becomes the unlikely local hero that scares away a giant and defeats a dragon, with the help of a magical sword and a talking dog.

These stories illustrate two different elements of Tolkien’s writing: philosophical seriousness, and light, silly writing.

Pigweed wanted to expose the sprouts to some real music, so they went to hear the symphony. Pigweed was enthralled by the soprano, but was confused by her bio. She insists that people use confusing pronouns, and associates her music with anti-colonialist silliness and other liberal talking points and advocacy. The woke BS is working its way into everything, and P&C are sick of it.

P&C drink and review an Irish Stout from Nashville, then discuss five topics in five minutes each.

1. Self love on Valentine’s Day. What do you think of someone who sends her love to herself on Valentine’s Day? P&C think that’s ridiculous. Love is outwardly directed, not inwardly.
2. Brandon and the Chinese Balloons. Was this the most embarrassing thing for the U.S. in decades? We showed the whole world that we’re indecisive and incompetent and that we overreact when we’re caught with our pants down. A total embarrassment.
3. The non-binary soprano. Pigweed took the sprouts to an orchestral performance to expose them to some genuine art. The soprano was wonderful. But … it was a they/them, and the program was full of all kinds of confusing gibberish.
4. Liberal tells. What words or phrases immediately tell you that someone is a liberal? Undocumented immigrant. Always talking about gender. Everything is explained by hate or bigotry. Safe spaces. Decolonization. Problematic. Personal pronouns. Dog whistles. Privilege. Racist. Sexist. Homophobe. Transphobe. Triggered.
5. Beer fasting. You think beer fasting means giving up beer. But P&C are traditionalists. They’re going to give up everything except beer for a few days, to see what it was like for the Paulaner monks in the old days.

P&C drink “Watch out for Bears” brown ale from Calvert Brewing, then discuss the history of Singapore.

It starts with the East India Company, which wanted a port in this strategic location between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca leading into the Bay of Bengal. Commerce between China and India, and then later to the Suez canal, had to come through this area.

Singapore was controlled by the British for a time but was captured and brutalized by the Japanese during WWII. After a post-war effort to join greater Malaysia failed, Singapore became independent, and then started on an absolutely stunning transformation.

At first, the population of Singapore was incredibly poor, and many of them were addicted to opium. Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister in 1959 and led the country to become one of the richest, most advanced, most educated countries in the world.

But it’s a weird mix of capitalism and dictatorship. It’s a lovely place, but not “free” by western standards.

Lee Kuan Yew might be the only example the world has ever seen of the benevolent philosopher-king dictator.

P&C drink and review Cold Snap White Ale from Sam Adams, then discuss their trip to the Maryland Live Casino.

Although P&C generally frown on gambling, they wanted to see what a casino is really like. So they went to see for themselves on the weekend of the NFL division championships.

Unlike the casinos in Vegas, which are beatiful, with stunning art and fancy displays, and lots of entertainment close by, the Maryland Live Casino was just gaudy, noisy, and flashy.

This was not a casino James Bond would visit. Not classy. Not elegant.

Your favorite beer-drinking high-rollers each bet the stunning sum of $20.