Month: September 2023

Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Sam Adams’ Just the Haze, a no-alcohol IPA, then review some short stories by Kurt Vonnegut.

“The Foster Portfolio” has an investment advisor who finds a client who appears to be poor, but secretly has enormous wealth, which he has no interest in. It examines one man’s struggles with his moral failings.

“All the King’s Horses” is about a horrifying chess game played with real people’s lives, including a Colonel’s wife and two sons. It’s a parable about parents’ choices in sending their children off to war.

“Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog” is clever and fun story about a dog who is smarter than Thomas Edison.

“Welcome to the Monkey House” is a futuristic story about an over-populated planet where society takes extreme measures to reduce the number of people. But then Billy the Poet comes along and throws a wrench in the works.

“Harrison Bergeron” is a brilliant anticipation of modern nonsense about “equity.” The only way to make everyone equal is to make the smart people stupid, the pretty people ugly, and the talented just as dull as everyone else.

The boys drink and review a light copper near bear from Athletic Brewing, then discuss the GOP debates.

The participants were Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson.

The candidates are all so far behind Donald Trump at this point that it was almost like a debate to see who wanted to be Trump’s VP, except that Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike Pence were clearly competing for the anti/never-Trump lane.

Vivek is widely seen as the winner, but Crowhill wasn’t all that impressed with his performance. He was a little too silly, and he was legitimately criticized for not having any experience.

DeSantis was surprisingly low key, but did well.

Pence tried to defend his actions on Jan. 6 and to push himself out in front by being very aggressive, but it didn’t do much for him.

Haley scored some good zingers on Ramaswamy and helped herself some, but she’s still way behind.

Scott, Christie, Burgum and Hutchinson didn’t distinguish themselves.

P&C also discuss the elephant not in the room — Donald Trump. Is there any hope that we can get somebody other than Trump on the Republican ticket?

The boys drink and review Partake IPA, a no-alcohol beer, then discuss game theory.

Game theory is an attempt to express the calculations that go on in a game as mathematics. It makes certain assumptions.

1. The game has to include multiple players
2. The players must interact with each other
3. There needs to be a reward
4. You assume the players act rationally
5. You assume the players act in their own personal interest

Those things are not always true in real life.

One goal of game theory is to figure out what the best choice is no matter what the other player does. This is called the “Nash equilibrium.”

Two common games in game theory are The Prisoner’s Dilemma and The Ultimatum.

“The Ultimatum” game shows that people don’t always act rationally in their decisions.