P&C drink and review Little Mac IPA from Antietam Brewing then discuss the downward slide of a famous scientific magazine that was founded before the American Civil War!
It would be nice to have a reliable standard to find out what’s actually going on in the scientific world. Scientific American magazine used to be that. Recently it’s gone woke, and now it’s no longer that beacon of scientific judgment.
Some signs of their recent wokeness.
* Michael Shermer’s column was rejected because it might hurt someone’s feelings.
* Scientific American slandered E.O. Wilson with a woke diatribe.
* They promote the transgender nonsense.
* They have claimed that football is racist, and and that denial of evolution is white supremacy.
* They want federal oversight of homeschooling.
The revered old magazine has gone too far to the left and has fallen off the woke end of the spectrum. Steven Pinker tweeted: “Unscientific American | Another noble American institution run into the ground when clueless trustees handed over the keys to a woke fanatic.”
P&C drink and review Extra Strong Boi Imperial ESB from Black Flag Brewing, then discuss the curse of the smart phone.
Can grown adults stand in line at the Post Office any more without being distracted by some electronic device?
The boys review some of the history of electronic devices in our lives, then talk about the perils of the modern state, where everyone is connected all the time.
Jonathan Haidt identifies several problems with smart phones.
Social Deprivation — Smartphones act as experience blockers, reducting time spent in physical play or face-to-face interactions, which are crucial for healthy social development.
Sleep Deprivation — Excessive use of smartphones, especially late at night, leads to insufficient sleep, further exacerbating mental health issues.
Attention Fragmentation — Constant notifications and messages interrupt focus, making it difficult for teenagers to concentrate on tasks.
Addiction — Apps and social media platforms are designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities, making them addictive and detracting from real-world experiences.
If you’re getting your social interaction from your phone, you’re not getting it from in-person interactions, and that’s a shame. We’ve reduced the richness of real interactions for a cheap substitute.
P&C encourage adults to find ways to stay off their phones, and for God’s sake don’t let your kids get addicted to them.
The boys drink and review Hopsecutioner IPA by Terrapin Brewing, then discuss the social pendulum.
On a number of key issues, Pigweed feels he has held the minority opinion. “The wrong side of history,” as the left would say. He’s tempted to believe the pendulum is swinging back his way. His question to Crowhill: Is it?
How do we define a “minority view” these days? We’re given the impression that believing a man can become a women is the majority view. But that’s false if you look at the statistics.
The larger question is whether we all live in a tech-driven echo chamber, which only shows us things that fit our profile. How can we know what’s true when our sources of information are “curated” based on our preferences?
Is the pendulum moving …
Away from the trans madness?
Away from climate alarmism?
Away from St. George Floyd, DEI, BLM, “defund the police”?
Towards a more realistic perspective of how we handled COVID?
Trump was recently convicted of 34 felony violations related to falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 election.
We’ve now had our first political show trial where those in power go against their political opponents.
Welcome to Venezuela.
Democrats keep telling us to that Donald Trump will use the power of government to take revenge against his political enemies. But isn’t that precisely what we’re seeing right now?
Biden has nothing to run on except lawfare against Trump, so he has weaponized the justice system against Donald Trump.
We keep hearing about “election interference,” but this is it.
Here are some of the reasons this is all bogus.
The prosecutor (Alvin Brag) was political, ran on a platform to get Trump, and revived goofy charges that had already been investigated and found empty.
Judge Merchan was political.
He had financial conflicts of interest involving his daughter, who is raising money on this issue.
He donated money to anti-Trump political effort.
He imposed a gag order on Trump.
He excluded defense witnesses
He preferred the prosecution in motions.
He allowed the salacious testimony of Stormy Daniels (which is very similar to why the Weinstein convinction was overturned).
He gave very strange jury instructions
This was a political jury.
There was no crime specified. The entire prosecution was based on a new and novel legal theory.
“The underlying crime is seemingly a minor misdemeanor – falsifying business records – which long ago expired under the statute of limitations. In order to turn it into a felony within the statute of limitations, prosecutors will have to show that Trump falsified the records in order to impact his election, thus constituting a federal election felony. …The problem is, however, that federal authorities have not prosecuted Trump for this federal election crime. Moreover, state prosecutors have no jurisdiction over federal election law. Finally, we were not even clear, when the trial began, as to precisely which federal election laws the District Attorney was relying on. ” –Dershowitz
This case would never have been brought against anyone but Trump. This is selective prosecution and sounds suspiciously like “show me the person and I’ll find the crime.”
The boys drink and review Depth Perception IPA by Terrapin Brewing, then discuss recent efforts to create a universal digital ID.
So much of daily life now requires a smart phone, an app, an account, … Sometimes you can’t even print out tickets. You have to have your phone. (Is it charged? Does it have service?)
You can’t drive without a transponder to pay tolls.
We’re leaving a permanent digital record of everything we do.
But that’s not enough. Governments are pushing us towards a single digital ID to have “completely transparency.” Everyone will know everything you do — and if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t worry about that, right?
No. The people who will have access to all your private data have biases and agendas. Sometimes they’ll be your enemy. With enough information, someone will be able to find a case against you. “Show me the man and I’ll find the crime.”
Also, this single repository will be hacked. Identity theft is already bad enough. Once we have digital IDs, the problem will multiply.
