Month: July 2024

The boys drink and review Crowhill’s homebrewed Extra Special Bitter, then discuss five topics — to clear out the backlog.

#1 — (2:58) Is it even possible that the Secret Service is as incompetent as they were in Pennsylvania? The security failures were epic and strain credulity. Could competent, trained professionals be this bad?

The boys review some of the emerging details and wonder what in the heck went wrong. Was the Secret Service complicit in the attempt, or were they impossibly incompetent?

And what about the DEI component? What were those short women doing trying to protect 6’3″ Trump?

#2 — (17:40) Is Ben Shapiro right about Social Security? Ben argues that the program was never designed to support people for 20 years of retirement. As life expectancy increases, shouldn’t the retirement age?

The boys are big fans of Shapiro, but aren’t convinced of his argument for several reasons. Listen in.

#3 — (23:18) Pigweed calls BS on the “my life is hard” narrative. Everyone these days has to have a persecution narrative. Society is expecting too much. It’s so hard. “Everybody told me I couldn’t be a scientist.” Baloney.

#4 — (27:38) Two views of technology: it will kill us, or it will usher in a golden age. This reflects two instincts that are necessary for humans — the need to explore and find new things, and the need to protect against contagion and unknown threats.

#5 — (33:20) Everybody wants to save the world but nobody wants to do the dishes. Sometimes you hear people say they want to do work that will make the world a better place. Do they have the competence? Do they have the necessary knowledge? The world is a complicated place. If they can’t keep their own house neat and orderly, what makes them think they can make the world neat and orderly?

The boys end the show with a letter to the show from Inigo Montoya, who accuses P&C of being “raw doggers.”

The boys drink and review Pigweed’s Seal Team 6 — a homebrewed Black IPA — then discuss eugenics.

Humans have been breeding animals and plants for a very long time. Most of the foods we eat are the result of thousands of years of careful breeding by farmers, and “man’s best friend” was bred from wild dogs.

Why shouldn’t we do the same with humans?

Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin who was very influenced by The Origin of Species, proposed just such a plan and called it “eugenics.” Darwinism convinced Galton that an organism’s most important characteristics must be biological rather than shaped by environment or experience.

The idea caught fire with the intellectual elite. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger and Alexander Graham Bell all promoted the idea to one degree or another.

The Supreme Court even weighed in. In upholding a Virginia law that permitted compulsory sterilization of individuals thought unfit to reproduce, Oliver Wendell Holmes said in Buck v. Bell, “three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

38 States adopted some form of eugenics laws and more than 60,000 Americans were sterilized without their consent.

Adolf Hitler read about this and thought, “gee, what a good idea.”

After the horrors of World War II, the west turned away from eugenics. It still stands as a reminder that fine-sounding ideas approved by intelligent people can still be horribly stupid.

The boys drink and review Crowhill’s homemade gin, then give a broad overview of liquors. P&C discuss …

• Fermentation vs. distillation
• The history of liquor
• Liquor vs. liquer and fortified wines
• What “proof” means
• White vs. colored liquors
• The main types of liquor
  • Vodka
  • Gin
  • Tequila
  • Rum
  • Whiskey (vs. whisky)
  • Brandy
• The science of getting drunk
• The science of hangovers

… plus a few anecdotes and common myths about liquor, such as …

Does red wine need to breathe before you drink it?
Does the shape of a glass make a difference?
Can “hair of the dog” cure a hangover?

The boys drink and review Brooklyn Brewery’s Sunny Pale Ale, then discuss Star Wars and the enduring influence of the hero’s journey.

The Star Wars movies struck quite a chord with the public. On the one hand, it seems like silly kid’s stuff. On the other hand, Pigweed’s literature professors referred to Star Wars as a classic example of the hero pattern, or quest journey.

The lives of Jesus, Moses, King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and many others follow a very similar pattern.

Their stories follow a very predictable pattern that includes the call to adventure, resistance to the call, the role of the mentor, facing a challenge, winning the prize, then bringing that achievement back to the people.

There are other background elements to the life of the hero, like a suspicious birth, the absense of parents, some connection to royalty and maybe divinity.

Star Wars follows this myth in each individual episode, and across episodes.

Some people have said that Star Wars has abandoned this pattern in the newest iteration of Star Wars — the Acolyte. Others have gone so far as to suggest that The Acolyte has turned the entire myth on its head.

Pigweed and Crowhill discuss the role of this pattern, and then, with some help from a letter from Nephew Will, evaluate some of the radical claims about The Acolyte.

P&C drink and review a summer ale, then discuss OnlyFans.

The OnlyFans site serves as a medium for paid content. It’s not only about sex. It can be used by artists, musicians, authors, and so on. But it’s largely about sex.

There are some possible benefits for women who choose to do “sex work” on OnlyFans. There are no pimps. They can set their own boundaries. They’re at less risk for STDs. And it’s possible (but unlikely) they’ll make a lot of money.

The potential benefits are far outweighed by many negatives.

Once a woman has agreed to do this work, she’s lost an important part of her dignity, and it’s hard to go back. Women who do OnlyFans will start to think “oh well, I guess I’m this kind of girl now.”

While women can set their own boundaries — choose “how far they will go” — they will be constantly pressured to do more.

The woman who does this kind of work on OnlyFans becomes a sexual object, and she will be treated that way. Sexual harassment is part of the job, and it gets very ugly. You’re no longer a person. You’re a product that exists to satisfy strangers sexually. It’s dehumanizing.

Stalkers are a real problem.

There is a false sense of privacy, since the content is allegedly behind a paywall and only available to “fans.” But it won’t stay private. People will find a way to download it and post it for free on the Internet. Everyone will be able to see it.

A woman’s future plans for career and family will be negatively affected by participating in OnlyFans, and it will affect the woman’s ability to be intimate with a real person.

Time as an OnlyFans star is very limited. There’s an endless stream of younger, hotter women ready to step up, and OnlyFans models in value as they age.

Some women might believe this is a ticket to easy money and a chance to find a rich mate, but that’s a delusion. High-value men don’t want to date sex workers, and no decent man wants to share his wife.

Also, it’s already hard enough to get married.

The promises of OnlyFans are a delusion — except for the very few who make a lot of money, but they’ve sold their soul in the bargain.

In addition to the negative effect on women, OnlyFans has a negative effect on society. It normalizes sex work, lowers the collective morality of society, and traps young women in a dead-end career.

Agenda 47 is a series of policy initiatives Trump intends to enact if elected. In the telling of one hair on fire liberal commentator, Agenda 47 includes …

• massive deportation
• death sentence for human trafficking
• close the deptartment of education
• put prayer in school
• close race-based advantage programs
• end the affordable care act
• ban gender affirming care for adults and children
• term limits for congress
• investigate the Biden crime family
• pardon Jan 6ers
• increase juvenile sentences, strengthen immunity for police, deploy national guard in woke cities
• reassess NATO
• Muslim travel ban
• create freedom cities
• end federal EV mandates
• drill for gas and oil domestically
• increase tariffs on Chinese goods
• extend 2017 tax cuts
• extend the right to concealed carry
• get Europe to pay back money we gave to Ukraine
• remove federal subsidies from woke Universities

The boys review each of these items to determine if they’re as scary as the frightened liberals imagine.

They also discuss Joe Biden’s debate meltdown and what might happen next for Democrats.

P&C start the show by drinking and reviewing Eliot Ness Amber Lager from Great Lakes Brewing Company.

Join us in this episode as we delve into the fascinating world of relativity, exploring the groundbreaking work of Albert Einstein. We cover both special and general relativity, discussing the profound implications these theories have on our understanding of space, time, and the universe. Whether you’re a physics enthusiast or just curious about the cosmos, this episode offers insightful explanations and thought-provoking discussions.

With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill start the show with a review of a famous Belgian beer.

With literary contributor Longinus, the boys drink and review Furious George Hefeweizen from Crooked Crab Brewing, then continue their “shortcut to the classics” series with The Time Machine.

After a brief biography and sense of Wells’ historical setting, the boys review the plot, then give their analysis.

The story follows the journey of an unnamed protagonist, referred to as the Time Traveller, who invents a machine capable of traveling through time. He demonstrates the machine to a group of friends and then embarks on a journey to the distant future.

The Time Traveller arrives in the year 802,701 AD, where he encounters two distinct species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are gentle, childlike people who live above ground in a seemingly idyllic society, but they are frail and lack intellectual curiosity. The Morlocks, on the other hand, are sinister, nocturnal creatures who live underground and maintain the machinery that supports the Eloi’s lifestyle.

As the Time Traveller explores this future world, he realizes that the Eloi are not the dominant species but are actually prey for the Morlocks. The novel delves into themes of social class and evolution, suggesting a grim future for humanity.

The story culminates with the Time Traveller narrowly escaping the Morlocks and returning to his own time, only to disappear again on another journey, leaving his ultimate fate unknown. The novel ends with a sense of mystery and contemplation about the future of humanity and the possibilities of time travel.

The boys drink and review Southern Cross ESB from M8 Beer Company, then go through reader questions and comments.

Questions include …

• Why aren’t there more women in dangerous jobs, and should they be if we really want equity?
• Does dating a trans woman make you gay?
• More on cats vs. dogs
• In your show on evolution you casually dismissed creationists. What’s up?
• A reprise of the pendulum show. Are things shifting towards conservatism?
• Have people had enough with mass immigration, but here and in Europe?
• Do we really have government of, by, and for the people?
• Is “Memories of my meloncholy whores” representative of Marquez in general since it does not include magical realism.
• Did you notice that Marquez did not use quotation marks to designate speech?
• Did the news covering racism cause the George Floyd madness, or did the George Floyd madness cause the news to cover racism?
• We had a suggestion for a show on the poison of victimhood.
• Why did we give any credence at all to that woman-hating Pearl Davis?
• Why are you such mean bigots towards the LGBTQ community?