Pigweed and Crowhill drink beer and talk about cool stuff
P&C drink and review O’Hara’s Irish stout, then talk about unidentified flying objects.
Is there some great conspiracy to hide evidence that aliens have come to earth, or is it just a big nothing-burger?
P&C discuss the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation, and review some of the arguments that aliens have visited earth — and find them wanting.
P&C drink and review a double IPA from Bell’s, then discuss the 3-headed hydra of cancel culture: canceling the present, erasing the past, and banning people for the future.
We’re starting to see examples of the media editing old stories to change the past to fit the modern “narrative.” It’s literally Orwellian.
There are new initiatives to erase literal crimes to give someone a fresh start, but at the same time, thought crimes from decades ago still ruin lives.
It’s a bizarre world.
P&C drink and review 51 Rye by Monument City Brewing, then discuss plastic bans, and the pros and cons of plastic.
Plastics reduce food waste. They make cars lighter, and therefore more fuel efficient. Plastics reduce the costs of many products.
But there’s a negative side, some of which is real, and some has been exaggerated out of context.
P&C try to sort it all.
P&C drink and review Madura Brown Ale from Cigar City Brewing, then discuss indications that a company might not be a good fit.
P&C drink and review some hot and cold sake, then discuss gaslighting.
They start with a review of the 1940 film with Ingrid Bergman to get the original meaning of the term, then, along with special guest Longinus, go through a list of modern issues that might or might not be gaslighting.
The goal of gaslighting is to get the person being gaslighted (gaslit?) to accept as true something the gaslighter knows is false, to the benefit of the gaslighter. But as you go through things that have been held up as examples, it can get complicated.
By the end of this show you might not have a perfect answer, but you’ll have a better sense of the concept.
P&C drink and review Sierra Nevada’s bottle-conditioned porter, then discuss Ayn Rand and objectivism with special guest Longinus.
They quickly review the basic tenets of objectivism, then discuss how those ideas play out in three works: Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, and Anthem.
The boys discuss what Rand’s ideas mean, and whether they’re useful and applicable in the real world.
P&C drink and review Pigweed’s homebrewed winter warmer, then discuss executive orders.
What is the function and purpose of an executive order? Is it a way to get around Congress? What are the limits? Is this one of the ways the imperial presidency has usurped the legislative function, or is it a valid power of the executive?
The boys look at the history of this strange executive power and comment on its use.
P&C drink and review a hazy IPA from Sam Adams, then do five topics in five minutes each.
P&C drink and review Dirty Little Freak, a flavorful brown ale from DuClaw Brewery, then discuss the Enlightenment.
What was the Enlightenment, when did it happen, and what ideas did it produce? Why has it come under fire from some quarters today? Should we value the Enlightenment, or is it just another example of racism and white privilege?
P&C drink and review Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Fresh Hop IPA, then talk about totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and fascism. Following up, they evaluate Rod Dreher’s “soft totalitarianism” from “Live Not by Lies.” P&C think Dreher has the label wrong.
We’re at a cross-roads. Is there time (or the will) to stop the growing tech-inspired soft authoritarianism?
P&C drink and review Old Speckled Hen, an English ale, then talk about ACAB.
Is the central intent of policing to surveil, terrorize, capture and kill marginalized populations, specifically black folk? There are people in our society who are promoting that view.
The media, politicians and similar cretins keep feeding us a narrative that we have an epidemic of white cops killing unarmed black people. Is it true?
Put on your socks before you listen to this one!
P&C drink and review a Vienna Ale, then, with special guest Longinus, continue their “shortcut to the classics” series and discuss three Jack London stories: The Law of Life, To Build a Fire, and The Call of the Wild.
These stories will make you shiver!
P&C drink Southern Belle, an imperial brown ale, then discuss problems in science.
It would be nice to believe that we can rely on science. Scientists are supposed to be dispassionate, purely rational people who follow the evidence where it leaves.
P&C call BS. Science is as influenced by politics, ideology, ambition, egos, trends and fads as anything else. So how are we supposed to “trust the science”? And what is “the science” anyway?
Can atheists pray? Why would they?
Before they wrap their minds around that strange topic, the boys drink and review Full Sail IPA by Full Sail Brewery. A “ridiculously tasty IPA.”
Back to prayer, Crowhill takes a stab at the straw men definitions some atheists use about faith, e.g., “faith is believing against evidence.” Which is nonsense.
The boys also take a stab at Jordan Peterson’s somewhat lame attempt to avoid the question of whether he not he believes in God.
Then they get into some actual examples of self-professed atheists who claim to pray, and they try to explain why that might make sense.
Pigweed and Crowhill both like Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris, but it’s interesting to watch them clash, as they did in their discussions on religion in Vancouver.
Before tackling such a weighty subject, the boys enjoy Crowhill’s latest creation, a dark German ale that uses a Kolsch yeast, but is not a Kolsch.
Peterson and Harris have a lot in common. They’re both well-educated scientists who know a lot about the brain and social science research on behavior.
But Harris is an aggressive atheist who seems to hate all religions, while Peterson has a warmer feeling towards religion. (Despite the fact people have a hard time understanding exactly what he believes about God.)
The boys discuss an article Crowhill wrote on his blog about Peterson, as well as other issues in dispute between the atheist Harris and the Jungian Peterson.
