Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

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?

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 realted 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.

P&C drink and review All Purpose Pils, an Italian-style pilsner by DC Brau, then discuss the controversey over Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker and his recent commencement speech.

Was it a mild-mannered, pro-family talk, or raging hate speech? That's the problem we face today. It's both -- depending on whether you're a sane person or a hair-on-fire liberal who listens to The View.

Butker is a conservative Catholic, and he speaks like one.

Are conservative Catholics allowed to speak their mind in public? Some people would say no.

The most important job in the history of mankind has been making babies and raising them to be productive members of society. Somehow that idea has become hate speech.

Butker gave a conservative Catholic message to a conservative Catholic audience. Why is that a problem?

The "tolerant" liberals can't abide it. Nobody is allowed to have (and certainly not speak) an opinion that hurts their feelings.

The lesson is clear. Modern culture is steeped in feminism, and if you speak against it, you're an enemy.

P&C drink and review a dark lager from Guilford brewing, then recount their recent journey to Reading PA to hear Jordan Peterson on his "We who struggle with God" tour. Longinus was unable to attend, but contributes to the conversation.

Jordan Peterson is famous for being cagey about his religious beliefs, but recently he's been a little more straight forward, and almost evangelical. P&C expected Dr. Peterson to make his case for the existence of God.

They enjoyed the talk, but it wasn't what they expected.

The show started with some live music, then an intro by Dr. John Vervake, who is somewhat of a fellow traveler with Peterson.

Dr. Peterson adopted the theme of sacrifice for the evening's talk, and told stories about sacrifice: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.

It was all good stuff, and classic Peterson, but he didn't set out what P&C expected, which was to give an argument for the necessity of God.