Isn't It Obvious

Micah asks about video games and education. Phil talks about education. K Sera talks about her favorite video game.

Show notes:

-Stardew Valley

-Telltale Games bankruptcy

K Sera's after thoughts:

- Sure, videogames can be supplementary tools for learning. No argument here.

- Yup. My thoughts haven’t really changed much on this topic.

- Also, Stardew Valley is still the greatest game ever. I’m really excited to play the spiritual sequel Haunted Chocolatier. I will continue to wait patiently. Not sure what any of it teaches me, but whatevs. I’m just here to be entertained, clearly.

Phil's after thoughts:

- This podcast was originally recorded in early Spring of 2021 (more than a year ago). After re-listening it occurs to me that while I agree with gamification at some level, I feel that at a college level it becomes less endearing. Perhaps because I am so old that video games will always be linked with my childhood and cannot be separated as "a hobby for fun" instead of a "tool for good use at a serious level."

K Sera believes that hot breakfasts are superior to cold breakfast. Micah doesn't believe in breakfasts. Phil is angry about the pyramids.

Important note: This episode was recorded in the Spring of 2021 during the pandemic lock downs in the Midwest. We were all still trying to get vaccinated (not the boosters, but the main vaccine), so our snarky attitude about having yet another recording session over the phone was present in this episode. As this episode was published almost an entire year later, I would like to add that even today (as the date of publishing) we still do not have vaccines for children younger than five.

Show Notes:

Strixhaven – Phil believes is Harry Potter meets Magic the Gathering

Bill Gates and the meme vaccine

Coffee and cigarettes. That's like the breakfast of champions.

BBC fad diets

Anger from the 90’s food pyramid

A general estimate for calories burned in one mile is approximately 100 calories per mile

K Sera’s after thoughts:

- I have yet to make these guys avocado toast. Uhh… oops?

- My breakfast today was sourdough toast and coffee 

- Lunch/dinner today was a very unhealthy box of macaroni and cheese 

- My philosophy is still: all things in moderation - not that I always live by that (see above terrible life choices). I still despise fad diets.

- I disagree about the effects of the "juice cleanses" that Micah mentions. I don’t think it will actually do what he said it does. Lots of doubt from this side. And I disagree a tiny bit with the logic Micah spouts about fat deposits in the body adapting to your choice and level of activity. It does do that, but, your body is also genetically predisposed to store fat in certain areas. Hormones affect where and how much fat is stored, too. There are a few more factors to consider than simply how long you are sitting still in a given day versus how much you are eating and what muscles you are using.

- We may never know what Phil’s mom made him for breakfast.

Phil’s after thoughts:

- Pardon me for the audio quality for this episode, it was all done by me! The editor is taking a much needed rest and I can totally understand why. Anyway, I promise I’ll get better at this.

-I really enjoy eating at breakfast places early in the morning! It’s one of my great joys in life; to eat a hot meal while the sun is barely rising and a waiter/waitress fills your cup with piping hot coffee. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

-My mom used to make me delicious omelets for breakfast! She also used to make me pancakes with smiley faces on them (from the maple syrup), toast with jam, a breakfast sandwich (English muffin), scrambled eggs, sausages, and more! The morning of my wedding day I went to my parents ridiculously early (logistics with my extended family/friends flying over from the states and from all over the world) and my parents place was much bigger than my small dwelling I shared with the editor. Anyway, it was super early and my mom was already up making breakfast for like 20 people and she made me a pancake with a smile face on it. I told my mom “Mom! I’m a grown-up man!” referring to my pancakes and she laughed saying “you’re still a child to me.” So, long story short: Thanks mom.

Micah asks about Martin Luther and the consequences of religious civil war. K Sera discusses the human inability to accurately forecast the future. And then Phil just talks about America.

Show Notes:

Martin Luther

American, YEAH!

K Sera's afterthoughts:

- Our consistent theme: Humans are terrible. Yyyyep.

- Some changes seem inevitable in hindsight. I tend to believe that many of the things that instigate social upheaval have an inevitable end condition, but the events and main characters that occur and act in the interim determine how and when those ends are achieved. 

- People are terrible predictors of the future, though I think we are getting more accurate as time chugs on. The best predictor of what direction people are heading is probably economics. How and when things change really comes down to supply and demand and the minimum effort applied against the cost of action or inaction. What will ultimately move us are resources: scarcity, greed and fear over lack. Even if the excuse for social changes are posed as “moral needs” on the face of it, I think ultimately those changes are driven less by righteousness or fairness than they are by demand over limited resources, power, and security.

- The reason why America is independent from European governance? Europe thought it was too expensive to fight for control. The reason why Martin Luther made his statements against the church? Martin Luther was a professor of moral theology and a town preacher - his values, power and influence were essentially being undermined by the sale of indulgences. It’s all about power and resources in the end.

Phil's afterthoughts:

-Everything is just probabilities, there are no guarantees when dealing with revolution.

-People are terrible.

Phil asks if it is obvious to change our shopping malls into living quarters too.

Note: This episode was recorded originally in the spring of 2021, discussions of the on-going housing challenges (of the date of publication) were not as apparent as they are in 2022.

Show Notes:

Austria’s Public Housing Idea

How Malls are trying to recover in modern times

Government Housing Vouchers are Hard to Get, and Hard to Use

Wall-E

In 2014, BBC said 75k was an important number for happiness (this is not adjusted for 2022 inflation)

Friendship is magic (for a longer, healthier life)

Back 10 years ago, NPR said it was very expensive for nursing home/assisted living, adult day services. I am sure inflation makes this look like rookie numbers now

K Sera’s Afterthoughts:

-N/A

Phil’s Afterthoughts:

-Hello dear listener! It is I, Phil, coming straight to you to discuss why it took more than a month to release this episode. Well, that’s a good question, and I am sure that the other two listeners also share this question too. It is because I wanted to give our dear editor a break. Thus it has taken me more than a month to edit one episode.

-Why does it take a month to edit one episode? Because it just does man.

-I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording and editing it, because seriously I now have new found respect to those that have to do this work since it is not easy at all. I’ll be completing my training (on editing) by doing some more episodes, so now that I have the hang of it they will be coming out more frequently. If for any reason you are displeased with the result, rest assure that I will just respond by editing even more episodes because spite is the fuel that powers my motivation.

-One last thing, all these dollar amounts were before the Great Inflation, so please just go ahead and just “double” those numbers we mentioned, I think that ought to do it.

-Thanks again for being a listener, I really appreciate it (hi mom)!

In this episode, Micah proposes a better way to reduce jury bias. K Sera has questions about how this may impact cases with evidence that implies particular sort of violence. Phil talks about a future where we can get coupons for socks.

Show notes:

Jury Bias (from the Midwest spectacle)

The Law of Small Numbers

We mention Adnan quite a bit

Pretty people and the Jury

K Sera’s Afterthoughts:

- Ultimately, I think Micah’s heart is in the right place. I understand wanting justice to be as fair and objective as possible, but making things clinical and removing ‘potentially charged’ context seems counterintuitive. I believe that some context is inherently important to understanding the true scope of a crime - particularly if it is racially or sexually motivated.

To ‘scrub out’ the context deemed irrelevant to ‘protect’ the accused and the victim, to me, sounds more like a disservice to reality. I can see where this might have some benefits in helping to eliminate unfair sentencing on the part of judge and jury, but my understanding of justice is that it isn’t really ‘true’ justice and never has been, and may never be. It’s imperfect, and we attempt to approach the ideal, but like with most things, we continue to fall short.

That isn’t to say we abandon that lofty goal. We should absolutely continue to strive towards the truest concept of justice we can manage, even if it isn’t perfect. We are improving, little by little. But each change we make should be well considered.

In the words of the great Terry Pratchet, “THERE IS NO JUSTICE.” There is only death in the end. That is the only truth that waits for us. In the meantime, we build our society on agreed upon lies and do our best to make our existences bearable until we meet inevitability. No justice. Just us. Just us and the decisions we make in an effort to do better, little by little, until we ascend or simply end.

Phil’s Afterthoughts:

-This episode was recorded in the Spring of 2021 (a year ago from the publish date). We still did not know of the Chauvin Case and the results.

-This episode is the first where the editor stopped editing after 6 minutes in. I told the editor that for Micah episodes, it’s probably best we just let them run unedited. You can now enjoy my terrible arguments as they were originally delivered: you are welcome!

Phil asks if our modern entertainment options are experiencing deflationary pressures like never before. Micah and K Sera bring up the obvious reasons why Phil is wrong. Enjoy the episode!

Shownotes:

Wii for 1 dollar

(Insert “first time?” meme here): Inflation and the next generation.

K Sera’s afterthoughts:

-N/A

Phil afterthoughts:

-I apologize that this is a topic that I CANNOT STOP TALKING ABOUT. Clearly I apologize to K Sera and Micah for just talking at them for 35 minutes straight.

-Also, I love how Micah just destroys my argument with “what about live events?” question! This episode could have been 5 minutes long! Thank you Micah for suffering through my rants instead of just shutting this down.

-We recorded this episode in the spring of 2021 (a year from publishing date) and even then inflation discussion was on our radar. Today, in the late February of 2022, inflation is often discussed as a pastime now. I wouldn’t be surprised if gas hits 5 dollars a gallon in the Midwest by late spring. But that’s a completely different topic all together.

Notice: Hello our dear listeners! Special news here: our podcast schedule is moved to “every other Monday” (starting two weeks ago, sorry about the late notice here).

In this latest episode, K Sera asks about the truth. Phillip brings in metaphysics and conservative arguments, and Micah proves Phillip cannot tell what the truth is from a car chase story!

Show notes:

A nifty chart for Truthy news sources:

Uber drivers pay rates between men and women

K Sera’s after thoughts:

In the middle of February, 2022, there is currently an ongoing and large controversy with Joe Rogan’s podcast spreading covid misinformation (among other troubling view points), and many people are boycotting Rogan and Spotify because of it.
I’m not precisely sure where I stand on this. I am pro free speech, but I also think there is a level of responsibility celebrities and world leaders must own when wielding their exceptional social and political power. When you have a certain threshold of influence, you are no longer considered a common person and the rules need to be a little different. “Just asking questions” is ok, when you are a common person seeking answers for personal reasons, but when you are someone wielding a powerful platform, there needs to be a greater level of care and consideration for the potential fallout of your actions and words.
A person with a stick isn’t as dangerous as a person wielding a sword, isn’t as dangerous as a person wielding a gun, isn’t as dangerous as a person wielding a grenade, a missle, etc… The level of potential damage a weapon can inflict changes the rules that govern its use. Why isn’t this the same for media platforms? No one cares, really, if you are waving a stick around. If you wack someone with it, there are consequences - assuming you’re caught and held accountable for hurting someone. We do, however, care when someone is waving a gun or something more devastating around. The response is vastly different and the consequences are generally far more serious.
There is a real problem with information dissemination and interpretation. Micah says better education would help mitigate this somewhat, which is something, at least, but I’m not convinced that we can solely rely on that. Police officers, health providers and legal counsel all need (arguably better) oversight and actual consequences for abusing the power and influence they wield. Why is this any different for news providers and celebrities? There needs to be real consequences to misusing social influence proportionate to the damage caused for any position of authority and influence.
But therein lies the question: who is responsible for dealing out those consequences and deciding what they are? Right now, people are demanding ‘direct superiors’ to take responsibility, because that’s the only recourse available. In the case of Spotify and Joe Rogan, Spotify owns the platform and has the power to execute consequences but no incentive. My suggestion is to give the FCC the power to fine media platforms (proportionate to the content creator’s influence and revenue) for damages caused by irresponsible speech. Then, maybe, there would be actions taken to protect people from, say, drinking bleach or urine because some idiot influencer with a convincing voice said it could cure their illness.

Phil’s after thoughts:

-The more I think about it, the more I feel that people really don’t want to hear the truth; they just want to hear what they want to hear. And the more I think about that, the more I think that I also fall into this trap too. We need a way to separate truth from personal identity, so that challenging a personal truth does not feel so personal to them (and us). For example, if we got into a low-speed car accident, how many of us would accept the truth that we are 100% to blame? Almost always we blame everything but ourselves (weather, other driver, distractions, etc.). I don’t know where I’m going with this, but basically we lie to ourselves so that we can feel good, and so we want to hear lies (from the news) for the very same reason. The truthy problem with news is that there is a large demand for less-than-truthful news, and honestly I think it is because we take things too personally. We need to substitute personal news with business news, because business news is beyond boring.

-And also we ought to not take things personally, if the universe taught me anything: it is never personal, it’s just business.

K Sera’s afterthoughts:

- In defense of my “cold” view on relationships: the emotional bank account. 

- I’ll admit. I’m a cynic. I don’t believe in altruism or the existence of love without boundaries. That’s storybook nonsense. Human behaviors are all motivated by self interest. “Oh, but you’re wrong,” you say. “There are people in the world who will sacrifice everything they have for their loved ones or a cause they believe in.” 

Listen, I’m not saying love doesn’t exist and I’m not saying that people aren’t capable of great sacrifice. It does and they are. But the ultimate reasoning for engaging in relationships with others and making those sacrifices, by my reckoning, can be distilled down to self interest. Even if it isn’t immediately obvious. Give it a little more thought.

“Ah, but what about a person who pushes someone out of the way of a bus or something where there’s no real time to think about your actions? That’s altruistic," you say.

Alright, this is a good example of an iffy maybe, but I’d still say probably not. Sure, a gut level reaction to protect another doesn’t give a person much time to really consider the consequences, but ultimately this split-second decision must feel ‘right’ to them - they react according to what they want to do. They want to save that person. No thought beyond that. This isn’t selflessness, it’s single mindedness. People make choices without really thinking through all the possible outcomes all the time. 

- Wow, my scales are just itchy today.

Anyway. You keep friends by being friendly or making “emotional deposits” into your shared “relationship account”. You lose them by being an asshole and making too many “emotional withdrawals”. You can’t expect people to simply like you for no reason. There’s always a reason.

- Was there something else I wanted to say about job interviews? Hm.

Phill afterthoughts:

- Ugh, I hate listening to myself make so many terrible arguments. Also, I completely ignored K Sera’s question (sorry K Sera) for not answering the question on how "if going on constantly going through interviews can get you a better job, what is the dating equivalent to?" I wanted to answer with "being good at interviewing is a learned practice. Being good at dating is also a learned practice. If you are fortunate enough to find someone who is a really lovely match, don't blow the date by talking about how The Last Jedi the entire time." You wait for the third date for something like that

- Editor agrees with K Sera 100%

- Thank God K Sera is actually understand the concept of a podcast and will ask the “two dudes” questions. Meanwhile, Micah and I just talk over each other.

- I get confused between Values (what we try to live our lives on) and being valuable (things we can do for others).

- I envy the calculating logic of lizards.

Show Notes:

Daycare costs- NPR

In May 2021, NPR reports lowest birth level since 1979: No Baby Boom

Less people want children; Pope blames pets

Families are in distress after the first month without the expanded child tax credit- Jan 2022

K Sera’s afterthoughts:

- While I agree with Phil, that there are absolutely systematic problems that make being a parent in the US incredibly difficult, you still have to live in reality. Work with what you have and do what you need to do to try and make your family’s situation better. Do this in life! Vote in your family’s best interest! Go out to eat with your children to give them important and fun social experiences! That sometimes means retreating. Recognize that it’s okay to fail sometimes. You can try again. You can work at improving things in the future little by little.

- I have empathy for parents. I really do. Sometimes you’re stuck in a plane and the kid is experiencing some painful air pressure changes and they cry because they’re hurting and scared. That’s UNDERSTANDABLE. It’s a sucky situation and your only option is to endure it. But wouldn't you, as a loving parent, want to take your kid out of this clearly terrible experience? And if I had the money and the flight option was available, I would 100% pay more to be on a child free flight. Swear to god, though, if some 30 year-old Karen decides to have a tantrum and regresses to the maturity of a 3 year-old, I cannot be held responsible for what I may do. At least a child has the excuse of being a child!

- I don’t think I’m wrong to ask parents to parent. If your child is having a melt down, your strategy shouldn’t be to ignore them when you are in public. Sure, if your child is acting out because they are being a little shit and want attention, then ignoring them might be a reasonable strategy… but NOT at a restaurant. Or a movie theater! At home, sure. Maybe even in the toy aisle at a department store, though I’d probably still grab my child and take them home rather than let them continue to make a scene. We can get a toy another time when they are ready to behave. 

- Ultimately, I get that it’s situational and every kid is different. Sure. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask 30 or more people who are trying to enjoy their evening to “suffer in solidarity” for a choice someone else made when the parent can and should come up with a strategy for dealing with their child having a tantrum for more than 5 minutes. And you can’t convince me that “if only the government and society would help more” this situation wouldn’t happen. I’m not buying that. 

- Parenting is HARD. Parenting comes with responsibilities. You try your best to teach your kids how to be successful adults and how to behave in society. If you have a child with special needs, you still have responsibilities. And if that means removing them from a stressful situation, you DO that. I’m not expecting perfection, but a demand for empathy goes both ways. You don’t get to force other people to suffer because you are suffering. That’s a terrible way to try and improve your situation and should be a last resort kind of strategy. 

- Micah is the most annoying devil’s advocate. Putting words in my mouth AND talking over me. Ugh! I just want to be able to enjoy an evening out once in a while without a child (or man-child) throwing a fit for half of it, thanks.

Phil’s afterthoughts:

-For the record, I agree with K Sera. Parents that bring their children and do not try to raise them to be good adults is a big problem in society at large. I am no saint in this regard either, and I have empathy and compassion for the parents that are just trying to do their best to raise their children right. I can see how melt downs and temper tantrums can lessen (and perhaps ruin) the experience for others. Hell, this happened just a few days ago prior to the publishing of this episode (originally recorded in the early new year of 2021, published in 24-JAN-2022). We do try our best to limit the impact these negative events have on others, but like I said before: it is hard.

-To K Sera’s point above (on the fact that she does not find my argument compelling that the Government’s doesn’t do anything to help, and if they would actually get off their arse to help us these would improve the situation), I know that personally it would help me and the parents of families that I interact with on a daily basis. Relieving the stress and burden of navigating this chaotic world while raising kids, even a little bit, would certainly help the situation of having a stable family and a more supportive way of having a strong routine (which children crave). I agree with K Sera (again) that it wouldn’t solve the issue every time it pops up, but I will assert my claim that it would definitely be a step in the right direction.

-I always wanted to have the American Dream ™ when I was young. Funnily enough I didn’t know what that was back then, and I sure as hell don’t know what that is now. As I get older, I succumb to the fact that the American Dream is just a fuzzy feeling. I am sure it was actually something very real and concrete back in the day, but as the middle-class prosperity waned the dream unfortunately devolved to un-measureable emotions and platitudes. Still, having a family and children was part of my nebulous dream and I once again prove that I am one of those lucky jerks that keep getting unjust windfalls in life. So please heed my words: for those that are child-free by choice, please understand that while we (the parents) may envy many parts of your lives, very few things can replace my sense of joy when my children run around the house trying to take my socks off my while making “mmeeeehhhh!” noises as they pretend to be hungry goats. So while we complain about meltdowns and temper tantrums, what makes us smile is either too personal to explain or too intellectually obvious to explain. Thus, I would like to apologize on the behalf of all parents that have had children meltdown in front of others. You only get to experience an impact of the worse parts without the benefits of the best parts. Of course, I have no idea what will happen when they get older and become teenagers. This frightens me.

Micah talks about movies. K Sera talks about books. Phil talks about movies based from a book.

Shownotes:

The Critical Drinker does a much better job than us.

Fandango bought out Rotten Tomatoes in 2016, which explains why Phil thinks it sucks

K Sera’s after thoughts:

- If this episode makes it to air, I can only apologize. Sorry for the audio issues!

- Boring topic in my opinion. Movies and award shows have never been all that interesting to me. If I had my way, this episode would be hurled into mount doom or something, never to see the light of day.

Phil’s after thoughts:

- I love how passionate that the two humans are, and how anti-passionate one lizard is.

- Also, I am not that passionate either! As a married man with children, I rarely have time to watch movies in a theater, and this was before the “new normal” environment we live in today.

-But that being said, I wish to have a home theater in the basement (the dream of every middle age suburban princess/dad)

- I’m also really happy that I don’t have too many rants in this episode. Thank god for that