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Why do some people lose their memories?  When you lose your memory, what is it that you’re losing?   Joe and Mark discuss the umbrella of neurocognitive disorders known familiarly as dementia, as well as the way memory works and why we forget.  Will you remember reading this blurb? ( (Recorded February 12, 2021.)

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The recent federal antitrust lawsuits against Facebook and Google mark a rare area of agreement in our polarized political culture.  Seemingly everybody wants to do something about Big Tech, though for very different reasons.  But should these companies be broken up?  Mark and Joe take quick tour through the history of antitrust and examine the pros and cons of breaking up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. (Recorded Jan. 31, 2021.)

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Without inhaling, Joe and Mark catch a whiff of the best arguments for and against legalizing drugs.  Includes a brief history of drug use in the USA, a chronicle of the ill-advised "War on Drugs," and how the topic of legalization lends itself to strange political bedfellows. (Recorded Jan. 15, 2021.)

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Mark and Joe slide into Major League Baseball’s surprising decision to integrate the Negro Leagues with the major leagues.  Is it even feasible to combine the statistical records of different leagues playing at different times under different conditions, and might baseball’s gesture inadvertently diminish the ballplayers of color that it was meant to honor? (Recorded Jan. 1, 2021.)

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Why is Christmas such a big deal, and how did it become so important?  Joe and Mark trace the history of a religious holiday’s roots in ancient European winter solstice festivals, and its long and winding road to becoming the cultural juggernaut it is today. (Recorded Dec. 18, 2020.)

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Mark and Joe review the newest political catchphrase to polarize America, examining its origins, the longstanding debate among advocates of abolishment versus reform, and a careful redirection of police resources might look like, before concluding with their proposals for a better slogan.  (Recorded December 5, 2020)

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Joe and Mark ponder “the Hispanic vote,” its influence on the 2020 presidential election, and the sneaking possibility that it’s not the monolith many Democrats assume. (Hint: it’s not. Taping date: November 20, 2020.)

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The demise of movie theaters has been predicted for decades, but COVID-19 might be the thing that finally does them in.  Mark and Joe examine the history of the cinema-industrial complex, its prospects for survival, and what “going to the movies” might look like a generation from now. (Taping date: November 6, 2020.)

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Joe and Mark explore the origins of the electoral college, why it made sense at our nation’s founding, and whether there are any good reasons for retaining it today. (Recorded October 23, 2020.)

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Mark and Joe place Kanye West’s strange presidential campaign in the context of recent third-party candidacies and examine whether it’s likely to play a spoiler role in the race between Trump and Biden. (Recorded October 9, 2020)