Category: Uncategorized

Companies pretend to care to distract us from their misdeeds

P&C drink and review Pilsner Urquell, then discuss how businesses are using wokeness as a smokescreen to pretend to be virtuous.

The boys discuss what “woke” means, then review some of the work of Vivek Ramaswami.

Corporate wokeness is all a magic trick. They keep our eyes on woke BS to keep our attention away from their misdeeds. “Never mind that we use Chinese slave labor. Look at the rainbow flag on our LinkedIn profile!”

Wokeness has become a substitute for religion and traditional morality for many companies. It’s filling a gap created by the secularization of society.

Does this ancient Chinese text have any relevance today?

P&C drink and review Pigweed’s latest IPA, then discuss Sun Tzu’s classic.

It’s an ancient book that might date back to the 6th century BC. It came out of a time when Chinese intellectuals were classifying and organizing things — including warfare.

While it’s explicitly about war, it’s often re-interpreted and re-applied as a general commentary on strategic thinking.

The Art of War is relevant to things in the news right now, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Are we living in a simulation? What does that have to do with God?

The boys drink and review another Pastryarchy offering from DuClaw, Irish Cream Dessert Stout, then wonder whether we’re living in a simulation, and whether it matters.

From Descartes’s skepticism to Nick Bostrom’s famous paper, P&C review some of the top arguments for why our world might not be what we think it is.

If simulated humans can have first-person experience, we are almost certainly in a simulation. Or are we? There are interesting arguments both ways.

Then the boys discuss how the simulation question relates to the God question. Does the possibility that we are in a simulated universe shed any light on God’s existence?

Is this a good heuristic for questions about God’s existence? That is, if you ask such and so question about God in the real world, how does that compare to an analogous question in a simulated world?

If the alarmists are right and we have to act, what should we do?

The boys drink and review Still Holidazed and Confused from Hysteria Brewing, then discuss how to save the planet.

P&C decide to buy in to climate alarmism (for purposes of the show) and discuss what we’d have to do to save the planet. What would have to change? If radical change is necessary, what would it look like?

Most of the normal suggestions are simply window dressing — polishing the brass on a sinking ship.

If you really wanted to make a significant change, P&C give you some ideas.

Food science is notoriously unreliable, and food fads are even worse

The boys drink and review a “lazy beer,” then discuss food fads.

Is it better to “eat local”? Are farmed fish less healthy than wild caught? Are “free range” chickens happier and healthier than others?

Unfortunately, many of these things are so imprecisely defined that they’re meaningless.

Pigweed and Crowhill both agree with many of the goals of the people who promote some of these food fads, but when you look into them, they tend to fall apart under scrutiny.

The decline of masculinity and family formation is a bad thing for society

P&C drink and review a homebrewed red ale, then discuss families.

Men are not as manly as they used to be. Testosterone has been dropping at 1% per year for decades. Men are withering away. At the same time, they have easy access to porn, and masculinity is regularly dissed.

The result is that men are less interested in women and families.

Families model future relationships, they provide a sense of security, they sacrifice for and nurture children, they civilize men. Getting married causes both men and women to grow up, and it affects their vision of the future in a positive way.

Society needs rules to rein in the behavior of men. It was chivalry for knights. What is it today?

P&C drink and review Pigweed’s Texas Brown Ale, then discuss the history and modern application of chivalry.

The word comes from “horsemanship,” and originally applied to knights.

Society needs hard men who are willing to fight, but they also need these men to be decent and courteous off the battlefield. Medieval Europeans developed expectations for knightly conduct, and this turned into a code.

Some knights were almost like fighting monks, and formed religious orders that regulated their conduct in war and in peace. Chivalry also regulated courtly love.

How does this apply to a modern man? P&C list several ways men should be expected to behave in modern society.

Is it real, or a lot of coached play acting?

P&C drink and review one of Crowhill’s recent homebrews, then discuss multiple personality syndrome, or, the way it’s known these days, dissociative identity disorder (DID).

The boys review some popular treatments of the subject, including The Three Faces of Eve, Sybil, the Billy Milligan story, and Split.

Is DID real, or are people being coached (even hypnotized or drugged) into a diagnosis by their therapists? P&C have their doubts.

Cases of DID always increase after a popular movie or book covers the subject. Today, there’s a whole community of DID sufferers on TikTok.

We have prolonged adolescence and forgetten to expect people to grow up.

The boys sip and review 1623 Brewing’s Lil Sips Scottish Imperial Stout, then wonder why our society has lost the idea that people should grow up.

Educated grown-ups are claiming that words are violence. That’s the way a child views the world.

Our culture has become so infantilized that we think we should “listen to the children.”

The popularity of superhero movies are an example of this attempt to freeze life in a perpetual adolescence.

P&C review a list of areas in which society seems to refuse to grown up. We’ve come to accept arrested emotional development.

Russia and China are laughing.

Does everything need to be a diagnosis? Do we all need therapy?

P&C drink and review Mosaic Single Hop Hazy IPA from Sweetwater, then discuss therapy culture.

Are we addicted to therapy? Have we redefined ourselves around our emotions? Are we all vulnerable, broken, “at risk,” scarred for life?

There’s been an erosion of the boundary between the private and the public. Now we have TV shows where people disclose their personal issues. There’s nothing more virtuous today than seeking treatment.

We’ve demonized silence, stoicism and a stiff upper lip. Do healthy people really have to talk about themselves? Publicly?

JWST will usher in a new age in space exploration

The boys drink and review a sake, then discuss the James Webb Space Telescope.

This magnificent feat of engineering launched on Christmas Day, 2021, and recently deployed flawlessly at Lagrange Point 2. From there it will scan the heavens on the infrared part of the spectrum and send back astonishing pictures.

P&C review the history of the development of this marvel, discuss all the things that had to go right for it to be a success, and wonder about what humanity might learn from this new look into the cosmic past.

Pigweed and Crowhill review how and why they started the podcast, and the innovations and interesting things they’ve brought to “Beer and Conversation” over the years, including skits, Five for Five, Shortcut to the Classics, Nooze and Booze, pretend events that never happened, and reviews of books that don’t exist. They’ve also covered a wide range of topics, including economics, religion, science, culture, politics, entertainment (movies, books, tv), tech, history, logic, grammar, cryptocurrency, science fiction, and a lot more.

The sad story of a man caught between duty, desire, and reality

Along with special guest Longinus, P&C review a winter warmer from Flying Dog, then discuss Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome.

This is a depressing story of a man who is stuck. He’s stuck with a wife he doesn’t love. Stuck in a city he doesn’t particularly like. Stuck in a profession he didn’t choose.

When a spark comes into his life in the person of his wife’s cousin, Maddie, he starts to dream of a better future. But it doesn’t work out.

The story is set in a fictional, very cold town. Wear your wool socks when you read this one.

As a follow-up to our visit to an Evangelical church, we try the other end of the spectrum.

After reviewing Southern Tier’s Irish Cream Stout, P&C discuss their experiences at Mount Calvary church in Baltimore.

With special guest Longinus, the boys review the history of the church, its Anglo-Catholic background, and its recent decision to come into communion with Rome.

They discuss their observations about the building itself, the music, the liturgy, the homily and the participants. There were smells, bells, vestments — the whole deal. And it was a very long mass!

The overall experience was quite interesting.

Does the U.S. spend too much on its military?

P&C drink and review Victory’s Storm King, then Pigweed quizzes Crowhill on military statistics. Who spends the most? Who has the biggest military? Who has the most global firepower?

After reviewing some stats, the boys discuss the politics of it all. Why is the U.S. military all over the world, protecting everyone else? Does NATO pay its fair share? Should we be protecting other countries, or should they shoulder their own burden?