Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

Latest Episodes:

529: Is Catholicism making a comeback? Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Calaminator, Crowhill's homebrewed dopplebock, then discuss the surprising comeback of Catholicism.

What is a "rad trad"? Why are young people -- particularly young men -- increasingly attracted to conservative Catholicism?

"How Catholicism Got Cool" by Madeleine Kearns addresses this question. Reasons include ...

* Transcendence and mystery

* Giving meaning to suffering

* Beauty, aesthetics, and the sacred

* Structure, discipline, and tough moral teaching

* Male identity and brotherhood

* Intimacy with God

* Rejection of the shallow alternatives

* Cultural credibility and intellectual depth

Is this a good thing for the culture? The boys discuss.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#Christianity #Catholicism #radtrad #revival #traditionalism #transcendence

528: Why beta males are a danger to society Jul 05, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review Pigweed's home-brewed pale ale, then discuss the societal danger of the so-called beta male.

They react to a review by Dr. Orion Taraban of a Survivor episode that discusses the complex interactions between alpha males, beta males, and clever women. According to Dr. Taraban, the women made an alliance with the beta males to kick out the alpha males, but then the women turned on the beta males and kicked them out.

How does this dynamic play out in society? Where does "toxic masculinity" fit in? The boys discuss.

But what is this alpha / beta stuff? Pigweed reviews some of the characteristics.

Crowhill tries to tie it together with a higher-level theory that doesn't distinguish by sex -- teasing out the roles of strong leaders, weak leaders, and behind-the-scenes manipulators.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#toxicmasculinity #survivor #betamales #alphamales

527: The fisherman and his wife and The two brothers: Two Grimm fairy tales Jul 03, 2025

Show notes

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review an IPA from the Ministry of Brewing in Baltimore, then discuss some fairy tales.

The two stories reviewed in today's episode ended up as #4 and #3 in a recent contest between Grimm's fairy tales.

Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus review the stories and evaluate the imagery and messages they contain.

The fisherman and his wife is a tale of avarice and a lack of contentment.

The two brothers is a confusing story that seems to stitch together several different stories into a mad tapestry. It's long and fun and very strange.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#fairytales #Grimmfairytales #stories #BrothersGrimm

526: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

With special guest Longinus, the boys review a shandy from Founders, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" -- a haunting 1886 novella that ripped the mask off Victorian respectability and exposed the brutal split within human nature.

Set in the same foggy, gaslit London as Sherlock Holmes, this story of duality, repression, and moral despair hit like a thunderclap on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s more than just a gothic thriller — it’s a mirror held up to human nature and society itself.

We explore:

* The origins of the story and why Stevenson rewrote it from scratch after his wife’s critique

* The moral message: man is not one but two — and there may be no salvation for either

* The symbolism of Jekyll’s divided house, the hidden back door, and the cultured facade over inner rot

* The novella’s critique of Victorian England, where public virtue masks private vice

* Interpretive lenses: from Romans 7 and Christian theology to Jung’s shadow, Freud’s psychoanalysis, and even Star Trek

* Why Hyde isn’t some external monster, but a part of you — and why that makes the story more disturbing

* The tragedy of Jekyll: not that he loses control, but that he wants to

We also ask whether Stevenson’s bleak vision of human nature holds up — and contrast it with the biblical vision of a unified, redeemable self.

If you've ever wrestled with the dark side of human nature — or just want to understand why this little book still packs a punch — this episode is for you.

525: CIA Mind Control & Psychic Warfare: The Secret Programs That Never Really Ended Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Ballast Point Sculpin IPA then discuss CIA brainwashing.

From LSD-laced cocktails in CIA-run brothels to secret psychic spy units trying to read Soviet minds, this episode dives into some of the U.S. government's most bizarre and controversial experiments.

We expose the dark legacy of MK-Ultra, including mind control, psychological torture, and illegal human experimentation. Then we explore the Stargate Project and other military efforts to weaponize psychic abilities, including remote viewing, telepathy, and even psychic assassination.

What motivated these programs? Did they really end? And are similar experiments happening today under different names?

This isn't conspiracy theory. These are declassified facts, and they're more disturbing than fiction.

MK-Ultra: LSD, Torture & Mind Control
Operation Midnight Climax
Remote Viewing & Psychic Spies
Cold War Paranoia and Soviet Psychic Tech
Why These Programs Might Still Exist
Neural Interfaces, AI Psy-Ops, and the New Frontier

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#CIA #mindcontrol #MKUltra #LSD

524: The Iran-Israel war -- Nooze and Booze with P&C Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink Pigweed's crazy "Iron Dome" cocktail, then continue their "nooze and booze" series with a discussion of the Israel-Iran war.

Israel and Iran have been adversaries for decades. Iran loudly insists it wants to destroy Israel. They also insist they will develop a nuclear bomb. Israel calls that an "existential threat" to their regime and will not allow Iran to get the bomb.

Iran has been getting closer and closer to having a nuke, so Israel preemptively attacked Iran to shut down their nuclear program.

President Trump has insisted for decades that Iran can't have a nuke. So ... will the United States get involved?

The boys discuss the war to date and what might happen next.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#Israel #Iran #nukes #war

523: Bring your "authentic self" to work? Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Lost Navigator from Heavy Seas, then discuss the idea of bringing your authentic self to work.

There are benefits to having different views and perspectives in the workplace -- both for the employer and for the employee.

But some people think the job of the workplace is to make them feel good. To feel affirmed and comfortable. That's nonsense.

And sometimes your "authentic self" is not consistent with the company's brand or mission. What if you're an introvert and the company wants extroverts?

"Don't be a phony and don't lie" seem like reasonable rules, but this "authentic self" business is taking it too far.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#authenticself #workplace #beerreviews

522: Was there anything before the Big Bang? Jun 13, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review Shiner's Ruby Redbird, then discuss the big bang and what (if anything) came before.

While most scientists believe in a hot big bang, there is a lot of dispute about what happened right before that. The most well-known theory is the "singularity," and there is no "before" in that scenaio. But there are a lot of other options that scientists have considered.

The boys review some of these other options and their implications.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#bigbang #physics #origins #creation

521: How will AI affect education? Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review a robust porter from Founders, then discuss how artificial intelligence will change education -- for good and ill.

Crowhill wonders why we don't yet have the self-paced education that his mother promised way back in the 70s? AI could do that, but it would be a major challenge to the current institution and would almost certainly be opposed.

AI disrupts the current system in many ways. For example, the teacher can't tell if the student or AI did the homework. The teacher can't tell if the student wrote the paper.

AI might move us toward in-person assessments, a system that looks at the whole process (drafts, revisions) and not just the final product, or requiring students to explain what they've done.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#AIeducation #education

520: Are car kill switches a step too far? Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Vixen Irish Style Red Ale by Old Bust Head, then discuss a provision from the infrastructure bill that was designed to prevent drunk driving.

The mandate is that all cars after 2026 would have a system to monitor the driver to ensure he's not drunk, in which case it will shut down the car. This system would monitor the face of the driver and all conversations in the car.

Who came up with this, and why isn't there more conversation about it?

This law gives the government a back-door switch to decide who can and who can't drive. The justification is to stop drunk driving, but of course it will be expanded beyond that.

P&C discuss all the ways this could go wrong and how the government and other bad actors could use this in devious and dangerous ways.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#killswitch #drunkdriving #infrastructurebill