Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

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479: What's the point of the university? Have they become subversities? Jan 14, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Lucky 7 Porter from Evo, then discuss the purpose and role of universities.

Why do we have so many majors in university? Why not have a basic education, then specialize at the masters and doctorate level?

Early on, universities were "finishing schools for nobility." They taught how to think critically, how to communicate, how to be a cultured person, and how to fit in with the rest of European society.

There is a cultural good to having an educated population, which is why we provide publicly funded education.

Many of the universities were originally founded to train preachers and pious, civic-minded people. They've changed their emphasis over time. They still want to train people to be good citizens, but they've lost the concept of virtue and a common culture with common values. Often the universties are a hotbed of hostility towards our culture. They've become "subversities."

There used to be a common understanding of "the good." There isn't anymore.

The boys then discuss the recent changes, where students are protected from ideas that might make them uncomfortable. They're given "trigger warnings" and cry rooms.

We're note producing free thinking, emotionally mature grown-ups who can go out into the world.

Jon Haidt recommends that universities focus on "anti-fragility," which requires stress and pressure.

478: The Trump effect takes over America and the world Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink a well-aged bourbon barrel stout from Goose Island to celebrate the general effect Trump is already having on the culture.

In recent news, Mark Zuckerberg announced a big change in the way Meta will monitor and censor content. It's a huge step in the right direction.

The Trump effect goes further. Before even taking office, Trump is pushing things in the right direction, including ...

His approval rating is higher than it's ever been.

Tucker Carlson gave a great speech about how the spell has been broken. The left used to tell us that all polite, right-thinking people thought a certain way. Now we know that's not true.

We see more foreign investments in the U.S.

- Softbank Grop has pledged to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects. (Trump asked for $200 billion on live TV.)

- DAMAC Properties plans to invest at least $20 billion in U.S. data centers

- Adani Group plans to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and infrastructure.

Steve Madden announced that they're slowing manufacturing in China and moving it to the U.S.

Putin says he's ready to work for a peaceful solution in Ukraine.

Many companies are reversing course on DEI, ESG, etc.

NATO members have pledged to up their commitments.

The so-called "mainstream media" is falling apart. MSNBC is up for sale. CNN has announced more hard news and less opinion. The Wash Post has promised to moderate their message.

Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah seem to be toning things down a little.

China is toning down rhetoric about Taiwan.

Some migrant caravans are turning back, and Mexico is showing signs of helping.

Trudeau is gone in Canada.

Trump is already winning even before taking office.

477: What's the difference between domestication and GMO? Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review a "special lager," then discuss the domestication of plants and animals, and how that differs from genetically modified food.

Dogs were domesticated about 18,000 years ago. Plants were domesticated about 10,000 years ago. Goats, sheep, and chickens might have been domesticated about 8,000 years ago. The farm animals we have today are very different from the original stock they were taken from.

Domestication raises some interesting questions, like what characteristics make an animal domesticatable? E.g., why do we have domestic horses but not domestic zebras?

It's not just animals. Most of the food we eat has been modified from its wild origin. The apples, carrots, corn and such that we eat are very different from the wild plants they came from. The same applies on the animal side to sheep, cows, pigs, goats, and such.

If these plants and animals were modified from their "natural" state, why is this different from genetically modified organisms?

The boys discuss domestication and how it has affected human history.

476: Why can't we marry our cousins? Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review a light dopplebock from Schlaffly then discuss the cultural relevance of cousin marriage.

The England parliament has recently started debating whether to prohibit cousin marriage, which P&C thought was already against the law. Apparently not -- not in England, and not in all the states.

The increase in Muslims in England has made this a big issue. In Pakistan, up to 60 percent of marriages are to first cousins.

In England, while British Pakistanis accounted for 3.4 percent of all births, they had 30 percent of all children with recessive disorders. It's become a public health issue, but it's also a "sensitive issue."

The larger issue with cousin marriages is the difference between clan-based societies -- where affiliations are based on family relations -- and western societies -- where affiliations are based on other factors.

Banning cousin marriages in the west created high-trust societies that were not based on family relationships. By contrast, many dysfunctional countries are dysfunctional precisely because they only trust people in their families.

Having said all that, there's been a lot of cousin (and even sibling) marriage among the political elite. What's up with that?

The boys discuss the implications of these connections and how they affect societal customs.

475: Historical juxtapositions and amusing coincidences from history. Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review a piney IPA, then discuss strange juxtapositions in history.

Did you know ...

* George Washington didn't know about dinosaurs.

* Sharks are older than trees.

* The 10th president of the U.S. has a grandson who is alive today.

* Woolly mammoths were still alive while the Egyptians were building the pyramids.

* The Oregon Trail was first used the same year the fax machine was invented.

* The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire.

* The guillotine was still France's official method of execution when Star Wars debuted.

* The Roman Empire fell only 40 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas.

* The Great Pyramid was older to the Romans than the Romans are to us.

And more ...

Join us for this fun review of strange coincidences and connections in history.

474: Population decline? Is that the new threat to humanity? Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review an English Mild from Schaffly, then discuss different approaches to population.

Pigweed starts the show with the startling facts about population and how rapidly we got from 1 billion to 8 billion so quickly -- with no apparent signs of stopping.

Malthus raised the concern that population can increase geometrically, but food production increases arithmetically, and predicted widespread starvation.

In fact, food production skyrocketed, so the problem has been averted for now.

Paul Erlich has been riding a similar issue for decades even though all his predictions turned out false as well. We didn't poison everything, the air is cleaner, and there has not been widespread disease and famine.

The reality is more complicated. Population growth is not only slowing, but in many areas it's negative. The most recent trends indicate that population will level off in about 2050.

Even if population only levels off, that still creates problems. The ratio between young and old would change dramatically, and the geniuses who invented our social support systems assumed an ever-growing population, where young people outnumbered old people.

However, population might not only level off, but may decline. Rapidly.

We have no economic or social models for that.

Who welcomes this decline and who is worried about it? What are their motives?

473: Christmas origins, history, and traditions: Is Christmas pagan? Dec 17, 2024

Show notes

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Naked Elf by Troegs (a version of their seasonal Mad Elf), then discuss the history of all the funny traditions that make up our modern Christmas.

Was Jesus really born in a manger on the 25th of December? And speaking of dates, why do the Orthodox celebrate Christmas on a different day?

What did Saturnalia, the winter solstice, and Yule contribute to our Christmas traditions?

How did St. Nicholas get associated with Christmas?

Where did we get tree decorating, mistletoe, Yule logs, gift-giving men in fur cloaks, strange animals pulling sleighs, and the general festivity of the season?

Why are "scary ghost stories" associated with Christmas? And how did Thor's goat get thrown into the mix?

Why did Oliver Cromwell and the early Americans have such a problem with Christmas?

Is Santa Claus really St. Nick, or is he the pagan Father Frost, or maybe Odin?

The boys discuss these and other fun stories about the origin of our modern Christmas celebration.

472: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens -- review and comment Dec 13, 2024

Show notes

To help you get in the holiday spirit, here's the latest edition of P&C's "shortcut to the classics." The expanded crew drinks and reviews Sam Adams' Old Fezziwig ale and discusses the Charles Dickens classic.

Special guest Longinus starts the show with a brief bio of Dickens and provides some historical context to the story.

The boys discuss how the book differs from the various movie versions (not much), and provide background on some of the more striking and interesting details.

There are also 19th century concepts and terms we're not used to today, like the treadmill for the poor, negus and smoking bishop (which were types of punch), and forfeits, a party game.

There are other little things that might have hidden meaning, like Scrooge's first name. Why "Ebenezer"?

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