The Weekly Eudemon

Latest Episodes:

Episode 29: California Apr 06, 2019

Show notes

LA, Santa Monica, Malibu, Ventura, San Simeon, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Soledad, Altadena, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Anaheim: The entire podcast episode is dedicated to California. Well, the entire podcast, minus a few detours.

Episode 28: Thanks a Thousand, Boris at the Grocery Store, The Freakin' Poor, Dogs Mar 30, 2019

Show notes

Thanks a Thousand: A.J. Jacob's’ new book about tracking down the people who make his cup of morning coffee.

Boris at the Grocery Store: A Houston grocery store blew Boris Yeltsin away. I can relate.

Lightning Segments: New drinking terms, starting mindfulness now, draining interactions.

The Freakin’ Poor: Why do we treat the poor like they have no moral agency?

Dogs: Strict liability for dog owners? I think so, even though I know it’s a quixotic crusade.

Episode 27: Postmodernism and a Soviet Philosopher, Postmodernism and Brahman, Stylites Mar 23, 2019

Show notes

Postmodernism: That’s a pretty big umbrella of thought. Please excuse my broad—sloppy—use of the term.

Standpoint Epistemology: You know why whites can’t think like blacks, and men like women, or cis like queers? Because a Soviet philosopher told them it’s so.

Act = Brahman: Think hard about the verb “act.” It might be a word that Derrida himself couldn’t deconstruct. I’m not sure it’s defined by reference to something else. It might stand on its own, like the Hindu/Buddhist Brahman. I flush it out here.

Praxeology: That Brahman stuff is my attempt to slip some von Misesian thought into the postmoderns.

Lightning Segments: Mindfulness, drinking cities, essential oils, more.

The Stylites: Living on pillars in the late Roman Empire.

Music attribution

Theme song: Skinnin’ Lynyrd by Greg Scheske, a bespoke expert. Email him here: eidolonaudio@gmail.com

Background music for Lightning Segments is courtesy of Audionautix.

Episode 26: Artificial Intelligence, Famine, Tyranny, Bill Burr, Cool Dudes Mar 16, 2019

Show notes

Artificial Intelligence: What it is. How it is a threat . . . or how it might be a threat.

Famine and Tyranny: Courtesy of the State. Free markets merely avoid them.

Lightning Segments: Bill Burr, Going for the Snatch, Other

Cool Dudes: Cool dudes in high school stay cool, I think.

Episode 25: Zen Lent, Tariffs, Adult Video News Awards Mar 09, 2019

Show notes

Drinking and Lent: Why would I give up booze for Lent? It’s practically a sacramental.

Zen Lent: Do you hope to make spiritual progress during Lent? Then you won’t. Your focus is wrong because you have a focus.

Tariffs: They’re a bad thing. It’s Econ 101. I explain why here.

Lightning Segments: Two funny stories, Bill Burr and the Catholic Church, Joe Rogen and the Catholic Church

David Foster Wallace: My introduction to this brilliant essayist

Episode 24: Miami, the Historical Buildup to A'Kempis, and Miami Beach Mar 02, 2019

Show notes

The Imitation of Christ. What do I think of his classic? It’s a, you know, classic. I think it hits the psychology of devotion well . . . at least as far as 15th century standards go. It was, however, the product of 200 years of bad philosophy known as “nominalism.” I flush it out here.

Miami. I went to the Capitol of Latin America for a bachelor party. I was blown away. The bulk of the podcast explains why.

Episode 23: Dumplin', Defecating in Public, Seinfeld and Entertainment in the Abyss Feb 23, 2019

Show notes

Dumplin’. Wow, leftwing political tripe dressed up as a movie. This movie from Netflix is shameless with its political agenda.

Denver and the Bowel. Denver has decriminalized crapping in public. The mind boggles.

Wicked Me. Some people’s generosity with their time floors me. I can’t say I’m impressed because the way they’re spending it seems so banal, but maybe I ought to be impressed. It’s time spent for others. I puzzle it out in this segment.

Lightning Segments. Another good gin and tonic recipe, Hayek praising Belloc, changing the name of unfortunate circumstances . . . and changing the name of minority groups . . . an insult?

Steve Martin and Seinfeld. Comedy seemed to take a pretty wild turn with the advent of Steve Martin. Did screens affect our comedic tastes? i think so. I flush it out here.

Episode 22: History of the Old Testament in 8 Minutes, Gin and Tonics, Three Ho-Hum Derrida Conclusions Feb 16, 2019

Show notes

The Old Testament. I summarize the OT in about eight minutes. The segment is closer to 11, but I throw in a couple of decidedly un-OT anecdotes.

Words. A short look at a few unusual words.

Lightning Segments. The ideal gin and tonic, The Adventures of Beer Man, Ira Gershwin, More.

Radical Derrida? I know Derrida was radical, but I’m not sure three of his main conclusions—words don’t carry ultimate meaning, no text outside the text, and condemnation of binaries—are all that startling. I explain why, pulling from my personal experience, the Warren Court, and Lao Tzu.

Episode 21: Sex in the Stall, Deconstructionism on Display, Gay Gnostics, Joseph Epstein Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

Sex in the Stall. A couple allegedly has sex in the bathroom stall at a NFL games. That’s unbelievably gross. Deconstructionism is partly to blame. The fact that these people are absolute pigs doesn’t help, but deconstructionism feeds them. I explain how.

Communist Gnosticism. Marx, Lenin, and hatred for religion = shuttering of Greek Orthodox Churches in the early USSR. Homosexuality, deconstructionism, and hatred for truth = shuttering of Roman Catholic Churches in contemporary USA?

Deconstructionism. Summarized succinctly. Words carry no meaning. Therefore, anything anybody purports to know is merely what they derive from individual experience: subjectivism. No truth . . . only “truth claims.”

Lightning Segments. Hip and renegades: shaping American culture. More McLuhan.

What TWE is Trying to Do. It started as “messages to my adult children,” but quickly grew. What am I trying to do? Nothing more nor less than imitating the essays of Joseph Epstein and honoring Samuel Johnson’s axion: The only end of writing is to allow the reader to better enjoy life.

Episode 20: Fulton Sheen, Modernity as Gnosticism, an Apologia Feb 02, 2019

Show notes

Fulton Sheen. Bishop, Emmy award winner, adviser to the rich and famous, and making serious inroads to canonization thanks to a stunning 2010 miracle (well, they’re all stunning, but this one particularly so). And then there’s his namesake, Charlie Sheen.

Modernity: Modernity is Gnosticism. John Locke and Materialism, Newton and Empiricism, Mill and Utilitarianism, the politics of Progressivism.

Lightning Segments: Martin Sheen and Dorothy Day and Dostoyevsky; Lesbian remark apologia, using Pineapple Express; E. Michael Jones.

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