Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

Is the planet over populated? Paul Ehrlich, who took Malthus' ideas and ran with them, made a lot of scary predictions. Earth Day 1970 saw an increase in the worries about the future, and almost none of them have come to pass. These end of the world predictions have failed fantastically. Why? And why do people keep falling for them? Now we have academics saying cannibalism might be the answer. Where do we get these nuts? And what's the real solution to over population?

The boys review Conquest Road Double IPA from Big Oyster Brewery, in Lewes Delaware, then discuss obesity and fat shaming. One in five American deaths is associated with obesity. Doesn't that justify an effort to curb obesity? Shouldn't part of that be encouraging people to lose weight. Isn't there some cultural value to shame? And if not shame, then what? What's the social alternative to shaming to regulate behavior?

1. Jefferey Epstein, the most horrible person on the planet, has exposed the hypocrisy of the left. 2. Association bans hotel interviews to protect women. But ... what's the deal? And how does this relate to the Pence rule? 3. Sour beers. What's the deal? Who wants to drink a sour beer? 4. Pigweed hates the Hare Krishnas. 5. On motorcycle trips, Pigweed and his brother stay off the interstates. They used to use maps, but now they use Google maps. It makes for a very different experience.

Crowhill says the anti-sex attitude of his youth seems to have won. Kids today aren't having much sex. Why is that? But before they delve into that, the boys drink and review "Ten Years in One Day," a triple IPA from Jailbreak Brewing. What's going on with kids and sex these days? Despite the culture's saturation in sex, it doesn't seem to be catching. The boys discuss this from several angles.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to know if the strangers you meet in the course of your day are trustworthy or not? The Chinese government recently enacted a "social credit" system that scores all their people according to how they behave. They get demerits for some actions and credits for others. We'd like to think we're above such invasive programs, but we have the same things -- they're just run by Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

Some people say our ancestors were better off when they were hunter-gatherers. So what made them settle down? The answer might be ... beer.  Settling down came with a lot of down sides. Plagues. Waste. Poor nutrition. Why did they go for that? Maybe it was beer! Maybe humans took up agriculture so they could have the infrastructure necessary to grow barley and ferment large quantities of beer. This is a genuine theory from professional anthropologists!

The boys talk about alleged "harmful stereotypes." Stereotypes help you frame things. They help you organize your thoughts. They're 100% vital to any kind of thought. But the U.K. has decided to ban advertising with "harmful stereotypes." Okay. What defines "harmful"? Also ... the language actually says "likely to cause offense," which is not "harmful." What's the deal?  A couple ads have been struck down under this new law. Pigweed and Crowhill evaluate.

The boys talk about Thorium power, but before they get into that, they try "Sour Me," a peach sherbet, sour beer from DuClaw.  A few years ago, everybody was all excited about Thorium energy. It's abundant, safe, you can't make bombs out of it. So what's the problem? Why aren't we investing in Thorium power?  The boys discuss nuclear energy in general, Thorium power, and why this is a better path than solar or "renewable" energies. 

People often think they're making something better, but sometimes the proposed cure is worse than the problem it's trying to solve.  There are lots of problems in the world, and it's tempting to try to fix them. But sometimes the fix only makes things worse.  They discuss ...  * wealth inequality  * bad parenting  * mass shootings * redistricting  * fighting recessions  * contraband cigarettes, and more. 

It's true that the U.S. has more people in prison than most other nations. So ... what's going on?  Before they jump into that, the boys have to wet the brain membrane with Old Engine Oil -- a dark ale from Scotland.  So why do we have so many people in prison? Is it, as we're told by the political classes, because of racism, or because we're locking up non-violent drug offenders?  You won't be surprised to learn the politicians are lying. But the truth is hard to parse out of the statistics. 

It's summer time, and that means movie blockbusters. But many of them are repeats of previous shows, or movie versions of shows from the 70s and 80s. What's going on here? Has Hollywood lost its creativity?  Pigweed and Crowhill review the movie landscape and discuss the demise of Hollywood while they drink and discuss Pigweed's Colonial Ale. 

If we were to start from scratch, based on what we know of human nature from science, how would we design human sexual ethics? Would men and women still marry? At what age? What would the rules look like regarding sexual faithfulness? Would the same rules apply to men and women?  The boys tackle all this in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion. If you're offended by their suggestions, be sure to wait until the end! 

The boys say one nice thing about each of the Democratic candidates for president, after lubricating the mind mushroom with some "Regular Beer" from DuClaw.  In this episode they discuss ...  Inslee Klobuchar Messam Moulton O'Rourke Ryan Sanders Sestak Warren Williamson Yang

The boys try their best to say something positive about all the Democratic candidates for president. To make that possible, they have to lubricate the brain tissues with Swishy Socks, an IPA from Burley Oak Brewing Company.  In this episode they comment on ...  Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Corey Booker, Steve Bullock, Pete Buttigieg, Bill de Blasio, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mike Gravel, Kamala Harris and John Hickenlooper. 

Can atheists pray? Why would they?  Crowhill takes a stab at the straw men definitions some atheists use about faith, e.g., "faith is believing against evidence." Which is nonsense. The boys also take a stab at Jordan Peterson's somewhat lame attempt to avoid the question of whether he not he believes in God. Then they get into some actual examples of self-professed atheists who claim to pray, and they try to explain why that might make sense.