Beer And Conversation With Pigweed And Crowhill

The boys drink and review Mad Elf, a strong holiday ale, then discuss the idea that college kids are getting dumber. Is that true? We've gone from a time when high schools taught Greek and Latin to a time when colleges teach remedial math. Comedians love to poke fun at the stupidity of our college students with "man on the street" interviews, where college kids can't identify the country to the north. What's happened? For one thing, reading has decline precipitously. For another, many colleges have abandoned entrance requirements. But there's a lot more. * Is it a good thing, as a matter of policy, to have a more educated population? * Is college the right place for everybody? * What's the federal role? There's no question there are uneducated, unprepared, stupid kids in college. But does that mean they're all dumber?

The boys drink and review Awkward Silence, a black lager from Flying Dog, then discuss a conversation between Milo Yiannopoulos and Tucker Carlson about homosexuality, gay rights, and related issues. A 2012 clip from Ugandan TV went viral after the host asked his guest, "Why are you gay?" To American audiences the question itself was hilarious. But why is it hilarious? Tucker explores that with Milo. Milo Yiannopoulos was, for years, the darling of the political right -- despite being a flambouyant homosexual. He also claimed to be a devout Catholic. The intellectual tension eventually got the better of him and now he claims to be an ex gay. Is that a thing? Are people allowed to quit being homosexual? Is it even possible? Milo says yes. He also has a lot more to say about gay culture, the gay lifestyle, and related issues. He's still a provocateur, and he still makes exaggerated claims, but it's an interesting conversation. (We apologize for the humming in the background for a few minutes.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Christmas ale from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss stoicism. It's not what you think. It doesn't mean that you go through life with no emotions. There are two classic sources for Stoicism: Greek and Roman. But the Greek version only comes second hand. We don't have any of the original sources. We do have primary sources for the Roman version of stoicism, most notably from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. Stoics believe in a "providential structure of the world" and try to live their lives accepting the ordered, rational structure of nature. They try to accept things as they are and order their lives according to four basic virtues: Justice Courage Wisdom, and Temperance A stoic wants to align his own life to the logos. Stoicism seems to be experiencing a bit of a revival of interest. Why? Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a raspberry cookie stout from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss a famous American novel. It's not quite a Christmas book, but Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his prep school just before Christmas, so it's close enough. Longinus starts off with some biographical info on Salinger, then the boys dive into the novel. The book is written as if it's by Holden, a young man of about 16. The novel is all about tone -- about the attitude and perspective of Holden -- his angst and his worries.The whole idea of adolescence was new when The Catcher in the Rye came out, and Salinger tried to capture it in this novel. From Holden's point of view, everything is either depressing, phony, corny, or boring. The Catcher in the Rye is often called a coming of age novel. If you're curious about this classic, give a listen and let us know what you think.

From the archives, the boys drink and review Crowhill's 2020 Christmas braggot (an ale with honey), then discuss the secularization of Christmas. P&C love the holiday festivities, but notice that the religious side of Christmas seems to be losing out to Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, and such. What's the balance between the penitential season of Advent and the ho ho silliness in the snow? And what about religion in public life? Should we be afraid to say "Merry Christmas" if we don't know the person is a Christian. Some people call it "the war on Christmas." Is that fair?

The boys drink and review Jubelale from Deschutes brewery then discuss Candace Owens. Candace is a very intelligent, very articulate woman. She's the type who has done her homework and has her facts ready. She used to be with Prager U, Turning Point USA, and Daily Wire. She's testified before Congress. After the October 7 attacks on Israel the cracks started to show. She left the Daily Wire and started out on her own. Now she's relentlessly anti-Jew, anti-Israel. She seems to have gone conspiracy theory crazy. Some of them are disturbing, but one of them is just funny. Candace has taken up the story that Brigitte Macron is a man, which has caused international problems. If that was the extent of her conspiracy theorizing it would just be amusing. But now she seems to say that the Jews control everything, the moon landing was faked, and Turning Point USA was complicit in the death of Charlie Kirk. It's hard to parse it all out, but P&C give it a go. Join us for a deep dive into this fascina

The boys drink and review Brother Joseph's Belgian-style Double Ale from Straight To Ale then discuss the war on beauty. Pigweed wonders why everything is so ugly. Older buildings -- even sewage plants -- were beautiful. They were built to lift the human spirit. Modern buildings are built to be hideous. Why? It's so cheap to make things beautiful these days. Why don't we? It's almost as if we're choosing ugliness. Even churches are ugly. What about a banana taped to the wall as "art"? That's not an aesthetic statement, it's a statement about standards and meaning. That is, that there is no meaning. The boys discuss the present reality of omnipresent ugliness and review its possible historical origins. Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

The boys drink and review Sam Adams winter white ale, then smoke their pipes and discuss the origin and history of smoking. When you sit around the fire, you don't want the smoke coming your way. It's annoying. So who came up with the idea of intentionally breathing smoke into your lungs? People in Africa, the near east, and in China did smoke some cannibis-like weeds, but smoking really took off when Columbus brought tobacco from the new world. The whole world loved the stuff and tobacco became a key crop in the Americas. The boys discuss the interesting history of smoking. Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

The boys drink and review a Kolsch from Sky Blue Brewing, then discuss the influence of an old sociology paper by Cloward and Piven. These 60s-era "intellectuals" lamented that not enough eligible people had signed up for welfare benefits. They proposed overwhelming the welfare system by deploying an army of activists and troublemakers to (1) get more people to sign up for benefits, and (2) riot, demonstrate, protest, and generally cause trouble. The goal was not to get more wealth to the poor, but to cause the welfare system to fail, create a crisis, and force the federal government to institute a new system. Their proposed "solution" was called "guaranteed minimum income," which is an idea so stupid you have to be an intellectual to believe in it. Their overall proposal seems to define the basic playbook of the left, which is to cause disorder and crisis, destroy the current system, and replace it with socialism. Cloward and Piven believed the only way for poor people to get th

The boys drink and review two imperial stouts, then discuss the possible relationship between Tylenol and autism. RFK Jr. has announced a relationship between pregnant women taking Tylenol and autism in their children. There is some evidence for that claim, but there are a lot of confounding issues as well. Is autism really on the rise? It seems so, but some people say it's just that we're detecting it better these days -- although that doesn't seem to account for the severe cases, which are also supposed to be on the rise. If it is on the rise, why? Is it something we're eating, something we're injecting into our bodies, or maybe the way we're cooking? What do we do with all the anecdotal evidence from parents that their child's autism came on suddenly? It seems as if the health establishment is not taking this as seriously as they ought to be.

P&C drink and review a Heineken Zero, then discuss some holiday themes. Contrary to popular opinion, Columbus didn't show that the world was round. Every educated person knew the world was a globe. Columbus mistakenly believed the world was smaller than it is, and that it would be an easy trip from Europe to Asia. His mistake led to the discovery of the Americas, but it took a long time before Europeans decided to colonize the new land. The Pilgrims were late to the game. There were already Spanish and French settlements in the Americas. But the Pilgrims were among the earliest English settlements and were very influential in the development of the United States. The boys discuss, and wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

The boys drink and review Lost Rhino's Marzen, then discuss conversion therapy. The Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on a ban on "conversion therapy," which is alleged to cure people of unwanted sexual attractions. Is this a ban on free speech? Is SCOTUS going to tell therapists what they can and can't say to their clients? Some people don't believe that their homosexual attractions align with their Christian faith, and they'd like to lessen or eliminate those attractions. Nobody goes to therapy to be affirmed. The whole therapy industry exists because people have thoughts or feelings they want to change. Why should we exempt this particular kind of change? The boys tear apart the silly arguments of the left. Tune in, and let us know what you think.

P&C review La Chouffe, a strong Belgian Blonde ale, then discuss changing ideas about the self -- what it is, and how we think about it. In the ancient world, your "self" was more tied to your community and group. Augustine updated the sense of self as a reflective, moral agent. You don't just think, you think about what you're thinking. In the Protestant Reformation, the self took center stage. It was all about your own spiritual experience. Decartes takes a huge step with the mind-body split. There's a "you" that's separate from the body. Our soul is a ghost in the machine of the body. John Locke introduced the concept of the blank slate. You (or society) can affect who you become. That idea has lost a lot of its lustre as we've realized how much of our self is genetic. Is the self continuous over time? Is it an internal story: "I'm this kind of person"? Do some people have a stronger sense or perception of self than others do? Or is the self an illu

The boys drink and review Forgotten Lore American lager from Nepenthe, then discuss food stamps. A lot of people were concerned that the recent government shutdown was interfering with the funding for food stamps (SNAP), but it brought up another issue. People started to wonder how we got to the point that one in eight Americans are getting food stamps. Food stamps started out as a relatively modest program to distribute surplus food to people who could use it. The original program ended during World War II, but it was resurrected for the "war on poverty" under Lyndon Johnson. As with most government programs, it's grown ever since. In the early days of the program you had to purchase the stamps. In 1977 they abandoned the purchase requirement, and now it's just a giveaway. And boy are we ever giving it away. P&C discuss.

The boys drink and review Raison Dêtre, a Belgian brown ale from Dogfish, then discuss the Charlie Kirk assassination and his legacy. Charlie Kirk was an amazing man. He could go into enemy territory and take on all comers. When he took questions from a crowd, he would invite the people who disagreed with him to the front of the line. Is there anyone like that on the left? What did the Charlie Kirk assassination say about America? What did it say about the right and the left? Who will be Charlie's successor? How has his death changed the conservative movement?

The boys drink and review a Helles lager from Sam Adams, then discuss the Mississippi miracle. They've moved from the bottom to near the top in reading. How did they do it? They abandoned the failed modern educational ideas, like whole language, that have been destroying education for decades, and went back to phonics and strict standards. Modern ideas confuse how a proficient reader reads with how beginners learn. It was a comical error. People become proficient by learning and internalizing the basics. Later they don't need the basics anymore, but that doesn't mean they didn't need to learn them. Modern methods try to take a shortcut, and it doesn't work. Mississippi went back to the basics and pulled off a miracle.

The boys drink and review a supercharged pumpkin ale and wonder what people mean when they say we should abolish ICE. If we assume they haven't gone completely into a "no borders" position, then how do we make sense of this? We have borders, and we have rules for who can cross them. Somebody needs to enforce that. If it's not ICE, who's going to do it? This is, once again, one of those cases where the left is reacting emotionally and hasn't thought the thing through. If they're upset about ICE tactics ... okay. We can have reasonable discussions about that. But *somebody* needs to enforce our immigration laws, and that means that in some cases people need to be deported. What do the "abolish ICE" people actually want?

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Samuel Adams' Jack-O Pumpkin Ale, then wonder why dragons show up in so many cultures around the world. Spanning the east, the west, and the Americas, the boys discuss dragon stories -- what they have in common and how they diverge. * Are they always mean? * Do they always hoard treasure? * Do they always want to eat virgins? * Were they all sea serpents? What they have in common is a monster that represents chaos. In the west, people believed in actual dragons for a long time, then modernism set in and killed the dragons. Tolkien and other fantasy writers revived them. Now we have dragons all over the place again. Jordan Peterson often repeats a theory -- based on evolutionary psychology -- for why dragons developed.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Southern Tier's imperial pumpkin ale, then -- to celebrate Halloween -- review a series of scary stories from Shirley Jackson. In this episode we dive into the eerie, unsettling world of Shirley Jackson. Best known for The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson was a master of psychological tension, small-town menace, and the dark corners of everyday life. The boys discuss several of her short stories — how she creates unease without gore, how she uses ordinary settings to expose cruelty and conformity, and why her work still feels so disturbingly relevant today.Here are the stories we cover. * Flower Garden* The Daemon Lover * The Renegade* The Witch * The Tooth * The Lottery

The boys drink and review Jailbreak's Citra Lady Friend then discuss the implications of a million year old skull from China. P&C start with a review of the prevailing views on human evolution, including the "out of Africa" hypothesis. A little while ago, scientists in China found that a find from a few decades ago was older than expected, and more modern than expected. It's become common for headlines to claim that "this changes everything" -- but maybe this one does. How does this million year old skull fit into the picture? The boys discuss.