Beer And Conversation With Pigweed And Crowhill

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.

The boys drink and review Lord Baltimore from Key Brewing, then wonder whether Maryland really needed 700 new laws. What is the relationship between the citizen and the state? On one side you have the anarchist, who wants no government. Then you have the libertarian, who believes "that government is best that governs least." On the extreme left you have people who want the government involved in every decision, regulating everything the citizen does. Maryland leans in that direction. Wes Moore and the Democratics in Annapolis recently passed 700 new laws. Some of them are reasonable. Some are ridiculous. But did we really need all of them? P&C discuss and comment on some of the specific laws. More at ... https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ#Annapolis #Maryland #Marylandlaw #WesMoore

The boys drink and review one of Crowhill's homebrews, then wonder about the fact that you can purchase curses on Etsy and Fiverr. What the heck? How should we view this? Recently, the feminist magazine Jezebel paid some witches on Etsy to curse Charlie Kirk. Shortly afterward he was assassinated. Megyn Kelly made a big deal about it. Did the witches score? C'mon. Do we really believe in curses? P&C try to back up and examine the concept of curses, the demonic, evil force, and how to parse all of this. More at ... https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ#curses #witches #MegynKelly #CharlieKirk

P&C drink Skipjack Pilsner and then wonder what in the world is going on with all this talk about Trump the dictator. The boys evaluate the liberal narrative that Trump is an authoritarian dictator and find it woefully lacking. The "big one" from the liberal side is January 6 and the claim that the election was stolen. There is some validity to that claim, but it's exaggerated. A lot. The bottom line is that an authoritarian dictator would have behaved very differently. Trump has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, calling the press the “enemy of the people,” and promising “retribution” against his political enemies. But are these actions truly unique? Or are Trump’s critics holding him to a double standard?In this episode, we take a deep dive into the “dictator” narrative:Did Trump actually weaponize the Justice Department, or just use it like his predecessors?How do his actions compare to Obama’s “Russia hoax” strategy or Biden’s push to censor online speech?What defines

P&C drink and review Festifall, a Marzen lager by Southcounty Brewing, then discuss the prospect of a world without cash. Deepfakes, fake documents, and AI-generated “evidence” are becoming harder to spot — and that might be what finally pushes governments and businesses to demand trusted digital sources. But that trust comes at a price: a digital ID system that could track who you are, what you do, and even what you buy.In this episode, we explore:* How fake videos and online deception could accelerate the rollout of digital IDs.* The battle between centralized systems (government-controlled) and decentralized ones (blockchain-based).* The alleged benefits for individuals, businesses, and governments: convenience, security, efficiency, fraud prevention.* The hidden dangers: surveillance, data breaches, social control, and the loss of financial and personal freedom.* Real-world examples from China’s social credit system to Canada’s Freedom Convoy—and what they reveal about where this might lead.* Whether

The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed Black IPA, then discuss cancel culture in the light of the Charlie Kirk story. Defenders of so-called cancel culture object to the term. They say it's just "consequence culture." Traditionally, conservatives have been against cancel culture -- because it's usually a weapon deployed by liberals against conservatives. But now, when liberals like Jimmy Kimmel are canceled for lying about Charlie Kirk, conservatives seem to have changed their tune. But have they? Not quite. There's a huge difference between what liberals have been doing -- trying to get someone fired for having a different political opinion -- and what conservatives are celebrating, which is when people promote or celebrate political violence. The boys work through the issues and make the necessary distinctions.

The boys drink and review Sunset Eclipse from Dewey Beer then discuss whether artificial intelligence will destroy us. Crowhill says he uses AI all the time and loves it, but at the same time he's afraid it's going to destroy us all. Despite being warned -- over and over again, in literature and by contemporary experts -- we blithely continue on as if everything is okay. We have no reason to believe this. But don't worry. What could possibly go wrong? Intelligent people have been telling us for centuries that this is a problem. But ... never mind. We are not nearly scared enough. In the past, new technologies did eliminate jobs, but it increased wealth and created new jobs. AI is nothing like that. It's not going to create any jobs that AI itself can't do. More at ... https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ#AI #artificialintelligence #sciencefiction #scifi #AGI

P&C drink and review a dopplebock from Troegs then ask whether there's a difference between a liberal and a leftist. Pigweed reflects on his youth and his admiration for the free spirit attitude of the hippies, and that while he hasn't moved, the Overton Window has moved around him, shifting him from left to right. The normal politics of a 1995 Democrat turn the left's hair on fire. Even recent quotes from Clinton, Obama, Schumer, and other Democrats are completely out of step with the modern left. On crime, the border, gay marriage, trans issues, and a host of other issues, an orthodox Democrat from 1995 would be unwelcome in the modern Democratic Party. "Liberal" used to mean ... * Personal autonomy * Individual rights * Economic freedom * Constitutional limited government * Free speech The modern left has flipped all these things on their head. More at ... https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ#Liberalism #leftis

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Pub Ale from Black Abbey Brewing, then discuss ten ways that our quick (Type 1) thinking can deceive us, and how to compensate. Why do we make choices that don’t make sense? From overconfidence to loss aversion, our brains are wired with shortcuts that keep us alive but can also trip us up in everyday life. In this episode, we break down 10 powerful mental traps —the hidden biases shaping your money, relationships, work, and even your health:1. Anchoring Bias – Why the first number you see sets the stage.2. Loss Aversion – Why losing hurts twice as much as winning feels good.3. Availability Bias – Why vivid memories distort real risks.4. Confirmation Bias – Why we only see what we already believe.5. Planning Fallacy – Why "five minutes" always takes twenty.6. Hindsight Bias – Why we always “knew it all along.”7. Framing Effect – Why wording changes everything.8. Sunk Cost Fallacy – Why we can’t let go, even when we should.9. Overconfidence Eff

P&C drink and review Space Jellyfish from Nepenthe brewery in Baltimore, then discuss some short stories by Sinclair Lewis. Pigweed starts off with a brief bio of Lewis and some big picture themes that occur in his writings. Then, with special guest Longinus, the boys review the following short stories. "The Willow Walk" is about Jasper and John Holt, two identical brothers who lead very different lives. But Jasper has a dark secret. "The Cat of the Stars" is an elaboration on the butterfly effect, where one small detail spins out of control and affects the life of many people in horrible ways. "The Ghost Patrol" tells the tale of an old policeman who can't shake his responsibility to his duties and continues to patrol his old beat even after his retirement. "Young Man Axelrod" decides, after a life as a successful farmer, that he should go back to college. He goes to Harvard hoping for the experience he has longed for all his life. This video is part of P&C

The boys drink and review "I Just Crush A Lot" a blueberry hibiscus tart ale from Calvert Brewing. In 1054, a dramatic split forever changed the face of Christianity. Known as the Great Schism, it divided the Church into Roman Catholicism in the West and Eastern Orthodoxy in the East. But the break didn’t happen overnight—it was centuries in the making.In this video, we’ll explore:* The immediate crisis: papal legates and Patriarch Michael Cerularius trading excommunications.* Political and cultural tensions: Rome vs. Constantinople, Latin vs. Greek, and the rise of Islam.* Authority disputes: papal supremacy in the West vs. conciliar authority in the East.* Theological differences: the Filioque controversy, Monophysitism, and contrasting spiritual emphases.* Divergent practices: from unleavened vs. leavened bread, to clerical celibacy and fasting rules.* The aftermath: how the Crusades, especially the sack of Constantinople, deepened the divide.The Schism was not just about doctrine—it was about cu