Sketchy Magazine

Franco-Prussian War

Jacob — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 01:10:31 +0000

TOPICS

The Design of Crap: Ever wonder why some products look like crap? There are good reasons for it. Sometimes, you don’t want to look too good.

Alcohol Percentage (Retraction): So 100 proof alcohol is actually only 50%. That’s the way the system works. So for alcohol to be 90%, you need 180 proof. Not something you can easily find, btw.
The Franco-Prussian War: What happens when a war lasts less than a year? Well, it has some serious implications for the future. How can anyone discuss WW1, let alone it’s sequel, without really talking about this conflict. [1]

Crimean War: Can you imagine the idea of former enemies becoming allies to stop Russia? Well, this kind of thing seems to happen a lot. And this has caused some pretty bad blood between Europe and Russia that’s never really been resolved. If you’re nerdy, you might like this talk. [2]

The “Stability” of Turkey: As we were recording this, Turkey was going through some tough times, including the government shutting down a number of public institution in order to purge them, while the military was announcing a takeover. Yep, just the kind of ally you want in a war! [3]

The Siege of Paris: The Paris Commune was actually a consequence of Paris being sieged by the Germans, who had out-mobilized their enemies and reached the capital before real resistance could be met. While there was a secret armistice being signed, the french National Guard (basically a group of thugs) were preparing to suppress the rebellion of their own people to the conditions of the peace treaty. This was to influence Karl Marx and lead to a similar and far more successful revolt after a civil war in Russia many decades later.[4][5]

The Powerhouse that was Otto von Bismark: Shaping the world tends to cause a lot of problems in the long run, but you can’t deny the fascinating power of Bismarck is not be to ignored. I strongly suggest you watch this great talk about the man [6]

The King that Never Was – Prince Leopold: The “He” I was referring to was Prince Leopold. He was offered the crown by Spain’s government, but France was pretty scared about being surrounded by its enemies. So a conflict seemed inevitable. Poor guy was basically a pawn of history. And you people think prices are cool…[7]

The Secret Weapon “La Mitrailleuse”: Before the machine gun, there was the super secret weapon of the French: the mitrailleuse. Check out this cool article all about it’s history and even a video with a replica.[8]

Napoleon’s Family as Nobels: it’s not just modern presidents who do a lot of appointments. It’s also wannabe Emperors! And in this case, Napoleon had to refill about 2,000 positions. So needless to say, his immediate family got the premium posts! [9]

Note on Brief Ending: The Show was originally much longer, but the subject matter we discussed did not age well, and seems petulant in the long run. It was omitted for the podcast version.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqik0WDMDco&t=1543s
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEUj7AFAZy0
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/07/turkey-government/491579/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(1870%E2%80%9371)
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xie5_WJD5E
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold,_Prince_of_Hohenzollern
[8] http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18459/forgotten-weapon-mitrailleuse/
[9]http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18459/forgotten-weapon-mitrailleuse/

Cold Welding

Jacob — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:56:57 +0000

TOPICS

Cold Welding In Space: When you don’t live in an atmosphere like earth, things get a little weird. For starters, it means that there are things you can do there that you can’t on earth, the most impressive of which is “Cold Welding”. Scott Manley has a really cool video about that, and guns in space. [1]

Weapons in Space: there’s more than just guns up there too. There’s a long history of people trying shit up there, but honestly, the damage you could do with a crowbar is way too much already [2]

A Sticky Situation: The force that makes things sticky is actually something that happens when particles get really close to each other. All sticky stuff is really doing is closing all the gaps between the otherwise large gaps between particles. Is this how Spider-Man would work? [3]

Zero Point Energy: You hear a lot of those “Perpetual Motion” people talk about this force all the time. First, the amount of energy you could exploit from this is minuscule, so even if you did manage to figure out a way to trick the second law of thermodynamics, you got a problem of scale here. [4]

The Em Drive Explained: So, is it bullshit or not? A few more peer reviews seem to suggest it is, but by doing so, it would definitely challenge our current understanding of physics. So while I still think it will turn out to be a rounding error, it’s pretty exciting stuff.[5]

Black Holes are Crazy: It’s not just that they break all the known laws of physics, they are also constantly creating new matter! And that, over time, will evaporate the Black Hole. Crazy! Are they also responsible for the Asymmetry of matter in the Universe? [6]

Tia Taquila goes Nazi: If you remember this famous idiot, famous for being popular only, decided that her career could use a boost from the white nationalists! [7] Part of it might be because of Asia’s strange fascination with Hitler.[8]

The Youth’s Appeal of Fascism: If you want to understand a little more about the history of fascism (and not just Nazism), I suggest you take a look at this article. [9]

Why Rogue One is Tricking Your Dumb Brain: I’ll probably get a lot of flak from dumb fanboys complaining that I was shitting all over a movie I hadn’t seen, but if you’re smart enough to not give money to an evil corporation that cares less about quality stories and more about shoving stupid merchandise in your face, watch Half in The Bag and correct yourself before you wreck yourself.[10]

Why Super Weapons Suck: I forgot to mention the biggest problem: the 10’s of thousands of nukes we’ve built to destroy ourselves just waiting for some idiot to pull the trigger (or even a solar flare doing it for us). In case you’re curious about that super canon I was talking about, here is that beast. [11]

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7qqHDViFko
[2] http://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-list-of-weapons-astronauts-have-carried-in-1768199454
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy
[5] http://www.space.com/34797-impossible-space-engine-emdrive-study-published.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation
[7] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/19/white-nationalists-and-nazi-saluting-tila-tequila-toast-emperor-trump-in-washington-dc.html
[8] http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news-archive/hitler-as-iconic-asian-fashionista-what-is-it-with-thailands-love-affair-with-hitler/
[9] http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/22116257-00202007
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2kFk5M9x4&t=1827s
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav

The Great War

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:18:09 +0000

TOPICS

The Live Telethon: In 2013, in an attempt to try and generate both interest and enough money for printing my book “Bible Stories”, I did a 12 hour telethon streamed on Youtube. We perhaps had a maximum audience size of 30 or so people. Still, some of them watched the whole show, so there are some hard-core listeners out there.

How You Never Buy Anything Anymore: I’m not the only one who thinks this is bogus: electronic purchases are in fact long term rentals. You don’t own anything anymore. [1]

The Early “Internet”: Check out these old Telegraph maps. You might notice that it looks a lot like the modern Internet. If you told people using this somewhat primitive system that it would eventually connect every human being together, would they believe you? [2]

Veteran’s Day: One the show, I refer to the Canadian version of the “holiday”. It takes place on Nov.11th, the day that the Armistice went into effect (despite having been signed 6 months earlier) between Germany and the Allied Powers. While the day was meant to commemorate the war as an effort to convince ourselves it would never happen again, people often forget that the Treaty of Versailles is not a peace accord, but really a long cease fire.[3]

The Shlieffen Plan: Germany had been planning France’s demise for quite some time. Ever since the Franco-Prussian War, these guys have had a hard-on for figuring out how to conquer France. Even though they won that first conflict, they lost more men, and had to quickly sign a peace treaty before a potential retaliation. Still, the plan was for a quick defeat of France in 6 weeks (as opposed to the months it had taken them before) so they could then attack Russia. So you can see that Hitler’s “plans” didn’t just pop into his head, did they? [4]

The Dryfuss Affair: A show will eventually be made about this travesty of justice, but sufficed to say, the story of a men falsely accused of treason who is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit, only to see him be free and exonerated in the end is a classic Hollywood tale, except that it really happened. [5]

The Free People of Color (Partial Retraction): This is where things get complicated. We’re talking about sophisticated descendants of rich color aristocracy that owned slaves themselves. The term Creole is actually a broader term that is used to describe all culture that descends from French colonial influence. [6]

The First World War in Africa: This is the part of our history that we rarely talk about.

The Harlem Hellfighters: Having never surrendered one inch of their trench, they were the most feared fighters in the war. I suppose there was probably a lot of bottled anger, and being accustomed to being chased and attacked. [8]

Lynchings After Wars: It wasn’t just the first war that saw this sort of outrageous and cowardly behavior. Even after the end of the Second World War, there were lynchings. Imagine surviving that nightmare only for a racist, close-minded coward and his posse to get to you. It’s a shame that murder is so easy when it’s done in a gang. [9]

Australia’s Independence: The First War was pretty traumatic to all the colonies, who started to break from their Suzerainty by commemorating their dead. The best example of this is Anzac Day. [10]

Belgium’s During the War: The Belgiums were pivotal in delaying the Germans from unleashing the Shlieffen Plan, thus giving France critical time to mobilize. This would eventually lead to what became known as “The Rape of Belgium [11]

Four Horsemen (Retraction): Pestilence IS disease. He’s also refereed to as “Conquest” in the Bible. The other three horsemen are, War, Famine, and naturally, Death. [12]

[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/01/you-bought-it-you-own-it-time-reclaim-right-usetinkerrepairmakeselllend-your-stuff
[2] http://atlantic-cable.com/Maps/Colton-1855-World-Telegraph-Lines.jpg
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_Plan
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_people_of_color
[8] https://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/johnson/?from=features_bar
[9] https://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/memorial-day-remembrance-lynching-of-black-veterans-after-world-war-ii/
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_in_World_War_I
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse

Nuclear Boy Scout

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:10:51 +0000

TOPICS

Japanese Drinking Habits: The Japanese are actually way crazier drinkers than you ever imagined. Your future job prospects often depend on how you can handle your drink. Makes me glad this shit hasn’t caught on over here, but we’re not as over worked as the poor Japanese. [1]

The History of Human Rituals: Perhaps we wouldn’t have so many social problems if we were able to make more rituals that would allow people to find their place in society. [2]

China’s Bureaucratic Religion: The Chinese were so masterful in their bureaucracy is that they made a real religion out of it! [3]

The Nuclear Boy Scout: What happens when you combine moderate intelligence with endless devotion? How about the EPA having to declare your little experiment a hazard? To be fair, there was such a careless campaign by the government to get people involved in nuclear energy that they made information a little incomplete and, frankly, dangerous.[4]

The Coral Castle: Speaking of determination, the guy who built this tacky monstrosity certainly possessed a lot of obsession.Of course, over time we have finally cracked the secret to his work [5]

Breeder Reactors: The reason people abandoned this type of reactor is because they are so goddamn dangerous. [6]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Retraction): I said NRA, but it didn’t quite seem right when I said it. Now I know better.

Molten Salt Reactors: Imagine having a nuclear reactor in your backyard. Yeah, it sounds kind of crazy, but you know, so do airplanes to a Victorian time traveler! [7]

Yellowstone Hotpot: The young man who fell into the spring of acid unfortunately had no remains to bury. Don’t mess with that shit, folks.[8] People have died at Yellowstone in the past, and the details aren’t exactly pretty. [9]

Kid Dies jumping off Bridge Amsterdam: I hate when they nerf the world just because a few luckless idiots fall off a bridge. It they banned things that made you stupid, alcohol would be illegal. [10]

How Graffiti is like News in Palestine: When you lack the communication means people do in an occupied zone, they often invent new kinds. [11]

[1] https://blog.gaijinpot.com/japanese-drinking-culture/
[2] http://www.livescience.com/9687-human-rituals-punctuation-marks-life.html
[3] http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/prb/heavenly.htm
[4] http://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/
[5] http://www.livescience.com/41075-coral-castle.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor
[8] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/16/oregon-man-reportedly-dies-trying-to-hot-pot-in-yellowstone-hot-spring.html
[9] https://www.outsideonline.com/2090251/brief-history-deaths-yellowstones-hot-springs
[10] http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1650873,00.html
[11] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/palestinian-graffiti-tagging-resistance-2013112015849368961.html

Christian Science

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:06:12 +0000

TOPICS

The Cubs Win the Penant: I guess it’s news when a baseball team that hasn’t won in a century wins again. Many people said it predicted bad things to come, like Trump winning. [1] Although I claim baseball is “dying”, it’s true that their numbers are up. Still, is it actually any better? [2] For that matter, does the next generation want to play and populate it?

The De-Colonization of Science: This is the problem when people think that “narratives” define reality. It’s nothing more than a new wave religion that aims to de-legitimize the actual work people do to understand the world. If you can stomach this sort of thing, what this video.[4] It may have something to do with low graduation rates and poor passing grade there, I’m not sure. [5]

The Pumpkin Papers: It’s strange how sometimes the whole world can be change by one crazy nutball. In this case, it was Wittaker Chambers[6]. He claimed that Alger Hiss (a brilliant lawyer who helped create the U.N.) was a communist spy, and this would later cause both the rise of Nixon, and the start of the McCarthy hearings. [7][8]

The Ancient Rules of Etiquette: Ever wonder why we consider the french to be the height of class and sophistication? It might have something to do with the codification of manners. If you don’t think these are important, you are fooling yourselves.[9]

The Bitcoin Ledger: If you want to try and understand exactly how bitcoin works, then I suggest you try this article and see if your head doesn’t explode on the first try.[10]

Donald Trump’s Russian Connection: Another early prediction of his future presidency, but even then it was a nail biter. But I challenge anyone to my legacy as the next Nostradamus.

How Charity Can Hurt People: Hard to believe it, but good intentions don’t solve long term problems, they can actually create more of them. [11]

Christian Science: Mary’s background was a really stern religious father, and his Calvinist teaching caused her to have faith issues. Her own medical issues and suffering made her question the glorification of pain in Christianity.His father detested her intelligence, so he refused to let her go to school, but she managed to teach herself to read. If you want to know more, watch this documentary on Mary Baker Eddy:[12]

Retraction: The religious revival wasn’t started in 1875, but really throughout the period beginning in 1840’s with George Miller’s prediction about the end of the world.[13]

– Mormonism
– Millerites (who later became 7th day Adventists and Jehovah witnesses)
– Shakers establish first major communal farm in NY
– Onida society (believe in polygamous or group marriges before disbanding and reforming into a company

Major difference between Christianity: belief that reality is an illusion, power of mind and prayer over all ailments. Very opposed to Calvinist teachings of pre-destination, and does not believe in eternal torture.[14]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_National_League_Championship_Series
[2] http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/major-league-baseball-is-back-and-maybe-worse-than-ever-20160404
[3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-baseball-is-losing-children-1432136172
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9SiRNibD14
[5] http://newobserveronline.com/south-africa-85-university-failure-rate/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers
[7] http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pumpkinp.html
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss
[9] http://etiquipedia.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-earliest-books-written-of-etiquette.html
[10] http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/12427/can-someone-explain-how-the-bitcoin-blockchain-works
[11] https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-curse-of-charity-in-haiti-1476653140
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXfqFzqaciw
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_district
[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science

The Unabomber

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 14:59:39 +0000

Ted Kaczynski

Child prodigy born in a bit of strange isolation. He had hives, so the doctors thought it was a good idea to isolate him during the first few months of his life. This was standard procedure back then, and it would appear that the baby was very distant and unresponsive to affection at first.During his childhood, he would “shut down” for a while, and then go into fits of rage.

He composed music, preferred a life of the mind, and loved Bach, Vivaldi. [1]

Graduated high school at 15. Was accepted and graduated from Harvard at 16, although people said that he would never speak to anyone, and would often isolate himself in a room that stunk of sour milk. He also did part of his graduate studies at U of Michigan, and published a number of academic papers there.

Graduated University at 20. He wrote a doctoral thesis that was so good, it was awarded a prize, and he was offered a job that would fast track him to tenure and Berkley, making him the youngest to ever be offered the position. Basically, he was in.

“Kaczynski earned his PhD with his thesis entitled “Boundary Functions”^[21] by solving a problem so difficult that even one of his professors could not solve it.”

He’s a poor teacher though, and his undergraduates do terribly. Then, with no explanation, he quits in 1969, at age 26, and moves back in with his parents. He takes a bunch of odd jobs, including one his brother gave him until he had to fire him for harassing a woman who didn’t want to have a relationship with him because they had nothing in common.

This is when he turns slowly into evil McGiver, and learns how to be self sufficient and make primitive bombs. He started to study more about sociology, politics, and the work of french anarchists in particular. 1969-1978

BOMBINGS

Moved to Montana in a move so sudden, people though he was going to go kill himself. Buys the plot of land with money he’s saves and helf from family. He builds a small shack with no running water, and begins campaign of bombings for 17 years. Mostly as his way of trying to enforce Neo-Ludditism*

*short note on Luddite (named after Ned Ludd, who supposedly smashed a piece of tech): the were weavers who opposed the spinning loom machine, the first real major push against Industrialization. Although not against technology, they were against it’s use in reducing the power of labor *cough, robots)

Ted viewed Industrialization as a fundamental harm to the environment. He took particular offense at engineers and the wood industry in particular. His bombs used recycled materials

First was University of Chicago (1978) found in parking lot, addressed to “materials engineering”

Second bombing was on American Airlines flight 444. Bomb didn’t explode, but started smoking instead, forcing the pilot to land. Would have obliterated the plane.

FBI now had federate crime, so they nicked-named him (University and Airlines Bomber), Unabomber for short. Initial profile by famous profiler John Douglas (who inspired the character Jack Crawford from silence of the lambs) correctly identified his with ties to academia, but crudity of bomb misdirected them to blue collar worker profile instead

Also left fake clues behind, like “FC” for Freedom Club, a made up group. He also left notes behind with fake names. Soon,an offer of 1 million for information leading to capture is made.

VICTIMS:

(see wiki)[3]

CLIMAX

In 1995, he mails several letters to the FBI and others that he wants his manifesto to be published, and promises an end to the bombing campaign.

He criticizes Leftists, says that people need o express and experience power in some form (through artificial goals) and says that the only way to really create reform is to unleash global capitalism until the whole of humanity is brought to a critical breaking point.

After manifesto FBI received 1k a day for months for the 1 million reward, but i wasn’t until Ted’s brother David found some old letters that the connection was made. He asked to remain anonymous, but a leak in the FBI to CBS scooped him.

ARREST

At first, there were doubts that it was him, but after they searched his house, authorities found the original manifesto, and the makings of a new bomb (leading many to believe he was going to break his promise). He avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty, and is serving 8 life sentences.

EPILOGUE:

He is in correspondence with over 400 people, and actively petitions to get the intellectual property of his writings back, but the money has gone to the victims.

In 2012, he submitted his information to the Alumni association at Harvard. He listed his profession as “Prisoner”

[1] http://www.cnn.com/fyi/school.tools/profiles/kaczynski/index.story.html
[2] http://editions-hache.com/essais/pdf/kaczynski2.pdf
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#List_of_bombings

Star Wars vs Star Trek

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 14:44:11 +0000

TOPICS

Paramount Sues Star Trek Fan Film: After launching a successful kickstarter campaign for over 1 million dollars, the creators of Star trek “Axanar” are being sued by Paramount and CBS.[1] Trying to control one’s content however can be tricky: Paramount will need to prove that every part of their Universe is currently being exploited and profits are in danger as a result of the film [2]

Star Wars Kills Extended Universe: In order to regain controll over their content, Disney has decided to kill all the continued history that came from novels, comics and other stories. [3]

Star Trek Box Office Numbers: As you can see, Nemesis was a Box office disaster, making on 43 million dollars despite costing 60 million to make. Compare that to the 230+ million of the reboot, and by those measure it is a large success, and shows that Star Trek fans are not needed to make money with the franchise.[4]

Star Trek Fan Films List: Here are some of the best Star Trek fan content:

Star Trek Continues (10/10) The best of the bunch. Made by a passionate group of actors, thos captures the feel and look of the show almost perfectl. The main actor who plays Kirk is bang on in every way, and his charisma def carries the show. One of the best fan made shows ever.[5]

Star trek Renegade movie (9/10): The actors here are almost all top notch, and the cinematography (while a little close) is good. The script is a little violent for me, but otherwise it’s a treat for star trek fans. [6]

Star Trek New Voyages (6/10) While the sets, costumes and cinematography are all there, it’s the wooden acting that make it almost impossible to watch. That, and the terrible audio work. [7]

Star Trek Hidden Frontiers (4/10) The special effects are pretty aweful. It’s greenscreen city here. The writing is actually not too bad (it has that sci-fi vibe), but the bad effects are too horrible. It’s better to listen than to watch this one. Oh, and they actually stole the main theme from Galazy Quest. Hilarious. [8]

Star Trek Exeter (8.5/10): Only seconded by the production value of Continues, Exeter is brilliantly filmed, and well written. My only complaint is with the Captain, who always looks like he’s surprised to be there.Some of the supporting actors are amazing however, and really pull a believable performance.[9]

Star Trek Odessey (6/10): One wonders what these ambitious people could have done with a budget and actual practical sets. Still, when none of those are involved, it makes it real hard to watch. Hope they keep at it though. [10]

Star trek Pheonix: (7/10) The writing isn’t too shabby, but some of the lines of dialogn are delivered…the main guy sounds like he’s got a huge piece of gum stuck in his mouth. Still, special effects are cool, and the music works well, as does the audio.[10]

Star Wars Fan Movie Awards: After years of successfuly exploiting their fans, Star Wars was smart enough to actually reward their fans rather then sue them. [12]

Star Wars is Science Fantasy, not Science Fiction: Most people think that Star Wars is science fiction, but it is in fact science fantasy [13]

Dumping Milk: Because American and Canadian milk producers make too much and want to control the prices, they dump the milk in the waterways or in the dirt. [14]

Star Trek vs Star Wars Poll: A link to the site to vote on which series in better. [15]

[1] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/star-trek-fan-film-lawsuit-boldly-goes-no-star-trek-lawsuit-has-gone-before-948252
[2] http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/star-trek-fan-films-guidelines-rules-cbs-axanar-1201707254/
[3] http://www.techtimes.com/articles/117579/20151218/the-most-disappointing-casualty-of-the-star-wars-expanded-universes-death.htm
[4] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=startrek.htm
[5]http://www.startrekcontinues.com/
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE2Wgop9VLM
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8VDiDR-XaE
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTwC4M7M2LA
[9] http://www.starshipexeter.com/
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ds-nR0SC8
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWAGSwEqkxI
[12] http://www.starwars.com/star-wars-fan-film-awards
[13] https://simondillonbooks.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/why-star-wars-is-not-science-fiction-and-related-matters/
[14] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-01/milk-spilled-into-manure-pits-as-supplies-overwhelm-u-s-dairies
[15] http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/05/03/star-trek-vs-star-wars

The Art of Writing

Jacob — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 14:36:17 +0000

TOPICS

J.D. Salinger hated his Popularity: I mean, imagine if your book had inspired a bunch of psychos? I’d want to hide in my own shack and only release everything after I have already died. I also recommend watching the documentary “Salinger” [2] Did you want to read his new stories? I feel like the marketing department dropped the ball on this one. I had to look hard to find this link [3]

The Wild World of Tomi Ungerer: I never actually read his stories as a child, but I know I would have love the artwork. It’s so weird and dark, but in a childish way. Perfect for a man that blended the two together. [4]

Torture for Fun: Yeah, it hard to accept, but for a long time, thins kind of thing was considered entertainment. Do you see what happens when people get bored? [5]

The Sherlock BBC Series: The latest series suffered from exactly the problem I mentioned: fan service. This is the kind of thing that kills movies.

Why the Academy Sucks: Watching this hot garbage only makes the world worse. What do you do about the fact that it makes the world a crappier place [6]

Shakespear Invented the Knock-Knock Joke: He wasn’t as big a square as most people think. Maybe it’s because he was English that the majority of people don’t know that there were a lot of sides the the bard. [7]

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Imj-riRyg
[3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22314610-three-early-stories
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2012/feb/24/tomi-ungerer-illustrations
[5] http://alphahistory.com/pastpeculiar/1677-londoners-burn-live-cats-wicker-pope/
[6]http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/09/movies/oscar-films-75-years-of-bribes-lies-and-overkill.html
[7] http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/macbeth.2.3.html

Daylight Savings

Jacob — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 14:57:46 +0000

This episode, we talk about one of the dumbest thing humans do: try and mess up their biological clock for a bunch of farmers. Tune in!

TOPICS

Apple vs FBI: The speed of news is so rapid, most of us have probably forgotten all about this story, despite the terrifying consequences. Turns out that rather than get Apple to build a backdoor, the NSA found a third option, which is terrifying when you think about it. [1]

The NSA doesn’t Hire Pot Smokers (Retraction): It turns out that it’s the FBI that has this policy, not the NSA.[2] However, I did manage to find some proof that the NSA has a section that asks if the applicant has done drugs, so it could still be true. [3]

Lotka’s Law: This law actually applies to the number of articles that will be written by publications over a given period of time, but it can also apply to professional sports and other high performance jobs. Also, apparently the amount of sports articles you publish might also determine how good your country is in it. [4]

Mr. Robot: I still haven’t seen the show, but I hear good things. It’s only got a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Geeze, I guess it could still use some improvements! [5]

The San Bernardino Shooting: It’s hard to keep track of all the mass shootings in America, I know. This one was the “killer couple” who attacked a Christmas party. For a while, they were the largest mass shooting, but they only managed to keep that record for less than a year. [6]

Your Phone is NOT Your Friend: I know they are convenient, practical and more importantly, fun, but it’s time we re-examined our relationship with these devices. How much are you willing to sacrifice just for the sake of being reachable?[7]

Common Law vs Civil Law: If you’re actually interested in learning more about the differences so you can decide for yourself which is the better legal option, this article is a good place to start. [8]

Daylight Savings is Terrible: There are a lot of papers that talk about the health problems,[9] car crashes[10], and circadian rhythm issue.[11]. There’s the fact that it doesn’t even fucking work.[12]

The Effect of Group Polarization: The current divide is something I have been predicting for a long time. I did a show about it on my previous podcast, TGA, that covered this topic back in 2012.[13] If you prefer the academic version, might I suggest reading this [14], and if you want to dig even deeper, go here [15]

Predicting Donald Trump’s Victory: I’m not one to gloat, and this would definitely be the worst time to do it, so I won’t. However, had people just used the predictions of generational theory, all of this could have also been easily predicted. The highest the vote ever percentage wise for young people was 47 percent. But everyone has not been showing up much.[16]

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: Maybe the election in 2016 wouldn’t have gone differently if people would have read this old book. It’s all about a McGovern trying to fight among candidates of fascists, corporate controlled candidates, and the good ole’ boys. [17] The name of the candidate Thompson hated was Edmond Muskie.

Everything You Know About Napoleon is Wrong: Yep, hard to believe, but apparently you were educated wrong by Hollywood movies and lazy history teachers. Who knew? [18]

The German Peasant Revolt (Retraction): In typical style, I got the dates wrong. The war was in 1524-25, not the 1600’s. [19]

The Nero Decree: I confused Decree with Doctrine, but the story is basically the same. Luckily, his general totally lost confidence in Hitler, and failed to carry it out. Here’s a story of artwork that was saved by real people trying to save European culture from destroying itself. [20]

Mother Teresa the Atheist: I’m sure I’ll get a lot of emails from people who won’t bother to read the notes, but I’m sorry to have to include her in the list of atheists. The woman said it herself people [21]

The Vatican’s Treasures: One really has to wonder what kinds of treasures are in there.It is estimated to have 80 km of shelving. [22] Must be easy to pay for maintenance when you have that sweet Church Tax [23]

God’s Banker: A great read for anyone interested in actually knowing more about what this institution really is (hint, it’s not a fucking bank by any traditional sense, you’ll see)[24]

Banco Ambrosio: The scandal involved the classic “Godfather” like level of conspiracy, people in power being murdered, and corruption at the highest level. The only reason people have never made this movie is that they think history is boring. Idiots.[25]

Baquet of Chestnuts: Check out episode 2 if you don’t know about this (again, the shows are not in chronological order)

[1]http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/03/29/472141323/apple-vs-the-fbi-the-unanswered-questions-and-unsettled-issues
[2] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-fbi-cant-find-hackers-that-dont-smoke-pot
[3] https://discuss.clearancejobsblog.com/t/nsa-internship-and-marijuana-use/192
[4] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hajar_Sotudeh/publication/241688127_Does_Scientific_Productivity_Influence_Athletic_Performance_An_Analysis_of_Countries’_Performances_in_Sciences_Sport_Sciences_and_Olympic_Games/links/53e4d3320cf2fb748710eb38.pdf?origin=publication_list
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotka’s_law
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_San_Bernardino_attack
[7] http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/16/news/la-ol-how-your-cell-phone-is-betraying-you-20130716
[8] https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/CommonLawCivilLawTraditions.html
[9] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc0807104#t=article
[10] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Zador/publication/15367491_Daylight_Saving_Time_and_motor_vehicle_crashes_the_reduction_in_pedestrian_and_vehicle_occupant_fatalities/links/00b495183e5ede30d2000000.pdf
[11] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982207020866
[12]https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9b2e/eab7d21bcddcf45190b4f1465a29e4fee14f.pdf
[13] http://www.thegoodatheist.net/2012/09/26/tga-podcast-episode-188/
[14] http://m.law.uchicago.edu/files/files/91.CRS_.Polarization.pdf
[15] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8309.1990.tb00892.x/epdf
[16] http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics
[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Loathing_on_the_Campaign_Trail_’72
[18] http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/videos/dont-be-dumb-napoleon-video.htm
[19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Peasants’_War
[20] https://books.google.ca/books?id=RgmnDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=nero+decree++save+mona+lisa&source=bl&ots=peu5Swvujs&sig=uc8vfyPGxEvhWRmzHdSATEU_VF8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlgPukxP_RAhUB1oMKHVj-D50Q6AEINTAE#v=onepage&q=nero%20decree%20%20save%20mona%20lisa&f=false
[21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUfLozwRln0
[22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives
[23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax
[24] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609469-god-s-bankers
[25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_Ambrosiano

80’s Music Video

Jacob — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 14:48:56 +0000

This episode, we talk about Generational Theory, and weird and creepy 80’s music videos. Watch this and get informed!

TOPICS

Falco’s “Der Kommisar”: Maybe when it first came out, this video was cool. But time has not been kind to Falco. Apparently 4 minutes of running in front of a blue screen doesn’t age well. Who knew?[1]

Lionel Richie’s Creepy “Hello” Video: Speaking of videos that don’t age well, Lionel Richie would probably be called “problamatic” for his stalking teacher obsessed with a blind student train wreck video. A must watch.[2]

Generational Theory: There is a complex theory that tries to predict the attitudes of entire generation based on when they are born, compared to the previous generations attitudes and beliefs.[3] The population bubble and the growing impotence of the young generation is part of the reason most young people have no political aspirations.[4]

The Non Profit Racket: The Red Cross looses 500 million dollars on pure waste [5]. We also discuss how the West’s desire to try and help people actually destroy small economies and turn these countries into slave havens and hellholes [6]

The Love of Paris: Paris continues to make the top list of cities in the world. [7] Mr. B contends that no one wants to be like New York, but I think the rest of the world would kindly disagree.

The Brexit “Plan”: When the UK voted on whether or not to stay in the European Union, they seemed to have little understanding of the consequences of their actions. Recently leaked documents seem to back up this early claim [8]

The Consent of the Governed: While most people think they live in a democracy, they are actually in Republics (or constitutional monarchies), and that voting is more a matter of the “Consent of the Governed” than it is “giving” power to politicians. [9]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w4Xulsjo5I
[2] https://vimeo.com/59786972
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory
[4] http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21601248-generation-old-people-about-change-global-economy-they-will-not-all-do-so
[5] http://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief
[6] https://nonprofitupdate.info/2015/12/16/no-one-wants-to-be-a-beggar-for-life-poverty-inc/
[7] http://www.thelocal.fr/20160129/it-was-never-in-doubt-paris-crowned-most-admired-city-in-world
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-theresa-may-leaked-document-reveals-still-no-plan-article-50-a7417931.html
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed