Social Distillation

****Spoilers for Book (Within the listed chapters) and Series*** We separated the WoT discussion for those that just come for that. Here we start where we left off. Perrin and Egwene are with Elyas. We discuss the flight from the Ravens right into the Whitecloaks. The impact of trauma on development. Rand and Matt are on their own now and again we see the maturation process of Rand. His having to take care of Matt is a major growth experience he will need going forward. Last we get philosophical. Fate is a major theme in the books. The wheel of time weaves the pattern and ta'veren are major threads within the pattern. This was a long awaited discussion before we started the book series but Jordan gave us the perfect backdrop.

We both loved our shame vs guilt talk that we wanted to Psaki back to sexy time. Questions sprung up (giggity) about claims I've made about female numbers with respect to infidelity. We thought that would make a good talk, especially since Heath (and his wife) didn't think I had the data to back it up. Well not only did I find the data I needed, I found additional stuff that surprised me as well. Good talk on relationships and sexuality. There's still more on the table so expect this to be continued. This one really kind of addressed a disconnect we had in the other conversations. The key was, Heath was speaking from a perspective of shame while I was speaking from a perspective of guilt. Part 2 is Wheel of Time oriented but we also discuss the concept of free will. I have to do some editing on that since we originally thought we had to do a short one but later in the day found the time to continue the conversation so I have to combine the two recordings.

What happens when two dudes that love to talk philosophy, politics, books, and football get together and drink? Well this happens. This is a goulash of topics that all stem around our philosophy of discourse. Enjoy folks.

I've been looking forward to this one for a while but I'm glad we waited. Shame vs guilt, and how they subconsciously effect decision making and behavior, has been a subject we've had on the shelf for a while. But, adding the empathy vs compassion dichotomy I think made this more complete. So complete we are going to continue this line of thought very soon. Both shared terms sound almost as synonyms but, though they can run in alignment, they actually have very different sources and triggers. Kind of intertwined and in addition to the above conversation is a talk about young men. If we break down social structures that do exist and what groups they effect, it's kind of clear there's a lot going against being a young male these days. This goes across ethnic groups. Should be doing another one this weekend. See y'all then.

This one feels like a continuation of the last episode. Because with that subject and todays subjects, all you have to do is think of who benefits. We explore the Ukraine issue, talk some North Korea, some more covid, housing markets, and a little more covid. Heath brings forward geographic and historical perspectives on the situation and Sam is still fighting for intellectual consistency. The Ukraine discussion also gives another good example of how the conversation should go between people who are of differing opinions on the global role of our military.

Episode 52 is split into two parts because we wanted to cover two major subjects without either being drowned out by just being second. So if you're here for Wheel of Time then watch this one. For social philosophy watch part 2. Would love if you watch both of course. Part two takes concepts from this part of the books to apply to current events. We start just after Shadar Logoth. Nyneave and her internal duality conflict. Perrin meeting Elyas and Egwene starting to really assert herself. Rand and Matt with the guidance of Thom. Enjoy. Like, Sub, Share and keep reading. Also, share your thoughts below. I read them all and try to respond. Sorry if we're slow. Not our full time job.

As is the trend this week we had to address the Rogan issue. The main point is that people are using a word, misinformation, without actually knowing what they are using it for. Most people screaming it haven't even watched the episodes in question. Even most of the people supporting him can't even tell you what was good and bad about those episodes. Obviously we support his ability to provide a platform for all views about the current situation so we pivot to how many times we've been flagged for our information unjustly given the current facts. Last, we discuss the new name for what was formerly the Washington Redskins. A little history of the faux controversy and some standard grumpy bitching and moaning. Thanks to our subscribers and help spread the word.

** Spoilers** Back to the Books. Other than an of hand comment here and there, we stick to only WoT on this one. This week we cover the last few hours in Baerlon for the Two Rivers crew, the flight from Trollocs, and the night in Aridhol. More depth into Nyneave and Min as strong female characters and how Jordan made that engaging vs modern cinema. Also, we go into a little of the differences you see in Padan Fain as he's reintroduced. Not too much detail though as it might be a spoiler for some things later. Enjoy!

No Wheel of Time today. It's all omni bug talk. First we start with the current state of affairs by the numbers. Just a review of the US data. Then Sam starts off with looking back at the statements we've made and the other "Dr. Evil" experts that have been banned and slandered over the last couple of years. Kind of an audit of sorts on what was shown to be correct, what was gotten wrong, and what we still don't know. Then Heath pulls out the documents exposed by Veritas about what was known by the authorities when we needed to know it the most. All the segments carried a little of heat. I'm pretty sure it's easy to see the frustration with the narratives and what they've cost this nation and the world. Link to documents: https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/2mVob3c1aDd8CNvVnyei6n/95af7dbfd2958d4c2b8494048b4889b5/JAG_Docs_pt1_Og_WATERMARK_OVER_Redacted.pdf

**Spoilers** Both the Series and the book through the listed chapters. Here we are again. At the beginning of this podcast series, we voiced our concerns about wokeness ruining our favorite books. It did. But here we re-evaluate some things. In previous episodes we busted the balls of the show-runner. Linked below however, we have a lovely article with Hollywood insider whistleblowers on the current environment. So for the first part of this episode we put ourselves in the place of a showrunner that may have had little choice in a lot of the changes. The second half is a continuing with the book read through discussion. We start back up in chapter 5. There are some hiccups because both of our schedules were erratic but we wanted to get our thoughts fully out. We had to take some breaks for work and family stuff but we got it together. Hopefully we're taking this in some places most readers might not go on their own. For example, the biology behind the trauma these kids faced during Winternight and how that would effect the subsequent dicisions. Link on Hollywood: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/hollywoods-new-rules?s=07&fbclid=IwAR2muRNWGAqwFM_Uowc7g1qVs84nSLawa54GN1TEtcheH_bfVTvR--_M65k

*SPOILER ALERT* Details of the books. We're spending the Amazon series break to go through the books. We do chapter 1-5 here. Heath is re-reading and Sam very recently read the whole series. In depth analysis and some comparisons to the series. Please comments below and we'll try and address any questions and concerns as we go on.

We got together for the new year. Here we do a live evaluation for knee and back health. Sorry Wheel of Time friends but we take a break after the finale. I hope this is useful as well though. It's always been my thought that instead of just idolizing the comics and stories, we should actually embody them. Part one is the evaluation with commentary and section 2 is shop talk on fitness and how we approach the subject. Mostly, Sam is upset with the lack of acknowledgement of fitness research. It's a heavily studied industry. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of crap science. (this is why we're so good at sifting through the crap science in today's scene). As stated in the video, I would love to talk with some other youtube science channels that downplay the importance of what we do in the gym. Let us know. Ask questions. Leave your comments.

Three part episode. Not a Wheel of Time episode though we are going to start a series in between seasons of the show where we dive into the books. Part one is about politics and religion. More specifically about remaining apolitical even though we are intertwined within the same framework. Point one, if your belief compels you to respect authority, what happens if authority forces you to compromise another belief? And second, what if you run under the idea that we the people are the actual authority? Part two we use an anecdote to talk specific ideology on medical reform. Fixing the bugs in the system is our aim. Part three we break down covid numbers as of this last week and talk about why omnibug is so contagious as well and what it may mean for us in the near future

Well here we are. The season finale of this shit show. There are some major issues with the adaptation that we successfully predicted early on and it seems like we'll continue to be correct in our pessimism. Luckily I took notes and we scene by scene this episode. Actually we do come across some good things as well. Then we talk about the business end of activism in cinema. How certain companies get away with is while you see others do more to create quality products. Hope y'all enjoy and share.

We came back to have something more specific to episode 7 of Wheel of Time series. We thought it would be short and sweet but there's just so much to say about what's going on with this series. It's equal parts just not very good and the activism that may be the root of the issues. More on that in the episode.

Originally planned to have The Affable Gentleman on for a Witcher preview before season 2 but he had some technical difficulties. So we just gave our opinions based on season 1 and Sam's playing of the game. We will have Chuck on shortly and have watched the series at least to some degree by then. This kinda went all over the place in entertainment. Witcher, MCU, Netflix Marvel, WoT, LotR, and Tommy Boy(?!?!). We understand screen adaptations are difficult. This was more a session on when they went good and when they left us wanting. Also, to keep with our other themes, how activism ruins great concepts. We finish with some WoT griping about Episode 7. We're going to do another one tomorrow because we just needed more time. Thank you so much to all our commenters. Please subscribe and share. I can't tell you how great it is to be building a community here and frankly we've been toying with a live WoT finale episode that we'd love to do live with participation.

So after a little break we get back at it. Here's the commentary including examples of Sanderson's thoughts. Also included are social media commentary from what I call the real target audience. And if you don't like the direction of the film then shut up bigot.

There was a miscommunication while playing with a concept. Heath suggested doing a live watch and reaction episode of the last (he meant final) episode and Sam thought he meant last (most recent) episode. So when we got together Sam hadn't watched yet so we did a dry run of sorts with a live reaction. If you haven't watched the episode then we let you know the time stamp that we start and all the points we pause for commentary. Again it was first run and there is some dead time just watching so if you're looking for pure commentary the time stamps will be posted and Part 2 will be all review of the episode and our thoughts on it.

We start this one off bitching and moaning about our college football team losing their conference championship game. Also, eliminating any chance of getting into the national championship picture. Then we go into why it may not have even mattered. Then back to the Wheel of Time series. It keeps getting ok then so much worse. This time we try and talk up the good points of the series before we rant about how far from the books they are.

We took a break from WoT to revisit my recent trip to Germany. They were in the midst of increasing restrictions so we didn't get to do much. Luckily the main reason for the visit was to see family and not to travel sightseeing. In our talk about the restrictions and the environment, we come across a possible slippery slope argument. Here we address how to argue the slope but not be caught in the fallacy. And, in doing so, address how incremental moves become almost addictive in the correct situations.

*Spoiler Alert. For both the series and the books* Well. We've watched the first four available episodes and here we go. First of all, the initial WoT episode has been our most popular. Thanks so much for the comments. Even the dislikes. One dislike also added a comment and that's awesome. Also, it was good to get feedback from people who haven't read but just watched. Of course, we do have to bitch and moan as fans of the book series. And, problems are abound in so many ways. We don't even dive into the wokeness until after about an hour and a half of bitching. Keep the comments coming. If you like it then hit that thumbs up when you do. Subscribe and share. We're still getting this down and the interaction really helps. Be back Sunday after watching episode 5.

As promised last time, we talk about one of our favorite book series of all time as it's being released in film form. We wanted to get this one in before we got to watch the series, cause as we said, we want to be open to eating crow if we're wrong. If you're frustrated like us with activism taking over our entertainment then you'll like this one. Then we pivot and rant about the Rittenhouse case. Not so much the legal stuff as it's neither of our lane, but the narratives being spun off of it. As of the filming and this writing, there was still no verdict.

This one is kind of long as we dive deeper into Charles Murray. For those that watched, Sam broke down Murray's latest book "Facing Reality." Here we dive into "Coming Apart." He breaks the issues facing class and white America into subcategories he labels as virtues. This one goes long as we break each one down and our own take on what these virtues contribute and why. This one allows some heterodox discussion since we obviously have differences in opinion on such issues as religion and marriage.

We start with talk of training while considering high blood pressure. Dive a little into the literature on long term effects of resistance training vs the immediate risks. Here's a link to the Mayo Clinic paper I suggest taking to your doctor. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/expert-answers/weightlifting/faq-20058451 Next we dive into more Woke NFL talk. Sam bit the bullet and watched the Kap "documentary; "Colin in Black and White." You get a full review of all six episodes plus talk of the main theme. Is the industry of American Football systemically racist? Let us know what you think. As usual, like and subscribe. Share with your friends and bring them into the discussion. We want the challenge and welcome heterodox discussion.

So we're finally here folks. We've touched a few third rails but now we super glued our balls to it with a train coming...... (For anyone who's watched a Patrick Moore interview, that's a reference.) We start to break down "Facing Reality" by Charles Murray. He was the controversial author of "The Bell Curve." This is a rail cause it discusses IQ and crime differences across racial lines. Where it probably will be clipped is "the numbers are correct." What will be ignored is the fact that he's fundamentally flawed in his conclusions and his lack of rigor in the follow up. Some slack for lack of expertise, but some responsibility for not involving those who have it. Like etc. and comment. As was shown in the last episode, we want debate.