Bad Philosophy » physics

Episode 100: Three. Hundred!

StephenTorrence — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Every once in a blue moon, the stars align, the burritos are just *that* good, and the right people end up coming together somewhat consistently over a three-year period to make something truly special. Such it has been for the last one-hundred (or so) episodes of Bad Philosophy. Ever since that fateful evening at a Freebird’s in Lubbock, Texas, we have laughed, debated, and philosophized down so many rabbit trails with so many wonderful people that it truly blows my mind.

To celebrate Episode 100, we managed to gather the *original* squad of Bad Philosophers who were there at the beginning. Kevin and I trotted down to our local Freebird’s to join Matt Legler via Skype and David Ronderos via Google Chat (!) for a little continuation of our free speech discussion from all those years ago, reignited by the recent BART protests and censorship. Not only this, thanks to Kevin’s quick thinking we managed to record enough episodes to have Episode 100 record on EXACTLY the three-year anniversary of Episode Zero! How’s that for manufactured serendipity? I hope you’d expect nothing less from us after so long.

What was your favorite moment from the last 100 episodes of BF? Let us know in the comments!

This Week’s (Retro) Post-show Song Pimpage: “Pick Up” by Bonobo

Episode 098: Eticat

StephenTorrence — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:14:29 +0000

When was the last time you held a door open for a stranger? Refrained from shaking hands with someone while you were sick? Cringed at dipping from that bleu cheese sauce your friend just dipped in after taking a bite from his chicken strip? Likely you don’t remember specific instances. Etiquette is just a part of what you do. But is there a deeper structure to the actions we take in the name of etiquette? Could there be a science to determine the ideal model for human interaction? In a recent article for Charlie’s Diary, Karl Schroeder poses this question and offers some interesting thoughts on how we might “re-wild etiquette.” Too tempting a topic to pass up, we decided to get the band back together, having Kevin Saunders, Eric Beutlich, and I all in the same place for the first time in years! Magic, beer, and some fresh baked cookies definitely went down. So grab your salad fork, put on your Sunday best, and prepare for some good ol’ fashioned BF! Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Etiquette Song” by the Animaniacs

Question(s) Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Can you copyright the copyright sign?

Episode 062: iKevin2.0.net@blogspot.com

StephenTorrence — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:25:50 +0000

Every once in a while we here at BF like to have a gratuitously self-indulgent show that focuses purely on our own half-baked accomplishments and personal history. This time it was all about the K-man, mister Kevin Saunders himself. We had live Skype callers on the show once again, talked a little history, and answered questions about Kevin and the show. It was a jolly good time. Oh, and apologies for taking so long to upload this one. I was abducted by aliens.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith

Episode 050: Includes Teeth

StephenTorrence — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:24:55 +0000

Can you believe it? Fifty episodes! FIVE OH! Well… that is if you sorta count Episode Zero, don’t count the Lost Episode, count Episode 21b as Episode 21, count Episode 42b as Episode 42, count Episodes 46 and 49 even though they’re video only and… aw, screw it, just humor us, okay?

So in homage to our very first gathering, Kevin, Jed, Bryan, David, Matt, Michael Atellano, and I all gathered at the Freebird’s in Lubbock where it all started over a year ago and recorded the downright s***tiest episode since that fateful day (audio-wise, at least). Plenty of B, sprinkled with a little F, all wrapped up in a FAILtilla – just like you like it. Have a listen (and please, for the love of God, buy something from us). We love you!!!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Title of the Song” by Da Vinci’s Notebook

Episode 040: Meta-Mathic Smackdown

StephenTorrence — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:36:37 +0000

In a world, divided by history, separate but equal, teetering on the brink of the cosmos, one podcast dares to defy the axioms and go where no podcast has gone bef… well you get the idea. This week we’re talking Anathem! Neal Stephenson‘s latest work of spec-fic awesomery is ripe with headiness, so we decided to bring on couple of powerhouses in the brain department. Former-KTXT and current Llano Idea DJ Benjamin Brown returns to duke it out in a literary smackdown for the ages with veteran Bad Philosopher and aspiring YouTube reviewer Kevin Saunders. If this were a book, it’d be a genuine page-turner. But you read with your ears, right? Of course you do. So have a listen…

You also have the option to watch our live Stickam recording below. Join us next Sunday at 12pm CST for Episode 41!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 035: Intellectual Hedonism

StephenTorrence — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:53:47 +0000

Why are we here? What’s this all about? What is my purpose? What is yours? Is there even one at all? These are easy questions to ask, but answering them is a whole different story. Wolfram Alpha has one idea. We’ve got some others. Composing my party in an epic aural quest for the meaning of life, the universe, and everything this week were BF newcomer, veteran philosophy major, and budding teleologist Joshua Clemmons, Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins, and electricity-less Kevin Saunders via Skype. This one’s deep folks. We’re talking Edward Norton in Fight Club deep. Have a listen…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Purpose” from Avenue Q. Puppets with life lessons? Yes, please!

Episode 028: But Is It Science?

StephenTorrence — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:29:31 +0000

Since the dawn of time, man has peered out humbly at the world through his eyeballs and tried to make sense of it all in some systematic fashion. Aristotle famously set this ship of science on its way when he remarked casually one fine Grecian day, “You know, studies show that women have fewer teeth than men.” Of course, he was full of s***, but that’s beside the point! The A-man set a precedent of discourse that has continued to this very day, according to some experts.

On this episode BF embarked on the adventure of video once again, trying and failing to broadcast via Justin.tv and then returning to our loyal stalwart, Stickam. We had Eric Beutlich back on for his second appearance since co-founding the podcast, and numero uno fanboy Jed Cummins once again operated our camera. It wasn’t scientific, it wasn’t pretty, but it was most definitely BF. Have a listen!

This week’s post-roll music: “That Spells DNA” by Jonathan Coulton. Buy it! Download it! Whatever! We love the man and his music, and so should you.

Episode 014: The Jolly Llama

StephenTorrence — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:44:16 +0000

So there we were, sitting in the midst of the collective knowledge of our time. Rows upon rows of books lined up at our sides. The scent of the 1960′s wafting through the air. And then, out of the blue, this llama walks out from behind the geodynamics section, looks at us, and just starts laughing profusely, sending shudders of glee down its long, fuzzy neck. We looked at each other briefly, incredulously, and then all at once… we put away the rest of the acid.

Once our high subsided, we got the strangest urge: to do an episode on religion. It’s controversial, it’s deep, it’s something we’ve never before… it’s totally BF. Though our microphones refused to comply (again!), we completed the episode successfully (albeit in 16kHz… oops). Open your mind, put your bias aside, and indulge us as we tackle one of the biggest questions of all time… “Why be religious?”

(Disclaimer: Bad Philosophy does not endorse the use of illegal hallucinogens. We do not, will not, nor have ever, taken acid, and you shouldn’t either. If you want a trip, watch Fantasia after going 48 hours without sleep. You will never see household mops the same way again…)