Episode 28 - For Love of the Game

It's baseball season! This time of year is almost holy season for some (Smokey among them), and John wonders if he's been missing out on something. Listen in as the two of them try to verbalize all those sappy, touchy-feely things some people seem to feel for our National Pastime.

Download this episode here!

Episode 27 - The Billion-Dollar Comic-Book Movie

"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" has finally hit theaters, and geeks everywhere rejoice! Or do they...? Bad reviews means nerds everywhere are talking their heads off about the movie's faults and/or merits.  What's our take?  Well, give a listen...



Download this episode here!

Episode 26 - You Kids Get Offa My Lawn!!!

A friend of ours was recently the first of our old gang to make it to the age of fifty, and after we got over the thoughts of our own mortality that brought about, we then began thinking about how the world has changed since we were sprouts. You know, like old farts tend to do...



Download this episode here!

Episode 25 - No More Doughnut Money

Most of us aren't Miss Daisy, with someone to drive us where we want to go. The day when we won't have to drive ourselves anywhere at all is fast approaching, however. John and Smokey daydream about self-driving cars, and wonder how the masses may fear the machines taking over yet another of our day-to-day chores.



Download this episode here!

The piece that got us thinking about topic is a little involved, but an interesting read. Check it out, and you may find it describing your own thoughts and/or fears about driver-less cars...

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/01/cover-ride.aspx

Episode 24 - Hooked on Phone-ics

Has anything changed the day-to-day activity of our lives like the smartphone? From communicating to banking to buying movie tickets, the computer we all carry with us has become all but indispensable... but can we become literally addicted to using it... and if we can, is that REALLY so bad? John and Smokey ponder this question, but they do it verbally, and not via text message.



Download this episode here!

Further reading on this subject, which can also be done via smartphone or tablet (in case you can't put those down):

http://time.com/3952333/smartphone-addiction/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201307/smartphone-addiction

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/tech-addiction/

Episode 23 - Haters Gonna Hate

Since Will Smith introduced Mankind to the term "Hater" almost twenty years ago, some people have given greater life to that word than reasonable folk would ever have thought possible. But why??? John and Smokey ponder this deep, deep question... and call that kind of people nasty names...



Download this episode here!

Further reading, if you're so inclined, can include this discussion about Soren Kirkegaard's thoughts on "haters" of the Nineteenth Century:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/13/kierkegaard-diary-bullying-trolling-haters/

and a fairly interesting Huffington Post piece about "haters" today, and what might make them tick:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-s-parks/the-psychology-of-haters_b_7597400.html

Episode 22 - Grow Up, Already!

It's said there's a time to put away childish things and be a man (or woman). Okay, just when is that time? Have you reached it? Being a "grown-up" is a subjective thing. John and Smokey wonder exactly what that means...



Download this episode here!

We learned about some of the Rites of Passage discussed in this show from these articles. Check 'em out for yourself! 

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/13-amazing-coming-of-age-traditions-from-around-th/

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/02/21/male-rites-of-passage-from-around-the-world/