03 March 2011
By StephenTorrence
In Podcast
Imagine yourself stuck in a mine. It’s just you and two other people, and the food runs out. One of the others pulls you aside and suggests the unthinkable. You’re mortified… but that third survivor’s thighs look as tasty as a 50-piece Nugget Meal from McDonald’s. What do you do? The prospect of cannibalism continues to fascinate humanity, and we here at BF are no exception. This episode Kiki, Kevin, and I dive deep into this forbidden dish and explore our boundaries on the issue. Where a couple of us draw the line may surprise you! So put on your best chain mail, grab some tasty insect munchies, and bring down that bottle of your best BBQ sauce, it’s time for BF…
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This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Timothy” by The Buoys
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Allan Hutcheson, animals, Apple, ASL, auto-tune, cannibalism, causation, Chad Ocho Cinco, chimpanzees, Dr. Kevorkian, England, Escape from Spiderhead, ethics, Every Which Way But Loose, evolution, facial hair, Fear Factor, firing squad, Geico, Hannibal Lector, hipsters, humanity, insects, inventions, John Hodgman, Kevin, Kiki, law, long pig, Michael Crichton, murder, numerology, Penn and Teller, PETA, separation thesis, Shake-Weight, Snuggie, songsigning, Star Wars, Stephen, Steve Jobs, survival, TED, The Star, ThinkGeek
14 February 2011
By StephenTorrence
In Podcast
Ever get the feeling that society is holding you back? Like a ball and chain are just wrapped around your ankles, and if you could only break free and be your own person, the world would miraculously become your sandbox? Well according to Ayn Rand, that ball and chain are nothing more than your own inhibitions. Success is there for the taking! Oh, but just remember to bring a plow.
This week on BF we tackle quite possibly the most controversial piece of philosophical literature ever to spend 50 years in development hell before they finally made a crappy movie out of it: Atlas Shrugged. Joining me to bite into this tasty morsel were recent Rand reader Jed Cummins and reliable Rand resister Kiki Canon. Ready for some self-interested Objectivismania? Well get on board!
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This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “The Trees” by Rush (suggested by @treycaliva)
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Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, capitalism, communism, Descartes, education, epistemology, ethics, Google, happiness, Jediah, Kiki, literature, metaphysics, Monopoly, oil, politics, pragmatism, rational egoism, rationality, reason, Sarah Palin, snow, Stephen, sustainability, The Fountainhead, utilitarianism
04 February 2011
By StephenTorrence
In Podcast
President Obama’s State of the Union address? Meh. Practicing all your life one of two classical instruments because your mother says so? Snore. Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes? F***ING AWESOME. Okay, so we couldn’t exactly hit the mediocrity hat trick. BUT on a week when Internets were down in Egypt and Chicago, sickness spread across the nation, and broom closets became our only refuge, we still managed to pull together a whopper of an episode for you peeps. Enjoy it while sitting by a warm fire, sipping some hot cocoa as you await your inevitable frozen fate this fine winter…
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This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: Jascha Heifetz plays Ibert “Le Petit Âne Blanc”
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American exceptionalism, Amy Chua, AT&T, atheism, Barack Obama, Bill Corbett, CERN, China, Community, diversity, Egypt, electric cars, FermiLab, George W Bush, Golden Globes, JFK, Keith Olbermann, Kenny G, Kevin, Kevin Murphy, Kiki, Mark Zuckerberg, NASA, Neil DeGrass Tyson, parenting, piano, politics, religion, Ricky Gervais, Robert Heinlein, State of the Union, Stephen, Texas Tech University, They Might Be Giants, Twitter, Uverse, violin, Wall Street Journal, Weird Al Yankovic
19 January 2011
By StephenTorrence
In Podcast
Imagine if falling in love was as easy as taking a pill. Scary? Exciting? Kind of rad? Well, to make up for the distinct lack of anything resembling actual philosophy last week, we decided to delve straight into this and other hardcore questions, courtesy of George Saunders and his recent short story in The New Yorker. Don’t let the sub-par audio or the happy-go-lucky children chuckling in the background of Panera Bread fool you. We got REAL SERIOUS AND STUFF. You can tell by the caps lock. Drip on? Hell yeah!
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This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “I Feel Fantastic” by Jonathan Coulton
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Anathem, apocalypse, Battlefield Earth, brain, connectome, consequentialism, Cryptonomicon, deontology, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, drugs, emotion, Escape from Spiderhead, ethics, experimentation, George Saunders, harm principle, identity theory, Kevin, love, MLK Day, Neal Stephenson, Panera Bread, personal identity, phenomenology, Philip K. Dick, philosophy of mind, psychotropic drugs, Rifftrax, science, scientology, sex, Snow Crash, Stephen, The Baroque Cycle, The Giver, The New Yorker, zombies
19 January 2011
By StephenTorrence
In Announcements
So kudos to Kevin for noticing that we are (and apparently have been) on the Guide to Online Schools’ list of the “Top 50 Philosophy Podcasts.” Number TWO, to be precise. I have no idea what criteria these folks use, or even who is doing the criteria determination, so I have no clue who to thank or why, but… wow! On behalf of everyone here at BF, I’d like to say we’re flattered and honored and humbled and well… just downright grateful that someone’s actually listening.
Oh and rest assured, this doesn’t change a thing. We may be a Thing, but we’ll keep doing our thing just as long as you keep enjoying this thing. Pinky promise.
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