Normal Men

Aaron Cohen of Gracie's Ice Cream (@unlikelywords.bsky.social) has a wicked scoop for the Men. George doesn't deliver, Lowtax goes out of his gourd, Ed's interested in principles, and Propter gets stuck.
Note:1) We ran into tech issues post-recording and decided that we would rather release a pretty rough final cut this week than no episode. Sorry about that and we won't be offended if you give it a miss. 2) this is a Nanaimo bar

Ed runs some numbers, George eyeballs the urbs, the Strait gets bent, Lowtax socializes, and Propter gets sloppy.

Episode 49: Texas primaries, North Carolina's political shake-ups, oil prices and the Strait of Hormuz, and EV battery drama with very special guest Aaron Kleinman (@kleinman.bsky.social) from Heartland Signal.  check out his more formal work at https://radio-free-america.beehiiv.com/

Anthropic vs DoD, Iran strikes, Graham Platner's podcast tour, and the gnome bag. Featuring the return of Theophite to talk shrimp.  
Chapters:
0:00 Intro: Anthropic vs. DoD10:00 Claude's Ethical AI Training20:00 DoD's Ultimatum & Anthropic's Red Lines31:00 Anthropic's Rationalist Roots47:00 Hot War with Iran1:04:00 Graham Platner & Antisemitism1:25:00 Public Virtue & AI in Government1:33:00 Outro

Propter's smart home journey goes sideways. Dogs: better evolved than us? The AI chip crisis hits gaming. The Jones Act and the art of the subsidy. Iran, oil, and who benefits. East Coast braces for snow. State shapes are wrong. And maybe log off for a bit.
Chapters:
0:00 Smart Home Tech & APIs4:00 Dogs: Evolution, Senses, & Meds14:00 AI, Chip Crisis & Hardware Prices24:00 Economics of Supply & Demand30:00 The Jones Act: Policy Failure33:00 Biofuels & Commodity Cycles40:00 Geopolitics: US & Iran52:00 Blizzard, Weather & Regional Differences1:03:00 Online Discourse & Context Window

Just desserts, DHS shutdown and caucus integrity, the future of B2B and internal tooling, and the Yakuza games.
Chapters:
0:00 Yakuza & Video Game Franchises5:30 Dessert Discourse & Social Media12:30 Canned Cheese & Weekly News17:30 DHS, Noem, and El Paso Lasers31:15 DHS Shutdown Analysis45:00 Shutdown Impacts & Democratic Strategy56:15 AI & Stock Market Winners/Losers1:02:20 AI's Practicality & Limitations1:16:50 Outro

Normal Astrophysicist Mike Boylan-Kolchin (@mbkplus.bsky.social) joins us to talk about the terrible secret of space and the Lone Star State.  Also:  black olives on tacos, Love Da Seahawks, and Jeff Bezos has some explaining to do.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro and Gooning Culture2:40 Elon's Space Data Centers5:00 Astronomy & Compute13:00 Challenges of Space Data Centers20:00 Economics of Orbital Compute38:00 Taco Discourse & Burrito Bonds54:00 Texas Democratic Primary1:10:00 Republican Primary & Senate Control1:24:00 Universe's End & Super Bowl1:31:00 Outro and Final Thoughts

Normal Woman skelly (@iid.bsky.social) joins us from France to talk about- well, the plan was to talk about the American expat experience in Europe during Trump II but actually it wound up being mostly about comparative educational structure.  we hope you like it.also: Texas Toast (Republican State Senate edition), handicapping 2026, Fed Warsh, Epstein and the shallow bench of evil.ED NOTE: we are unbleeped compared to our usual because Ed is working very hard and is gassed this week.  please be nice to Ed if you see him.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Winter Woes7:06 Skelly: Life in France16:15 Academia: US vs. Europe26:30 College Admissions & Prestige45:46 Admissions: Success & Diversity1:08:40 American Expat Life & Culture1:33:57 Texas Special Election Analysis

Speculative fiction, moderation at scale, radicalization at scale, parenting at low-scale, and turophile priorities with Theophite.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Guest Theophyte4:17 Minneapolis ICE Shooting Fallout21:25 Theophyte's RPG & AI Art34:17 RPG World's Moral Dilemmas44:02 Scale of Civilization & Internet55:42 Parenting in Trump's Second Age1:06:25 Oreo Debate & Losing Control1:09:38 Cougar Gold Cheese & WSU

On dogs, football, Blorth Carolina, the spirit of the cities, Chipotle, why you should care about Claude Code, adventures in transatlanticism, and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Poop Talk5:31 NFL & College Football Review16:53 Indiana Coach's Chipotle Habit26:53 North Carolina Political Landscape43:24 ICE Occupation in Minneapolis53:46 Adventures in AI: Claude Code1:09:36 Trump, Greenland, and NATO