The ADK Homeroom: Recent Episodes
Frank/T Shield Studios, LLC
Commentary on news, art, and ideas from a libertarian and rationalist perspective. Science, politics, education, sports, and culture from a teacher exiled from the classroom because of mask mandates. Plus quizzes!
A self-help episode! Many people, including MSNBC's Hayes Brown, are starting to doubt the CDC. Some might say: about time! But plenty of people are still struggling with their CDC trust issues. This episode is for them!
I traveled through four states over the holidays. New York's mask culture is the worst, but it is useful for highlighting the futility and harm of mask mandates.
Evergrande is a perfect example of the CCP walking the line between socialism and capitalism. This comes after China has for three decades been consistently more capitalist than the US. The US's slide into socialism and the CCP's embrace of capitalist economics coupled with authoritarian politics increases the chance we will see the Worst Black Swan.
Even the APS recently ran a misleading piece about fusion energy at the NIF. Let's learn about energy and see how two recent news pieces either get it wrong or mislead readers.
How do you put students first in a lesson plan? I use a lesson on Millay's "I being born a woman and distressed" sonnet to demonstrate one way.
Ghostbusters has a 95% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes. Does it deserve it? Heck yes it does! Let's look at what makes this such a fun film. Plus the news of the day including new Twitter CEO and a South African doctor on the Xi variant.
It's too early to know much for certain about the Xi* variant, but the politics are pretty clear. Also politics of NCAA football and more news from the Thanksgiving weekend.
*Omicron, if you want to use the CCP-approved term.
Audio quality warning: my kids were causing a ruckus.
Let's run down the news and all the poor word choices that people are making. Eddie Redmayne forgets what the word 'actor' means, Biden and Yellen forget what the word 'transitory' means, and more.
Also, I did make a mistake here. I said that Jimmy Carter tapped the strategic oil reserves. He didn’t! Although the construction on the Strategic Petroleum Reserves did start under Carter, he didn’t ever enact a drawdown. I blame the kids for distracting me. :)
I've seen a lot of 'fake news' about esports. Even people who play one particular game or another are often ignorant of the esports business as a whole. How big is the business? Which countries are leading? Let's look at the numbers.
A lot happened this week! Biden, Gyllenhaal-Swift shade, James Chappel on Bobby Duffy and The Generation Myth, Oliver Traldi on Ibram Kendi. Plus an E. Paul Torrance creativity quiz and a Dune pop culture quiz!
Over the last decade, neuroscientists have been able to extract words, images, and memories from a person's brain. If this technology becomes fast, portable, and accurate, what will change in our world? Let the speculation begin!
The mind-reading theme continues! I talk about Wilbur's great poem "The Mind-Reader" as well as two excellent poems from Daniel Galef. Herrick's "Upon Scobble" makes a cameo. EDIT: Apologies! I confused Daniel and David Galef! This is DANIEL Galef, of course! Mea culpa.
Today we review the state of technologies that have the potential to read thoughts. This episode looks at fMRI, BrainGate-style meshes, gaze cameras, pulse oximetry, and more. This is a part 1; part 2 will look at at the cultural and societal implications that may accompany the advent of ubiquitous mind-reading technology.
Why should you welcome being at fault? People try to avoid it, but there's power in responsibility. Also covered today: Red Notice and art appreciation plus three notes on inflation (eg the price of gas has decreased 30% from the beginning of the year as long as you are measuring in bitcoin: 75 microbitcoin/gallon on 1/1/21 and 52 microbitcoin/gallon today).
The rational altruist movement has noble goals. Are they on the right track to achieving them? I think they are overlooking a fundamental issue.
Which is closer to reaching its potential, physics or poetry? Who is maximizing their resources better, the gaming industry or the FDA? This gap between achievement and potential is the subject of today's podcast.
It's Poetry Wednesday! Both poems are published this month in the excellent Better Than Starbucks at betterthanstarbucks.org. First up is Richard Wakefield's "The Flesh Remembers." Next up is Jared "The Legend" Carter's "Listen." Enjoy!
The UN projects the world population to stabilize near 11 billion in 2100. But there is an evolutionary counter-argument that says fertility rates will rebound, and the world population will continue to increase, not stabilize. Let's investigate that counter-argument.
Wallace Stevens would appreciate this episode! Daylight savings time, Russian defenestration, Elon Musk vs. Ron Wyden, wild hogs attacking Shakira, and Keats' Ode accused of sexual harassment. No better way to start your Monday!
Who made bad decisions this week? Lots of people. Let's learn from them. Tony Fauci, Henry Ruggs III, Terry "Dream Journal" McAuliffe, and Dr. Youn on TikTok talking about penile length related to nose size. And if you know the Robert Herrick poem "The Vine," you know how well it fits in!
Today I take a lighter look at some absurd items in the news. Terry McAuliffe's bad day, Olivia Rodrigo's visit to the White House, Robert Durst, and the USS Connecticut running into a mountain.
Let's look at two recent poems from Plough: Andrew Frisardi's "An Old Cassette-Letter" and Jean Kreiling's "After Helping My Father Rake the Leaves."
The VA election, the Nigerian high-rise collapse, Pakistan banning hugs on TV, American Airlines, COP26 and US CO2 emissions. Lots to cover today!
The same arguments against libertarianism come up again and again. All Saints' Day is a good day to shoot them down one at a time.
What makes the cut this week? Squid Game vs. LeBron James, PETA, DaBaby, good ol' Riley Finn, and not so good ol' Andrew Cuomo. Plus the moms of Slate's Care and Feeding and more!
Not everyone who supports Anthony Fauci is a zombie, but many of his supporters believe blindly in anything that he or the public health security apparatus says. These are the Fauci zombies, and this is your field guide to identifying and understanding them.
Rounding up all the news from the past week. In particular, I talk about the 'nightmare scenario' in physics and the new focus on interpretations of quantum mechanics that the scenario has spurred.
It's Poetry Tuesday! Time to go through half a dozen of my favorite lilies from issue 4 of Bad Lilies. Poems from Amit Majmudar, Penelope Shuttle, L Kiew, and Naush Sabah.
Dune is a spectacular movie. Sophisticated but accessible aesthetics and delicious space opera exploits. We've had some recent surprises (Cruella!) with movies being anti-woke. Where does Dune fit on the woke spectrum?
Who makes the cut this week? Montrezl Harrell and Drake, Candace Owens, Tony Fauci, Li Yundi, and more!
Harvard professor Joe Allen just published a piece in the Washington Post calling for school mask mandates to be lifted by January 1st at the latest. He's right, of course. Let's go through his argument and also check his sources for his claim that masks do work.
In honor of Halloween, we're hosting the first podcast Squid Game Costume Contest. Let's see how Squid Game's fantastic costumes stack up against other iconic costumes from the history of Hollywood. The first ten minutes of this episode is a news round-up; jump to 10:20 mark for the Costume Contest.
A banger of an episode. A friend asks me, "Why don't we see more intellectuals emphasize uncertainty in the face of a novel pandemic? Why aren't intellectuals questioning the costs of various mandates instead of only ever talking about the benefits?" That provoked me a bit. We need our intellectual class to be better! We need them to stand up and be aggressive, clear, and passionate in calling out pseudo-science and the pretenders in the ivory tower.
The Financial Times broke the story of China's successful and stunning hypersonic weapons system test in August. What is a fractional orbital bombardment system, and how should we change our thinking in light of China's success?
It's Friday and that means poetry! With everything that we've been hearing about "following the science," let's look at two science poems from John Updike. Both of these poems deserve greater recognition than they have been given, so give them a listen!
I was pounding on the table for this one! I love pop culture, but it is a constant source of WTF moments. This week we focus on Demi Lovato defending the honor of aliens and the new Matt Damon & Adam Driver movie The Last Duel.
The second in our series giving you detailed walk-throughs on how to teach liberty in your classroom! This episode covers days 2 and 3. Come on down, let's play the Price is Right liberty-style!
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show debuted in 1997 and quickly became the subject of academic studies. But not enough attention has been paid to how Buffy evolved from and grew beyond the Stan Lee revolution in the 20th century.
Ten covid predictions covering the origins of the virus, the end of the supply chain and energy shortage problems, and the hypocrisy of the elite on masking laws.
Pop culture never fails to offer up plenty of foolishness, week after week. This week's list includes Adele, Urban Meyer, Meghan Trainor, and Dave Chappelle. Plus a bonus Poetry Friday poem for Columbus Day weekend!
A video of Ayn Rand in 1963 answering questions about vaccine mandates has been making the rounds, and predictably, people have been pointing out that she only considers simple, ideal cases where a vaccinated person is 100% protected and an unvaccinated person poses a risk only to herself. My point in this shorter podcast is that ideal cases are still very useful to consider, even when the real world issue is not ideal.
What do you do on the very first day with kids in front of you ready to learn about liberty, free trade, and Enlightenment values? You do this amazing experiment. I've done this in class many times and kids always come away smiling, laughing, and knowing the difference between free trade and socialism.
Squid Game has taken the #1 spot on Netflix. Everyone and his brother is going to be a triangle, circle, square, or Front Man for Halloween. But is the show any good?
I love poetry, so this episode in our series "What Kids Are Actually Learning" is one of my favorites. I cover the AP literature poetry curriculum here, including what poets and poems it recommends and what it has to say about tropes like metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.
What are American teens actually learning in History class? It's not a secret. When the only textbook you use is Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, you're getting a skewed view of history. Recent state test questions make that obvious.
This week's top five feature a senator, a conservator, a cardinal, a double dose of Disney, and multiple reminders of the important upcoming holiday, October 3rd, Mean Girls Day. What a week it has been!
A. E. Stallings just published "Peacocks" in the London Review of Books. Let's talk about this exquisite poem, as well as a couple of other peacock-y poems.
Vaccine mandates went into effect in New York state this week, and if President Biden gets his way, they will be in effect across the US soon. It's time to talk about the flawed moral principle that is used to justify these mandates.
Stan Lee is one of the two most underrated literary figures of the 20th century. One key idea turned his characters and his art onto a new path and enabled his success.
This third part to the Modernist Turn in Art series is a short addendum discussing self-deception and whether or not the Modernist turn and its consequences were deliberate.
This is a continuation of yesterday's investigation into the Modernist turn in Art. In other words, why does modern art suck (part 2)? Today we get into architecture and music.
Scott Alexander has a blog post up titled "Whither Tartaria?" wherein he discusses why we have had the so-called Modernist turn in art. In other words, why does modern art suck? Scott is a super smart guy, but I think he misses on this one. This is a topic that has been of interest to me for years. Here is my explanation.
I love to tell stories. These are the best ones that I've found to tell in my 25 years in the classroom, and for each one, I'm mentioning a few tips on how to tell it. Bonus: three stories that you should avoid at almost all cost!
This is our weekly news round-up. Two physics news items: haptic holograms and quantum spin ice. Plus insights on Evergrande, the Sussman indictment, and Anders Tegnell taking a victory lap in Sweden.
Before the pandemic, many people held that climate change was by far the most important threat that humanity faced. Has the pandemic given us evidence to change that thinking?
Bonus: an E. Paul Torrance creativity quiz!
Continuing the "what kids are actually learning in school" series. This time we're looking at the hidden curriculum. Politics and values are being modeled and taught; we should examine how and to what end.
I couldn't resist! So much foolishness around the pop culture world this week: MJ vs. Drake (as if!), supermodel Doutzen Kroes, Nicole Ritchie setting her hair on fire blowing out birthday candles, Daniel Craig, and more!
Great episode today, the second in a series: What are your kids learning in class? Today it's English class. Here's one hint: last year, none of my 10th graders knew who Mark Twain was. So what are the kids learning instead? Find out!
It seems impossible to believe that Disney would release an anti-woke movie. But when you hire the woman who wrote the screenplay for 50 Shades of Grey to do your black-and-white Dalmations movie, you don't always get woke. Fascinating and subversive messaging in Cruella.
By request, the "what your kids are learning" series continues. Today it's science. The Next Generation Science Standards leave out circuits almost entirely. The state of science education has a lot of room for improvement.
We had a fantastic soccer tournament at Westport last weekend, but the hypocrisy surrounding masks was stunning. It's all about signaling, just like it was for Agamemnon and Achilles in the Iliad!
First in a requested series: What are kids learning in school?
We're starting with what kids are learning about mental health in school. The data on this point is very disturbing, both in my school and in many schools across the US.
Let's take a close look at the factors that went into my school district being able to remain open 5 days per week, for all students, in person, all last year. Why could we do it when almost every other district was fully or partially remote?
Covering the news: Is Mark Milley a traitor? What happened with the BU professor who fell through a stairway to his death? Did XENON1T find dark energy? More on the Yale Bangladesh mask RCT.
Plus the Friday pop culture quiz!
Topics inside the classroom and outside. If you haven't talked to a teenager in a couple of decades, you might be surprised. Plus an E. Paul Torrance fluency quiz! And of course the Science Fact of the Day answering the question: How is laser light different from normal light?
Today we change up the format a bit. As always, we start with the Science Fact of the Day (you have many more than five senses), but then we focus on a single topic. I received some feedback saying that I hadn't given enough time to the 20 T magnet at MIT and that this was a fascinating topic. So today, I cover in detail why it's newsworthy, what nuclear fusion is, how it's different from nuclear fission, and why fusion power has the potential to change the world.
Emily Dickinson at the end!
The E. Paul Torrance flexibility quiz is back! My dog charges through the studio, but we still manage to talk about Luis Elizondo's new book, New York's new vaccine mandates, the effect of public preschool on IQ, and Biden claiming that Nevada has wetlands and that 'tornadoes' is a term no longer used.
Back half of the show we continue to look at longevity and discuss half a dozen anti-aging treatments finally in studies now that people have realized that old age is a disease.
I was crashing around the walls of my studio on this one! In-depth discussion of the vaccine mandate and the two legal precedents, Jacobsen v. Massachusetts and Zucht v. King. Also Newton's Great Synthesis, China bans all new video games, Megan Fox's VMA dress, and MIT's new 20 T magnet potentially guiding the way to useful fusion.
Then we talk possible near-future advances: today it's biogerontology and metformin. I quote Shakespeare and Urkel in the same sentence. Listen, learn, and enjoy!
This is the episode with the Mackinaw Island Stomach Pumper! Straight up from the Straits! That means we talk about Dr. William Beaumont's legendary gastric science advances along with what's been happening: Biden's vaccine mandate, NY banning gas-powered car sales after 2035, the Matrix Resurrections trailer, and of course the Friday Pop Culture Quiz.
The second half of the show is a closer look at how government spending crowds out social and technological advances. Plus a Rilke poem!
First episode of the podcast!
Today's Science Fact of the Day covers why you can hear around a corner but you can't see around a corner. Then we talk about the Falstaff character in Shang-chi, RSV in Wisconsin, Michael K. Williams and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Plus there's an E. Paul Torrance flexibility quiz inspired by Labor Day.
We finish up with the start of our Bastiat "That Which Is Unseen" series. Today we're focusing on NASA's Orion Project and what could have been.
Second episode of the podcast features the Rees vs. Pinker bet and the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Also: the original Oklo reactor, the coup in Guinea, and ranking existential threats according to Toby Ord.
Bastiat's "That Which Is Unseen" segment on nuclear power, the costs of climate change, and we begin to look at the FDA and the cost of the regulatory burden.
Banger of an episode. Talking about the fall of Australia, Helen Hulick vs. mask mandates, Donda-inspired E. Paul Torrance fluency quiz, and the three big trials of the day. Then a close look at how the US FDA wastes money, covers up malfeasance, and prevents people from getting the life-saving treatments they need. The Bostwick consistometer makes its first appearance on the podcast!
We end with "The Windhover" by Hopkins. Must listen!