Curmudgeon's Corner

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk movies, tariffs, and Elon. This time not just one movie, but a whole bunch of movies. And on tariffs, yes, it has been covered before. But there was new stuff this week. TACO! And Elon, what is there to say about Elon. The ineffectiveness of DOGE? The rumored throuple? Yes. All of that. And MORE!   Show Details: Recorded 2025-05-31 Length...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Ivan and Sam discuss have a big mix of topics. They discuss networks, microphones, movies, Biden, and recent developments in AI. All the stuff. So not all politics this time, and they left a lot of that kind of thing on the table this time. There is enough of that all the rest of the time. So a change is nice. And you still get some Biden, so there ya go.   S...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan are joined by Todd for an extensive conversation of the impact of Trump's tariff policies through the lens of his experience in the solar power industry. Then he sticks around for a more general conversation on reactions to Trump, and strategies for dealing with him. Plus the usual tangential side treks.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-05-17 Lengt...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about stuff. And more stuff, then some other stuff. You know, the usual. Fine, you actually want to know some of the stuff? Thermostats. iPads. The Karate Kid. India/Pakistan. Tariffs. Supply chains. Arresting Newark's Mayor. That good enough for you?   Show Details: Recorded 2025-05-10 Length this week 1:47:30 0:01:13 - But First Thermostat...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan review the first 100 days of the second Trump presidency. And that is enough of that for politics. So they also discuss social media for the first time in awhile, especially the rise of BlueSky over the last few months. Plus some on excessive employer expectations, and a movie review. Enjoy!   Show Details: Recorded 2025-05-03 Length this week 2...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam needed to do the show a few days early because he is having some light outpatient surgery and didn't want to record the show with bandages on, and Ivan obliged. After chatting about that you get some of the usual Trump stuff, the Pope died, some movie discussions, and maybe there are aliens? All the sort of stuff you expect. So there it is. Enjoy!   Show...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan hit the obvious Trump related economic and legal stuff. Plus movies, actors, and funerals. And a quick run through of other smaller things too. Yes, the Trump stuff dominates. How can it not? But they squeeze in some other stuff too. And you should too. There ya go.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-04-18 Length this week 2:05:44 0:03:08 - But First...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam goes mostly solo, but Ivan does send in his thoughts on the latest tariff developments. Because of course he couldn't miss that part. Aside from the economy entering a self-inflicted death spiral, other topics include SCOTUS on Kilmar Garcia, Psych the Movie, and the perils of blindly following GPS instructions.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-04-12 Length...

So, on this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan only briefly manage to talk about other things before being consumed by Trump's tariffs. From the initial announcement to the impact on the markets to the more general economic impacts to what might happen next and the political impact. All the fun stuff.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-04-05 Length this week 2:00:37 0:01:10 - Part One Folk R...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Ivan is with his family for Spring Break, so Sam fed a recent transcript of the show into ChatGPT and created IvanGPT, who cohosts this week's show instead. They talk about the obligatory Yemen Signal group thing, and the dichotomy between Activists and Politicians, but also the dangers of AI fakes, and lots more. You'd never know the cohost was an AI. Cough. &nbsp...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Ivan is traveling, so Sam is joined by his wife Washington State Representative Brandy Donaghy, who gives some insights to the goings on in the State Legislature, including the current state budget issues. Plus her take on the national situation. Before that though, a review of a documentary on an old family friend.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-03-22 Lengt...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan talk about the latest Government Shutdown and related drama, and how some Democrats are rising to the moment, and others are just... not. They also discuss all the recent stock market turmoil and implications for the larger economy. Plus also how immigrants see the US, low information voters, Tesla, Musk, travel bans... and Stargate SG-1!   Show D...

Ivan is out, so Sam brings on Ed to cohost this time, who with his medical background gives us a full helping of medical news, from the measles and bird flu outbreaks, to discussion of preventative medicine, and even Gene Hackman's death. Not everything is medical though. We also get trip reports from India and Nepal, discussion of private prisons, and Ralph Breaks the Internet!   Show Detail...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Ivan and Sam go into the Trump vs Zelenskyy spat in the Oval Office and all the downstream implications of the radical change in US foreign policy direction. Plus a discussion of how various media outlets, and the corporate world more generally are obeying in advance. But first! An outing in a fast car, and a review of the 2016 version of Ghostbusters!   Show...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan hit all the political highlights in the middle segment of the show. And for the last segment, by special request, they discuss recent plane crashes. But before all of that, gardening, science fairs, and the TV show Bones. Plus bonus hemorrhoids! You all wanted that, didn't you?   Show Details: Recorded 2025-02-22 Length this week 2:12:05 0:01:16...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan talk about Trump and Musk and Adams, including tariffs and deficits and foreign policy and approval numbers. You know. All the stuff. Plus Sam liked The Mitchells vs the Machines. And there ya go. A show. A short show. But a show.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-02-14 Length this week 1:21:27 0:00:22 - But First World Too Small Sam Movie: The Mitc...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Ivan returns to the fold and joins Sam to talk about stuff. The usual stuff. Like birthday celebrations, iPads, and busy offices. But then yeah, of course the majority of the show is about everything going on with the still young second Trump presidency. Because of course it is. It is unavoidable.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-02-08 Length this week 2:03:46 0:...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Ivan calls out to celebrate his birthday, so Sam is joined by guest host Bruce, who picks this week's topics. After the usual frothy stuff at the start of the show, we get an update on what happened with Oceangate, a discussion of the implications of Deepseek, and Bruce's libertarian take on the first 11 days of the Trump presidency.   Show Details: Recorde...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan can't avoid it any more, and start talking about the new Trump presidency. They talk specifically about the January 6th pardons and the actions against DEI programs, but more generally they talk about how to Trump everything is about commanding attention. Plus a few other random things to round things out.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-01-25 Lengt...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan seemingly do everything they can to avoid talking about the end of the Biden presidency and the impending start of Trump's. So the topics are Starship exploding, attending inaugural balls (not Trump's though!), email classification and spam filtering, and the TikTok ban. And extra bonus strange noises at the end.   Show Details: Recorded 2025-0...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Ivan and Sam return to the normal format. No predictions, just yammering about stuff. On the serious side we have Zuck's changes at Meta, the fires in LA, and, of course, Trump. On the lighter side we have discussions of taking time off, returning to the office, and the importance on not pinching pennies on your chair. So there ya go!   Show Details: Recorded...

A year and a week ago, Sam and Ivan made their prognostications for 2024 on the annual Curmudgeon's Corner predictions show. There was a new one for 2025 just last week. But it is now time to see how they did on their 2024 predictions. Was their crystal ball clear and crisp? Or foggy and dull? Listen in to find out!   Show Details: Recorded 2025-01-04 Length this week 2:28:22 0:01:02 - Politi...

It's time for the traditional annual Curmudgeon's Corner predictions extravaganza! Sam and Ivan weigh in on what they think will happen in 2025 in a variety of different categories. Will they be right? Will they be wrong? What do you think? Listen now, then come back in a year and a week to find out how they did!   Show Details: Recorded 2024-12-27 Length this week 2:33:18 0:00:27 - Politics...

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan are joined by Monica, an actual Presidential Elector for Harris this year, who talks about that experience. In between the usual curmudgeonly tangents of course. Then she sticks around and all three of them discuss everything from the government shutdown brinkmanship, to the wonders of food delivery. Enjoy!   Show Details: Recorded 2024-12-21 L...

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Ivan and Sam start out with some personal stress points and some random tech discussion before settling down to a bit more shaking out from the CEO killing and the issues surrounding that. Very little about New Jersey drones and Syria. Sorry!   Show Details: Recorded 2024-12-14 Length this week 1:08:08 0:00:37 - But First Ivan's Stressors Apple's Center Stage...