Bufnagle: the Podcast

The Buf team takes a little time to reprise some of the AI and Lord of the Rings topics from the last couple of weeks. ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses of running this podcast.  As such, some of you have asked how you can help out.  Well, here's the answer: support us on...

Rafe and Harry relate a story of a conversation with an AI bot and come to the general conclusion that we've got some time before artificial intelligence takes over the world. ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses of running this podcast.  As such, some of you have asked how y...

Harry leads a discussion of Boromir's death in Lord of the Rings and notes the allegory it provides to understand sin and reconciliation and last rites. Boromir becomes enticed by the power of The Ring and his focus away from his Good leads to Sin.  He recognizes his straying from the path, shows remorse, confesses and does penance and is reconciled with Aragorn, the one true king. ***** As a...

In this re-drop of a classic episode from Christmas 2020, Zach and Rafe, joined by Big Brain Smart Head™ guests Olivia and Chris DeCleene, discuss Christmas movies and what makes them unique.   Discussion of some of the classics (and some you might not have thought of!) follows as we come to see that Christmas is about the ultimate change in perspective; Christmas (along with Easter!) changes ever...

Rafe is joined by a returning Big Brain Smart Head™ guest, the always-delightful Ginny Horan.  What follows is a meandering conversation centered on Christmas, sprinkled generously with  Joy, Goodness, Beauty, and Hope. Always live excellently, as your actions will ripple through time and impact people in ways you never could imagine. This episode is kindly sponsored by BlendJet. Use our special l...

Harry and Rafe discuss the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in 1531.  A decade after the fall of the Aztec empire, Diego, a peasant convert in present-day Mexico, is visited four times by the appearance of the Virgin Mary, who tells him to ask the bishop to build a church on Tepeyac Hill in her honor.  When pressed for evidence, Our Lady arranges non-native roses in Diego tilma on the w...

Harry and Rafe discuss the arrival of siblings and their impact on older children, songs by Elton John, parenting, role modeling, poems by Cecil B. Alexander, virtue, and other such things. This episode is kindly sponsored by BlendJet. Use our special link ("bufnagle") to save 12% at blendjet.com . The discount will be applied at checkout! ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnag...

Harry and Rafe finish the story of Columbus and his travels to the New World. Columbus struggles to keep control of the colony in the (West) Indies and also struggles to keep control of his reputation and name. The New World is becoming bigger and bigger and looking less and less like The East with every voyage someone, be it Columbus or the Portuguese or the British or anyone,  makes west from th...

In this re-drop of a classic episode from late 2022, Harry and Rafe discuss this final third part of our series on the Pilgrims, covering interactions with the Native Americans, an alliance with Massasoit and the Pokanokets and the consequences of that treaty.   Nathaniel Philbrick's book Mayflower is the basis for these episodes and provides generous insight and keen analysis to understandin...

In this re-drop of a classic episode from late 2022, Harry and Rafe take up where they left off in Episode 164: the Pilgrims have arrived at Cape Cod, but what awaited them?   The North American landscape was anything but a blank slate.  Countless local tribes were living on the continent and with them were their cultures, their customs, and their politics.  Throw in more than a century of Europea...

In this re-drop of a classic episode from late 2022, Rafe is joined by Harry to discuss the first part of Nathaniel Philbrick's book Mayflower and the story of the Pilgrims and how they came to America.   Starting as English puritans in Holland, the Pilgrims decide to pick up and move to America.  This episode tracks the incredible travel from Leiden to the Pilgrims landing at the tip of Cade...

Rafe is joined by Big Brain Smart Head™ and America's Favorite Rocket Scientist™ Bob Luzenski to discuss the November 18 launch of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy. Bob walks us through the launch and short flight of both the booster Super Heavy (the first stage) and the spacecraft Starship (the second stage) during their less-than-ten-minutes flight. Along the way, we learn about operation...

Harry and Rafe discuss role models (not ROLL models) and the examples we put in front of our kids and in front of ourselves.  If our wish for our children is for them to get to heaven, who should their role models be? This episode is kindly sponsored by BlendJet. Use our special link ("bufnagle") to save 12% at blendjet.com . The discount will be applied at checkout! ***** As always, you...

Harry and Rafe continue the story of Columbus and his travels to the New World. Columbus returns to the New World with 17 ships and 1,200 and in late 1493 and finds that the colony he established is completely wiped out.  Further attempts to establish a foothold in this land aremet with all sorts of problems and also fail to result in gold or spices or anything else of note; and beyond that, addit...

Rafe is joined this week by Big Brain Smart Head™ Angela Nash to discuss Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein .  As Rafe recounts the story, Angela provides a rich commentary on the understanding of the tale.  If you haven't read the book but know anything of "Frankenstein", chances are that everything you know about the story is wrong. Set in Geneva in the early 1800s, the novel...

Harry and Rafe continue the story of Columbus and his travels to the New World. The three ships under Columbus' command find land on Oct 12, 1492, and Columbus and all his men believe they have arrived in the far eastern islands of Asia.  Following interactions with the natives, several months of local explorations, and the Christmas grounding of the Santa Maria, 39 men are left behind to man...

The Buf welcomes Big Brain Smart Head™ Luke Donahue to discuss the story of St. Fr. Maximillian Kolbe, a Polish Catholic priest who sparked the ire of the Nazis in WWII, got sent to Auschwitz, and then literally gave his life so that another might live. Luke walks us through St. Max's story from his birth in 1894 to his canonization in 1982 and unveils how the Christian life is expresses Joy...

The Buf welcomes back Bob Luzenski, America's Favorite Rocket Scientist, to discuss the status of the big rockets underdevelopment and the impending annular eclipse scheduled for October 14, 2023.  A little bit of spoiler commentary about the current state of AI fills out the show at the end. This episode is kindly sponsored by BlendJet. Use our special link ("bufnagle") to save 12%...

Harry and Rafe start tackling the story of Columbus and his travels to the New World. A Genoese sailor, Columbus, while operating out of Portugal, becomes intrigued with the idea of sailing west to reach the spices of the Far East.  At a time when a route to Asia had just been determined to be possible (but also impractical) around the Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of Africa, Columbus is a...

Rafe discusses Hamlet's statement that "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so" from Act 2, Scene 2 of the Shakespeare tragedy.  Examining the text and the Nature of the statement in the dialogue, we find that Hamlet asserts this statement while feigning madness; as such, we should consider this statement to be inconsistent with sanity and reality and it should...

Harry and Rafe tackle Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening , a simple four-stanza poem in iambic tetrameter. The Bufnaglers walk through the poem and discuss the meanings, both revealed and hidden, and what they say to us today.   Spoiler, if you haven't guessed: the horse is your conscience, telling you to stay true to your duty and responsibilities, no matter how lovely...

Harry and Rafe address some listener questions surrounding great saints, why so much focus on Imago Dei , and all the great stuff we have learned doing  the Buf for all these years.   ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses of running this podcast.  As such, some of you have asked ho...

Harry and Rafe discuss the nature of work, why we do it, what that means, and how we should view it in a fair and balanced perspective.  God worked and then rested; as Imago Dei, it is your duty to work and to rest.  It is in your Nature. ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses of ru...

Rafe recounts his weekend road trip to his 40th high school reunion.  The Dairy State proves up to the task and presents a wonderful trip full of memories and new discoveries, renewed friendships and peaceful contemplations, grand vistas and ordinary food made spectacular due to the company surrounding it. ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is a...

Heroically fighting a cold, Rafe talks of a wedding he recently attended and the lessons that were learned, most importantly how children and grandchildren are the greatest blessings one can receive and how they fulfill our duty as Imago Dei . ***** As always, you can reach the Buf at bufnagle@bufnagle.com ***** As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses...