Bufnagle: the Podcast

Harry, Zach, and Rafe (yes, all three!) sit down together to discuss the needs and benefits of rest, physically and mentally.  To stay on top of your game, you need to rest, and that doesn't just mean sleeping.  It involves taking time off from the "have-tos" and stressors and reconnecting with things that refresh you.  From observing the weekly day of rest, to napping, to just doin...

Rafe shares some stories about the the miracles of modern medicine and how grateful we should be to be living in the present age.  What a wonderful age!  What we take for granted is astounding. What this means is that we should be infinitely grateful for what have.  Gratitude has benefits in its expression, namely that it promotes humility, it is honest, it is attractive, and it inspires.  But wha...

Rafe and Harry tackle the question of "Why is the US so  reluctant to embrace the metric system?" To answer this question, they go back to the basics of where the metric system comes from ("There were five definitions of the meter???"), where Imperial units come from ("The Romans did what???"), and how things got to be how they are in the US ("So this is a histor...

Harry and Rafe discuss the joy that can be found on the nation's rail trails. Abandoned rail lines have been converted over the last 6 decades to produce a network of remarkable hike/bike trails across the country.  The Buf discusses three in detail: the Elroy-Sparta Trail in Wisconsin, the Erie Canal Trail in New York, and the Monon Trail in Indianapolis.  Along the way their stories connect...

Rafe goes solo, tying together a discussion of high-powered telescopes, wood-working, spaghetti, and igneous rocks. At the end, he comes to the conclusion that all the wonders around us, all the Incredible findings on the planet, out in space, and deep deep deep underground, all the miracles of the universe as it exists, are things that were created for Man to flourish and enjoy. ***** As always,...

Harry joins Rafe this week to discuss Andy Weir's The Martian , a book (and movie!) that tells the story of a NASA astronaut inadvertently abandoned on Mars and the struggle by him and essentially all humanity to return him to Earth. Harry recounts the plot (spoiler alert!) and its lessons, namely that each individual life is of infinite value and thus worth trying to move heaven and earth to...

From fireworks to sparklers to lawn darts, America's Independence Day provides an opportunity to look back to build understanding of how and why the American colonies broke away from the British mother country. After centuries of colony-building and decades of disagreement with the behaviour of King George, the Second Continental Congress declared in July of 1776 that the thirteen colonies &q...

Proverbs 22:6 says to train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  We are asking more from our children, and from ourselves, than ever before.  We are teaching them technical and physical lessons for hitting the curveball and playing Mozart and solving differential equations, but we are failing to provide them with the mental and spiritual lessons need...

Rafe goes solo this week to discuss John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn .  In it we learn that all we know, and all we need to know, is that Beauty is Truth.  The discussion takes a trip through the symbols in the poem and how the Things of Old are passed down through time to us and how those things help align our souls to seek the ultimate Good. Along the way, we bump into our old friends Socra...

Growth and change require commitment and resiliency; new beginnings, be they a new day, a new season, a new semester, or a move to a new job in a new city, allow us an opportunity to start fresh and redefine who we are. Wholesome change maintains the foundation of who you are at your core by growing those things that are Good and in line with your goals and by attenuating those things that are not...

Zach and Rafe discuss the modern card games, in particular Flesh and Blood , and how their in-person manifestations foster the most important of human endeavors: building community.  As complicated or bizarre or esoteric as these or other card games may be, at their heart they are opportunities to build and strengthen communities.   Today's conversation wends through all the interesting parti...

Rafe shares with Zach experiences at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the last day of practice and qualifying for the 2022 Indy 500.  The discussion zips through topics around engineering and perfection, teamwork and triumph, and cultural events and pursuing the virtue of excellence in all sorts of endeavors. “You will know when you go.”  "You can get a lot of stuff done if you don't c...

The Buf tackles the question of what should be the intent of youth activities: sports, theatre, music, arts.  Starting with the mindset that the purpose of youth sports is to provide a safe place for children to learn to deal with failure, Zach and Rafe discuss how to direct childhood passions into lifetime virtues instead of just a collection of participation trophies that eventually get stashed...

The Buf team turns its attention to communication and, in particular, thoughts and tips regarding good presentations.  The team stresses humility and graciousness and presents some tips for assisting in sharing your insights with others.  Using good teaching techniques like particular-general-particular, providing written handouts, and finishing early are all discussed. Of course, this is Bufnagle...

The Buf Team takes on the topic of challenging yourself and achieving the growth you were created to achieve.  Take the risk, seek excellence.  Keep trying.  Don't let early failures stunt your growth. Setting goals that are a stretch but within reach is essential.  Challenges too high produce unjustified failure; challenges too low are easily obtained don't create growth.  Stretch and g...

Zach is on break so Rafe goes solo and discusses how the passage of time, and its subsequent change in perspective, changes our understanding of the story of our past and our outlook for the story of our future.   Our perspective of where we are now can change dramatically when future events bring us understanding.  For the small band of followers of Jesus, the Saturday after the crucifixion meant...

Zach is on break and that means Rafe invites America's Favorite Rocket Scientist™  and Big Brain SmartHead™ Bob Luzenski to join the show. Recently retired, Bob shares his Four Phases of Retirement and the Joy it has brought him.  Along the way, Bob and Rafe discuss periodicity of the academic life and 2022's late Spring.  In general, concerning retirement, Bob concludes that "I abs...

After talking about talking about time travel in way too many previous episodes, the Buf team finally addresses the topic head on. Many of your favorites are presented, everything from Sisyphus, to Jules Verne, to Back to the Future , to Groundhog Day and Live, Die, Repeat , to Primer , and Terminator , and everything in between. Zach leads us in the end to the conclusion that time travel in ficti...

The Buf is honored to welcome Big Brain SmartHead™ Fr. James L. Heft, S.M., to the show to discuss his lifelong effort to practice what Christ teaches: to love God, to love yourself, and to love other people. Fr. Jim recounts stories of his Adventure of Life, from growing up in a farming family in Ohio in the 1940s, to joining the Marianists, to all sorts of schooling in Dayton, Washington, DC, an...

Zach and Rafe welcome back a former Big Brain SmartHead™ guest to the show: Dr. Brian Donahue, MD, PhD joins the Buf to pick up on some ham radio topics that we didn't get to way, way, way back in Episode 7, and also shares insights into the joys and travails of pediatric cardiac anesthesia and fixing the hearts of some itty-bitty little babies! Along the way we learn something about culture...

The Bufnagle Team takes on the topic of tournaments and all the fun and zany stuff inside them.  Join us for a discussion of some history of the NCAA college basketball tournament, combinatorics and victory probabilities, the importance and consequence of seedings, single- and dounle-elimination tournaments, and how all the drama and excitement in tournaments give us the memories that make us rich...

Amidst the chronic barking of a dog and an interrupting baby in the studio, the Bufnagle team explores the modern art medium of video games.  When well done, they can teach us ethnic tolerance and sibling synergy; they are teaching tools and rich graphic art; they allow us to grow and discover as individuals or in co-ops.   But, like all art, they need to help us to be more connected as human bein...

How do you make the most of the work you are doing, be it athletics or music or business or whatever you do? Zach walks us through the four phases of a flow cycle — struggle, release, flow, and recovery — and how to improve our level of well-being and thus perform at peak levels for the longest time possible.  Along the way we learn to embrace the struggle, to take time to release, to avoid distra...

How do you make the most out of your practice?  How do you get yourself ready for the big game, the big concert, the big speech, the big presentation at work?  Can you provide your mind with scenarios that allow you to feel comfortable in situations, even if your only experience is in your imagination? Your mind is a fascinating and powerful tool to help you accomplish any endeavor.  You can train...

One week after getting stalled talking about the number line and infinity, Zach and Rafe are back on track and finally get to what infinity really means.  The concept of one-to-one can be applied to the Natural Numbers to reveal the first level of infinity and Cantor's diagonalization argument is used to show that there are levels of infinity beyond the aleph-null, the cardinality of the natu...