In Search of an Argument

As a respite from an impending winter that offers tantalizing hope amid bleak news, these tales of Paris represent in part a yearning for lost innocence. Beth recalls her visit to Paris with her sister twenty-three years ago.  Jim remembers the food, Peg wistfully praises the champagne, Shelly enthuses about the architecture, and John thinks of Ernest Hemmingway.  These are just some of...

One of the questions researched is the comparison between the effectiveness of the French and German responses as referenced in this article from France . The effectiveness of the approach taken by South Korea is unquestionable but it is unclear as to which elements of the approach were most effective . Another country which followed a similar approach to South Korea (with even better results) is...

We learn who everyone is eating with today and what is on the menu.  We learn that John and Peggy like to watch professional tennis and college basketball, but not the NBA. We consider Jim’s semi-urban lifestyle and ponder whether or not John, Peggy, and Shelly see their futures in the city or the country.  We talk about the failure of the national government in the U.S. to deal effectiv...

In response to listener demand (and by that we mean a single listener) we offer a Shelly-centric episode focused on the new frontiers of genetic experimentation.  Beth Shannon returns as a special guest to participate in the discussion as to whether or not different specific examples of genetic manipulation are either cool or creepy.  Predictably enough, a generous portion of the episode...

John is focused on the pandemic and the prospect of renewed lockdowns as cases continue to surge.  That leads into a brief discussion about the different approaches to the pandemic represented by President Trump and President-Elect Biden.  In turn that segues into a brief consideration of the transition process and how Trump’s recalcitrance is impacting upon it. Peggy’s focus is on her d...

John spent election night trying to toggle between the election returns and caring for his infant son.  Peg tried to ignore all of the election news and went to bed early.  Beth spent election day helping to get out the vote in Philadelphia and election night listening to the Rolling Stones and watching Netflix.  Shelly watched a smattering of news on election night before switching...

The Top of John’s mind is occupied by positive thoughts that Donald Trump will turn out to be a one term President but negative thoughts about what that means. Peg is too worried about jinxing the outcome to even speculate on Trump as a one and done president. Shelly sees the silver lining emerging from the Trump cloud as the raised awareness of racial injustice. John believes that Trump will be r...

Will Gentile, previous podcast guest and son of Jim, returns, ostensibly to discuss what it is like to work in New York City during the pandemic. It soon becomes clear that Will’s main agenda is to flirt shamelessly with Shelly while John, Jim, and Peggy listen in haplessly. Think of this episode as an update to the online dating special. After a brief reference to Beverly Hills 90210 (which John...

The Top of John’s mind is occupied by negative thoughts about the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, which causes him great consternation. Peggy echoes his dim view of the nominee and the process by which she is being hurried through to a vote before the election. Shelly has two different topics on Top: A happy follow-up to her previously expressed concern about some employees she migh...

In addition to the riveting main topic discussion, the group fills the time with meaningless banter and anger management. Peggy’s mind is focused on a particular fourteen year-old child. John hates the fall (but Peggy likes it). Shelly has to fire some people (and she would not mind it if they deserved it). Jim wants to raise again the topic of sex with robots. Peggy’s mom likes the show and there...

Watch Star Trek here while listening! Proving that they have almost completely run out of new ideas (send suggestions!) this episode ransacks two classic television series. The original television version of Star Trek spawned a Next Generation as well an entire lineage of television and film descendants (not to mention the whole Comic. Con culture). According to the summary of “Journey To Babel” p...

Jim puts forth the thesis that the Democrats must act boldly if they are in control of both the Congress and the Presidency even if their margins are slim. That is why he identifies eliminating or modifying the Senate filibuster rule as the key to the possibility of enacting a robust set of legislation. John and Jim discuss the need for urgent action on a broad array of issues: the pandemic, econo...

While techniques like in vitro fertilization and practices like surrogacy have already enabled the rise of non-traditional parenting, the author of the article speculates that new reproductive technological advances will further break the paradigm. Shelly, from her perspective in the field of genetics, and Peggy, from her perspective as a health care professional raise the threshold question of wh...

The topic has particular resonance at a time when many individuals are facing severe financial challenges. Furthermore two of the chief antagonists in the 2005 debate preceding the stricter bankruptcy law were then-Senator Joe Biden and then-Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren. (Although Biden supported making the law stricter at the time he now supports Warren’s plan to undo those changes and to m...

The travel tales vary from Beth spending twelve weeks in Ireland on $900 to the decadence of John and Shelly’s safari complete with manservants drawing their baths and chandeliers. Shelly draws once again upon her experiences in the world of online dating to segue into the difference between travelling within the U.S. and exploring the rest of the world. Beth picks up on this theme to emphasize th...

In this wide-ranging discussion of sci-fi in books, movie and television the hosts and their guest discuss the differences between sci-fi and fantasy and whether superhero movies fit into either of those two categories. They talk about good sci-fi ( The original Twilight Zone episode entitled “The Eye Of The Beholder” ) and bad sci-fi ( 2001:A Space Odyssey ). The oeuvre of Christopher Nolan is pa...

Dr. Tobin moved with his family to Australia approximately ten years ago for better opportunity and although he remains in his heart a Glaswegian, he is immensely proud of the way the people of Australian are handling the COVID crisis. (But all things considered he would love to live in Spain). Richard explains how the wildfire crisis in Australia may have helped prepare the political leadership i...

During the course of their very-few-holds-barred conversation Peggy, Shelly and Janine discuss the various different dating services they have used, some of the loser men they have met, and even to venture into the area of how the pandemic has affected the search for love. (Summary conclusion: The pandemic is not-so-good for dating but is good for sex). Janine and Shelly discuss the differences to...

Despite the fact that a significant majority of Americans do not like Donald Trump and do not support his re-election, there remains widespread fear and anxiety that Trump will win in November anyway. In January when we did predictions on the subject, John and Peg and Shelly all predicted he would win in November despite the fact that it made them physically ill to contemplate that possibility. Pe...

At a relatively somber time In the world, we decided to do an episode talking about loss from a personal perspective. Because losing loved ones is an experience that everyone goes through at one time or another this seemed to be an appropriate time for each of us to reflect and share our own stories of loss. We are joined by Gwenn Danet-Desnoyers, a longtime friend of John and Peggy, who reflects...

Continuing our series of conversations during the pandemic we welcome Janine from Downer's Grove, Illinois. She is a long-time friend of Shelly and Peggy who is known for her willingness to discuss topics that others might shy away from, in particular, her own vagina. The three friends engage in a discussion of Janine's vagina and vaginas in general and related matters with minimal interruptions b...

In the first episode under the new title, a cold opening is attempted. With help from a famous voice out of the past, the Gang of Four tries to get in synch, but the results are not quite perfect. Just John Heintz explains about the new title and what it means (and what it does not mean). That segues into a discussion of the value of “opinion” v. the value of “facts.” That discussion segues into a...