Jim Hodgson

Erudition 2 – Coffee puns, Ursula K Le Guin, and philatelism

August 15, 2011 by jim at 7:48 am

Erudition 2 - Coffee puns, Ursula K Le Guin, and philatelism [ 36:35 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (243)

In this second edition of the Erudition podcast, Nick starts off by blowing my mind with a new theme song for the show written completely off the cuff.

We then discuss the Word of the Week, which is “philatelist.” Unsurprisingly, Nick thinks it means something much dirtier than it actually does.

After Word of the Week, there is some insightful talk on how to wash a pair of shoes (more info here). Nick asks for help coming up with a pun to impress a barista.

Help Nick’s game! If you can think of a good coffee-related pun that a barista would find impressive, tweet it with hashtag #erudition, or leave it in the comments here!

Ursula K Le Guin modeling her blirt.

We then discuss the nature of childhood development, and I use my friend Marcus Petruska (touring drummer for Corey Smith) as an example. Friend of the show and amazing local Atlanta singer Gareth Asher also comes up. Buy his albums. Seriously.

We also talk about the “robust” Ursula K Le Guin and her disdainful view of the overuse of swear words.

Later on, Nick reminds me of John C. Reilly from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
and Step Brothers, and he asks me to do my Morgan Freeman impression. I read some lines, and Nick learns a few things about prison sex as depicted by Shawshank Redemption.

I then explain Rule 34 to Nick.

We then play Text out of Context, and forget to end it until a while later. Oh well.

Last but far from least, Nick tells an embarrassing story about his college dating life which includes a French word. What’s really disturbing is how he said goodnight to her. Yikes. In fairness, I also have some embarrassing stories to tell about my dating life. C’est la guerre.

Please let us know what you’re reading. Suggest books we should read or talk about. Except Twilight. That ain’t gonna happen!

Filed Under: Erudition 2 Comments

Erudition 1 – Hip Hop Haiku, Twilight, and Teen Wolf

August 8, 2011 by jim at 4:21 pm

Erudition Episode one: Hip Hop Haiku, Teen Wolf and Twilight [ 51:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (218)

In this first-ever episode of the Erudition podcast, I read some Hip Hop Haikus to Nick. I then try to convince Nick that he should write a book, and demonstrate by reading a rejection letter from a high-powered literary agent. Yep, I’ve been rejected by the same guy who discovered Tucker Max and Justin Halpern.

Nick then draws some very interesting parallels between the movie Teen Wolf
and the Twilight series. I officially condemn Twilight for perpetuating the Friend Zone, even though I have neither seen the movies nor read the books.

We also get into “Freakonomics“, which is a favorite book of mine, as well as Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational“. They’re both about some of the quirks of human behavior, and I can’t get enough of that type of thing.

Nick is currently reading Malcom Gladwell’s “Outliers: The Story of Success,” and I’m reading “Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little,” so we talk a bit about each of those. I recommended Outliers to Nick, but he ignored me. Happily, one of Nick’s other friends is much less cheap than I am, and purchased a copy for him, upstaging my paltry recommendation.

I then confess a somewhat non-erudite love for Kurt Vonnegut, and Nick once again draws a prescient parallel, this time to Justin Bieber. All of this leads up to a revelation about the letters on the Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill album cover.

Nick goes on to show me some silly business about the Wingdings typeface and the 9/11 terror attacks.

We then talk about all the new ways that artists and writers are making a name for themselves independently. Nick attempts to suggest that it can’t be done by actors, but I point out that hilarious friend of the show Tripp Crosby is doing that very thing through YouTube.

Give it a listen!

Filed Under: Erudition 4 Comments

The Quantum Theory of Traffic

August 2, 2011 by jim at 9:03 am

A Feynman diagram of a car and a bike meeting in traffic. A turd sandwich is created.

Quantum physicists have it rough, man. Did you know that the sub-atomic world is a chaotic bizarre-o party time where nothing makes a scrap of sense? Well it is, and physicists have to spend all day puzzling over it. Try to make sense of Japanese porn clips on the internet sometime and you’ll have an inkling of what they go though.

Dig this: I was watching a show on quantum physics recently, and I learned that photons passing through two slits behave differently depending on whether you detect their state at the slits or at a screen just beyond the slits. What the hell, photons?

I’m reminded of riding a bike in traffic. You see, bikes are slower than cars most of the time. If you ride a bike in the city you are gonna get passed by a ton of cars. Sometimes cars pass you even when it doesn’t make sense.

Let’s say you are on your bike, and you’re approaching an intersection. A car passes you, but then reaches the intersection and has to stop. Car brakes are very powerful. The net effect is that the car passed you only to jump in front and slow you down.

Worse yet, sometimes cars jump ahead of you and then turn abruptly, which means you’re in danger of crashing into them.

I think this is because drivers behave like photons in the double slit experiment. You can’t know what they’re going to do until you see them do it. Similarly, photons don’t know where the hell they are going until they’re observed. They’re aloof like that, photons.

Of course, you also have to consider the relativity of thought. If humans think at a fixed speed, the speed of thought will cover much greater distance in a car than on a bike. If you sit in one place all day, you can think your ass off and never run into anything at all.

That might be nice, depending on where you sit.

Filed Under: Snarky Invective 2 Comments

The A.T. Approach Trail

July 13, 2011 by jim at 9:54 am

You might think that the Appalachian Trail is long, and it is: around 2100 miles, give or take. You might also think that you more or less get out of your car at one end, start walking, and those miles begin to tick away. It is not so. No, there’s a trail to get to the trail; an Approach Trail.

On the Southern end, said Approach Trail starts at Amicalola Falls State Park, just an hour and a half north of my beloved home of Atlanta, and goes directly up a cliff face which has water frothing down it in a great torrent. This water is Amicalola Falls and it is both striking and lovely. I understand it is also the highest falls east of the Mississippi. Kudos to you, Falls.

At the visitor’s center, situated at the foot of the Falls, I signed in, told the gentlemen how far I intended to hike–definitely to Springer Mountain, possibly as far as Stover’s Creek–and received a piece of paper to put in my car to indicate that I was out on the A.T., not merely abandoning my car.

“You know,” one of the gentlemen said, “You could drive to the top of the falls. Save you about a mile of walking.”

I waved my hand dismissively, as any foolishly-confident city-loving idiot might. “Meh, a mile? No big deal.”

That first mile of the Approach Trail is not so much a trail as a orgy of stairway overindulgence. It has off-angle landings and soaring flights, twists and turns, and always, always more steps. Around 600 steps, in fact. Mind you, the stairs are sturdy and free of needless carvings or paint, but they still must surely be the stairway designer’s equivalent of Beethoven’s 9th.

Along the way, I labored and sweated past more than a few families resting on the benches built into the landings. Once, thanks to an ill-timed arm swing and the afternoon sun, a drop of my sweat broke free of my swinging hand, arced trough the air, caught perfectly a twinkle of sunshine, and landed on a toddler, causing his father to frown. Ill-equipped to tactfully handle this situation, I climbed on as though nothing had happened.

At last, I reached the top of the falls and quite a nice view.

Soon I was in the woods proper, and still climbing. I sweated even more profusely, but at this altitude toddlers were mercifully scarce on the ground. I did see the dead body of a rattlesnake, which I handled with my usual aplomb. Let’s just hope that anyone in earshot merely thought I was shrieking excitedly to my brother the trucker.

I also came upon my first pile of discarded gear trailside. Hikers, it seems, desperate to shed any weight they can, are known to merely drop items on the side of the trail. In this case there was a hatchet and a rain poncho.

I walked along in something of a rush, wanting to make sure I got to the summit of Springer Mountain with enough daylight to make dinner and set up camp comfortably. I got there in just over four hours of hiking, and enjoyed another nice view from the top.

The view was even better in the morning.

That was nice, considering I knew I had to do down the stairs when I got back to the falls. Oh well, at least I didn’t get eaten by a bear.

Filed Under: AT, Snarky Invective 4 Comments

Tour de France 2011: Riders to Watch

June 30, 2011 by jim at 8:42 am

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time once again: time for the Tour to roll through the lush French countryside, burning villages and assaulting livestock in accordance with cycling tradition. Please enjoy the following rider guide featuring some of the most promising hopefuls. Choose your champion!

Chris Horner – Rider Chris Horner quite unexpectedly finds himself at the helm of Team Radio Shack… nearly as surprised as everyone else is that Radio Shack is still in business.

He had a great Tour in 2010, however, finishing in the top 10 even as his captain, seven time Tour de France champion Larry Armsfeld, tumbled down every mountain in France and finally withdrew from the race. Here’s wishing you a great race, Chris Horner, and a speedy recovery to you, Larry!
Alberto Skeletor – Skeletor isn’t as worried about winning the Tour this year as he is about starting it. He was caught cheating his bony ass off last year and nearly exposed at last for the villain that he is, but was saved–somehow–by his home country of Spain.

Some cycling insiders felt that these events were “like seeing an American murder conviction overturned by a Bolivian school principal,” but nothing could be done. Such is the power of Skeletor. Look for him to once again ascend to the top of the podium even if only his brainwashed Spanish subjects will be happy about it.
Andy Schleck – Young hopeful Andy Schleck, assembled in a Luxembourgian scientist’s lab from good weather and sportsmanship, is the nice-guy favorite to win this year.

Skeletor will most likely kill him and eat him on live television.