Episode 168 – The One Where We All Need Some Feminism!

In This Week’s Show, episode 168, we put our brain-smarteners on and have an Olympic-level laugh at the ghost of Captain Jack doing shots off Opera’s ass.

Episode 168 – The One Where We All Need Some Feminism!
Episode 168 – The One Where We All Need Some Feminism!

In This Week’s Show, episode 168, we put our brain-smarteners on and have an Olympic-level laugh at the ghost of Captain Jack doing shots off Opera’s ass.

Now, grab a beer and help us test the god hypothesis — because, while Morpheus (the Greek god of dreams, and god of teaching you Kung-foo)  hasn’t struck us down yet, we are trying his patience!

Shea’s Life Lesson

This week I learned that when people tell me i’m going to regret that in the morning I sleep till noon, because i’m a problem solver.

Jenn’s Actual Lesson

Did you know that Morpheus is often depicted as lying on a bed made of ebony, in a dim cave, surrounded by poppies?

But before we get to all that, let’s have a beer!

This Week’s Beer

Rahr & Sons USS Fort Worth – American Session Ale

From Elizabet

  • BA Link: http://bit.ly/2DoEA8y
  • RB Rating: 31
  • Style: American Pale Ale
  • ABV: 4.5%
  • Aaron: 7
  • Jenn: 3
  • Shea: 5
  • Steve: 8

This Week’s Show

Round Table Discussion

iTunes Reviews

You need to listen to this now!

From odinscharge

Amazing Podcast. Its so hilarious without being pretentious. Always makes me laugh.

Follow-up from Jenn’s story from a year ago: In episode 114 we talked about Jeanette Epps, a female astronaut who was slated to be the first African American crew member aboard the International Space Station. Unfortunately, it was announced this week she has been removed from the mission. So far it has not been revealed why she was pulled.

Headlines

HL1 – Captain Jack Finally Ties The Knot – http://bit.ly/2DM02aG

  • Amanda Teague has ditched real-life men for a ghost – and legally married her 18th-century spiritual lover. Like any normal couple, Amanda and her husband Jack Teague go on dates, have arguments and even have sex – despite the fact he died almost 300 years ago. And amazingly, Amanda even hired a registrar and journeyed into international waters so she could legally marry him – using a spiritual medium to allow him to say ‘I do’ during the ceremony.
  • Now the couple are co-writing a book for other women who are looking to find ‘the one’ in the spiritual realm. Amanda, 45, says: “He is my soulmate. I am so happy, it is the perfect kind of relationship for me. “There are a lot of people out there who don’t know about spiritual relationships, but it could be right for them – I want to get the message out there.” Amanda’s love affair with the spirit started in 2014 when she was lying in bed one night and could feel his energy laying beside her.
    • Amanda had a previous marriage to a “physical being” for six years and had five children with her ex-husband. But says she has never been able to relate to anyone alive the way she connects to Jack.
    • Amanda works as a Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator and believes the pirate connection is what brought them together.
  • And even though she has never seen her husband in physical form, she imagines he is very similar to the character of Captain Jack, played by Johnny Depp. “He is black, so he is not the same color as Johnny Depp, but he is dark skinned and has very dark jet-black hair, so he tells me,” Amanda says.
  • Two years after they first met, the couple got engaged. “Jack proposed to me,” Amanda said. “I told him I wasn’t really cool with having casual sex with a spirit and I wanted us to make a proper commitment to each other. “If I am going to be in a long-term relationship with somebody I have the right to be married. “I wanted the big traditional wedding with the white dress, it was very important to me.” Amanda found a Shaman priest and legal registrar who agreed to marry the couple – despite their unusual relationship dynamic.
  • Marrying a dead person is legal in certain countries such as France, Singapore, and China, so by going into waters which aren’t governed by any particular country, Jack and Amanda’s union can be upheld.

HL2 – Fountain Of Youth Has The D – http://bit.ly/2DLZyRU

Missing this segment, listen to it now at http://patreon.com/w4w 

  • The woman we all look to for recommendations about every product in existence has endorsed a skincare line called SkinMedica. Oprah’s called it her “magic fountain of youth.” The product in question, TNS Skin Recovery Complex, allegedly contains cells from human foreskins.
  • In an interview in San Diego City Beat, the company claims it hasn’t harvested human foreskin in over 20 years. Instead, it uses cells from a single foreskin sample to grow the cells needed. Asked where the foreskins come from, spokesperson Tim Ingersoll responded via e-mail: “Life Technologies produces research-use-only products using neonatal foreskins discarded from circumcisions with full, informed consent.”
  • The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project is not happy about this. They protested her appearance in Vancouver on Thursday. Glen Callender, the group’s founder, told the local Vancouver news, “Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls. That would be an outrage and rightly so.”
    • You can take a stance against the use of human foreskin in a wrinkle cream because you think it’s inherently wrong. But don’t compare it to a tradition that terrorizes girls and ruins their right to be a sexual being forever.
  • The cream, by the way, averages $150 an ounce

HL3 – God Intervenes To No Avail – https://atxne.ws/2FijrNC

  • A Texas state judge has recused himself from a court case after he interfered with deliberations to give the jurors a message: God told him that the defendant, a woman accused of trafficking her niece for sexual favors, was innocent.
    • The jury ultimately disregarded that message, sentencing Gloria Elizabeth Romero Perez to 25 years in prison.
  • Judge Jack Robison apologized for intervening, but said, “When God tells me I gotta do something, I gotta do it.” Robison reportedly recused himself before the sentencing phase and was replaced by a different judge who presided over the remainder of the trial. Despite the pretty obvious violation of the law, not to mention separation of church and state, the defendant wasn’t granted a mistrial.
  • In 2011, the commission slapped Robison with a private reprimand for improperly jailing a Caldwell County grandfather who had called him a fool for a ruling Robison made in a child custody case involving the man’s granddaughter.
  • We already know Robison doesn’t like when people disagree with him, that he has no problem abusing his power, and that he follows a voice in his head instead of the evidence in front of him, so he has the makings of a religious fundamentalist. He also thinks he’s above the law to the point where he tried to free a now-convicted sex trafficker based on what he believes God wants. Thankfully, the jury cared more about evidence than someone’s supposed divine message.
  • Robison is expected to return to the bench at the end of the month. We don’t know if the voices in his head will make a comeback too.

Second Half

Enormous athletic sex scandal in the final stages of the trial. US Gymnastics, Michigan university seen to be complicit with revolting sports medicine doctor.

Deadspin

cnn.com

wikipedia

New York Times

Sports Illustrated

If you’ve somehow missed this story, here’s a quick summary. Larry Nassar was the USA Olympic national-team sports medicine doctor from 1996-2014. He had been working with the teams in some capacity since 1986. He also ran a clinic and gymnastics club at Michigan State University. He was fired in 2015 for “athletic concerns”.

Well, “athletic concerns” must be pithy code for being a terrible sexual child predator. The first public accusations of sexual abuse came out in September 2016. He was then arrested by the FBI in Dec of 2016 after more than 37,000 images of child pornography were found on his computer, which included videos of him molesting underage girls. (side note: He received 60 yrs for the computer findings)

Golly gosh, who could have seen this coming? Surely this just came flying out of the void and took everyone unawares. Right? Yeah, no… this is basically the Olympic version of the Penn State sex abuse scandal, complete with complicit adults and institutions, money and prestige gave more importance than children’s lives, you know the drill.

Since the first public accusations, over 150 people have accused him of abusing them. Almost all the abuse was perpetrated under the guise of a medical exam. It’s also been shown that USA Gymnastics, Michigan State and a variety personal of coaches and trainers continued to dismiss or ignore complaints from the victims FOR YEARS.

Anyway, that’s the basics of the story. But I’m over talking about the multitudes of terrible people in this story, I want to talk about the survivors. Because they are NOT allowing themselves to be just victims and took their anger and hurt directly to Nassar. During his sentencing (which he pled guilty and is receiving a minimum of 25yrs) Mr. Nassar had to listen to dozens (144 signed up to make statements) of the young women he traumatized give ‘victim impact statements’…for four days. And these ladies came out swinging:

Kyle Stephens was abused by Nassar from when she was 6 years old until she was 12. “Little girls don’t stay little forever. They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world.”

Marta Stern: “Your monstrous acts have taken away so much from so many. My silence ends today.”

Jessica Thomashow is only 17yrs old and was abused starting at age 10. Her emotional statements were followed by a direct statement from Judge Aquilina: “Nassar is going to break while you’re healing.”

Olivia Cowan directly addresses leaders at Michigan State: “I’d like to take a moment to comment to MSU’s board of trustees and President Simon….it sickens me that for 16 months, you allowed children to see Larry Nassar under your guidance, while he was under criminal investigation.Where were you when we needed you?”

Mother of Victim 105: “I hate you. I wish our daughter’s pain on you…I’m sure the inmates in prison will take care of that. They don’t care much for pedophiles, from what I hear. Good luck with that.”

Stephanie Robinson, who only last week decided to not remain anonymous: “I came to the stand as a victim and I leave as a victor.”

Lindsey Lemke, a former Michigan State gymnast, lashed out at the university and specifically its (as of today, recently resigned) President Lou Anna Simon: “To Lou Anna Simon: You are no president of mine as a student and former athlete of MSU. Guess what? You’re a coward too.”

Simon had reportedly told a woman she was “too busy” to return to the courtroom and listen to the hearing after being in attendance on Wednesday. “None of us had time in our schedule for Nassar to abuse us, but we had no choice.”

Lemke also accused two different coaches of covering up abuse. “Larry, I hope you, John Geddert, Kathie Klages, USAG and all others realize you’ve pissed off the wrong army of women.”

Gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman is a fucking force of nature. She had a 13-minute statement that not only raged at Nassman but members of USA Gymnastics and the USA Olympic committee. “You do realize now the women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time are now a force, and you are nothing.”

She also made clear her disgust in Nassar’s pathetic attempt to get out of hearing the statements. After one day of testimony, he sent a letter to the judge saying (in regards to days of the testimony) “I’m very concerned about my ability to be able to face witnesses this next four days mentally.

Raisman told her abuser that he is “pathetic to think that anyone would have sympathy for you.” She told Nassar that she and the other athletes he abused “will use our voices to make sure you get what you deserve: A life of suffering spent replaying the words delivered by this powerful army of survivors.”

She also told Nassar that she “will not rest until every last trace of your influence on this sport has been destroyed like the cancer it is.”

Nassar made a short statement that is supposedly an apology, saying he was hopeful the community could move forward: “For all those involved, I’m so horribly sorry that this was like a match that turned into a forest fire out of control. I have no animosity toward anyone. I just want healing. … We need to move forward in a sense of growth and healing and I pray (for) that”.

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The God Helmet – http://bit.ly/2DsIahR

  • According to a new field study in the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior, in which Dutch scientists took a so-called God Helmet — a placebo brain stimulation device — to a music festival.
  • The researchers recruited 193 participants at Lowlands — a large three-day music festival — and measured their blood alcohol level.
  • “With this study we wanted to examine: What type of traits are associated with people who get extraordinary experiences? Would alcohol, by decreasing prefrontal regulation, increase the percentage of people that are responsive to the God Helmet?” David Maij of the University of Amsterdam.
  • The participants were told the God Helmet would electromagnetically stimulate their brain to elicit spiritual experiences, and they were also hooked up to a variety of sham medical equipment that was never turned on.
  • The helmet itself was “a transformed metallic-colored skate helmet with wires attached to the back of a bogus analog to digital-box which had a flickering light,” the researchers explained in their study.
  • Each participant sat with the God Helmet on for 15 minutes while they were blindfolded and listened to earphones that played white noise. They were able to click a computer mouse to indicate when they were having an extraordinary experience.
  • Several participants reported strong bodily sensations, such as involuntary movements or the sensation of floating. Many also reported seeing imagery and hearing voices.
  • “I came loose from the chair, the chair fell and I was floating. The desk started to shake heavily and I felt the presence of a dark figure next to me. It whispered something in my ear that I could not understand,” one participant told the researchers.
  • Maij and his colleagues found that people who said they were spiritual believers were more likely to have a response to the God Helmet. But they failed to find evidence that alcohol consumption increased responsiveness to the God Helmet.
  • “The study was conducted at a music festival, so that we could investigate a large number of intoxicated people. However, the amount of alcohol consumed was actually really low. People did not dare to combine alcohol with ‘brain stimulation’. In future studies, we should test the effects of alcohol in a more controlled environment,” he told PsyPost.
  • “In another study, which is currently under revision at the journal Consciousness & Cognition, we found that people who score high on absorption are especially responsive. Absorption is the tendency of some people to get fully immersed in external stimuli (e.g., watching a movie or listening to music) or internal stimuli (e.g., your own thoughts and sensations).”
  • “Thus, what we expect is going on is that when people undergo the placebo brain stimulation suggestion (i.e., we tell them about research on the God Helmet, we wear lab coats, we show them an fMRI scanner and they see a movie about a professor telling about her experiences with the God Helmet), some people get immersed/absorbed in this suggestion and come to experience more vividly what they are thinking,” Maij explained to PsyPost.
  • “For example, you always have random fluctuating bodily sensations, but you are simply not aware of them. In combination with the context and sensory deprivation, you now come to interpret these bodily sensations in terms of our suggestion.”
  • “With the God Helmet, research finally has a tool to investigate real-life ‘extraordinary experiences’ such as speaking in tongues or feeling the Holy Spirit in a controlled lab environment,” Maij concluded.

Next Week’s Beer

Copper Alt | Zipline Brewing

From: Brendon

  • BA Link: http://bit.ly/2DPTGXY
  • BA Rating: 3.68/5
  • Style: Altbeir
  • ABV: 5.2%

Faith In Humanity Restored

Notorious RBG Rides Again! – http://bit.ly/2DZb4XU

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she plans to remain at the Supreme Court as long as she is able.

Ginsburg, who’s 84, said during a Sundance “Cinema Talks” conversation on Sunday that her health is “very good,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“As long as I can do the job full steam, I will be here,” she said.

A report earlier this month said Ginsburg has already hired multiple law clerks for future terms. She has reportedly hired four clerks for the October 2018 term and four clerks for the October 2019 term, which ends in June 2020.

On Sunday, Ginsburg also weighed in on the “Me Too” movement, saying: “I think it’s about time.”

She said women were silent for so long. She added that the movement has “been great” so far.

Last year, Ginsburg, a vocal proponent for women’s rights, called herself a “flaming feminist litigator.”

Find her coloring book here: http://www.ruthbaderginsburgcoloringbook.com

Bonus Cat Video

Burger King | Whopper Neutrality – YouTube

Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek (Nerdist Presents) – YouTube

READY PLAYER ONE – See The Future – YouTube

Paterno (2018) Teaser Trailer ft. Al Pacino | HBO – YouTube

How a TV Works in Slow Motion – The Slow Mo Guys – YouTube

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