Episode 253 : Mystery Episode 26

8 Responses to Episode 253 : Mystery Episode 26

1. William says:

   January 14, 2016 at 8:54 am

   http://www.mrkipling.co.uk/splash

   Reply
   • jas says:

     January 14, 2016 at 10:12 pm

     Kipling Cakes made me think of:

     “Them that eats cakes
     That the Parsee-man bakes
     Makes dreadful mistakes.”

     (which is from the Just-So Story “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin” by Kipling–a story I would highly recommend as it also has this wonderful line: “And the Rhinoceros upset the oil-stove with his nose, and the cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he ate it, and he went away, waving his tail, to the desolate and Exclusively Uninhabited Interior which abuts on the islands of Mazanderan, Socotra, and the Promontories of the Larger Equinox.”)

     Reply
2. William says:

   January 14, 2016 at 10:12 am

   Actually, it might be true of me to say that when I’m feeling cynical in the contemporary sense of the word, I become more cynical in the philosophical sense of the word. That is, when I’m feeling down about humanity and its prospects, I also often feel the pull of the ascetic life. Though, what I envision is the life of a hermit, which isn’t precisely what the ancient Greek Cynics had in mind, I don’t think…

   Of course, the Stoics did borrow much from the Cynics. And, if it isn’t already obvious, I don’t conform completely to Stoic philosophy, either. I wasn’t formally raised Stoic or something. The cultures I come from just happened to be quite Stoic, and that’s something that has stuck with me.

   Reply
   • jas says:

     January 14, 2016 at 10:30 pm

     I guess I always think of optimism and pessimism as distortions. My main association of optimism is the guy in “Candide” who always thinks everything happens for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds. Horrible things happen, like thousands of people dying in a volcanic eruption, and he finds some way to put a positive spin on it that interprets it as the best thing that could have happened. And then a pessimist would do the opposite–no matter what happens, the interpretation is going to be that it is the worst possible thing.

     Hope I see more in the way you guys were describing it. It has to do with trying something, even if one knows the reality that the odds are not in one’s favor–and that doesn’t mean not knowing the reality of the odds. So that’s different from an optimist or pessimist because to me, neither of them would see the odds clearly.

     “The glass half full or the glass half empty”–I’ve never taken this to be a literal description but a metaphor. Seeing fullness metaphorically stands for emphasizing satisfaction, contentment, bounty, whereas seeing emptiness stands for emphasizing loss, dissatisfaction discontent, scarcity.

     Reply
3. Stuart says:

   January 21, 2016 at 2:31 pm

   Humour and other considerations for this episode provided by: Wales

   Mr Kipling makes exceedling good cakes(tm) throughout the UK. I import them via Amazon. True story.

   To answer Tony’s question: I’ve no idea, I was probably stuffing my face with one at the time and figured I’d ask the hat. Who knew it had limited experience of British cakes. I’m just thrilled to have another question pulled by the hat!

   I hadn’t realized the Greek meaning of cynic. Useful. Interesting discussion on the glass, I think I disagreed at first, with you guys appraising it too literally, but you came around to (I believe) the point of it – that it gives you insight into the person making the observation.

   10 Boyo Points to Tony for “never tell me the odds.”

   Tony, you drifted out of optimal mic range quite a bit in this one, just for reference. During this time, you were about half the volume of William.

   Here’s a topical idealist for you – Bernie Sanders. While I may agree with his position on many topics, his policies will unlikely come to fruition in this neoliberal/conservative political climate (not unique to the US, pretty rife throughout Europe, too), and as such may struggle to get elected as compared to someone driven by practical considerations (i.e., what will actually pass through the House/Senate). That was a long sentence.

   Enjoyed the employement discussion. I reckon that’s why I’m where I am now. It’s fine to aspire to positions, but I reckon kids entering the employment market now need to consider work life balance. We seem to be setup to want to continue to climb the ladder ad finitum, and those not wanting to sneered.

   I know BTTF doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny, I just enjoy these thought experiments 🙂 Can’t remember why I asked that one though, was surely because I was watching BTTF 2 at the time. Pull out questions closer to the point I asked them! Having said that, the thrust of Tony’s argument, on a macroscopic scale, is why I don’t regret life’s choices. Apart from not dwelling on the past being very Bhuddist, if I did anything differently (even avoiding the really bad stuff), I probably wouldn’t be posting on this podcast right now, having followed a very different path through life.

   Reply
   • Stuart says:

     January 21, 2016 at 2:31 pm

     Oh dear, Sticky Notes doesn’t do spell checking. Excuse the typos!

     Reply
     • themagicaltalkinghat says:

       January 21, 2016 at 4:22 pm

       I assumed that’s just how you spell things in Welshyland…

       Reply
4. Mark says:

   March 10, 2016 at 8:08 pm

   Push da button and that’s the show?

   Haven’t tried just sitting there doing nothing? Really, what do you call this show anyway? :p

   Evil Allergy Attack: I’m now picturing that mucus/slime character from the Mucinex commercials, with a goatee, punching auTony in the throat.

   Kipling Cakes: No data.

   When it is time to change jobs: I’d say it’s when the stress of the job outweighs the job’s pay and/or benefits. I’ve done that twice. The first time I did that; I ended up working with Tony & William. The last time the company I was working for made their money from ad sales and the ad market was shit. Plus, they were owned by a larger corp and it was obvious, at least to me, that they wouldn’t be around much longer.

   Placing bets on sporting events with future knowledge: I don’t think placing the bets would directly change the outcome of the sports competition. If people became aware that Biff always wins his sporting bets; that could end up changing sporting events.

   William dies at the end: Yup, Tony totally should’ve cut the audio right there.

   Reply