Cranial Meltdown

Wine, Cheese, and Bloody Mary: A Romance-Language Horror Night

I started with a simple idea: put together an international evening with wine, cheese, and a horror movie. It eventually became a little tour of the Romance languages—French and Spanish wine, Italian cheese, and a Brazilian movie in Portuguese.

The wine and cheese brought some refinement. Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary brought exploding heads and possessed feces. Somehow, the combination made for an excellent evening.

The Tasting

The lineup was a 2024 Jean-Baptiste Duperray “Glou Glou” Beaujolais-Villages,

...

Where the Winchesters Went… and What’s Haunting Nearby

Ever wonder what else might be lurking around the places Sam and Dean visited? This map pairs Supernatural episode settings with nearby real-world haunts, legends, and spooky landmarks. Follow the brothers’ trail across the map, then see what local history has to add to the story.

Take a look at the Supernatural Locations & Nearby Haunts map. Just maybe don’t plan your next road trip around a crossroads at midnight.

...

The Linguist in the Machine: Did Chomsky Predict ChatGPT?

Did Noam Chomsky accidentally predict ChatGPT? Seventy years after he revolutionized linguistics by describing language as a computational system, artificial intelligence is challenging some of his fundamental theories. Explore the fascinating intersection of generative grammar, statistical learning, and what machines might teach us about the human mind.

...

Bank Shots

In which Doug and I have another fireside chat, this time about Echo Arena virtual weightless robot ultimate frisbee, multiplayer game coding, and some good and bad experiences with banking in Germany.

...

Cheet Sheets

In which Jon prattles on about a Biology class that had a really positive impact on both his academic and social careers.

...

Recollections on the Rooftop

In a very... umm... diverse?... episode, we again convene on the rooftop while Doug participates in an ham radio group check-in. While he set ups, we chat about our academic performance, helicopters arriving at the UNC hospital rooftop, and mentors that we've had in our lives.

...

Archaeology and Home Repair

William goes on to share more historical expertise while Jon gets up to go fix some siding that is drooping on the side of his house. Good thing it's Dry January, because he thought it was a good idea to get up on a ladder and do it after dark.

...

Wine Connoisseurs, Roll Out!

William tells us what very much more than a little he knows about wine, and I manage to cram a Transformers reference in there somehow.

...

Peachy Kean Vegans

Doug and I invited William to join us once again for what kind of accidentally became a three-parter. In this first segment, I introduce them to a mocktail concoction that I've named after an obscure DC comics reference.

...

Through the Window

Wrapping up a chat about safe places in horror, we move on to a lighter topic: dad jokes.

...

Ice Bucket Challenge

Doug and I chat a little about safe places in horror, and how they can only protect you for so long.

...

Gin Fueled Us and Love Still Beams

It's dry January, so Doug and I enjoyed - respectively - some Upside Dawn non-alcoholic beer and Ritual Zero Proof Gin. On a run earlier in the day, the topic of 9/11 came up, and I realized that Doug would have been living in New York at the time, and so I wanted to ask him about that day from his perspective, watching the chaos unfold from the top of his high-rise apartment located about halfway between the park and the financial district.

...

Rocky, Twitching, and Pounding Meat

In this Episode, we again find Doug on the rooftop setting up for a Monday night ham radio operators' check-in. Jon takes the time to share some random thoughts and trivia from his viewing of Rocky on boxing day over the weekend.

...

Oh Deer! Running and Frisbee with William Flowers

We continue to talk with William about running and exercise, and he bonds with Doug over Ultimate Frisbee in New York.

...

Shakespeare and Wine with William Flowers

Doug gets to know William, who's nearing the end of a book project, and he takes the time to share with us over a beer a little of what he knows about the late 16th Century.

...

Post-Rant Musings on Solidarity

After an interesting discussion of religion, we ended up somehow deviating to a chat about solidarity and the part it plays in fostering friendships and even romance.

...

Alcohol, Tolerance, and Bee Labor

What begins as some commentary on cocktails ideas for Superman and God's Cocktail Countdown to the New Year derails and ends up being a discussion about tolerance on the road and around town. We managed to hit about 15 minutes just in time to cut Doug off before he started advocating for Bee Rights.

...

Getting Wood at Harris Teeter

Just coming off of a mention of tree houses, Jon brings up the Christmas Tree Shortage and we briefly speculate about why before rambling on like we are wont to do.

...

UNC Boot Camp Projects

I'm providing working versions of some of the projects involved in the UNC Boot Camp based on my understanding of them at the time.

...

Cheese, Beer and Runic Inscriptions

Warning: The audio on this is even worse than the last one.

In which I continue to talk Dougs face off, this time telling a fun little diddy about the professor at Indiana University who carved a fake runestone as a joke in grad school and had to deal with the fallout around the turn of the century when it was "discovered" and researched as "proof" of another probably-fake runestone out in Minnesota.

...

Sunspots at Night

Warning: The audio on this is horrible.

In which I talk Doug's ears off while he sets up his radio on the roof of the Carr Mill Mall Annex to participate in his weekly Monday evening callouts. I Also manage to get tripped up under one of the wires at some point. Bonus: wind and a runny nose.

For more info about what Doug was talking about regarding sunspots, here's an informative read:

The Sunspot Cycle and How it Affects Ham Radio...

...

Messages from Mars

Following up on a mention of a scene from The Martian involving solar charging a vehicle for hours on end to drive it a few hours each day to get to his rescue point, Doug and I then launched into a chat about the interesting communications challenges that Mark Watney overcomes in the movie (and the book on which it is based).

Listen to "Cool communication stuff." on Spreaker....

...

Chasing the Sun

Doug and I got to talking about solar power and automotive dependency on gasoline, and I brought up a ridiculous scene from a movie called Race the Sun.

Listen to "Chasing The Sun" on Spreaker....

...

Coming Down the Pipes

What's in the works? Some likely topics to whet your appetite...

Six Degrees: a recurring theme.
Thoughts on Coding and IT Careers
Scambaiting!
Nineties Music and Memories
- Guest: Becca
Dougs over the years.
- Guests: Doug, Doug, and Doug.
Star Charts and Myers-Briggs Types
- Guest: Annie H
Books and Wine,

...

A Lot About A Little, and a Little About a Lot.