Nerd Pride Radio

There’s a little game talk at the gaming table… some Deadpool, some Godball, some D&D. Then Mike and Aidan dive into what TV they’ve been watching, including Happy! and The Haunting of Hill House. As a bonus, they throw in a review of their rewatch of 2004’s The Grudge. In the Unnamed History Segment, Mike recounts the horrifying story of the making of the movie Roar (1981). Then in Fingertips, Mike cleans up the masterlist by talking about Logan, Punisher, scones, and Schrodinger's Cat. And then it’s R2 time! He brings a half-dozen, all-new, listener-submitted questions to the table, covering Smash Bros, parenting, the Spider-Verse, Ireland, and so much more. Welcome to your new favorite podcast… this episode was made just for you!

Enjoy!

Can you explain Schrodinger's cat to me? I had a hard time understanding the show because of that.

I think at least some of the people who idolize really fucked up people is ignorance. There were a lot of affluent privileged kids at my college who had Sid Vicious posters up; my guess is that all they knew about him was that he'd been in the Sex Pistols (but probably didn't know any of their music) and that he looked like a badass rebel.

Michael:

https://xkcd.com/1053/

Someone is ALWAYS learning common knowledge for the first time.

How dare you! You know that Randall and I aren't on speaking terms.

Oh shnoikies! I forgot about the INCIDENT! Would you like some Questionable Content instead?

Seriously, though, it's a thing I struggle with, or anyone, I imagine. Being involved with a subject for decades can temper the memory of how awesome learning some of the basic stuff was. Yes, it can be tedious, but a cat being alive and dead at the same time? How awesome is that? Or the fact that a single note on the piano, or a cello, for that matter, isn't just the note you hear but all these other notes, too? That's so amazingly cool! Or how about that the written musical language we use is 2 dimensional? So neat!

I completely agree. I love nothing better than finding a chance to share something awesome with someone, and in one-on-one situations, I love doing exactly that. My complaint on the podcast is in a media intended for a large audience of nerds, is it worth diverting to offer the full explanation, or assuming most people get it, do you offer a very abridged version of it with reference to go learn more, or do you just say it and move on?

Depending on context and the importance of the Cat to your topic, it's usually somewhere in the middle ground.

Yeah, I know you're right. Is it okay if I keep being righteously indignant for a while? I was kind of having fun.

Let me back up then:

My point is that there are certain scientific concepts that absolutely SHOULD be common knowledge at this point. This is 8th grade material. If you don't get it, then I don't know that I want you listening to my podcast. It's not MY job to educate you. Quit wasting my time.