Almost Educational

We play L. Ron Hubbard and take anchor text of literature from our classroom and turn it into a doctrine for a new religion. Patrick uses John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men melds Pre Vatican II Catholicism and Marxism to create a small animal worshipping and atonement cult. Dennis takes his favorite work The Great Gatsby and constructs a Neo Midwestern Protestantism that rejects avarice and values confessional secret keeping?.

Patrick invites author, history professor, and podcaster, Aaron Gulyas on the show to discuss his book Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes, and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes, and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives The Saucer Life Podcast

Dennis and Patrick ponder how modern American succession of states and cities work?How would it work in a federal republic?  Would Vermont become a free state?  Would we three Californias?  An Independent Texas?  A northern and southern New York State?  The Upper Peninsula freehold of "Superior" or even the mighty city-state of  Las Vegas?

Dennis and Patrick look at three different points of divergence and look at the political, social, and economic fallout if things changed very slightly on the hardwood, boxing ring, and baseball diamond. Scenarios 1:  Joe Louis Loses Rematch Bad Boys Redeemed  No MLB baseball strike in 1994

Patrick sneaks out a special show with long time friend of the show and guest Mike Fallek from the Let's Start a Cult Podcast.  Mike is on the show to promote Sound Byte an app designed for podcasters and to throw down a challenge to Dennis for a future show topic that will fundamentally change the rules of baseball.   Links mentioned in this episode: DOWNLOAD SOUNDBYTE! https://www.soundbyteapp.com/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Return engagement to 1914 and create some wilder, wackier, and more improbable World War One scenarios.  Britain never enters the war, Germany takes Middle East Oil, and the Second Mexican American War.   The Alternate Historian Jabber and the Drone

Dennis and Patrick read emails from listeners.  Topics range from Kid Rock 2020, complaining about Bernie and Hillary, Alternative History of Huey Long and Knife Fights.  O and we even talk NCAA realignment.   Here's leaked audio of Warren Mayor Jim Fouts allegedly saying n-word, c-word Long before Trump: The Unsettling Popularity of Huey Long Who Would Win An American Presidential Knife Fight? (HBO)

This week Dennis and Patrick explore how they teach 1984. Is it a true literary work of fiction or is it a science fiction masking a philosophical treatise? How well does French existentialism marry with Orwellian thought? How does one teach 1984 under the era of Trumpism? Links mentioned in this episode: almosteducational.com This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Patrick goes solo for a deep dive into the ultra rich, ultra creepy and kinda Bond Villainesque....Robert Mercer.  The guy that owns Breitbart, pushed Brexit and funded the Trump presidency.

This week, Patrick and Dennis cover a radical change the NCAA football conferences, create a workable playoff system, and eliminate amateur college football saving higher education tens of billions, all in under 90 minutes. Topics discussed: Emails 0:00 Quiz 7:30 Shouting about football 11:45 Shouting about baseball 51:00 This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, Patrick and Dennis play a tabletop game all about America’s whacky and wild current constitutional crisis. Links mentioned in this episode: http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/ https://projectarchivist.podbean.com/ https://the4thlinepodcast.com/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, Patrick, and guest host Roejen cover tales of real life time travelers, or at least those who claimed to be time travelers Topics discussed: Time Travel Quiz John Titor pushbck Madmen and Boyscouts Ebay Time Machines DARPA Talk Links mentioned in this episode: http://projectarchivist.podbean.com/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week the Cyberpunk dystopia of 1992 is here, thanks to Peter Theil, Zuckerberg, and the FCC. Patrick fears Big Brother is your next door neighbor. Dennis fears the "deep state" of kid's with cell phones. Topics discussed: Emails from S.A. Quiz on Orwell The surveillance suburaban state Links mentioned in this episode: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/topic/when-spies-come-home http://www.coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/ http://projectarchivist.podbean.com/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, Patrick and Dennis debate what the American social and poltical landscape would look like if Roe V Wade and the extension of the 14th admendment never occured.. Topics discussed: Emails 0:00 New Quiz Season 3:00 Main Topic 11:30 Republic Watch 60:25 Links mentioned in this episode: https://www.netflix.com/title/80114666 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/books/review/dark-money-by-jane-mayer.html?_r=0 This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, Patrick, and Dennis discuss slight alternate histories of the Great War. Topics discussed: Teddy Roosevelt brings the Americans to Europe in 1916 1917 French Army mutinies Lenin never goes to Petrograd 1919 Proto-European Union and Japanese - American Cold War Links mentioned in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi61CvyRnbmUJ55bolV5CnQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7ZeKee4aVE https://www.patreon.com/mattmitrovich https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00PLVRCCM&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_jnAfzbZTREM6D https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wwi-ah-novels-anyone.51543/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, Patrick, and Dennis onstruct their own places of higher learning from scratch. They draft the America's "greatest" academic and intellectual minds to fill their departments. Topics discussed: We read some emails We do a college quiz We draft our hour heads of departments and defend our choices Links mentioned in this episode: https://www.amazon.com/Nightwing-Vol-Bludhaven-Dennis-ONeil/dp/1401251447 http://www.cityofwalls.com/ http://marvel.com/comics/series/2048/marvels_1994 This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week, [Patrick] and [Dennis] cover [Medicare for all and Simple Tax Returns]..... Topics discussed: Medicare for all The archaic tax filing system betting on Democracy Links mentioned in this episode: http://www.npr.org/2017/03/29/521954033/stanford-professor-loses-political-battle-to-simplify-tax-filing-process http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_20070919/ http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/04/03/conyers-medicare-alls-time-has-come/99999098/ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/look-whos-in-favor-of-medicare-for-all-trump-voters-and-sanders-supporters-2017-04-07 This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Patrick and Dennis ponder different scenarios what the Western Hemisphere would look like without a "War on Drugs". What if Reagan decided to use conventional forces? What if America just didn't enforce laws? What if Pablo Escobar was president?

Patrick and Dennis debate if protest marches have any impact on American elections and citizen engagement in government. Are leaks a symptom of illness in Government? Is Snowden a villain or hero? How deep is Assange in with the Russians?

Patrick and Dennis pick four different what if election years and play our different scenarios until one or both of their minds explode. Also a Season 5 quiz showdown goes to the wire and may change the format of the warm-up quiz forever!