In this video, I put out a request for subjects. I have plenty of ideas of my own, but I’m also quite open to questions/requests/suggestions. I should note, here, that that goes for the blog as well as for my videos. I’ve got plenty of subjects to work on without requests, but would be very happy to take requests, too.
Category: Missing the Mark
Detectives as Christ Figures in Mystery Stories
In this video I talk about the detective as a Christ figure in mystery stories. (I also talk about what Christ figures really are and how they’re not the absurd where’s waldo game sometimes played in high school English classes..)
Orion the BCL Boa Constrictor
In this video I talk about my BCL or Boa Constrictor Longicauda (or Peruvian longtail boa), Orion.
Does Suffering Make Great Art?
In this video I look at the question of whether suffering makes great art (spoiler: it can, but it’s not the best way).
Movies Are Intrinsically Misleading
In this video I talk about how movies are intrinsically misleading because what we see appears to be a single person but is actually the result of the work of many highly skilled people.
Snake Talk Episode 3: Superdwarf Reticulated Python Enclosure
In this episode I give a tour of the enclosure I have for my superdwarf reticulated python.
Jocks Vs. Nerds is Fiction
In this video I look at how jocks-vs-nerds is fiction—primarily a projection of insecure hollywood writers.
Beware of Praise From Popular People
In this video I talk about why one should beware of praise from popular people.
Is (New) Atheism Boring?
This video, which is a response to a video by Dave the Distributist, which was titled (New) Atheism is Boring, Stop It, considers the question of whether (new) atheism actually is boring. (Obviously people should stop it, regardless.)
The Danger of Finding Your Meaning in Another Human Being
In this video I talk about the danger of finding one’s meaning in another human being.
(It has been pointed out, correctly, that this would constitute idolatry, but it’s a specific kind of idolatry which is somewhat easier to fall into because it doesn’t involve casting gold jewelry into statues, and bears some specific investigation.)
Snake Talk Episode 2: My Superdwarf Reticulated Python
In this episode of Snake Talk I introduce Thomas Aristotle, my 50% superdwarf reticulated python from Reach Out Reptiles. At the time of this video he was about 6 months old.
Life is Not a Simulation
A discussion of the “simulation hypothesis” (though more realistically, the simulation hypotheses), what they are, why they’re wrong, and why they are attractive to the people they attract.
Snake Talk Episode 1: Aphrodite the Ball Python
In this inaugural episode of Snake Talk, I show off my firefly (pastel fire) ball python, Aphrodite.
Aquinas Fifth Proof for the Existence of God
In this video I talk about Saint Thomas Aquinas’ fifth proof for the existence of God (the governance of the world) and why it is so often misunderstood in the modern world.
Why Heaven is above us and Hell is Below Us
In this video I look at the standard metaphor that heaven is above us and hell is below us, what these positions means, symbolically, and why they are so commonly used.
The Hardest Christian Doctrine to Believe is Forgiveness
In this video I talk about why forgiveness is, of all of the Christian doctrines, the hardest to believe.
Channel Update (August 2020)
Just a quick channel update on where the channel was, back in August of this year.
Efficiency and Robustness Are Enemies
In this video I look at how efficiency and robustness are intrinsically enemies. (The short-short version is that robustness means the ability to take damage without reducing output, while efficiency means that every part is contributing to output.)
Don’t Watch the News
In this video I explain why watching the news is a terrible, very bad, horrible, no good idea, inimical to peace, happiness, and doing the work that God has actually given you to do (but I repeat myself).
Occam’s Razor Cuts Both Ways
In this video I look at Occam’s razor, and how it’s not very useful because in practice it always amounts to calling one’s preferred explanation simple and sweeping the complexity under a rug.
Channel Update, February 2020
OK, I’m really working through the backlog here. Still, we’re catching up to the present. Anyway, it was just giving an explanation of where things were, what was going on with video production at the time (behind, as usual) and such.
Thoughts on Ash Wednesday, 2020
In this video I give some thoughts about Ash Wednesday. Yeah, I’m still working through the backlog of videos…
How to Enjoy Movies Made by Bad People
In this video I talk about the problem posed by movies so frequently being made by bad people, and how to deal with it and get the good that there is to get out of movies without being hurt by the bad which bad men put into their movies out of the store of evil in their hearts.
Why Christianity is Not a Cuckold Religion
This video is a response to Jonathan Pageau’s very interesting video in which he looked at the question of whether Christianity is a Cuckold religion. If you want to watch it first, that video is here:
His video is very interesting, but somewhat surprisingly he doesn’t look at the symbolism of what cuckolding is. So in my video I look at the cuckoo, then at human cuckolding, and then show how these are unlike Christianity.
Asking Garrett Hartle About Superdwarf Reticulated Pythons
In this video I have the privilege of having Garrett Hartle, founder and owner of Reach Out reptiles, and main figure of the Reach Out Reptiles YouTube channel, over as a guest to talk about superdwarf reticulated pythons. He brought some of his snakes over with him and I got a chance to hold one while we talked. If you’re interested in snakes, it’s a really fascinating conversation. Garrett is always interesting, and the snakes provided plenty of eye candy.
Why The Stock Market Makes No Sense But Works Anyway
In this video I explain how the stock market works, why that makes no sense, how it got there from someplace that did make sense, and why it still works despite making no sense (basically being a distributed Ponzi scheme).
Modern Love Isn’t Love
Talking about why modern love isn’t love, and why, and what it actually is.
Good Book: Slaying Your Fear
I this video I talk about Adam Lane Smith’s book Slaying Your Fear, and recommend it. If you know anyone who suffers from anxiety, it is a good book.
The Genius of The Aristocrat by G.K. Chesterton
In this video I take a look at the genius of G.K. Chesterton’s poem, The Aristocrat. (I start off by reading it, but for convenience I will reproduce it here.)
The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay
At his little place at What’sitsname (it isn’t far away).
They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new,
And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do;
He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly on the estate,
Or fish for Father Neptune with the mermaids for a bait;
He scaled amid the staggering stars that precipice, the sky,
And blew his trumpet above heaven, and got by mastery
The starry crown of God Himself, and shoved it on the shelf;
But the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn’t brag himself.O blind your eyes and break your heart and hack your hand away,
And lose your love and shave your head; but do not go to stay
At the little place in What’sitsname where folks are rich and clever;
The golden and the goodly house, where things grow worse for ever;
There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain;
There is a game of April Fool that’s played behind its door,
Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more,
Where the splendour of the daylight grows drearier than the dark,
And life droops like a vulture that once was such a lark:
And that is the Blue Devil that once was the Blue Bird;
For the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn’t keep his word.
Blessed Are the Meek
Some thoughts on the beatitude, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”.
Grace and Truth
In this video I talk about the passage from the gospel of John where it says that grace and truth came from Jesus Christ, and how unique that is. (This is inspired by an observation from Bishop Barron about how in religion it’s usually grace or truth, not grace and truth.) I take a look at some other religions and worldviews and how they have (by their own lights) either grace or truth, but not both.
But What If It’s True? The Uncertainty of Doubt
In this video I discuss an interesting story told by Martin Buber.
An adherent of the Enlightenment [writes Buber], a very learned man, who had heard of the Rabbi of Berditchev, paid a visit to him in order to argue, as was his custom, with him, too, and to shatter his old-fashioned proofs of the truth of his faith. When he entered the Rabbi’s room, he found him walking up and down with a book in his hand, rapt in thought. The Rabbi paid no attention to the new arrival. Suddenly he stopped, looked at him fleetingly, and said, ‘But perhaps it is true after all.’ The scholar tried in vain to collect himself—his knees trembled, so terrible was the Rabbi to behold and so terrible his simple utterance to hear. But Rabbi Levi Yitschak now turned to face him and spoke quite calmly: ‘My son, the great scholars of the Torah with whom you have argued wasted their words on you; as you departed you laughed at them. They were unable to lay God and his Kingdom on the table before you, and neither can I. But think, my son, perhaps it is true.’ The exponent of the Enlightenment opposed him with all his strength; but this terrible ‘perhaps’ that echoed back at him time after time broke his resistance.
Chris Lansdown 
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