Normal Men
George Pearkes
Normal Men is four guys talking about the news. We want to help explain what's happening in the world around us and have some laughs along the way. And we think you might enjoy hearing what we have to say, as long as you don't mind a bit of normalcy in a world without much of it.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 8, 2026 • 1h 28min
Episode 52 - It’s From Massachusetts, Actually
Yakuza discourse, the terrible secret of space, BTS on Hot Ones, Bondi beached, careerists vs maniacs, and who's next for Attorney General.
Mar 26, 2026 • 1h 37min
Episode 51 - C.R.E.A.M.: Chaos Ruins Ed’s Audio Machine ft. Aaron Cohen
Aaron Cohen of Gracie's Ice Cream (@unlikelywords.bsky.social) has a wicked scoop for the Men. George doesn't deliver, Lowtax goes out of his gourd, Ed's interested in principles, and Propter gets stuck.
Note:
1) We ran into tech issues post-recording and decided that we would rather release a pretty rough final cut this week than no episode. Sorry about that and we won't be offended if you give it a miss.
2) this is a Nanaimo bar
Mar 17, 2026 • 1h 49min
Episode 50 - Strait Expectations
Ed runs some numbers, George eyeballs the urbs, the Strait gets bent, Lowtax socializes, and Propter gets sloppy.
Mar 12, 2026 • 1h 26min
Episode 49 - No Apologies For The Dutch ft. Aaron Kleinman
Episode 49: Texas primaries, North Carolina's political shake-ups, oil prices and the Strait of Hormuz, and EV battery drama with very special guest Aaron Kleinman (@kleinman.bsky.social) from Heartland Signal. check out his more formal work at https://radio-free-america.beehiiv.com/
Mar 3, 2026 • 1h 34min
Episode 48 - We Aren’t That Kind Of Norwegians ft. Theophite
Anthropic vs DoD, Iran strikes, Graham Platner's podcast tour, and the gnome bag. Featuring the return of Theophite to talk shrimp.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro: Anthropic vs. DoD
10:00 Claude's Ethical AI Training
20:00 DoD's Ultimatum & Anthropic's Red Lines
31:00 Anthropic's Rationalist Roots
47:00 Hot War with Iran
1:04:00 Graham Platner & Antisemitism
1:25:00 Public Virtue & AI in Government
1:33:00 Outro
Feb 26, 2026 • 1h 11min
Episode 47 - Domestication and its Discontents
Propter's smart home journey goes sideways. Dogs: better evolved than us? The AI chip crisis hits gaming. The Jones Act and the art of the subsidy. Iran, oil, and who benefits. East Coast braces for snow. State shapes are wrong. And maybe log off for a bit.
Chapters:
0:00 Smart Home Tech & APIs
4:00 Dogs: Evolution, Senses, & Meds
14:00 AI, Chip Crisis & Hardware Prices
24:00 Economics of Supply & Demand
30:00 The Jones Act: Policy Failure
33:00 Biofuels & Commodity Cycles
40:00 Geopolitics: US & Iran
52:00 Blizzard, Weather & Regional Differences
1:03:00 Online Discourse & Context Window
Feb 20, 2026 • 1h 19min
Episode 46 - Only One Mention of Cheese
Just desserts, DHS shutdown and caucus integrity, the future of B2B and internal tooling, and the Yakuza games.
Chapters:
0:00 Yakuza & Video Game Franchises
5:30 Dessert Discourse & Social Media
12:30 Canned Cheese & Weekly News
17:30 DHS, Noem, and El Paso Lasers
31:15 DHS Shutdown Analysis
45:00 Shutdown Impacts & Democratic Strategy
56:15 AI & Stock Market Winners/Losers
1:02:20 AI's Practicality & Limitations
1:16:50 Outro
Feb 13, 2026 • 1h 33min
Episode 45 - We Are All Made of Starmusk
Normal Astrophysicist Mike Boylan-Kolchin (@mbkplus.bsky.social) joins us to talk about the terrible secret of space and the Lone Star State. Also: black olives on tacos, Love Da Seahawks, and Jeff Bezos has some explaining to do.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro and Gooning Culture
2:40 Elon's Space Data Centers
5:00 Astronomy & Compute
13:00 Challenges of Space Data Centers
20:00 Economics of Orbital Compute
38:00 Taco Discourse & Burrito Bonds
54:00 Texas Democratic Primary
1:10:00 Republican Primary & Senate Control
1:24:00 Universe's End & Super Bowl
1:31:00 Outro and Final Thoughts
Feb 6, 2026 • 1h 45min
Episode 44 - Coffee, Cigarette, Croissant ft. skelly
Normal Woman skelly (@iid.bsky.social) joins us from France to talk about- well, the plan was to talk about the American expat experience in Europe during Trump II but actually it wound up being mostly about comparative educational structure. we hope you like it.
also: Texas Toast (Republican State Senate edition), handicapping 2026, Fed Warsh, Epstein and the shallow bench of evil.
ED NOTE: we are unbleeped compared to our usual because Ed is working very hard and is gassed this week. please be nice to Ed if you see him.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Winter Woes
7:06 Skelly: Life in France
16:15 Academia: US vs. Europe
26:30 College Admissions & Prestige
45:46 Admissions: Success & Diversity
1:08:40 American Expat Life & Culture
1:33:57 Texas Special Election Analysis
Jan 28, 2026 • 1h 15min
Episode 43 - (Game) Mastering the Apocalypse ft. Theophite
Speculative fiction, moderation at scale, radicalization at scale, parenting at low-scale, and turophile priorities with Theophite.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Guest Theophyte
4:17 Minneapolis ICE Shooting Fallout
21:25 Theophyte's RPG & AI Art
34:17 RPG World's Moral Dilemmas
44:02 Scale of Civilization & Internet
55:42 Parenting in Trump's Second Age
1:06:25 Oreo Debate & Losing Control
1:09:38 Cougar Gold Cheese & WSU
