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Ken Green

Ken Green is an environmental scientist, and certified Sci-Fi geek

Series

3 Whisky Happy Hour3 episodes

Recent Episodes

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

The Three Whisky Happy Hour: With Special Guest Star Ken Green

This week's episode expands the format to include a guest appearance by environmental scientist Ken Green, who recently joined the ranks of contributors to Steve's "Political Questions" Substack (sign up for free if you haven't already), where this week he celebrates the demise of the "Endangerment Finding" that derives from the Statute-That-Cannot-Be-Named in John Yoo's presence. But along the way Ken raised an eyebrow for certain enthusiasms of the MAHA movement, which in turn raised the eyebrows of a certain "Lucretia," so we decided to let then havie out a bit. The result of one of our livelier episode ever, where discussion of "junk food" and other aspects of America's nitrition was conducted against the background noise of John Yoo munching on a bag of Cheetos. We also have brief considerations of the proposal for a mid-decade census, and the fuss over Gerrymandering in Texas and elsewhere.
Hosts:
John Yoo'Lucretia'Steve Hayward
Organization
Ricochet

December 2022

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

A Sci-Fi-Palooza: Star Trek vs. Woke Trek

Who knew that John Yoo is a total science fiction geek?! I'm going to have to go back and scour his law review article footnotes to see if I can detect esoteric references to Sci-Fi classics, which, it turns out, he has thoroughly familiarity. Some time last year I did a podcast on science fiction with my old AEI writing partner Ken Green (who turned up with this episode with his Jayne Cobb cap!), and John Yoo immediately filed for an injunction with the Supreme Court of Podcast Appeals, and today we performed the remedy: a podcast in which we kicked around most of the fundamental SciFi geek questions: Star Trek versus Star Wars (we were unanimous on this verdict); Star Trek: The Original Series versus all of the sequels that Ken lumps under the heading, "Woke Trek." But wait a minute! The original series had a latest wokeness to it, though it was more sophisticated than what has come since. How to tell the difference? I argue that Captain Kirk was a true statesman, while Piccard was a UN bureaucrat. From there we offer observations on good science fiction, though with an interesting spectrum of opinion about Firefly, the Alien franchise, Dr. Who, The Expanse, and other science fiction of note from recent decades, including some truly obscure programming, such as Blake 7. So break out some of your best Romulan ale, and send along suggestions for how we can follow up on our proposal to do MST3K-style sequels in which we beat down on truly fictional science films like Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." I am reserving the Tom Servo slot!
Host:
Steve Hayward
Organization
Ricochet

December 2021

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

What’s Wrong with Star Trek: TNG, and Other Sci-Fi Thoughts, with Ken Green

Okay, this episode, intended as a respite from all-issues-all-the-time for the holiday week, also doubles as pure James Lileks bait. Back when Ken Green and I were resident scholars at the American Enterprise Institute, lunchtime conversation often turned to science fiction, and especially our favorite hobby horse—how much we both hated "Star Trek: The Next Generation." TOS is the only Trek worthy of honor! And William Shatner's voyage into space this year proves that, as Ken puts it, "Shatner wins!" But we also branch out beyond the Trek world to talk of other science fiction adaptations, including whether Dune is filmable at all, whether Fox TV might have actually done us a favor by canceling the great Firefly before Joss Whedon could screw it up with his political correctness, why Babylon 5 and Eureka are the best sci-fi shows most people missed, why Steve thinks The Expanse will not age well, along with the two big questions: DC versus Marvel, and why do libertarians tend to be such huge sci-fi fans in the first place. We do take a few minutes to look at some recent developments in the world of climate change (speaking of science fiction), as Ken was once an official reviewer for the IPCC on its climate science reports. Plus, you'll also learn a quick hack for instantly identifying a TV show or movie that has been filmed in Canada. News you can use! And happy holidays.
Host:
Steve Hayward
Organization
Ricochet