Ask A Genius 1179: Dry Bar Comedy

*Interview conducted in November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I enjoy some conservative-leaning comedy, especially when it’s framed as dry, relatable humor. Dry Bar Comedy is a good example—clean, family-friendly, with traditional values. Many of those comedians are skilled, funny storytellers.  Rick Rosner: You’ve got Jeff Foxworthy with his “You might be a redneck” bits—funny and …

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Ask A Genius 1178: On Pre-Bunking

*Interview conducted in November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, I was doing a training session in journalism and came across a cool concept I hadn’t heard of before: pre-bunking. It’s like inoculating people by giving them bits of misinformation and having them reflect on it. Think of it like when you look at an AI-generated …

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Ask A Genius 1176: Election Stuff, I’m 64, Scott!

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Has anything else come up for you recently, election stuff? Rick Rosner: Yes, we've got 12 days to go. The good news is that around 5 million people are voting each day. This is positive because early voters typically lean Democratic. In 2020, Trump told his supporters …

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Ask A Genius 1171: Mr. Evolution Via Natural Selection

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: By the way, what would the surface area of the Earth be if it were laid out flat in two dimensions? Rick Rosner: The Earth’s total surface area is roughly 200 million square miles, with land making up about 50 million square miles. Jacobsen: That seems close …

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Ask A Genius 1170: Heredity

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Rick Rosner: I read something interesting and assume it’s true. When you observe dogs—adorable, yes, but not particularly brilliant compared to wolves—it makes sense. I haven’t been around wolves, but they are known to be quite intelligent. The idea is that when wolves were domesticated, humans’ sense of smell weakened …

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Ask A Genius 1169: $1,000,000 a Day for Politics!

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let’s move on. I wanted to ask—what’s up with this $1 million-a-day deal that Musk is doing? Rick Rosner: So, Musk, when he bought Twitter nearly two years ago, really revealed himself to be somewhat of a fraud in certain ways. Yet, he still has strong supporters. …

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Ask A Genius 1163: Musk and Trump Financial Support

*Interview conducted in September, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What do you think the evolving relationship will be between Elon Musk and his support for presidential candidate Trump? Rick Rosner: It’s come out that he’s donated to Trump’s campaign. Some people say he’s the richest man on earth, which means he’s worth, what, close to $100+ …

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Ask A Genius 1160: On Kamala Harris

*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What about her highness, Kamala Harris? What are your thoughts on Harris? Same question about her.  Rick Rosner: Harris, in the past, has been seen as maybe not good because of the roundabout answers she gives. And some of it is the media looking for ways to make …

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Ask A Genius 1159: Gaffes of J.D. Vance

*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What gaffes and flaws do you see in Vance, similar to the commentary about Trump and about Walls?  Rick Rosner: Vance has been attacked by Trump and others for changing his political stances. Most famously, maybe, is about fracking. He was, at some point, in 2016, against fracking, …

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