Topic: Long Beach

Greg Carlwood announces his upcoming appearance on Ben Joseph Stewart's podcast and discusses new promotional structures for the show, including a standard 7-day Plus trial. He reviews the January meetup calendar, mentioning events in New York, the UK, Texas, and a crossover event with Sam Tripoli in Long Beach. The episode concludes with a reminder that meetups should remain free, listener-led events, followed by the show's closing music.

Greg Carlwood provides updates on the Higher Side Meetups calendar, noting upcoming events in New York City, the UK, Texas, and Denver. He addresses a "Tinfoil Hat" crossover event in Long Beach featuring Sam Tripoli, clarifying that while he supports other podcasters, the meetup calendar is intended for free, listener-organized gatherings rather than paid performances. He encourages listeners to continue using the site to find like-minded people in their local areas.

Greg Carlwood shares a personal connection to the late rapper Lil Peep, who died shortly after Carlwood was invited to his show. Chris Knowles identifies Lil Peep as the third "trophy" in a generational cycle following Cornell and Bennington. The connection is bolstered by Lil Peep's November 1st birthday, which matches the release date of a Cocteau Twins album featuring the song "Ivo" (originally "Peep Bo").

Guffey and Damien met Richard Schongerdt at the Long Beach Scottish Rite lodge before conducting a lengthy interview at Guffey's office. Schongerdt revealed that he had been visited by the Navy and SAIC at his laboratory in Hemet, California. He suspected that the intelligence agencies had "vacuumed" his brain for information and potentially stolen his technology without providing funding or collaboration.

In the closing of the interview, Stein and the hosts discuss how mathematics blurs the line with philosophy through formal logic. Stein explains why science cannot currently define "spirit" or "beauty" because they lack objective, measurable parameters. He concludes with a quote from Justice John Paul Stevens regarding pornography—"I know it when I see it"—to illustrate the difficulty of defining subjective experiences.