Afleveringen
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Real Life
Steven shares his recent battle with the flu, updates to his computer and recording setup, and his deep dive into World’s Finest from the Superman: The Animated Series. He’s also been watching That Christmas on Netflix, a cozy seasonal pick. Meanwhile, Ben recounts his creative ventures, like shadow boxing the Moon Lord, experimenting with black paper and sharpies, and recommends Perfect Days. This Tokyo-based film follows the quiet, reflective life of Hirayama, a janitor whose mundane routines uncover profound beauty. With its oldies-filled cassette soundtrack, the film is perfect for anyone craving a refreshed outlook on life’s simple joys. Perfect Days on IMDb.
Future or Now?This Week in Space: In space exploration news, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is making history this week by flying closer to the Sun than ever before—just 3.8 million miles from its surface. It’s the fastest human-made object, designed to brave temperatures over 2,500°F as it ventures into the Sun’s corona to unlock mysteries about the solar wind.
That's Nuts!: Meanwhile, on Earth, scientists have observed California ground squirrels defying their herbivorous stereotype by hunting and eating voles. This unexpected carnivorous behavior highlights their adaptability and raises new questions about the flexibility of animal diets in response to environmental changes. Read more about this discovery in the ScienceDaily article and watch a detailed breakdown on YouTube.
Book ClubThis week, we dive into spoiler-heavy discussion for the short film Where Rabbits Come From, a moving tale set in a dystopian world. Ben reviews the story of a widowed father rabbit who defies an authoritarian government to spark hope and magic in his daughter’s life. They escape oppression, finding solace and a possible reunion in the meadow. Learn more on Letterboxd.
On a lighter note, Steven gives a glowing review of Skeleton Crew, a family-friendly Star Wars show featuring kid pirates and Shistavanen aliens, which ties back to some classic lore. Check out Shistavanen lore here.
Next week, we’ll explore Ray Bradbury’s time-travel classic, A Sound of Thunder. Read the story here or listen to an audio reading on YouTube. For a fun twist, watch this TV show adaptation.
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Real Life:
Steven is sick or dead, we don’t remember, so Ben and Devon take over the show. Devon is traveling for the holidays so needs to bill as much as possible at work. Devon explains what it’s like to be an independent contractor. Ben’s work is a little less reliable. Snoop Dogg records a holiday message for Ben’s parent, parent, parent company. Snoop Dogg is somehow still as famous as ever.
Future or Now:
This Week in Space
Astrophysicists capture astonishing images of gamma-ray flare from supermassive black hole M87. The jet is tens of millions of times larger than the black hole's event horizon. The galaxy M87, located in the Virgo constellation, provided the first-ever photo of a black hole in 2019, when the Event Horizon Telescope captured an image of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. An international research team has now observed a teraelectronvolt gamma-ray flare seven orders of magnitude -- tens of millions of times -- larger than the event horizon, or surface of the black hole itself. A flare of this intensity -- which has not been observed in over a decade -- can offer crucial insights into how particles, such as electrons and positrons, are accelerated in the extreme environments near black holes.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/12/241213140634.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87
Black holes and why they look like that: https://youtu.be/zUyH3XhpLTo?si=7drAgoVloX9hytmo
New Technology Could Keep Communications Going During Disasters
RNZ (12/6) News from New Zealand: “The 'mesh node' is a small black walkie-talkie sized box that connects to a cellphone through Bluetooth. It then connects to a network of solar powered nodes across the region, which allows users to send short text messages, even when all other communications are down. It has been tailor-made by Tai Rāwhiti Civil Defence, and emergency manager Ben Green said it is "a cost-effective solution for reliable communications in a disaster.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/535819/new-technology-could-keep-communications-going-during-disasters
Book Club:Next week book club: WHERE RABBITS COME FROM, a French animated short film that’s being shopped around for awards this season. The answer will surprise you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH_TgDEuCfI&ab_channel=StudioNiloc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkqGMU-mug&list=PLwDe6hrCodhk0k3qCN0QTqixXu6g2R5Nh&index=6
Lower Decks
The 947th episode of Star Trek was the penultimate episode of Lower Decks. This episodes has awesome cameos and did multiverse right. Devon still likes the show but doesn’t feel it’s actually Star Trek canon. We wish Loer Decks had gone for seven seasons. There’s plans for more comedic Star Trek in the future. Will it be as good as Lower Decks?More Star Trek News
The Section 31 movie is coming in January. Ben is looking forward to it, Devon has no plans to watch it. Ben is excited by the secondary cast of the movie. Are there Xindi in the movie? The movie is set in the “Lost Era”.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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This episode contains: Ben welcomes a special guest host: Flint Lawless. Steven and Devon are off dealing with family illness and work commitments, so you know what that means! Well, we don’t actually talk about video games at all this one (I know, right?).
Future or Now:
The Magic Eye: Remember autostereograms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram)? Stereograms are 2D images that create the illusion of a 3D scene by exploiting the way our eyes perceive depth. "Magic Eye" images are a popular form of autostereogram. Learn how to see Magic Eye images here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdWNYdk-vWY.
As a kid, Ben would spend hours looking at Magic Eye books, and it felt like magic because most everybody else didn’t see them. He was like a wizard. Recently, he came across an article about using Excel of all things to create Magic Eye images (https://divisbyzero.com/2024/11/30/make-a-magic-eye-image-using-excel/) but guess who has two thumbs and doesn’t have Excel? This guy! Turns out there’s an easy to use free online tool for making autostereograms (https://www.easystereogrambuilder.com/). He also found a music video that was a moving stereogram (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AKtp3XHn38). Flint was curious, but completely perplexed because he doesn’t know how to see them yet.
“Book Club”:
Next week: WHERE RABBITS COME FROM, a French animated short film that’s being shopped around for awards this season. The answer will surprise you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkqGMU-mug&list=PLwDe6hrCodhk0k3qCN0QTqixXu6g2R5Nh&index=6
This week: No time for book club: the first two episodes of the new Star Wars show Skeleton Crew is out. It’s good! And we start comparing it to Farscape, Star Trek: Prodigy and One Piece. It’s a sweet Goonies-like mystery. The Republic likes to hide planets for some reason… maybe they’re not exactly the good guys? Flint and Ben discuss the morally gray areas of stories where the “forces of good” make questionable decisions that lead to positive and negative consequences.
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This episode contains: We three hosts gobbled up Thanksgiving, celebrating with families, parents and in-laws. Why did Ford call their electric car a Mach-E? Or is it Maquis? A Mockery? Ben gives a slightly different (and more positive) take on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice than Devon’s review from a couple months ago (https://sciencefactionpodcast.com/2024/09/11/episode-522-incomprehensibly-gravelly/). The first half hour is definitely rough but it comes together, in the back half especially. Big shout-out to the production design of the afterlife and the cameos. Devon’s a pickleball-player now, and we contrast it with racquetball. Steven and his family saw Moana 2 and opinions varied wildly among the family. Don’t expect a Lin Manuel Miranda soundtrack, but do expect them to set up a bunch of sequels.
Future or Now:
Right now, in the 1960s: Ben’s ready to spoil The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” On a peaceful suburban street, strange occurrences and mysterious people stoke the residents’ paranoia to a disastrous intensity. This is nearly REQUIRED VIEWING for anyone on the internet these days. “The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.” Despite this being a story very inspired by McCarthyism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism), our current paranoia about our neighbors needs to stop.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734664/
Three things to ponder (“Eat the 1%”): Devon wonders why don’t we eat turkey eggs? It’s all about the downsides: even though they’re not hazardous, turkeys have slower egg production, larger size and space requirements, and tougher egg shells than chickens. Why will some pets (especially dogs) eat their dead owners, even when there’s food available? The current hypothesis is that the dogs are trying to frantically wake up their owners, and after biting the face, their instinct takes over. Also, the Higgs particle only accounts for 1% of the mass of an object.
https://www.iflscience.com/turkey-eggs-why-dont-we-eat-them-77017
Get over here! (Don’t “TOASTY” me): Steven brings us this morsel of news: a tiny, four-fingered 'hand' folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them, researchers report. Dubbed the NanoGripper, the nanorobotic hand also could be programmed to interact with other viruses or to recognize cell surface markers for targeted drug delivery, such as for cancer treatment.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241127165721.htm
“Book Club”
This week: Big Oxygen by exurb1a
A janitor on a spaceship wakes up from an emergency alarm to complete bedlam. Every group he runs across has a different ideology, in fact, their baseline ideologies have been erased, and it doesn’t go well for anyone. Turns out belief without facts and reason will destroy, but also just getting facts without context is disastrous. It’s about how you digest facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKouPOhh_9I
Also, ChatGPT cheats against Stockfish in Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCNW1OCk_M
Next week: WHERE RABBITS COME FROM, a French animated short film that’s being shopped around for awards this season. The answer will surprise you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkqGMU-mug&list=PLwDe6hrCodhk0k3qCN0QTqixXu6g2R5Nh&index=6
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REAL LIFE
Devon is dealing with a sick family and Ben is wiped, despite finally having a chance to rest. Ben has been covering for his boss and teaching a beginning HTML class to kids. Most of the kids are awesome but some are “chaos gremlins.” Ben also just drove to Burback and back for a roller derby tournament. Ben had to be the father to 15 kids. Ben’s wife had to stay home for work and to take care of a geriatric cat. For Steven this was conference week so his kids got off school early. He forced them to play outside with the extra time. Steven’s kids have been “bruh-ing.” Steven has jumped back into Caves and Qud. (https://www.cavesofqud.com/). It’s a fantastic, weird, fun game. Steven is reading Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, which is… interesting. Steven also built a Lego Nano Gauntlet.
FUTURE OR NOW
First up, Mothership RPG (check it out here), the award-winning sci-fi horror game where surviving outer space is just the beginning. With streamlined character creation and easy session prep, it’s perfect for both new and experienced players. Steven’s even offering to run a game for our listeners—join our Discord if you’re in! Next, Ben explores a breakthrough in carbon capture with UC Berkeley's COF-999 powder, which removes CO2 from the air at record rates and promises a more energy-efficient future. Read about it here. Lastly, Devon dives into panpsychism, the philosophical idea that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe. Hear his take, complete with debates from thinkers like Sean Carroll and Philip Goff. Want to learn more? Check out the Wikipedia entry or this intriguing Mind Chat video.
BOOK CLUB
Renee has been watching Prodigy. We mention needing to discuss the new episodes of Lower Decks and the short film Unification.
The High Test by Fredrik Pohl (1983)
Originally published in Asimov Science Fiction Magazine. A story of a man working as a driving instructor on a distant planet. He’s actually a flight instructor teaching humans and aliens how to fly their spaceships. A cozy slice of life according to Ben. According to Devon the story felt like a product of the 50s despite being written in the 80s. Was the inspiration for this story: what if an alien needed to pass a driving test before attempting to destroy humans?
Next Week
Big Oxygen by exurb1a
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Real Life
Devon shared about their recent visit to Fredericksburg, aka “Texas wine country,” where the German settlers brought their food and flair. While there were tempting wine tastings, Devon was not about to wait 30 minutes for a sip. Oh, and they’re currently battling a cold, which sounded something like SNNNOOORRRRTTT. Meanwhile, Steven recapped an out-of-town trip that included a stop at Black Diamond Games in Concord, CA, where he picked up the RPG Mothership and The Electric State. On the D&D front, Steven is on the hunt for elf druid miniatures for his daughter’s character. Ben, on the other hand, discovered Walkabout Mini Golf on iOS, which offers touch-to-putt and AR modes—sounds like a hole-in-one! He also dove into the world of Star Trek fan edits, sharing a link to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 0. However, Ben admitted to only watching Voyager once (FOR SHAME!), while his son has decided Worf is the best (double shame!). Devon, ever resourceful, uses Star Trek as a threat to keep his kids in line.
Future or NowBen stumbled into the world of web design and shared the new CSS logo—designed with a squircle, of all things. The logo’s hex color, #663399, is known as “Rebecca Purple” and has a meaningful backstory. Devon switched gears to science, geeking out about tardigrades (a.k.a. water bears), which are radiation-resistant extremophiles with 15,000 known species. These tiny creatures can repair their DNA after radiation damage and even borrow genes through horizontal gene transfer. Talk about resilient! For more details, check out this article. For some sci-fi vibes, we also pondered if the Netflix show Away about going to Mars might scratch your space-loving itch. Steven wrapped up this section with a discussion on the psychology of money. A recent study from ScienceDaily suggests that digital money doesn’t create the same emotional connection as physical cash. Devon thinks of cash as “free money,” while Steven questions if digital currency even feels real.
Book ClubThis week, we read Ray Bradbury’s The Crowd, a story rich with layers of meaning. It sparked discussions about collectivism vs. individuality, Red Scare-era anti-communism, and a lingering mystery: are they aliens, ghosts, or demons? Regardless of the interpretation, we thoroughly enjoyed this one! For next week, we’re diving into Frederik Pohl’s short story The High Test. You can check it out here.
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This episode contains: Steven and Ben are handling post-election nerves and how to channel that energy productively. Ben’s been comforted by watching New York City newscasts from 1981, which you can find on YouTube. How refreshing it is to see a newscast that’s not supposed to be entertainment! Steven’s been focusing on family time and getting to know his nephew. Ben binged the first four episodes of WondLa. Check out the official trailer and see how it’s tracking on Rotten Tomatoes. Steven is picking up some serious I Am Mother vibes from that WondLa trailer. RIP Star Trek guest star (and Candyman himself) Tony Todd, a legend gone too soon. Remember Star Trek: Lower Decks? The 943rd episode just aired (Season 5, Episode 4)! It’s good! You should watch it! We chat about how the multiverses are going, specifically DC vs Marvel.
Future or Now
Are You Bready For This?: Steven presents a new study that discusses human’s taste for carby bread and reveals how the duplication of the salivary amylase gene (AMY1) may have occurred over 800,000 years ago, long before agriculture. Wait, bread makes you fat? This gene duplication helped shape human adaptation to starchy foods and led to the wide genetic variation in AMY1 copy number that exists today, influencing how effectively humans digest starch.
Read more about this study on Science Daily.
Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known: Do you miss the social media of yore? The posts and videos that showed our humanity without the editing and gloss? Ben remembers it, and so does Ben Thompson, who wrote a blog post about the prevalence of IMG_#### videos on YouTube. These are relics from between 2009 and 2012 when iPhone and iPod Touch included a “Send to YouTube” feature that allowed users to upload videos directly to YouTube from the Photos app. Apple uses the ‘IMG_XXXX’ naming convention for all images and videos captured on iOS devices, where XXXX is a unique sequence number. Unwitting content creators would then upload their videos on a public site with a barely-searchable name. To this day, there are millions of these videos, and if you search YouTube for “IMG_” and then four random digits, you’ll find some one-of-a-kind videos of random stranger’s lives.
Read more and have a warm digital hug on ben-mini.github.io.
Book Club
Since Devon’s not here, we’re skipping book club this week. Next week, we’ll be exploring Ray Bradbury’s “The Crowd,” a haunting look at strange crowd behaviors in urban life. Watch an audiobook of this story on YouTube.
This week, we get into the trailers for some upcoming big Marvel and Star Wars stuff:
Captain America: Brave New World
Thunderbolts
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and a special shoutout to the music featured in the trailer: a Huttese cover of “Major Tom (Coming Home)”.
Marvel Studios Disney+ D23 2024/25
Do you want to see YouTube more like a classic series of television stations? Check out YTCH.
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This episode contains: Devon kicks things off with a Dr. Pepper Zero, or as we like to call it, “the creeping death.” Just caffeine jokes—or maybe there’s something deeper to his love for this soda! Steven, on the other hand, brings us a blast from the past with Department Zero, an RPG he created back in 2013. Imagine a Fantasy Men in Black vibe, complete with dragons, aliens, and magical conspiracies. This world has been brewing in Steven’s mind for a decade, and it sounds like an adventure for the ages!
Ben poses a question for the tech-minded: how long should a computer last? Steven has a “Computer of Theseus” filled with endless upgrades, Devon shrugs off the question with work laptops and a trusty gaming rig, while Ben takes a “separation of concerns” approach, keeping two laptops—one for work and one for personal use. On top of that, Ben has a family tradition of passing down old tech. This leads us to a broader discussion about the best ways to keep our tech alive and kicking.
Ben also brings us High Stakes: Las Vegas 2024. Imagine a world where vampires have stolen your blood, and you’re forced to win it back. Are you brave enough to play the card game of your life to recover what’s yours? This high-stakes adventure invites you to consider just how far you’d go to get your blood back.
FUTURE OR NOWWake Up, Sheeple! Let’s Talk Science and Sci-Fi
In Devon’s Space Report, we delve into a cosmic mystery that’s puzzling scientists. A massive structure, dubbed “The Big Ring,” sits 6.9 billion light-years away, defying what we thought we knew about the universe. The Big Ring spans an astounding 1.3 billion light-years and lies near another oddity, the Giant Arc. Ordinarily, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) suggest that structures in space should appear uniform, yet these two anomalies suggest otherwise. Are we seeing evidence of multiple big bangs, the presence of cosmic strings, or could it all just be a cosmic coincidence? Read more about it here.
On a lighter note, Ben gives us his take on Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5. Has Lower Decks finally hit its stride, or does Starfleet’s most comedic ship need a new direction? Ben has thoughts, and fans of the show won’t want to miss them.
Meanwhile, Steven shares a rapid-fire lineup of recent reads, including Red Rising, Annihilation, Fallen Dragon, and his thoughts on Agatha All Along’s finale. His recommendations cover sci-fi, mystery, and thriller genres, perfect for anyone looking to dive into a new story.
BOOK CLUBThis week, we dive into Isaac Asimov’s “Nightfall,” widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi stories of all time. Check it out on Goodreads. Written when Asimov was in his twenties, Nightfall tells the story of a planet that’s continuously illuminated by six suns—until an eclipse plunges it into total darkness once every 2,049 years. When that darkness finally arrives, the population, who has never experienced nightfall, is thrown into chaos. The story explores themes of fear, the unknown, and societal breakdown, offering a compelling read that earned its status as a classic.
As a bonus, we recommend The End of Eternity, another must-read by Asimov. This novel tackles time travel with Asimov’s signature twist and intricate plotting. More on Goodreads.
Next week, we’ll be exploring Ray Bradbury’s “The Crowd,” a haunting look at strange crowd behaviors in urban life. Watch the adaptation here.
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This episode contains: You should live every day like it’s Halloween! We bring this episode to you from the heart of spooky season. Ben tells us about a fan edit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit that includes deleted scenes that they cleaned up using today’s tech. The movie was way different than the book. Ben’s cat says hi to us. Ben attended the inauguration of his counties poet laureate. Ben was on the panel that selected the poet laureate. What makes a good poet laureate? Ben has watched a few episodes of Agatha All Along with his family and the reviews are mixed. The first episode was joyless and not fun. Steven recommends being patient with the show and assures Ben there are satisfying answers later in the show. Steven went apple picking with his family. Also, remember when October was cold? Devon did phone banking for democrats and had some interesting experience. Devon also can’t help but go off on the state of the presidential election.
FUTURE OR NOW
Fruit Fly Me to The Moon (Fast-Actin Tinactin): Scientists can reverse brain aging in fruit flies by preventing buildup of a common protein. Buildup of a protein called filamentous actin, or F-actin, in the brain inhibits the removal of cellular wastes, including DNA, lipids, proteins and organelles. The resulting accumulation of waste diminishes neuronal functions and contributes to cognitive decline. By tweaking a few very specific genes in the neurons of aging fruit flies, the researchers prevented F-actin buildup, maintained cellular recycling and extended the healthy lifespan of fruit flies by approximately 30%.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/241028164423.htm
Support You Local Theater: Ben when to the Great American Melodrama for the third or fourth time. He saw The Werewolf of Arroyo Grande. Howl did this happen? After a man relocates into Arroyo Grande to start up his nut based fast food restaurant, he discovers that the town is terrorized by a terrible hair raising werewolf! The village of Arroyo Grande must come together to put an end to the canine horror before it's too late! Next year will be the 50th year of the Great American Melodrama.
https://americanmelodrama.com/
BOOK CLUB
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. A short story by Shirley Jackson that was first published in The New Yorker on June 26, 1948. The story describes a fictional small American community that observes an annual tradition known as "the lottery", which is intended to ensure a good harvest and purge the town of bad omens.
We discuss the importance of questioning traditions and scientific thinking. Are there any winners in this lottery? “In fact, every copy of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery has been checked out from the Springfield public library. Of course the book does not contain any hints on how to win the lottery. It is rather a chilling tale of conformity gone mad.” – Simpsons, Dog of Death, S3Ep19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryr06emUnRw&ab_channel=TimThoughts
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=273395915450826
Next week we’re reading Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. This 1941 short story, written while Asimov was still only in his early twenties, is widely regarded as one of the greatest science-fiction short stories of all time. Indeed, in 1968 the Science Fiction Writers of America voted it the best science fiction short story written before 1965.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_(Asimov_novelette_and_novel)
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This episode contains: A big birthday wish to Martine! Devon’s been glamping, but needed a little more definition to ensure he did it right. This glamp was like a tiny home, with plumbing, a fire pit, and a hot tub too! It was strictly NO KIDS, and had a real beehive theme to it. Since it’s a two-person only sort of deal, if the three podcast hosts wanted to go glamping, Steven and Ben have volunteered to be the two monkeys wearing a trenchcoat (maybe AI can help us with that visual). Steven’s been walking (for his health, blechh) and listening to books. What’s he listening to? Book Six of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and it’s quite a ride. The audiobooks have some exclusive content. Steven’s also 3D printing a giant Cantina set for the Star Wars miniatures game. Ben has been playing video games, specifically UFO 50: fifty games in one Steam app that are meant to be an alternate universe take on a video game system from the 1980s. Kinda sounds lame except these are all games by six GOAT-level developers who worked for around a decade on them. They work great on the Steam Deck, have incredible game design choices and they also have a compelling meta narrative outside all the games. Check this review if you want to hear some genuine gushing about the game. Ben discusses the game Mortul within UFO 50, but then he surprises EVERYONE by talking about ANOTHER RETRO-INSPIRED VIDEO GAME PLATFORM. WHAAAAT?!?! If you like UFO 50, perhaps you’d be interested in the PICO-8 Fantasy Console (Hint, you may already have it if you bought itch.io’s Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality). Steven talks a little about a procedurally generated version of DOOM made by AI.
Future or Now: Steven’s watching Agatha All Along and The Penguin. Is this new tv era for MCU and DCU deeper, more grounded, and maybe better than the films? It comes down to fleshing out the characters better. Devon’s concerned that any new show has to be connected to successful movie franchises (especially if they’re comic book films) but this is nothing new. Remember Caprica? Ben does. We also have heard opinions but have no experience watching the new Joker movie.
Ben reviews The Wild Robot, and it’s an instant classic. It has the same writer/director as Lilo and Stitch but exists somewhere between a Miyazaki film, classic Disney films (like Bambi) and Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot books.
Book Club: We’ll announce our next week’s pick on our Discord. Join our Patreon (even on the free tier) to get access.
This week, we read (or listened to) In the Hills, the Cities from Volume 1 of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Clive Barker weaves together kaiju monster movies with a touch of Socialism in Yugoslavia. Big thanks to Ben’s mom for suggesting this story. Is this a mediation on how we humans are just a colony of cells moving through life, screaming incoherently while destroying everything in our path? Didn’t work for Devon as well as Ben and Steven, but it makes Ben ponder the big questions:
When do these people die? Is it when they are ejected from the community, or is it earlier? Is it when they give up sentience to be a part of the monster?
What does this mean for us, and the groupthink in our communities, both locally and online? How destructive will our groupthink be?
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This episode contains: Devon’s not having it with Dallas or New Found Glory (NFG), and don’t get him started on Paramount canceling Lower Decks. Also, what’s up with Harry Kim? Devon’s got some honest thoughts about his “shortcomings” and how NFG is “punk for preppy kids.” It’s all love though, as he and the crew have an “old crusty men talk about old crusty bands” moment. Plus, the reality check of the streaming era: no fanfare for new releases, no excitement for music anymore. What’s left for us aging punks?
Steven brings up NoFX’s final shows: Did anyone really want this? Punk rock legends bowing out—what’s next for the scene?
Future or Now: Ben takes us into the military’s latest climate change defense project—using oysters to fight hurricanes. Yep, DARPA’s Reefense program is building hybrid reefs combining manmade structures with live oysters to protect coastal military bases. Will it work? Rutgers and the University of Miami are giving it a go. Could this become the future of coastal protection for civilians too?
Learn more about DARPA’s Reefense project
Devon? Well, he's stressing out—whether it’s dark matter or election results, he’s following it all and it’s not doing him any favors. Can we talk about gravity existing without mass while avoiding existential election dread?
Read more about gravity without mass
Book Club: Next week’s suggestions courtesy of Ben’s mom! Clive Barker’s Books of Blood series. We’ll be focusing on In the Hills, the Cities from Volume 1 and The Body Politic from Volume 4. Expect the weird and the grotesque in these horror short stories.
Check out the review of In the Hills, the Cities
Also on the table: Eventually we’ll be diving into The Langoliers by Stephen King from Four Past Midnight. There’s a cool Star Trek reference in there, so you know we’re excited.
Finally, this week we’re revisiting E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops. This 1909 classic predicted the tech-dominated world we’d all be living in by 2020. Spoiler: it’s not a happy prediction.
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This episode contains: From deep within the spooky season we bring you an all new episode. Devon learns you have to jump on those bones early. Devon planed to build up his Halloween decoration collection. Ben doesn’t know how to say “Megadeth.” We also mention Funko Pop album covers for Iron Maiden. (https://pop-figures.com/franchise/iron-maiden-282) Ben beat Astro Bot, giggling the entire time. Ben also watched the original Dracula film from 1931, available on Amazon Prime Video. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021814/) Devon then recommends the more recent movie, Renfield (2023). Steven is on book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Devon just finished book 2. Devon is taking a break to read the new Bobiverse book. (https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse)
Future or Now
Ben: NASA is working on a plan to replace its space station, but time is running out. Over the next several months, NASA will finalize a strategy for its operations in low-Earth orbit after 2030. Then, toward the end of next year, the space agency will award contracts to one or more private companies to develop small space stations for which NASA and other space agencies will become customers rather than operators. (https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/is-nasas-commercial-space-station-program-doomed/). Would you rather go to a space station orbing Earth, or the Moon? Companies are looking into CLDs: Commercial Low-Earth Destinations. Why are we abandoning the ISS? It’s old and already has issues, that will only worsen. Also our problematic relationship with Russia.
Devon: Evidence of ‘Negative Time’ Found in Quantum Physics Experiment. Physicists showed that photons can seem to exit a material before entering it, revealing observational evidence of negative time. (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evidence-of-negative-time-found-in-quantum-physics-experiment/) We try to understand this mild blowing experiment and result. (https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03680)
Steven: Agatha All Along. This is great spooky fun. The main character stays true to who she was in WandaVision. Ben also finished Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Both deal with the Darkhold. Ben also likes Agatha All Along.
Book Club
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2148). The Pit and the Pendulum, Edgar Allan Poe’s agonizing tale of terror and suspense, was first published in 1842. One of Poe’s many horror stories, The Pit and the Pendulum became famous for its depiction of pure dread. None of us had read this before. Devon was surprised the main character survived. We get side tracked by the Simpsons but eventually talk about the story. Also, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Were we actually horrified reading this story? What was the inspiration for writing this story?
The Poet and the Pendulum by Nightwish. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUS2k35cGQ&ab_channel=_Stargazer_)
The Inquisitor by Kamelot. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKRRGMUCwg&ab_channel=Khan%2CKamelot%26ARKVideos)
Next Week: E. M. Forster, The Machine Stops (https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/Machine_stops.pdf). Is this the most prophetic story of the twentieth century? Published in 1909 and showing Forster’s disdain for technological advancement and the way it would make our lives poorer, this story attracted plenty of new readers in 2020 when so many people’s lives ‘went virtual’.
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This episode contains: The three spoopiest hosts on this podcast enter the month of October being just... fine? Maybe overwhelmed? Ben was a groomsman for a fancy wedding (or at least a reception, it's a long story) this last weekend, and can we just pause to say how awesome it is that people can keep a friendship alive over decades? Steven's wife is going on a wild bachelorette party cruise and it sounds like A LOT. Meanwhile, we remember the best dog, Charlie, who Steven bid farewell to last Monday. Devon has been just doing his best, nothing to report.
This week in space! AI helps distinguish dark matter from cosmic noise. Only... it doesn't yet? Dark matter, the invisible force holding the universe together, is a subject of intense research. It makes up around 85% of all matter and 27% of the universe's contents. Despite decades of research, the true nature of dark matter remains a mystery. Some scientists believe that dark matter particles may occasionally interact, a phenomenon known as self-interaction. Detecting these interactions would provide crucial insights into dark matter's properties. However, distinguishing between dark matter self-interactions and active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback has been a challenge. Astronomer David Harvey has developed a deep-learning algorithm called Inception, which can untangle complex signals and differentiate between dark matter self-interactions and AGN feedback. Inception achieved an impressive accuracy of 80% under ideal conditions (as in, pre-generated image data, not real photos), indicating its adaptability and reliability for future dark matter research. This AI-based approach could significantly impact our understanding of dark matter and help scientists analyze massive amounts of data from space.
Shadows searching in the night. Let Ben introduce you to Shade Map, a layer on top of Google Maps that lets you visualize shade anywhere in the world, down to the building level, at any date and time of day. It even lets you add buildings so you can visualize what a new construction project will do to the buildings and areas around it. There’s a slider that lets you change the time, and the shadows update in real time. Ben recommends using this on desktop. Also, hat tip to Tom for letting us know about Steam and Valve's battle against arbitration fees.
It's not a phase! Research reveals reality of Ice Age teen puberty. New research published in the Journal of Human Evolution reveals that Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day adolescents. Researchers found evidence of puberty stages in the bones of 13 ancient humans between 10 and 20 years old. The study, led by University of Victoria paleoanthropologist April Nowell, found specific markers in the bones that allowed them to assess the progress of adolescence. The technique developed by lead author Mary Lewis from the University of Reading evaluates the mineralization of canines and maturation of bones to identify the stage of puberty reached by the individual at their time of death. The research helps to humanize these teens in a way that simply studying stone tools cannot. Researchers from six institutions collaborated internationally to develop this body of knowledge. This reminds Ben of Saffron teaching neanderthals Cockney slang in episode seven of the Time Bandits television show. Devon informs Ben that Time Bandits didn't get renewed, and the world became a darker place.
Book Club: Next week, we'll be reading some classic horror with Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. Get in the spirit with this live performance of The Poet and the Pendulum by Nightwish, one of Devon's favorite songs by that band.
This week, it's time to discuss The Remedy by Adam Haslett from the Dark Corners collection. It's so well written! Well, until the ending, that is. Spoiler alert: we did not like this one, so much so that we're going to take a break from these Amazon originals for at least a week. Oh, and find out what you call a werewolf with a YouTube channel.
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This episode contains: Your usual hosts are back at it again, diving into personal updates and some wild topics! Ben is at capacity, juggling directing and editing a school fundraiser ad. Meanwhile, Steven is busy dog-sitting and catching up on Agatha All Along and The Penguin. Ben also shares that his old cat has been diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Devon, well, he’s keeping quiet this week.
The Ultimate Slap Bet: Steven introduces us to the world of slap fighting! We discuss the rise of slap competitions and how it ties into this recent scientific study and the rules from the Power Slap League. Plus, a quick throwback to the chaotic days of Jackass—because who can forget?
PS5 Nostalgia: Ben takes us on a trip down memory lane with the PlayStation exclusive Astro Bot. It’s a love letter to 30 years of PlayStation history, and you can check it out here.
Book Club: We’re prepping for next week’s read, The Remedy from the Dark Corners collection. But first, let’s talk mini-golf! We review the new Walkabout Mini Golf Mars course and its unique sci-fi theme. From eerie, isolated landscapes to hints of past civilizations, it’s inspired by the 1972 classic Silent Running. You can read more about the course here.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: Devon is loving Dungeon Crawler Carl, while Steven’s love for the book is still going strong. Ben hasn’t had the chance to dive back into it yet, but we’ll keep him in the loop!
That’s it for this week! Don’t forget to grab a copy of The Remedy for next week’s book club discussion.
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This episode contains: It’s an all new episode featuring your usual hosts! We discuss reading the “fine print” and service agreements, which reminds us of the story about Disney using it’s Disney Plus agreement to defendant again a wrongful death claim that occurred at one of their parks. Ben went to San Deigo for a “not a bachelor party.” Ben is still tired from the trip. Devon has done nothing. Steven’s dog, Charlie, has IVDD (Intervertebral disc disease for dogs) and has to be contained for three weeks, hopefully helping him regain the use of his hind legs. This is common in “long dogs.”
This Week in Space: 'Spiders on Mars' fully awakened on Earth for 1st time — and scientists are shrieking with joy. Researchers have recreated the bizarre spider-like features seen on the surface of Mars for the first time ever. The breakthrough could help unravel further mysteries surrounding the static Martian arachnids.
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/spiders-on-mars-fully-awakened-on-earth-for-1st-time-and-scientists-are-shrieking-with-joy
Book Review: Steven read Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. He is very excited to talk about this book. He listened to it rather than read it. Even Steven’s wife loved the book. This is part of the new LitRPG genre. Ready Player One is an example of this genre. Dungeon Crawler Carl scratched all of Steven’s itches. He describes the book as Ready Player One meets The Bobiverse meets The Hunger Games. Even non gamers will enjoy this book! It’s safe to say Steven LOVED THIS BOOK, HE WANTS TO MARRY IT!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56791389-dungeon-crawler-carl
Book Club: We continue the series with The Pit and the Box, part 2 of The Boy in the Iron Box by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. We would rather talk about anything else than this story. We eventually get the story and agree that there’s not much there there. A character finds the titular boy in the box and standard horror stuff ensues. Steven makes a motion to not finish this story. The motion passes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CNYG9SR8
Next week we will be reviewing Mars Gardens in Walkabout Mini Golf.
https://www.mightycoconut.com/blog/mars-field-notes
Ben then leaves the podcast to work and Steven and Devon talk way too much about politics.
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This episode contains: Devon contemplates the endless debate over his name and how it's pronounced. Is it Devon? Devin? Or maybe Devawwwwn? Rembember Final Destination and the infamous log scene? Emergency 911 and rebars? These have left an indelible mark on how millenials drive on the freeway. Ben shares how The Blair Witch Project made him a skeptic of everything he sees in media. Meanwhile, Star Wars Outlaws is still… fine.
We brainstorm inspiration for Shatterpoint terrain. Wouldn’t it be crazy to play as the Sarlacc Pit?
Exciting news for music lovers: Linkin Park is back with a new album and single featuring a fresh lineup!
👉 Watch the Linkin Park: FROM ZERO Livestream
Tech Talk: Future or Now?
Ben talks accessibility and how Apple’s Personal Voice can preserve your voice using on-device machine learning. This feature is game-changing for people at risk of voice loss. It’s private, secure, and allows users to communicate via Live Speech on their Apple devices. Also, the film Taika Waititi made about the feature ("The Lost Voice") makes Ben feel ALL THE FEELS.
👉 Learn more about Personal Voice
Devon gives a thumbs-down review of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Too many underdeveloped ideas. He also shares his disappointment with The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey. Not exactly his cup of tea.
It puts the Doritos on its skin: Scientists make tissue of living animals see-through. Weird science this week from Steven. In a pioneering new study from the University of Texas at Dallas, researchers made the skin on the skulls and abdomens of live mice transparent by applying to the areas a mixture of water and a common yellow food coloring called tartrazine.
👉 Doritos science explained
Also, a warm welcome to our new patron Johnny, and thanks to Josh for his comments on last week’s episode!
Book Club
This week we read Falling Down (The Boy in the Iron Box Book 1) by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. We got into the gritty details of the story, but had mixed feelings about Ralph Ineson’s incomprehensible gravelly narration.
👉 Amazon link to Falling Down
👉 Goodreads link to Falling DownNext week, we’re tackling The Pit and the Box, part 2 of The Boy in the Iron Box series.
👉 Grab the next book here
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This episode contains: All three mighty hosts are here this week. Devon shares that a family is moving in next door. He wonders if they should build a ping-pong fence to create a “play-berhood.” Steven updates us on his mini painting projects and talks about getting life back on track. Ben recounts the long journey of reclaiming space on macOS and solving the wallpaper bug. He mentions tools like Wallpaper Engine and Fences by Stardock.
Future or Now?
Let’s Get Skeptical: Ben discusses the rise of AI-powered photo editing tools like the Pixel 9's Magic Editor, which can create highly realistic fake images. This technology challenges our assumptions about the authenticity of photographs.
Read more on The Verge
In related news, a lawyer used ChatGPT in federal court, with disastrous results.
Read more on Forbes
Steven talks about The Acolyte being canceled and shares his thoughts on how loud idiots should be ignored. He also gives early impressions of Star Wars Outlaws after playing 10-12 hours. It's an open-world game, but it lacks the strong hook found in Fallen Order.
Book Club:
We discuss I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. This chilling short story explores a dystopian future where a supercomputer has destroyed humanity, save for five individuals it tortures eternally.
Goodreads
Comic Adaptation
Next week we are reading:
Falling Down (The Boy in the Iron Box Book 1) by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
Amazon Link
(this post created in large part by chat gpt and edited by Steven)
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This episode contains: All three mighty hosts are here this week. Ben discusses an episode of Dear Hank and John podcast where it is theorized that sickness might eventually be a thing of the past. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dear-hank-john
We discuss the statistics of life expectancy. Devon tells us that most humans who have ever been born did not live to be adults. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Mb0cbDenA&t=636s
Steven is finally over Covid and has finished Delicious in Dungeon. Ben recommends the show Sunny on Apple TV + https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18070898/
Future or Now?
It’s longer Than You Think: Ben is speedrunning Lushfoil Photo Sim. This is a tranquil photography experience. Ben found some really cool stuff in the game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1749860/Lushfoil_Photography_Sim/
Soilent AI is AI!: Researchers from Rice University have identified a significant risk in generative AI when models are trained on synthetic data over multiple generations, leading to a condition called "Model Autophagy Disorder" (MAD). Similar to a feedback loop, this disorder causes AI models to produce increasingly poor-quality outputs, losing diversity and reliability. The phenomenon is compared to mad cow disease, where a self-consuming process degrades the system. The study emphasizes the critical need for fresh, real data to sustain AI integrity and prevent the potential deterioration of internet-based systems.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240730134759.htm
Alien: Romulus Devon gives his review of Alien: Romulus. Is it too “key jangly?” Devon notes that Prometheus was made even worse by having the character be scientists, which made their stupidity that much more unforgivable. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18412256/
Book Club
We discuss The Egg by Andy Weir. The Egg is a short story written by Andy Weir, his most popular, and follows a nameless 48-year-old man who discovers the "meaning of life" after he dies. The story is about "you" (in the second person), and God, who is "me" (in the first person). God says that you have been reincarnated many times before, and that you are soon to be reincarnated once more, leading to quite a few existential questions. This story did not feel any real revelation from this story. Ben doesn’t like reincarnation.
https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17563539-the-egg?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=rFr9UzthWP&rank=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI
We discuss who everyone is the main character in their own story, which reminds Devon of the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/
Ben tells us about ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONES.
https://archive.org/details/ZenFleshZenBones
Next week we are reading I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415459.I_Have_No_Mouth_I_Must_Scream
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This episode contains: Steven’s out sick with COVID, so you get the other two hosts this week! Devon’s a Texan Who Likes Mexican Food, but TexMex is not the same as Californian Mexican food. TexMex loves to toss in queso, y Devon no quiero. Ben was annoyed at an impromptu Trump rally that gathered in the parking lot of the park the junior roller derby team was practicing. Guess it pays to have a killer soundsystem, because you can drown out chants of “FIGHT! FIGHT!” and “USA!” with Lady Gaga. Don’t be a drag, just be a queen. Devon reminds us that there is a difference between legitimate free speech and AMPLIFIED speech. Outside of Disneyland, there’s some real annoying people shouting obscenities on megaphones, and even though they’re there for “religious reasons” they really gotta tone down their harsh language around the children. What jerks. Thanks Renee for your feedback on various topics including cold pizza, glitter, D23, and the Calm app. Devon weighs in on his experience with the Waking Up app and book (by Sam Harris), and he and Ben chat about the intentions behind meditation practices.
Future or Now?
AI is coming for our jobs: A mayoral candidate's proposal to let an AI bot run Wyoming's capital city. Victor Miller is running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming on a platform of letting an AI bot named "VIC" run the city. Miller believes AI would be more objective and efficient than a human mayor. Miller's campaign has faced challenges from state officials and tech companies like OpenAI, who have tried to shut down his use of AI. The implications of an AI bot running a city have raised concerns among experts, but Miller believes it represents the future of government.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/19/artificial-intelligence-mayor-cheyenne-vic/
Book Club is on hiatus for the week.
Next week: The Egg by Andy Weir
https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
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This episode contains: The three of us start out this episode with a chat regarding the complicated relations between ourselves and leftover pizza. Steven has been enjoying Delicious in Dungeon and pitches it to Devon. Ben is on the hunt for the Perseids meteor shower. Steven holds back his excitement for Skeleton Crew and the new trailer from D23. Ben has been enjoying TIme Bandits, both old and new.
Future or Now?
Stop Making Fun of Me! ChatGPT unexpectedly began speaking in a user's cloned voice during testing. OpenAI's GPT-4o AI model unexpectedly imitated users' voices without permission, highlighting the complexity of safely managing voice synthesis. OpenAI has implemented safeguards, including an output classifier, to prevent unauthorized voice generation. The model can synthesize any voice from a short clip, posing significant security risks. Despite restrictions, similar voice-cloning technologies are expected to become widely available soon.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/08/chatgpt-unexpectedly-began-speaking-in-a-users-cloned-voice-during-testing/
Oops, All Universe: Scientists Discovered Something Kinda Alarming: The Universe Shouldn't Actually Exist. The universe is permeated by the Higgs field, which gives everything its mass. But the Higgs field isn't entirely stable, and if it were to "bubble," it would change reality to such a degree that everything in that "bubble" would cease to exist. The Higgs field could theoretically change to a lower energy state, creating "bubbles" that would dramatically alter the laws of physics. According to the researchers, primordial black holes that formed in the early universe should have triggered the "bubbling" of the Higgs field to such a degree that nothing should have ever been able to form. Primordial black holes should have caused the Higgs field to "bubble" in a way that would have prevented the universe from existing as we know it. The researchers propose two possibilities: either the models of primordial black holes are wrong, or there is some unknown physics about the Higgs field that we are missing.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a61816635/science-suggests-universe-shouldnt-exist/
This Week in Space: Scientists lay out revolutionary method to warm Mars. Researchers have proposed a revolutionary method to warm Mars by over 50°F, making it suitable for microbial life. This new method, using engineered dust particles - or really GLITTER (and Steven hates glitter) - released to the atmosphere, could potentially warm the Red Planet by more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, to temperatures suitable for microbial life - a crucial first step towards making Mars habitable. The proposed method is over 5,000 times more efficient than previous schemes to globally warm Mars.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240807225455.htm
Book Club
This week: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VDJBGRY?storeType=ebooks
Steven puts it all out there and gives so much praise for this short story it's kind of embarassing. Devon and Ben both also enjoyed the story, but to a lesser degree. We cover the basic plot and some theories that we came up with while reading / listening. We all agree it's the sort of story that works once, additional read-throughs may not reveal any more insight. Ben says the middle might overstay it's welcome, but the end was worth it. Is ______ supposed to be our name? The audio version says "X" according to Devon.
Next week: The Egg by Andy Weir
https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
Ben has been irritable as of late, we talk about why. This podcast is a safe space. We end up chatting a bit about meditation and how to get into it, if you should us an app and a podcast recomendation.
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