a situation of snacks

November 22, 2021

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that's nearly bursting with new ideas for fun little sculptures to make, at least for a certain value of "fun" 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory GiveawayMy goal really is to finish the edit on the last episode we recorded before I went into Baby Hiatus before 2021 ends. I CAN DO THIS. (Right??)We're now at an unheard-of but highly portentous number of 41 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings on our Apple Podcasts page, which I suppose is only significant if you're a Dave Matthews Band fan from way back, but STILL. Not only that, but there's another incredible review from an amazing person! Thank you!!!! The auguries were true all alongInstant Band Night 15: January Dreamin'That's what we're calling this, the fifteenth installment of Instant Band Night, unless it ends up getting pushed to March. In which case it'll need a new name. Whether or not it comes to that is dependent entirely on the vax schedule for kids under 5! (Eventbrite) (Facebook)+ +  r e t u r n i n g   i n   2 0 2 2  + ++ +  h a n g   i n   t h e r e  + + 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.Having been warned by some blood work many moons ago that I'm technically prediabetic, I've been on the hunt for savory snacks that can take the place of potato chips in my life, and I have some preliminary results to share for you all: 

  • Hippeas are essentially a cheesy poof made from chickpea flour instead of processed cornmeal or whatever it is cheesy poofs are made out of.* They're not particularly appetizing in appearance -- the Vegan Cheddar flavor in particular kind of look like weird dog treats -- but they taste surprisingly good. A reasonable substitute!

  • Simple Mills almond flour crackers are tasty, but there does not seem to be a way in this universe or any other to prevent the last few from going inedibly stale. I don't know what it is; it's as if the last dozen or so all sign some kind of mutual suicide pact the instant they detect their numbers dropping to a particular threshold. The inclusion of a silica gel packet in their storage container does nothing. Nothing!!

  • Enjoy Life lentil chips are a thing I just picked up today, and all I'm gonna say is YES I WILL, they're goddamn delightful and I require this company to never go out of business. Thank you for your kind attention in this matter.

  • If Trader Joe's ever stops selling the chili lime almonds, I will build and activate a doomsday device immediately. The world should consider itself warned.

* Which, btw, I could never actually get a solid answer on the glycemic value of. Go ahead, try to find out where foods like Planters Cheez Balls sit on the glycemic index; if you actually do find a straightforward answer, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.Like his brother, Felix has been an overall excellent baby to care for thus far, but I have to tell you that we (or I at least) am becoming paranoid about his poops. Every time I smell or hear something, I scurry over to where he is and check his back for a spreading stain. I don't think it's inherent to the design of the diapers -- they usually work great. Mostly it's that we sit him in a baby bouncer or a rocking chair-type device occasionally, and there's something about the orientation of his body in them that heightens the risk of poops just bubbling out the back of the diaper; we've taken to putting a cloth down behind him so we don't have to wash the chair every time. Also, there have been a couple days (thankfully not in a row) where he just ......... doesn't poop. Which makes the wait for the eventual explosion a kind of Damoclean sword made of poop dangling over our heads; will it happen overnight and make us have to wash the fancy bag he sleeps in? These are the questions you ask yourself as a parent; every day he gets bigger, though, which means eventually we won't have to. The arrow of time only flies in one direction, folks! 

Fascination Corner

I read a lot of newsletters; here are some links that caught my eye. 

  • "The Bad Guys Are Winning: If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies—communism, fascism, virulent nationalism—the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse." (~$Atlantic) 

  • Well, the Democrats got exactly one thing sort of done. (Vox) 

  • An Atlantic writer went to a right-wing conference down in Florida and let's just ask the question Ryan Broderick asked when he asked "When is it time to start panicking?" (~$Atlantic) 

  • Which fucking idiot at Russian space command decided testing an anti-satellite missile was a great idea? Do you not know there's a fucking space junk problem up there? (The Verge) 

  • "People in Minneapolis Are Calling Each Other Instead of the Cops" (Motherboard) 

  • Read the very good replies to this very good tweet. (@LilahSturges on Twitter) 

  • For only the second time that we're aware of, a person's immune system acting on its own with no help has scoured the HIV virus from her body. (STAT) 

  • Rebecca Solnit has "Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope" for us. (Guardian) 

  • Results from a study seem to indicate it's possible for people to tell whether someone is from the same country just by hearing them laugh. (U of Amsterdam) 

  • "I Made the World’s Blandest Facebook Profile, Just to See What Happens" -- it turns out the content isn't radicalizing, but it's profoundly shitty. (~$Atlantic) 

  • Fusion power might be actually for real 30 years away instead of just a pretend 30 years away, at least according to some optimistic startups. I'll believe it when I see an actual functioning reactor that produces more energy than it consumes. (Nature) 

  • Behold the winners of this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards! (NPR) 

  • "Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny" -- the fact that modern movies are jam-packed with ridiculously hot people and nobody fucks is actually kind of concerning. No, really. This one is a little old (February) but still good. (Blood Knife) 

  • That whole "buy the Constitution" thing you may have heard about is getting even more hilariously tragic in the aftermath, where it seems like the so-called Distributed Autonomous Organization is acting more like A Small Cabal Of Scammers Running A Game On A Big Bunch Of Fools. (Motherboard) 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumCHONGO ROCKET, That's What This Sword Is For(If you've made it this far, feel free to hit REPLY and tell me what you think this band/album sounds like, because now I'm curious) 

Thanks

If you've read this far, I thank you. Feel free to forward this to someone you like, or inflict upon someone you don't.