bubble trouble, part two

September 23, 2019

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that damn well bought a thing of spiced apple cider at Trader Joe's because that's how fall starts around here. Also, there were tubs of "apple cider cookies" by the aisles? Has anyone had those? Are they good? 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory Giveaway124 - Miscommunicorn"Jon (@ferociousj), guest co-host Kelly, and special guest Steve Woyach trade idea vaults, bringing to light amazing products, services, and even a movie."Steve's personal idea files were a thrill to peruse -- I now truly understand why our guests seem to have so much damn fun! Also, now armed with two (2) data points, we felt confident enough to take a stab at calculating the average number of ideas/year a person might have; the result may surprise(?) you.🦝 YOU CAN DO THIS 🦝I feel like we had some momentum going with our Apple Podcast ratings -- we hit 25, at least -- so why not keep it going and see if we can get to 30? Dare I dream? I firmly believe this can happen: a mere handful of you just need to go hit that 5-star rating on your podcast app, maybe even leave a nice review -- we will credit you properly when we record our next episode! Which should be sometime soonish!!!!!!!Instant Band Night: Lucky 13Mark your calendar for November 14 if you haven't already, and prepare to party like no one has ever partied. I mean this literally: Instant Band Night sees things happen that I'm pretty sure have not happened at other events, because we make musical magic of many different kinds materialize. I should note that you absolutely do not have to be a musician to come have a good time: just hang out in the audience, enjoy the show, and have some cake.THERE WILL BE CAKE.👍 Just click the link for details 👍📣 And don't forget to invite your friends 📣⚡ http://bit.ly/instantbandnight13 ⚡ 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.If you read last week's Medium Ramble, you know all about my quest for bubble fluid and how it was supposed to end. When I got to Target, it turned out the 2L bottle was only $5 because it was on clearance, and it was gone and never coming back.As you can imagine, this did not please me.However, they were also selling individual little bottles of the same bubble stuff (complete with little wand) in shrink-wrapped 6-packs for $3. I stood there and did the math, and it turned out to be 2.2L for $6, and by fuck and damn I had come to Target to get some fucking bubble fluid, so you bet I paid the $6 and went home feeling slightly crazed but triumphant.As I poured each bottle's contents into a large jar, I noticed something: this bubble solution is much, much more viscous than any of the homemade bullshit I'd attempted. I still have the relevant ingredients, so I might -- might -- try another, smaller batch of homemade stuff with at least 3x (possibly 4x) the indicated amount of corn syrup, just to see if that does it. Further updates as events warrant. 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.Whenever we bring Quentin to a new place with new people, there's always a period of adjustment for him: he starts out cautious and guarded, sticking close to Mavis or me, etc. But after we've spent some time there, he becomes more and more comfortable with the space and the people and starts to wander around, picking things up and playing with them, and it's a delight to witness. I'm writing this after a surprisingly action-packed day, the latter few hours of which were spent at a friend's house -- technically in their backyard, which is crammed with toys and entertainments of all kind (they have a boy (6) and twin girls (3), so you can imagine what-all's in there). Quentin spent some serious time with a sand table and for a brief moment rode -- by himself, for the first time! -- a three-wheeled scooter. He also did some good work with a cube of pink sidewalk chalk: toward the end, there was a perfect smudge of bright pink on the exact tip of his nose, almost as if a makeup artist had placed it there before putting him onstage for a kids' play of some sort. I failed to get a photo, but you are invited to imagine it, because it was goddamn adorable. 

Fascination Corner

I read a lot of newsletters; here are some links that caught my eye.Not a lot of links this time around, interestingly! I don't know if last week was just a slow one or not. Does that mean you'll be able to spend more time with this smaller set? I'm not here to tell you what to do.

  • After years of joining tech companies that earnestly spray messages about changing the world into the air like so much pheromonal garbage before putting harmful, corrosive, or just plain useless apps into the shared technosphere, a lot of software people are starting to feel bad about the whole thing, so now there's a new industry around therapy for tech people popping up that -- surprise -- involves more apps. It's an interesting read, at least. ($NYT) 

  • What happens to the clothes you leave at the dry cleaner? (Fortune) 

  • Indoor solar cells are possible; they don't produce a lot of power, but they'll probably work for all the smart gadgets that are about to stuff everyone's houses. (Linkoping U via EurekAlert) 

  • Navigation apps are only making traffic worse, but there are ways to fix the problem. (IEEE Spectrum) 

  • Maybe we should stop praising famous people. (Aeon) 

  • There are basically two Americas, and they have increasingly little to do with each other, which is .................. concerning. (Brookings Institute) 

  • INFLATABLE SPACE HABITATS. (The Verge) 

  • The Christian Right has been driving liberals away from religion as a concept. (538) 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumPoop Rabbit, The Things We've Done for Profit Alone 

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.