heels of doom

June 21, 2021

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that just received an email that the new Katherine Addison book is downloading to its Kindle but is also keenly aware there's a lot to do in the morning tomorrow 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory Giveaway155 - The Algorithm Did It"Jon (@ferociousj), Besha (@besha), and special guest Amy discover some fascinating ideas for stories and consumer products while considering a heretofore-unexplored new venue for gambling."We come up with a lot of taglines for this podcast whenever we record with Amy and I'm all about it. Also listen around the half hour mark for a moment where we all pause to take stock of something that truly seems like a huge opportunity in the convenience beverage market.The Fourth of July is rapidly approaching and all true American patriots know that the best way to celebrate is to go to our Apple Podcasts page and leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews. It's in the Constitution.Instant Band Night 15: Gone Til NovemberHalf of America's adult population has been vaccinated. Pencil 11/11/2021 into your schedule and if we're all very good and lucky, we'll see you all at the next Instant Band Night.Facebook event's still there in case you (like me) can't yet escape the vortex of Facebook+ + g e t   y o u r   s h o t   / /   l e t ' s   d o   t h i s + + 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.I need to come to terms with one of two ineluctable truths, or possibly both at the same time: 

  • There's something specific to the way I walk that destroys the heels of socks

  • The socks I've been getting (Pair of Thieves from Target) are some nasty bullshit

The thing is, this brand used to be the Good Socks, in my mind -- they felt cushiony and luxurious, and the designs were (and are) great. Over the past few months, what seems like a truly ridiculous number of them have developed holes in the heels that render them utterly untenable as socks. The first ones to go were pairs at least a year or two old, which at least sort of made some sense, but I've seen holes appear in socks I got a mere handful of months ago. I've noticed, however, another kind of Pair of Thieves sock appearing on the rack at Target, which are designated "cushion crew" as opposed to run-of-the-mill crew. I have to tell you the cushion crew ones feel a lot like the memory of how my original pairs felt; I'm giving them a try and we'll just see how long they last. 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.Mavis's immediate family live close by: twin sister + husband + kid, and mom + dad. We had everyone over for Father's Day takeout dinner, and at one point at least one of the dads got a card from the other family members. This must have registered in Quentin's mind, because this morning after breakfast he went to his table and started putting stickers on a sheet of construction paper. "What's that, buddy?" I asked him."It's a card for you!"I don't know if my heart can take input like this. How did we end up with such a sweet little kid? What genetic alchemy produced this bright kind spirit, how did any of this happen? Will it be repeated in a month when Baby Lime arrives? I could really use a visit from a Future Me who could let me know how it all turns out. 

Fascination Corner

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

  • Actually holding Trump accountable for all the bullshit he did turns out to be slipperier than we thought. (~$Atlantic) 

  • "Here’s an Idea for Liberals: Propaganda" (~$New Republic) 

  • PLYWOOD SATELLITE. (CNET) 

  • Is a low birth rate actually a problem? (538) 

  • I regret to inform you the engineers are at it again: spider-inspired joints for robots actually turn out to be a good idea. (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems) 

  • The only case I will hear this week against the wholesale destruction of Twitter is this story about a guy who just wanted to work at Costco. (Guardian) 

  • Even moving at sublight speeds, it should be theoretically possible for an alien civilization to cover the entire galaxy in about a billion years, according to the latest simulation, but you have to watch the video to see how crazy fast it happens at the core. (Gizmodo) 

  • Airbnb tried to introduce a feature designed to help Black hosts close the earnings gap, but ended up widening it by 20% instead. (Emerging Tech Brew) 

  • Evaluate enough paintings for it and a computer can predict your taste in art. (Caltech) 

  • Some North Carolina mill towns are trying to lure remote workers with some admittedly cool-looking renovated spaces for work and community. ($NYT) 

  • You know what, why not: entomologists have named a bunch of ambrosia beetle species after sci fi heroines. (Michigan State) 

  • Let's kill the five-day workweek. (~$Atlantic) 

  • Some scientists think human culture is now the main driver of our evolution rather than genetics. (Science Alert) (Paper) 

  • Soft burrowing robots? Soft burrowing robots. (UC Santa Barbara) 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumGiant Hideous Elf, Well He Started It 

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.