in which lexical and syntactical innovation continue apace

March 02, 2020

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that greets the coming of spring with a nonzero amount of pollen-based trepidation based on the amount of noseblowing that's happened in the last 12 hours. 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory Giveaway134 - Neil Young's Bootleg JawasJon (@ferociousj), Besha (@besha), and special guest Ian explore an array of exceptional ideas for consumer products of all varieties for all situations, plus a party concept from a friend.The title of this one will make sense once you listen to the episode, I promise. I feel like I say that a lot, but that's because it's true.We're still at 29 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings in Apple Podcasts. Somebody out there -- maybe one of you -- can be the one to put us over the top into 30. You have the power! Feel it coursing through your very cells!! Now use it -- use it quickly before the magic dies!!! ⚡Instant Band Night 15: NUMEROLOGY🎸 NEXT 🎸🔥 DAMN 🔥💋 WEEK 💋We've got a lot to be anxious about. Let's get it out onstage with a band, or dance furiously in five-minute chunks to different bands our friends make!All details are at this handy link:http://bit.ly/instantbandnight15It's also on Facebook if that's where you are* * t h e r e ' l l   b e   c o o k i e s * ** * w e ' l l   s e e   y o u   t h e r e * * 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.In case you were wondering: 

  1. Elizabeth Warren, goddammit

  2. Bernie, I guess

  3. Biden if I have no other fucking choice in the matter, fuck

  4. I dunno, let's collectively all agree as a side to write in Claire Saffitz and see if she'd be up for it why not

There you go. 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.There have been a couple of interesting new linguistic developments, folks.1.Quentin has discovered that he enjoys the occasional nonsense rhyme, which typically manifest at the ends of sentences or phrases: the "table wayble," the "ladder whadder," etc. It's very good.2.Mavis and I aren't exactly sure what this next one signifies -- maybe it's an intensifier? But if so, it's a very specific one. At lunchtime, one of his core staples is a slice of toast cut into quarters with hummus spread on it, and he usually makes kind of a mess eating it. This does not please him, so he holds up his hands when he's halfway or sometimes 3/4 through his toast and says "I'm sticky," which is a sign for one of us to wipe his hands with a wet washcloth (one of these days we'll teach him about napkins). Occasionally, he'll tell us "I'm sticky lala." We have no idea what the "lala" means, but it only ever shows up in this particular case. We do know that it's adorable. 

Fascination Corner

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

  • Here's your Covid-19 writeup, in case you weren't already reading one. (Vox) 

  • Tulsa's doing an interesting experiment involving luring remote workers to live there. (CityLab) 

  • Calming music for cats exists, and it works. Yes, there's a link. (LSU via EurekAlert) 

  • Is the biggest explosion thus far detected in space really an explosion when it took hundreds of millions of years to happen? Honest question. (ICRAR) 

  • Why bother with making robot hands when you can make robot octopus tentacles capable of grabbing live crabs!! (Harvard School of Engineering) 

  • It's wild to me that despite being deaf, there are moths that have evolved sound-absorbing scales that dampen their echolocation images to bats. (U of Bristol) 

  • Ridesharing is much worse for air quality than just taking the damn bus. (The Verge) 

  • Scientists at Johns Hopkins have developed a way to tag cancer cells with a nanoparticle that flags them for destruction by the immune system. (Johns Hopkins) 

  • Should we be looking at compounds containing metals for the next round of antibiotics? (U of Queensland) 

  • Seagulls would rather eat food they've seen humans touch. (U of Exeter) 

  • Flea beetles can jump far and frequently, and we've only just now figured out exactly how, mechanically speaking. Turns out it might be good for designing robot legs, too? (Pensoft) The full paper has pictures. (ZooKeys) 

  • Israeli scientists have discovered a multicellular organism that doesn't need oxygen to live, which is ....... a first.  To say the least. (Tel Aviv U) 

  • Researchers at Northwestern have come up with a new decentralized algorithm for controlling swarms of robots that seems to work pretty well; there's even a cute little video. (Northwestern) 

  • If we're going to protect the oceans, we need to declare at least 26% of it a conservation zone, minimum. (U of Queensland) 

  • Here's a first-person account of a modern-day, genuine lost-at-sea shipwreck. (Outside) 

  • What are we going to do when our AIs start to lie to us? How will we even know? (IEEE Spectrum) Relatedly, here's another article listing some milestones that are going to have to be achieved before we start to really worry about a lethal machine uprising. (~$MIT Technology Review) 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumMuch-Needed Salts, The Wizard Is Among Us 

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.