in which many a promise is made

April 24, 2023

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that sure does love going to an art museum solo 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory GiveawayI haven't lost hope that I'll recover enough energy to kick the side of the podcast machinery and get it rumbling to life in early 2023. In the meantime, you can find the show's Apple Podcasts presence here, which includes a back catalog over 150 episodes long chock-full of excellent ridiculousness, including an experimental tabletop RPG and a couple of Star Trek fantasy drafts that could almost be their own show if I had the time to make yet another podcastInstant Band Night 20: DOUBLE XWe're three weeks out! Spring is definitely in the air, so let's celebrate the best way we know how: by getting up onstage with some friendly strangers and playing a song we just made up! Or by becoming part of the Bay's most receptive and encouraging audience! I can absolutely guarantee it's going to be the best thing you'll see in May!! If you can't make it, send the link to some cool friends!!May 11 2023 (click to add to your Gcal)6p$10East Bay Community Space507 55th St 94609(Eventbrite) (Facebook) + +  T E L L   Y O U R   F R I E N D S  + ++ +  S E E   Y O U   T H E R E  + +Extremely Unique Ceramics For YOUIn case you missed it last week, I finally put up an Etsy shop where you can find some of my sculptural output; the announcement at the top of the page and the About section at the bottom really encapsulate the entire vibe, so I advise checking it out for either of those if nothing else. Watch this section for new drops, or just follow the shop. 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.For the better part of two decades, an old friend of mine in NYC named Paul has thrown an annual party at which he serves at least one turducken; friends and side dishes are encouraged. It's the kind of party you want to commemorate with a good t-shirt, and some years ago he enlisted me in their creation, to which I happily agreed — but I was never able to make it to the party, not out of any lack of love but just because it just seemed like a very long way to go, and then I had kids, and yadda yadda. You know how it is. Well, this year Paul brought the turducken party back after a pandemic-induced hiatus, and I decided goddammit I was going to make it to this one. Reader, I did, and let me tell you: I've been a fool for the past 16 years at least. The turducken party is great and from now on I'm going to try to make it my business to attend annually. I'm saying it out loud here to make my commitment public!!! 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.If you read the Medium Ramble then you know I went out of town. This is something that takes somewhat more prodding than usual, due to the unfortunate fact that out of the 3 times I've left the house on a multi-day trip, one of the kids has gotten sick for 2 of them. This latest one included: Quentin popped a fever the morning after I left and had to be kept home from school. Mavis handled it wonderfully and we had plenty of backup scheduled in my absence anyway, but still. STILL. The possibility has always mildly harrowed me ever since I took that first little mini-vacay to LA and a terrible stomach bug promptly attacked Quentin from both ends.This hasn't dissuaded me from encouraging Mavis to take a similar trip soon; we just need to pick a date range and secure the appropriate backup. It's going to happen! 

Fascination Corner

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

  • No fucking shit: NGOs and government orgs assume we feel like the climate crisis is distant and faraway and are unmotivated to take action, but The Scientists did some surveys and found out the exact opposite. (Cell Press via Science Daily) (Paper) 

  • "Social media is doomed to die: After seven years at Snapchat, I finally learned the truth about why our most important apps seem destined to disappoint us." (The Verge) 

  • Well, Dominion settled with Fox. I hope that $787.5M at least stings a little leaving their bank account. (NBC News) 

  • It kinda sounds like Smartmatic sees blood in the water and feels good about going for the jugular, though? I know it's early days and anything could happen, but I choose to be faintly encouraged by this sign. (CNN) 

  • "The climate crisis and biodiversity crisis can’t be approached as two separate things" — fortunately, The Scientists have some concrete recommendations for us. (Alfred Wegener Inst) 

  • I think I linked to something similar last week, but look: the American mortality rate for basically any age group is between 2-4x that of our counterparts in other countries at our technological level up to about age 60, and that's pretty much down to the guns and the shitty healthcare system. (~$Atlantic) 

  • It's not all Atlantic downers, all right? Enthusiasm (or the carefully-applied faking thereof) might be a key ingredient to happiness. (~$Atlantic) 

  • The Scientists think it's possible stars with low metallicity might be more hospitable to life, which is odd because our own sun is dense with 'em and we're, you know, life. (Motherboard) (Paper) 

  • Instead of plastic, what if we used paper bags that were specially treated to get stronger when wet, and then recycled them for biofuel? (Penn State) 

  • "America Needs a Democracy, Not a Divorce" — this is absolutely true, but how are we gonna get a functioning government? How, though? (The Conversationalist) 

  • The Scientists have been reading every country's climate plans and they're not reassured. (U of Copenhagen) (Paper) 

  • All right, there's no way to sugarcoat this: worms get the munchies if you immerse them in weed water. (Nature) (Paper) 

  • Some Engineers have built a solar device that generates hydrogen, oxygen, and heat — and they're already commercializing it. (EPFL) (Paper) 

  • MIT's Sloan School of Management is offering a course that teaches you how to be happy; here are some takeaways. (MIT Sloan) 

  • Coastal marine animals are now hanging out on the big plastic garbage patch in the Pacific, which could be a problem if invasive species figure out they can use it as a base from which to spread into new territory. (Scientific American) 

  • The Scientists are wondering if it's possible to build a system that can predict violent geopolitical crises before they happen, and thereby prevent them. I suggest they get in touch with the LANCER folks and see if they'll license the name "Oracle Chorus installation" out, just because. (Science Alert) 

  • "Can you describe a sensation without feeling it first? Research with a person born without somatosensation shows that direct sensory experience is not required to understand language and abstract metaphors referencing that sensation." (U of Chicago) (Paper) 

  • San Francisco is looking to enliven its increasingly haunted and empty downtown by providing grants to people and groups with ideas for three-month pop-ups. Interesting. (SF Standard) 

  • Some Engineers have created a visual sensor that can correctly interpret and predict motion in its subjects from just one frame. Seems like it'd be useful! (Aalto U) (Paper) 

  • The way elephant seals out at sea sleep is fucking wild, everybody. (UC Santa Cruz) 

  • There is in fact a reason why we keep making the same mistakes over and over even when we don't want to. (The Conversation) 

  • Some Engineers have figured out how to make smart fabrics and flexible displays using currently existing weaving technology. (U of Cambridge) (Paper) 

  • Since its discovery about 70y ago, The Scientists have completed their scans of the Tully Monster's fossils and they're preeeetty sure it was an invertebrate. (U of Tokyo) 

  • Who's out there listening to podcasts and why? What do they get from them? The answers are fascinating. (Pew Research) 

  • The Scientists have discovered a fungus that can break down plastic in about 3 months, but they haven't yet worked out how to scale the process up, or if it's even possible. (Science Alert) (Paper) 

  • Tide-based power generation works fine, but as the sea level rises, formerly viable sites won't be, although new ones could open up. (Hakai) 

  • Speaking of the sea, imagine stumbling across a half billion dollars' worth of cocaine in the Mediterranean! (CNN) 

  • Some Engineers have invented an edible, rechargeable battery. Yup. (Science Alert) (Paper) 

  • The Scientists have engineered a yeast cell that gets at least some of its power from light. (Science) (Paper) 

  • There are previously-unknown, untouched coral reefs 1/3mi down inside the Galapagos Marine Reserve! (Woods Hole) 

  • There's a single-celled organism wreaking havoc among sea urchin populations in the Caribbean, and The Scientists are relieved they've identified it. But aren't there also sea urchins going buckwild on kelp forests elsewhere, which is bad? Should we maybe ....... you know ........ make an introduction? I'm just sayin'. (U of South Florida) 

  • Some Engineers at my alma mater built a robot that can walk a 6cm balance beam successfully. Yes there is video. (CMU) 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their album

(I remembered a formula for making fake album covers that involves searching for a random appropriately licensed photo on Flickr and then applying your best Graphic Design Skills to the result; let me know if you like this better or worse than when I just wrote them out and/or if you want to tell me what you think this band/album sounds like, because your answers are always incredible) 

New Music Roundup

Last week's band/album was:

We didn't get any reader interpretations for this one, but I'm keeping this section going anyway this week just because I've kind of templated the emails and it's easier if there's some text here. FWIW, I kind of pictured The Party of the First Part as a sort of Boards of Canada, Kruder/Dorfmeister-esque downtempo bleepbloop outfit. 

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.