Instant Band Night 5 is this week

July 09, 2018

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that's pretty sure summer is now in full swing and wants to attend at least one pool party before fall comes. 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory Giveaway73 - Like Living in a Spaceship"Jon (@ferociousj), guest co-host Kelly (@enthusiosity), and special guest Ashleyanne (@wambamash) unshroud ideas for malls, plumbing, and apps while also backdoor-piloting a new podcast Jon may or may not start sometime soon."In this episode, I also wax rhapsodic about a laser tag joint that I've since learned closed sometime in 2017, which is a goddamned tragedy.If you haven't yet, subscribe by searching "Idea Factory Giveaway" in your podcast app of choice (and let me know if it doesn't pop up). If you're already there, feel free to leave a 5-star rating and a nice review (it helps; algorithms, etc, you know the deal).Instant Band Night Five for FightingThe fifth installment of Instant Band Night is happening on Thursday, July 12, and you should either come or invite your friends if you can't. Do it! Do it now!!1. The stage has a drum kit, guitar, bass, keyboard, and mics.2. We draw names out of hats to make instant bands that get 10 minutes in the green room to plan an 8-minute set.3. A hat-drawn artist will also take the stage alongside each band to draw their gig poster on a meeting room easel pad.You absolutely do not have to be a musician; just come have a good time, which I 100% guarantee.Thursday July 12507 55th St 946098p$5 doorBYOBSeriously: if you can't make it or you don't live in the Bay, invite your friends who do (Facebook / Eventbrite) -- the event's design dictates that it kind of lives/dies based on attendance, so help pack the place out and know that you've done at least one excellent thing this week. 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.I just remembered the existence of Fig Newtons. And you know what? Somebody pulled some bullshit with these things, because the packages now contain what seems like LITERALLY HALF the amount they used to. Right? Don't you remember opening a thing of Fig Newtons back in the day and seeing two long plastic sleeves packed with 'em? Now you get a sad little tray instead, a tray that holds about the same amount one sleeve did. What's going on, Fig Newton people? Did you think we wouldn't notice?!?* Fortunately, the knockoff Safeway ones seem to still abide by the old ways, and tastewise they're indistinguishable from the real thing. Thanks, Safeway!Side question: did Walgreens stop making their own house brand knockoff Newtons? Last time I went into a Walgreens, I couldn't find any. They used to make a strawberry kind that was great, for a certain aesthetic/taste range of "great." One package would get you not one or two, but THREE sleeves' worth of the damn things, which is amazing news if you're a trash goblin like me who tends to eat Newton-type confections in double-digit amounts if left to their own devices. I don't have a moral for this story. The end!!* Rhetorical. Don't @ me. I know how capitalism works. 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.Quentin is now at the age where Peek-a-Boo is a reasonably reliable way to elicit a good laugh from him, and it's the best thing in the world. Which is good, because he's got at least one (possibly two??) teeth on the way, and it makes him somewhat fussy. And that's about it. I realize that we've lucked out to an insane, almost farcical degree, and I kind of want to apologize to all other parents for somehow stealing your karma: our baby is astonishingly chill. I also realize that this state of affairs could change at any moment for any reason, so 🤞, people. I need to prepare myself mentally for it right now, so I'll be ready if/when it happens. 

Fascination Corner

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

  • Huh. Is Enceladus more of a surefire bet for finding life than Europa? 

  • London, I love you. You must go through with this. 

  • This article wonders if our problem is that we actually have too much democracy, but reading it, I think the actual problem is that Fox News still exists. Just sayin'. Let me know if you thought this, too. 

  • Another great use case for VR turns out to be visualizing and manipulating molecular models. As I say it, it seems obvious, but damn. Damn! 

  • I really want to believe FiveThirtyEight when they say Young Women Could Redefine The Women’s Vote, I really do. 

  • Democracy Journal has an interesting piece on how a higher minimum wage is just plain better for the economy all around. How short a leap is it from there to just plain universal basic income, though? I'm just sayin'. 

  • You might find this weird of me to say since my antipathy for spiders (and bugs in general, to a lesser degree) is known, but I would probably eat something made of cricket flour if it was prepared right (read: deep fried). 

  • Prefab, modular buildings have been attempted before and never worked (at least not here in the US) because economics. I'm curious to see if this new attempt actually gets off the ground. 

  • So China's not taking our plastics anymore and they're just piling up. Surely there has to be money to be made here. Invent a process, buy some machines, get some dirt-cheap desert land or something, make yourself Recycling King of America? Isn't that how this shit is supposed to work? 

  • I want to go to here. 

  • Check it out: Acre for acre, urban trees can store as much carbon as tropical forest. 

  • For the first time since Gallup started asking the question in 2000, a majority of Americans are not extremely proud to be one. I WONDER THE FUCK WHY** I do not actually wonder**** It's because our president is a stupid racist clown 

  • Good on you, Australia: Parents who refuse to vaccinate will be docked money from their family tax benefit from today. 

  • Fuck it, let's all be juggalos and punch Nazis. 

  • This rhino protection program is an actual great use for the dreaded Internet of Things. 

  • Space is literally greasy. What the hell? No, sorry: what the fuckin hell? 

  • On the one hand I'm all for it if it turns out natural psychedelics can actually ease depression, but on the other hand, ayahuasca (I've heard) is basically an emetic on top of its other effects. So if I ever become depressed, please find me a different one. Thanks in advance. 

  • Just FYI: vacations wear off quicker if you're in a workplace that doesn't encourage them. 

  • Travel might actually be bad? There's more to it than that, but it's a thought-provoking perspective. 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumBedroom Santa, There Might Be a Reason 

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.