so this is 2020

January 06, 2020

Welcome to Corgi-Class Starship, the newsletter that's going to have to take the Xmas tree down in the next couple of days and isn't psyched about it. 

You'll Like This

Update(s) on thing(s) I made or somehow helped to bring about.Idea Factory GiveawayNo new episode this week, so if you missed last week's (or really any), do yourself a favor and get on it! Also, as long as you're there, feel free to lay down that ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and maybe leave a nice review!Instant Band Night XIV: Starting 2020 Off Right🔥🗡🎹 THIS THURSDAY 🎹🗡🔥🤯✨🎶 GET HYPE 🎶✨🤯(Facebook event)(or just send your friends this link)http://bit.ly/instantbandnight14 

Medium Ramble

Skippable if you're in a hurry.Here's a perfect example of why it's important to really examine your inbuilt biases.By and large, I do the cooking around here, and the past few meals I've made (which tend to generate a fair amount of leftovers by design, so they can go into the freezer in single-portion containers for maximum convenience) have a been fairly rice-heavy. As I was contemplating what to make next, I had two conflicting thoughts:👻 I want curry rice.🦝 But I've made a lot of rice lately.This was immediately followed by something heretical:🎃 Curry macaroni???????What's odd is that curry udon is a food that (a) exists and (b) is great. Curry on long noodles is fine. Curry on short noodles is ................... unthinkable?? For some reason???Well, now that I've thought it, I kinda want to do it. Maybe it'll be elbow macaroni. Maybe shells. Wagon wheels if I can find 'em? Rotini? What's the best shape for curry pasta? Maybe two shapes at once! Nobody can stop me! NOBODY 

#dadthoughts

Also skippable if you're in a hurry or don't care. No judgment.We've decided to start keeping an Evernote whose sole purpose is to capture things Quentin says. Just this week he started saying -- or more like announcing, really -- "I'm so lucky!" 😭😭😭 I first saw him do it at the table after a particularly good bite of dinner. He's also started saying "It's a mystery" from time to time, which is definitely something he's picked up from us. Something else that I've only heard him say a couple times but will almost certainly be happening more in the future: "Fascinating." I, uh, don't know who he could've picked that up from. 

Fascination Corner

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

  • Some tumors can be fought by injecting flu vaccine into them, which causes the immune system to attack them. (Ars Technica) 

  • Sex workers have been raising huge amounts of money to fight the Australian wildfires by simply offering to DM people nudes in exchange for proof of donations. I'm positive this is a miniscule fraction of the internet sex engine's true philanthropic capability, honestly, and if it ever spins up to full capacity, some shit is gonna get done. (Vice) 

  • If the oceans are gonna rise, could we base the design of future cities on stromatolites? No, really? (Grist) 

  • Here's a good deep dive on passive radiative cooling, AKA the thing where you beam heat directly into space without contributing to the global greenhouse. (Nature) 

  • CollegeHumor delivers a hilariously grim "promo" video for GoFundMe that's the very Platonic quintessence of It's So Bleak You Basically Have No Choice But To Laugh with "We Could Use A Few Fun Ones." (YouTube) 

  • There are ........ galaxies without dark matter? What? (Vice) 

  • Trying to design new molecules for medicine and whatnot is mostly guesswork, since you can't really tell how your fancy new molecule is going to bind to existing ones until you make it. U of Minnesota researchers have worked out a computer model that lets you predict your molecular interactions with a reasonable degree of accuracy. (U of Minnesota) 

  • Reading comics can make your brain work better, which: duh. (~$Quartz) 

  • Knowing when to quit is just as important as sticking with something; here are some guides for the former. (The Lily) 

  • Puffins have now joined the ranks of tool users. (Science Alert) 

  • After last week's issue, I was compelled to look around for some other Michael Harriot stories, and these two are very good, both filed under Dispatches From The Kwanzaa Kid: How the Grinch Stole Ujamaa and The Kwanzaa Pants Fight. 

A Fictional Thing

Something made-up that somehow suggested itself to me and which I could not escape.A band and their albumAccidental Wizard. Defense From Atomic Attack 

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.