Little Gems for the People #4, Busy Beavers

Ned and Meg chat beavers. These are some of the most impressive critters around. They are environmental engineers and have an incredible impact on their surroundings, creating habitat for other creatures to flourish. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg talk about intentionally false statements, which is what the OED defines as a lie. We discuss all sorts of lies, and how they fit into some of our favorite television shows like The Circle, and Taskmaster. We dip into discussion of KC Green’s comic adaptation of the classic, Pinocchio. We survey all the forms lies take, and we talk about the enormous problem of researchers who lie to further their careers or because they’re biased as hell in favor of themselves (ahem, doctors). We also rag on prank videos and any other sort of surprise that requires circumventing consent. Thank you for listening to us, wash your hands, and don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg revisit OceanGate-Gate, the accident-but-not-really-an-accident involving a fraudy, totally unprepared submersible in the Atlantic Ocean almost a year ago. We did a whole episode about it, and the concurrent tragedy of the drowning of nearly a hundred people in a migrant boat that capsized in the Mediterranean at the same time, which almost nobody talked about, because they were too busy talking about OceanGate-Gate. We also discuss pyramid schemes vs MLMs vs Ponzis. Then, we rip apart the book Wild, a memoir by another totally unprepared person who frustrates us. We also throw punches at Sapiens, a fraudy fraud book we never tire of complaining about, and we crack the topic of Brutalist architecture, more on that later. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg chat with Sarah, our featured guest this week, about favorite toys from yesteryear. There’s a lot of unrequited love for toys and games in this episode, since there were more toys than any single kid could possibly have in a short childhood. We envy each other a bit while we relive Easy Bake Ovens, Radio Flyers, Cabbage Patch dolls, Snoopy Snow Cone makers, Little Tykes cars, Nintendo, board games and Barbies. Join us. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg talk about Disappointment. Ned has some new chairs, Meg has a sinus infection and someone stole her tarp, it’s Valentine's Day, they make indoor parks now which feature none of the characteristics of an actual park, Warheads are gummies now, insect zappers are even more insidious than we thought, Ned lost his nachos, Meg got a speeding ticket in the final 100 miles of a 2400 mile car trip, and Ned’s internet domain is being held hostage by a company convicted of fraud. Does the fun ever start? Thanks for listening, wash your hands, don’t be a dick!

Ned and mostly Meg launch into a tirade about the sorry state of modern lighting design. Like everything else in our declining empire, lighting has taken a turn for the worse. We talk about how the USA makes us use less than excellent light bulbs while other countries get the highly efficient long lasting stuff. We express our disappointment with integrated LEDs versus replaceable bulbs and complain about how every business has become a scammy money funnel rather than an organization that provides a good or service as its primary concern. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, don't be a dick.

Ned and Meg discuss the sordid history of hot air ballooning. When did it start and will it ever end? Seriously, hot air ballooning is stupid-dangerous, so if you never take anything else away from this weird podcast, know that you should absolutely never go for a hot air balloon ride, ever, for any reason. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, avoid hot air balloons, and don’t be a dick.

Ned and Meg chat about the Legend of Zelda, which we think is basically the greatest game ever made, and we spend around 80 minutes telling you why! This game, or well these 19 games if you’re counting, feature some of the best design elements of any game and ones that translate so well you can find the 19 Zelda games spread out over at least nine different consoles. This game is so well designed with so many interesting and challenging features, it basically has something for everyone. We discuss the layout, plot, characters, modes of transport, and timelines of the games plus some of the secrets to be discovered. Thanks for listening and reminiscing with us about stories from our childhood AND our adulthood. Wash your hands, don’t be a dick, do something nice for someone.

Ned and Meg discuss a very esoteric idea for a book, which is the sort of thing you do when you have many ISBN numbers awaiting assignment. The book would be a compendium of scandalous stories, or -gates, which are accompanied by photos of actual gates related to the scandal. Weird, right? We don’t know. But it’s Bookgate, and we thank you for listening! Wash your hands, don’t be a dick, share with others.

Ned and Meg chat about The Sims while Ned’s in Germany, which ties into a conversation about some dogs, some rabbits, the nature of sentience and concepts of harm. The discussion of the Sims leads us to talking about governance and potentially bad ideas involving an earthen berm. We round out with a determination to do another episode about the importance of considering the context. As always, thank you for listening to our meandering conversation, wash your hands, don’t be a dick.