Our tale today begins as so many have, with a gargantuan misunderstanding between friends followed by a backchannel conversation followed by unintentional hilarity followed by a podcast about it. Meg is always to blame somehow, but this time less so than normal! Things are looking up. Also: book reccs, hand-crank-food-processor-fish-oil-mayo, pain-as-liminal-space, other hyphenated phrases, semantic differentials, plans for when we’re lost at sea, and since our research team is on hiatus we have a new ending segment, Design Concept Snacks courtesy of Ned. Thanks as always for joining us, wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick.

Ned, Meg, and Lauren talk about a scientific and cultural hero, Dr. David Nutt. Like many people who speak truth to power, his attitudes and research into drugs often offend politicians and policy makers because his discoveries overturn years of taboo and misunderstandings about the relative harms of drugs to individuals and society.

Ned and Meg get together after a protracted separation over the holidays and new year and record a similarly protracted podcast about the goings on! First topic of the new year, single men in minivans. Then, in not quick succession, what hurts or helps your chances when attempting to pass out candy, internet crazes we missed out on, adjusting expectations around panel vans, squirrel baffle sagas, rabbit poop bonanzas, medical nightmares, Ned’s vacation, OMG omicron, and more. Always more. Thanks for listening, especially to these long winded ones (Buster, I’m looking at you), wash your hands wear a mask get the shots. Don’t be a dick.

Ned and Meg revisit the historical waypoints along the existence of Monopoly, our favorite polarizing game. If you are lucky enough to have people in your life still willing to engage you in a game of Monopoly, you are probably a good hearted person. That’s nice. However, everything about Monopoly is ruthless and rewards avarice and that’s what we like to discuss. See also: daring escapes from Nazis, the perpetual rebranding of Monopoly, DIY sets, and so on. Welcome to the cult. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick, thanks for listening!

Ned and Meg revisit what has become an annual episode topic! Oh, the differences in nomenclature between Xmas and Christmas. We discuss the current status of the ongoing War on Christmas, including the oft-misunderstood Catholic Christmas traditions and appreciation for the thoughtfulness of Kwanzaa, plus we cover the big news, which this year is how the Fox Tree was burned down for reasons besides what Fox would have you believe. Amazing! We also apologize for and explain why we disappeared for a bit. It’s because Meg got a disease but it wasn’t Covid! We will be back on track soon, watch for more episodes in early 2022. As always, thanks for listening, wear a mask, wash your hands, get the shots, and don’t be a dick!

Meg and Lauren discuss their favorite peppers and birds who steal fruits. We get into a long discussion about food dehydrators and mushrooms as well. We enthuse about which foods make great powders and which CSAs to sign up for in Minneapolis. Thank you for listening and as always wash yer hands, wear a mask, get yer shots, don’t be a dick, hi Buster.

Ned and Meg discuss design methodologies and the people who made some of them famous. We also talk about Futurama, rational design, engineering and art, making the abstract real, and the Design Thinking Methods Catalog. Join us, thanks for listening, get your shots, wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t be a dick. That’s that.

Ned and Meg talk about their podcast production process and the potential for streamlining it because right now our process is a clunker! We also discuss the present, future, and past, and RIP laser discs. Heady stuff. Also laughing. The usual. Thanks for joining us, wash your hands, wear a mask, get yer shots, don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg talk about a terrible idea.

Ned and Meg talk about a new book idea. We lay out the case for why we think it’s inspired and then get off track pretty quickly, which is exactly the point of all of this anyway. We discuss the opening lines to some famous books and also gripe about TV we hate. We also have some killer colors of the day today so thanks for listening, wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick.