Feature Creep: Built-in Microwave; The Podcast
With a loose focus on design, and a heavy dose of absurdity, we discuss a variety of topics that we hope you will find relevant to your own life. Or, at least you might find them entertaining. Please enjoy.1
-
With your consent, of course. ↩︎
Podcast: Monday, Dec 6, 2021
Design Methodologies, and a Surprise
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.
Podcast: Monday, Nov 22, 2021
So Easy a Baby Could Do It
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!
Podcast: Monday, Nov 15, 2021
Dystopian Dorm Design, Charlie Munger the Architectural Menace (Dwarf Fortress)
Ned and Meg talk about a terrible idea.
Podcast: Monday, Nov 8, 2021
The Book of Books
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.
Podcast: Monday, Nov 1, 2021
Slippery Sophistry
Riddle me this? What happens if Ned and Meg and Lauren record a podcast episode where we make up garbage philosophy and pass it off as wisdom? Find out. We also bring up Chesterton’s Fence and Sim City 4: Rush Hour Edition. Chicago’s civil engineering gets a shout, and then we round things off with a chat about STIs. Don’t miss it. Wash your hands, wear a mask, don’t be a dick MINNEAPOLIS I’M LOOKING AT YOU AND YOU MESSED THIS UP SO BAD.
Podcast: Monday, Oct 25, 2021
Vacuum Cleaner Design
Ned and Meg talk about the wide world of vacuum cleaners and how special some of them are to us. For example, the only heirlooms Meg’s family passes down are, in fact, Rainbow vacuum systems. Now you know. We also explore the historical aesthetics of Rainbow and other vacuum cleaners, and compare design elements to what was going on in Sci-Fi movies at the time, which leads us to National Treasure Jeff Bridges. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, wear a mask, get yer shots, don’t be a dick.
Podcast: Monday, Oct 18, 2021
The Big Bad Context
Ned and Meg revisit one of their favorite books, Pragmatic Thinking and Learning, by Andy Hunt, and they discuss the concept of an expansive context. Also, multitasking makes you stoopid, so knock it off and remove that “skill” from your resume. Thank you for listening to us (especially Buster), and wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick.
Podcast: Monday, Oct 11, 2021
He Was Like, WTF is FCBM?
Ned and Meg confuse Meg's dad over text messages and then talk about it. We reassign the rings of hell and remind people that deterrents are not really useful in the ways that proponents usually expect them to be. We sideswipe MLMs, religion, public education, the benefits of the GED, and naming things. Welcome, thanks for coming, please email us, wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick and thank you again.
Podcast: Monday, Oct 4, 2021
Nodus Tollens and the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
What’s your sleep plan? Ned and Meg push their bedtime with a late night podcast recording, just like old times. Today, or rather tonight, well, really the other night, we discussed the definition of the made up phrase Nodus Tollens which sounds a lot like Latin but is in fact a contrived phrase that means you’ve lost the plot of your own life story and it no longer makes sense to you. If you’re not totally unsettled by this and other existential ponderings, join us. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick and thanks for listening. Go to bed!
Podcast: Monday, Sep 27, 2021
Myopic Design
Ned and Meg get miffy about myopic design, a phenomenon that occurs when people design things for all the wrong reasons. The dumbest invention, a shining example of myopic design, is perhaps the now-infamous and totally defunct Juicero. If you love a good long justifiable cathartic complainaroo, this one’s for you. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick, and thank you as always.