Downers

#209 – Inbox can be a drag, and people have all sorts of ways to work around it. In this episode, we devote the hour to INBOX MANAGEMENT, and the myriad of ways it can go right or wrong. We also talk about our first email addresses, and what makes for a really, really good email. In particular, we address whether Inbox Zero – which many people say is the veganism of email – is an effective strategy for managing the deluge of electronic missives.

Plugs this week:

• TheHaboo's Stardew Valley strims (Kate)
• DeleteMe (Hao)
• Tooshi's consecutive stream streak (Kate)
• Staple gun (Jack)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#208 – Back by popular demand, Ian and his stentorian voice occupy this action-packed episode of Downers. We're talking 10.0 life changes, we're talking unemployment, and we're talking gardens. Come for the sciatica, stay for the guide to being friends with your friends' parents. Hint: it's about not giving fruits to them. There's no unifying theme to this episode, and we're all hoping you're not going to read to this sentence.

Plugs this week:

• Netflix's UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Kate)
• Flannery O'Connor's THE BARBER (Hao)
• Bench (Jack)
• Dog ownership (Ian)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#207 – Furikake is the dry Japanese condiment that everybody is shaking on their rice. Here on Downers, we took one look at this grocery-store "ethnic aisle" staple, and we saw an opportunity to make some serious dinero. We devote the hour to pitching to you, dear listener, our own DOWNERS FURIKAKE.

Plugs this week:

• MYSTIC POP-UP BAR (Jack)
• Netflix's RADIUM GIRLS (Kate)
• Umami, like those people who come up to you at dinner parties and talk to you about umami (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#206 – Quarantine houses, but different: in this episode, we construct the ultimate DOWNERS HOUSE. Listen in as we wander from room to room, customizing it to our exacting standards. Wood stoves? Greenhouse kitchen? All things are possible here. Also: popcorn, induction stoves, and futuristic erogenous zones.

Plugs this week:

• YouTube's TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS (Jack)
• Whirley-Pop Aluminum Stovetop Popcorn (Kate)
• The metric system, I guess (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#205 – Can an officer of the law compel you to hand over the password to your encrypted device? Or is this an example of self-incrimination, as prohibited by the Fifth Amendment? This is the case that the Supreme Court might decide later this year, and the case Downers devotes the main segment to! Along the way: salty float tanks, and hands in our purses.

Plugs this week:

• Netflix's BLOWN AWAY (Kate)
• Thin mints (Jack)
• Argentinian man from work (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#204 – As the Lunar New Year approaches, we take the time to investigate one of the complex, time-honored traditions that marks the holiday: RED ENVELOPES. Usually given by an elder, the amount of money in the red envelope can be a tricky nightmare for people out there who do not subscribe to gift-giving as a love language (Jack-olytes, we call them). THEN, we give each other red envelopes on the air.

Plugs this week:

• Mr. Rogers documentary feat. Tom Hanks (Kate)
• Kate's mom (it's almost her birthday) (Hao)
• Vaccines (Jack)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#203 – Sharon McMahon runs an Instagram account @sharonsaysso where liberals and conservatives alike feel welcome to ask questions about how American governance works. How does someone build a neutral space for political discourse In These Trying Times, and how can we listen harder to the people whose voices have been shouted over by a louder, more vocal minority? That's just the sort of question a one-hour podcast can answer, and that's the topic of this week's Downers. Also: the debut of our brand new segment, Wake Kate Up.

Plugs this week:

• Schell Games' UNTIL YOU FALL (Jack)
• Omsom's Asian flavor starters (Kate)
• Leaves (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#202 – Most people play video games "vanilla," without any modifications of any sort. But, here on Downers, we say: not us, we refuse, for we mod and we must mod. On this episode, Hao, Jack, and Kate talk about the mods they've installed on the games they've played. Only on Downers will you hear the latest news about DLL files, or the two Indian women who were arguing about how shifts should be scheduled at the grocery store. Also, kimchi!

Plugs this week:

• Mystic Popup Bar (Jack)
• Oat milk (Kate)
• The jams aisle at the Brooklyn Fare (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#201 – It is now allowed to talk about the events of 9/11 on the /r/AskHistorians subreddit, which imposes a strict ban on discussion of topics fewer than twenty years old. We here on Downers, being nothing more than old curmudgeons, love the rule. Note: in this episode, we talk, briefly, glancingly, about 9/11, but not in the obnoxious way people sometimes do when they reminisce about 9/11; we also discuss questions we would ask of /r/AskHistorians, and now more of our lives could be like /r/AskHistorians.

Remember: Reddit's slogan is A Man's Intuition.™

Plugs this week:

• STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (Jack), only on CBS ALL ACCESS
• Feral Hosting (Hao)
• Pears (Kate)
• Baking pears (Jack)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#200 – What can you say? Sometimes, you do a podcast and it hits two hundred episodes. It's not meant to be something special, but it is anyway. The production of a podcast is a beast that must feed once a week. It is nothing special to feed it. It is the work. The work is the reward, and the reward is the work.

Kate's got some questions for Jack and Hao! An inventory is made of the previous year, detailing the times of vulnerability and prosperity. All that, and more, on Downers.

Plugs this week:

• Three-pronged plugs (Jack)
• Everlane sweater, loose square knit (Kate)
• Return (Hao)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org