Feature Creep: Built-in Microwave

Ned and Meg gripe about the problem of echo chambers, those ubiquitous spaces that come in literal or figurative form, and share in common the utter lack of critical self-reflection. We cover targeted advertising, the art world, search engines, friend groups, podcasts, Amazon, academia, industries, and abortion protestors. Thanks for listening, wash your hands, listen to criticism, vaccinate the rest of the planet, don’t be a dick.

Ned and Meg discuss industrial design, ringspun cotton, data ownership, right to repair, how alexa is always listening, persistent flops, and the amazing book How to Talk to your Cat about Gun Safety. Thanks again for listening and sticking with us as our schedule has been wacky. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, do the things, don’t be a dick, watch for new episodes, enjoy the summer.

Ned tells Lauren and Meg all about a funny ancient story he read a while back that he’s been dying to share with us. We have been waiting a long time to hear this one. Lucien of Samosata wrote a scathing review of the thought leaders of KingDickLandia, also known as Ancient Greece, and in A True Story he crafts a satire embodied in an epic space opera. True Story! Check it out. Thanks for listening, wash your hands wear a mask get the shots don’t be a dick!

Ned and Meg have a lovely chat about lovely Dan Graham, a lovely conceptual artist. Or was; he was an artist, but since he is now deceased, RIP Dan Graham. We also talk about Ned’s conceptual art, and Ned’s conceptual art’s paper, and Marcel Duchamp, and ReadyMade, and puppets, lots of puppets, and complicated math, and baby grasshoppers. Thanks to each of you for being an audient to our conversations and musings. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get your shots, don’t be a dick. Hi Buster!

Ned and Meg gang up in Southern California for a discussion of Northern California Cults and the restaurants that love them. If you are a fan of the dessert restaurant industry you will want to hear this, it’s wild. Thanks for listening, and also, keep washing your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, do the things, don’t be a dick. Happy Spring!

Ned and Meg take you on a leisurely tour through card game design, with the usual pit stops for distractions along the way. We talk about games that shed and catch cards, tarot and other types of cards, drinking games, multi-genre games, fishing, solitaire and tricky games. We stumble onto the best game ever, and we highly advise you drop whatever you’re doing after you listen to this podcast episode in its entirety and go play it. Cards! Wash your hands, wear a mask, get your shots, don’t be a dick, thank you.

Ned and Meg have a serious discussion about serious sculpture so strap in! We side-swipe James Grashow, Max Zorn, Andrew Erdos, Henry Moore, Peter Draws, Blackbean_CMS, and lots of art! We also chat about our own artistic aspirations with interactive and permissive sculpture.

Ned and Meg discuss Brandolini’s Law, also known as the BS asymmetry principle, and how it relates to current events. We also discuss the Panopticon, we mean Santa, we mean Elf on the Shelf, we mean don’t lie to your children. We laud What We Do in the Shadows, ponder what a good-enough dystopia is, feast on the glory of cake vending machines, sneak peek a new segment, and succumb to decision fatigue. Thanks for listening, Hi to Buster, wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, don’t be a dick.

Ned and Lauren tell Meg all about their coping mechanisms, managing tools, successes,experiences, strategies and trials with ADHD. Also we collectively declare the British Empire to be the worst one ever though we’re open to suggestion, and accordingly we declare caffeine to be the British Empire of drugs, see also humans, British Empire of species. We chat about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, which two thirds of us can attest is a living hell, and the other third just wants to be left alone with their attachment issues. Ned’s Design Concept Snack of the Week is Transgenerational Design. Don’t miss it. Thanks for listening! Wash your hands, wear a mask, get the shots, eat your greens, don’t be a dick.

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.