‘funny,’ not funny

Jim touts the fun of assembling furniture from Ikea. His coat stand was BONDSKÄRET and the lamp was VIDJA. Lionel scores a victory in pinpointing the very first Ikea store in the USA from memory. Jim talks about an audio documentary he's been listening to in audiobook format called Light On: How understanding consciousness helps us understand the universe by Annika Harris. Lionel interrupts with a story about his exploration of quantum computing by 3blue1brown on Youtube. Jim brings it back to his reflections on the books which tie in well with his own personal experiences in meditation. Annaka's hypothesis is that consciousness is a fundamental element in the universe.Lionel says he's been listening to Malcom Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast about the Olympic Games in Berlin under Hitler. We talk about how the Olympics and much of how we experienced events changed with those Olympics and World War II.We finish by planning some future podcasts and another bike trip.

Scott Hall paid us a visit to talk about the Northampton, MA band Lonesome Brothers (no the!) He has been working on a songbook based on his own charts, created for the purposes of standing in with them. Scott Hall is a member of the band Drunk Stuntmen, and has 2 solo albums out and one on the way as well. We had a great time talking with him, and listening to some of the songs from the collection that is Lonesome Brothers.Lonesome Brothers MusicScott Hall Music

David Partikian rejoins the pod to talk about his new Substack under the moniker "Bartleby The Sailor." We start with a bit of Melville, and then discuss his essays in more detail before musing on life growing up in Peter Cooper Village, and our differing experiences in the school system in New York City.

This week we talk about the Hugo Awards with Sarah Elkins, who is a judge, and Julia Tenney, who is a reader and viewer of Science Fiction. We talk about Jim's new sport coat, nominees for best novel, novella, novelette, video, and even game. That's the synopsis. You have to listen to know more.

Jennifer Kimball, songwriter, performer, singer, horticulturalist and landscape designer joins the pod. One upon a time, she was in a legendary band called The Story with Jonatha Brooke and now she lives on an island, making music, and designing lawn free (or almost free) gardens of local flora and fauna. We also talk about her wintery songs project which is just outstanding, and growing up in NYC.References here.

There are some politics in this episode, but we manage to get that under control. Jim starts by comparing Severance to the Labyrinth of Greek mythology. Lionel tells Jim about the Darkman comics. The Dungeons and Dragons movie was brought up again, as well as some critique of the newer Star Trek films with Chris Pine. We move into the MCU with Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy. We go from talking about movies featuring Tilda Swinton to data security to open mics, to Dar William’s new book, to the wilds of Massachusetts. Finally, with a gasp and a wheeze, we shudder to a stop.

We start by talking about Ketamine, Signal, and the protest in Somerville over the seizing of the Tufts student: Rumeysa Ozturk. At the time of this recording, it had just happened. Lionel breaks political talk silence by relating a personal story to the Signal fiasco. Julia says she was using Signal and Signal type apps when communicating with people at orbs.spheres. Julia then schools Lionel and Jim on the Discordian religion as the aftermath of the Church of the SubGenius.Finally, we start to talk about the popular tv series Severance, which Lionel did not enjoy.I would write more about this part of the episode, but I can’t remember anything about it.I can tell you that we talk about Gen X meme classics like Real Genius (Val Kilmer) and Buckaroo Bonsai.We finish up with a smattering of sci-fi television, including Babylon 5, Stargate, SGU, Lexx, and Farscape.Once more, thank you to Jooolia for the references.

Dr. Bill Hanage is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. His research and teaching focus on the epidemiology of infectious disease and the evolution of infectious agents.Jim begins by talking about the animated sci-fi tv show Pantheon, which he's enjoying. Then he introduces Bill who mentions a novel by a friend of his, Jon Evans, called Exadelic. Then he moves to talk about RFK Jr's plan to "let 'er rip" regarding the H5N1 virus, which, as Dr. Bill says "will not lower the price of eggs. We continue to discuss that particular virus as well as virology in general, and then decide on a future episode to discuss science fiction and other things less dystopian than the current situation.

Jim starts by sharing his excitement about his new super minimal reading glasses, wallet, and bank account. Lionel talks about how music gear reviewers are almost always biased toward the gear they are sent for free. Jim recommends the tv series Dopesick, recommended by our guest Nyadenya from a few weeks ago. Dopesick is a fictionalized drama about the Sackler family and their role in the oxycontin epidemic, as shown by a series of characters. Michael Keaton plays a small town West Virginia doctor who starts to see the horror of opioid addiction in his community. Jim points out irony of a tv show about the dangers of a pharmaceutical advertising agency interspersed with ads for pharmaceuticals and proposes an alternative ad.Lionel brings up Brian Aldiss, a British sci fi author and his book Helliconia, which is very close to the plot of the Steerswoman series in that it blends medieval culture and future tech. Helliconia is about a biosphere with extreme temperatures and about how living things survive. After a brief discussion about time machines and the multiverse and finishing a trilogy, we talk a little bit about the book Putin’s People by Catherine Belton. Lionel launches into a thought about Viktor Bout, the arms dealer and how it connects to the book. We have a new facebook page: facebook.com/jimandlionel/Thank you to Jooooolia for helping us with our references.

Lionel and Jim discuss email woes, Bitcoins and Blockchains by Antony Lewis, Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson, more Neal Stephenson, The Cloud, Jim’s reading of Chromaspace Conscript by Megan Alnico, the nature of money, and Jeff Bezos’ yacht (again.)Photo credit: Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S3~dot~05-Iron-Maiden/