I think I may have already referenced the Tower of Power song, 'What is Hip?', in an earlier episode, but if it's not too 'cringe' to repeat myself, I will once again say: 🎶"sometimes hipness is, what it ain't" 🎶

Something to think about.

I'm starting to think that Nick is picking these topics to send me a message. What's next? 'Being really good at board games'?!

Well guess what buddy - it's gonna rank highly! Very highly indeed.

Higher than your precious punctuality? We must wait and see!

As a kid I had a varnished timber bed and it was impossible to lie there at night and not find all sorts of faces and other patterns in the knots of the wood. Similarly, it seems to be unavoidable to some degree to do the same at the conceptual level and ascribe human traits to all sorts of extremely non-human inanimate features of our lives. We even name cyclones.

Seems pretty cool. Maybe in time people will develop parasocial relationships with the random white noise sound that we release under the large language model generated podcast entitled 'Rank Ideas'. I hope so!

Who could more deserving of an elegant description of this episode than you, the person who has come to read one? And yet, there's so seldomly one to find here. Far more likely that you'll find a slathering of semi-conscious, tediously self-referential musings on the noun that forms the week's episode.

But, of course, if you'd been here before then you'd know what to expect, and what more would you then deserve?

Maybe it's all perfect after all. Of course it is.

This episode description? Wow, you found it! Well done, I'm honestly surprised. But can you read it? You can? Oh yeah, that's right - you love to read. How else would you enjoy your subscription to Dork Magazine? Haha, I'm just kidding around! You're really normal. Don't worry. You'll never have to worry about being exceptional. You honestly couldn't fit in any better, even if you had a podcast ranking all human ideas so you could talk to your good friend regularly. Your friend who for some reason refuses to live on the same continent as you. What? Shutup.

The premium way to prevent people from storming your fortress, is to surround it with a deep trench that you fill with water. I'm sorry if this is news to you.

If you think that this episode is looking at moats as a mere metaphor, then I invite you to raid our podcast HQ. But I have to warn you, you're going to need to bring a big bridge with you. Because there's a moat.

It's incredible to think that after all these years, the Rank Ideas podcast is just four trophies away from our feted EGOT. While we wait, we are lucky to have the greatest award of all - friendship. And this old soccer trophy I have that says 'best podcast co-host' in Nick's handwriting.

Are awards generally any good though? Listen up to know definitively!

I wonder if there's been a single year in the history of our species where a person hasn't taken the life of another. It would have to have been a year when there weren't many of us around. I hope we can get another such year soon! 2024 is already out, so it'll have to be 2025.

In the meantime, is the idea of murder useful in our quest for good life?

Only time will tell. Time, and this episode of your favourite podcast, Rank Ideas!

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feel free to add your own intonation :)