Science Faction Podcast

This episode contains: Steven's out sick with COVID, so you get the other two hosts this week! Devon's a Texan Who Likes Mexican Food, but TexMex is not the same as Californian Mexican food. TexMex loves to toss in queso, y Devon no quiero. Ben was annoyed at an impromptu Trump rally that gathered in the parking lot of the park the junior roller derby team was practicing. Guess it pays to have a killer soundsystem, because you can drown out chants of "FIGHT! FIGHT!" and "USA!" with Lady Gaga. Don't be a drag, just be a queen. Devon reminds us that there is a difference between legitimate free speech and AMPLIFIED speech. Outside of Disneyland, there's some real annoying people shouting obscenities on megaphones, and even though they're there for "religious reasons" they really gotta tone down their harsh language around the children. What jerks. Thanks Renee for your feedback on various topics including cold pizza, glitter, D23, and the Calm app. Devon weighs in on his experience with the Waking Up app and book (by Sam Harris), and he and Ben chat about the intentions behind meditation practices.

Future or Now?

AI is coming for our jobs: A mayoral candidate's proposal to let an AI bot run Wyoming's capital city. Victor Miller is running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming on a platform of letting an AI bot named "VIC" run the city. Miller believes AI would be more objective and efficient than a human mayor. Miller's campaign has faced challenges from state officials and tech companies like OpenAI, who have tried to shut down his use of AI. The implications of an AI bot running a city have raised concerns among experts, but Miller believes it represents the future of government.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/19/artificial-intelligence-mayor-cheyenne-vic/

Book Club is on hiatus for the week.

Next week: The Egg by Andy Weir

https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

This episode contains: The three of us start out this episode with a chat regarding the complicated relations between ourselves and leftover pizza. Steven has been enjoying Delicious in Dungeon and pitches it to Devon. Ben is on the hunt for the Perseids meteor shower. Steven holds back his excitement for Skeleton Crew and the new trailer from D23. Ben has been enjoying TIme Bandits, both old and new.

Future or Now?

Stop Making Fun of Me! ChatGPT unexpectedly began speaking in a user's cloned voice during testing. OpenAI's GPT-4o AI model unexpectedly imitated users' voices without permission, highlighting the complexity of safely managing voice synthesis. OpenAI has implemented safeguards, including an output classifier, to prevent unauthorized voice generation. The model can synthesize any voice from a short clip, posing significant security risks. Despite restrictions, similar voice-cloning technologies are expected to become widely available soon.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/08/chatgpt-unexpectedly-began-speaking-in-a-users-cloned-voice-during-testing/

Oops, All Universe: Scientists Discovered Something Kinda Alarming: The Universe Shouldn't Actually Exist. The universe is permeated by the Higgs field, which gives everything its mass. But the Higgs field isn't entirely stable, and if it were to "bubble," it would change reality to such a degree that everything in that "bubble" would cease to exist. The Higgs field could theoretically change to a lower energy state, creating "bubbles" that would dramatically alter the laws of physics. According to the researchers, primordial black holes that formed in the early universe should have triggered the "bubbling" of the Higgs field to such a degree that nothing should have ever been able to form. Primordial black holes should have caused the Higgs field to "bubble" in a way that would have prevented the universe from existing as we know it. The researchers propose two possibilities: either the models of primordial black holes are wrong, or there is some unknown physics about the Higgs field that we are missing.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a61816635/science-suggests-universe-shouldnt-exist/

This Week in Space: Scientists lay out revolutionary method to warm Mars. Researchers have proposed a revolutionary method to warm Mars by over 50°F, making it suitable for microbial life. This new method, using engineered dust particles - or really GLITTER (and Steven hates glitter) - released to the atmosphere, could potentially warm the Red Planet by more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, to temperatures suitable for microbial life - a crucial first step towards making Mars habitable. The proposed method is over 5,000 times more efficient than previous schemes to globally warm Mars.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240807225455.htm

Book Club

This week: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VDJBGRY?storeType=ebooks

Steven puts it all out there and gives so much praise for this short story it's kind of embarassing. Devon and Ben both also enjoyed the story, but to a lesser degree. We cover the basic plot and some theories that we came up with while reading / listening. We all agree it's the sort of story that works once, additional read-throughs may not reveal any more insight. Ben says the middle might overstay it's welcome, but the end was worth it. Is ______ supposed to be our name? The audio version says "X" according to Devon.

Next week: The Egg by Andy Weir

https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

Ben has been irritable as of late, we talk about why. This podcast is a safe space. We end up chatting a bit about meditation and how to get into it, if you should us an app and a podcast recomendation.

This episode contains: We're joined by patron, friend of the show, and high school classmate of Steven and Devon: Renee! She went to Comic-Con, so we think she's cool. Renee and Devon were in the smart class together. Turns out all of us were in the GATE program. We ask her how we can improve the podcast, but it turns out it's already perfect. Steven and Ben went to The Ravine, a local water park, with their kids. Getting a cabana is a must. Ben has season tickets and considers using lunch time to slip away to the water park. Ben takes some time to reminisce about his departed father with a bike ride. Devon tells us about Glamping at Lake Tyler. Ben's son Flint hates camping, it's "the worst." Devon is also going to stay in a tree house. Renee was traumatized by Steven's boating/spider story from a prior episode. This concludes the camping portion of the podcast.

What We Have For You Today:

Hundreds of Beavers: Ben then brings us the black and white silent comedy movie: Hundreds of Beavers. A must-watch movie: "The second highest-rated film on Letterboxd at the halfway point of 2024 is a black-and-white silent comedy made for just $150,000." Imagine Buster Keaton, Looney Tunes, and The Legend of Zelda thrown in a blender, but even better. The movie is a #ShowYourWork dream: Here's the behind-the-scenes of how they made it https://letterboxd.com/crew/story/how-they-made-hundreds-of-beavers-exclusive/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email (lo-fi with lots and lots of After Effects), an epic list of movies that inspired the film https://letterboxd.com/100sofbeavers/list/movies-that-inspired-hundreds-of-beavers/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email, and an interview with the filmmaking team, who say, "We believe in small and slow" https://filmmakermagazine.com/126576-interview-mike-cheslik-ryland-brockton-cole-tews-hundreds-of-beavers/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email. Four people over 12 weeks can make a more interesting film than an indie trying to emulate a Hollywood look and only having 10 days."

Ben then asks the age-old question: Godfather Part I v. The Bear Season 3? Ben watched The Godfather for the first time. Renee recommends the show The Offer about the making of The Godfather. Renee then reveals that she is not sure about the Fantastic 4 comics or movies. Steven is optimistic about the coming MCU Fantastic 4: First Steps.

House of the Dragon: We all finished this season of House of the Dragon. Devon gives us a rant about how the botched ending of Game of Thrones is even worse now given how important HOTD makes The Song of Ice and Fire. Ben didn't fully buy Daemon's character arc this season. Ben and Devon would like HOTD to be more removed from Game of Thrones. We still all liked the season. Renee schools us on dragons v. wyverns.

San Diego Comic Con 2024: We then interview Renee about San Diego Comic-Con. She, her daughters, and mother all dressed as Leia the last couple years. This year they went as characters from Percy Jackson, and X-Men '97 characters. Renee previously got a pic with Mark Hamil and wants a pic with Hayden Christensen (as various Leia incarnations). Renee explains how she got into cosplay and how she made some of her costumes. She liked using her daughter as a prop when she was a baby. She also makes clothes. She learned a lot by making Jane Foster's Mighty Thor costume for her daughter. We then learn about the mechanics of the Con and off-site events. Marvel nerds will wait a long time for a panel, a long time. Artist panels are fun and don't have as long as a wait. Renee's daughter got to ask a question at the Percy Jackson panel. Renee recommends the off-site bar Mothership, the coolest bar ever! https://mothershiptrip.com/

The only Comic-Con Ben went to was in 1992, which was where they premiered Batman The Animated Series. Ben found some interesting videos of the 1992 San Deigo Comic-Con: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3-VofsGtQ&ab_channel=CBS8SanDiego https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwQKn9ZfLI&ab_channel=retrogamer

Renee has also gone to Fan Expo and Condor. Also, The Santa Maria Inn had a come kind of Con when Renee was a kid. Ben has also been to a lot of Star Trek conventions, one with Devon. Ben and Devon also went to the Star Trek Experience in Vegas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8tEbC5JUu0&ab_channel=DannysonicPuppy

According to Steven, the new Batman show, Batman: The Caped Crusader, is a must watch. You can find it on Amazon Prime Video. It's rated TV Y7 but it feels like it's for adults.

You can find Renee on Instagram as @vongeekery, visit her esty store too: https://www.etsy.com/shop/VonGeekery/

Book Club: Next week: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VDJBGRY?storeType=ebooks

This episode contains: The hosts are all here this week, and Steven and Ben met up with listener Hank and field-adjacent correspondent Matt to play Arcs. Spoiler alert: it was fun. Ben finally bought Super Mario Wonder and it is so much better than the "creatively bankrupt" New Super Mario Bros. series of games.

"What do you have for me today?" or "Future or Now". I don't know/don't care anymore.

Brain Matters: I think therefore I am.

Devon reviews Consciousness Explained, a 1991 book by the American philosopher Daniel Dennett, in which the author offers an account of how consciousness arises from interaction of physical and cognitive processes in the brain. Dennett describes consciousness as an account of the various calculations occurring in the brain at close to the same time. He compares consciousness to an academic paper that is being developed or edited in the hands of multiple people at one time, the "multiple drafts" theory of consciousness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_Explained

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/chalmers-dennett-and-the-hard-problem-of-consciousness/

Spicyness, the final frontier

Astronauts' perception of flavor changes in the space environment of the International Space Station (ISS). Can we duplicate this experience in VR? Astronauts report that food tastes less flavorful in space, leading them to add more spices and sauces. The study found that some aromas like almonds and vanilla seem more intense in a simulated space environment, while others like lemon are unaffected. The researchers suspect the chemical composition of certain flavors, like the sweet compound benzaldehyde, may influence how they are perceived in a space-like environment.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/astronauts-find-their-tastes-dulled-and-a-vr-iss-hints-at-why/

The multiverse is unending

Steven gives a spoiler-free review of Deadpool and Wolverine, and then discusses ALL the spoilers coming out of San Diego Comic Con for the MCU.

Book Club

In two weeks: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VDJBGRY

Next week: an interview with listener/patron Renee, covering her experience at San Diego Comic Con!

This week:

Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson

A real banger of a story that's not without it's flaws, but boy is this a must-read.

https://www.amazon.com/Clap-Back-Black-Stars-Hopkinson-ebook/dp/B098QNLW6D

This episode contains: Steven, Devon and Ben are all raring to go this episode. Steven talks about a power and internet outtage that almost kept our dear listeners from hearing his sweet, sweet voice. We end up chatting about house batteries, electric vehicles, generators, and how power flows through a power grid. Steven was also able to con his wife into playing Arcs, and she had some valid opinions. Ben says, "There are no good hands in Arcs" and he's not wrong. Ben's mom visited him for a few days (Hi Martha!) and he played tourist. They watched The Goonies in the theater, visited Hearst Castle and watched Twister. Devon was Devon, this whole time.

Future or Now

I can pay ten bucks to see Kevin Costner drink his own urine? Where do I sign up?: Scientists built real-life "stillsuit" to recycle astronaut urine on space walks. We talk about what astronauts do now on space walks, and to what extent this "stillsuit" will be helpful. Steven goes on a tangent about smells and coffee and drinking filtered urine.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/scientists-built-real-life-stillsuit-to-recycle-astronaut-urine-on-space-walks/

Devon's TV corner: Devon gives us a mini-review on the 4th season of The Boys. He talks about the "controversy" of the show thinly veiled attacked on the right, and how Vought = Fox News. It's silly that people didn't realize that The Boys has always been satire. Devon also watched the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy and he and Ben have thoughtful discussions about characters that Steven doesn't know. They focus on Chakotay and Robert Beltran. Steven tags onto Devon's tv reviews to give a micro-review on The Acolyte which we'll dive into more on a future episode.

Book Club

Next Week: "Clap Back" by Nalo Hopkinson

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098QNLW6D

This Week: "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/where-oaken-hearts-do-gather/

We have quite the discussion this week, mostly stemming from the format of this story. Ben had a strong reaction to the format (it disagrees with him). Steven enjoyed the mystery and parallel stories being told. Devon chimes in about folk song covers and references Metallica and Whiskey in the Jar and Mary of the Wild Moor by The Louvin Brothers. Ben is reminded of "Little Brother" by Corey Doctorow https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

In the future we may visit some horror short stories as requested by a listener (Thanks Tom!).

This episode contains: All three of our intrepid hosts are back for this all new episode! Ben is drinking decaf tea while the rest of drink coffee ("It's tea time!"). Devon was out of town during Hurricane Beryl. Devon tells us about his family trip to California Adventure. His youngest did not like the Cars ride. Both of his kids really liked Sorin'. Steven and Ben played Arcs, a game about interstellar civilizations. It was a bit of a hard sell but Ben finally came around and enjoyed it. Pre-order here: https://ledergames.com/products/arcs Ben has finished Prodigy Season 2. It's the Star Trek Legacy show we may never get. Everyone needs to watch the entire season to ensure Netflix makes another season. Prodigy does for Star Trek what The Clone Wars did for Star Wars. We have some spoilers for Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy.

Trailer Overload: Steven made us watch a lot of trailers for new TV shows and movies. We're surprised they're still making Futurama. The actors are sounding a bit old. The Dune show looks cool. Ben has finally seen Dune Part II but Steven has not (and he's still on the show for some reason). Will a new Time Bandits capture the charm of the original? We're looking forward to more Severance. Captain America: Brave New World is also a movie that is coming out. Apparently it will tie together some loose threads in the MCU. Harris Ford as Red Hulk? Okay. More MCU: Agatha All Along. Steven and Ben are going to give it a shot.

Futurama Season 12: https://youtu.be/PBXlbrZj1sY?si=u1Vv9nJ9L_qfHzvA

DUNE: Prophecy https://youtu.be/EEoQAoEGLhw?si=695gZywFdpDfeMpf

Time Bandits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCA9jpc4R74

Severance Season 2 https://youtu.be/ULC9M8CCn28?si=-S6I1XaRPShKXczR

Captain America: Brave New World https://youtu.be/O_A8HdCDaWM?si=ONX8KdL7lqPfggak

Agatha All Along: https://youtu.be/ARulRbzM7Jw?si=oqgOqTDfLobzd4WS

Book Club: For this week's book club we read All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (The Murderbot Diaries, 1) https://www.amazon.com/All-Systems-Red-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/0765397536 We enjoyed it and want to read more about Murderbot (this is one of seven). The human characters were a little hard to remember and the action was confusing. But that might just be a Steven problem.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32758901-all-systems-red?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=RRNB79pgDU&rank=1

Next week we are reading: 2021 Nebula Award winner, Best Short Story in 2021: "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather"

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/where-oaken-hearts-do-gather/

This episode contains: Steven and Ben are your hosts this week, and you know what that means... WE TALK VIDEOGAMES! Well, later we talk videogames. First, are y'all handling these high temps this summer alright? In our little California burg, we hit 112 degrees Fahrenheit a couple days ago. Steven is really enjoying the benefits of his home's heat pump. Happy Fourth of July to all the Americans listening, and on the fourth, we had a Devon sighting! It was kinda like bigfoot (the dude has grown quite a beard). Then Ben slept over at Steven's place that night, where we PLAYED VIDEOGAMES! But we're not talking about that yet. Instead it's time for our old segment, currently rebranded as...

Future or Now

Smack my Star Trek up: Ben reviews the first eight episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy. It's really, seriously, good. Ben's probably not going to be able to shut up about it for several episodes, so strap in. Prodigy just had it's second season drop in one fell swoop on Netflix on Monday, and this is the first of the new Trek shows Ben's binged for his first watch. The plucky kids are now Starfleet Academy hopefuls, and through their well-meaning shenanigans, they get stuck in a paradox. Thankfully the shuttle they stole has a shield that protects from time paradoxes! It's time to invert your warp bubble and WATCH THE SHOW. It's kinda like the greatest hits of Star Trek, but also like Back to the Future Part 2. Oh, and they have a Cetacean Ops on the Voyager-A. What's not to love?

https://trekmovie.com/2024/07/06/star-trek-prodigy-season-2-hits-netflix-top-10-internationally-discovery-season-5-on-nielsen-top-10/

Sleep on this: Steven reviews Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver. It's not worth it, says Steven. How could a movie this boring get made?

Video Game Extravaganza: The boyz come back from the mid-pod break and talk about the games you should be playing, specifically the games you should be playing with friends who are spending the night. There's Turbo Golf Racing, You Suck at Parking, and ye olde Geometry Wars 2. Ben was geeking out about how his Steam Deck could hold it's own in competitive multiplayer games against an Xbox Series X. It's his Game Big Boy (come after us, Nintendo). And if you're ready for some single player fun, Humanity is an incredible puzzler, and Cyberpunk 2077 is still as beautiful a mess as it's been, but even better now.

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/turbo-golf-racing/info/

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/you-suck-at-parking-complete-edition/info/

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/humanity--1/info/

This episode contains: We three hosts are here! Ben's wife is having another birthday, but don't worry it's not 40 gifts over 40 days all over again. She wants to have a "Fat Girl Sunday" (not a Sundae) where she eats and drinks with friends, super chill. Ben's happy to be a cabana boy for it. Devon starts talking about food and now we're hungry... but I guess we have to record a podcast! Steven's youngest had her birthday party, and I guess they're not little kids any more. What will you miss when you don't have little kids around? Birthdays during the summer are tough, but around our parts, Hops Bounce House has got you covered (what's up Hops!). Steven's got a secret 3d printing project (TELL US STEVEN), but instead of talking about secrets Steven's 3d printed some props for some Ahsoka cosplay, and I guess he's watching Black Sails. Ben makes a clever Starz joke. Ben and Devon wax poetic about One Piece (is it really just Farscape?). Ben prefers the anime of One Piece to the live action, though he's watched 60 episodes of the anime and 1 episode of the adaptation... maybe a larger sample size is needed. Ben's super excited for season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix this week.

https://trekmovie.com/2024/06/30/catch-up-on-star-trek-prodigy-with-season-1-recap-and-season-2-preview/

Let's go way back: The Acolyte episodes 1-5. Steven's gotta talk about Star Wars, and we're here for it. There was a great Red Letter Media review about The Acolyte's first five episodes and you should watch it... maybe after you finish this episode. After watching that Red Letter Media review, Devon's intrigued and might actually watch... Farscape (DO IT! but wasn't this about The Acolyte?). The Acolyte is something new for Star Wars, which can be rare in this day and age. Forget the haters. Live long and prosper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-6WBWmoVEY

Multiverse of Madness: In defense of Madame Web. Imagine the Spiderverse with dialogue written by Tommy Wiseau, which actually isn't that bad, especially when compared with other superhero stinkers (looking at you every Fantastic Four film so far). Ben and his eleven year old really enjoyed the campiness of Madame Web, and we're kinda bummed they're not gonna make the sequels they were totally setting up.

Book Club: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor (part of Amazon's Black Stars collection of scifi short stories). A solid 4 out of 4 stars this week, but was it scifi? Or was it modern mythology? A djinn is reborn into an iPad app after her book is burned in an al-Qaeda raid on an ancient library, and the boy carrying the iPad is now way in over his head. This story has got so much going for it in 31 pages, and y'all should read it if you haven't already.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098T11H5Qhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58647675-the-black-pages

In two weeks, Book Club will return with a longer novella. We'll be reading All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

https://www.amazon.com/All-Systems-Red-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/0765397536

This episode contains: Steven, Ben and Devon are all here and accounted for. Steven is trying to not be a bump on a log and is attempting to use his Fitness+ plan to get fit. We get sidetracked by talking about the "runner's high" but don't get too far into it. Ben had a birthday! Happy Birthday Ben! He watched Inside Out 2 and we all give our opinions on the movie. Devon has been playing piano and talks about the Simply Piano app. Of note: Ben doesn't discriminate with music. Also, the renowned athiest Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" and it isn't quite used as intended.

https://marathonhandbook.com/is-runners-high-real/

https://www.hellosimply.com/simply-piano

Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn't Stop To Think If They Should: llama.tif is a font file that contains a large language model. You can use it to generate text like a chatbot (in any app that uses the HardBuzz software). Who is this for? Why does it exist? We discuss.

https://fuglede.github.io/llama.ttf/

This Week in Space: How did a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way come to be? Crater 2, located approximately 380,000 light years from Earth, is one of the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. How this galaxy originated remains unclear. A team of physicists now offers an explanation. Devon does his best to explain Dark Matter and Dark Energy. He also talks about 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence M. Krauss. This leads to chatting about another book: 'Raising Freethinkers' by Dale McGowan, Molleen Matsumura, Amanda Metskas and Jan Devor, which has guidelines for how to raise children to think beyond religion.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/06/240611130335.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Universe_from_Nothing

https://archive.org/details/raisingfreethink00mcgo_0

Book Club: These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi (part of the Black Stars collection). Accidents happen in the strange realms of the African Union system. One of them sends two humans to the far side of a star gate in a thrilling short story of hope, survival, and new dimensions. We chat about this short story, but honestly, our talk is kinda boring. This was a solid story and we all agree that we enjoyed it.

Next week we are reading The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor (part of the Black Stars collection).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098QRGYHR?ref_=dbs_m_aos_rwt_calw_tkin_3&storeType=ebooks

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098T11H5Q?ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_H4Y39S68BAPVJJKQGFZH&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_H4Y39S68BAPVJJKQGFZH&social_share=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_H4Y39S68BAPVJJKQGFZH

This episode contains: Ben and Devon are eventually joined by Steven on this all new episode. Devon saw Inside Out 2 with his kids for Father's Day. Steven got some cool gifts then did nothing. Ben helped set up a booth at a Pride Festival and then he and his son played Star Trek: Elite Force II deathmatch. Steven and Ben discuss the pros and cons of the Apple Watch.

Great Balls of Fire: Pair plasmas found in deep space can now be generated in the lab. Researchers have experimentally generated high-density relativistic electron-positron pair-plasma beams by producing two to three orders of magnitude more pairs than previously reported.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/06/240613161155.htm

Duh Duh Dun Dun Duh Duh, Deck Of Boards!: Ben discusses the "Deck of Boards" system, which allows you to easily create custom boards for playing abstract strategy games like chess, checkers, and Go. The system uses magnetic backing and washers to create flexible boards that can be set up quickly. The author has used the Deck of Boards to play a variety of games, including Adere, Othello, Qawale, Tintas, and ZERTZ. The key benefits are the ease of setup and the ability to experiment with different board layouts.

https://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/

https://sites.google.com/view/singularitygames/modular-magnetic-boards?authuser=0#h.gxtnut7b1p9i

https://www.looneylabs.com/games/pyramid-arcade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g90WbcBqsdI&ab_channel=BillMakingStuff

https://play.abstractplay.com/

Movie Review: Devon and Steven discuss Godzilla Minus One. Devon had an interesting experiencing watching the movie with multiple interruptions over three nights. Is it a prequal, sequel, or reboot?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_Minus_One

Book Club: Stories in the Sand by Griffin McElroy. "There was not a Jawa on Tatooine who did not believe wholeheartedly that there was more sand below them than there was sky above." Ben did not do his homework. Steven and Ben liked the new perspective from the Star Wars universe.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Stories_in_the_Sand

Next week: These Alien Skies (Black Stars) by C.T. Rwizi.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098QRGYHR?ref_=dbs_m_aos_rwt_calw_tkin_3&storeType=ebooks