Science Faction Podcast

Real Life

Devon Gone again, off doing what families do. Probably eating responsibly and not playing Magic with middle schoolers. We'll get a full download when he returns from the wilds of familial bonding.

Steven Steven melted in Palm Springs last weekend. Like, cartoon puddle of clothes and glasses melted. It hit 112°F, and not in the fun "desert dry heat" way—it was more like a hairdryer set to regret. But he survived the heat and a surprise 65th birthday party for his mother-in-law. (Note: surprise party for a 65-year-old in 112-degree weather? Bold.)

To escape the heat and socializing, Steven brought along Timeline by Michael Crichton, tore through the whole thing, and now he won't stop recommending it. According to him, it's "a pleasant, rollicking adventure of death and destruction in the Middle Ages." Classic beach read, if your beach has trebuchets.

Ben Ben relived his childhood glory this week by annihilating two 12-year-olds at Magic: The Gathering. Old deck, newer rules, zero mercy. He's still basking in the smug warmth of that victory and considering building a commemorative statue of himself out of old booster packs.

In nerdier news, Ben continues to experiment with Bazzite OS, a Linux distro that somehow convinced Forza Horizon 5 to run smoothly. He also tried out Wheel World, a cell-shaded, bike-themed Zelda-like that nobody asked for, but he's glad it exists.

Streaming from PC to handheld? He recommends:

• Install Sunshine on your PC

• Install Moonlight on your handheld device

• Plug in with Ethernet if you can

• Pray to the latency gods

It's working so far. Maybe this is the future. Maybe this is now.

Future or Now

Ben brought in a fascinating bit of anti-AI-fakery this week. Researchers at Cornell have developed a way to embed invisible "codes" into light, which act as hidden watermarks in videos. Basically: lighting at press conferences, buildings, or even Zoom calls could carry encrypted signals that make it easy to verify video authenticity later.

It's subtle, elegant, and extremely cyberpunk. The best part? You won't notice the difference. But your editing software will. Check it out: 🔗 Cornell's light watermarking research

Steven countered with some good ol' fashioned outer space optimism. NASA's Europa Clipper recently flew past Mars and successfully tested its radar system (REASON)—which can detect structures beneath planetary surfaces. On Earth, we use radar to find oil. On Europa, we might use it to find oceans... or something hiding in them.

More here: 🔗 NASA's radar success en route to Europa

Book Club

This Week: We read All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. If you want to feel joy, sorrow, cruelty, and loss in a tight 3-page gut punch, this one's for you. It's a story about kids, Venus, and the cruelty of the sun—or lack thereof. Also, the 1982 educational film adaptation is still seared into our brains.

📖 Read the story 📺 Watch the adaptation 📚 Anthology source

Next Week: Transience by Arthur C. Clarke. We're diving into one of his lesser-known works about change, memory, and humanity's inevitable drift. Clarke has a way of making even the quietest stories feel cosmic.

📖 Read Transience 📚 Anthology source

If your air conditioner broke, if you crushed children in a card game, or if you accidentally invented a futuristic video authentication system this week—welcome. You're one of us now.

See you next time. Stay weird. Stay cool. –The Team

Real Life

Ben spent the week playing nurse, but at least it was a summer cold—infinitely easier than juggling tissues and PTO requests during the school year. The only upside to a sick kid when the sun's out? More cartoons, fewer emails. Hearing Ben wiping noses and handing out popsicles, Steven got nostalgic about Scrubs. Remember Scrubs? Wholesome chaos. Heartfelt weirdness. Probably due for a chaotic Gen Z reboot starring TikTok doctors and JD's ghost AI.

Devon was out of town. No details, just gone. Like a Vulcan on shore leave or a cowboy riding off into a logical sunset. We assume he's fine. Or at least reading a very dense novel.

Steven went full social butterfly with a jam-packed weekend featuring a wedding and a birthday party. Somehow in between the formal wear and paper plates, he managed to catch Fantastic Four: First Steps. And? He says it's the best Fantastic Four movie he's ever seen. Not necessarily the best Marvel movie, but undeniably its own thing: scientists-turned-superheroes faced with a moral conundrum, wrapped in bright tones and a vibe that says hope isn't dead, it's just been on vacation. Earth 828 (a sweet nod to Jack Kirby's birthday) plays host to a story that takes a deliberate break from the usual "everything is pain" comic fare.

Also, there's now a universe where Matt Shakman didn't make Fantastic Four, but instead gifted us a cheerful, boldly optimistic fourth Kelvin Star Trek movie. It lives only in our dreams and this deeply bittersweet TrekMovie article. Sigh.

Future or Now

Ben, our resident Trekspert, has bucketload of Star Trek news from San Diego Comic-Con:

• Starfleet Academy got a first trailer, and introduced us to the U.S.S. Athena.

• George Takei and Tim Russ are teaming up in the Khan audio series, where we'll get to hear Sulu and Tuvok in action. (We assume Tim Russ will sigh at Takei at least once.)

• Strange New Worlds Season 4 teased a bold new puppet frontier? Yep. Puppets.

And then there's the Gwarm. What is a Gwarm, you ask? It's a Star Wars thing, and before you know it, Ben and Steven are back in the Star Wars vs. Star Trek sandbox, flinging references like action figures. (We don't stop them. It's too entertaining.)

Meanwhile, Steven was also reading science headlines between existential sighs. The latest? Allegro-FM just pushed material science forward by enabling simulations 1,000 times larger than previous ones. That's like going from Tinker Toys to a Dyson Sphere. Or from The Pedestrian to a full Black Mirror season. Link

Book Club

This week, we read The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. It's eerie how much this story hits in 2025. A man simply walking at night in Los Angeles gets stopped by an automated police car because being outside is just too suspicious. It's based on Bradbury's real address, and it feels uncomfortably like reality. Mausoleum houses, ghostly TV glow, no sidewalks—just suburban stillness and surveillance. If All Summer in a Day is melancholy, this one's… mournful.

Next week we're sticking with Bradbury and reading All Summer in a Day. Rain, Venus, longing, and memory. If The Pedestrian feels like now, All Summer feels like childhood—brief, beautiful, and barely remembered.

You can read it here or watch this version that captures the heartbreak with just the right number of slow pans and sad violins.

That's it for this week. Whether you're dodging summer colds, traveling through alternate Marvels, or wondering if that sidewalk outside is still walkable, we'll be here—talking Trek, reading Bradbury, and keeping the lights on.

Let us know what you thought of Fantastic Four: First Steps. And if you've ever been detained by a futuristic car for taking a stroll, uh… blink twice?

Real Life

Ben showed up with a box of magic and a handful of links, and we spiraled from there.

We started off with Piecepack, the infinitely expandable system of tile-based board games. If you haven't seen it, The Infinite Board Game is a great intro — it comes with a full Piecepack set and over 50 games: 👉 The Infinite Board Game

Two standouts we tried:

• Whirlpool Pond (Tube Wars) — hilariously chaotic and surprisingly strategic. Steven said it reminded him of playing little games at a picnic table on camping trips. 🎯 Whirlpool Pond

• Moto-X — a racing game with dexterity and movement rules that feel like they're half-imagined and half-remembered, which is kind of perfect. 🏍️ Moto-X

Also, apparently 9-ball billiards now counts as a dexterity game when you're a parent trying to entertain your kid for 20 minutes.

Then we switched gears into silly, cooperative (ish), multiplayer chaos on PC:

• Boomerang Fu – you're food. You throw boomerangs. You die. You laugh. boomerangfu.com

• Regular Human Basketball – pure absurdity, controlling giant robots one switch at a time. Regular Human Basketball

• Heave Ho – teamwork, trust, betrayal, and flailing limbs. heavehogame.com

We also checked out the very weird, very poetic, and very compelling little book Adieu Plane Snake: ✈️ Adieu Plane Snake on Amazon

Then it was time for ruffled shirts and tankards: The Central Coast Renaissance Faire is back! ccrenfaire.com

We are under strict orders not to talk about Greg, which means we definitely spent time discussing:

• Greg's guild: The Free Men of the Brass Ring

• The benefits of being in a guild (tents, snacks, shade, and — let's be honest — drinks)

• Greg's infamous "gutpuncher" tale, which should be written down for legal reasons

• How to put together your own costume (hint: check this guide)

Steven's costume is about 80% "rogue" and 20% "man lost in an upholstery store." It works.

And finally, we played two rounds of Arcs — a stunning galactic strategy game from Leder Games: 🌌 Arcs

• Ben crushed the first game with pure focused ambition

• Devon quietly outmaneuvered us in the second game

• Steven tried a blitzkrieg strategy and was immediately and thoroughly punished

Future or Now

Quiet week on the horizon-gazing front. No robot uprisings or biotech breakthroughs... yet.

Book Club This Week:

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury The house that keeps going after the people are gone. One of Bradbury's best — eerie, poetic, and haunting.

• Read it here (PDF)

• Or here (text)

• Watch this reading

Next Week:

The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury Another quiet apocalypse — a world where going for a walk makes you suspicious.

• Read it (PDF)

• Listen to a narrated version

Real Life

This week, Steven finally found a superhero movie that didn't make him want to throw his popcorn at the screen. Superman (2025) has arrived, and according to him, it's the best take we've had on the character in years. No origin story nonsense, just straight into Supes doing good and being good. James Gunn gets it—Superman is an immigrant, a boy scout, and a damn firefighter (not a cop). The moral core is there, the cape looks good, and apparently, if you hate it, it's because it's "woke"? Whatever. Steven liked it. You probably will too.

Meanwhile, Devon has been dodging storms, not floods. He lives far from the Texas chaos but has had his fair share of wet weekends. That hasn't stopped him from grinding away at backyard renovations. Fake grass is coming soon. In the process, he's tearing out ivy and ground brush—bad news for copperhead snakes, which are venomous, and good news for anyone walking around barefoot.

Speaking of venom: Ben brings us the delightful fact that some birds are venomous. No, really. There are birds that store toxins from insects and plants and use them to defend themselves. The pitohui says hi. Nature is weird. More bird venom facts here.

Devon also dove into evolution this week, thanks to a Hank Green video about the great leap from water to land. Turns out the hardest problem evolution ever solved might just be how to turn gilled swimmers into four-limbed land mammals. Spoiler alert: it involves lungs, fins, and a lot of time. Watch the video here.

Ben, when not thinking about venomous birds, asked an important question: What do people do for fun in Palmdale? The answer, apparently, is "hang out near electrical poles." He also recommends the board game The Red Dragon Inn for those nights when you're too tired to fight dragons and just want to drink with them instead. Game info here.

Future or Now

Only Steven showed up for this segment, and he brought ancient lion maulings.

A new article from ScienceDaily describes a skeleton found in a Roman cemetery in York—with bite marks matching a lion's jaw. It's our first archaeological evidence of gladiator-style combat between a human and a lion, which is equal parts horrifying and fascinating. Steven points out that if curses were real, this would be prime material—digging up gladiator graves seems like an express ticket to ghost lion attacks.

Book Club

This week, we read The Last Question by Isaac Asimov, a story about entropy, immortality, the heat death of the universe, and one computer's ongoing existential crisis. Devon raises a solid point: the story's final punch line hits different if you grew up with the Judeo-Christian idea of divine creation. If not? It still works, but maybe not quite the same way. You could easily sub in other creation myths—or just throw in some Terminators and call it a sci-fi remix. Ben had Siri read him the story aloud via Mobile Safari and recommends the experience. Read it here or watch this animated version.

Next week: There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury, a classic tale of loneliness, technology, and automatic breakfast machines still flipping eggs long after humanity is gone. You can read the story here or listen to a reading.

Oh, and if you missed it, Captain Kirk is coming back—sort of. He's being resurrected for Star Trek: The Last Starship, a new comic set in the far future. We have thoughts. Mostly confused ones.

Real Life

Ben took a family trip down to San Diego just in time for the other fireworks night—turns out, there are often more fireworks on the 3rd of July than the 4th. Devon also caught a local 3rd-of-July fireworks show, which has started to feel like the real deal instead of just a warm-up. Ben: "More fireworks on the 3rd than the 4th, easily." The trend continues.

While Ben and Devon were oohing and aahing at sky explosions, Steven stayed home and got some solid mini painting in while the family was off in LA. No notes, just vibes. He and Ben also snuck in a round of Walkabout Minigolf on the Raptor Cliffs course—it's like someone built a coastal campground-theme park hybrid, then casually added actual dinosaurs. Possibly the greatest putt-putt theme of all time.

Meanwhile, Ben's been hooked on Watch Duty, an incredibly useful app that tracks wildfires and public safety alerts—especially important during peak summer heat. And no, Devon is nowhere near the Texas flooding that made national headlines on the 4th. Tragic and preventable, if we hadn't gutted infrastructure funding and climate prep years ago.

Steven got a chance to run Daggerheart, the new RPG system by Critical Role (yes, spelled right this time). The system leans into storytelling with hope and fear dice—2d12 that keep every roll interesting. He nearly lost a copy to a chaotic-good Barnes & Noble employee, but ultimately triumphed.

Future or Now

Devon's existential pick this week? A study suggesting that the universe might start collapsing... in only 7 billion years. Here's the article. The researchers—drawing on data from the Dark Energy Survey and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument—predict we could be headed for a Big Crunch by year 33.3 billion. Honestly, we barely understand time and space now. Let's not even get into how to measure it.

Steven brought the yeast: scientists have bioengineered yeast to glow and produce billions of peptide-based drugs. It's green tech, it's fast, it's like if a lava lamp could cure cancer. Glowing drug factories made of yeast. We love science when it gets weird and useful.

Ben's deep in the sleep zone again—this time biohacking naps. Apple Watches, dream journals, and the fact that napping might make you literally see the world differently. Ben's fully ready to enter his lucid dream coding era.

Book Club

Next week's pick is Isaac Asimov's classic: The Last Question. You can also watch it here if you prefer the audio-visual route. It's short, sharp, and cosmic in scale—perfect for a group read before the universe crunches itself into a cosmic raisin.

This week, we tackled movies and memories. A great Patreon comment from Renee about the new Pixar-ish flick Elio:

"My kids liked Elio, it just kept reminding me of Flight of the Navigator. Not exactly, and I haven't seen it in a long time, but enough that I was like hmm... this kind of reminds me of something. Also, in the beginning, Elio stumbles into a museum place and there's a speaker talking about Voyager and whatnot. I turned to my husband and was like, wait—is that Kate Mulgrew? And he said, 'I have no idea who that is.' Sigh, being married to a non-nerd. But yea, they had Capt. Janeway voice a section about the NASA Voyager program." Chef's kiss.

Quick movie reviews:

• Elio (Steven): ★★★¾ — good sci-fi intro for younger audiences.

• Flight of the Navigator (Devon): Still fun, though we forgot it has a 12-year time jump.

• How to Train Your Dragon (Ben & Devon): Ben called it a "competently done action movie," Devon praised the depth and pacing—especially that final battle.

• Independence Day (Ben): It's still a banger. Devon's stunned Steven hasn't watched it more.

• Jurassic World: Rebirth (Steven): Don't. Just... don't. Not even for hate-watching.

And lastly: an original Technicolor print of Star Wars—yes, pre-Lucas tinkering—was recently screened in the UK. It's official: Han shot first. If you're curious, the best fan restorations are the Despecialized Edition and 4K77, sourced from original 35mm prints. The Force is real, and so is the grainy, unedited magic.

Let us know if you watched fireworks on the 3rd, if you've played Daggerheart, or if you're Team Nap or Team Yeast in the great future wars. And if you're watching Elio, listen closely—you might just hear Janeway.

Real Life

Ben Ben's been quietly communing with the universe—and possibly with time travelers—through a book of accidental poetry called Adieu, Plane Snake. These are poems born from Wordle guesses, wrangled into a strangely beautiful collection. The result feels like overhearing wisdom whispered from another dimension... or from your roommate's weird dreams. Ben recommends reading it with an open mind and maybe a cup of tea. Or a flux capacitor.

Devon Devon had to Dad some emails this week—calmly but firmly correcting errors from people who apparently do not know how email works. He also saw Elio, Pixar's newest mid-tier offering. While it didn't break any new ground for him, the cloning subplot raised a few existential eyebrows, and might be intense for younger kids. It's fine. Just... Pixar-fine.

Steven Steven survived another summer birthday party. For those keeping score at home, that's a fairy-themed, girls-only pizza party in the park, followed by public swim chaos. Summer birthdays always mean competing with vacation season, but the magic of fairy dust and chlorine carried the day.

He also dove into The Alters on Gamepass—a sci-fi survival game where the only way to make it through is to clone alternate versions of yourself. Each "Alter" has its own personality and baggage, forcing the player to confront wildly different versions of who they could've been. Existential dread with excellent lighting and resource management.

Future or Now

Ben There's never enough Becky Chambers. Ben wrapped up The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, the final book in the Wayfarers series. It's tender, slow, and full of aliens being thoughtful toward each other. No war, no chosen one. Just beings trying to communicate and grow. Want to nerd out even more? Check out the Wayfarers wiki's list of species and marvel at Chambers' world-building, where no one species gets to be "the default."

Steven Meanwhile, Steven's still trippin'—on science. A new study published in June strengthens the case that humans were in North America at least 23,000 years ago. How? Fossilized footprints in ancient lakebeds at White Sands, New Mexico. Radiocarbon-dated mud backs up earlier studies, making this the third independent line of evidence. It's a big deal—and a good reminder that science is often slow, muddy, and surprising.

Devon This week, Devon is Future-or-Now neutral.

Book Club

We're taking next week off—so catch up on chapters if you're behind, or just sit outside and let your brain breathe. It deserves it.

This week we read Chapters 7 ("The Wild") and 8 ("The Summer Bear") of A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. (Audible listeners, that's Chapters 9 and 10.)

We're deep in tea monk territory now. Dex continues their journey into the unknown and meets challenges that aren't dragons or monsters, but doubts and unspoken expectations. It's a gentle reminder that even in utopia, people still struggle with meaning and self-worth. It's deeply human—even when the characters aren't.

See You on Patreon

If you're already supporting us there—thank you. We've got bonus episodes, Discord chats, and weird side quests waiting. This week we're sharing a sneak peek at our next theme episode and some alternate podcast titles we almost used.

If you're not on board yet, come say hi. It's like a summer birthday party, but with less sunburn and more sci-fi.

Real Life

This week, real life got weird, itchy, nostalgic, and just slightly chaotic.

Ben celebrated a birthday by dragging his family through a hike in tick-infested grass. Friendly reminder: Don't go into the long grass. We've seen Jurassic Park, we know how this ends.

Devon may or may not be living in Foreverware straight out of Eerie, Indiana. Start checking those Tupperware lids, folks.

Steven escaped a house overrun with cousins the only way he knows how: board game store therapy.

Here's what we're playing:

• Burnout Paradise Remastered is only $5 on Steam right now and it still rules. Devon showed us how to pull off some in-game stunts. Sadly, not applicable to real life.

• Steven got cozy with Harmonies, a gorgeous little nature-builder where you balance habitats and critters.

• Ben brought in Infinite Board Game (Piecepack)—a modular system that spawned classics like Worm Derby and 9 Ball.

• Steven also shouted out Tak (playable with Piecepack!) and unboxed his shiny new copy of Slugblaster.

Future or Now

We talk a lot about the future, but this week, the past clawed its way back into the conversation.

Ben shared a killer quote from Ray Bradbury:

"I'm warning you now, so you don't have to pay a psychiatrist 20 years from now…"

It came from a great piece of writing advice for screenwriters, poets, novelists—anyone with a keyboard. TLDR: read other stuff, write other stuff. Don't get boxed in. Read the whole post here.

Devon brought space horror to the table: a NASA satellite that's been dead for 57 years just pinged Earth out of nowhere. Read more

Steven dove into the fungal unknown: scientists have turned Aspergillus flavus—yes, the tomb fungus found in places like King Tut's burial site—into a potential treatment for leukemia. Cursed no more. Science article here

Book Club

We're still steeped in the gentle robot comfort of Becky Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild-Built. This week, we covered:

• Audible Chapters 6–8

• Book Chapters 4–6:

  • An Object, and an Animal

  • Remnants

  • Grass Hen with Wilted Greens and Caramelized Onion (legit sounds delicious)

Next week:

• Book Chapters 7 & 8 (The Wild, The Summer Bear)

• Audible Chapters 9–10

Bonus recommendation: Devon says you should read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, if you want philosophy, talking apes, and big "what's-wrong-with-the-world" energy.

Real Life

Ben had a pretty heartfelt Father's Day. The kind that makes you wonder what to do with all those sentimental cards—save them? Repurpose them? Wallpaper a studio? He's thinking bigger: moleskin notebooks and sketchbooks as repositories for meaningful letters, doodles, and moments. He also caught You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at SLOREP, which delivered all the nostalgia and Peanuts poignancy one could hope for.

Devon saw Annie live and reports back that yes, the sun did come out. Meanwhile, he was also boots-on-the-ground at the No Kings march in Tyler, TX, where roughly 1,000 freedom fans turned out to peacefully protest monarchy (fictional or otherwise).

Steven joined a parallel No Kings march in Atascadero and followed it up with some Father's Day chaos and a Mutant Crawl Classics game (ask him about severing arms for cybernetics). Also: he watched Predator: Killer of Killers on Hulu and is delighted to report that the 800 A.D. Vikings segment delivers exactly what the title promises—Vikings versus Predator. It's glorious.

Future or Now

Ben warns us all: Motörhead tried to tell you, but you didn't listen. At Download Festival, moshing got so intense that smartwatches started auto-dialing emergency services. Authorities had to step in and tell everyone to dial down the wearable chaos. We now live in a world where jumping to Ace of Spades might trigger a 999 call. Rock responsibly.

Steven, meanwhile, read a fascinating article on how old smartphones—millions of which end up in landfills—can be repurposed into micro data centers for public services. From bus tracking to marine research, your outdated Galaxy S6 may be the next scientific hero. As Moore's Law slows, we ask: what if we used what we already have?

Devon abstained this week. (Or did he transcend time itself? TBD.)

Book Club: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

This week we dug into chapters 2 and 3: The Best Tea Monk in Panga and Splendid Speckled Mosscap.

The robot has arrived—and while it's delightful, the kids in the book might be in spiritual peril. We unpack the loneliness and disconnection the humans seem to feel, and how it echoes the Jedi's lack of attachments in Star Wars. There's also a curious debate about genre: is this science fiction or fantasy? When your tech includes nearly-immortal pocket computers and self-aware robots emerging from the woods, the lines get blurry.

Next week: chapters 4–6 (Audible 6–8), including "An Object, and an Animal," "Remnants," and a dinner scene featuring grass hen and caramelized onions. If you're not hungry by the end of it, you're stronger than us.

This week, Steven, Ben, and Devon record remotely to avoid the usual chaos (rat wrestling included). From blacksmithing birthday gifts to questioning the ethics of breakfast, it's a classic episode full of heart, guilt, and sci-fi coziness.

Real Life

Devon's work trip was mostly pointless, thanks to the other party being wildly unprepared. Meanwhile, Steven got new windows installed and watched Captain America: Brave New World in the middle of it all — his verdict: "fine," which seems to be Marvel's current default. He and Ben discuss Harrison Ford stepping in as Thunderbolt Ross, the return of The Leader and Red Hulk, and whether Marvel's third-act fight addiction is dragging it all down. On the home front, Steven had an "intense Thursday" filled with gymnastics class, BBQs, and blacksmithing five custom hooks for his mom's birthday. Ben went to the beach and made a solid case for awe — like ocean waves — as a cure for modern burnout. Oh, and Yellowcard is releasing a new album with Travis Barker on drums. Yes, really.

Future or Now

Devon read Animal Liberation Now and now feels like a hypocrite for still eating meat. The book's argument: if animals can suffer, they deserve rights. Cue a deep dive into factory farming, animal testing, calorie efficiency, and whether "ethical meat" should be a rare luxury rather than a daily default. They talk about cows, chickens, and baby monkeys; the morality of milk and butter; and why our modern food system depends on people looking the other way. Steven questions how to get enough protein on a vegan diet, and Devon admits it's complicated — especially for anyone without time, money, or access. If nothing else, they agree that learning to treat animals better might teach us how to treat each other better, too.

Book Club: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

The gang begins Becky Chambers's cozy sci-fi novella, where humans and robots live separately but peacefully. Dex, a non-binary monk, ditches the city to become a tea monk — traveling the countryside offering comfort in the form of warm drinks and conversation. Their first attempt fails, so they go all in: building a hydroponic tea garden and trying again. The story is full of sustainability, small joys, and gentle spirituality. The hosts love the "cozy punk" vibe and Ben's especially struck by the god of small comforts' advice: find the strength to do both. Next chapter brings a two-year time jump — and (hopefully) a robot.

Thanks for listening and supporting the show — and for sticking with us through windows, waffles, and weird philosophical spirals.

– S, B & D

Real Life

Things kicked off with stories from Friday night's bonfire, where the nature of reality was hotly debated between toasted marshmallows. That conversation somehow spiraled into a serious (and slightly absurd) discussion about Noodles and Soba—Ben's son's pet rats—and the potential benefits of getting female rats fixed. Apparently, doing so can add about a year to their lifespan by preventing reproductive cancers, but the surgery's cost is a tough sell when you're in what Ben called "debt paydown mode." Devon floated the idea of unscrupulous "rat hustlers" faking the procedure, which—frankly—feels like a dark Netflix documentary waiting to happen.

From there, it was a short hop to a conversation about whether rats lay eggs (they don't), Jurassic Park's "life finds a way," and then straight into tearing apart Gremlins logic. What even is "midnight," anyway? Local time? Greenwich Mean? Galactic zenith? And why are we trusting a kid instead of the old shopkeeper? Gremlins may now officially live in the "science fantasy/biological fiction" corner of the canon.

Saturday brought gaming with their friend Greg. They played Relic Blade, where Devon managed to escort a yak to safety despite Steven's attempts at sabotage. Greg used a clever trick involving a D20 and gravity to determine movement direction, which frankly should be in the rulebook. They also played Marvel Dice Throne, where Devon's Wolverine got obliterated almost immediately thanks to poor positioning and cruel dice. Then came Living Well, a minimalist dice game with retro 70s-style art and some satisfying ability upgrades. Plans to play Arcs got shelved after a medical emergency—Nicole was hit hard by the heat and ended up needing CPR at the hospital (despite having a pulse and breathing, which… yeah, it was a weird night). She's recovering now.

Future or Now

TV-wise, the gang wrapped up Season 4 of Love, Death & Robots—with highlights including a talking cat, an occult bomber mission, and gang warfare against colossal babies. Over on Amazon Prime, they watched the Secret Level take on Pac-Man, which was surprisingly grim and humanoid-heavy. Ben and his son also dove into Scott Pilgrim territory, rewatching the movie and starting Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which quickly turns into a clever alternate universe story that's fun, stylish, and charming enough to inspire a trip through the graphic novels. Ben gave a thumbs-up to the newest season of Black Mirror, calling one episode a bit conceptually broken but championing another as a "new Callister."

Book Club

In Book Club, the crew dug into "Liking What You See: A Documentary" by Ted Chiang, from Stories of Your Life and Others. Framed as a mockumentary, the story centers on Caliagnosia—a reversible condition that disables facial beauty perception. The ethical and social ramifications are explored through interviews and propaganda, making the story feel eerily real. It raises questions about freedom, superficiality, advertising, and the influence of unseen tech on our minds. Tamara's personal journey through switching Cali off and on again added a human element to the philosophical questions. Everyone agreed: it was a banger of a story.

Next up for Book Club: the first three chapters of A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. Get reading!