Feature Creep: Built-in Microwave

Ned and Meg discuss the Barnum Forer Effect and Horoscopes. Did you know that you have a great deal of unused potential? How human are you today? Bertram R Forer has a test, the 'Diagnostic Interest Blank' to be exact. It’s all BS but people love flattery and celebrity apparently! Call 1-900 Believe A Stranger to get your special predictions now.

Ned and Meg chat about close talkers in a pandemic spread by close talking. We also take pot shots at updated covid mask designs, dysfunctional citrus presses, and a Niagara of hostile or self defeating design.

Ned and Meg discuss a letter, sent to George Orwell from his former teacher Aldous Huxley, in which Huxley both celebrates and criticizes Orwell’s vision of dystopia for being excellent but not quite as good as his own. We sideswipe lady gangs, Halloween costumes, tee shirt designs, and the movie Little Shop of Horrors. Here’s mom: wash your hands, wear a mask!

Ned and Meg chat about the first episode of Star Trek Next Generation (TNG) Episode one, Encounter at Farpoint, aka the one with Q! Ned saw it as a kid and it really made a creepy impression. That leads Meg to complain about M*A*S*H*, the worst entertainment drag on television.

Meg and Ned discuss movies that feature dystopian themes. They don't even come close to exhausting the list of possible movies to discuss but they give it a good try.

Meg and Ned briefly discuss the short story 'I Have no Mouth and I must Scream' by Harlan Ellison. We look at how this relates to our ongoing discussion of designing dystopias.

Ned and Meg discuss Philip K Dick’s novel (the one that inspired Blade Runner the movie) about androids and consider the core tenets of a good dystopia. Part of an ongoing series delving into what makes a dystopia, and how to build the most dystopian dystopia ever.

Meg and Ned continue their discussions about designing dystopias. In this episode we discuss the origin of the concept and introduce some of Sir Thomas More's thoughts on what makes a utopia and possibly why that utopia would probably be a dystopia for many.

This week Meg and Ned discuss the ideas and concepts around designing a dystopia. Why would we talk about such a thing? Because this is an art and design podcast. Also, wash your hands and wear a mask. Turns out we are still in the middle of a pandemic.

Meg loudly complains at Ned about hostas, the Beanie Babies of the plant kingdom, in this week’s short, that is until Ned points out that they’re not entirely ornamental and can be eaten, which changes Meg’s mind about how much she hates them! Wash your hands! Wear a mask!

Ned tells Meg about Louie Mattar’s Fabulous Cadillac Car, now on view at the San Diego Auto Museum! Or, well, it would be if we were allowed to go see anything with other people! That reminds us, wash your hands, wear a damned mask, be nice, mind your own beeswax.

Meg and Ned complain about audio problems in this great time of uncertainty. How are we supposed to get anything done with all this chaos going on? Wash your hands, wear a mask, and stand up for Black lives.

Ned and Meg discuss the more absurd permutations of the trolley problem. Quick, pull the lever!

Meg and Ned read Chapter 15 of the Tao Te Ching and discuss their thoughts.

Ned and Meg discuss crazy ideas (no surprise there), giant cockroaches (or palmetto bugs if you’re one of those people), and Somebody’s Gonna Die II. Wash your hands. WEAR A MASK! Enjoy.

Meg and Ned read Chapter 9, 24, and 5 of the Tao Te Ching and discuss their thoughts.

Ned and Meg discuss their entrepreneurial and artistic plans for a hypothetical vending machine. Wash your hands. WEAR A MASK!

Meg and Ned read Chapter 18 and 19 of the Tao Te Ching and discuss their thoughts.

Ned and Meg discuss the abysmal state of professional educational conferences both before, during, and after Covid-19 pandemic. We demand an overthrow of the current professional conference paradigm and we demand it now. Wash your hands. WEAR A MASK!

Meg and Ned read Chapter 13 of the Tao Te Ching and discuss their thoughts.

Ned and Meg discuss what’s terrible about and around despair. Topics include racism, state and police violence, puke, Florida, commercial air travel, and maltitol. This episode was recorded on June 03, 2020. Don’t forget to wash your hands, WEAR A MASK, take to the streets if you have to, and vote in November.

Meg and Ned read Chapter 31 of the Tao Te Ching and discuss their thoughts.

Ned and Meg speculate with Damon. About what? You can speculate, or you can listen to us!

Meg gives Ned a short lesson on Latin American Philosophy, or the short history so far.

Ned and Meg talk about a local Minneapolis hero with a special kind of vehicle that makes existential deliveries. We expound on art cars, lame covid-19 responses, and not being a shit. Wash your hands. Help your neighbors. Wear a mask!