• S2 E12: 3D and 360 Cameras
    Feb 14 2022
    Are these cameras gimmicky or are they something more? Things That Blew Us Away Rob: At the time of recording, the Omicron variant of Coronavirus has an “R” value of 10. We can’t find that video now and what we can find all point to an R value of 2 or 3. Christen: Core 77’s Best of Cool Tools Spotted in 2021 Next time: An autonomous vacuum that has a camera built into it. Clean your house and take your next video call on your vacuum.
    Show more Show less
    49 mins
  • S2 E11: The Intersection of Technology and Conspiracies
    Jan 24 2022

    Now that we’re into the long-tail adoption of the internet, how does technology influence how we interact with information related to conspiracies? Can AI get better at locating radicalizing content? At what point should speech be censored?

    Is there a conspiracy that you believe in, or something you believe in so much that your mind could not be changed no matter how much evidence to the contrary? Is this something we can know about ourselves?

    Rob thinks humanity is doomed, but he may be swayed.

    Things That Blew Us Away

    Rob: Wishcycling is when people try to recycle something that cannot be recycled.

    Christen: Nermal (Nims) Purja climbs 14 of the tallest peaks in the world in under six months. Check out the documentary, 14 Peaks, on Netflix.

    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • S2 E10: Do You Even Podcast?
    Jan 4 2022

    Our end-of-year episode reflects on podcasts – what has been and what we’ve enjoyed. Rob’s been podcasting since 2016 and we chat about origins and inspirations.

    If you’ve not listened to Dark Winter Nights, True Stories from Alaska, we highly recommend it.

    Our Favorites

    Christen

    • Mission to Zyxx
    • King Falls AM
    • Oligies
    • And That’s Why We Drink

    Rob

    • Dark Winter Nights
    • Car Talk
    • Duolingo Podcasts
    • Bubbly Sesh

    We’ll catch everyone in the new year!

    Things That Blew Our Minds

    Christen: Ultra-compact cameras that are the size of a grain of salt.

    Rob: Gunpowder was discovered by Chinese Taoists searching for the elixir of immortality.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 10 mins
  • S2 Ep 9: Where Will We Cram These Photos?
    Dec 13 2021

    Storing and managing all the photos we take with our phones is a perennial challenge. This week we talk about what we do, and all our good intentions.

    Storage we talk about (prices at the time of recording)

    Google Photos

    • 100GB for $1.99/mo
    • 200GB for $2.99/mo

    Apple Crapple (iCloud)

    • 50GB: $0.99
    • 200GB: $2.99
    • 2TB: $9.99

    Flickr

    • *Crickets* $6.99/mo – Some breaks for annual pricing

    Dropbox

    • Sure

    Smugmug

    • $7/mo for unlimited, full-res storage

    Adobe Cloud Storage

    • Adobe for teams – cloud storage 100GB
    Things That Blew Us Away

    Rob: Most people have an above average number of legs.

    Christen: That time former Russian president Gorbachev made a Pizza Hut commercial.

    Next episode we will podcast about podcasting!

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 2 mins
  • S2 E8: Environmental Impacts of Cloud Computing
    Dec 6 2021

    We’ve been thinking about the possible costs of files we leave orphaned up in our online storage. Someone pays to maintain it up in the cloud, on a computer in the sky somewhere. What impacts do all the resources going to maintain the files we never go back to access have on the environment?

    First, when we talk about cloud computing, we have in mind services similar to:

    • Google Drive
    • Microsoft 360
    • Dropbox
    • Netflix (to name a few)

    It’s a long list, and we aren’t even getting into video storage and streaming.

    In research conducted by MIT, Perdue, and Yale, streaming video makes an impact on the environment in terms of land usage, carbon emissions, and water usage. Turning your video off during a web meeting reduces your environmental impact by 96%.

    “To store and transmit all of the data powering the internet, data centers consume enough electricity to account for 1 percent of global energy demand — which is more than the total consumption for many countries”

    Reduce the Environmental Impact of your Next Virtual Meeting

    Additional reading on the topic and studies by Microsoft and Google are linked below. 

    There’s also a link to the Arctic Circle Data Center (ACDC) in development, Kolos, which appears to still be raising capital. Their aim is for more sustainable data storage.

    Uncovering the Environmental Impact of Cloud Computing

    This article, above, states that digital technologies might seem like less of an impact but they are responsible for 4% of global CO2 emissions. Organizations like MightyBytes attempt to steer companies toward more sustainable solutions.

    The Cloud isn’t Inherently More Sustainable

    Lucivero, F. Big Data, Big Waste? A Reflection on the Environmental Sustainability of Big Data Initiatives. Sci Eng Ethics 26, 1009–1030 (2020).

    Google is messaging about this as well

    The Environmental Impact of Keeping Files Online

    So what do we do about it? Check out the Digital Cleanup Day website to learn more about how people are creating mindful practices with their digital assets.

    Things That Blew Us Away

    Show more Show less
    55 mins
  • S2 E7: Do You Dread Meetings?
    Nov 22 2021

    Have you ever been in a bad meeting? When did you realize it was going off the rails? Do you purposefully sabotage meetings that are floundering? This week we talk about meetings because we’ve been sucked into and stuck in so many that this episode turns into a bit of therapy. We also have been meeting facilitators, and understand that sometimes work must be accomplished – but how do we get there?

    Meeting Tips

    Are you leading a meeting? Some questions to ask before your meeting:

    • Does every person need to be there?
    • Who ISN’T represented there?
    • Avoid long introductions about dogs. Maybe do them in chat or via email beforehand
    • Have the courage to shove the car out of the mud
    • What is the goal of this meeting?
    • Creative meetings vs. informative meetings
      • Meetings are not the solution to people not reading email, unless it’s a safety thing.
    • Meetings are not therapy sessions – BUT SOMETIMES THEY ARE 
    Zoom Meetings
    • Know how to mute everyone
    • Have people raise their hands
    • Don’t ask a question to the whole group if it’s over six people
    • Have them raise hands or call on people
    • Set people up for success in the meeting. If you want to accomplish something in the meeting, let people know ahead of time so that they can think ahead.
    Meetings are Like Dinner Parties
    • Invite meeting attendees into the meeting as guests.
    • Set expectations
    • Invite people into conversations who seems to be hanging back.
    • Set the table. Even just the presence of food can help grease the wheels.
    • Followup afterward with notes and actions to keep everyone on track.
    What Some Smart People Have to Say About Meetings

    Interesting thoughts on meetings by people that do them prolifically and study them – Meeting Facilitation by Doug Ferguson. They alsotTalk about what to do after the meeting and how to talk about what was accomplished. Suggested Tools: Google Docs, MURAL, Miro, Figma

    Why Meetings Go Wrong (HBR) includes some controversial strategies like, banning the mute button. They also suggest that if you’re using an agenda, write it in the form of questions to invite people to think deeply about the points.

    Things That Blew Us Away

    Rob: A family that walks on all four limbs

    Christen: Social loafing! The phenomenon that people working in a group exert less effort when working on a goal together. When is it loafing and when is it letting others run with an idea?

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 15 mins
  • S2 E6: World-building Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets
    Nov 17 2021

    We sat down to watch this visual extravaganza of a movie from 2017, and to chat about what we liked about it. The movie didn’t receive much acclaim on its release, but there’s so attention paid to the world building that one can’t discount there is much to see and love about this space opera – yes, space opera. Who doesn’t love a good space opera?

    The movie was based on a French graphic novel (Valerian and Laureline 1967-2010), and was directed by Luc Besson. If that name sounds familiar it’s because it should. He has also directed the cult classic The Fifth Element – I know you’ve seen it. On top of having visionary director and a whole lot of independent capital, the cast touts some big names like Ethan Hawke, Rianna, John Goodman, Clive Owen, Herbie Hancock (really?).

    This movie tries to cover a whole lot of ground in a very short amount of time. The scope of world-building is momentous and the visuals are good enough that the movie pulls it off.

    If you’re someone who watches this movie without any background on the original story, your expectations should be framed in that way. It’s still very enjoyable to watch, fast-paced, and written like a comic book. Don’t expect neatly polished narrative, academic exposition, or a spiritual deeper meaning. It’s fun, there is something interesting to look at every second of this movie, there’s not a bunch of gore or outright violence, and it can hold a kid’s attention.

    Lots of visual touchstones that make the world look familiar and believable for people who have watched lots of scifi (Fifth Element, Roger Rabbit, Avatar, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek franchise, etc). You might even notice minor characters such as the Dogan Daguis are very much styled in a manner similar to the Ferengis of the Deep Space Nine series.

    What’s Bat-shit Crazy
    • Cute little armadillo guinea pigs that can poop pearls
    • Valierian cannot stop proposing to his coworker.
    • After thousands of years of peace in the Universe, agents Valerian and Lauraline have 10 hours to find the thing disturbing this peace.
    • BIG MARKET!
    • There’s a HUGE space station, Alpha, that’s a cultural melting pot in space.
    • An entire planet and race are erased from historical records by a military officer.
    • Ethan Hawke is Rhianna’s pimp (who ever thought that would be a sentence we would ever write?).
    • Rhianna’s Glamopod dance
    • Laureline contracts an ancient space captain and his space submarine to steal a jellyfish from the blowhole of a giant sea creature, then she puts her head into that jellyfish to retrieve some memories.
    • A seemingly tribal race leaves their planet and learns sufficient technology to build their own spacecraft within a single generation.
    Technology in This Movie
    • Something like a Star Trek Holodeck
    • Virtual playlists of former lovers
    • Communicators
    • BIG MARKET! AR/VR for the shoppers and for the soldiers (one of them “hacks” into one of the guards and controls it as part of their mission to recover the Mül converter)
    • Mül converter
    • Alpha space station
    • Spider bots that can fit in your mouth
    • “Evil” imperial robots

    Looking for more voices in this conversation? The Verge has a great write up of this movie.

    Things That Blew Us Away

    Christen: In keeping with the recent Halloween holiday, the Smithsonian Magazine has a story about what might be the first depiction of a ghost, datin

    Show more Show less
    34 mins
  • S2 E5: GenZ or iGen? How Do They Differ from Other Generations?
    Oct 27 2021

    Rob read a book by Jean Twenge, who makes a case that GenZ should really be named iGen. In this episode, we spend some time talking about this generation, how it is different from our own generation, GenX, and what generations really are.

    Formally named generations are a relatively new idea, along with the rise of social sciences. Note that generations are also dependent on cultural contexts. If we look back, earlier generations include:

    • The Lost Generation, 1883-1900
    • The Greatest Generation, 1901-1927
    • The Silent Generation, 1928-1945
    • Baby Boomers (Generation W), 1946-1964
    • Gen X, 1965-1980
    • Millennials, 1981-1996
    • Generation Z, 1997-2012
    • Generation Alpha, 2010-2021
    Timeline of generations in the Western world with notable events by CMG Lee. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Twenge has a TEDx talk Things That Blew Us Away

    Rob: Research suggests that the east side of cities are statistically the more economically depressed because it was historically the stinky side of the towns.

    Christen: The movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, have you seen it? If not, it is really fantastic and has flown under the mainstream radar since it was released. The movie does such a fabulous job of world building on an epic scale in the length of one movie, I just want to live there.

    Next episode we are going to talk about this movie and the technologies depicted.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 24 mins