Lucky 10,000

Humans are portrayed in most extra-terrestrial science fiction as puny, weak, insignificant, and utterly outclassed by any and all offworld explorers who happen upon them. This week, Carissa and Evan ask: what if humanity isn't a pile of crap but is, instead, terrifying and bewildering to our galactic neighbors? Maybe we are the horror movie villain of ET's nightmares, and we set out to explain why we might not be the primitive hairless apes of most modern science fiction.

Humanity! Fuck yeah!

After a quick recap of the sad events of this past week, Evan and Carissa get to talking about robots. We cover the adorable NAO, the nightmarishly trippy Deep Dream, Asimov's Three Laws, sex bots, and much much more.  Basically, it's everything you will need to know about the future of robotics. You're welcome!

We are joined by another very special guest this week! Zach - formerly known as 'Z' - comes on to examine the Wizard's Rules: the set of concepts used in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. One by one, he walks us through the eleven guidelines given in this NYT bestselling fantasy series, and we discuss their uses within the story, in the real world, and as the primers on Objectivism they were intended to be. Along the way we throw in some literary criticism, a healthy dash of ethical analysis, and a few personal anecdotes. There are a couple mild spoilers for the series, but (we hope) nothing that would prevent possible enjoyment for any new readers.

Sincere thanks to Zach for coming on to get bookish with us!

This week we bring on very special guest Jason from our brother podcast The Bearded Ones to talk about the long-standing classic, Saturday Night Live. We cover cast changes, ads and shorts, what worked, what bombed, our favorite and least favorite things about it, and basically everything that has given this American standard its pride of place in pop culture.

We don't do it often, but to kick off the new year we wanted to just kind of talk to each other about 'stuff'.  Carissa announces her resolution and waxes poetic about the touching effect of Bob Ross on Twitch chatters, while Evan reflects on Red Dead Redemption and the things we love despite all contrary public opinion.  Hollywood gets a nice reaming for its neoconservative values and alien view of the real world.  Just for the hell of it, we talk limericks and anti-limericks, and would like to invite our beloved listeners to send us their favorite dirty limericks.

2015 is coming to a close and so, as we approach the beginning of the year when those born at the turn of the millennium will be driving cars, Evan and Carissa take a look back - as many others are doing - at the halfway point of the Twenty-Teens.

The best (and a couple of the worst) in science, tech, medicine, movies, tv, and games of the year all get a nod.  Then we take a look forward to hope for the best to come in the approaching year.  We know everyone is doing a year-in-review, but naturally we think ours is the best.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve celebration, everyone, and we'll catch you in a week!

Christmas is nigh, and our hosts take this opportunity to reach into the stocking and pull out all the random goodies they can find. We talk SPOILER-FREE about The Force Awakens, wax cautiously optimistic about the Warcraft movie, rant about the (not-so) casual racism in the prequels, contemplate fun things to do with Harry Potter's wang - er, wand - and have some general silliness with Star Wars Mad Libs.

Big shouts out to the gents at the Wikishuffle podcast and to the nerdcore group 2d6.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Tomorrow, as we all know, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens hits general release. We were remiss in raging about the second two prequels, so we get that out of the way because we are people of our word.

Then Trivia! How much does Evan remember about the minutiae of the Star Wars movies? Carissa quizzes him to find out. Play along at home, test your own memory, and see if you get to feel smug about how much Star Wars trivia you know. With many huge thanks to the Geeks Who Drink for their inspiration from the Let The Wookie Win national pub quiz last Saturday.

Send us your quiz scores so everyone can be suitably impressed, or so others can maybe not feel so bad. :P

This week Evan and Carissa reminisce about the technology which shaped our generation. The 8088 and the Apple ][e, BASICA games and TI graphing calculators, the Hayes SmartModem and AOL, BBSes and MUDs, Betamax and VHS, and so much more. Progress marches on, moving ever faster and with increasing promise, so we pause to relish in the view from the top, standing on the shoulders of the giants which brought us into the future.

After taking a break to eat - and digest - all their Thanksgiving food, our illustrious heroes return. Carissa takes the reins to gush about her love of nerdcore hip-hop and provides her list of the Ten Nerdcore Artists You Should Listen To (plus three acts which are nerdcore-adjacent). Complete with samples to give you a taste and whet your appetites, she talks about the special place in her heart reserved for the nerd rappers who most appeal to her. Featuring the music of Futuristic Sex Robotz, ZeaLouS1, YT Cracker, Wordburglar, More or Les, Schaffer The Darklord, M.C. Hawking, MC Frontalot, MC Chris, MadHatter, and Beefy, plus additional love for MC Lars, Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew, and Jonathan Coulton. Whether you're an OG groupie or a nerdcore newbie, this one's for you.

Headphone warning: though the levels are basically even, the music may transmit more loudly than just us talking, so don't blow out your eardrums.