Downers

#189 – Do we mostly remember the good parts of our life, or the shitty parts of our life? Why is it that we gravitate toward keeping the memories that the unhealthiest for us to remember, if that makes sense? We attempt to tackle this tricky question within an hour's worth of podcasts. We also play another rousing game of What Things are Actually Two Things?   UPDATE: I uploaded a version with better sound quality.

#188 – Following on the heels of our extremely successful SOLIDS DRAFT and LIQUIDS DRAFT, we fly into the sun on waxed wings in this episode with our GAS DRAFT. We have a special Correspondents Corner from Aaron to kick the episode off, and then we dive right into thinking of gases. There are just so many gases to choose from! We also discuss what it is like to fall in love.   Plugs this week: Buying a black T-shirt (Jack) iPad’s Smart Keyboard Folio (Hao) Friends to Lovers (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#187 – We felt bad for you in a good way, and other topics! on this week's episode of DOWNERS. This week, we have our friend Michelle read our podcast's tarot cards. Michelle tells the history of tarot reading. Death is frequently the best card in the deck, cups are good, and other surprising facts!   Plugs this week: Electronic recycling (Hao) Smitten Kitchen's mom's applecake recipe (Kate), and you don't need a bundt pan for this, if that's what you're thinking Nalgene's 48oz water bottle (Michelle) Combination locks (Jack), the ones that you rotate, not the ones with three numbers on them   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#186 – If you sell glass bottles, you should be forced to take them back, just like in the old days. This, and other topics, come under the microscope that is this podcast, Downers. Hao's calling in from Vermont, Kate's recording from an active construction site, and we. are. pulling through. My apartment smells like olive oil because I cooked with it tonight. We have a returning guest this week! We check in with Michelle's life, which now includes foods that are both sweet and savory. Check out Michelle's new Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/u/michelleartbear     Plugs this week: Driving on the highway (Hao) No-knead bread (Jack)

#185 – Jack's on wuwei this week, which means he's consumed no content for the entire week. What's he been up to instead?? We also take a trip through our Gmail inbox, because Hao responded to every email we've ever gotten. Then: it was Daughters Day this week, so: would you pay $10000 to set the gender of your child??? We find out, by proxy, through our own opinions.   Plugs this week: Mitchell and Webb (Jack) An apple for dinner (Hao) IUDs, which are hard to find in Hong Kong (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#184 – Hot on the heels of our enormously successful Liquids Draft episode, we are proud to present to you our SOLIDS DRAFT. What team of solids will everybody form? What types of currency are allowed, and what is currency anyway? We also discuss boiled wings, leaf miners, zucchini flowers, squash blossoms, goat cheese, and the Slate parenting podcast.   Plugs this week:   Netflix's MIDNIGHT GOSPEL (Hao) Puzzle feeders (for cats) (Kate) BBC Two's SECRETS OF THE CASTLE (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#183 – Jobs: some of them are good, some of them are evil, and some of them shouldn't exist. It's onto the third category that we aim our sights in this episode of Downers, as we devote a special BOOK CLUB to anthropologist David Graeber's critique of useless societal work. What is it about us that leads us to create jobs that might not need to exist, and what does it mean for the common assertion of an efficient market? We don't know! That's why it's a podcast.   (Also, what is Brooklyn 99 going to do about next season?)   Plugs this week: Don't put your elbows into your ears (Hao) Michelle's art @michelleartbear (Jack) Washing your face (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#182 – (Not 183) – Plants! They're all around us, forming the flora to our fauna. We take a good, long, hard look at our amateur attempts at gardening, and discuss common household remedies to the problems of aphids, horny caterpillars, spider mites, and leaf miners. Also, Kate's gross air-conditioner cleaning story!   Plugs this week: Yoga with Adriene (Kate) Raisins (Jack) Exposé of Area Yoga owners Brooks-Church and Gendville (Hao)   EDITOR UPDATE: I had to fix Hao's audio track, so this might trigger a redownload of this episode.   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#181 – What if you could hire someone to work a fulltime job? What would they do? Kate, Hao, and Jack send their employees out on missions in this episode, and we learn that Jack would essentially emancipate someone from the capitalist labor-for-wages system. Also: Sleeveless Club, Orange County Disease, and being partially ameliorated.   Plugs this week: Non-Amazon Kindle (Kate) 10-pack of USB-to-Lightning cables (Hao) Jeff (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#180 – Lots of stuff to catch up on this week, including cat bonding, yoga, and Governor's Island. Then we talk about FIBER INTERNET, which Kate has but none of us do. We express our jealousy, and then we talk about what we would do if we had symmetric upload and download rates. We also play a brand new game: What Things are Actually Two Things? Also, what's the second best coffee country?   Plugs this week: Townscaper (Kate) Bike phone mount, public housing (Hao) Marble runs, real-life racing (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#179 – Jack talks about his dream jobs. And then we talk about dreams in general! Also: homeopathic heating pads, bacon grease, kisses, and aliens. You can truly never talk too much about aliens. How can we use tarot as a way to explore our desires and fears?   Plugs this week: Devonté Hynes' LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION (Hao) Netflix's Space Force (Jack) Toast Box Hainanese Kaya (Hao)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#178 (177 is experiencing some technical difficulties) – Twitch emotes! We've all seen them, but what to they really mean? The Downers private investigators are on the case. Some of them are mean!!! Some of them are nice. Also: fruit-forward breakfasts, tea houses, and five cups of ice.   Plugs this week: September Skye Bags (Kate) Electric bike number (Hao) Infinity cube (Jack) (it's a fidget toy)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#177 – Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs) can sometimes be daunting because it requires someone to be a dungeon master (to DM). Jack recently DM'd a game, and he's here to turn his life experience into Internet Content™, because, this hour, we're going to break down DMing and proffer unsolicited advice about how to be a successful DM. We answer questions including, but not limited to: What do you do when people aren't getting along? How can you roll dice in the most sexually attractive way?   Plugs this week: History's ALONE (Jack) (History is a TV channel) SCHITT'S CREEK (Kate) 2014's WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Hao)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://eji.org/

#176 – Sombra: what kind of pants does she wear? These, and other questions, we gamely tackle in this hour of DOWNERS THE ONLY PODCAST ABOUT SADNESS AND KOREAN FOOD. Jack and Hao read out descriptions of Overwatch characters; Kate tries to figure out which one she would most likely "main," which is a gaming term for devoting most of your time to playing one character for the purposes of getting a higher rank in competitive play. But we mostly end up talking about gender representation in video games, and the ethics of a cartoon video game resorting to visual stereotypes.

#175 – Jack has never read Bill Watterson's CALVIN AND HOBBES, if you can believe it, so, in this episode, we tie him down and subject him to some Content from the Past™. The beloved comic strip was well known for its refusal to talk down to its target audience as well as its lessons in humanism and parenting. Along the way, we talk about violence in television and movies and what it is like, at a young age, to feel like you don't belong.   Plugs this week: Outdoor fans (Kate) Desk webcam mounts (Hao) Mind hugs (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

#174 – Kate's gone this week, so we have to figure out what to do! The central conceit of the indie darling video game THE OUTER WILDS is that you live your life on a twenty-two minute loop. What if your real life were like that too?? That is just one of the many hard-hitting questions we ask on an episode of Downers like this one. Plus, additional content regarding: rapid memory insertion, bartering, secret bazaars, thigh tech, and Germany.   Plugs this week: Chinese food blogger Li Ziqi (Jack) Biking downhill (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

#173 – Cats! They're not our friends, but sometimes they can be our pets. We ask Kate what's going on with her two new cats in our critically acclaimed, much beloved Follow-ups Corner. Also: the ending of season one of The Outlander, which Jack watched with horror. Then, it's onto our main topic of the hour: infinity. Where does it come from? Why are there so many types of infinity? Does infinity matter? How does infinity make us feel?   Plugs this week: Kelly Yang's PARACHUTES (Kate) Biking down Lafayette (Hao) Dwarf Fortress (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com /r/downersradio @downersradio https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

#172 – Space: it's all around us. But what is space? The Downers podcast isn't afraid to ask troubling questions like this one. What's the most common way of dying in space? If space is infinite, does that mean our lives don't matter? Will Jack convince Hao to put his corpse into a black hole? Find out by consuming this content!   Plugs this week: Apple turnovers... in Japan (Kate) Birds & Beans Coffee™ (Jack) Cousins (Kate and Hao) Stepcousins (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on twitter • slowly this podcast is just becoming a podcast about clones

#171 – Well, Jack's been watching Netflix's OUTLANDER on his father's recommendation, and he wants to talk to his father (played by Hao) about the show. It's a complex show that both subverts and upholds its genre's tropes. Anyway, we have captured that audio and put it into this podcast, making it freely available for you – yes, you! – the listener. Come and listen as we drag Diana Gabaldon's name through the mud!   Plugs this week: Cory the Corn Person (Jack) Bernadette Banner's historical sewing on YouTube (Kate) Peter Schaffer's EQUUS (Hao)   downersradio@gmail.com /r/downersradio @downersradio https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

#170 – As a wave of solidarity push elected officials to take actions of justice, we ourselves take a moment to break the rules of the podcast and take a moment to talk about recent events and the feeling of living through something that will hopefully be historical, if not monumental. We play a round of a new game we call Backup Country, where each person talks about where they'd live if they could no longer live in their current country. In Act II, we design a new species to take the flame from humanity. In that act, we learn just how little we retained from our high school biology classes.   Plugs this week include, but are not limited to: Golden kiwis (Kate) Silicone (Hao) YouTube channel MAANGCHI (Jack) "How Do We Win" Ways To Help The Great Slate 2020   downersradio@gmail.com @downersradio