This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey celebrate 300(!) episodes of Critical Nonsense by revisiting random episodes. They talked about 121! The Coming-Out Gauntlet and Thick Conversations, 75! Top 3 Things Not to Do in Quarantine, with Clarissa Pharr, 170! Weirder Inspiration, and 158! Buttresses, Tethers, and Grunts. They don’t talk about the Rota Fortunae.

references

• Step Brothers
• Wheelz of Steel
• Till the Wheels Fall Off
• Wood Wheel
• Wheels of Confusion
• Keep On Movin'
• Here's Where the Story Ends

What are the things that we should be treating like corn that's better than corn?

This week, Jess and Aaron talk about potatoes, clothing overabundance, plastics recycling, concrete, eating fruits and veggies, and pomegranates. They don’t talk about the International Adult Conspiracy's creamed corn agenda.

references

• Theme Songs with Candy
• CBS Sunday Morning: Critics call out recycling "fraud" by plastics industry
• Why modern sandwich bread is different from 'real' bread
• Shucked: The Original Broadway Cast Recording

Bonus episode: A takeover! Claire Choi shares her latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter: The State of Wellbeing: Are We Unwell?

For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see progressbysylvain.co.

Where are other places where desire paths would be relevant when not talking about sidewalks?

This week, Joey and Jess talk about friction, grocery store layouts, Norman doors, incentives, breaking templates, and shopping districts. They don’t talk about sneckdowns.

references

• The Bushwhackers
• Norman Door
• Do you celebrate sneckdown season?

What's the best way to get sick as an adult?

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about historically un-sick parents, hyper-individualistic cultures, COVID, community health, personal comfort vs. social responsibility, and rest. They don’t talk about Mudhoney.

references

• Los Angeles Disaster Support Masterlist
• Mother Jones: Wildfire Smog Is Deadly—But LA’s Covid Mask Organizers Have It Covered
• Reddit: How Sick Day Culture Differs Around the World
• Parenting in an Individualistic Culture with a Collectivistic Cultural Background: The Case of Turkish Immigrant Families with Toddlers in the Netherlands
• Eisenhower Matrix
• If I send you this, it means I'm not going.

What's to come in 2025?

This week, Wild Prognostications returns! Jess, Aaron, and Joey make their predictions for the new year, discussing micro-social media [3:30], platform madness [6:52], nihilistic design [13:10], weaponized compliance [18:32], graphic realism pivoting to novel gameplay [24:05], dressing up [30:38], blockbuster novels [33:15], and a runaway AI crisis [36:56]. They don’t talk about supervillain Daniel Dumile.

references

• The Atlantic: We’re All in ‘Dark Mode’ Now
• Unreal Engine
• Hazelight Studios
• Techradar: Nintendo Switch 2: what we know about the next-generation system so far
• The New York Times: Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Onyx Storm’ Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years
• A Good Day To Die Hard
• The Mitchells vs. The Machines
• The 2024 CrowdStruke outages
• Vulture: The Brutalist Is Half of a Great Movie
• "Missing" by Everything But the Girl

How do we respond to the competing incentives of hybrid work?

This week, we revisit our conversation from Critical Nonsense 290! Hybrid Work, this time with special guest and workplace design leader Amanda Stanaway of ERA-co. She joins Joey and Jess to talk about belonging, productivity, the corporate Kool-Aid, burnout, human connection, and hammocks. They don’t talk about hard-boiled eggs.

references

• Amanda Stanaway
• ERA-co
• WORKTECH Academy: Flight to character: a fightback begins against homogenous global offices by Amanda Stanaway
• The Atlantic: The Anti-Social Century by Derek Thompson
• Chicago Booth Review: Humanity Is Carried on the Voice by Nick Epley
• The Egg Pod

Why would you break up with your best friend?

This week, Joey and Jess talk about para-romance, frenemies, communication styles, emotional proximity, work relationships, and boy and girl bands. They don’t talk about Whodini.

references

• Oprah: Should You Really Break Up with That Friend?
• Black Love: How to Grieve Women Friendships That No Longer Serve You
• Elle: We Need to Talk About Our Ex-Best Friends
• Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships by Robin Dunbar
• Connectome
• The Atlantic: The Anti-Social Century by Derek Thompson