Downers

#209 – Inbox can be a drag, and people have all sorts of ways to work around it. In this episode, we devote the hour to INBOX MANAGEMENT, and the myriad of ways it can go right or wrong. We also talk about our first email addresses, and what makes for a really, really good email. In particular, we address whether Inbox Zero – which many people say is the veganism of email – is an effective strategy for managing the deluge of electronic missives. Plugs this week: TheHaboo's Stardew Valley strims (Kate) DeleteMe (Hao) Tooshi's consecutive stream streak (Kate) Staple gun (Jack) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#208 – Back by popular demand, Ian and his stentorian voice occupy this action-packed episode of Downers. We're talking 10.0 life changes, we're talking unemployment, and we're talking gardens. Come for the sciatica, stay for the guide to being friends with your friends' parents. Hint: it's about not giving fruits to them. There's no unifying theme to this episode, and we're all hoping you're not going to read to this sentence. Plugs this week: Netflix's UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Kate) Flannery O'Connor's THE BARBER (Hao) Bench (Jack) Dog ownership (Ian) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#207 – Furikake is the dry Japanese condiment that everybody is shaking on their rice. Here on Downers, we took one look at this grocery-store "ethnic aisle" staple, and we saw an opportunity to make some serious dinero. We devote the hour to pitching to you, dear listener, our own DOWNERS FURIKAKE. Plugs this week: MYSTIC POP-UP BAR (Jack) Netflix's RADIUM GIRLS (Kate) Umami, like those people who come up to you at dinner parties and talk to you about umami (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#206 – Quarantine houses, but different: in this episode, we construct the ultimate DOWNERS HOUSE. Listen in as we wander from room to room, customizing it to our exacting standards. Wood stoves? Greenhouse kitchen? All things are possible here. Also: popcorn, induction stoves, and futuristic erogenous zones. Plugs this week: YouTube's TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS (Jack) Whirley-Pop Aluminum Stovetop Popcorn (Kate) The metric system, I guess (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#205 – Can an officer of the law compel you to hand over the password to your encrypted device? Or is this an example of self-incrimination, as prohibited by the Fifth Amendment? This is the case that the Supreme Court might decide later this year, and the case Downers devotes the main segment to! Along the way: salty float tanks, and hands in our purses. Plugs this week: Netflix's BLOWN AWAY (Kate) Thin mints (Jack) Argentinian man from work (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org  

#204 – As the Lunar New Year approaches, we take the time to investigate one of the complex, time-honored traditions that marks the holiday: RED ENVELOPES. Usually given by an elder, the amount of money in the red envelope can be a tricky nightmare for people out there who do not subscribe to gift-giving as a love language (Jack-olytes, we call them). THEN, we give each other red envelopes on the air. Plugs this week: Mr. Rogers documentary feat. Tom Hanks (Kate) Kate's mom (it's almost her birthday) (Hao) Vaccines (Jack) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#203 – Sharon McMahon runs an Instagram account @sharonsaysso where liberals and conservatives alike feel welcome to ask questions about how American governance works. How does someone build a neutral space for political discourse In These Trying Times, and how can we listen harder to the people whose voices have been shouted over by a louder, more vocal minority? That's just the sort of question a one-hour podcast can answer, and that's the topic of this week's Downers. Also: the debut of our brand new segment, Wake Kate Up. Plugs this week: Schell Games' UNTIL YOU FALL (Jack) Omsom's Asian flavor starters (Kate) Leaves (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#202 – Most people play video games "vanilla," without any modifications of any sort. But, here on Downers, we say: not us, we refuse, for we mod and we must mod. On this episode, Hao, Jack, and Kate talk about the mods they've installed on the games they've played. Only on Downers will you hear the latest news about DLL files, or the two Indian women who were arguing about how shifts should be scheduled at the grocery store. Also, kimchi! Plugs this week: Mystic Popup Bar (Jack) Oat milk (Kate) The jams aisle at the Brooklyn Fare (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#201 – It is now allowed to talk about the events of 9/11 on the /r/AskHistorians subreddit, which imposes a strict ban on discussion of topics fewer than twenty years old. We here on Downers, being nothing more than old curmudgeons, love the rule. Note: in this episode, we talk, briefly, glancingly, about 9/11, but not in the obnoxious way people sometimes do when they reminisce about 9/11; we also discuss questions we would ask of /r/AskHistorians, and now more of our lives could be like /r/AskHistorians. Remember: Reddit's slogan is A Man's Intuition.™ Plugs this week: STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (Jack), only on CBS ALL ACCESS Feral Hosting (Hao) Pears (Kate) Baking pears (Jack) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#200 – What can you say? Sometimes, you do a podcast and it hits two hundred episodes. It's not meant to be something special, but it is anyway. The production of a podcast is a beast that must feed once a week. It is nothing special to feed it. It is the work. The work is the reward, and the reward is the work. Kate's got some questions for Jack and Hao! An inventory is made of the previous year, detailing the times of vulnerability and prosperity. All that, and more, on Downers. Plugs this week: Three-pronged plugs (Jack) Everlane sweater, loose square knit (Kate) Return (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#199 – Jack's got a long list of parrots, and we're going to tell you the leadership qualities of each one. That's right: it's another hard-hitting episode of Downers, the only podcast about parrots and leadership qualities. We also dive into our FUNKY NEW WEARABLES that we got for Christmas. All this, and more; and, if you think we're not going to talk about Squawk the Parrot, you're sorely mistaken.   Plugs this week: Weird, dry eyeball toy (Hao) 100 Gecs' 1000 GECS (Jack) SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and CEMETERY BOYS (Kate)

#198 – Well, the gifting season is upon us, or it was when we recorded this anyway. In this episode, we explore gifts you could be giving to your loves, or common archetypes from monomyth, this winter season. It's never too late to give a gift, or a bullet, to someone! That's the Downers motto. Plugs this week: Underwear pile (Hao) Toasted sesame cookies (Kate) Go on the internet, go on Google, search for this guy who made the perfect cookie (Jack) [We think it's J. Kenji López-Alt —ed]

#197 – Downers is expanding! We're launching a slate of 10,000 other podcasts, and this episode will be the upfronts/previews for all the content in our pipeline. Hear clips from your soon-to-be-favorite shows like The United Nations and Sad Soups. It's really good.   Plugs this week: The anti-gift box (Hao) Butter cookies (Jack) Alexis Hall's BOYFRIEND MATERIAL (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on twitter • https://www.feedingamerica.org/

#196 – Our friend Doug goes to many concerts, which is something that you can't quite do during COVID. Let's check in with him and see how he's feeling! In many way, Downers is an investigative journalism podcast, except our focus is emotions. Also on the docket: happy lamps, dinner concerts, someone's husband drank a little too much, and soil.   Plugs this week: Bandcamp Friday (Doug) Dinner with Hao's mom (Jack) Birkenstock clogs (Kate), which aren't slippers WereSoCool.org (Hao)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#195 – This week, we talk about Benjamin Mako Hill's (possibly now a Dr. Benjamin Mako Hill's??) paper "Almost Wikipedia: Eight Early Encyclopedia Projects and the Mechanisms of Collective Action," which essays to explain why Wikipedia succeeded where other, similar projects did not. We also talk about using Wikipedia in its early days, and which kinds of Gloomhaven playing-pieces organizational strategies is best. It's another episode of Downers!   Plugs this week: Thanksgiving dinner from BLACK SHEEP RESTAURANT and pumpkin pie from OUTER CAKE SHOP (Kate) THE FLOOR IS LAVA (Jack) Seconded by Kate Thirded by Hao Giving your sweetie a kiss (Hao, ex post facto)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#194 – Downers Radio is proud to present four exclusive scenes from our upcoming production of EMPTY HOUSE, the never-before-heard prequel to FULL HOUSE. Many people are aware of the ABC sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1995, and some are even aware of the sequel. But only on Downers can you hear the classic catchphrases you know and love in PREQUEL FORMAT. Plugs this week: STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (Jack) Open Mike Eagle's ANIME, TRAUMA, DIVORCE (Kate) Two slippers (Hao) downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#193 – Having detected a mutated COVID-19 among farms, Denmark is culling its minks. As of writing, gassed minks are reappearing, zombielike, all over this fine country, but, when we recorded this episode, the news had just broke! We talk minks, and shaming, in this rousing episode of Downers. Plugs this week:   OVERCOOKED 2 (Kate) Netflix's DARK (Jack) Taking off your socks after a long day (Hao)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org

#192 – Who are you in those first few moments when you wake up each day? This question we pose and attempt to answer in this hour of Downers. We also explore and further Kate's husband's struggles with sleeping next to Kate. Also: mud, soups, being in Hong Kong during the U.S. elections.   Plugs this week: Flowers for a friend (Kate) Biking through your neighborhood (Hao) Anti-plug for Netflix's THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT (Jack)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org/

#191 – Christmas! It's right around the corner, and it can be downright sexy sometimes. In this hour, we devote the hour to thinking about just why Chrimbus is so sexy. This is also the first of two episodes where we talk about throwing blood on people wearing fur. We're calling this series "The Blood-throwing Episodes." The next episode where this happens will be #193. How do I know? I'm from the future.   Plugs this week: The nobility of self (Hao) Clover honey (Kate), which is different from regular honey Vegan cookie dough (Jack) [recipe bravely included]   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org/

#190 – What are your personal strengths? In this episode, we embark on an adventure to answer this question by taking an online personality quiz hosted on VIA's Institute on Character website. We quickly learn that Kate is a very different person from Jack and Hao! We also posit the theory that the bottom five traits (our weakest personality traits) would be good traits to have in a partner.   Plugs this week: Netflix's THE QUEENS GAMBIT, if you fast-forward through all the boring relationship/alcoholism stuff (Hao) Anti-plug: Netflix's THE QUEENS GAMBIT (Jack) Sweaters (Kate)   downersradio@gmail.com • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on the twittersphere • https://hrf.org/