Episode 586: Space Clinics & Wartime Critters

Thanksgiving came and went, and somehow all three of us survived… though some of us survived more deviled eggs than others. Let's jump in. Real Life  Steven kicked things off with the tale of a very boring Thanksgiving that was only made notable by the sheer volume of deviled eggs involved. When you commit to making 36 eggs—times two—you're basically catering your own side quest. After recovering, he cleansed his palate by watching Jurassic Park with his kid, which is exactly the kind of comfort cinema the holiday demands. Ben had a more people-filled holiday: his mom visited (hi Martha!) and there were Thanksgiving dinners with Matt (hi Matt!). Somewhere in between all the leftovers he squeezed in a rewatch of The Fifth Element, because sometimes the only thing better than turkey is multi-pass nostalgia. Devon reported the chillest Thanksgiving of the group—Friday, low-key, nothing dramatic. Except for a family friend making chicken parm the hard way, which is an important detail because Devon would absolutely like everyone to know there is an easier way. Also: the LEGO Enterprise-D has been purchased… and may or may not have arrived. We're waiting for the inaugural "swoosh test." Steven also tossed in that Devon watched Zootopia 2, which, according to Steven, is "about WW2." Take that claim as seriously as you should. Future or Now  Ben brought a blast from the productivity past with the return of Freeter—a tool for organizing workflows, command line scripts, projects, and basically your entire work brain. It's cross-platform and designed to gather everything you need into one tidy dashboard. He's excited; we're cautiously optimistic this isn't the start of another "Ben reorganizes his life using eight apps" arc. https://freeter.io/ Devon had nothing this week, which somehow felt on-brand after his aggressively uneventful Thanksgiving. Steven highlighted A Doggone Shame, a study looking at CBD use in over 47,000 dogs. The data shows it's mostly used on older pups with chronic conditions, and while long-term use seems linked to reduced aggression, it doesn't do much for other anxiety-related behaviors. Also interesting: owners in cannabis-friendly states were the most likely to try CBD with their dogs. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251128050506.htm "Book Club" Next Week We'll be reading "Dark Air" by Lincoln Michel — a speculative piece published in Granta. https://granta.com/dark-air/ This Week We dove into "Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station" by Caroline M. Yoachim, a choose-your-own-adventure-style story where your choices matter… except they don't. The story reminds you that in the clinic—just like real life—your decisions, your path, your careful strategizing… often end up being meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But weirdly, it's fun! We all really enjoyed it. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/welcome-to-the-medical-clinic-at-the-interplanetary-relay-station/ Stranger Things 5 bonus chat We wrapped with a quick chat about Stranger Things Season 5. Steven and Devon have watched a few episodes, and the question came up: Can a modern streaming show realistically handle actors aging when production takes years between seasons? Do you lean into it? Write around it? Pretend nothing happened? Pretend it's Zootopia 2: The WW2 Years? Hard to say.