Episode 590: The Christmas Fallout

Real Life This week's episode starts where a lot of us have been living lately: sick, tired, and mainlining comfort food. Steven is still sick for Christmas and counting, while Ben also got hit, which pushed Christmas celebrations down the calendar a bit. The upside? More chili. More Fritos. No regrets. Holiday illness also turned into a surprisingly serious soda tasting panel. Steven gives a strong thumbs-up to Sunset Sarsaparilla, while Nuka Cola Quantum lands squarely in the "fine, I guess" category. Ben, meanwhile, makes a passionate case for Canada Dry Fruit Splash Cherry Ginger Ale, which he insists is gooooood. On the gaming front, Ben waves the bargain flag for Bang Bang Racing, currently just a dollar on Steam until January 5. It's tiny (about 200MB), has excellent controls, and punches way above its weight. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. You can check the deal details here: https://isthereanydeal.com/game/bang-bang-racing/info/  Steven also dives deeper into Fallout Season 2, Episode 2, which naturally turns into more Fallout lore and nonsense. Possibly too much. Definitely too much. But that's the price of admission. Future or Now Ben brings some sobering science to the table this week. After the January 2025 LA wildfires, hospitals recorded a sharp rise in emergency visits for heart attacks, lung illness, and general sickness over the following three months. Researchers believe fine particles from wildfire smoke, combined with stress, played a major role. Blood tests even showed unusual changes that suggest health impacts lingered long after the fires were out. You can read more about the research here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251220104619.htm  Steven talks about Plur1bus on Apple TV+, created by Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad fame (and former X-Files writer). Ben keeps himself updated through Boars, Gore, and Swords: http://boarsgoreandswords.com/  Steven, meanwhile, supplements his viewing with YouTube deep dives on color theory and visual storytelling. The consensus? An amazing show — but be warned, we eventually wander into spoiler territory. Go watch it first, then come back. Ben also shares a very cool Google Earth exploration centered on Albuquerque. If you want to follow along, here's the link: https://earth.google.com/web/search/Albuquerque/@35.16557795,-106.74593037,1672.53654999a,233.96919711d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=Cj4iJgokCUSJAsPilUFAEUCfJ-B8lEFAGTzU80gBr1rAIWpgL9d9sFrAKhAIARIKMjAyNC0wOC0zMBgBQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA?authuser=0  Book Club No book club this week — we're waiting on Devon, who seemed very excited, which somehow makes the waiting worse. Next week's story is "The Janitor in Space" by Amber Sparks, available through American Short Fiction: https://americanshortfiction.org/janitor-space/  Special Note We're taking a week off. For shame. But we'll be back on January 11th, refreshed, rehydrated, and hopefully no longer coughing into our microphones.