Rachel and I hadn't seen each other since 2017 - an almost unforgivable sin - so we decided that the best way to ask forgiveness was for Jon to take a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota
...Twenty Twenty Vision
A recent message titled Start 2023 on the Right Foot on a pub run mailing list that I'm subscribed to started out with the following observation:
I feel like this year should be a bit more normal, if only because it's the first time the year isn't a play off of 2020 repeating itself. There was 2021: "twenty twenty won" and 2022: "twenty twenty too". Three years in and I think we've achieved a new normal,
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...Something’s Fishy
Google Translate is amazing. You can write fairly natural English and it'll produce a reasonably acceptable German equivalent most of the time. Results may vary if you start to use wildly creative colloquialisms or misspell words. Now, if you speak German reasonably well, then as you can see, even fairly well-written English sounds a little off in the translation once you write longer, more complicated sentences. These errors magnify when you start to use complex or metaphorical expressions,
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...We Don’t Talk about Burnout: How Superheroes Deal with Workplace Stress and Trauma
“Burnout is nature's way of telling you, you've been going through the motions. Your soul has departed; you're a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administering stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.”
― Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man
When you last heard from us over a year ago, we were writing with a spirit of optimism as we seemed to be emerging from a pandemic that had stolen a year of our lives.
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...Blind Heroics
Rachel: “It would be really weird to have sex with an invisible person.... I guess it wouldn’t be any different from a blind person having sex.”
Jon: “Yeah, Daredevil could date the Invisible Woman and he wouldn’t even notice she’s invisible.”
In our last post, we talked about the power of invisibility in comics and movies, first touching on some common mechanisms which render a character invisible, and then discussing the obvious benefits of such a power as well as some potential negative consequences.
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...“Invisible, Baby!”
"If I wanted to listen to people have random conversations, I'd turn invisible and go to a cocktail party."
-Rachel, on why she only really prefers very well-produced and well-structured podcasts, if at all.
The age-old debate, as exemplified by Act I of the This American Life episode “Superpowers,” asks people to decide whether they would want to be able to fly or turn invisible. Jon's opinion was that while flight would possibly be the most thrilling power and would be useful in at least a few types of situations,
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...How to Make Enemies and Torment People
“Eines der wirksamsten Verführungsmittel des Bösen ist die Aufforderung zum Kampf.” (One of the most effective means of seduction that Evil has is the invitation to struggle.)
- Franz Kafka, Die Aphorismen
So you want to be a supervillain, but you're worried that you might not have what it takes? Anybody can be bad or selfish…that's just a state. But becoming a supervillain? That's a career choice that takes dedication and preparation.
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...Excelsior!
"I don't care if anybody reads it."
- Rachel, about the blog, taken completely out of context.
The purpose of the blog was meant to be to help us develop our co-writing style, gather our thoughts, and vent some of our tangential creativity. The primary purpose was not to entertain or to gain a huge following, although we figured those would be positive side benefits if achieved. We needed to find out that we could be engaging and that we could develop a voice together that's a “Superman and God” voice.
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...Introducing the Upside Dawn
Today is a special day. Not only is it the first morning that we've ever woken up as a country to a female Vice President, but it is also the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century, completing a trifecta that only occurs around once every 100 years. (For example, this won't happen again until January 22nd, 2122: the 22nd day of the 22nd year of the 22nd century. In an ironic slap-in-the-face nod to the number 21,
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...Back to the Feature
The Copper Kid may not be able to time travel like his brother-in-arms Flashback, but this silent member of the Silverhawks from the Planet of the Mimes (no, we’re not shitting you) deserves a nod not only as a good-hearted and brave member of the team, but also as a mathematical genius. He also loves his gadgets: in fact, in addition to his side discs, he even has rocket skates!
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...A Sober Look at the Risks of Time Travel
In December, we presented a weekly series of 10 cocktail suggestions for the holiday season. In the spirit of rejuvenation, we've decided to participate in Dry January. People may choose not to drink for a variety of reasons. Maybe they're permanently sober, maybe they're just taking some time to detox a little, or maybe they just don't want to drink every night of the week. Whatever your reasons, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy something fancy or festive,
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...The Stupidhero Landing
The Superhero Landing - sometimes referred to as a "three-point landing" - involves heroes touching down after flying or jumping from a great height by catching themselves on two feet and one hand, typically crouching into the kneeling position at the end, if not flat out landing on their one hand, one knee, and the opposite foot in a bend-leg crouch. Here to demonstrate it is Tony Stark - aka Iron Man - at his very own Stark Expo in Iron Man 2:
The landing is certainly impressive,
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