Hear about several examples of—plus a fun encounter with—AI based scams! Avoid being taken advantage of and tremble at the future of AI! Mourn and celebrate the passing of KJ’s much-venerated 1964 International Travel-all! Listen to several leftover chunks of last episode’s What We Did on Our Summer Vacation! Enjoy some Snappers and even more! It’s all here, so don’t even hesitate; just dive right in and enjoy!

Links: Shed Dogs; buy a pizza vending machine!; buy a French fries vending machine!; the Smarter Every Day video on US manufacturing; the Seven Pillars of Wisdom book; the remarkable Juliane Koepcke; International Travelall; Toyota Tacoma; the BS Remover; the pig butchering scam; emergency scams aided by AI (possible paywall); LLM note taker; Tesla ghosts; Nelson’s HMS Victory; the Mary Rose; the White Hart Hotel in St. Albans.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Faithful listeners may recall RJ preparing to head for Spain to represent his country in table soccer and PJ preparing to go to France for an epic cycling trip. Non-listeners (are there any?) will likely have heard about these exciting exploits at the grocery or the gym, going about their daily business. In either case, here in episode 205 we share our experiences and impressions along with our achievements as we report on What We Did On Our Summer Vacations. We’re hoping new friends made at these events will hear about themselves at the same time you do!

Links: Shed Dogs; Lisbon; azulejo; Port wine; Porto; Barcelona; Old Barcino (Roman ruins in Barcelona); Antoni Gaudí; Sagrada Familia; the Temple Augustus columns; the Facebook page for the ITSF World Cup of Foosball 2025 in Zaragoza, Spain; Todd Loffredo; the three key aging inflection points.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Here in Episode 204 we once again find AI, and its increasing use as a substitute for human interaction, entering our chat. We feel the need to assure you: we are real, even if cover art isn’t. If you talk to us, it’s an actual interaction with organic beings. This episode sees said beings discussing KJ’s goings-on with career and family, another round of Snappers, the amusing nature of artists’ conceptual renderings of proposed architectural drawings and the aforementioned AI conversation. Plus, RJ reviews Wicked: Part I in anticipation of Part II. It’s all refreshingly and reassuringly human. Any odd inflections or awkward speech rhythms are clearly the result of human software problems, believe us.

Links: Shed Dogs; programmers’ views on vibe coding; large language models (LLMs, such as ChatGPT); commode; Pope Leo; Beyond Mulder & Scully, in which KJ is featured; a discussion about risks of staying near the kitchen & other areas on a cruise; West Side Story; Wicked: Part I.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.