Episode 556: Quesorios

Real Life:

Devon would like to make one thing clear: queso is fine. Queso is acceptable. Just… not on everything, okay? Some of us still want to taste the actual food under the goo. That said, he did just survive a kid’s pool party, so maybe he’s earned the right to eat whatever the hell he wants — even fake grass, which he claims is "for winners." We’re choosing not to dig into that statement.

Steven, meanwhile, embraced the full Force of May 4th with joy, lightsabers, and an animated binge of Tales of the Empire — now fully released and featuring everyone’s favorite dead-or-maybe-not-dead villainess Asaaj Ventress and the cowboy space bug bounty hunter Cad Bane. Is she still canonically dead? Who knows anymore. The rule is: if you didn't see the body dissolve, they can always come back.

Also, Steven’s forge is officially up and running. That’s right — he’s now a blacksmith. We’re still waiting to see if this is a long-term thing or just a midlife crisis in steel-toed boots.

Over in The Last of Us land, Season 2 Episode 4 dropped, and fans collectively screamed, cried, and probably tweeted GIFs because one of the game’s most beloved scenes finally made it to screen — and yes, they nailed it. In a good way. Not like a fungal-mutant-jaw-through-your-neck way.

Ben went to a roller derby bout in Irvine (report: chaotic and excellent), wandered the capitalist labyrinth that is Daiso, and wants to remind you it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. So tell a teacher they rock, preferably with coffee, snacks, or a handwritten note of pure gratitude.

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Future or Now

Ben brought us Writing Tools, a sleek, free, open-source app created by a high school student in Bangalore (hi, Jesai!) that gives Mac, Windows, and Linux users a system-wide writing boost via AI. It fixes grammar, summarizes content, and even helps you rewrite your angsty emails into something that won’t get you fired. Bonus points for working offline and being featured basically everywhere. Teachers, students, chaotic creatives — check it out on GitHub.

This also led us down the rabbit hole: Are LLMs bad? Short answer: not inherently. Long answer: come back next week for a full debate, complete with Devon’s skeptical eyebrows and Ben’s tech optimism.

Devon watched Mickey 17, and the verdict is… “eh?” He appreciated the weirdness but didn’t feel like the weird ever came together in a satisfying way. Unlike Parasite, which he still recommends, Mickey 17 left him shrugging with existential confusion, which is not his preferred flavor of sci-fi.

Steven hit us with some mouse science: researchers have engineered gut bacteria that can detoxify methylmercury in mice, even when those mice are on a diet of bluefin tuna. The mice — and their babies — showed fewer signs of mercury poisoning. This means your sushi habit may one day come with a side of helpful microbes. Until then, maybe cool it on the sashimi.

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Book Club: 

This week, we read A Brief Dance to the Music of the Spheres by Michael Kurland (from The Best of Omni Science Fiction, 1983). It’s a sleek, sharp short story that offers a fresh take on the Fermi Paradox: if there’s intelligent life out there, why haven’t we seen it?

The story gives us a possible answer — one we won’t spoil here, except to say it involves jazz, physics, a