Posts Tagged ‘chaos’

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Cast of Wonders 690: The Universe and Miss Debbie

Image by Mollyroselee from Pixabay

First published in khōréō magazine, Issue 4.3, September 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:36 — 62.6MB)

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Show Notes

Content warning: non-graphic body horror

The Universe & Miss Debbie

by Cindy Phan

Her name was Deb (Miss Debbie to the staff), but everyone at SALON LA BELLE called her Clockwork, a covert nickname one of the children had coined one long, interminable afternoon while waiting in the backroom for the salon to close.

As nicknames went, it was a clever one. Every four weeks, on every Thursday of that fourth week, in walked the formidable and foreboding Miss Debbie.

3:45 p.m. Sharp.

Like clockwork. Just like Clockwork. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 417: Please, Stop Printing Unicorns

Originally published in The New York Times, in August 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:05 — 11.5MB)

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Please, Stop Printing Unicorns

by Fran Wilde

It shouldn’t need to be said that home bioprinters are not toys. And yet, as The New York Times reported last week, Fisher Price Waterhouse will soon offer a line of kid-friendly bioprinters in bright colors.

As a parent, I understand the temptation. There’s so much possibility here for creativity, for immersive learning through technology. But caution is necessary. The moral and environmental consequences of bioprinting extend far beyond the grasp of young minds. This is a moment for modeling moral behavior for tomorrow’s leaders, not a jumping-off point for imaginative hedonism.

Making bioprinting more accessible to the public — especially to children — will be likely to lead to even worse disasters than last Friday’s blockade of the Chicago I-899 skyways off-ramp by a herd of miniature unicorns. Sure, the unicorns (whose origins are unknown) were the size of ducklings, but their appearance caused several accidents and a moral quandary. (Continue Reading…)