Your Own Backyard More on reddit.com

Haven’t heard a new mix from her in a while. Always quality.

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This conversation, and this topic at large, is reliably hindered by fear. And this podcast was no exception. At around 1:15:00 Sam gives an example that anyone who cares about basketball will care about height unless they change the rules of the sport. Sam says, ‘The change that we need to make is that the reality of human differences is a dangerous topic.’ She goes on herself to give the example of Shawn Bradley, a former NBA player who is 229cm tall. She acknowledges his enormous monetary success due to a “genetic windfall,” but it isn’t concerned because ‘people aren't complaining.’ What I find frustrating is when she says, “How do we as a field, when we talk about this, change the conversation away from one in which genetics and genetic knowledge is seen as necessarily leading to the justification of inequality?” She admits that she has fear when talking about population groups because it will be used to “justify poverty” and lead to “pessimism” etc. She has now crossed over into politics and large-scale mind reading. In my opinion, this fear of inequality and discovery of genetic differences among humans must go when we are talking about science lest we hold ourselves back. The ultimate reality check comes when one realizes that genetic differences are going to be discovered by future humans whether we and our modern politics like it or not! More on reddit.com

The Porch Scarecrow: This was a great story! I thought the Scarecrow was gonna be evil or something but he just wanted to have fun with his friends. I mean I guess he is kind of evil cause he has to "feed and move on" but he seems rather reluctant to do it. His characterization reminded me of the possessing spirit from "Bounce" , in that he doesn't want to do bad things but needs to to survive. This was a slice of life, a small humanizing moment for an inhuman monster, and it's great. I don't even mind being kept in the dark about what he is or what happened to the homeowner. Don't Ask: "In the pumpkin patch!" This was another tale I enjoyed despite the lack of context of what happened. I'm glad Laird got punished for his weird Nice Guy behavior. The sound design when he's buried alive is really realistic. The Gandy Dancer: Cindy kicking Fiona in the shin was fucking heartless. Even after she immediately regretted it she didn't try to save her. That completely ruined her character for me. The appearance of the gandy dancer was random too, it just came out of nowhere. Millicent Blackwood's Very Scary Halloween Social & Tea: That title is a mouthful, almost as much as the food descriptions in this story. My mouth was watering the whole time. This was another great story. I thought the speech Millicent gave about death was unnecessary padding to fill out the time, i'm so glad it ended up being plot relevant. The characterization was great too, I loved how realistic the characters are. Halloween at Hogan's Creek: This reminded me of "Green Rain" from Season 13. Spooky girls in the water trying to kidnap another and add her to their ranks. Despite some similarities I liked it as well, especially the scene where Piper sinks in the puddle in the floor and saves Mr. Hogan. Hide the Knives: Hi! I'm a blonde preteen/teen girl and I'm the main character in Marcus Damanda's newest story, which is set in the 60s/70s/80s. I make lots of quippy one-liners and dead people attack me and my friends. My story is over an hour long even though it doesn't need to be and my fellow characters are a lot more interesting than me. Which Marcus Damanda story am I talking about? More on reddit.com