Episode 211 – Ducking the Hurricane

For our North Carolina-based co-hosts, Hurricane Florence, while now degraded to a tropical storm, continues to batter the state and southeastern United States with intense rain and high winds. Our hearts go out to everyone who had to evacuate or will be displaced from their homes due to the storm. We are also grateful for the level of preparedness and strong communication throughout the past couple of days getting ready for the storm and keeping the population well informed though radio, tv and social media.

A Games At Work public service announcement: cars can be swept away with even 12 inches of moving water, so do not try to drive through flooded roadways — turn around, don’t drown.

The team at Waffle House know all about severe weather, and Michael R points out that the Waffle House index has been in use for a long time to determine just how bad things are based on whether this southern restaurant, which is normally open 24x7x365 is in full or limited operation.

Shifting gears to the tech world, the co-hosts talk about the design that went into autocorrect in order to avoid unintentional foul language, how simple games gain traction, such as the new Pokémon game featuring the Magikarp, and arial drone acrobatics, including the Skydio which can follow you on your adventures.

Michael and Michael wish that everyone stays safe and dry — and are looking forward to next week’s episode!

Selected Links

NPR article: 17 Apps to Help You Get Through The Hurricane — https://www.npr.org/2018/09/13/647463731/17-apps-to-help-you-get-through-the-hurricane

ReadyNC app — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/readync/id740889890?mt=8

The Weather Channel article: How Waffle House Will Help Determine How Bad Florence Is — https://weather.com/safety/hurricane/news/2018-09-13-how-waffle-house-will-help-determine-how-bad-florence-is

Waffle House News Twitter account — https://twitter.com/WaffleHouseNews

Business Insider article: Why the iPhone keyboard inserts ‘ducking’ into your texts, according to the person who designed it — https://www.businessinsider.com/why-iphone-keyboard-autocorrects-ducking-in-texts-explained-2018-9

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump — https://www.pokemon.com/us/app/pokemon-magikarp-jump/

Ian Bogost’s Cow Clicker — http://bogost.com/games/cow_clicker/

TechCrunch article: New techniques teach drones to fly through small holes — https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/12/new-techniques-teach-drones-to-fly-through-small-holes

Skydio drone — https://www.skydio.com

Games the co-hosts are playing