Proceedings of the Sisyphian Society

Matt and Kyle respond to correspondence, answer a listener question about Scooby-Doo, and address the place of humor in these meetings. N.B.: If you are using an inferior podcatcher, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify, the following "show notes" will be truncated, missing links, missing formatting, or otherwise mangled. Please switch to a decent podcatcher or see this issue's notes at http://www.sisyphiansociety.org/proceedings/v01n002. N.B.: For disclaimers, rules, and prefaces, see Vol. I, No. 1. N.B.: The Society might earn a commission for purchases using "buy on..." links below. Learn more. Minutes of the Meeting. For corrections to this issue, see errata of Vol. I, No. 3. The meeting of the Sisyphian Society was held on Tuesday, 23 June 2020, remotely, the co-chairs pro tempore being in the chairs and the secretary being present. 0:00:51 Meeting (naturally) came to order. 0:01:09 Apologized for poor audio. 0:02:17 Refreshments. 0:05:14 Announced that podcasts will be topic of next meeting rather than of this one. 0:06:00 Errata for Vol. I, No. 1. Introduction. Audio and editing quality was poor. Kyle cannot edit that heavily from now on. Apologized for plosives, lip smacking, and overuse of brilliant. Discussed Kyle's additional recording rules for himself, to prevent some such errors in future. When Kyle said "golden coins", he should have said "gold coins". When Kyle said "I was a group of ... it was like, two or three people", he should have said "I was in a group of . . ." Public credit to listener David for reporting error. When Matt said lifehacking had become about "how inefficient you can do something", he should have said "how inefficiently you can do something". When Kyle said "you can hover your mouse over the comic and . . . title text pops up", he should have said "you can hover your cursor or your pointer over the comic and . . . title text pops up". When Kyle said, "I'll list you some of these things", he (probably) should have said, "I'll list for you some of these things". At this point in the errata, Matt requested someone donate The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language [buy on Amazon] to Society. When Kyle said, "the second category are fun topics", he should have said "the second category is fun topics". When Kyle gave Society's telephone number, he forgot to give first (international) digit. Full number is +1 805 538 2382. When Matt said, "we might as well motion to adjourn", he should have said "we might as well move to adjourn". 0:20:49 Minutes of the last meeting were approved. Cited Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (11th edition) [buy on Amazon] (p. 354, l. 23 – p. 355, l. 6). 0:21:36 Announcements Vol. I, No. 1, which was published just earlier today, already enjoys 43 unique downloads. 0:23:02 Treasurer's report: Treasurer reported coffers remain steady. Kyle informed treasurer of not-yet-reported expenditures. Society is actually in poor financial health. Society should set up online donation system posthaste. 0:23:56 General Correspondence. 0:24:41 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Mark complimented Vol. I, No. 1. Two kudos given to Mark. 0:25:22 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Tyler expressed excitement for Kyle's brother to be guest. 0:25:55 Personal correspondence to Kyle from David told Society to consider him "a loyal fan". 0:26:21 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Hannah expressed offense at not having been invited to help form podcast. 0:27:25 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Jenn inquired into Kyle's marital aspirations. 0:27:56 Personal correspondence to Kyle from William invited Hannah to start rival podcast. Secretary recorded William as first enemy of Society. 0:28:46 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Hans, John, and Nathan expressed provisional interest in Proceedings. 0:29:13 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Nathan recognized Kyle's famously bad MIDI-keyboard work. 0:29:55 Personal correspondence to Kyle from Chris provided either praise for Vol. I, No. 1 or cleverly disguised grammatical criticism. 0:30:09 Voicemail message from George, self-described "best friend" of Matt and Kyle, criticized Looney Tunes, praised Scooby-Doo, and asked whether Matt and Kyle would allow their hypothetical children to join the Scooby-Doo "gang" on mystery-solving adventures. Matt answered in the negative, raising various lifestyle concerns about gang. Kyle began with a long digression on poor quality of Scooby-Doo animated series, citing Jamie Malanowski's criticism of franchise's mystery, humor, and animation, and plot "formula" as described by Wikipedia article for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. Kyle endorses only Season 1, Episode 10 Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and Season 2, Episode 25 of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (featuring cast of Scooby-Doo). (At this point in published issue, editorial audio comment was inserted, to discuss clips that were played, sufficiently enough to warrant "fair use" claim. Kyle requested listener add accordion/concertina error to "Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities" section of entry for Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? episode in Scoobypedia. Kyle also cited Season 4, Episode 13a of Johnny Bravo, Scoobypedia note on questionable canonicity of Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, and Scooby-Doo characters' brief cameo in Season 2, Episode 22a of Duck Dodgers.) Debated merits of Scooby-Doo. Kyle said he would not allow children to watch any of the shows, briefly praised Looney Tunes in comparison and reaffirmed desire to discuss those theatrical shorts at future meeting, and said he would not allow children to join gang either, citing Wikipedia article on Scooby-Doo with regard to "presumed subversive themes". 0:50:53 Personal correspondence to Kyle from George expressed willingness to serve as guest or co-host. 0:51:52 Voicemail message from Kyle's mom requested definition of Sisyphian, requested technical support, and expressed well-wishes. Kyle and Matt discussed being blocked by Google's overzealous spelling correction and coined terms invisibilization and Sisyphianed to describe said phenomenon. Discussed original (and correct) spelling of Sisyphian from Oxford English Dictionary (subscription required to view). Cited The Silkewormes, and Their Flies by Thomas Moffett. 0:55:52 Voicemail message from Joel criticized Matt and Kyle for being unlike "great artisans or inventors of the past" (see Vol. I, No. 1), "like Thomas Edison", and offered conflicting sentiments about Proceedings. 0:59:58 Discussed impropriety of humor. Cited The Rule of St. Benedict (other formats). Discussed strategy with reference thereto: proselytizing gradual move to sobriety. 1:03:35 Next meeting's topic will be podcasts. Called for collaboration and peer review, especially regarding the topic of podcasts or any previously published issues. See Correspondence for instructions. 1:05:17 Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Kyle, secretary * * * "I'm a well-known bad MIDI keyboardist."

Matt and Kyle provide disclaimers, rules, prefaces, rationales, and background information concerning the Society and this podcast. N.B.: If you are using an inferior podcatcher, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify, the following "show notes" will be truncated, missing links, missing formatting, or otherwise mangled. Please switch to a decent podcatcher or see this issue's notes at http://www.sisyphiansociety.org/proceedings/v01n001. N.B.: The Society might earn a commission for purchases using "buy on..." links below. Learn more. Friends of the Society have begun transcribing this issue in their Facebook group. Minutes of the Meeting. For corrections to this issue, see errata of Vol. I, Nos. 2 and 3. The meeting of the Society was held on Tuesday, 16 June 2020, remotely, the co-chairs pro tempore being in the chairs and the secretary being present. 0:00:46 Meeting called to order. 0:01:40 Disclaimer: This meeting has been held several times. 0:02:44 Apologized for jocularity. ["Conflicted and interesting thoughts on humor" were indeed discussed in Vol. I, No. 2.] 0:03:09 Apologized for poor audio. Solicited advice from audio editors. Mentioned NPR (National Public Radio), PRI (Public Radio International), This American Life, All Things Considered, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Ben Shapiro Show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Serial, How Did This Get Made?, 99% Invisible, A Prairie Home Companion. 0:10:01 Pleaded for money to hire an audio editor, voice actors, and the like. Pleaded for musicians to re-record theme music. 0:11:53 (Global) pandemic has required meetings be convened online. Society decided to begin publishing proceedings. Cited definition of pandemic from Lexico by Oxford Dictionary. 0:14:26 Rule of discussion: Only topics not in members' areas of competency. 0:15:36 Rule of discussion: Only one hour may be spent in preparation. 0:16:12 Why the Society is publishing these proceedings: to facilitate the "workshopping" of ideas, to facilitate others developing ideas discussed here, to "crowdsource"; and cooperate for mutual benefit. 0:23:17 Disclaimer: Proceedings might be unpublished in the future. Mentioned broadcast restrictions of NFL (National Football League). 0:24:56 Disclaimer: Anything said in these meetings deemed problematic intended as ironic. 0:25:03 Disclaimer: Members do not necessarily endorse each other's views. 0:25:24 Rule of discussion: Only first names. 0:26:11 Matt and Kyle introduced themselves and their interest in systematic improvements. 0:27:56 Pleaded to not listen to this. Pleaded to not listen to this. Mentioned Homer, Augustine, Bach, Bible, Quran, Vedas, Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx. 0:33:19 Only reason to listen to this. 0:33:38 First category of discussion topics: "the boring topics". Discussed "lifehacking", what lifehacking has become, xkcd comic "The General Problem" and "master artisans of great foresight". These topics focus on finding "the best x", optimizing, and improving the day-to-day components of life via useful knowledge. Examples of possible topics in this category mentioned were Esperanto; fixes to the United States postal system; parliamentary procedure; linguistic style guides, vocabularies, grammar, and how to fix language; productivity methodologies, including the Getting Things Done system [buy on Amazon]; "quantified self"; the ideal diet and Soylent; time tracking; documenting things for oneself; the best men's clothing, possibly the best women's clothing, and possibly Amish clothing; book summaries; indexes; documentaries; making music; reading and marking a book; organizing and cataloging books; genealogy; 24-hour time, daylight-saving time, and time zones; the great books; language scripts; journaling; "everyday carry"; the best wristwatch; indoor plants; an application for finding parking; food tracking; sleep tracking; cursive and the best way to write; how to set and maintain and monitor the temperature of a refrigerator; the best car; the best car emergency kit; the best sunglasses, the best glasses, and computer glasses; the best sizes of paper; the best pens; gardening; personality tests; heraldry; interior decorating and architecture; modes of personal transport; reading and writing poetry; the best backpack; why everyone should go by full names; the best wallet; and a technology subcategory covering all things technology-related, hardware and software. 0:46:27 Second category of discussion topics: "the 'fun' topics". Examples of possible topics in this category mentioned were podcasts, The Beatles, Looney Tunes, geocaching, xkcd, ASMR, CouchSurfing, Megabus, YouTube, video games, TV shows watched as children and the differences between networks, and stand-up comedy. 0:48:45 Discussed length of meetings. 0:49:57 Discussed frequency of meetings. Pleaded again for money. 0:50:16 Discussed target audience. 0:51:03 Called for co-host and guests. Mentioned the Borg. 0:52:58 Explained meeting minutes (comparable to "show notes"). Mentioned all-avocado diet. 0:53:53 Disclaimer: Nothing said to be construed as medical, legal, or financial advice. 0:54:38 Meeting minutes, cont. Discussed Subscribing to the Proceedings as a "podcast" or viewing issues on the Society's website. Mentioned Kyle's grandma having a fax machine. 0:56:07 Peer review: Encouraged listeners to correspond with Society by calling its telephone number, +1 805 538 2382, and leaving a voicemail message. (This number routes directly to voicemail.) Success of Society's endeavors depends upon cooperation and peer-review of listeners. Please correct errors, contribute expertise, or provide general feedback of any kind. Note that Society will not return any calls but might play your message at a future meeting (and so also include it in Proceedings). If you do not wish your message to be included in Proceedings, please note so in message. For updates to these instructions or other methods of correspondence, see Correspondence. 0:58:10 Matt and Kyle shared hope that this project fails. 0:58:58 Refreshments. 1:00:08 Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Kyle, secretary * * * "Well, the second elephant chronologically but the first elephant logically."