Happy Halloween and welcome to the SpoOoOoky! edition of the Quantum Quimby Roundup! Most of what you see below likely hasn’t been covered much, if at all, in traditional mainstream outlets. Welcome to my strange corner of the internet, enter if you dare bwahahaha!

Articles

SpoOoOoky! Certain Bats Glow In The Dark Under UV Light

Real life Halloween decorations and a biological mystery.

Cards Against Humanity Forced SpaceX to Vacate Land on US/Mexico Border

Yes, not a headline from The Onion. We’re in the ‘companies trolling other companies’ era of late-stage capitalism. In this case, the bully gets a small comeuppance.

Graphene Dream Becomes a Reality

After years and years of lab research with no real world capability or production, the promise of a graphene revolution has finally arrived. Anyone with a casual interest in materials science will rejoice.

AI Assistants Misrepresent News Content 45% of the Time

It’s safe to say, don’t get your news from AI.

Rumors Say A Half-Life 3 Trailer Is In The Works

Grain of salt. Grain of salt. Grain. Of. Salt. Any fans of the Half-Life series are well aware of the eternal rumor mill that has been a mythical sequel to Half-Life 2, a game now 21 years old. Whispers as of late feel more legit than anything in the wind since Episode 1, Episode 2, and Half-Life: Alyx - but for goodness sake, it’s been so long since my favorite video game of all time came out that I’m now a too busy dad who doesn’t game anymore.

Books

SpoOoOoky! I read The Intruder by Freida McFadden, a quick twisty-turny, character-driven novel. Give it a read if you like a bit of a mystery thriller that takes place in a cabin in the woods during a violent storm. A good seasonal read for those more into spoOoOoky than outright horror.

A bevy of new non-fiction releases have made their way onto my “to read” list this past week. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin details the most infamous stock market crash in history. Morbidly Curious by Coltan Scrivner delves into our inability to turn away from the spoOoOoky, gory, and macabre. Charlatans by Moisés Naím and Quico Toro brings the age-old tale of snake oil salesmen under a more modern lens. Lastly, Super Natural by Alex Riley uncovers how life persists in Earth’s most extreme and hostile environments. I’m excited to read each one whenever I can find the time.

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Music

The Beep Test by God Alone is a fun romp. Math rock + noise dance punk/metal = fun and never boring. This album is like walking down a spoOoOoky dark trail and not knowing if you'll encounter a night club or a hungry bear. It's bipolar, it's schizophrenic, it's exciting, it's hard to quantify.

A new competitor for the Quantum Quimby album of the year has entered the chat in World Maker by Psychonaut. It’s a delightfully well blended psychedelic post-progressive metal album by the three-piece Belgian band. The themes it covers offer a full breadth of life from new fatherhood to cancer diagnoses. Fans of The Ocean and Ancestors shouldn’t miss out on this one.

SpoOoOoky! Heretics & Lullabies by Frayle may not crack the top of my list for 2025, but it is perfectly eerie for the season. If female-led doom metal piques your interest, check them out. The second track is a haunting cover of Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey followed by a song called “Boo.”

I also enjoyed the new Foo Fighters single Asking For A Friend. The band will embark on a new stadium tour with one of my favorite bands of all time, Queens of the Stone Age.

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Podcasts

Dr. Aliza Pressman, of the Raising Good Humans Podcast, hosted a discussion with Dr. Erin Parks centered around eating disorders - ARFID, Anorexia, Bulimia & Binge Eating. This is noteworthy, personally, because I have a family member with ARFID and I’ve never heard it discussed out in the wild until now. Beyond parents with children who have eating disorders, the conversation is a gut check (pun intended) for our relationship to food and how our snap judgements can affect those around us (namely impressionable kids).

SpoOoOoky! A few weeks ago Science Vs released an episode all about The Full Moon. Does it actually influence human and animal behavior? Do crime and hospital visits surge? Tune in to hear all of the lunar statistics.

Shows

SpoOoOoky! The epic conclusion of Stranger Things: Season 5 is upon us with a new trailer!

My wife and I enjoyed the season 5 finale of Only Murders in the Building, though I would argue that this has been the weakest season of the series to date.

We’ve also been relentlessly voting for Andy Richter on this season of Dancing With The Stars. He embodies what the show was originally about, rather than the recent wave of casting semi-professional dance-trained social media “stars.”

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What have you been reading, listening to, and watching lately? Bonus points if it’s spoOoOoky! Please let me know in the comments…

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