As we close out our 3rd season, we are excited to share some obvious, and not-so-obvious, predictions for 2026 (and beyond!) with you all. We felt it was only appropriate to prognosticate around our most typical themes: Business, Technology/Science/Innovation, and a smidge of Entertainment.

We appreciate you joining us for another season of Nonsense. We enjoyed producing every one of our 68 episodes this year, primarily because of listeners like you that come back week over week to join us. Thank you and see you in 2026!

Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year is ‘slop’ | The Verge

Car Talk - My Government Vehicle Shakes at 17,500 MPH

Another NASA story - Threads from Green Pocket Protector

Blog Post | Tom Magliozzi 1937-2014 | Car Talk

Watch Nobody Wants This | Netflix Official Site

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(0:00) Pre-Show

(0:48) Open

(1:53) cj's week: Decorations & Lions v. Rams

(8:08) Jeff's Week: IKEA + Thread

(9:34) Headline: Tesla Ditches Human Safety Monitors in Austin Robotaxi Test

(14:30) Headline: DoorDash Driver Arrested for Allegedly 'Seasoning' Arby’s Delivery with Pepper Spray

(17:06) Headline: A Close Call 350 Miles Up: Starlink and Chinese Satellite Nearly Collide

(19:55) Headline: Google's Interpreter in Your Earbuds Is Here

(23:41) DynaTech PowerHouse

This week’s show dives into Tesla’s bold, and big surprise, controversial move to remove all human safety monitors from its Austin robotaxi tests, despite at least seven reported crashes among heavy redactions that continue to raise regulatory eyebrows. Texas’ lighter rules make it ground zero for autonomy, even though Tesla’s fleet ambitions have shrunk dramatically.

Heading north next to Indiana, a DoorDash driver faces felony charges after allegedly spraying a customer’s meal with a mystery substance, prompting illness and a permanent platform ban.

Meanwhile in space, a nerve-wracking near-collision between a Starlink satellite and a Chinese spacecraft highlights the growing risks of orbital congestion and finger-pointing between operators.

Fortunately, back on Earth, Google Translate is encouraging inter-cultural communication by rolling out real-time audio translation through headphones, whispering 70+ languages directly into users’ ears.

All that and more in this episode of Nonsense. Pretty cool!

Dylan's Christmas Lights: A Scholarly Treatise

Let’s Go Lions! - ibcjl on Instagram

Tesla starts testing robotaxis in Austin with no safety driver | TechCrunch

DoorDash driver faces felony charges after allegedly spraying customers’ food | TechCrunch

Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week | The Verge

Not a Big Reader? Google Translate Rolls Out Real-Time Audio Translation for Headphone Users | PCMag

DynaTech PowerHouse - BYTE Magazine September 1985

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(0:00) Open

(0:56) The University of California System

(6:27) But California Has Problems, Yo!

(10:47) Project Nexus: Solar FTW!

(22:05) cj’s recommendation: There It Is, Take It!

(25:26) Jeff’s Recommendation: Chinatown

California has serious challenges, including a worsening water crisis and the threat it poses to the state that grows most of America’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The state’s growing electricity demands has created, among other things, a food-versus-energy conflict from the deployment of large solar farms that replace farmland.

Fortunately one of California’s numerous superpowers is their public University system. Innovations from the UC system have shaped the modern world, from the Internet and RISC chips to CRISPR, PET scans, blue LEDs, and reverse osmosis desalination. And now the UC system has brought us a promising solution in Project Nexus, which installs solar panels over water canals to generate clean energy while saving billions of gallons of water.

Inspired by similar efforts in India, California’s first solar-covered canal is now online, offering a potential path to statewide deployment. Fortunately the UC system remains central to solving many of the state’s biggest challenges.

Solar-panel-covered canals have their day in the sun in California

Using solar panels like THIS is a no-brainer! California’s doing it

Project Nexus | Water & Energy Integration for the Future

The ‘solar canals’ making smart use of India’s space

Canal Solar Power Project - Wikipedia

Gujarat’s solar panels over canals project is a great idea for sustainable energy production | YourStory

there it is—take it!

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