KQED's Forum

Are you an AFOL who builds MOCs? If that sentence made sense to you, chances are you are an Adult Fan of LEGO who likes to build My Own Creations. About 80 million children around the world receive a LEGO set each year, but among LEGO fans, adults can be the most passionate. And it is adult consumers who propelled LEGO from near bankruptcy in the early 2000s to become the most profitable toy company in the world. We’ll talk to LEGO experts and artists and hear from you: whether it's car, a rainbow or a 4,103-piece Star Wars Death Star, what’s your best LEGO creation?Guests:Christine "Tacos" Blandino, founder, Powered by Tacos, which offers Lego engineering classes for students K-8 - Blandino was also a contestant on Season 3 of LEGO Masters, a competition show that airs on Fox and Hulu.Nathan Sawaya, artist, Sawaya uses LEGO in his contemporary art pieces, which can be seen in the Art of the Brick exhibit traveling across the countryDaryl Austin, freelance journalist, Austin wrote the recent Wall Street Journal article "Companies are Building Camaraderie with Legos"Annemarie Conte, editor of Wirecutter, New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the holiday season and, for some of us, it’s best spent lightly dusted in flour and sprinkles. We’re talking about holiday baking: gingerbread, buche de noel, rugelach, stollen, buñuelos, and piles and piles of sugar cookies. What’s your favorite holiday dessert to make, eat or give as a gift?Guests:Anna Voloshyna, chef, blogger and culinary instructor, author of "Budmo! Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen"Jessica Battilana, staff editor, King Arthur Baking Company, author of the cookbook "Repertoire: All The Recipes You Need"Esteban Castillo, foodblogger and author of the cookbook "Chicano Bakes: Recipes for Mexican Pan Dulce, Tamales, and My Favorite Desserts" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The newest artificial intelligence sensation, OpenAI’s language model ChatGPT, can teach physics, write in verse and even compose a convincing letter from Santa Claus. Trained on billions of written words ranging from online message boards to classic literature, ChatGPT can also hold respectably intelligent – even witty– conversations, all the while refining its accuracy and style with constant user feedback. But critics say the technology can enable cheating and amplify falsehoods. We’ll talk about the potential uses and abuses of ChatGPT.Guests:Nitasha Tiku, tech culture reporter, Washington PostKevin Roose, technology columnist, New York TimesDaniel Herman, high-school teacher and author of the Atlantic article, "The End of High-School English" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The end of the year invariably means lists upon lists of best-ofs.. “Best music” could mean songs you kept on repeat, those best-selling tracks you couldn’t avoid, or the tunes that touched your heart in ways nothing else could. For some, it was the mega-hits such as Bad Bunny’s “Titi Me Pregunto,” Harry Styles’ “As it Was” or Beyonce’s “Break My Soul.” For other listeners, it was local stars like Zyah Belle, Mistah F.A.B. or Brijean. We’ll take a beat to appreciate the music that tickled our eardrums in 2022.Guests:Nastia Voynovskaya, associate editor, KQED ArtsSuzy Exposito, music reporter, Los Angeles TimesAdrian Spinelli, new music columnist, San Francisco Chronicle; staff writer, Uproxx Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parasites: they’re seen as blood suckers, freeloaders and the worst kind of groupies, writes parasitologist Scott Gardner. And though they can be dangerous, they’re also "unseen influencers," essential to food webs and in some cases even beneficial to human health. We learn about the surprising world of parasites with Gardner, whose new book is “Parasites: The Inside Story.”Guests:Scott Gardner, professor of biological sciences and Curator of Parasites, H.W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Nebraska; author, "Parasites: The Inside Story"Henry M. Wu, associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases specialist, Emory University School of Medicine; director, the Emory TravelWell Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin got an appraisal on their Marin City house that seemed unusually low, they took down art and photos that identified them as Black and asked a white friend to pose as the homeowner with a new appraiser. That appraisal came back nearly half-million dollars higher. Stories like this led ABC7 race and culture reporter Julian Glover to investigate bias in home appraisals. His one and a half year investigation found widespread undervaluing of Black and Latino people’s homes nationwide. We’ll talk to Julian Glover about his documentary, Lowballed.Guests:Julian Glover, ABC7 news anchor and race & social justice reporter, executive producer of “Our America: Lowballed"Paul Austin, Marin City homeowner featured in documentary, "Lowballed"Julia Howard-Gibson, Supervising Attorney with the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern CaliforniaDominique Curtis, licensed residential appraiser and realtor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 1989 the Los Angeles Times reported that karaoke, then a relatively obscure feature of the urban bar scene, was “beginning to make a big splash with Los Angeles-area yuppies.” Three decades later, karaoke is mainstream, and there’s a new Los Angeles Times project: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Go-To Karaoke Songs. We’ll learn more and hear what you like to perform and where, and why we love singing along to little lyrics on a neon-colored screen.Related link(s):The Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Go-To Karaoke SongsGuests:Ada Tseng, assistant editor on the Utility Journalism team, Los Angeles Times.Kiki Park, KJ (Karaoke DJ) in West LA.Hannah Glass, music analyst in rap and hip-hop, Pandora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the pandemic, many customers began tipping more to support workers. The standard 15% tip edged up to 20% or even 30% for dining out, haircuts or food delivery. But now that prices forjust about everything are spiking, many consumers are finding that they need to pull back and some are questioning why tip jars seem to be everywhere now, even in places that are self-serve. We examine tipflation and tipping fatigue. And we want to hear from you: how do you determine who and how much to tip these days? If you work in a service job, what are your expectations for tips and how has that changed?Guests:Holona LeAnne Ochs, professor, Lehigh University; co-author, "Gratuity: A Contextual Understanding of Tipping Norms from the Perspective of Tipped Employees."Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst, Bankrate.Sara Morrison, senior reporter, Recode by Vox; author of the recent article, "Everyone wants a tip now. Do you have to give them one?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duke Energy said it hoped to fully restore power to North Carolina residents by Wednesday night, after shootings at two electrical substations over the weekend shuttered schools and businesses and left thousands of people in the dark. The shootings, which investigators are calling deliberate, are for Californians bringing to mind the 2013 sniper attacks on a PG&E substation near San Jose that led federal regulators to adopt new rules to protect critical facilities. We’ll look at how vulnerable our state and national power grid is to physical attack, and why.Guests:Jon Wellinghoff, CEO and founder, GridPolicy Consulting; former chair, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under President Obama.Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects, Harvard Kennedy School; former assistant secretary, Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama; author, "The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters."Dan Brekke, editor and reporter, KQED News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2003, McSweeney’s, the San Francisco-based literary quarterly, published the first issue of a new monthly magazine called “The Believer.” The graphic-rich journal focused on elevating new writers, publishing poetry, long-form journalism and quirky stories and was nominated for a raft of magazine awards. But hard times led to its sale, and through various twists and turns, the magazine’s website was sold to a media company that tried to turn it into a less than literary clickbait factory. This story, however, has a happy ending that is a new beginning: After a successful Kickstarter campaign, McSweeney’s has bought back “The Believer.” We’ll talk to the editors about the first new issue, and what they hope for the magazine’s resurrection.Guests:Vendela Vida, founding editor, The Believer; author of six books, including "We Run the Tides," "Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name" and "The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty;" founding board member, 826 Valencia.Heidi Julavits, founding editor, The Believer; author of "The Folded Clock: A Diary," as well as four critically acclaimed novels; co-editor, New York Times bestseller "Women in Clothes;" her memoir, "Directions to Myself," is forthcoming in 2023.Daniel Gumbiner, editor, The Believer; Gumbiner's first book, "The Boatbuilder," was nominated for the National Book Award and a finalist for the California Book Awards.Ed Park, founding editor, The Believer; author, "Personal Days" and forthcoming "Same Bed Different Dreams." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices