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Joseph Stephen is indeed a software engineer. However, he is much more which is why I say he is unstoppable. Joseph also not only happens to be blind, but he operates a farm in Northern Tasmania. He has been married for 27 years and has nine children. More importantly, he is successful at all these activities. Among his software jobs, he has been a force in coding for the leading screen reading program for blind and low vision people. He also spends time creating and editing music which is where I first encountered him. I must admit I wonder when he sleeps although he says he does get enough rest every night. Joseph is an extremely interesting person and has some really fascinating and interesting stories to tell. I hope you find him as unstoppable as I do. About the Guest: Joseph Stephen is a totally blind software engineer. He has been married for 27 years and has 9 children. He lives on a farm in northern Tasmania. He was the first totally blind student in Adelaide, South Australia to complete higher math and physics in Braille at matriculation level, and university and was the first totally blind student in South Australia to complete a computer science degree. Joseph's career started as a programmer in Malaysia where he helped a company implement solutions to manage oil plantations for the government. He then worked as an assistive technology specialist at the Royal Society for the Blind of South Australia. For the past 27 years (24 full time and 3 part-time,) he has worked as a software developer for Henter-Joyce/Freedom Scientific/Vispero, where he has been one of the main designers and implementers of many of the screen reader features that blind people have come to depend upon. Joseph has also spoken extensively at churches, camps, and conferences. His hobbies include music production, writing, woodwork, walking, and amateur radio Ways to connect with Stephen: Website: www.faithfulgenerations.com Band Camp: https://twoservants.bandcamp.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.     Michael Hingson  01:20 And hi, once again, guess what in case you didn't guess it is time for another episode of unstoppable mindset. And today we get to talk to Joseph Stephen from Australia. He is a long way timewise from us here in Southern California as well as distance wise, Joseph and I met because we both use an audio editing program called Reaper. And we're on a list together called Her It Comes Reaper Without Peepers. Guess what that means? Of course, it's all about blind people using the program and Reaper is an incredibly good program from an access standpoint, because some people have devoted a lot of time to making it. And ancillary scripts that go with it very usable by blind people who otherwise couldn't use the program and the sophistication that it brings. Anyway, Joseph and I met on that and we've been chatting someone I finally prevailed on him to come on unstoppable mindset. So Joseph, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Joseph Stephen  02:25 Thank you. It's really great to be here. And yes, it's it's funny, actually, we heard about you a long time ago because some old gentleman who came to our house church once the he gave my son's a book called Thunder dog. And they read it and then they read it to me. And I thought, oh, yeah, that sounds fantastic. And it was, you know, it's quite, quite inspiring. And I love this Reaper without peepers list and this name comes up, you know, Michael Hinkson. I said, I'm sure that name sounds familiar. I reckon. I reckon that's the author of that book. So I checked with the boys. And then I contacted Michael and I had to get the boys to say g'day to him. And you know, and yeah, here we are. Yeah, there we are. And now we've got to get me to Australia. We got a workout some speaking things some time to get us down there now that travel is opened again.   Michael Hingson  03:19 Oh, yes. Yeah, that's another story. Well, why don't we start by you telling us a little about you growing up and what a younger Joseph was like, and all that sort of stuff. And we'll go from there. Well, interestingly, I was born   Joseph Stephen  03:35 with about 2% vision with the same condition that you were, but it was never explained to me that retinal inter fiber pleasure was the same thing as prematurity of written retinopathy of prematurity that no one ever explained that to me. They just said my retinas didn't form properly. And I was born with cerebral palsy, and brain damage, as the doctor explained to my mom, and and my doctor said to my mom, that I would never live a normal life. Does that sound familiar? Yeah. And of course, no one defines normal either, but anyway, well, this is true. But But yeah, I hear you. I had parents, I guess similar to yours. They, they were risk takers. They didn't treat me any different at all. But it took a long time for them to even get a response out of me because I did have the brain damage. And it was probably I don't know, when I was two and a half or three when Mum sort of started making any progress with me. I mean, I wouldn't even I couldn't even sit up. I couldn't do anything. But if you knew me now, you would just have no idea that that's where I started. So now I'm married. I've been married for 27 years. Last week with our 27th anniversary. We've had 10 Children nine living one with the Lord. I'm a software engineer who's worked for freedom, scientific Despero and enjoys going back. We're close on 27 years. I do radio firmware for amateur radio to make radios accessible, I do music production. I do original music drummer singer keyboard. I've written about six books. I can use all power tools, you know, circular sore, I live on a farm 200 acres. So you know, I do fencing and repairs of goat sheds. And yesterday we were out plucking, plucking geese. I did three geese yesterday. And so like you there's there's not much that is stopped me. And I never think about those things. Although i i One thing I'd have to probably disagree with you with within that is? Well, blindness isn't the issue. Sometimes we don't understand how our blindness affects others. And I think that's that's particularly been true with me having known nine children, that has been quite a difficulty. So, you know, when when, when you're by yourself, and you're living your life as a blind person, really nothing needs to stop you. But there are things that that happen in life and that are quite difficult as a blind person, where attitude alone isn't going to solve the problem. But you know, having said that, I've still accomplished a lot more than a lot of sighted people have. I also was the first totally blind person to do a maths and science degree, in fact, the first totally blind student in South Australia to do matriculation maths and physics, and then the computer science degree at Flinders University. In 1987, I rode to Canberra to raise money for the bike Bible Society for bike for Bibles, that was a distance of 1486 kilometers. So there's, there's a lot that I've been able to accomplish in life. And not that I've ever thought about it, I don't kind of think, well, what's my next accomplishment? I just do what comes in front of me to do. And we've got there's a proverb that says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And that's what I believed in. So that's, that's kind of been my ethos. So   Michael Hingson  07:29 one, one question that that comes to mind in well, and going back to the discussion that you had about blindness can be difficult. And that is absolutely true. I don't disagree with that. What I would say, however, is that attitudes, or maybe it's better to put it a different way, a lack of education makes the difficulty a lot more of a barrier than it needs to be. And what a lot of us don't get to do don't want to do or don't know how to do is to, to allow the teaching part of us to come out so that when there are issues that arise, and we're different, because blindness isn't the only thing that can create difficulties. And anytime anyone is different. There are difficulties that inherently come from what people accept as the norm. And the sooner that we recognize that the norm is not what we think of it, the better chance we have of dealing with all the other challenges that we face. And that would be what I would would say about blindness is that blindness isn't the problem. It may be our approach. It may be the approach of other people. But the reality is that the problem comes because we don't learn how we societally don't learn how to deal with things that are different than we and that's where the real challenge comes from.   Joseph Stephen  09:11 Yes, and I think actually, we've gone backwards a lot in our education system because I wrote an article a couple of years ago about the rise and fall of life skills of blind people, particularly the here in Australia, like, you know, we we've heard of, like 13 year olds who can't turn on the shower for themselves. And children who can't use scissors at school because they're, you know, they're dangerous. I mean, my goodness, if they knew what our school did in Adelaide back in, in the in the 70s and 80s. And where we went into the, you know, tech Studies Center and we used a bandsaw and, you know, Sandy Gascon would lay the drill and you know, as I said, I use a circular sore all the time and, you know, they I've still got on my 10 fingers. Yeah, but but These days there. And I think, I don't know whether you'd agree with me, but there is a place for specialized education. And there's a place for integration into into the sighted world. But there's a delicate balance between them. Because if you don't have the the special education where where teachers are challenging, and blind students can can key off of each other and compete and, and realize and be part of the well, let me put it another way, teachers still need to teach things in a way that that are optimized for a blind person, for instance, teaching tech studies is very different to a blind person than a sighted person. And if you don't have that education, obviously, you know, it's going, it's going to be difficult. So I loved what you said in your, your introductory speech about Braille, for instance, that, you know, well, you know, you teach you teach sighted people print, right? Well, why not teach blind people Braille. And it's the same with, with all such skills, you know, we we throw, I think, we've, we've thrived because I had the opportunity, you know, to learn to cook to learn to do wood work, to learn to do clay to learn to do leather work, to learn to do, you know, plastic, basically, everything, the only thing I didn't get to do was metal work, which was, which was a shame, because I do know, a blind guy that can world and I'd love to be able to do that. And my sons are learning that now. They're sort of 12 and 14. So maybe I'll maybe I'll take that up, too. But, you know, blindness in the in the context of education certainly isn't the the issue. You're right, it is, it is the attitude and the, the willingness of others to, to take risks. It is   Michael Hingson  11:56 we, we do need to recognize, though, such as a society that there is nothing wrong with having good, knowledgeable, and this is the part that I think's most important, philosophically sound teachers that can deal with the blindness issues. The problem is that a lot of the teachers, so called experts in the field of work with the blind, themselves, aren't necessarily doing the best job and providing the best services, for example, Braille. Now in this country, according to the National Federation of the Blind, has a lid it has a literacy rate of under 10%. When I was growing up, the comment was, was around 50%. The difficulty is, the difficulty is that we we've done several things, we've got a lot of blind kids who are not totally blind, they're low vision, I won't say visually impaired, because I think that is a total disservice to everyone. But low vision. And teachers say, well, as long as you've got some eyesight, you should use that. nevermind the fact that with that eyesight, you may only be able to read a few words a minute, you've got to use high magnification devices, and so on. Whereas if you also learned braille, you would be able to read more, you would be able to read faster and probably more effective. But   Joseph Stephen  13:30 I absolutely agree with that. Because, you know, I didn't I didn't learn braille till I was eight or nine. And the only reason I learned it was because the print in my textbooks was starting to get too small. And I think we should have learned it right from the beginning, like you said, because who knows when your sight, you know, whether your sight condition is going to be stable. And also, even whether the print? Well, it's a fact, as yougo on in your primary education, that print gets smaller in the books. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  14:03 And, yeah, and the reality is that Braille is a true alternative, not a substitute for print. And now with technology, we can do a much better job even of creating graphics and so on, and providing graphical representations, you know, when you were growing up, you don't know how much access you had to good drawings and physics and so on. But it it is better now. Because there's more technology to help with that. And technology has made a great deal of difference in our access to information overall. But still, it isn't the technology that's the ultimate game changer that needs to happen. It's still full education.   Joseph Stephen  14:52 And let me tell you a story about that. Yeah, I was spoiled at school because I had a an orientation and mobility too. He who was brilliant at mapmaking, he was absolutely brilliant about making, he knew he knew how much detail to put on. So that it was useful that it wasn't too much, and it wasn't too little. And when I moved to Tasmania in 2018, I asked for a map, a roadmap. And the binders agency told me that no one in the history of Tasmania had ever asked for a Braille map. And so they had to send away to get it made. And it was atrocious. The first one came back with just roads, so you had no town. So you referenced the towns from the roads, the next one came back with towns without roads. So you had no way of of mapping them together. And it was just I gave up after the third attempt, I gave up, because this the skill level of mapmaking was gone. And yeah, I did radio electronics. And it was a real frustration to get diagrams, because for some reason, sighted people don't know how to do tactile diagrams in such a way that either they're either they're too small, and you can't feel the detail, or they're too big, or they don't have enough detail. And like with road maps, you know, they use like, they do a map with a single intersection on it and think it was useful. Yeah, it's like, come on guys. It's a   Michael Hingson  16:27 problem is that we are viewed as inferior and not as equals in society, who need to have the same access to information I had up of an interesting experience happened to me recently. And if, if you listened to enough of podcasts, from unstoppable mindset, you'll hear about my view that disability does not mean a lack of ability, and that everyone has a disability. People who can see have the disability of light dependents, and you don't do well when the lights go out. And you want proof. I want to contest to go to the Kelly and Ryan Oscar after party, which was at the Dolby Theater where the Oscars were held. The Monday morning right after the Oscars. Somebody entered my name I didn't even know they did. It was very nice to them. And when I got a call saying you're a winner, and I was at a winner of what and the person told me and when I, when I went back to the person who I figured had entered my name. She said, Yeah, I entered your name, I didn't think you stood a chance. Well, hello. Anyway, we go to the hotel, we arrived Saturday afternoon, bought 10 after three, go in, put up our luggage, it was me my niece and nephew. And we started walking downstairs and suddenly everybody started screaming around us. And I said to my niece, so what's going on? We lost power in the hotel. And in the surrounding area. She said she knew me. She wasn't worried. But everyone was screaming because suddenly they couldn't see because there was no light. And all of a sudden the little flashlight started going on. Don't tell me for one single second, that sighted people don't have a disability. It's just that technology has covered it up so much. It doesn't mean however, that the disability isn't there. And the sooner that we recognize that all of us have challenges of one sort or another and that we need to accept people where they are, the better off we'll be. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've I've got lots of stories like that too, even at home, you know, when the lights go out, but But you know, we can I I've been up fixing doors and putting doors back on, on their, you know, hinges and stuff on the 11 o'clock when all the lights are out and, you know, doing doing repairs. And, you know, one of my favorite stories is when I was in college, I think I was a junior and I was in my room. I had a single dorm room because I had enough Braille books that there was no room for anyone else to be in the room. And I was reading something studying away. And some people walked by outside my open window. And just for for just general sociability, I said, Hey, how are you guys doing out there? And they stopped and they went, we're fine. Who are you? And I said I Mike. Well, the lights are off. And I said, Yeah, what are you doing? I'm reading my physics book. And of course they couldn't get it. And I finally said it happens to be in Braille. But as you know, who cares about the lights right? Now I understand that I need to care about the lights for my sighted friends who are less fortunate than I   Michael Hingson  19:49 but we all have challenges where we're less fortunate than others in some way. And you know, we all need to deal with that and you you have done it.   Michael Hingson  19:59 No so many different things, I took woodshop, but my shop teacher would not let me work the bandsaw or the lathe, or any of those things, which I kind of regret, I do believe that I would have had no trouble learning to do them. But he was pretty restrictive in that way. So someone else had to cut out wood things for me that I've in. All I basically did was a lot of sanding, you know, but that was the way it was. So it was better than a lot of things that that could have happened. Mostly at the high school, the teachers were pretty good. And so I did pretty well in in high school overall. But that one shot thing, you know, that was just kind of the way it was. And so you do what you got to do. But I believe that, for me, I learned braille in kindergarten, but then I forgot it because I didn't get to use it for the first three years, we were out in California, so I had to relearn it. So I appreciate where you're coming from. But I did learn it again, and was able to keep up with it. And believe that Braille is absolutely something that any person who is totally blind, and any person who is otherwise partially blind should learn. And I like I love the National Federation of the Blind can definition of blindness, which is your blind. from a functional standpoint, if your eyesight has diminished to the point where you have to use alternatives to pure eyesight in order to function. And if you're at that point, you should learn blindness techniques, because the odds are, as you said earlier, you're going to lose the rest of that eyesight. But also philosophically, you get to use both blindness techniques and the eyesight that you have to be able to function. But if you learn to use them both, you're much better off.   Joseph Stephen  21:54 It's interesting, because when I lost my sight, I didn't actually know that I completely lost it. What happened was, as I said, I was born with about 2%. And that doesn't sound like much but it was enough to walk around. It was enough to walk to the deli, the shop the I guess you guys call it a drugstore from my house. It's a couple of kilometers, maybe three or four kilometers without a cane. Yeah. So 2% is quite quite a lot. Even though it doesn't sound like much. But one day I was riding a bicycle behind my friend and I kept running into them. And all of a sudden, I realized that I actually couldn't see any more. See, what happens is my brain recreates what should be there. It's like watching a video. And I have lapses in that video sometimes when I'm really concentrating on something and all of a sudden, I realize I'm not seeing what I'm out my eyes. But actually what I'm seeing out my eyes is all created by my mind. And so I don't know that I can't see until I go to try and touch what should be there. And it's not because my brain has has, you know, got the wrong picture for the wrong situation sort of thing. So it's very interesting. And so someone asked, someone once asked me, What's it like being totally blind? Because one is totally blind. The other one? Well, it's, it is totally blind now to but one I have. I have mental video. The other I have nothing. And I like to say to them, it's like looking out your left ear. Yeah, if you could look out your left ear is absolutely nothing. It's not darkness. It's not darkness. People need to understand that it is not darkness. It's nothing. And there's a big difference. Yeah, there's a big difference. Yeah, sorry, what we can say?   Michael Hingson  23:52  No, no, I was just agreeing with you. There's a there's a big difference. Well, but you, you know, I grew up and didn't use a cane or a guide dog until I was 14. But I learned the areas and I learned to listen extremely well. So our elementary schools were very open. They weren't just like a single building. And so walking down sidewalks, there were roofs over the sidewalks. And they were held up by polls. And I didn't run into the polls because I learned to hear the polls and could have weighed them. And and so I was able to do that I was able to ride a bike around the neighborhood and so on. Eventually, my brother and I started doing a paper route together. And so we did he had a tandem bike to do that. But still, for a lot of the area around my neighborhood I could ride a bike and and do all the same things that the other kids did. In reality, I didn't do a lot of things that they did. I didn't play baseball or other things like that. And I found other ways to entertain myself or to watch them if you will. But you know the Act is that the brain is a wonderful thing. Well, look at you, you had cerebral palsy, you worked through that your brain worked through that. And probably, you developed other neural pathways to be able to accomplish the things that that you needed to do, which are now just part of what you normally do.   Joseph Stephen  25:20  Yeah, exactly. In fact, I was able to remember pi, you know, pi 3.141592653589703, I was able to, I was able to remember that to 200 decimal places, there. Yeah. So, so the doctors were, I mean, I, I honestly, attribute all of all of what I've been able to accomplish to God, because it's a miracle compared to where I was at. It was a lot of hard work. Yes. But it was also a lot of determination on the part of my mother, and on the part of my teachers on the UN, and also constantly being challenged. I guess I've always felt like, I want to be one step ahead. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  26:12 It's what you got to do. Yeah. So you went to college, which is pretty cool. What did you do then when you got out of college? Well, it's,   Joseph Stephen  26:23 well, for the first few months, I actually went back to Malaysia with, with my, well, who's now my wife. And I had an interesting story there. Because we went to Malaysia. And we were staying there. And I really needed to get a job, I needed to get some money and, and I applied to all these places to do computer programming. And this one place, I ended up, they gave me an interview. And I walked in there and I was really trying hard to pretend I wasn't blind, and marry my wife. Now she, she, you know, she went in with me. And you know, we just casually sat down and did the interview said nothing about my blindness or anything. And right at the end, the guy looks at me and he goes, How do you do this stuff? Okay, what do you mean? You, you look like you're, you look like you're blind. I said, Oh, I've got a talking computer. Anyway, he gave me the job. I mean, he gave me the task to do that afternoon that they had this massive of this bug that they couldn't fix in their system, that it had overflowed their capacity. And I, I went home, and three hours later, I had solved the problem. And I went back and they gave me the job. But there was a lot of prejudice in Malaysia far more than then in a Western country. I mean, it was so bad, that that my wife didn't like me having a cane. And because it just drew so much attention. And it ended up causing us to fall into a storm drain, which is, you know, like six feet deep and full of machines and slash at the bottom. And we had to climb out of that. And but, you know, the stigma there is far worse than here. In fact, it was so bad, we ended up coming back here. But I was able to get a job there. Through sheer, you know, determination and, and well and, and in a sense, good on that boss. He was perceptive enough. But more important than that, he asked you rather than just turning you down and shut he was great. Yeah, I mean, he'd studied in Australia. So I think he had a bit more exposure to, to the fact that people with disabilities had more opportunities here than they did there. I mean, they're blind people, I only ever met one that had like a job as a telephone telephony in a bank. But most of them were, you know, sniffing lighter, fluid and, you know, busking on the street with a keyboard just playing random notes. And if they had, if they were even able to do that there was one lady there was selling tissues, and helped by a granddaughter to get to that spot on the bridge every day. And you know, that there was a lot of, I feel, I truly do feel blessed. I mean, I know that 75% of blind people are out of work. So, you know,   Michael Hingson  29:38  yeah. But we can only do what we can do. And and like I said, the other side of it is that for those of us who can and are willing to do it, we need to allow our teaching skills to come through to help educate, because that's really what it's what it's about and there are there even in this country. There are so many Times that the so called experts are the ones that are the biggest roadblocks. There's an organization that started this whole thing about dining in the dark. And their, their logic was. So eat in the dark, and you can see what it's like to be a blind person, which is totally false, which is totally obnoxious. And it doesn't teach you anything except to be more prejudiced about blind people and blindness. Because what you don't get is the training. And every sighted person gets training on how to eat and tie their shoes and so on. Why should it be different for us?   Joseph Stephen  30:37 Yeah.   Michael Hingson  30:40 Well, so you had that software job. And, and then, but then you went back to Australia and, and started conversing with the kangaroos I trust?   Joseph Stephen  30:51 Oh, yes. Yeah. So when we came back here, I actually still work for that Malaysian company for a little while, but it became, well, it wasn't, it wasn't profitable enough, because the dollar was like a third of our dollar. So I ended up giving that away. And I worked went to work for the Royal Society for the blind business as a as a Assistive Technology Officer finding solutions for blind people, because someone had put a recommendation into the that they should hire me. And I went over to see son conference in 1999. Because I'd already done some contracts with, with the Henty Joyce, in terms of scripting before that time, but only 99. I went over to the CSUN conference, and I met Eric dammar at and he said, so will you work for us? And I said on one condition, he goes, What's that? I said, I work from home. Okay, so from July 1999, a couple of months after our first child was born, I started working full time for them. And then I went into systems programming rather than just scripting and the rest is history. I have about 10, patents 10 inventions that I added to the company and yeah, all of the lots of the heavy lifting for JAWS has been done from either Adelaide or Tasmania.   Michael Hingson  32:25 Well, and for those who don't know, JAWS, that stands for Job Access With Speech is a software program called a screen reader. And what it does is it verbalizes, the text video that comes across the screen isn't necessarily itself great at graphics. But it's not intended to be the artificial intelligence solution, at least at this point, unless there are things going on that Joseph isn't telling us about yet, but they're coming, I know it will come. But the reality is that it is the predominant piece of technology that we who happen to be blind use to interact with a computer. It's the the most popular screen reader on there, there's a charge for it, there are a couple of screen reader software packages that are out there that are that are free or much less cost. But the other part about Freedom Scientific and JAWS is that they've been doing this a long time. And so JAWS has clearly gotten a lot more done and can interact in a lot of ways that the others are still playing catch up to get to.   Joseph Stephen  33:39 I remember, we were the first screen reader to work with Microsoft Office. And the things we did was so unconventional, I mean, I can't go into the the technical stuff, but we really did everything possible to get information out of the application. And so, you know, a screen reader doesn't just build a model of the screen, it figures out what's going on in the application, what needs to be spoken, what the user wants to know. Because there's a big difference between accessibility and productivity, and usability and usability something can be something can be totally accessible but totally unusable. I won't name any applications right now. But the blind people out there who knows who knows what's going on in the world knows what I'm talking about. But the reality is you need both you need accessibility and usability and the idea of Jaws is to try and allow blind people to be as productive as their sighted counterpart not just to give the ability, not just the give them the ability to to hear what's on the screen, but to make them productive.   Michael Hingson  34:52 What is so frustrating about being a JAWS user is when Microsoft For example, updates windows. And at least this is the way I've heard it a number of times doesn't quickly or ahead of time, pass along to the screen reader manufacturers, the things that are about to be updated so that when the updates actually roll out, the screen reader updates can roll out as well. And the result is, you're always playing catch up, and we're always the victims of things not working for a while until you can play catch up.   Joseph Stephen  35:30  Yeah, I mean, that, that that's generally true, although I must say Microsoft have been a lot, a lot better in recent years. Yeah. Giving us leeway, and time. But But there's always, always the issue of, you know, cycles, whether our cycle matches with meshes with their development cycle and, and things like that, you know, we have to do a lot of  to jumping through hoops to get stuff done on time. Still,   Michael Hingson  35:59  do you find that Microsoft makes life any more difficult because of course, they want to promote narrator which is the built in screen reader inside of Windows?   Joseph Stephen  36:09 Oh, it's very frustrating because they People often come to us and say, well, Nurten Narrator works. But Narrator doesn't work in the same way that Jaws does. And quite often, what, what what they pass for accessibility is just it doesn't it just doesn't cut it. So while Narrator might say something. Anyway, I guess I'm not really here to bash Narrator But   Michael Hingson  36:39  Well, no, I don't want to and I didn't want to bash Narrator It was more of a curiosity. But But But you're right. And look, there are a number of screen readers. And there's an advantage to having been around longer. I think my first exposure to Jaws was in 19 96.21 or something, something like that. Yeah. And it came, I came in this big box with a whole bunch of tapes that I cassettes, and I went through all the lessons. But it was it was the best thing. And at that time, it was probably about the only thing around. And so I've been using JAWS ever since and, and thoroughly enjoying it. And love to see how it continues to progress and all of the various clever things that are that are going on.   Joseph Stephen  37:36 I remember back in those days, the I was such a skeptic, because they were they were other screen readers that just crashed all the time that were absolutely atrocious. And when someone said, Oh, we tried yours, I really didn't expect anything of it after I'd already tried like a handful of screen readers. I was so pleasantly surprised. And the fact is that the reason why it was such a success is because of the number of blind people that are involved in its development. Yeah, we know what we need, and we have to get it done for our own job. And so, you know, JAWS for me is far more than a job. It's, it's my baby, it's another one of my children. It's my oldest child, in fact. And you know, we, as a company, we absolutely listen to us as the biggest trouble is, we've usually got way, way, way more stuff to fix and do then then you know, we have people to do it. And that's typically why things take longer. And of course, you make one little change in a mature package like this. And you're likely to break something for someone somewhere. Yeah. And so it's really hard now to get fixes in because you really have to be so careful that you don't mess up someone else's job. Just because you make a change for one person who's screaming loudly enough. So it's it's a balancing act for sure.   Michael Hingson  39:06 And you know, then the other part about it is you've got people like Eric Dan Murray, who really got it. And it's right, and to truly understood it. Eric is going to definitely be missed for retiring. Oh, yeah. And it's like with Kurzweil education system, Steven Bomb, the same way. I'm a person who, who got it who understood blindness as well as anyone could. And who was committed to truly making a product that worked, which is what it was really all about. And so people like that are sorely going to be missed, and other people will hopefully come along who will do the same thing but Freedom Scientific has done a really great job with what's happened with JAWS. And you're right, there's so many different definitions of accessibility, it's amazing, right   Joseph Stephen  40:03 , which I guess leads us to the next topic, which is, you know, accessibility in general, I am such so passionate about accessibility, I get very frustrated when someone comes out with a new invention, supposedly for the blind, and it's so bug ridden that that is just not usable. But anyway, that leads me to amateur radio, which I also wanted to make accessible. And I know that you're an amateur radio operator, too. And so since 1964, wow, a lot longer than me, I only got my license in 2015. But there was this guy who was reverse engineering, Chinese firmware. And we got hold of that project. And he started adding voice prompts. And I really appreciated what he did. But it became a closed project. So we sort of branched it off and kept it open and added heaps more features and also added. So what we do is we, we go to Chinese radio, we reverse engineered the firmware, we added voice prompts, so that everything on the radio spoke, including, you know, entering frequencies, and literally everything, there was nothing, there was 100 100%, accessible and usable. And this is for a whole bunch of Chinese radios with a similar chipset. And there's another open source project that I've been doing that with as well. So even even that landscape has changed dramatically. And you know, it's a lot of work. But it's, it's been very rewarding doing that, too.   Michael Hingson  41:40 Yeah, and the the landscape changes, the sophistication changes. And so there are a lot of things like that, that make it even, you know, much more interesting going forward. I have a Kenwood 570. So that's old. I mean, I bought it in 2000. And I actually haven't set up an antenna here, and I've lived here for quite a while and really should. But I've been using a service, partly on the phone called Echo link to be able to communicate, but I also do have a Kenwood two meter walkie talkie, and love ham radio, but it will like everything, as you said the whole landscape is changing. Yeah, I mean, I, I did amateur radio for I mean the firmware for about two and a half years. Because I was doing programming during the day I started to get burnt out. So now I've sort of switch gears. And now I'm doing music production with an old friend from Adelaide, who I started singing with back in 1986. So now, that's what I tend to do in my spare time. And that's what you use Reaper for. That's right, what a game changer that is. Well, I'm so grateful to those guys. Yeah, Reaper, and then there are a couple of scripts, like Mr. Snow Barker, among others, but also other things that have truly made it accessible. And I know that I use it in a very simple way on dealing with editing a lot of audio and so on. But still, it is such a such a game changer, as you said, and just reading so many things that are being done by so many different people who happen to be blind in the whole music production world. And they're, and they're talking about things that are way above my paygrade I could learn them. But I'm not really interested in doing music production. But I love Reaper. And it works really well. And again, it's one of those things that isn't even a very expensive product for anyone. It's like $60 to get a license for it. And in the US, and it works really well. So it's a way to be able to edit these podcasts and do all the things that are necessary to to make them sound reasonably decent and so on and which is a lot of fun.   Joseph Stephen  43:45 Well, again, I think this brings me back to the labia one of our it's such an important topic. This unstoppable mindset. This unstoppable mindset is not something that other people do, and everyone just enjoys the fruit of everyone can be part of it. You know, I'm I do my bit in the community, you do your bit in the community. Someone else does their bit in the community, but if everyone excels and does the best that they can do, it contributes to the whole blind community and everyone's lives can be impacted the whole blind community and beyond actually, right. But if it if everyone's just the consumer, leaves it to everybody else to do well. Nothing gets done.   Michael Hingson  44:59 I, my wife passed away in November. And so I have more time on my own. We were basically married for two years. And I know that she's around here. So I need to continue to behave, because if I don't, I'm going to hear from her. So I got to watch my P's and Q's, which is fine. But one of the things that happened here last year, was that, like, every year, our homeowners association has a board of directors and we have elections every year. And last year, by the time the elections were supposed to happen, they didn't have a quorum. And I think it took two extensions before they finally got enough votes to have a quorum. This year, I decided to run. And one of the main things that I've said, at meetings that we've had, and I've said it emails and so on, is I want your vote. I really appreciate you voting for me. But even if you don't want to vote for me, please vote and get other people to vote. Because we need to reach that quorum. And you know what, Joseph, the quorum is 25%. So that's 1200, roughly property owners that have to vote in order to certify an election, which is a crazy low number. And I have no idea yet where where we stand last week, we were at only about 16 and a half or 16.7%. Still, and the election is supposed to be held this Saturday. I'm hopeful because I and I know others have also sent election information out and I'm hoping that we will definitely have a quorum. And as I said, I I would love to be one of the people elected there three board seats open. But either way, people should take an interest in the community, at least enough to vote for the board for heaven's sakes, we all are part of the same community, wherever we are. And we should be involved, we should take enough of an interest to be involved to some degree wherever we can. That doesn't mean we need to do everything. But you're absolutely right. We do need to be involved and take an active interest,   Joseph Stephen  45:00 Right something go down the well and others hold the rope. But you know, be part of it be.Someone once said to me, and I've always loved this quote, you know, don't curse the darkness, light a candle?   Michael Hingson  47:25 Yeah. And I've heard people say, pictures are worth 1000 words, but they also take a lot more memory. So But you're right, and a candle, or whatever you do. Be a part of it. That's one of the things that I think is, is so discouraged as people being a part of things, and there are too many people who are just not used to being active. And it doesn't mean that you need to be an activist, but you should be involved and have enough of an interest that you can help the community and without always help yourself as well.   Joseph Stephen  48:06 Right? Yeah, fine. Find what you're good at. And do the best at what you do. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  48:13 So you have nine children, you've been married 27 years. And when you went to Cambria on a bike now, was that a tandem bike? Or did you ride? Yeah, that was a that was a tandem. How long did that take?   Joseph Stephen  48:25 11 days. And it was a distance of 1486 kilometers. And it was interesting because there was maybe, I think it was 12 people that rode all the way from Perth, across through Adelaide, where they met up with us and on to Canberra. And so what happened was, as we got closer to Canberra, more and more bikes would join us. So by the last kilometer or so we had like 300 bikes. 300 cyclists it was it was fantastic.   Michael Hingson  48:56 Did you make your monetary goals?   Joseph Stephen  48:59 Yes, but thankfully back then I had other people sorting all that out. I just had to write.   Michael Hingson  49:05 Yeah, yeah. You didn't get involved in the money counting in the money changing? No. That's okay. But you were a participant and I'll bet how a lot of fun and fond memories of that yes, indeed.   Michael Hingson  49:23 Go on. Your your your children, I assume are are not none of them are blind because they didn't have the same issue of premature births and so on are correct.   Joseph Stephen  49:35 None of them are blind. A few of them wear glasses though, but for totally different reasons.   Michael Hingson  49:41 Well, a lot of people wear glasses though. It's okay. Yeah. So you, you you do you do a lot of different things. Do you do any extracurricular activities or do you think you're doing enough things that you don't get involved in sports or any of those kinds of things?   Joseph Stephen  50:00 I don't have any spare time. I mean, if I'm not if I'm not doing family things, and I'm not doing fun things, and I'm not doing work things, and I'm not doing music things, and I'm not doing writing, I'm usually trying to get a bit of sleep. But people have often joke that I don't sleep because I get so much done during the day. I just like being productive. I think I'm hyperactive, so I, I can't stand doing nothing.   Michael Hingson  50:27 What do you I hear you What do you farm?   Joseph Stephen  50:31 We have sheep, a few cows and sheep or goats. I tend to do more of the maintenance sort of stuff on the farm. The children look after the animals. I have done hay baling and fencing and irrigation and repairing goat shed floors and things like that. But I usually let the children do the animals.   Michael Hingson  50:52 Everybody seems to remember something someone has to take the executive responsibility. Yeah, exactly. Which is, which is perfectly reasonable, which is not a problem. Tell me about your writing and your books, if you would.   Joseph Stephen  51:08 I've written six books on very, very different topics. So I've got a poetry book, I've got a book on, it's called more than meets the eye. I've got a book on my my journey as a Christian and the things I've learned doctrinal things that I want to pass on to my children called sufficiency of Scripture. I've got another book about biblical relationships. And I've got a homeschooling curriculum, which I did with my wife on Braille and blindness, bright blindness, Braille and the Bible. I have a book on computer programming as a homeschooling curriculum, called the perfect programmer, referring to God as the one who's programmed everything in the DNA. And I'm currently working on a book for a missionary friend who's who's really at the end of his life, who worked in West Papua for 25 years. And he's got interesting stories of cannibalism, and aeroplane crashes and all kinds of stuff. So I've been doing working on that one, most recently. So yeah, very, very varied.   Michael Hingson  52:16 Do you publish the books yourselves? Or do you have a publisher?   Joseph Stephen  52:21 I did have a publisher, but they went broke, thanks to my books.And no, so I managed to get the manuscript back from them. And then we self published after that, which was a lot cheaper to do.   Michael Hingson  52:39 Well, but you seem to be doing pretty well with him. I was just looking And I don't think that you sent me any photos of book covers. But if you want to promote any of those, send those to me. And when this goes up, I definitely would be happy to make sure that the the book covers are featured as part of what of what we put up if you'd like. Okay, yeah, that'd be great. That would, that would be fun to do. But, you know, you've you've clearly accomplished a lot and are more important than anything, you're having fun doing it. And I think that's the really big issue that if we can't have fun doing what we're doing, then, you know, where are we?   Joseph Stephen  53:21  Oh, absolutely. And I think that's the thing that we can live extremely fulfilled lives, and lives that are meaningful in our community. So, you know, as I said, there are pros, there are consumers, and there are producers. And I think it's just like the Bible says, and so it's better to, it's more blessed to give than to receive, I think it's far more exciting to be a producer and a consumer.   Michael Hingson  53:54 And it's always better to help people learn to fish rather than just giving people fish. Yes, exactly. If you were to give some advice, of any sort to, let's say, people who could see what would what would you like people to take away from this? There's a toughy huh? Yeah.   Joseph Stephen  54:18 Are you talking specifically about how sighted people see those with a disability?   Michael Hingson  54:25 Um, you can start there if you'd like, but whatever you feel would be relevant. advice to give people certainly, talking about disabilities is one pertinent thing but I didn't know whether you wanted to even go further.   Joseph Stephen  54:42 Find out what you what you like doing, do it to the best of your ability and help others in the process.   Michael Hingson  54:54 It doesn't get much better than that. Clearly, what would you say about disabilities in four two? The people who don't view themselves as having a disability, sighted people about blindness and so on?   Joseph Stephen  55:07 Well, I agree with you that attitude is everything, I would also hit those say that it is difficult as a, as a person with a disability related or interacting with those who don't have a disability in a family situation. And I don't think anyone prepared me. Let me rephrase it, because of the, the tight, the time at which I grew up, the emphasis was on buying people can do anything. But what they didn't tell me was how my disability was going to affect my family. And so it is, it is one thing to be proactive in terms of education and to and to break the glass ceiling, so to speak. There is also though the reality of living in a world where most people are different from you, and being responsible and reasonable and sensitive about how your disability affects others. And particularly, you know, your your wife and your children. They are often the wings, the wind between the wind beneath our wings. And they oftentolerate a lot from us that other people don't necessarily notice the carers and the people who, you know, we don't make it by ourselves. We really don't, we're all interdependent. And I guess I want to emphasize that too, that there are people in our lives, who don't have the disability that we have, who really helped us to be who we are, and we must give them credit.   Michael Hingson  57:25 Absolutely. The other side of that, though, is that those people also, whether they recognize it or not have had help along the way, I believe in something that Gandhi once said, which is that interdependence ought to be as much the ideal of man as his self sufficiency. Because the reality is, we are absolutely an independent dependent world, all the way around. And, and I think it's important to, to recognize that, that all of us get help in so many different ways from so many different people, whether we realize it or not. And it is also true, that sometimes we don't even know how we've helped other people. But if we're living our lives, we're helping other people as well.   Joseph Stephen  58:18 Yep, that's right. No, I really, I really like that. I think that the problem is, when you don't have a disability, you tend not to think of yourself as interest interdependent, right. And that's part that's part of that's part of our problem, as well. Yeah. I mean, that's why that's why people don't recognize their need for gardening in a lot of ways is because they're, they're too self dependent.   Michael Hingson  58:46 Or they think they are and they think they are, yeah, exactly what what kind of advice would you give now and say to a blind person, about whatever,   Joseph Stephen  58:57 as a blind person, don't, don't expect everyone else to make your, your life accessible, get out there and do it, and contribute and be a producer and not a consumer.   Michael Hingson  59:15 It's so true, right? I mean, that's exactly what we all need to do. And we need to learn to do it. It is so unfortunate, and in society, we just don't teach enough of that to people in general. I think we used to do it more than we do it today. But we really need to teach people to learn to step out. Take risks, when appropriate, and learn what when appropriate means but don't just sit back. It's better to be a driver than a passenger.   Joseph Stephen  59:48 Yeah, I think the in all fairness though, because of the the move to integrate blind people into sighted schools very very, very early without the special education Quite often blind people don't have the, the networks that they once had. Not that you want to only be in a blind world, you need to be in a sighted world and a blind world. But the problem is if you don't, if you've if you've never had the opportunity to learn how to do sighted things in an efficient way, I mean, we really need, like blind people to be helped be mentors and things like that, too. You know? And I'm certainly willing to do that.   Michael Hingson  1:00:46 Yeah, I hear you. And the but the other. The other part about it is that I think there are a lot of in this country there, there are a lot of attempts to provide teachers to help. The problem is that from a philosophical standpoint, and a practical standpoint, they themselves don't get the training that they truly need to help blind people truly understand what independence is all about, and how to be independent. And the result is that they don't teach some of the skills that they could teach, or that they could contribute to teaching better than they do. So the teachers themselves can be a part of the problem, and shouldn't be, but they are.   Joseph Stephen  1:01:30 Yeah, no, I agree with that, particularly in Australia, as I said, with this article, The Rise and Fall of life skills, it got to a peak, you know, back in the 50s and 60s, people blind people weaving baskets, then there was the, the the attitude of blind people can do anything, then we move to integration. So we had special education, then we moved into early integration, and it got earlier and earlier and earlier till the special education went out the window. And some people say it was because of budget and government spending, etc. But, but the reality is we've gone backwards now. 1234 Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. To before. The, the, the upward trend. Yeah, just quite sad   Michael Hingson  1:02:12 . On the episode number five of this podcast, we interviewed a lady named Peggy Chung, who is known as the blind history lady. And she specializes by choice in learning the history of blind people and blindness and so on. And she, among other things, talks about the fact that in the past as late as in the 1940s, or around 1940, I think I'd have to go back and listen. We had as many as three blind congressmen in the United States, and there's been one blind senator, now we have none. Because society has decided, once again, that blindness is really more of a problem in the wrong way than it is. And I think that can happen so much in the world, which is truly unfortunate. She has a lot.   Joseph Stephen  1:03:11 Go ahead. I ran as a candidate for political party twice in 2010 and 2016. So yeah, there's a lot of stigma attached still, in getting blind people into places of leadership.   Michael Hingson  1:03:27 She also tells us a story about the invention of the typewriter, which was really for a blind Countess to want Countess who wanted to be able to exchange or have notes go to her lover without her husband finding out fascinating stories. So if you get a chance, go back and check out Episode Five. It's really kind of fun. Well, I am going to thank you for being here. We've been doing this an hour already. We could probably go on but I think we've given people enough to think about don't you?   Joseph Stephen  1:03:56 Oh, absolutely. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate you being here.   Michael Hingson  1:04:00 How can people maybe reach out to you and learn more about you or learn about the books and all that?   Joseph Stephen  1:04:06 We have a website called faithfulgenerations.com www dot F A I T H F U L G E N E R A T I O N S faithfulgenerations.com That's where you can read about my testimony and books. It doesn't have anything about our music musics on Bandcamp two servants, T W O S E R V A N T S two servants on Bandcamp and b a n d c a s t B A N D C A M P band camp actually actually have our our first album is actually available on most of the platforms now like Spotify and that two servants. It's called further down the road. The next album coming out is over the hill and then maybe it will be under the turf. I'm not sure. Yeah, because the guy that I started singing with back in 1986. He's now 73. And I'm 51. And so it's just a little private joke between us. The well I'm 73 He's okay. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it sounds 73 He doesn't sound 73   Michael Hingson  1:05:20 Well, we keep trying. Exactly. Well, this has been fun. And I want to thank you for listening. Love to hear your thoughts about any of this and you are welcome to reach out to me. You can reach me Michaelhi at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. We'd love to hear your thoughts. We didn't even talk about accessibly or anything today, but we had enough other fun things to talk about. We could have a whole hour probably you and I on artificial intelligence in general anyway, right?   Joseph Stephen  1:05:49 Oh, absolutely.   Michael Hingson  1:05:52 But I hope people will reach out to me Michaelhi@accessibe dot com or go to www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast. Singular, and listen to more episodes. But wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We appreciate it. We value your thoughts and your comments and your ratings and reviews. So please give us a five star rating and let us know your thoughts. And don't ever hesitate to reach out and Joseph for you and for you listening. If you know of anyone else who might make a good podcast guest, please email me please let me know. We are always looking for more folks to interview and we appreciate your help to find them. And the number of people have done that over the past year and a half plus, and I'm sure we'll get more of those. So don't hesitate to give us your suggestions. We are always looking for people to talk with. So Joseph once more. Thanks very much. And I really appreciate your time and all of your your good thoughts today.   Joseph Stephen  1:06:53 Thanks for having me.   Michael Hingson  1:07:00 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Welcome back to Keep Beach City Quarantined! This week, we hit our third StevenBomb with Cry for Help, Keystone Motel, Onion Friend, Historical Friction, and Friend Ship. Join us for the live stream every Tuesday night at 5 PM on our Facebook page @marriedtotheideareviews and be a part of the conversation on our chill appreciation fancast.

With the latest Steven Bomb over, JD, Melanie, and guest host Casey go over all the new plot development and character growths in Steven Universe. Facebook: www.facebook.com/inknpaintclubpodcast Twitter: www.twitter.com/ink_n_paintclub YouTube: www.youtube.com/inknpaintclubpodcast

Elizabeth and Kori take a look at Steven Universe, the latest Steven Bomb, and everyone's favorite bird mom, Pearl.

Elizabeth and Kori take a look at Steven Universe, the latest Steven Bomb, and everyone's favorite bird mom, Pearl.

It's recurring guest Kate Kulzick's birthday, which means it's a perfect time for another installment of our regular segment Just Do This For Me!, in which one of our hosts or guests forces the others to watch a show of their choosing, and we talk about it on air.This time, we take a look at Cartoon Network's bubbly, infectious animated series Steven Universe, just in time for the show's big StevenBomb event! Kate (and her Gem of a sister Maggie) join Allison and Clint to talk about the show's incredible cult following, surprisingly nuanced grasp of serialized storytelling and groundbreaking LGBT representation. Oh, and the songs, of course. So many great songs.(Note: Some technical difficulties affected the audio quality of this episode, apologies for that. We'll be back to our sprightly, professional-sounding selves next week.)Timestamps:7:41 - Picks of the Week:Kate: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (Netflix), Claws, "Scream" (TNT)Allison: The Bold Type, "Stride of Pride" (Freeform), The Handmaid's Tale, "Postpartum" (Hulu)Clint: GLOW, "The Good Twin" (Netflix), Pose, "Mother's Day" (FX)20:37 - Bachelorette HaikusJust Do This For Me!: Steven Universe21:38 - Introductions30:51 - Themes42:53 - Characters51:46 - Episodes1:05:57 - Music1:19:11 - The most recent StevenBomb1:35:30 - Picks for Next Week:Allison: Harlots season 2 (Hulu)Kate: Handmaid's Tale finale (Hulu)Clint: Sharp Objects (HBO), rewatching Babylon 5 (Amazon Prime)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

We're still gearing up for the FIRST GAY WEDDING ON A CHILDREN'S CARTOON SHOW IN HISTORY and it looks like we'll have to wait one more episode for that, but in the meantime we've got some really adorable Crystal Gem wedding prep, and an in-depth queer look at the new addition to Ruby and Sapphire's guest list. Judith and Natalie talk about weddings, relationships, infighting, and community, and what they all mean in the lives of LGBT+ people according to this wonderful little Steven Universe episode. Stevenbomb continues!

A new Steven Bomb has finally dropped, and you know we'll be there to catch it! Join Ken and Shane as they dive into the first two episodes of "The Heart of the Crystal Gems"! What happens when Garnet realizes Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz, will Steven and Amethyst uncover some undisclosed feelings, and who is my ding dong best friend forever?! Find out all this and more in Episode 94 of GemTalk!

GC13, Isabelle, and David discuss the promo for the upcoming Steven Bomb, entitled Heart of the Crystal Gems. The future may not be nothing but Ruby, but you can be sure there will be a lot of Ruby in the upcoming episodes. The closest thing we’ve seen to this episode was the Sardonyx arc, but … Continue reading

In Episode 93, Shane and Ken review some freshly mined Steven Universe information! With the next Steven Bomb announced, and some episode titles leaked, there's a sufficient amount of theory crafting material to work with! What will happen when Garnet splits up, will we finally see the great leg ship, and is White Diamond on the horizon? Join us to find out!

GC13 and David discuss the episode Doug Out, where the bomb portion of its Steven Bomb actually began. It was our first in-depth look at Mr. Maheswaran, and he turned out to have the same lovably goofy side he had briefly showed in other episodes—he didn’t even need the clown nose. Despite flashlights apparently not working … Continue reading

Sam and Jonathan get back on Steven Universe with the six new episodes released online! Sam locks eyes with Jonathan's past and Jonathan sings the channel into a lawsuit. Follow The Channel on Social Media: @SumGeekStuff on Twitter SomethingAboutGeekStuff on Tumblr and Facebook Episodes Discussed: Dewy Wins Gemcation Raising The Barn Back To The Kindergarten Sadie Killer Kevin Party --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sagscast/message

Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar has developed a warm, well thought out approach to family cartoons. We look at her goals, Cartoon Network's business plans and the fight in fandom over how this show represents diverse identities.  Additional Resources ‘Steven Universe’ creator Rebecca Sugar is a Cartoon Network trailblazer Cartoon Network’s ‘Steven Universe’ Premieres As Its Most-Watched Series of 2013 'Steven Universe' creator on growing up, gender politics, her brother Steven Universe’s frustrating schedule is crucial to its success ‘Adventure Time’ Writer Rebecca Sugar on ‘Steven Universe,’ Being Cartoon Network’s First Female Show Creator And Why Pop Art Is ‘Offensive’ ‘Leaked’ Steven Universe episodes weren’t leaked at all, Cartoon Network says Steven Universe Artist Quits Twitter Over Fan Harassment ‘Steven Universe’ fandom is melting down after bullied fanartist attempts suicide An Attempted Suicide Forced a Tumblr Community to Open Its Eyes About Bullying Why I Fell In Love With The Brilliant Steven Universe, And You Will Too 'Steven Universe's' Rebecca Sugar confirms Fluorite is a representation of a polyamorous relationship Superheroes, Steven Universe, and the Maternal Narrative

The holidays are over, and GemTalk Podcast is back with Episode 51! As we are still in the middle of a long hiatus, Shane and Ken have dug up some interesting bits of information regarding potential future Steven Universe episodes and con events. What will the Crewniverse discuss at San Diego Comic-Con, will there be a new Steven Bomb, and will we be seeing Mystery Girl soon? Put on your theory hats and join our hosts in hashing out the details!

GC13, Isabelle, and David have the podcast’s second discussion of the sixth Steven Bomb. How melodramatic did you think the bomb was? Even if you think it was, you can’t deny that Jamie can bring the real drama just as well as he can bring the melodrama. Characters (and giant fusions) not being animated, the … Continue reading

Sam and Jonathan talk about Steven Universe bomb 6, the best dads, and the worst villains. Episodes: Lion 4: Alternate Ending Doug Out The Good Lars Are You My Dad?" & "I Am My Mom" --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sagscast/message

Check it out, gang! To very minimal fanfare, it's our one year anniversary! We celebrated by doing a regular episode and covering the nerdy. We got gaming news, Deadpool cartoon, Sleepy Hollow got canned, and new games. Then, we dive into last week's Steven Universe episodes. It was a full week, and we spoil the whole thing. If you want to avoid them, skip to at 59:35. And as always, it's a great one.

Justin Cummings and Michelle Anderer take their turn discussing all of last week’s 6th Steven Universe Steven Bomb.

Justin Cummings and Michelle Anderer take their turn discussing all of last week’s 6th Steven Universe Steven Bomb.

This week the girls, along with special guest Megan, talk about the most recent Steven Bomb. Hear their thoughts on the latest episodes and why Cartoon Network needs to stop putting the episodes out so early (and also a ton of other fun cartoon stuff because sometimes people lose track of what they're talking about, OK?!). Your browser does not support the audio element.

Welcome to Episode 91 of The Ringo Zone! Kayla here, and in this episode, three sleepy hosts plow through the events of Adventures in Light Distortion in record time so we can each go the hell to bed. We redefine the term “filler,” we talk about what happens when the Steven Universe writers start writing for a bomb format, and how Gems have Time Lord Technology. Additionally, we all love the unnecessary fake science explanations, the brief appearance of the Rubies, Puma Cub, how there was exactly zero real danger at any point in this whole episode, and how Steven needs a Bar Mitzvah. Thank you for tuning in, we all really appreciate your continued listenership. You can get all sorts of additional Ringo Zone content as well as previous episodes on our Tumblr and Facebook pages. Our official website will be back up shortly. You can also search for The Ringo Zone on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find us, like us, rate us, reblog us, tell us your favorite Jewish Steven headcanon, and most importantly tell your friends about us! Exposure really does help us out. This episode featured Dillon, Max, and myself. We're chipping away at this Steven Bomb, so the next episode will be Gem Heist!

Mark is out of the hospital and Cry-Borg is back! We're joined by Teddy for episode 40: "Gamo's Revenge". In this episode we get to see some truly questionable parenting and 009 gets sent to the future with one of the assassins! Topics discussed include becoming a cyborg, Nintendo money-haters, There Will Be McCree, Stevenbomb talk, most upsetting opener, openly psychic, card games on motorbikes, laughter is the worst medicine, Dahir Insaat, truly terrible outfit, bad metaphor chess, spoken word Journey, hell valley sky tree, teamwork is OP, incredible psychic dunking, genetically discombobulated meme animal, and the uselessness of Wikipedia.  Remember to follow the official twitter (https://twitter.com/cryborg_009) for dumb bullshit, and also to send us questions!  We're also on iTunes, and we've set up a patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3829270  Teddy's blog: http://wulfriciceberg.tumblr.com Teddy's twitter: https://twitter.com/TeddyArrives Mark’s blog: http://www.avengifier.tumblr.com Mark's Twitter: https://twitter.com/avengifier Sean’s blog: http://www.chum-personable.tumblr.com Sean's twitter: https://twitter.com/Chumpersonable 

GC13 and Sophia have a big discussion about the episodes in Steven Bomb 6 (and try to avoid speculating until next week, hard as that can be). Oh boy, for those of you who have watched on the Cartoon Network app already, it was a big bomb, wasn’t it? Don’t worry, we’ll be covering it … Continue reading

Episode 43 is going to be a doozy, as Shane and Ken take on the entire Spring Break Steven Bomb! With four amazing episodes rife with content to discuss, there's no time to waste! Join us as we review Doug Out, The Good Lars, Are You My Dad, and I Am My Mom, scraping every single second for as much information as possible! Will Steven and Connie solve the mystery of Funland's recent invader? What is Lars's secret talent? Where are all of Beach City's citizens disappearing to? All of the answers, as well as a healthy dose of theorizing, awaits you in this week's GemTalk!

In Episode 42, Shane and Ken dip back into the mail bag to help fill in the gap before the next Steven Bomb. Today, a fan has asked us to take a stronger look into Rose Quartz's character and provide a deeper analysis. Tangentially, they've asked that we also inspect the sort of relationship Rose had with her friends. While solid information on Rose Quartz may be difficult to come by, our hosts are up to the task!

In Episode 41 of GemTalk, Shane and Ken are ready to sink their teeth into the recently released Spring Break Trailer! With a new Steven Bomb on the horizon, there is a great deal to discuss! Although Lion 4 may have already been spoiled, there are enough questions to address regarding two new gems!

GC13, Sophia, and Hunter come back to discuss #StevenBomb 5 (the Out of This World event) a second time, this time after its official air date! Fanart is always good, especially when it depicts trick-or-treating (sure they don’t have Halloween in Steven’s Earth, but they can start the tradition). That would be a good ending … Continue reading

Animaine and Dani talk about the most recent Steven Bomb, why Cartoon Network is changing for the worse, Marissa Alexander is free, Carolyn Bryant confesses to lying in the Emmett Till murder trial, the punching of Richard Spencer, Milo Yiannopoulos speech riots, free speech protection for those we disagree with, and more!

GC13 discusses Cartoon Network’s newfound predilection for spoiling aspects of the upcoming story arc in the advertisements for it. The earlier bombs may not have been spoiled much by their ads, but starting with Steven Bomb 4 we’ve been getting many more spoilers in purposeful advertisements. Of course not all advertising spoilers have been intentional, … Continue reading

Hello friends, and welcome to Episode 30 of GemTalk! Today we'll be covering Gem Heist, the middle episode of the most recent Steven Bomb! What will happen when Steven and the Gems finally arrive on the dreaded human Zoo once run by Pink Diamond? Will they find Greg unharmed? Be sure to join Shane and Ken to find out!

In Episode 29 of GemTalk, Shane and Ken continue their review of the most recently leaked Steven Bomb. Adventures in Light Distortion was a wild ride, literally, but what information could be buried within the episode? On top of that, be ready for some fun science facts that the show might have intentionally overlooked!

Greetings, everyone! We're back with our first episode of the year! Episode 28 is dedicated to Steven's Dream, the first episode of the leaked Jan. 2017 Steven Bomb. If you're not interested in learning more about the bomb, STOP NOW! Otherwise, join Ken and Shane as they discuss the meaning behind Steven's latest vision...

GC13, Dakota, and Hunter are very happy to present an episode about the fifth StevenBomb, and only a month early! (Thanks Cartoon Network!) It’s too hard to give a summary of the podcast for those who still haven’t watched the episodes yet, so here’s a spoiler-free recap: Could we be Ronaldo? Is it possible? Circles … Continue reading

GC13 and Hunter engage in some consequence-free hyping, guessing at what some short episode descriptions might hint at for the next Steven Bomb to hit the airwaves. Now surely with Steven Universe episode descriptions being notoriously difficult to draw predictions from, we’d be cautious, wouldn’t we? Wrong! This is a special occasion, one where we … Continue reading

This week we talked to BrothaDom about the Cartoon Network hit, Steven Universe. We cover everything from representation, to how it appeals to people of all ages and answer a lot of listener questions. Guest Intro (00:00:45) An introduction to our guest, BrothaDom. You can find his writing at Lady Geek Girl and Friends and listen to him on the Character Reveal podcast. What we've been up to (00:02:22) BrothaDom (@BrothaDom) Overwatch Luke Cage Soundtrack Attack Panic at the Disco: Death of a Bachelor Kaleri (@kaleri_) World of Warcraft Overwatch Girl on the Train The Adventure Zone Pam (@jasyla_) Overwatch Blaster Master Grey's Anatomy Triangle Lady Problems Steven Universe (00:20:10) This conversation does contain spoilers! What is Steven Universe? How the appeal spans from children to adults How is Steven Universe different from the shows you watched as a kid? Would SU have made a difference for you growing up? (@the_doc_webb) World building in short, condensed episodes w/ lots of plot! How do you think they fit so much story into a small amount of time without it feeling rushed? (@TheForEverNoob) Who is your favourite Gem (and why is it Lapis)? (@FWNuminous) Gemsonas? (@Walkstweets) One thing I love about SU is how fleshed-out the “normal” characters are. Who is your favourite ‘non-gem’ character? (@the_doc_webb) Value of episodes focused on beach city residents vs the gems and lore? (@Walkstweets) Queer representation Pearl and Rose - What are your thoughts on their relationship? Is the relationship rooted in Pearl’s tendency to serve, or is it a two-way street? (@Pontelon) Any theories you’d like to share? (@TheForEverNoob) What the heck is going on with their schedule? (aka what is a Stevenbomb!) (@IFlyDragons) Music What are your thoughts of Lars and why do you think he acts the way he does? (@TheForEverNoob) What are your thoughts on how they treated Bismuth? (or how Steven reacted to Bismuth compared to Peridot) (@Pontelon) If you’ve got any feedback, questions, people or topics you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show, you can reach out at MediaMavensCast@gmail.com or on Twitter @_MediaMavens. If you like the show, please give us a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Music: Vivacity by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

A lot has happened since the last episode and Joseph, Ami and Sam are here to talk about it. Not only the second half of our thoughts on Family in Steven Universe, but also some discussion about Steven Bomb 4 and a little bit of the Summer of Steven (Steven Nuke) Plus, your mail! Now if you excuse us, we need to go take some Rad-Away and be on the lookout for Deathclaws. Credits music: "Stronger than You" - Written by Estelle and Rebecca Sugar, performed by youseeeberkeley (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfLwcU7GFJ4), and "Love Like You" - Written by Rebecca Sugar, sung by Sam Other clips and music used in this podcast belong to their respective owners and all are protected under the doctrine of Fair Use (17 U.S.C. § 107). This is a fan-made critique. 'Stephen Universe' was created by Rebecca Sugar and is a product of Cartoon Network Studios.

The third and last installment of our Stevenbomb is here! We talk about coding, fusion, queerbating and morrrree. Btw, we talk about the first couple of episodes of season 4, if you're watching for spoilers.

H o w d y d o Everybody. Here is the first episode of our 3-part Stevenbomb! We talk about production, animation, voice acting and etc. Spoiler Warnin: We avoid all major spoilers for season 3 (except maybe who shows up), but not for seasons 1 & 2. Tune in tomorrow for episode reviews :-).

On this week, we finish up talking about the Steven Bomb, We talk about people being assholes, Rory is really fucking funny, and We finish up Bojack Horseman. Spoiler Alert, Hes an Ass, also a horse

It's a one-two discussion punch as Joseph, Ami and newly appointed co-host Sam talk about how great the latest Steven Bomb is, before bringing you the other half of the discussion about Steven Universe and Mental Health. Plus, some comments get read, and everyone says insulting things about Ronaldo (Which is as it should be.) Can we survive the latest Hiatus? Of course we can! Credits music: "Stronger than You" - Written by Estelle and Rebecca Sugar, performed by youseeeberkeley (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfLwcU7GFJ4) and "Love Like You" - Written by Rebecca Sugar, performed by Sam. Other clips and music used in this podcast belong to their respective owners and all are protected under the doctrine of Fair Use (17 U.S.C. § 107). This is a fan-made critique. 'Stephen Universe' was created by Rebecca Sugar and is a product of Cartoon Network Studios.

Mike, Jarys, Mae Linh and Melissa are all back together once again for the first time in the new year! We'll talk about the new Steven Bomb, video game design, Rocket Jump the show, and the many faces of Oscar Issac!

This episode we talk about some vid games, Steven Bomb 3, Dragon Ball Dads, Total Recall one liners, and Evangelion Dad.See you at the party! (If you notice some weird de-sync let me know! I think I mostly fixed it tho. -Justin)

On this week, we discuss pokemon, Stevenbomb 3, theories, jokes, and ASSIMILATION TO THE GABE EMPIRE. ALL WILL BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. GIVE UP. GIVE GABE. GABE. GABE.

GC13 and Dakota blast off at the speed of light to recap #StevenBomb3. It wasn’t the heavy face-punch of plot that was the first #StevenBomb, but it was still a good run, wouldn’t you say? The way the episodes fit together is discussed (this is definitely a five-episode story arc), as is Peridot’s propensity for … Continue reading

This week, Kyle and Luke discuss the trailer for Danger Mouse, the latest Stevenbomb, Shirobako, and, of course, Mighty Magiswords. Good luck figuring out what our title means!   Please leave us feedback and otherwise interact with us at http://www.facebook.com/kyleandluke!

Hello! This is Episode 18 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Onion Friend. We'll be releasing episodes the same night each Steven Bomb 3 episode airs. I'm sorry this one is being released late again, apparently there was a lot of background noise to deal with. Dillon wasn't in this episode, which is why this episode is as off topic as fucking POSSIBLE (there's a reason that there are constant segues!) so, for the people who have complained about us getting off topic, I promise, the segues will be back with a vengeance for tonight's recording. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, and you can find us on a whole load of other places by checking us out there or, if you're listening to this on SoundCloud, on our SoundCloud page. You can find us on Stitcher now as well as iTunes! Search for our name to find us.

Hello! This is Episode 17 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Keystone Motel. We'll be releasing episodes the same night each Steven Bomb 3 episode airs. We had a request a while ago to talk about sexuality in the show, and shocker, we had an opportunity with this episode! So, there you go, person who asked for it. This one had to come out the morning after; sorry about that. Apparently Evan's audio was all shitty or something so go complain at him. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, and you can find us on a whole load of other places by checking us out there or, if you're listening to this on SoundCloud, on our SoundCloud page. You can find us on Stitcher now as well as iTunes! Search for our name to find us.

Hello! This is Episode 16 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Cry For Help. We'll be releasing episodes the same night each Steven Bomb 3 episode airs. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, and you can find us on a whole load of other places by checking us out there or, if you're listening to this on SoundCloud, on our SoundCloud page. You can find us on Stitcher now as well as iTunes! Search for our name to find us.

Hello! This is Episode 15 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Story for Steven. Our guest host this week is Storyboard Artist, Tony Grillo. He's also a dad, so across the board, just as relevant as possible to this episode. We'll be releasing episodes the same night each Steven Bomb 3 episode airs. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, and you can find us on a whole load of other places by checking us out there or, if you're listening to this on SoundCloud, on our SoundCloud page. You can find us on Stitcher now as well as iTunes! Search for our name to find us. If you'd like to see some of Tony's work, the website of the company he works at is mightypants.com, and you can find them on Facebook at facebook.com/MightyPants!

Hello! This is Episode 14 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about On The Run, and we continue the tradition of getting pretty damn off topic with our guest hosts. Our guest host this week is Mary Tanner, aka RTgrl! She's currently working in the animation industry as a Layout Artist, and writes and illustrates the internet webcomic, Internet Webcomic, so besides being my homie, she is in fact relevant as a guest! We have one final guest host episode after this before Steven Bomb 3 hits, during which we'll be releasing episodes the same night that they air. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. You can find Mary's work on her tumblr, rtgrl.tumblr.com, and you can check out her comic at internet-webcomic.com! P.S. Here's an awesome Steven she drew after we had finished recording. You really should go check out all of her art, she's a great artist, and a really great person. goo.gl/bbWZSE

This week on Podtoon Castoon: Listen as Sean gushes about the bluest gem on Steven Universe. We also talk about relationships, salty characters, and magic powers. We also mention hot dads at some point.

FOR SOUNDCLOUD: Hello! This is Episode 13 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Cat Fingers (although honestly, we end up talking about fan theories and stuff for like 95% of this), with our guest host this week, Dakota, from another fan podcast (the first one!), The Lunar Sea Spire. We did a host trade with them, and Max is in a corresponding episode of theirs about the same episode. During the break before Steven Bomb 3, we'll be releasing an episode with a different guest host each time, featuring people who are notable to the fandom, or relevant to the discussion at hand. Episodes will be released every 5 days or so. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. You can find The Lunar Sea Spire at lunarseaspire.com. P.S. Sorry about the occasional Skype noises, we were forced to use it due to some technical issues, and I forgot to turn off notification sounds because we haven't used it in a while. Also, sorry that Dillon is a slurry asshole.

This week on Podtoon Castoon: meet the talking heads and listen as we talk about Ghost Dog, and the worlds most popular cartoon about crying. Talking Points: Supaidaman, Ukulele Etiquette, Stevonnie, MST3K, Centipeedle, Music Choice

Hey! This is Episode 12 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Rose's Room, with our guest host this week, Katerinu2 AKA magicgirlkyubey AKA Kat. During the break before Steven Bomb 3, we'll be releasing an episode with a different guest host each time, featuring people who are notable to the fandom, or relevant to the discussion at hand. Episodes will be released every 5 days or so. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or here on SoundCloud. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. You can find Kat on tumblr at magicgirlkyubey.tumblr.com, or on YouTube at youtube.com/user/Katerinu2, or here on Soundcloud, @katerinu She let us play a really awesome song she made, Do It For Him/Me [Lapis/Jasper Cover], at the end. You can find it on either of the above links. P.S. Want some dope Onyx Wizard art? You're in luck! goo.gl/ERCGyE

GC13 and Ken discuss #StevenBomb2.0, which just finished, and #StevenBomb3, which was just announced for July 13-17. The ratings of #StevenBomb2.0, which were much better than the ratings for the first #StevenBomb, are discussed, as is the huge spike in fan activity online. Even though GC13 and Ken would both prefer a return to getting … Continue reading

Hey! This is Episode 11 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. We're talking about Steven and the Stevens, with our guest host this week, Cyril The Wolf (https://soundcloud.com/cyrilthewolf). During the break before Steven Bomb 3, we'll be releasing an episode with a different guest host each time, featuring people who are notable to the fandom, or relevant to the discussion at hand. Episodes will be released every 5 days or so. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. Cyril's website is cyrilthewolf.com, and his YouTube channel is youtube.com/user/CyrilRufus This one runs a little longer than usual because we have a fucking awesome new song about Rose's Rebellion (aptly titled Rose's Rebellion) by Cyril at the end. Check it.

I've got something special for you, internet. A bonus episode, discussing Beach Party! We had talked, without the entire group, before this, and this was the first episode with any real structure to it. We never released it as Rose's Scabbard had more of us there, and this one had us figuring stuff out a lot more. It's a bit heavy on discussion as it starts, but we do joke around plenty as it progresses, trust me. BUT GET READY FOR THIS… In light of Sardonyx being announced, somehow involved in the third Steven Bomb, I had no choice but to release this. This episode is…THE ORIGIN OF THE ONYX WIZARD, the podcast's official gemsona. We literally predicted this shit, motherfucker. We literally even say, this episode would not be released until The Onyx Wizard is canon, and the show is on hiatus. We start talking about him at 33:30, if you absolute cannot wait to his origin story. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store.

Oh shit! Steven Bomb 2 is over, and it ended on an extremely interesting note. We're The Ringo Zone, we're a Steven Universe fan podcast, and you should definitely listen to us, because all of the cool kids are doing it. We're talking about Episode 10, the final episode of Steven Bomb 2, Chille Tid. We'll be continuing to release episodes while the show goes back to hiatus, so don't worry. We have some really exciting guest hosts lined up! The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store.

What's up, internet? The Ringo Zone is dropping two episodes on you at once! We've got both Episode 8, discussing Keeping It Together, and Episode 9, discussing We Need To Talk for your listening pleasure. Believe it or not, a lot went on in both episodes, and we discuss the hell out of them. We'll be releasing our show on the final episode of Steven Bomb 2 tomorrow night, the same night it airs. This is obviously where to find Episode 9, if you want to hear Episode 8, check out any of the sources listed below. We had a guest host this episode, Torie, and it was awesome to have her there. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store.

What's up, internet? The Ringo Zone is dropping two episodes on you at once! We've got both Episode 8, discussing Keeping It Together, and Episode 9, discussing We Need To Talk for your listening pleasure. Believe it or not, a lot went on in both episodes, and we discuss the hell out of them. We'll be releasing our show on the final episode of Steven Bomb 2 tomorrow night, the same night it airs. This is obviously where to find Episode 8, if you want to hear Episode 9, check out any of the sources listed below. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store.

Hey! This is Episode 6 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast! It's our first episode covering Steven Bomb 2, and we're talking about Sworn to the Sword. We'll be releasing an episode the day after each new one airs. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringo-zone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store.

Ay! This is Episode 5 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast! Its our final episode in our series on the first Steven Bomb, and we're talking about Full Disclosure. Tomorrow is the start of Steven Bomb 2, as we all know, and we'll be releasing an episode the same night, or the day after each episode airs. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or here on SoundCloud. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. P.S. We found the ghost, it was Evan. Yell at him.

What's good, internet? This is Episode 4 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. This is the fourth in our series of episodes discussing the (first) Steven Bomb episodes, and we're talking about both The Return and Jailbreak, which, you know, were pretty good episodes. We'll be finishing our series of Steven bomb episodes on the fourteenth, and immediately following that, we'll be covering each new episode of Steven Bomb 2, releasing an episode either the same night, or the next day. This one looks a little bit long, because its got a little something extra added to the end! The voice actress featured at the end, Katelyn Hamilton, AKA magicgirlkyubey, can be found on her tumblr: the link will be at the bottom of this text. The animatic in question can be found down there too. There is still some clicking in this episode; we're going to do everything we can to try and fix that for our next episode. The Ringo Zone can be found on our official website, theringozone.com, on tumblr at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/ringo-zone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! You can find us by searching for The Ringo Zone on the iTunes store. Kathleen Hamilton's tumblr can be found at magicgirlkyubey.tumblr.com. The animatic in question can be found on Dillon's art blog, methodandart.tumblr.com.

Howdy! This is Episode 3 of The Ringo Zone, a Steven Universe fan podcast. This is the third in our series of shows discussing the (first) Steven Bomb episodes, and we're discussing Political Power. In order to finish before the second Steven Bomb drops, we're releasing an episode every 4-5 days, leading up to the return from the hiatus. Any feedback is very welcome! We also have our fun new censor sound! I'm going to let it be a surprise. I am sincerely sorry about the clicks in this episode. SOME of us were too close to their mics, and it will not be a problem in future episodes. I realize its a bit annoying. Also, Dillon starts off buzzed, and slowly gets drunk, so sorry about the slurring. The Ringo Zone can be found at theringozone.com, ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us, send us a comment, question, or hate mail, and tell your friends! Also, you can now subscribe to us on iTunes! Do that!

GC13, Ken, and Hunter discuss Cheeseburger Backpack, the first and last appearance of the site and podcast’s namesake: the Lunar Sea Spire. Also, right at the start of the episode, some of the big news (#StevenBomb 2.0 and Mr. Jones-Quartey’s departure) is brought up. The appearance of Garnet and Pearl in the background of a page … Continue reading

Yo! This is Episode 2 of The Ringo Zone, a new Steven Universe fan podcast. This is the second in our series of shows discussing the (first) Steven Bomb episodes, and we're talking about The Message. In order to finish before the second Steven Bomb drops, we'll be releasing an episode every 4-5 days, leading up to the show's return from the hiatus. Any feedback is very welcome, we're still figuring out what works best and what doesn't. The music which we discuss, and is played at the end of the episode, was made by the extremely talented artist “Cyril the Wolf.” He's an awesome dude, he was down to let us play it, and you really, really should check his stuff out. His website is cyrilthewolf.com, his youtube channel is youtube.com/cyrilrufus and you can check the song out here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrZRgeGznQM The Ringo Zone can be found at theringozone.com, ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com, or soundcloud.com/ringozone. Follow us if you'd like, send us a comment or question if one comes to mind, and make sure to tell your friends. All hail the Onyx Wizard.

Episode 1: Rose's Scabbard Hey! This is Episode 1 of the new Steven Universe fan podcast, which some are already describing as, “a new Steven Universe fan podcast.” This is the first of our series of podcasts on the (first) Steven Bomb episodes, which, in order to finish before the second Steven Bomb drops, will be released every 4-5 days, leading up to the return from the hiatus. Consider this episode 1, but if you liked it, maybe check out episode 0, focused on “Reformed!” Our official website is theringozone.com, and you can find us on on tumblr as well, at ringozonepodcast.tumblr.com. Note: Technical difficulties, sound quality, and the presence of some noises that shouldn't really be there are frustrating, we know. Going forward, these won't be an issue anymore, as we've invested in different software to host our calls, and for (one) of our members, a proper microphone.

With #StevenBomb over, GC13 and Ken get their final thoughts in on the event. While the event was intense for lore, with all of the “filler” (if there is such a thing in Steven Universe) cut out, we’re still left with plenty of questions. Perhaps most importantly, there’s now plenty of hype for the show … Continue reading

Ken and GC13 discuss the season two premier of Steven Universe and the last episode of the #StevenBomb, Full Disclosure. A rare occurrence! Ken and GC13 agree on an episode for the first time (not counting the finale, which was too amazing for anyone to dislike)! Of course the discussion goes back to The Return and Jailbreak briefly, … Continue reading

Dakota, GC13, Ken, and Hunter discuss Political Power, the latest episode dropped as part of #StevenBomb.The Steven Universe community is falling dangerously behind in fan art: we still haven’t received any viking Pearl fan art, and now we need fan art of Mayor Dewey as Batman. With The Return and Jail Break just a day away it’s … Continue reading

Dakota, GC13, and Ken continue to cover #StevenBomb, discussing The Message and the possible continuation of Greg’s music career. Also, we bring you our hard-hitting report on the #TelevisionGate scandal currently sweeping the fandom.

Ken, GC13, and Dakota kick off our daily #StevenBomb coverage with a discussion of Rose’s Scabbard. How do immortal beings cope with the loss of a loved one? What was the deal with the pyramid temple in Serious Steven? Pearl: threat or menace? Be sure to check back daily as we cover the previous day’s episode!

In the fifth episode of the podcast, GC13, Ken, and Hunter discuss Marble Madness and the impending #StevenBomb. Peridot: cute bureaucrat or cutest bureaucrat? Will Pearl gain the secondary title of crab mom, or is she simply being dramatic? Why is the homeworld returning now? Is there a point in dancing around a (spoiler warning) new character’s name if … Continue reading