Random Fandom Rants We take a break from our normal format this week to have a good, old-fashioned rant fest about the outsourcing of customer service, spurred on by our recent experiences with our cable TV and Internet provider. Joanna talks about the outsourcing of fast food order-taking and Laurie reads about the outsourcing of news coverage.

We also rant a bit about the technical difficulties we've been having with our audio system, but also express our gratitude to Ben for helping us solve the problems. Thanks, Ben...You rock!

Random Robots While trying to get help and information from customer service, Laurie was shunted to an automated system, which got us to thinking about robots. They can be very useful and cool, but sometimes there's no substitute for a human being!

We mention some recent robot news:

• Robot talk turns practical at RoboBusiness 2007
• Science beats fiction in Robot Hall of Fame
• Novel Salamander Robot: "salamandra robotica"
• The Daily Show's "Future Shock" segment explores the robot subject

"I Chat, Therefore I AM..." Laurie and special guest, Ben, read the transcript of a chat session between two chatbots. Joanna finds this performance highly amusing!

Give a Little Bit Joanna highlights DonorsChoose, an organization which allows teachers to submit ideas for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Then Individuals can choose a project to support and make it a classroom reality.

Funky Food We marvel over the edible menus and intriguing process of printing with food-based inks at Chef Cantu's Chicago restaurant, "Moto." Read all about it: Futuristic Food.

Go Spurs Go! Our favorite basketball team, the San Antonio Spurs, beat the Phoenix Suns on May 18th to advance to the NBA Western Conference Finals! They are currently playing the Utah Jazz in a battle for the Western Conference Championship title. (We are chagrined to say that we failed to mention Bruce Bowen when talking about the guys on the team. Bruce is awesome! How could we have forgotten him?!)

Apolo Anton Ohno: A Champion Once Again! Apolo Ohno and his dancing partner, Julieanne Hough, were announced as the "Dancing With The Stars" (Season 4) Champions on May 22nd, which just happened to be Apolo's 25th birthday. Congratulations to Apolo and Julieanne!

More exciting Apolo news: Ohno Eying 2010 Vancouver Games.

He's a Pirate Because we think Johnny Depp is fantastic and Captain Jack Sparrow is fabulous, we're celebrating the opening of " Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Avast, ye landlubbers, move aside or pay...we're on our way to the theater! ;)

Random Fandom Feedback Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com.

Featured Band of the Week Band: The K's Song Title: "Peg-legged Pirate" Links: The K's Official Site, The K's at the Podsafe Music Network

Thanks to The K's for generously allowing us to play their song on Random Fandom.

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Labels: apolo anton ohno, pirates, San Antonio Spurs