On episode 094 of Hemispheric Views I once again spoke of my (in)famous depreciation spreadsheet.

This is the document that tracks all my spending on larger, technology-related items. Some argue that it's also a document that prevents me from experiencing the joy of a new purchase. I counter-argue suggesting that understanding the value of an item helps me appreciate not just the cost of the gadget, but the opportunity cost of not having that money free to be put to use elsewhere.[^1]

During the episode recording I referenced the spreadsheet as I was describing my decision to buy an iPhone 15 Pro. I rattled off some statistics, but Martin (appropriately) suggested I write a blog post that provides the necessary detail. Fun fact: the description of number series are not great content for an audio show.

Above is a view of my spreadsheet, filtered for iPhone purchases. Unfortunately, I don't have data that extends back to my earliest iPhone purchases, which is a shame I will have to live with.

Interestingly, the first two iPhones appear not to have had a long life with me - although the XR is somewhat distorted because it was a work-provided phone that I purchased from the IT department after already having used it for about 12 months (from memory).

Part of my purchase decision around the 15 Pro was to maximise the remaining value of my 13 mini. If I waited longer, the trade-in value of the older device would only decline. That trade-in value, combined with its two years of service, resulted in the phone being incredibly affordable - costing me $2.76 per week. Removal of the $500 trade-in value jumps this cost of ownership up to $7.36 per week! I'm sure you'd agree that's too high, so the trade-in really changes the metrics on this analysis.

This final cost per week of the 13 mini may change ever so slightly, depending upon the exact date of disposal of the phone. I am currently using the longest delivery estimate of the 15 Pro provided by Apple as my presumptive disposal date.

The other thing to note is just how much more this iPhone 15 Pro is costing me compared with every other iPhone for which I have a record. Clearly, while I'm an Apple-nerd, I'm a frugal Apple-nerd.

Rest assured that I have not lost my sensibilities. I have been saving for a new iPhone for some time. I have a YNAB category dedicated to that sole purpose.

In fact, this is almost the most exciting thing about getting a new iPhone - I get to start saving for my next iPhone, setting aside a little each month so that in a few years, I will have all the money I need set aside in a neat little YNAB category.

Budgeting, combined with a depreciation spreadsheet. It's a winning combination.

[^1]: For those that don't know, I completed my University degree in Economics.

Anyway, getting to the point, we finally have our winners! We thank you for your patience, as Jason wore his fingers to the bone recording, counting and tabulating all the scores on the leaderboard.

Assigning points for each first, second and third place gained across the mini games, Jason has found the top three Arcadia players for 2022. See them and their final points below!

1. EricMWalk: 60
2. fürstenberg: 37
3. TashKan: 28

Congratulations to these three gaming Hemisphereans on their fantastic scores and, of course, to everyone who participated! This is EricMWalk’s second victory in a row, so the challenge for 2023 is to topple him!

Also, we’d like to make a further honourable mention of these insane game scores:

• Top Bricko score — TashKan on 63,670;
• Top Bubblemania score — Perth Bandits on 32,490; and
• Top BadaBoom score — EricMWalk on 26,630.

For even more detail, you can check out Jason’s crazy Numbers spreadsheet.

If you enjoyed Arcadia June, let others know about the app so that we can spread even more gaming joy. Catch you for the next episode of Hemispheric Views!

*As was the case last year, please forward all complaints to Andrew or Martin. Definitely not Jason.

All you have to is play any game (or games) that tickle your fancy in the app, then submit your high scores anytime in the month of June in our special Arcadia June channel on the Hemispheric Discord! We’d also love to hear what you enjoy about the games. 🙂

At the end of June, Arcadia Game Master Jason Burk will reveal the winners and prizes will be allocated! (Any listeners in later time zones, such as Australia and New Zealand, will have until 1 July, to line up with 30 June in the US.)

Have fun and we can’t wait to see your scores!

Promo Codes

Keen to try Arcadia but not sure about spending a few dollars? The first ten people to send an email with the subject Arcadia June 2022 to hello@hemisphericviews.com will receive a promo code to download the app! Thanks to developer Rafaelle for providing them!

More Stuff!

Keen to learn more about Arcadia? Listen to episode 028 to hear Natasha first notify the hemispheres about this great app; check out episode 029 for the initial competition announcement; and enjoy episode 031 to hear Irene (co-developer with Rafaelle) tell the story behind the app.

You can also view the Arcadia June 2021 Leaderboard.

Disclaimer

We do not receive any payment for promoting Arcadia—we just love the app!

For our subscribers, see each of the Home screens below as an easy reference as you listen, with each one displayed in the order that they're discussed. If you'd like to hear the discussion but aren't yet a subscriber, sign up for One Prime Plus today. You'll also gain access to our full back catalogue of episodes, our monthly Hemispheric News and the exclusive #one-prime-plus members' channel in our Hemispheric Discord.

Jason's iPad mini (6th Gen.) Home Screen

Martin's iPad Pro (11-inch, 3rd Gen.) Home Screen

Martin's iPad mini (6th Gen.) Home Screen

Andrew's iPad Pro (11-inch, 3rd Gen.) Home Screen

Over the past few years, Spotify has also moved to make more exclusive shows, which is its right to do as a business, however this has contributed to the fracturing of the open podcasting landscape: one that has been made more equal and accessible through RSS on the open Web. We use Fireside as our hosting service because of its integration with and support of RSS as a delivery mechanism for podcasts and blog posts.

We apologise to any listening Hemispherean who has enjoyed our show on Spotify; we even advertised recently that we were on the platform! Instead we would encourage you to listen and subscribe through our website, by adding our RSS feed to a podcast app or visiting us on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Castro, Google Podcasts, Overcast or Pocket Casts. You can even discover us through Listen Notes, the open podcast search engine.

By listening to our show (and others) through a podcasting app that prioritises RSS, you'll be supporting a more open ecosystem that grants all audio producers the opportunity to be heard on a range of apps and platforms.

My photo was of my dressed as a nerd, with my brother, dressed as a punk. I had fragments of memory but I was curious to know what else my brother, Patrick, might be able to add to the story.

The photo was taken around 1988. That made me 11 years old. It was a church event which Patrick thinks may have been at the South Perth Community Centre. My brother’s wife did the make-up and costumes. She is the one who took the photo.

Patrick was disappointed that neither Martin or Jason mentioned the pocket protector I was wearing, which they thought was the best feature of the whole outfit.

Patrick recalls that I was excited and thought it was a lot of fun. In this, I agree that I would have enjoyed the design and preparation, but I maintain that once I was there, my mood changed and I wanted to get out of there.

The tie I was wearing was one of Patrick’s. He used to wear it to work.

Patrick’s jacket was his and he wore it for a number of years until it eventually fell apart. Patrick got the jacket from our Grandad. My Grandad got it after World War II sometime. So as Jason suggested, that jacket must have seen some shit! It was genuine leather but heavy and stiff.

Thanks Pat, for adding context and detail to our photo exploration!

Fair to say, I was nervous and apprehensive.

Until I discovered Stratego. Our Year 5 classroom had a bunch of games, but Stratego was epic. I made a good friend playing Stratego. I found my place. I loved the game. Before classes started in the morning, we'd play Stratego. During rainy lunchtimes when outside play was impossible, we'd play Stratego. The winner kept the board, the loser had to shuffle back to the end of the queue of players wanting a turn.

Stratego helped me assimilate into the school and become safe and secure.

In the early 2000’s I found a rudimentary online version of Stratego but it didn’t have the same experience as using a real board and pieces.

Fast-forward to now. A few months ago we were on holiday in Albany, Western Australia and we were exploring a toy store in town. On their shelves were boxes of Stratego.

I looked at the games. I looked at my 10 year old son. I looked back at the games and grabbed a box. Was I buying this game for me, him, or both of us? I like to think the latter, but it was probably the former.

Now, here we are. Nostalgia has delivered an experience in the present.

The Nintendo Zapper in original gray color from 1985.

Later in 1989 it was re-released in orange.

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved playing games on my family’s Power Macintosh 6500, such as Wolfenstein 3D, Caesar and MDK. When visiting my relatives, I made sure to jump on their later iMacs, including G3 and G4 models, to play a range of other games, including Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Nanosaur, Cro Mag Rally, Bugdom and Harry Potter. All of these games had a huge influence on me and I loved the feeling of being carried away by a combination of action and narrative.

Above all, however, there was one game that was scarred into my brain: the original You Don’t Know Jack by Jellyvision (now Jackbox Games) in 1995.

For those who are unfamiliar, the franchise is a series of TV-style quiz shows that mock the user and throw up a bizarre range of pop-culture references and gibberish. The original version captured the feeling of a TV studio beautifully, and while I was a bit too young at the time to catch and understand all the references, it was the style and use of wordplay and sound effects that really stood out to me.

For Nostalgic November, I present a little taste of that game. In this video, you’ll see it being loaded on iMac G4 in my study—once owned by my late grandmother, Barbara, who loved her Macs—which prompts the running of the Classic (OS 9) environment within Mac OS X, then transitioning to the intro video sequence and one question of the game. I hope that you’ll enjoy it!

This month, share your memories of a thing from your past that brings a smile to your face—be it a movie, song, game, product, whatever! Simply send us a text, image or video in one of the following ways: tag @HemisphericPod on Twitter with #NostalgicNovember; @HemisphericViews on Micro.blog; in our general Discord chat; or by email to hello@hemisphericviews.com.

Now it's July, so it's finished.

So I guess you all simply go back to listening to the podcast passively now. Well, yes you do, but not before we announce some winners!

That's right, you dutifully submitted scores to us via Discord and we (well, mainly Jason but we praise as a team around here) entered them into a Craft scoreboard.

Now through the magic of the internet and Craft's Secret Link feature, you can find out who the winners are!

Congratulations all. In my eyes, you're all winners.

// Andrew

Don’t worry… the regular Hemispheric Views podcast isn't changing, moving or going away! Our new One Prime Plus membership option is simply a sweetener for those who wish to gain extra content.

We’re offering three membership tiers with a range of benefits, as shown below!

1. Support the Northern Hemisphere! / Support the Southern Hemisphere!

• Price: US$2 per month
• A shout-out on the show!
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To get things rolling for the launch, listeners who join today will find five bonus HVmini episodes waiting in the Hemispheric Views One Prime Plus member-only podcast feed! These include four entirely new instalments and a special 'From the Vault' episode about Jason's home wiki—saved from the vault of deletion by the Feld Foot. From there, you can expect to find a monthly bonus episode and occasional surprises!

Global supporters and those who just want to pay more for the higher tier can also expect to receive the first issue of Hemispheric News this month!

We’re committed to keeping Hemispheric Views light-hearted, fun and accessible, although we also wish to offer more for those who want it. Patreon is this is the best way to do this.

Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support so far! We can’t wait to provide even more to you as members!

Check out Hemispheric Views One Prime Plus today!