TAMBO was founded by an eccentric scientist searching for a way to produce limitless quantities of food.  He found it in a self-replicating catalyst that converts seawater into an edible paste.  This paste is revolting to look at, horrifying to smell, and achingly bitter to taste, but it is edible.  The surface of Tambo used to be over 90% covered by ocean, so now it is over 90% covered by this stuff.  They say that if you strain out the liquid from the paste, you can more easily choke it down with a glass of pure rainwater.  "They" are of course the nonviolent criminals and other undesirables who have been exiled to Tambo from the rest of the Nag sector.  The remorseful scientist attempted to flee, but was located and humanely imprisoned elsewhere rather than subjected to his creation.  His researches are closely supervised lest he achieve similar success again.

FLEPS is a seismologically unstable planet in the Ventura sector which is mined for its exotic exudations by the Flepsico corporation.  Its history of wealth generation and wealth concentration was fairly unremarkable before the arrival of a few individuals supplied with intellect-enhancing Paraíbite.  Then, though mining and trading and generation of wealth continued, off-world friends and relations soon noticed a difference in the communications they received from Fleps.  Messages became shorter, with more limited vocabulary, and some people stopped writing altogether.  Even more worrisome were the results when people visited Fleps for the express purpose of finding out what was going on.  They seemed to soon forget that intention, and to just settle into a life of being hard-working Flepsies.  It was not until the arrival of an intrepid Paraíbiter from Lestock that the galaxy learned the secret of Fleps.  High-ranking company officers had developed a means of inhibiting the thoughts of the entire population through the transmition of electromagnetic radiation.  Only Paraíbiters were immune.  So there is now very little immigration to Fleps, but its population remains stable, and there are always a few extremely wealthy people who are willing to join Flepsico and make even more money exploiting the hard-working little-thinking Flepsies.

PAM, TIM, I AM OWAT.

Who are Pam and Tim, and why do they keep saying "Woohoo"?

I heard this one on the oldies station and was struck by how well it fits the genre.  Performed by a much-mocked artist with over 75 million records sold, it reached #8 on the Billboard chart and earned him his only Grammy award.

As for the moral of the story, I find "don't fall in love" problematic.  Perhaps it should be "don't initiate violence unnecessarily" or "don't drink yourself blind in a vain attempt to forget your sorrows"?  Alas, those don't fit the meter.

Only one death, but maddeningly earworm-level peppy. ***

The phrase "plus maintenant" in French means "not anymore" rather than the literal translation "more now".  This seems like it was invented just to create a disastrous misunderstanding of a treaty.  Apparently you can specify the opposite meaning by pronouncing the "s".

In "Odd Thomas" (2013), Anton Yelchin (1989-2016) says "I'm sorry your life was so short" but it might have been said by anyone, and about anyone. 

Lugging a hundred thousand gold pieces to the Astral Plane was perhaps more trouble than it was worth, but I did score more points than other recent ascensions.  Also notably fun was intrinsic magical breathing and protection from shape changers.  Oh, and I brought my backup bands with me, the Beetles and the Ants.

Sayonara Ferret the Demigod...

You and the soldier ant and the giant beetle and the giant ant and the giant beetle and the soldier ant and the giant beetle
went to your reward with 4291074 points,
Excalibur (worth 4000 zorkmids and 10000 points)
The Tsurugi of Muramasa (worth 4500 zorkmids and 11250 points)
Snickersnee (worth 1200 zorkmids and 3000 points)
Werebane (worth 1500 zorkmids and 3750 points)
Dragonbane (worth 500 zorkmids and 1250 points)
Trollsbane (worth 200 zorkmids and 500 points)
      19 amethyst stones (worth 11400 zorkmids),
      15 emeralds (worth 37500 zorkmids),
      13 fluorite stones (worth 5200 zorkmids),
      13 agate stones (worth 2600 zorkmids),
      10 sapphires (worth 30000 zorkmids),
       8 rubies (worth 28000 zorkmids),
       8 opals (worth 6400 zorkmids),
       8 jade stones (worth 2400 zorkmids),
       7 black opals (worth 17500 zorkmids),
       7 citrine stones (worth 10500 zorkmids),
       7 chrysoberyl stones (worth 4900 zorkmids),
       6 amber stones (worth 6000 zorkmids),
       6 topaz stones (worth 5400 zorkmids),
       6 jasper stones (worth 3000 zorkmids),
       5 dilithium crystals (worth 22500 zorkmids),
       5 turquoise stones (worth 10000 zorkmids),
       5 aquamarine stones (worth 7500 zorkmids),
       5 garnet stones (worth 3500 zorkmids),
       4 diamonds (worth 16000 zorkmids),
       3 jet stones (worth 2550 zorkmids),
       1 obsidian stone (worth 200 zorkmids),
       5 amulets of life saving (worth 750 zorkmids),
and 110484 pieces of gold, after 84679 moves.
You were level 28 with a maximum of 542 hit points when you ascended.

Apparently a picture of whales breaching the plains of the American midwest had achieved viral fame, so someone decided to join the fun with a photograph of bison stampeding through the ocean.  While the whale tableau was obviously faked, however, this scene was decidedly real.  The pranksters had imported a small herd and somehow coaxed the thousand-pound animals into Lake Tygart, West Virginia (perhaps because no amount of coaxing could get them into the ocean).  A crowd of onlookers gathered on the shore to marvel at the sight.  That was where I found Thomas Boutell, clutching one of my daughter's stuffed manatees and looking as befuddled as anyone.  Soon people everywhere would be risking life and limb to spoof famous memes without using any editing software.

* No bison were harmed in the making of this dream, but I'm an absolute wreck.

More music reviews from those same three CD cases!  
​​​​​​​Track 1:  A brief mention of hellfire, but otherwise just high levels of peppiness.  ***
Track 2:  Not so peppy, and imagines an end to many avoidable deaths.  Still not bad.  **
Track 3:  A quiet meditation on a shadowy location.  **
Track 4:  Aha.  Exactly one dead bird, but a very moving eulogy for her.  ****
Track 5:  This song has only 7 words.  It's easy to listen to, at least.  **
Track 6:  Again no obvious physical death, but a genuine classic that can't be ignored.  It's about spiritual death, perhaps?  *****
Track 7:  One dead brother, lauded with exceptional peppiness.  Bring tissues.  *****
Track 8:  A bright love ballad that suddenly threatens to burn down cities and hear the lamentation of the women as they are also destroyed.  ****
Track 9:  An extremely peppy hymn to a baby destined for salvific sacrifice.  ****
Track 10:  A cheerful day in the park, then BANG, nuclear holocaust.  Mrs. Ferret claims to hate this song, but this time she played along bravely.  *****
Track 11:  A great song that possibly threatens death by drowning, but I think that's just metaphorical.  ****
Track 12:  A young man has become a petty criminal for reasons that are unclear to him.  He probably didn't kill anyone, but who knows?  **
Track 13:  A remixed version of track 6, probably the singers' best-known song.  It's been covered by a heavy metal group. *****
Track 14:  Dead leaves remind us of the inevitability of aging, loss, and death. ****
Track 15:  I can't find anything to particularly like about this one, but they can't all be hits. *
Track 16:  This song literally refers to the death of raindrops, but no one cries about dead raindrops, right?  **
Track 17:  After this remix/sequel of track 12, my son said "That song is so good, why is it so short?"  This made me very happy. ****
Track 18:  Entirely instrumental, with hints of track 22.  Reasonably peppy. ***
Track 19:  There's no trigger warning in this song about the suicide of a gentleman in otherwise pleasant circumstances. ****
Track 20:  Wow, a second consecutive suicide, of a man in less pleasant circumstances.  Who compiled this album?  I don't like this one as much, probably because it's not as peppy. **
Track 21:  Definitely refers to death, but I'm fairly hopeful that this is just a reference to the death of a love affair. Brief and lacking pep. **
Track 22:  More relationship death, but peppier. ***
Track 23:  A rocking ode to individual isolationism that contrasts a peppy beat with a less-peppy message. ****

ÞÓRUNN is home to a coldly predatory society with a combination of military strength and economic power.  Þórunners frequently raid interstellar traders and poorly-defended outposts.  These pirates of the space lanes do not conceal their origins, but sport badges with the logos of their sponsoring corporation.  According to Þórunning Law, all plundered assets become the property of said financial institution as soon as they are returned to Þórunn itself.  At this point there are usually bribes to be paid to influential off-world interests who might otherwise be inclined to reappropriate the stolen property.  Anyone not dissuaded from that course of action must face the massive energy weapons mounted on each Þórunner vault.  These are advertised by colorful beams aimed into the sky, inviting challengers to take their best shot at attacking Þórunn.