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Episode 253: Ty Lambo Jan 05, 2016

Show notes

TOPIC: Elephants all the way down.

This week, Dan and Merlin do a deep dive on communication, perception, persuasion, empathy, and understanding, as illustrated by everything from The Force Awakens to Don LaPre to PR emails to Donald Trump to a variety of elephants—plus a famous photo of a man and the fake dead triceratops he supposedly killed.

Links for this episode:

Tailopez.com
Tai Lopez - YouTube
xkcd: Duty Calls
Four-quadrant movie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How Donald Trump Answers A Question - YouTube
Lambos!
"i bumped into a LAMBORGHINI and another LAMBORGHINI and a few more LAMBORGHINIS"
Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives: George Lakoff, Howard Dean, Don Hazen: 9781931498715: Amazon.com: Books
Don Lapre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Don Lapre Sells Tiny Classified Ads - YouTube
Joyce Carol Oates and that picture of Steven Spielberg with a 'dead' dinosaur | Books | The Guardian
Blind men and an elephant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN
A Whole Bunch Of People On Facebook Thought Steven Spielberg Killed A Real Dinosaur
Quote by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: “And I urge you to please notice when you are ha...”
“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
Rey - Wookieepedia - Wikia
Treehouse of Horror VI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lisa goes to the ad agency that created those advertising characters, and an executive suggests the citizens stop paying attention to the monsters as they are advertising gimmicks, and attention is what keeps them motivated.
Five people who are much more enjoyable if you imagine them as pro wrestlers | 5ives
Amazon.com: Metaphors We Live By (9780226468013): George Lakoff, Mark Johnson: Books
Menopoly: female lead missing from Star Wars Monopoly game / Boing Boing
Best Of Enemies (2015) - Rotten Tomatoes
Work-at-home scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Work-at-home schemes have been around for decades, with the classic "envelope stuffing" scam originating in the United States during the Depression in the 1920s and 1930s.
Home Based Business Scams.html
Get-rich-quick scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruminant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination. The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ruminare, which means "to chew over again".
The Good Dinosaur (2015) - Rotten Tomatoes

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Episode 252: The Chocolate Boys Dec 23, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: Something something the things we own.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the way shopping changes how we buy stuff—and how buying is changing what we can actually shop for.

Then, there's a ruminative discussion of the Mast Brothers chocolate dust-up and what it might say about our sense of story, identity, and "authenticity."

Links for this episode:

What the Mast Brothers Scandal Tells Us About Ourselves - Eater
One of the ascendant virtues of the new culinary landscape is the murky, poorly defined quality of authenticity. It's an idea that means wildly different things depending on who's saying it and what they're applying it to, but in all circumstances it boils down to a fundamental notion of quality by fiat: if something is authentic, it is necessarily good. Authenticity implies a purity of history, a purity of purpose — in short, if something is authentic, it isn't enjoyed because we've been barraged with external indicators that have instructed us to enjoy it
Milgram experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Veblen good - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Veblen goods are types of luxury goods, such as expensive wines, jewelry, fashion-designer handbags, and luxury cars, which are in demand because of the high prices asked for them.
Snob effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In microeconomics, the snob effect is a phenomenon referring to the situation where the demand for a certain good by individuals of a higher income level is inversely related to the demand for the good by individuals of a lower income level.
The Emperor's New Clothes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mast Brothers Admits It Hasn't Always Made 'Bean-to-Bar' Chocolate - Eater
Ugly Christmas Sweaters & Tacky Christmas Sweaters
21-87 (English Version) by Arthur Lipsett - NFB
Reconcilable Differences #15: Emotional Swimsuit Season - Relay FM
Caillou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bookshop West Portal | Your Neighborhood Bookstore
Kitbashed
Four-quadrant movie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the movie industry, a four-quadrant movie is one which appeals to all four major demographic "quadrants" of the moviegoing audience: both male and female, and both over- and under-25s
Arthur Lipsett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Spiritual Disenchantment of the Super Machine Age — Kitbashed
Dr. Zaius Song - YouTube
Dr. Zaius - YouTube
Narcissism of small differences - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Episode 251: Manna Goy Dec 15, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: Maybe quit being so "busy."

This week, Dan and Merlin drop a lot of science on the miraculous taxonomies of Judaica. Mazel Tov!

For the big topic, Merlin launches into an animated jeremiad on words meaning things, with a focus on being terminally "busy" versus being willfully "time-constrained."

Links for this episode:

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Episode 250: Don't Dress Like the Hamburglar Dec 08, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: Sunrise, Sunset.

This week, Dan and Merlin celebrate their 250th episode with an extensive discussion of McDonaldland and its horrific culture and citizenry.

The main topic addresses the ““sunsetting”” of the Mailbox iOS app—and what it highlights about deciding where to put our stuff, what apps we choose to use, and what contingency plans it's probably wise to have in place.

Links for this episode:

Saying goodbye to Carousel and Mailbox | | Dropbox Blog
Dropbox Kills Mailbox, an App It Bought for $100M | WIRED
Upgrade #66: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good Apps? - Relay FM
Crazy Walls
Our Incredible Journey
Putting the ack! in acquihire
Phil Gyford (@philgyford) | Twitter
Top Scallops - Top Chef Podcast
Ep. 182: "House Trotter" - Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann
You Look Nice Today - "Parlor Parlor" (XOXO 2015) on Vimeo
Recorded live on stage at XOXO Fest in Portland, Oregon in September, 2015.
Coulrophobia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A specific fear of clowns has sometimes been discussed in terms of a specific phobia.
McDonald's Relaunches New, Grown-Up Hamburglar Mascot
Why? by They Might Be Giants on Spotify
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps - YouTube
Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
She explains: "They were real tears. My boyfriend at the time [Angus Andrew] was supposed to come to the shoot – he was three hours late and I was just about to leave for tour. I didn't think he was even going to come and this was the song that was written for him. He eventually showed up and I got myself in a real emotional state."
Ted Leo - Since U Been Gone / Maps - YouTube
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps [Acoustic][Sessions@AOL] - YouTube
5by5 | The Frequency #82: A Road Paved in Bones
The Chicken and the Pig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of mergers and acquisitions by Google - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of McDonald's characters - McDonald's Wiki - Wikia
This is the list of McDonald's characters that appeared in McDonaldland commercials, merchandise, or other media related to its franchise.
Hamburglar - McDonald's Wiki - Wikia
He was revised in 1985, when his look changed from a trollish old man to a red-head Dennis the Menace-type child who spoke and wore a shorter-brimmed hat and a black cape with yellow on the inside.
Fagin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the preface to the novel he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods", but within the text he is more frequently identified as the "merry old gentleman" or simply "the Jew."
Japanese McDonald's Ad - YouTube
This Photo Of The Original Ronald McDonald Will Give You Nightmares
Creepy First Ronald McDonald Commercial Featuring Willard Scott | Village Voice
Barry Manilow - BarryNet - His Music - Commercial Jingles
Barry Manilow performed or co-wrote a number of commercial jingles early in his career, most notably the following:
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ted Leo - Biomusicology - YouTube
Ted Leo - Parallel Or Together? - YouTube
School House Rock -The Preamble - YouTube
Ed Gein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
His crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin.
Collyer brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947), known as the Collyer brothers, were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding.
Shark Tank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Easy Com-mercial, Easy Go-mercial - Bob's Burgers Wiki - Wikia

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Episode 249: A John Nash Moment Dec 01, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: Personal Crazy Walls

This week, Dan and Merlin start by covering a lot of things that you might actually be thinking of.

The meat of the episode focuses on a listener question about deciding what things go where—leading to a pretty nerdy exegesis of Notes vs. text files, reminders vs. task managers, and where stuff goes vs. where it probably should go.

Links for this episode:

Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #11 — Merlin Mann
MERLIN MANN (Back to Work, Roderick on the Line, Reconcilable Differences, You Look Nice Today, et al.) invites you to drop by Two Cats Comics on the evening of Thursday, December 3rd to hang out, talk about comics, and just say, “Hi.”
There's a Hole in My Sidewalk Quotes by Portia Nelson
Kobayashi Maru - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazon.com: Panasonic NN-SD681S Stainless 1200W 1.2 Cu. Ft. Countertop/Built-in Microwave with Inverter Technology: Countertop Microwave Ovens: Kitchen & Dining
Captain America: Civil War - Trailer World Premiere - YouTube
Altered States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Challenger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Twitter
Markdown and Automation Experiments with 1Writer – MacStories
1Writer - A beautiful and rich-featured Markdown editor for iPhone and iPad
Editorial for iOS
Drafts | Agile Tortoise
Crazy Walls
Crazy Walls
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - IMDb
Evidence Dungeon - The Flop House Wiki - Wikia
Mentioned in Episode 8: I Know Who Killed Me, the lair of a killer, which is full of all the things a good serial killer needs to do their work...and to be charged with said work by the police when they find the Evidence Dungeon.
Programmers Notebook
"Just pretend that you've got a microphone... and that microphone is always on."
Log Book
Definition: A notebook…where you log and probably describe and explain your activities while performing it. Not an agenda.
Trello
Podcast Universe Map — MuffinWorks
Epicenter vs. Center
Hank Williams - My Bucket's Got A Hole In It - YouTube
Thomas Keller’s [3-Ingredient] Roasted Chicken
Getting rid of Open With duplicates - All this
Upgrade #65: Holiday Firewall - Relay FM
Special guest host Merlin Mann joins Jason to talk about the holidays, Apple TV, iPad Pro, and how to recommend Apple products.
Pensieve - Harry Potter Wiki - Wikia
The Pensieve is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone or metal basin, into which runes and strange symbols are carved and precious stones are fitted.
The Expanse (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adventure Time Pilot Episode - YouTube
Sisyphus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Episode 248: A Rye Bread Made of Birds Nov 24, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: More Songs About Buildings and Food

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about transitions, microwave ovens, air conditioning, and the likelihood of salmonella.

Links for this episode:

Amazon.com: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (9780060589462): Robert M. Pirsig: Books
Discipline of Do Easy by Gus Van Sant - YouTube
The discipline of DE (do easy) - MELANCHOLIA.
Homer's Enemy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Food Safety Talk
Food Safety Talk 79: You’re Into Botulism Country (with Merlin Mann) — Food Safety Talk
Merlin Mann joins Don and Ben for a discussion on food safety and cooking using science at home.

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Episode 247: On a Farm with a Monkey Nov 17, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: A Mark on a Page

This week, Dan and Merlin kick off by talking about Dan's recent interview with "Weird Al" and how he's such an interesting harbinger of changing times for media and platforms.

Next, Merlin responds to a listener's question about how he uses a notebook, which leads to an extended dissertation on how to ruin your notebook in the best way possible. Nothing doesn't go in here.

Links for this episode:

5by5 | The Ihnatko Almanac #161: Project Doneway
On the eve of the finale of "Project Runway," Andy and special guest Merlin Mann talk about Season 14. Along the way, they talk about creativity, working under pressure, and the differences between how one processes failure in their Twenties and failure in their Forties.
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mandatory Fun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mandatory Fun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Many Loves of Howard Hughes: Katharine Hepburn, 1938 (YMRT #11) — Karina Longworth
Chris Hardwick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wreck This Journal: Keri Smith: 9780399533464: Amazon.com: Books
Wreck This Journal (Black) Expanded Ed.: Keri Smith: 9780399161940: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, 2nd Edition (9781590302613): Natalie Goldberg: Books
Nothing Doesn't Go In Here | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Spectre (2015) - Box Office Mojo
Production Budget: $245 million
Siracusa on Toasters — Liss is More
Fast forward four years. John, Marco, and myself are now hosting ATP. When Cards Against Humanity decided to sponsor our show, Max decided as usual to eschew a normal ad read. Instead, he had a brilliant idea: CAH would send John a toaster to review.
We’ve been asked more than once to have a compendium of all of these reviews. This is it.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. - Wayne Gretzky at BrainyQuote
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
Commonplace book - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas.
Cards Against Humanity

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Episode 246: Venn Diagram of Confusion Nov 10, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: Medieval or Renaissance?

This week, Dan and Merlin start out by helping listeners learn to identify the subtle differences between all things Renaissance and Medieval.

The remainder of the show is split between an in-depth introduction to the Plex media ecosystem, and a philosophical and practical meditation on choosing how to spend a given day.

Links for this episode:

Amazon.com: Das Keyboard 4 Professional for Mac, Clicky (DASK4MACCLI): Computers & Accessories
A Scottish historian on Brave | Film | The Guardian
Which era does 'Game of Thrones' most resemble from history?
Steampunk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cinderella Castle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robin Hood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Middle Ages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Renaissance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[VIDEO] John Cleese on Creativity - YouTube
Media Preparation – Plex
Cloak VPN - Cloak - Super-simple VPN
John-Cleese-on-Creativity/Transcript.markdown at master · tjluoma/John-Cleese-on-Creativity · GitHub
You know, when Video Arts asked me if I'd like to talk about creativity I said "no problem!" No problem! Because telling people how to be creative is easy, it's only being it that's difficult.
Plex
Dan Benjamin on Instagram: “Turkey Leg.”
Dan Benjamin on Instagram: “Fantastic Rabbit Man.”
MASQUERADE: Kit Williams
on Amazon
Duck Soup (1933) - IMDb
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Harpo Marx's Tattoos - YouTube
Amazon.com: Palomino Blackwing 602 - 12 Count: Office Products
Treat yo self - YouTube
Squared Soft Notebook - Large - Moleskine ®
Siracusa on Toasters — Liss is More
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. - Wayne Gretzky at BrainyQuote

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Episode 245: The Least Broken Nov 03, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: First impressions of the new Apple TV

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the triumphs and travails of their first few days with the fourth generation Apple TV.

Links for this episode:

New Apple TV: Tips, Tricks, Siri Remote Shortcuts and Useful Settings - Mac Rumors
To complement our coverage of the new Apple TV, which includes a trio of hands-on videos, an Apple TV apps roundup, several tidbits, and a reviews roundup, we have created the following list of tips, tricks, and shortcuts for the new streaming device, some of which are outlined in the Apple TV user guide. The tips are centered upon useful Siri Remote shortcuts and Apple TV settings.

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Episode 244: You Have to Be a Stag Oct 27, 2015

Show notes

TOPIC: You are who you choose to be.

This week Dan and Merlin talk about making buying decisions, dealing with unsolicited email, preventing stupid from sticking to you, and finding systems that may or may not work.

Links for this episode:

Travel Basket Key Tray and Wallet Valet by Red Oxx Mfg
It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff: Peter Walsh: 9780743292658: Amazon.com: Books
BEST Haka EVER on HD - All Blacks Haka - Rugby World Cup Final 2011 Vs. France - YouTube
Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Brad Bird & Ernie Isley | Maximum Fun
FTC Unveils New E-mail Address for Deceptive Spam: Spam@uce.gov | Federal Trade Commission
Knoll (verb) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knolling is the process of arranging related objects in parallel or 90-degree angles as a method of organization.
The Fake Traffic Schemes That Are Rotting the Internet - Bloomberg Business
Marketers thought the Web would allow perfectly targeted ads.Hasn’t worked out that way.
Its All Too Much | 43 Folders
The History of the ThinkPad Name
It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff - Peter Walsh - Google Books
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition - Official Trailer [HD] - YouTube
ImageMagick: Convert, Edit, Or Compose Bitmap Images
scrncst :: mnmlst dsk on Vimeo
5by5 | Back to Work #56: One Giant Beholder Dinosaur
See: it's not a red snapper problem, it's an emotional problem. So, quit being scared of your fridge, or your inbox, or your todo list. Just suck it up, buy some contractor bags, and never organize another thing that's not worth keeping.
5by5 | Back to Work #202: Choosing is a Radio Button
This week, Dan and Merlin talk about organization, multitasking and new year's resolutions.
Cool Tools – It’s All Too Much
Ultimately, it’s not just a question of tidying your house

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