May 2, 2017 at 7:15PM •
1 hour 24 minutes
TOPIC: Curiosity before fear.
This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the experience of Apple stores and repairs, The Handmaid's Tale, Dan's invertebrate-sensing skills, and some follow-up on "look left, go left."
Listener Molly asks about how to become a morning person, and Listener Lance wants help with the anxiety of moving someplace new.
April 27, 2017 at 12:30AM •
1 hour 28 minutes
TOPIC: Velocity!
This week Dan and Merlin talk about lice, Kenny Rogers, strange memory phenomena, an intriguing new oil, and popcorn nugs pricing.
A question from Listener Ben leads to suggestions for finding velocity.
April 25, 2017 at 3:45PM •
1 hour 49 minutes
TOPIC: Triangles Everywhere!
This week, Dan and Merlin shuck and/or jive about stealing, Publix, airlines, driver’s ed, douchebagerié, Twitter bots, and more.
Main topic this week is a question from Listener Brian about project management. Merlin expounds at length at this dark art and what it can teach us about life.
April 11, 2017 at 3:45PM •
1 hour 26 minutes
TOPIC: Oh my GOD, this is torture.
This week, Dan and Merlin talk about—amongst other odds and sods— the Mean FedEx Guy, the weird future of gig economies, and Adventure Time.
Then, there's some handy tips on how to leverage iOS Accessibility settings for a better and more efficient experience on your device.
Listener Michelle writes in to ask about dealing with colleagues who use the hallway as an ad hoc one-on-one meeting. What strategies can we employ to be civil and collegial about careless interruptions without lowering our standards or losing our minds?
April 5, 2017 at 5:00PM •
1 hour 12 minutes
After some brief shucky-jivey, the boys resign themselves to discussing the big Apple announcement. They ponder why and how the message was delivered in the way it was as well as what it means. Dan has thoughts on modularization and Merlin reveals a new unified field theory.
Then, yay, lots more responses to excellent questions from listeners.
March 31, 2017 at 2:00PM •
1 hour 20 minutes
After some very important follow-up, and more than a little shucking and jiving, your hosts answer questions from listeners.
This is a good one!
March 21, 2017 at 3:00PM •
1 hour 11 minutes
This week, Dan and Merlin have one of their beloved "odds and sods" episodes. Something for everyone in this diverse and bewildering episode.
"Same day delivery!"
March 14, 2017 at 3:45PM •
1 hour 36 minutes
TOPIC: "Delivery Attempted."
This week, Merlin struggles with his coffee-making options, and Dan recalls his days of fishing lures. USPS deliveries, several TV shows, and Wolverine's disturbing bone claws are also discussed.
Listener Jackson writes in to ask about dealing with failings of self-discipline.
March 7, 2017 at 5:00PM •
1 hour 41 minutes
TOPIC: "Remember this film is supposed to be a comedy."
This week: Dan struggles with his progressive lenses, but he really liked the movie, Logan. Merlin's daughter has made four piles, and he finally accepts that he really should be watching more movies for his "work." Then, there's follow-up on that crazy S3 typo and some pretty poor Oscars® OPSEC.
Then we're on to answering listener feedback via two futurist hats and a parenting hat:
- Listener Andrew, on self-driving cars and the mainstreaming of ponderous tech punditry.
- Listener Jason, on whether a future of voice computing will become a sociopathic blight.
- Listener Mark, on where the heck to find reasonable resources on better parenting.
February 28, 2017 at 3:30PM •
1 hour 34 minutes
TOPIC: You can't perfect life.
This week opens with the carnage of today's Amazon S3 problems and why so much of the internet seems broken. A brief history of outage monitoring is provided and a praxis for improving the process is proposed.
Dan and Merlin debate what can be learned from how kids and other non-olds use technology "wrong." Should they be learning from us or should we be learning from them?
This leads to some deeper ruminations on how we can choose to get better at doubting our own perceptions and correcting our own weird thinking. The future still isn't here yet—and that's kinda what makes it the future.
After some discussion of mental health and creativity, the show pivots into yet more discussion of emerging technology, and how it consistently scares the crap out of people until…it just doesn't.
Dan and Merlin wrap by answering a listener's question about whether it's better to be good at writing or at speaking.
