Back to Work

DISCUSSED: Merlin runs into some problems reporting live from the show floor; is social media making us as happy as we'd like to think?; thoughts on pro wrestlers and the films of John Carpenter; finding the triggers for action that you didn't know you needed; recommendations for videos and Firefox extensions; why we use the web browsers that we use; your hosts dive into their favorite announcements coming out of WWDC; how exactly do you decide where something should go?; Dan reveals he has become the third kind of calendar person; exploring the ineffable (but indisputably real) value of finding technologies and experiences that you actually enjoy; and, finally, Merlin shares a novel misunderstanding with a voice dingus.

Links for this episode:

• Fakespot Fake Amazon Reviews and eBay Sellers (Firefox extension)
  Protect yourself from bad sellers and fake reviews on Amazon and more
  

DISCUSSED: Part one of a deep dive into calendars.

Links for this episode:

• 206 - Narcissism — You Are Not So Smart — Overcast
  
• Dark triad - Wikipedia
  In psychology, the dark triad comprises the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
  

DISCUSSED: Merlin is full of beans this week.

Links for this episode:

• Adam Neely - YouTube
  
• Once More, With Feeling
  
• Thread Benefits
  
• HomeKit over Thread | evehome.com
  
• Bacon Ray - "Sundays in a Row" (1995)
  
• Wrong Tools Cost Lives — Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford — Overcast
  
• Sublime Text 4 - News - Sublime HQ
  
• Mr Show - Thrilling Miracles! - YouTube
  (see if you can spot a young Judd Apatow in the audience)
  

DISCUSSED: A classic, old-school “Odds ’n Sods” episode that includes: Apple’s audio upgrade announcement; AirTags and the promising future of UWB; lots of thoughts on anxiety; caffeine weaners; tongue-rolling; and a salt and pepper of media recently enjoyed (and now recommended).

Links for this episode:

• PSA: AirTag can be used as an NFC tag for Shortcuts automation - 9to5Mac
  
• ts1/BLEUnlock: Lock/unlock your Mac with your iPhone, Apple Watch, or any other Bluetooth LE devices
  
• AmazonSmile : Tieman's Fusion Coffee, Low Acid Dark Roast, Ground, 10 ounce bag (pack of 6) : Grocery & Gourmet Food
  
• How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality? : The Record : NPR
  
• Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind - Kindle edition by Brewer, Judson. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
  
• Belkin Secure Holder with Key Ring for AirTag – Black - Apple
  
• troglodyte mode
  
• The Computer-free Automation of a Jukebox (Electromechanics) - YouTube
  
• Quentin Tarantino and the Poetry Between the Lines - YouTube
  
• Spotify: Weezer - "Pinkerton"
  
• Apple Music: Weezer - "Pinkerton"
  
• [Sleep Anxiety audio Merlin likes]
  
• Do you inherit the ability to roll your tongue? - BBC Future
  It’s long been thought that the ability to roll your tongue is a clear-cut case of genetics. BBC Future finds it’s not that simple.
  

DISCUSSED: Merlin has been cracking nuts, and Dan is enjoying a beverage; in Follow-Up, Dan has made great progress with his new voice assistant; Merlin has thoughts on choosing a dingus ecosystem that’s right for you; words mean things, and often you want the right “procedure word”; Merlin has some good Back to Work-adjacent media recommendations; do we really want to rebuild The Embarcadero Freeway? Really?; and, Dan has some new scholarship on the films of Stanley Kubrick.

Links for this episode:

• Opinion | That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Unlearn. - The New York Times
  
• Efficiency is the Enemy
  
• Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind - Kindle edition by Brewer, Judson. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
  
• Watch YouTube TV on your Google Nest Display - Google Nest Help
  
• Procedure word - Wikipedia
  
• (7) Collative Learning - YouTube
  
• Embarcadero Freeway | CNU
  
• Old San Francisco: A Look At Before And After The Embarcadero Free Came Down | by UpOut SF | Medium
  
• An ode to the Embarcadero Freeway, the blight by the bay
  
• Amazon.com: Celery Man: Alexa Skills
  

DISCUSSED: Dan is actively gaslighting Merlin, and this can be proven; please stop stealing focus; praise for Ferris Bueller in general and the knees of Sloane Peterson in particular; passing thoughts on fear, procrastination, impostor syndrome, and solving the right problem; Merlin is delighted to discover a much-improved Little Snitch; Dan has thoughts on his Ford’s weird button; in gadget updates, Dan has found some useful headphones and has thoughts on trying to use his new Google dingus; finally, just in general, try to keep your hands away from the dragon’s mouth.

Links for this episode:

• Little Snitch
  As soon as you’re connected to the Internet, applications can potentially send whatever they want to wherever they want. Most often they do this to your benefit. But sometimes, like in case of tracking software, trojans or other malware, they don’t.
  

Merlin has a whole new setup, and Dan has a whole new TV.

Links for this episode:

• My Secret Sauce of Blogging
  This is where I give away all of my blogging secrets. I’ve decided to divest myself of any advantages Macdrifter has built over the past 12 years.
  

How to overcome impostor syndrome.

DISCUSSED: Merlin is reporting live from the show floor; sleep is complicated; food is complicated, too; Dan tries to build muscles the right way; he also has strong feelings about TV shopping; Merlin just wants someone to tell him which is The Good One.

Links for this episode:

• Feeling Blah During the Pandemic? It's Called Languishing - The New York Times
  The neglected middle child of mental health can dull your motivation and focus — and it may be the dominant emotion of 2021.
  

[Siracusa, picking nits at his best]

DISCUSSED: some important movie follow-up; films (and other media) can be a powerful way to talk about things we aren't supposed to be talking about; Merlin has some links to help think about what comes next as we get back to ““normal""; plus, follow-up on Dan's Kindle journey, including some really useful tips.

Links for this episode:

• Pinboard: Merlin's Covid Bookmarks
  
• Welcome to Kindle Unlimited
  
• Dan's Godzilla Movies
  
• Some Kung Fu Movies for Dan
  
• The Celluloid Closet (1995) - Reference View - IMDb
  A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.
  

DISCUSSED: fake southern accents lead to some movie talk; Merlin apologizes; Dan does not want to spend a night in The Box; please utilize the restroom that conforms to the color of your gender; a guardsman pitches Merlin's wife; Merlin goes off on a surprisingly long tangent on kung fu movies--especially the work of The Great Gordon Liu; Dan needs a syllabus to get Cash even more into Godzilla movies; there are some words on DC movies; your hosts begin a dive into the Kindle ecosystem that turns into a dive into ""The Kindle Ecosystem""; Friend-of-the-Show, Moisés, provides some beneficial real-time follow-up regarding the king of monsters; Merlin needs some movie backstory but also wants wants to make it extremely clear that he is very attracted to an English actress.

Links for this episode:

• Standard Ebooks: Free and liberated ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover.
  "Free and liberated ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover."

(The awesome website Merlin couldn't remember)