Back to Work

TOPIC: The things you did or didn't say.

This week, Dan and Merlin sympathize with their pal Marco's recently becoming "way too popular for a day."

What happens when something we said or wrote gets quoted, misquoted, taken out of context, or amplified a thousand times more than we'd expected?

Links for this episode:

• Bursitis Definition - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic
  Bursitis (bur-SY-tis) is a painful condition that affects the small, fluid-filled sacs — called bursae (bur-SEE) — that cushion the bones, tendons and muscles near your joints. Bursitis occurs when bursae become inflamed.

Sponsored by Audible (Click the link and get a free audiobook of your choice and a free 30-day trial membership) and Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for 10% off your first purchase).

TOPIC: The Life You Actually Want.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about organization, multitasking and new year's resolutions.

Links for this episode:

• Amazon.com: ARRIS / Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - Retail Packaging: Electronics
  "Requires Cable Internet Service"

Sponsored by FreshBooks (Visit the link to and enter BACK TO WORK in the “How did you hear about us?” section and get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks) and lynda (Visit the link and do something good for yourself in 2015, sign up for a FREE 10-day trial to lynda.com).

TOPIC: The Opacity of the Stack

In this depressing holiday episode, Dan and Merlin talk about how tenuous our modern infrastructures feel. How great it is when everything in the stack "just works"; how increasingly seldom all the pieces work; and how frustrating it can be to figure out exactly what's broken.

Links for this episode:

• Spider-Woman Gets Her First Costume Change in Decades
  
• Spider-Woman Rocks A Great New Look, Courtesy Of Kris Anka
  
• Amazon.com: LEGO Star Wars 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer Building Toy: Toys & Games
  
• Amazon.com: LEGO Star Wars 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer Building Toy: Toys & Games
  
• Dinosaurology (Ologies): Jack Fawcett, Various: 9780763667399: Amazon.com: Books
  
• All Things Considered for December 22, 2014 : NPR
  
• We Ask A Scholar: How Does Ridley Scott's 'Exodus' Compare With The Bible's? : NPR
  NPR's Robert Siegel asks Robert Alter, a professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, for his thoughts on the film. Alter has translated most of the Hebrew Bible, including the five books of Moses, and he's a leading secular scholar of Scripture.

Sponsored by lynda (Visit the link and sign up for a FREE 10-day trial to lynda.com and start learning something new) and MailChimp (Visit the link and send 12,000 emails per month, to 2,000 subscribers, forever).

TOPIC: He'll only do three of these.

This week, Dan and Merlin mark their 200th episode by responding to listener feedback and talking about Led Zeppelin and lunch tables.

Links for this episode:

• peg.gd: Bacon Ray - “Tomfoolery” 7-inch (AAJ Records, 1995)
  
• BBC Radio 4 Extra - Raw Meat Radio
  Chris Morris is known by most for his ground-breaking film and television work but, like most good things he 'started on the radio'. Described by the man who suspended him from Radio 1 (Matthew Bannister) as 'one of the greatest talents working in British broadcasting', Morris developed his anarchic and surreal style in local radio. It was at BBC Bristol and GLR in the late 80s and early 90s that he honed his trademark technical skills and first adopted some of the sketches and personas that would later help make his name.

Sponsored by FreshBooks (Visit the link and enter 'Back to Work' in the “How did you hear about us?” section to get FreshBooks free for 30 days), Backblaze (Visit the link to get your free trial and then it’s just $5/month per computer for unlimited backup, and it backs up fast), and PDFpen Scan+ (Visit the link to learn more and get the power of your office in your pocket).

TOPIC: When You Love a Voice.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about podcasts they're loving right now. And, yeah, Merlin rants a little about overthinking and fetishizing podcast production.

Links for this episode:

• 5by5 | Hypercritical #93: A Magic Elf in My Computer
  John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin talk more about Forstall's departure from Apple, Surface storage, and Fusion Drive, then discuss US voting technology, Google voice search, and how Apple's design problems are more than skin deep.

Sponsored by FreshBooks (Visit the link and enter 'Back to Work' in the “How did you hear about us?” section to get FreshBooks free for 30 days), Oscar (To learn more about Oscar's health insurance plans or to get a quote, visit the link or call for 1-844-OSCAR-23), and Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off).

TOPIC: Time to reboot.

This week, Dan and Merlin respond to a note from Listener Tim on how to stay busy and active during his garden leave. The Boys encourage him to experiment with the personal rebooting that's almost impossible to do when you're stuck at an official jobby-job.

Links for this episode:

• [VIDEO] Flake Music - "Spanway Hits"
  
• Garden leave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Garden leave or gardening leave describes the practice where an employee leaving a job – having resigned or otherwise had their employment terminated – is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remaining on the payroll.[1] This practice is often used to prevent employees from taking with them up-to-date (and perhaps sensitive) information when they leave their current employer, especially when they are leaving to join a competitor.

Sponsored by MailChimp (Visit the link and send 12,000 emails per month, to 2,000 subscribers, forever) and lynda.com (Start learning something new by visiting lynda.com/backtowork and get a FREE 10-day trial where you can access all of their 2,400+ courses).

TOPIC: Mail Bag.

This week, Dan & Merlin respond to listener email and toots. Specifically, dealing with passive-aggressive team members, bulbous "CC:" lines, and what constitutes "stability."

Links for this episode:

• Image Comics | Releases | Bitch Planet #1
  2014 Best Writer Eisner Award nominee KELLY SUE DeCONNICK (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel) and VALENTINE DE LANDRO (X-Factor) team up for the very third time to bring you the premiere issue of BITCH PLANET, their highly-anticipated womenin- prison sci-fi exploitation riff. Think Margaret Atwood meets Inglourious Basterds.

Sponsored by Varonis DatAnywhere (Try turning your own network shares into a private cloud free for 30 days with an unlimited amount of users and if you visit the link you'll get 5 users free forever), MailChimp (Visit the link and send 12,000 emails per month, to 2,000 subscribers, forever), TextExpander Touch 3 (Visit the link to learn more about TextExpander Touch 3 with a custom keyboard that lets you expand custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text snippets on your iPhone or iPad), and Squarespace (Use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off).

TOPIC: Hakuna Matata.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about home pest control, misleading beef jerky, and becoming a more conservative electronics consumer.

Links for this episode:

• 'Sync Solver' Allows Fitbit Users to View Fitness Related Data in Apple's Health App - Mac Rumors
  The $0.99 app provides a daily sync of eleven different pieces of data from the Fitbit into the Health app. The points of data accrued include: active calories, resting calories, dietary calories, body fat percentage, body mass index, flights of stairs climbed, sleep analysis, walking and running distances, weight, and steps taken.

Sponsored by lynda.com (Start learning something new by visiting lynda.com/backtowork and get a FREE 10-day trial where you can access all of their 2,400+ courses), Varonis DatAnywhere (Try turning your own network shares into a private cloud free for 30 days with an unlimited amount of users and if you visit varonis.com/backtowork you get 5 users free forever), Warby Parker (Visit warbyparker.com/dan to get FREE 3-day shipping on your order of boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a great price), and Audible (Visit the link to get a free audiobook of your choice and a free 30-day trial membership to Audible).

TOPIC: Working alone together.

This week, Dan and Merlin look at the many ways workplaces have changed over the years, and how they can be great or not so great.

Links for this episode:

• Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #6 — Merlin Mann
  MERLIN MANN (Back to Work, Roderick on the Line, You Look Nice Today, et al.) invites you to drop by Two Cats Comics on the evening of Thursday, November 13th to hang out, talk about comics, and just say, “Hi.”

Sponsored by Harry's (use the code COMICS at checkout for $5 off your order and change the way you shave forever), Doodle (Start making scheduling an enjoyable experience with Doodle), MailChimp (Send 12,000 emails per month to under 2,000 subscribers, forever), and Backblaze (Visit the link and start backing up your computer with unlimited data for just $5 a month).

TOPIC: What gets us on the moon?

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about varieties of clowns, rogue walruses, bloody elevator buttons, taking risks, and catching footballs.

Links for this episode:

• Charli XCX - SuperLove (Official Video) - YouTube
  
• Inquisitive #11: Merlin As A Service - Relay FM
  This week Myke is joined by Merlin Mann. They talk about preparing for changes in life and preparing for podcasts, trying to understand what people enjoy, avoiding analytics and a look back at inbox zero.

Sponsored by Casper (Visit casper.com/backtowork and enter the code COMICS to get $50 toward your mattress purchase), lynda.com (Start learning something new by visiting lynda.com/backtowork and get a FREE 7-day trial where you can access all of their 2,400+ courses), Varonis DatAnywhere (Try turning your own network shares into a private cloud free for 30 days with an unlimited amount of users and if you visit varonis.com/backtowork you get 5 users free forever), and Doodle (Start making scheduling an enjoyable experience with Doodle).