Back to Work

TOPIC: You Are That Little Dot.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about notifications, beeps, bloops, flashes, and all the stuff we have zero control over. There's about a million ways people can contact us and just as many ways we can unintentionally disappoint every one of them.

There's sanity in realizing which stuff you actually control, which stuff you have to let go, and how many of the expectations in-between can be reasonably managed.

Links for this episode:

• Email Drafts the Hard Way
  "I learned a hard lesson early in my adventures of writing words on a computer screen: The last thing you write is the recipient address."

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 varonis.com/backtowork you get 5 users free forever) and TextExpander Touch 3 (TextExpander Touch 3 gives you custom keyboards that let you expand custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text snippets on your iPhone or iPad.)

TOPIC: Reinforcement, Aikido, and Fear

This week, Dan and Merlin try to tackle positive versus negative reinforcement.

Links for this episode:

• Ad-free time! | Blocking ads, unblocking Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, BBC and more
  
• Ernie Kovacs - Droongo - YouTube
  
• Published for the First Time: a 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity | MIT Technology Review
  
• 24 Surprisingly Divisive Pooping Habits
  
• Ep. 129: "Museo De Garbagemen" - Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann
  Deep dive on the Savannah Cat mentioned after recording last week.

This episode was sponsored by Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off) and 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 varonis.com/backtowork you get 5 users free forever).

TOPIC: People, amirite?

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about neighbors, dogs, Macs, MLB.tv, and

Links for this episode:

• Support Dan Benjamin creating Podcasts and videos
  
• Showbot
  
• 5by5 | Back to Work #190: C-3PO's Beard
  
• Watch Live Streaming Major League Baseball Games Online with MLB.TV | MLB.com: Subscriptions
  LOT of asterisks there.

Sponsored by Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off and don't forget to check out all the brand new Squarespace 7 has to offer), 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), and consider supporting 5by5 on Patreon.

TOPIC: The Ultimate Existential Investor

This week, Dan and Merlin vent about Apple as only its superfans really can. What happens when things…don't…just work?

Links for this episode:

• Three Ring Binder Tickets, San Francisco - Eventbrite
  
• Batgirl (2011-) #35 - Comics by comiXology
  Barbara Gordon is no stranger to dusting herself off when disaster strikes so when a fire destroys everything she owned, she spots the opportunity for a new lease on life—and seizes it!

Sponsored by Citrix GoToMeeting (If you sign up for GoToMeeting before October 10, 2014 – you’ll get another Citrix product of your choice FREE for 6 months!) and Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off).

TOPIC: Starting the stuff we haven't started.

This week—after some entertaining random talk and a handful of hardware and software recommendations—Dan and Merlin dive back into a familiar evergreen topic: why is it so hard to get started with a project? And, just as importantly, what can we learn from that persistent difficulty?

In a nut? Just start trying to suck more regularly.

Links for this episode:

• Advanced Tricycling - Merlin Mann - Constant Contact 2014
  Video of Merlin's recent presentation on the elusiveness of getting better—and learning what to get better _at_.

Sponsored by Lynda. For a free 7 day trial, visit lynda.com/backtowork.

TOPIC: Media, Rarely Well Done

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the modern consumer media landscape and how we seem to be changing almost as fast as the technology. Almost.

Links for this episode:

• Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #5 — 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, September 25th to hang out, talk about comics, and just say, “Hi.”

Sponsored by PDFpen Scan+ (Start scanning documents right from your iPhone and iPad with PDFpen Scan+), SOLARO (Start studying for all your 3rd-12th grade courses online and get 50% the entire life of your SOLARO subscription when you use the code GOAHEADCALLER at checkout), Citrix ShareFile (Click the link then click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and enter the code BTW for a special 30-day FREE trial), and Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off).

TOPIC: Knowing What You'll Need to Know

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about a recent presentation Merlin gave on expertise and curiosity. They also pour out a 40 for Macworld Magazine.

Links for this episode:

• If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going | Quote Investigator
  In conclusion, the above citations represent a snapshot of current knowledge and future discoveries are possible. QI would tentatively credit Douglas Bloch with the adage containing the phrase “don’t stop” based on the 1990 citation.

This episode was sponsored by our friends at Casper (It's time for you to lay down on a premium mattress that you got at a fraction of the price. Use the code COMICS for $50 towards towards your order and for every bed sold Casper will donate $50 to the charity chosen by Merlin & Dan), 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), and by Citrix ShareFile (Click the link then click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and enter the code BTW for a special 30-day FREE trial).

TOPIC: Grab bag.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about—what? Well. They talk about privilege, empathy, bikes, bass players, Merlin's new mic, more bathroom signs, and a controversial anecdote about how Apple was maybe kinda not nice to a customer.

Links for this episode:

• What is the blue light from our screens really doing to our eyes? — Tech News and Analysis
  “I discovered that using light at night is bad for people’s health and interferes with their sleep. I felt a moral obligation to do something about it, particularly when I learned it’s the blue component in ordinary white light that is suppressing the production of melatonin. And melatonin not only helps you sleep but is a marvelous material that has a very big influence on health in general

Sponsored by Squarespace (use code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off) and Harry's (Get a better more affordable shave by using the code COMICS at checkout and you'll get $5 off your first purchase).

TOPIC: The Durable Impossibility of Email.

This week, Dan and Merlin return to an evergreen topic: the impossibility of email.

Chaotic, paradoxical, debilitating, frustrating, buoyant, and occasionally capable of causing short-term madness, email is still the medium that we'll never get right.

But, quixotically, it never stops us from trying.

Links for this episode:

• Engineers4Engineers 2014 Developer Conference
  
• [VIDEO] Two-Wheelin’ Per this week’s Back to Work. ... | kung fu grippe
  In which Merlin's kid scoots like a big kid.

This episode was sponsored by our friends at 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), and 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).

TOPIC: Is there anything else you want to tell me?

This week, Dan and Merlin discuss what bathrooms can teach us about learning, expertise, and empathy.

Links for this episode:

• Rules of the Road - San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
  The SF Bicycle Coalition is proud to be the leading resource for street safety in San Francisco. Every year, we reach tens of thousands of people with the Bicycle Rules of the Road. Here are the 10 bike laws you need to know to pedal safely and legally:

Sponsored by Squarespace (Create your own professional website and use the code ITSYOURSHOW for a free trial and 10% off your first purchase), Smile (Download a free demo, and see how easily you can edit PDFs with PDFpen), and 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).