This week's topic: Kids & Driving

Things kick off with some Donkey Kong Follow-Up that leads to a fair amount of vintage video game nostalgia. Merlin has a new Thing It Took Him Too Long to Realize, but John seems determined to deny him any kind of credit or joy about it.

In response to a listener request, John goes into more detail on what exactly Ice Day entails.

The main topic is Kids and Driving. Which includes appropriate side topics on motion sickness, running stop signs, and Merlin's former life a very unsafe young operator.

Also: Afterschool Specials.

(Recorded on Tuesday, March 18, 2025)

Now, I love my coffee…

Follow-up brings updates on "all balls" plus a novel inversion to "Secret Weird Things People Do."

Main topic this week is cooking alone.

Follow-up brings updates on "all balls" plus a novel inversion to "Secret Weird Things People Do."

This week's main topic is cooking alone.

In this month’s member bonus episode, your hosts consider Dune: Prophecy, including some critical spycraft problems.

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(Recorded Tuesday, March 4, 2025)

The first video game song that comes into Merlin's head is Pac-Man (not Donkey Kong)

The main topic this week was almost The Big Game.

The main topic this week was almost The Big Game.

(Recorded on Tuesday, February 11, 2025)

This is the episode where John Roderick talks about taking a father and kid on a “rock tour” of Seattle.

“No, it’s not in braille. It’s in English, the language of the U-S-A!”

Acorn is an image editor for macOS 14 Sonoma or later, including macOS 15 Sequoia.Universal binary for Apple Silicon Macs. One of a kind, no subscriptions, no hassle.

When the commercial that Louise scripted proves to be terrible, they get football star Sandy "Can-Can" Frye to star in their commercial with the catch phrase "Burgers go great with Frye"

Merlin tries a new way of writing online, and John thinks about what it really means to own your web presence.

Merlin tries a new way of writing online, and John thinks about what it really means to own your web presence.

In this month’s member bonus episode, your hosts catch up on this new era of Survivor.

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(Recorded on Tuesday, February 4, 2025)

I accidentally made this website into a newsletter, and it looks like almost fourteen people accidentally signed up for it. Which is awesome and weird. Thank you.

This week's topic: The Simpsons Kitchen Gag.

This week's topic: The Simpsons Kitchen Gag.

'So Peggy invents a game of her own called "Spin The Choice" as she finds out online that people like to spin and choose in their games.'

"After Stampy wrecks the Simpsons' house and eats all the food, Homer decides to sell Stampy to an ivory dealer."

"So, when I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl … well, line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error."

Oobleck!

Seaman apprentice is the second lowest enlisted rate in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps just above seaman recruit and below seaman

"They were using a freaking ladder for God's sakes!"

"The current TestFlight build WILL NOT ACTUALLY RECLAIM DISK SPACE"

Updates on match cuts, the college ranking racket, and some historical perspective on t-dropping.

Follow-Up brings updates on match cuts, the college ranking racket, and some historical perspective on t-dropping.

The main topic is kind of hard to pin down, but it might come down to a word choice on a website. Making it an ideal topic for this program.

In this month’s member bonus episode, there's some more discussion of scrobbling and media consumption, plus John watched The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015), and Merlin wants to hear how it went.

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"The selectivity racket is driven by the US News & World Report Rankings…"

'English speakers have been glottalizing the letter “t” since at least the mid-19th century.'

Merlin introduces a new segment, and John shares Application Results.

Merlin introduces a new segment, and John shares Application Results.

(Recorded on Tuesday, December 17, 2024)

The origin of the Lucky Dip.

Stuart Wellington: “ And the final third category, of course: Lucky Dip! That’s where we randomly roll, and the game gets a little bit crazy.”

More Lucky Dips.

"a game in which you pay to pick a prize out of a container with many different prizes in it, without being able to see what you are picking"

(Apparently, it's kind like what we yanks call a "grab bag.")

John has a new project and Merlin has a new Thought Technology.

John has a new project and Merlin has a new Thought Technology. It is, admittedly, early days for both projects.

In Follow-Up, listeners share advice on avoiding YouTube spoilers and John figures out why his brain thought "safflower."

As a main topic, John is dealing with a new large appliance, and Merlin thinks he might be the only one who ever cleans out the lint trap.

In this month’s member bonus episode, John pitches Merlin on the new Dune show, and Merlin has a bone to pick with Survivor.

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(Recorded on Tuesday, December 10, 2024)

Rebuilding "Tally Ho."

Things kick off with a listener's field report that a millennial tic has been spotted in the wild. John says Merlin mispronounces his mispronunciations wrong.

The main topic is on Rebuilding Tally Ho, a YouTube series about an ambitious project to restore a century-old sailing yacht.

(Recorded on Tuesday, November 26, 2024)

"im-POOR-uhn."

“Hi. My name's Leo, and I'm a boatbuilder and a sailor, and I'm on a mission to rebuild and restore this 109 year old classic sailing yacht, Tally Ho.”

Election results.

Election results.

Then, in this month’s member bonus episode, your hosts debate the merits of self-checkout.

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(Recorded on Tuesday, November 12, 2024)

This again. Jiminy. Well, once more, let’s talk around another election, and try, by doing so, to maybe express something about it.