Reconcilable Differences

This week's sprawling main topic is "Emotional Labor." Who ends up ordering the birthday cake as well as justifying the ways of boss to employee?

This week kicks off with John reminding Merlin he needs to study up to make better jokes. Merlin thinks John just needs to buy a better long sword at the pop-up.

Things move quickly into a mini-topic on the Black Mirror episode, "Bandersnatch." Does this unusual experiment potentially represent a new way of telling stories, and can we expect to see more uses of interactive tech on TV? John has strong opinions on the platforms that are best suited for video-game-like interaction. Meanwhile, Merlin is still anxious that he picked the wrong cereal. Controversial British comedians are hotly debated.

John removes Merlin's changes to the Google Doc. Again.

Why is it that women usually get saddled with being the Office Mom (as well as the "House Mom"), and why the heck doesn't Ralphie's dad help Randy put on his snowsuit? Further, how do we account for the tonnage of invisible work that, by custom more than policy, some people end up having to both identify and do?

John thinks people don't realize how exploited they are, and Merlin cops to having bizarre personal hangups that make common power differentials infuriating.

Finally, how do we get better at identifying the unfair distribution of emotional labor, and what even can we do about it? Putting up with this stuff may come down to a coastal disposition about people who flake. The lessons of Survivor are invoked.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 29th, 2019.)

QUBE was an experimental two-way, multi-programmed cable television system that played a significant role in the history of American interactive television.

Emotional labor is the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job.[1][2] More specifically, workers are expected to regulate their emotions during interactions with customers, co-workers and superiors. This includes analysis and decision making in terms of the expression of emotion, whether actually felt or not, as well as its opposite: the suppression of emotions that are felt but not expressed.

Emotion work may be defined as the management of one's own feelings, or work done in an effort to maintain a relationship; there is dispute as to whether emotion work is only work done regulating one’s own emotion, or extends to performing the emotional work for others.

Dynamite was a magazine for children founded by Jenette Kahn and published by Scholastic Inc. from 1974 until 1992.

In this episode, we sit down with negotiation expert Misha Glouberman who explains how to talk to people about things — that is, how to avoid the pitfalls associated with debate when two or more people attempt to come to an agreement that will be mutually beneficial.

John confronts Merlin on his disloyalty, and this leads to John interrogating Merlin's newfound fondness for NBA basketball. Yes: sports are discussed.

This week kicks off with a warning. Merlin has had some small reboots, and John learned about a new brain disease.

Then things turn to some follow-up on Merlin's recent office cleanup, and John introduces how refuse is "aging" in his house. Merlin cops to some stacking and defends his fad diet. John's weight is within his limits, but, man, does he have beef with pants sizes, and Merlin is very sympathetic. Your hosts both want people to eventually tell them the truth.

This week also features the premiere of #AskRecDiffs, in which your questions are answered. This week's question concerns adjusting to major milestones in life. John got on-board with his re-prioritizations, but Merlin confesses to missing the lightness of his youth. John has a strategy for eventually going fishing, and Merlin continues to aggressively project-manage his life. At least there's no more dealing with roommates, amirite?

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 15th, 2019.)

After a look at their feelings about reviews (and review culture), John takes Merlin to task for his stance on the 1999 film Fight Club (and Fight Club culture). Then, things conclude with a passionate debate on the societal impact of sports (and sports culture).

More Project Talk. Merlin introduces the idea of "The Message Gift," and John wonders if Merlin's new desk has memory. Amazon should let you say when a box is from Santa. So much cardboard. Now, the IKEA child's kitchen is in danger of being disappeared.

This week, John is just back from his holiday trip, and Merlin thinks he's a titan. Merlin's daughter wants to be a monk, and the art of AD&D is discussed. John has more questions about Merlin's Britishisms. We are introduced to "Hello, Richard" and the flats of San Francisco are re-litigated. The taxonomy of the Google doc is also re-litigated.

Although it won't turn into one-third of every episode, listeners are invited to ask your hosts questions via "#AskRecDiffs".

In what becomes a mini-topic, your hosts fantasize about Break Time, and what one does when one has a little time to oneself. Sleeping counts. Also, where, again have all the scissors gone? Have we just stopped doing Inside Voice?

A listener thinks there's too much talk about TV, but it is stipulated that TV is part of our lives.

In further follow-up, your hosts talk more about Survivor. John says Merlin is still watching it wrong, and John finished Season 37. He has thoughts. Survivor rules, tactics, and editing are considered.

John is just slightly rearranging things, and Merlin's door still wants to kill him.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 1st, 2019.)

The Survivor Rulebook is a contract that is to be signed by all contestants before competing in the game of Survivor. Though these rules are not explicitly revealed on television, they are to be followed by every Survivor castaway, or face expulsion with possible forfeiture of any prize money, and in rare cases, incarceration.

Like any game, Survivor has rules, but as viewers, we’ve never seen those rules. Until now.

A dream come true for small chefs. In this complete kitchen, your child can cook, bake and wash up, just like the master chefs on TV, and let the family taste the new, yummy recipes.

With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump—then a floundering D-lister—as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.

Player characters begin by arriving at the eponymous keep, and can base themselves there before investigating the series of caverns in the nearby hills teeming with monsters.

In the adventure's introduction, it is explained that the Grand Duchy of Geoff is under constant attack by a succession of monsters that have been emerging from a cave in the mountains. The Grand Duke of Geoff has hired the characters to discover the origin of the creatures, and stop their incursions.

During his 1983 run on The Uncanny X-Men, Smith's work on issue 173 of that series would prove influential in two ways: It featured the debut of the punk look for the X-Men leader Storm, and Smith's cover of that issue would influence both a latter comic book cover and a best-selling poster and retailer standee by artist Arthur Adams.

Jeff Dee (born May 15, 1961 is an American artist and game designer. He was the youngest artist in the history of pioneering role-playing game company TSR when he began his work at the age of eighteen.

Wakulla County is part of the Tallahassee, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

This week's main topic is the long-running ABC reality show, "Survivor." Perhaps you've heard of it.

Things kick off with some discussion of the recent Do By Friday Holiday Party, then John takes the axe to Merlin's latest experiment with the show doc.

In follow-up, John catches us up on how his jammed thumb is mending, and your hosts talk about TV fixes and calibration. John reminds Merlin what they've already talked about. The list of Big Topics is briefly scanned.

In further follow-up, Merlin asks about locating hard-to-find Mac files, and John wishes Merlin had asked him about what he was actually trying to accomplish. Early OS X is discussed, and Merlin reminds John how much he liked Hypercritical.

Merlin encourages John not to Google something.

But, with Merlin (finally) watching it for the first time in earnest, this provides John the opportunity to talk about why he's watched it since season 1, why he likes it so much, and what it is that makes the show special. Merlin repeatedly says "Season 24" when he meant to say "Season 20," and John expresses admiration for how the show cannily evolves for the better.

(Recorded on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018.)

From the main 'Picture settings' page, there is a menu called 'OLED Panel Settings'. Inside there is the 'Pixel Refresher' function, 'Screen Shift' option, and 'Logo Luminance Adjustment'. 'Pixel Refresher' is the function that will attempt to clear any image retention or other screen issues that can happen when the TV is left turn on for a long period of time. This function needs at least one hour to run and will only start once the TV is turned off.

This week’s challenge: have a holiday party.

5by5 Time Machine is an service that lets you subscribe to time-shifted feeds for current and retired 5by5 shows.

The twenty contestants were initially divided into two tribes based on their prior reputation in their previous seasons, Heroes and Villains.

The season features 20 new contestants divided into two tribes embodied by two biblical figures: "David", composed of ten underdogs who constantly have to overcome obstacles, and "Goliath", composed of ten overachievers who have used their advantages in life to excel in their fields.

John interrogates Merlin about his heartbeat, and Merlin reveals he’s conducting a personal longitudinal study.

This week kicks off with a dive into the sad world of middle-aged injuries and afflictions. John missed a step, and Merlin experiences a grave sweatpant malfunction. Does it always take this long to heal, and why do people keep putting things in other people’s areas?

John still has concerns, and the problem of unreliable podcast statistics comes up. John tracks the nutrition stats for his fad diet in his head.

Self-knowledge and mindfulness are explored. Merlin has the receipts on Mr. Davison’s butts, and pretty much everybody used to smoke.

At 1:24:28, the spoiler horn fires off for a discussion of the Amazon Prime Video series, Homecoming.

(Recorded on Tuesday, December 4th, 2018.)

Track everything together. Understand your behaviour.

A new operating system for the human body

How can you be sure that the things you know are true… are actually true? We have access to more information than any humans in history but we can't process it on our own. In fact, almost all of what we know comes from others. We come to rely on people and institutions to tell us what to believe and not to believe. And it turns out there are huge consequential differences in how Americans form those relationships, relationships which serve as the building blocks for how we shape our own views of the world. So what happens when someone tries to manipulate that trust? If you ask David Roberts, you need only look at the current conservative movement to get your answer.

In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.

An off-by-one error (OBOE), also commonly known as an OBOB (off-by-one bug), or OB1 error is a logic error involving the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition. It often occurs in computer programming when an iterative loop iterates one time too many or too few.

John helps Merlin understand which places are and are not on Long Island.

This week’s wraparound episode kicks off with coverage of Merlin's new overalls and baby-bottle-nipple hat. John has some thoughts on this new sartorial turn, and Merlin has questions about John's sleep. Merlin gets an alarming message.

Merlin expresses gratitude for John's introduction to a new band, and this leads to a discussion of how your hosts discover, consume, and curate music these days. Who's wearing a Beatles wig, and when does it work? Tricking kids into liking music is considered. Your hosts agree that children are the worst. Stupid babies.

In follow-up, Merlin apologizes for the recent crappiness of an app he'd recommended, and John talks about the simple problem he actually needs to solve. Bad TV interfaces come up. Yes, again.

Merlin has questions about John's fad diet, and John still loves carbs. Diets are further discussed. Saturday is treat day.

(Recorded on Tuesday, November 15th, 2018.)

"Come in misery, where you can seem as old as your omens.

This week’s challenge: buy some pants.

🎉 300th Episode Spectacular! 🎉

Finally, a very special after-show, starting with John missing WindowShade

The world’s largest online retailer plans to spend $5 billion on the two new developments in Long Island City and Arlington, Virginia, and expects to get more than $2 billion in tax credits and incentives with plans to apply for more.

"Just look at me now!"

Long Island is a densely populated island off the East Coast of the United States, beginning at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) from Manhattan Island and extending eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. The island comprises four counties in the U.S. state of New York. Kings and Queens Counties (the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) and Nassau County share the western third of the island, while Suffolk County occupies the eastern two-thirds.

This week’s main topic concerns the Gimlet podcast, "Heavyweight," and how we think about redoing (or undoing) the past.

This week kicks off with the Mid-Term Election Extravaganza. Merlin is definitely not watching the results, and John realizes he shouldn’t have checked in at all.

Listeners are assigned Spoiler Slot homework being the Amazon Prime series, Homecoming. Also, upon John’s recommendation, Merlin bought a very large book. Your hosts talk about the phenomenon of The Movie Before the Movie, and where it’s been best deployed.

John talks about the ordering of a homework laptop. This leads to a discussion of the access to technology most schools seem to assume all their students will have. And, wow, so many channels to monitor. John knows there’s something going on, and Merlin feels like Ron Weasley. Is Thursday definitely ukulele pants day?

The new look of Chrome is disparaged at length. John has numerous notes and corrections regarding how Merlin is not helping John Roderick. Your hosts explore the shocking incuriosity of children and the prevalence of butt-dialing. John has a lot of questions about band names.

Merlin checks in on the election.

(Recorded on Tuesday, November 6th, 2018.)

Jonathan Goldstein goes back to the moment everything changed.

A podcast about journeying back to the moment when everything went wrong. Hosted by Jonathan Goldstein. From Gimlet Media.

A podcast where Starlee Kine solves mysteries.

Andrea's a writer no one reads. Then she makes a shocking discovery.

20 years ago, Gregor lent some CDs to a musician friend. The CDs helped make him a famous rockstar. Now, Gregor would like some recognition. But mostly, he wants his CDs back.

Merlin finally asks John to explain his fondness for apocalyptic literature and media.

This week kicks off with some Dear Evan Hansen talk, and Merlin admits he still hasn’t earned the second act. This leads John to interrogate this odd affliction of Merlin’s. Both hosts finally address how, whether, and when they commit to the full consumption of cultural products. Why does John so often stick with the whole season of a C-plus TV show, and when does Merlin know he’s ready for the second half of a given Broadway hit?

This leads to a broader discussion of what gets you hooked on, especially, a TV show. Is it the world, the rules, the mood, or what? Sometimes, we just want to spend time in a world with our friends.

Is it the desperation, the canny resource management, or just the lighter traffic and dearth of meetings? This goes to interesting places as your hosts recount growing up in the long shadow of imminent nuclear annihilation and terrifying epidemics.

Naturally, this takes the discourse toward generalized anxieties, grave money concerns, and the neural rewiring that remains years after the animating experiences that first made us so broken.

A chaste new society is pondered and provisionally named.

(Recorded on Tuesday, October 23, 2018.)

In this week’s main topic, John recounts his recent experience seeing "Hamilton" live on stage.

This week, Merlin has a lot going on, and John has questions about how Do By Friday works behind the scenes. In turn, Merlin has some iCloud questions for John. There is discussion of photo management and the trend line for Apple’s dependability in services. John worries about losing his hearts, and Merlin gets some really terrible prints made.

In-home intercom systems are recalled, and the sorry state of your hosts’ childhood electronics is explored.

Updates to smart cylinders and screens are considered. John likes trying to stump his dinguses, and Merlin gets excited to regroup his speakers. Merlin thinks John should make his family listen to the radio, and John frets about his children’s (literal) attachment to their devices.

As usual, Merlin is scared about what he’ll say. Also, as usual, Merlin ends up being That Guy as he stans for American musicals and pines for high-quality moms in Dear Evan Hansen, making this up as he goes.

Finally, there’s a mostly spoiler-free discussion of Netflix’s Maniac.

(Recorded on Thursday, October 11, 2018.)

A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda.

How to Listen to Hamilton.

John did not fix the document.

This week, John has a musical request for Merlin, and Merlin agrees to hop on the court. This leads to a discussion of musical fingernail trimming, and the revelation of an upsetting new callus.

John has questions about Merlin’s crazy bandwidth. This leads to misty, water-colored memories of the way we downloaded. Time was, no one could get ISDN, and John makes a funny goof.

In follow-up, Merlin has an update on homework at after-care, then kind of goes off about who is and is not allowed to boss his family. John worries about discovering the real reason dingalings do what they do.

In further follow-up, John addresses feedback from Listener Todd about Merlin’s TV settings. John suggests the only real way to calibrate your screen. Don’t worry; they make it fun. Merlin thinks Netflix’s 4k quality may have ruined him, and a nerdy TV site is endorsed.

Merlin gets John invited to a Slack, and John explains Star Wars razors.

At 1:31:45, Jim fires off the Spoiler Horn for a discussion of HBO’s series, Succession.

(Recorded on Tuesday, September 25, 2018.)

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Succession follows a dysfunctional American global-media family.

THE ORIGINS OF STAR WARS