Reconcilable Differences

This week, John and Merlin come in hot with an accidental main topic: punctuality.

Is punctuality important, and how much tardiness can we abide from our pals and business associates? Merlin wonders if expecting punctuality might be a form of privilege, and John has strong feelings about the police, just in general.

In follow-up, Merlin clarifies where you can listen to that Simpsons episode of The Incomparable, then applauds Jason Snell's editing skills and suggests ways to give other podcasts your money. John still can't get into the McElroys, and this continues to break Merlin's heart. John says Merlin continues to make fun of him wrong. John also has remarks and some follow-up on Merlin's co-host from another program.

Merlin takes his sleeping pill, then John has some important updates on the return of his chimney's avian peckerhead. John still lives in a drum, and Merlin thinks it's time to deploy a reconnaissance drone. John still really, really doesn't want to fall off his roof.

Voice-controlled devices are further discussed, but not in a way that will prevent John from saving his best stuff for his more popular program, which used to be about cars. Merlin takes off the gloves to talk turkey about the state of the Apple ecosystem, and John wonders if our nerd complaints are complaints you'd only ever hear from nerds.

John answers a portentous final question from Merlin.

(Recorded on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.)

Senior Video Producer Griffin McElroy

In this week’s accidental main topic, John addresses his new bird-enemy and the Wile E. Coyotean lengths to which his desperation with living in a drum may drive him.

With that sage wisdom in mind, it's time for us — Griffin and Justin, who have, for the purposes of this introduction, fused into a singular, fraternal hivemind — to announce some big and bittersweet news: This Friday will be our last day as full-time employees at Polygon.

Special Guest Merlin Mann joins Jason to discuss the weather, old speakers, Apple's latest TV acquisition, the long slow fade of 32-bit Mac apps, and the arrival of a new version of his favorite iOS writing app.

John provides much-requested follow-up on Twitter’s recently announced changes. This leads to a broader discussion of free speech and platform ownership.

This week’s episode has lots of really good follow-up. Follow-up on accents, Face ID, how Roderick records, and Merlin’s new internet friend.

John and Merlin embarrass their families, fret about Disney, and talk about some excellent Simpsons lines.

Combed, biscuits, chicken, yellow, mailman…very good.

(Recorded on Tuesday, April 9, 2018.)

Dialect coach Erik Singer takes a look at idiolects, better known as the specific way one individual speaks. To best break down this concept, Erik analyzes some actors playing real people. Just how close was Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles? What about Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Bob Dylan? Is Daniel Day-Lewis' Lincoln accurate?

Dialect coach Erik Singer analyzes the accents of some of Hollywood's biggest names. How accurate were they really?

Dialect coach Erik Singer analyzes some of the most famous "constructed languages" in movie and television history. Which real-life languages inspired "conlangs" like Klingon and Dothraki?

Annie Onishi, general surgery resident at Columbia University, takes a look at emergency room and operating room scenes from a variety of television shows and movies and breaks down how accurate they really are. Would the adrenaline scene from Pulp Fiction actually play out that way? Is all that medical jargon we hear in shows like Grey's Anatomy and House true-to-life? Is removing a bullet really a cure-all for a gunshot wound?

Apps of a Feather…Stick Together

The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral guidelines that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968.

In something like a main topic, your hosts talk about Facebook. Schadenfreude aside, Merlin struggles with why anyone is still there, while John’s not so sure some people will ever leave.

This week, things kick into gear quickly with a mini-topic about Instagram. Why isn’t Merlin on it, and why does John like it so much? John likes it as a refreshing break from word things, but Merlin still thinks there are too many hashtags and birds on wires. Merlin really misses the salad days of Flickr, but of course John derails it to yet another goof on Merlin’s pronunciation. And, then, the boys are on to accents. ‘Ello, guv’na!

Next, your hosts wind back around to the occasional topic of celebrity relationships. Merlin thinks he could be friends with a given minor celebrity, and, unsurprisingly, John balks. John and Merlin acknowledge and explore their different brands of crippling self-doubt.

Finally, your hosts ruefully wonder when they'll know it's time to walk away from the services they do like.

(Recorded on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.)

They refuse to be frozen in time, and so I can feel time slipping through my fingers.

Anytime the phrase “That’s so weird, I just heard about that yesterday” would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof.

This year we’ve gotten one question from listeners more than any other: is Facebook eavesdropping on my conversations and showing me ads based on the things that I say? This week, Alex investigates.

Social Media expert, Dr. Robert Chandler (onFocus University), joins Connor to discuss web-based community and user-generated content. He also takes a few calls from QPR listeners.

Spoilers:

"John [Roderick], please tell Merlin we are friends now"

This week's main topic concerns The Oscars and the general phenomenon of industry award shows. What makes us get into these things, and who do we pull for?

This week’s first mini-topic concerns John's office chair. Honestly, why can't people just leave John's chair alone? Why always with the moving and the replacing? A chair is a very personal thing, and John likes his chair. So, what, now he has to get a bike lock or something? Merlin wonders if the form is actually hooked up to anything, and John thinks Merlin's cat looks like a towel.

The second mini-topic gives Merlin the opportunity to blow off some steam about FaceID. Merlin wonders if he is the only person with a problematic face, and John thinks Merlin might be razzle-dazzled. Cool AR demos are briefly considered.

In an accidental mini-topic, your hosts talk about the importance of hot food. Don't they know how they hurt Daddy's heart? Appropriate deployment of the InstantPot is discussed.

Who deserves an overdue Consolation Oscar, and why were 90s movies so weirdly unenduring? Merlin thinks of Avatar like The Silence, and John has strong opinions about who gets overlooked. Merlin's relieved John is not his Dad, and John proudly utilizes every part of the star range.

(Recorded on Tuesday, March 13, 2018.)

For something like a main topic, things turn to trying to talk to kids about…stuff. A "Predestination"-style thought experiment is considered.

This week kicks off with a return to an old chestnut: Twitter. John doesn’t want too many things to check, and Merlin finds some therapy. The distinction of the “muffle” is highlighted.

This week’s mini-topic concerns the new Google Calendar UI. Merlin thinks there’s just too much clicking, and John would like some better information density. The influence of old Mac habits is explored, leading to a nostalgic visit to the bygone, halcyon days of using a Macintosh. The sad and downward history of TV interactions also comes up. John wonders why intertitles make typey noises, and Merlin has no problem identifying LONDON.

In an unintentional mini-topic, your hosts talk about kids going to camp and wonder about the unintended consequences, both positive and negative. Merlin thinks about everything as a project, and John has updates on Daisy, who is increasingly going rogue.

(Recorded on Monday, February 26, 2018.)

Muffles are a powerful way to hide certain users, links, hashtags, or keywords from your timeline. The best way to think of them are like lighter versions of muting. Muffling does not remove filtered tweets from your timeline entirely, but instead minimizes them, out of the way of your reading experience. Muffled tweets appear as a single line in your timeline, with a short description of what has been hidden. This lets you to scroll through your filtered timeline while still allowing you to interact with filtered tweets if you wish.

We’re taking a lot of what you know and love from Calendar’s mobile application, like the modern color palette and sleek design, and bringing it to the web with a responsive layout that auto-adjusts to your screen size. We’ve also added more features for enterprises to help teams schedule and prepare for meetings.

This week's main topic: "What If Productivity, but Too Much?" In the pursuit of efficiency and professional development, how do you know when you’ve gone too far? And what are the downsides when you do?

This week kicks off with recalibrating some expectations and repeatedly clicking some buttons. Merlin likes dog shopping and dislikes that dumb Winston Churchill movie.

In follow-up, John scores a monarchical point to listener, "swilliams," and Merlin likes Parliamentary questions. In an accidental nano-topic, your hosts discuss the decline of Shame. In further follow-up, John has some more tips on getting the lyrics right.

In this week’s mini-topic, John has some pointed questions about Merlin’s quote-unquote Caffeine Addiction. Is Merlin a Fake Migraine Girl? John still doesn’t like coffee, and Merlin is weirdly protective about his eyeglasses. Much like the great John Hurt. This leads to a broader discussion of addiction, focusing on how smoking used to be much more of a thing.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.)

The central thesis is a dichotomy between two modes of thought: "System 1" is fast, instinctive and emotional

Daniel Kahneman (/ˈkɑːnəmən/

Minimax (sometimes MinMax or MM[1]) is a decision rule used in decision theory, game theory, statistics and philosophy for minimizing the possible loss for a worst case (maximum loss) scenario. When dealing with gains, it is referred to as "maximin"—to maximize the minimum gain. Originally formulated for two-player zero-sum game theory, covering both the cases where players take alternate moves and those where they make simultaneous moves, it has also been extended to more complex games and to general decision-making in the presence of uncertainty.

In the inaugural episode of Back to Work, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discuss why they’re doing this show, getting back to work instead of buying berets, the lizard brain, and compare the Shadow of the Mouse to San Francisco, and eventually get to some practical tips for removing friction.

This week's broad-ranging main topic is lyrics. John wonders how many people care about the words as much as he does, and Merlin considers what happened when Lisa met Chelsea at the knocking school.

This week kicks off with John tweaking his settings and then slides into a quick tour of some cool commands that a lot of veteran Mac users don't know about. John's not looking for thanks; he's just making a point. Merlin observes that the commands are in his fingers, not his brain.

Some follow-up commences, covering scoot-scoots, Patriot, potential topics, and, of course, Aimee Mann. Merlin's niece joins an all-star cast dressed as a vulva.

John endorses a recent Flop House episode, but Merlin still doesn't understand what constitutes "spookily good-bad." Even though no one asked, Merlin explains how great Genesis used to be.

In an accidental mini-topic, your hosts wonder whether Free to Be You and Me is now "problematic." Can babies even be racist? Merlin has thoughts on the Overton Window and what feels special about The Moment. John has questions about pronunciation that may have troubling implications.

How does your experience of a tune evolve when you not only learn the actual lyrics but the actual story? Why are so many of the songs with gay characters so moving? Merlin blows smoke up Roderick's lyrical skirt, and John finally unwinds the storied tale of his early-internet lyrics site. Which was the only correct lyrics site.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.)

We dig into our vaults to bring you this live The Great Wall episode, from the Philly Podcast Festival!

Free to Be… You and Me was a children's entertainment project, conceived, created and executive-produced by actress and author Marlo Thomas.

The Overton window, also known as the window of discourse, is the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse.

Intersectionality is a theory which considers that the various aspects of humanity, such as class, race, sexual orientation and gender, do not exist separately from each other, but are complexly interwoven, and that their relationships are essential to an understanding of the human condition.

Team Dresch is an American punk/queercore band from Portland, Oregon, originally formed in Olympia, Washington, which was initially active from 1993 until 1998. The band made a significant impression on the DIY movement queercore, which gave voice through zines and music to the passions and concerns of those in both the LGBT community and the punk subculture.

A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.

This week's challenge: scoot scoot!

John has fence problems, Merlin is riding a weird new vehicle, and the guys discuss “Patriot.”

This week kicks off with Daisy making a run for it and pretty much everything being Merlin’s fault. Merlin gets mobbed up in a terrible app, and John considers funding a big, beautiful fence.

This week’s mini-topic finds John voir-diring Merlin about his weird new means of transportation. Merlin just wants us to explore our options, but John is skeptical about how it’d perform in bitter east coast climes. John wonders about all the city spikes, and Merlin endorses knife videos.

After firing off the horn at 1:02:19, your hosts dive into a Spoiler Slot on the Amazon Prime Video series, Patriot.

(Recorded on Monday, January 15, 2018.)

A dog interlude.

Prometheus, in eternal punishment, is chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where his liver is eaten daily by an eagle, only to be regenerated by night, due to his immortality.

This week's challenge: watch the pilot of Patriot.

In this week's Spoiler Slot (starting at 1:04:39), your hosts discuss "The Last Jedi."

This week kicks off with follow-up on The Barkley Marathons and the totally bananas mental and physical capacity of endurance athletes.

Your hosts dive into an accidental mini-topic on the art of podcast titles and show notes. Merlin tries really hard, but John knows he can always do better.

The next mini-topic ends up being about who gets each of your hosts feeling starstruck. Merlin meets (yet) more of John’s heroes, and John’s not loving it. John isn’t sure what he has to say to anyone anyway, and Merlin tries to make the case for wholesomeness. John still has a little problem, but he’s working on it.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.)

The main topic this week is ratings and reviews. John talks about how he drinks eagerly from the fire hose of product recommendations as well as sharing his perspective on how he thinks about his epic OS X reviews in retrospect.

The main topic is meeting your heroes. Who do you wish you could meet and why? What would you say to Steve Jobs in an elevator or Bill Murray on a plane? John marvels at Merlin’s comfort with his many celebrity connections, and Merlin gives some handy tips on not acting like a total creep.

Things wrap up with a meditation on Aimee Mann, the layers of performance, plus an important adjustment to Merlin’s ongoing directive for eventually introducing John to famous people.

Our (increasingly inaccurately named) team of rebel UK podcasters takes on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Join us for another deep dive into the themes, performances, and surprises of the latest “Star Wars movie.” We promise not to mention Porgs until the very end!

As per holiday tradition at The Talk Show, a brief chat about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with a cavalcade of special guests, including Guy English and John Siracusa.

After firing off the spoiler horn at 1:27:12, your hosts enter the Spoiler Slot to talk about a remarkable documentary called "The Barkley Marathons."

This week kicks off with some talk about a recent Holiday Party and a rumination from Merlin on why people like podcasts. Quick follow-up on kids and passwords yields to a resigned shrug about the seemingly impossible epistemology of children’s anecdotes. John worries about Merlin’s office and offers some new notes on his pronunciation.

This leads to an unintentional mini-topic on kids’ toys. John’s wife has found a new way to buy toys, and Merlin makes the case for the raw power of Lady Train. Quick ideas for charitable giving are shared, and the phenomenon of the Very Special Episode is discussed.

Merlin wonders if people have always been so tribal, and John has a theory. John, perhaps unsurprisingly, does not trust machines to do his blocking for him.

(Recorded on Tuesday, December 19, 2017.)

The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held in Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg, Tennessee. Runners may elect a "fun run" of 60 miles (97 km) or the full course of 100 miles (160 km) (distances are approximate). The race is limited to a 60-hour period, and takes place in late March or early April of each year.

The world's top ultrarunners fight to compete in the Barkley Marathons, an ever-shifting race designed by a madman to break their spirits through 100 miles of hellish Appalachian mountains. So far, only 14 people have completed it.

This week's challenge: have a Holiday Party.

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