Back to Work

TOPIC: No one cares about your demo anymore.

This week Dan & Merlin talk about realizing when life isn't all about you and getting better at learning how to say "thank you."

Also, lots of great pra…

TOPIC: Staying out of Technology Detention

This week, Dan and Merlin do another giant-size grabbag episode that covers a lot of ground, including:

• movies, kids, and ratings, oh my!
• better text edi…

TOPIC: That's Not How the Future Works.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about evolving technology culture, the weird landscape of semi-smart devices, and why Merlin does and kinda doesn't do Getting …

TOPIC: Grab Bag.

This week, Dan and Merlin cover the waterfront. This wide-ranging episode covers lots of listener feedback, corrections of egregious errors, D&D alignment, the danger of guessing wh…

TOPIC: Epistemology and Parenting as Dumpster Fire

This week, Dan and Merlin end up talking a lot about what they don't know and how they know they don't know it. The biases, errors, and frames that…

TOPIC: Feelings, Slide Rules, and The Franklin Test

This week Merlin hasn't had enough coffee and may have early-onset toxoplasmosis, so he and Dan respond to great feedback from listeners, mostly o…

TOPIC: Information, Context, and Courage.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the reaction to last week's episode about work and identity and respond to follow-up questions from listeners.

Also, M…

TOPIC: Coder, Kayaker, Father, Person.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about Dan's attempt to vastly rejigger his schedule in the interest of mental and physical health.

This leads to a long discuss…

TOPIC: Say something funny.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about entertainment as a career and how difficult it can be to know whether you're suited for it.

Plus, discussions of X-Men, San Francisc…

TOPIC: Budgeting the Primary Secondary Project

This week, Dan and Merlin do a deep dive on a very old and very thorny topic: managing time.

Thing is: this is not about bookkeeping—it's about accoun…

TOPIC: Elephants all the way down.

This week, Dan and Merlin do a deep dive on communication, perception, persuasion, empathy, and understanding, as illustrated by everything from The Force Awakens …

TOPIC: Something something the things we own.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the way shopping changes how we buy stuff—and how buying is changing what we can actually shop for.

Then, there's …

TOPIC: Maybe quit being so "busy."

This week, Dan and Merlin drop a lot of science on the miraculous taxonomies of Judaica. Mazel Tov!

For the big topic, Merlin launches into an animated jeremiad o…

TOPIC: Sunrise, Sunset.

This week, Dan and Merlin celebrate their 250th episode with an extensive discussion of McDonaldland and its horrific culture and citizenry.

The main topic addresses the ““s…

TOPIC: Personal Crazy Walls

This week, Dan and Merlin start by covering a lot of things that you might actually be thinking of.

The meat of the episode focuses on a listener question about deciding…

TOPIC: More Songs About Buildings and Food

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about transitions, microwave ovens, air conditioning, and the likelihood of salmonella.

Links for this episode:

• Amazon.com: …

TOPIC: A Mark on a Page

This week, Dan and Merlin kick off by talking about Dan's recent interview with "Weird Al" and how he's such an interesting harbinger of changing times for media and platform…

TOPIC: Medieval or Renaissance?

This week, Dan and Merlin start out by helping listeners learn to identify the subtle differences between all things Renaissance and Medieval.

The remainder of the s…

TOPIC: First impressions of the new Apple TV

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the triumphs and travails of their first few days with the fourth generation Apple TV.

Links for this episode:

• New A…

TOPIC: You are who you choose to be.

This week Dan and Merlin talk about making buying decisions, dealing with unsolicited email, preventing stupid from sticking to you, and finding systems that may…