January 10, 2012 at 9:45AM •
1 hour 41 minutes
John Gruber joins Merlin to talk about blog engines, Lego, bias, credibility, the project triangle, and (duh) Star Wars.
Special guest John Gruber.
January 3, 2012 at 6:45PM •
1 hour 17 minutes
TOPIC: How habits get made.
Dan and Merlin are back for 2012 to discuss how habits are like little hairs or inertia or homeostasis or something. How we build habits, how they get built for us, and what we can learn about habits from making our daily coffee.
December 27, 2011 at 7:45PM •
1 hour 4 minutes
TOPIC: Resolving to skip the New Year's resolutions.
In the last episode of 2011, Merlin and Dan talk about fresh starts and modest changes rather than rehearsing for sucking. You don't need a calendar to tell you to change. Whether you want to give up nail biting, onanism, or drinking a gallon of vodka a day, you need a plan and a tolerance for failure. Plus, a little care never hurts.
How to do it? Keep it small, keep it time-limited, keep it action-oriented.
Happy New Year, jackals. We love you.
December 20, 2011 at 5:00PM •
1 hour 23 minutes
Topic: The Meta-Distractions of "Minimalism"
This week, Merlin and Dan get all "Zen" about bias and minimalism. Your background won't get any blacker, so stop burning cycles arguing on the internet or worrying about what other people think or how minimal you are. It's not about the bird skeletons, lion skins or barefoot girls. Unless that's what works. Just make sure it really works.
December 13, 2011 at 5:45PM •
1 hour 9 minutes
Topic: The Narcissism of Small Differences
This week, Merlin has a quiz for Dan to determine whether Ben Franklin, "The Immigrant Song," or Quantum Mechanics has the most cultural impact--as well as his teasing out Dan's go-to for uninstalling Android apps.
Paying attention to the same degree you care goes nicely with keeping a sense of humor. Especially about those small differences regarding couch cushions, pink spaceships, and Sgt. Pepper's.
The answers are Moby Dick, Julian calendars, ZoSo, chigger bites, and--yes--The Greater Nerd Theory.
December 7, 2011 at 7:30AM •
1 hour 13 minutes
Topic: Moving from dumb nouns to awesome verbs.
This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the problem with Capital Letter Nouns; how real and specific verbs will always trounce Excellence, Effectiveness, and Mission Statements--even in the Best-of-Breed Pursuance of Five-Nines Quality Across The Enterprise.
They also look at transitive and intransitive flavors of "feasance," finding your keyboard's Excellence Key, opting-in for The Johnson Treatment, lancing that actionable boil, and (as ever) shooting the obvious fish in the obvious barrel.
November 30, 2011 at 8:30AM •
58 minutes
Topic: Asking questions in order to find better questions
This week, Dan and Merlin pick up their discussion of asking better questions and how sometimes the point of asking a question isn't to get an answer, but to get another, even better question.
How do you do this? Blundell Chains, hypotheses, the clackity noise, and iteration.
November 22, 2011 at 4:45PM •
1 hour 16 minutes
This week Dan and Merlin talk about asking good questions instead of massaging your real problem until it fits the comforting solution you found on the cover of a magazine.
November 15, 2011 at 6:00PM •
1 hour 21 minutes
Dan and Merlin talk more about why we get stuck and how might re-think getting "unstuck." Looking at process over product, remembering how you got here, and getting clear about what you're really trying to make.
Merlin also has some updates and tips for your iTunes Matching and your Google searching.
November 8, 2011 at 8:15PM •
1 hour 39 minutes
Dan and Merlin talk about what it means for Google to change the meaning of "plus," and how it might bolster the production of "stuff and needy."
They also consider options for "getting unstuck" with a creative project—how, sometimes, the constraints can help a lot more than the options.
