Reconcilable Differences

The main topic this week is Dad Stuff. Dad Jokes, Dad Hats, and Dad...everything. In particular, when did Dad Jokes become a thing, and exactly what part of that label is supposed to be so bad and insulting?

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This week, John won’t talk about his job, Merlin has jury duty (yes, again), and your hosts do some follow-up on documentaries. The disappearing of classic episodes of older PBS shows is lamented.

John finds a lot to like about true Dad humor, while Merlin finds himself overwhelmed by a rapidly-widening aperture.

Following a bracing blast by an increasingly contextual spoiler horn (1:25:58), John and Merlin float into the epic, three-to-five-dimensional world of Christopher Nolan's 2014 science fiction epic, Interstellar.

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 3, 2017)

Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious new abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission.JOIN FREE FOR A MONTH

Many dad jokes may be considered anti-jokes, deriving humour from an intentionally unfunny punchline.

Rockschool was a television series aired by the BBC and PBS in 1985. The series explored the history of rock music and gave instruction in popular performance techniques.

"In 1928, the writer Father Ronald Knox created a "Ten Commandments" of plot devices (Knox's Decalogue) that more or less codified the rules of the Fair-play whodunnit:"

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

In a main topic, your hosts try to share some ideas on sustainably working remotely from home

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On top of all the sheltering-in-place, John is nursing a new injury, and Merlin doesn't love hearing it described at all. This leads to some medical technology discussion plus an on-air debriding agent demo.

History and experience can be pretty good teachers, but working yourself to a damaged nub is a terrible game for the young and should be considered harmful.

And, then there's the technology we use to stay connected and the managers who need to manage. Were you aware that Tom totally knows Craig Chaquico?

Listen, team, there are going to be a lot of adjustments, but also some great opportunities. We swear.

Hang in there, stay inside, and please take care of yourselves.

(Recorded on Tuesday, March 24, 2020)

• Audio Editor: Jim Metzendorf
  
• Admin Assistance: Kerry Provenzano
  
• Music: Merlin Mann
• The Suits: Stephen Hackett, Myke Hurley

"John Siracusa joins me to discuss RSI in depth, drawing on both of our experiences we look at what works, what doesn’t and why you should care. Keyboards, trackpads, trackballs, mice, chairs, we cover it all."

The main topic this week has Merlin probing John’s thoughts on the idea of a thing being “wrong within normal parameters.” John calls someone a “super doof,” and both hosts share their strategy for not ending up on a desert island.

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This week, John has been encouraged to pierce Merlin more, and Merlin still hasn’t watched Millennium Actress (although they offer a helpful listener suggestion on how you can).

Your hosts compare how they use Twitter these days and talk about the different ways they deploy the heart icon. They wonder aloud about who actually sees what on Twitter.

For the conclusion of the episode, (after about 1:14:19), the spoiler horn is fired off for a discussion of the controversial Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead.

(Recorded on Tuesday, October 25, 2016)

Next, the dolorous spoiler horn fires off for a detailed examination of The Walking Dead (TV series). Lots of talk about how and when the series works in general, followed by passionate complaints on the controversial Season 6 finale. Are we finally too far gone?

The show was set in Passaic, New Jersey, and was about the daily life of Billy Manucci, a young man who frequented the local disco club, Inferno, at night while working at an ice cream parlor called Tasty Treats during the day. Manucci was highly influenced by the disco craze and the movie Saturday Night Fever specifically.

Naturally, despite their obvious skill and inventiveness, the castaways never quite manage to put together a functional raft out of bamboo (or repair the hole in their original ship as the ship itself fell to pieces when they tried that in one episode), although in the television movie Rescue from Gilligan's Island, they do end up tying their huts together and using that as a raft for escape.

"I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises," O'Rourke continued. "It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters."

The backfire effect occurs when, in the face of contradictory evidence, established beliefs do not change ...

The main topic is solo parenting. Facing The Shoe Crisis, thrice ruining the dinosaur eggs, and finding yourself in a Staples line that’s literally not moving. Is fear and anxiety really such a smart and time-tested motivator?

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This week’s follow-up covers good news/weird news on Merlin’s wife’s phone, more on “accessibility” settings, and how craftsmanship and quality often war with management.

Also, we learn why neurosis is always built into the price when applying Siracusa’s Incompleteness Theorem.

(Recorded Monday, October 3, 2016)

Parents who are one step more attentive than you: coddling yuppies. Parents who are one step less attentive: neglectful assholes.

Gödel's incompleteness theorems are two theorems of mathematical logic that demonstrate the inherent limitations of every formal axiomatic system containing basic arithmetic.[1] These results, published by Kurt Gödel in 1931, are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of mathematics. The theorems are widely, but not universally, interpreted as showing that Hilbert's program to find a complete and consistent set of axioms for all mathematics is impossible.

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

In 1978, a joint resolution of Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982, but no further states ratified the amendment and so it did not become part of the Constitution.

For a main topic, John wants to talk about regrets, lost loves, and things that could have been different.

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Things kick off with a review of recent household paper cuts. Breaking the AirPods Rule, not using the hand rail, and barely surviving the chute into the kill zone.

John hears the case of Merlin's exploding plumbing in order to adjudicate whether it constitutes an actual emergency. Service people are all about lead generation, but, John appreciates the input.

The consequent verdict leads to exploration of minimizing COVID attack vectors. Speaking of riding things out, again with John's toe. Just the one. Descript is also discussed.

John wants Merlin to talk about this, so he does. Witness his confessions.

(Recorded on Tuesday, May 19, 2020)

• Audio Editor: Jim Metzendorf
  
• Admin Assistance: Kerry Provenzano
  
• Music: Merlin Mann
• The Suits: Stephen Hackett, Myke Hurley

To "shuffle off this mortal coil" is to die, exemplified in the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The main topic is trust your mechanic. How to survive working with the experts who diagnose and fix your problems. John's not a Dead Kennedys fan, and Merlin's just so irrationally mad about the state of his oven.

Flexible, super charged, batch image processing for your Mac.

A compilation from The Earliest Show:

"Mouth Noises and What?!"

Blank Check catchphrases!

MBMBaM boys compilation

"He's from Maryland."