John Siracusa and Merlin Mann try to figure out exactly how they got this way.

Navigation

Links

Support this show

Join for $7/month Join for $70/year
Get an ad-free version of the show, plus a monthly extended episode.

#252: Briefly, It Was the Future.

Everything becomes crab.

January 17th, 2025 · 100 minutes

Updates on match cuts, the college ranking racket, and some historical perspective on t-dropping.


Stream this episode

Download: MP3 (92.53 MB)

Links and Show Notes

Follow-Up brings updates on match cuts, the college ranking racket, and some historical perspective on t-dropping.

The main topic is kind of hard to pin down, but it might come down to a word choice on a website. Making it an ideal topic for this program.

In this month’s member bonus episode, there's some more discussion of scrobbling and media consumption, plus John watched The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015), and Merlin wants to hear how it went.

You can sign up today to hear all the member episodes, get more bonus stuff, and help support our program.


Credits


Kieran Healy's Mastodon thread about college admissions selectivity

"The selectivity racket is driven by the US News & World Report Rankings…"

Kieran Healy's essay about "Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability" (PDF)
The Grammarphobia Blog: Uh-oh, it’s the glottal stop

'English speakers have been glottalizing the letter “t” since at least the mid-19th century.'

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (Video 2007) - IMDb
John's Wristies
This Is Water, by David Foster Wallace - Wikipedia
Todd Vaziri's website - fxrant.blogspot.com
Maria Menounos - Wikipedia
The story of "Sidetalkin'" on the Panic Podcast
Merlin's old Treo smartphone
Some information about the Helmac lint roller
How did Last.fm come with the term "scrobble"?
The origins of "Scrobbler" - Audioscrobbler and Last.fm
The Lobster (2015)