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

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#46: Some Form of Ballast

February 23rd, 2017 · 110 minutes

Main topic this week is Valentine’s Day. Why Merlin hates it, and why John thinks it has its purposes. Why is tonight’s Holy Day of Obligation different from all others, and why exactly did John have a mat?

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Download: MP3 (101.37 MB)

Links and Show Notes

This week, things open with a shockingly thorough discussion of chickens that somehow pivots to Costco caskets, TV buying decisions, Merlin's increasingly strange pronunciations, and John’s reluctant agreement to become a cron job.

Follow-up covers John finding those charts about global living conditions and Merlin finally figuring out how to remember the name of that one song.

There's a fair amount of memory talk, including more explorations of John's perpetual memory doubts and mistrust, plus, Merlin introduces another one of his “runx” files.

(Recorded on Tuesday, February 14, 2017)


Mr. Show - "Pre-Taped Call-In Show"
CMD Space #34: A Man of the Internet, with John Siracusa - Relay FM
HDMI 2.1 - Wikipedia
A history of global living conditions in 5 charts - Our World In Data

A recent survey asked “All things considered, do you think the world is getting better or worse, or neither getting better nor worse?”. In Sweden 10% thought things are getting better, in the US they were only 6%, and in Germany only 4%. Very few people think that the world is getting better.

What is the evidence that we need to consider when answering this question? The question is about how the world has changed and so we must take a historical perspective. And the question is about the world as a whole and the answer must therefore consider everybody. The answer must consider the history of global living conditions – a history of everyone.

The Notwist - "Pilot" - YouTube

Merlin remembered the song!

List of chemistry mnemonics - Wikipedia
Mnemonic: Sentences to remember the elements
Original Ginsu 1 Ad - YouTube
Pre-Cana - Wikipedia
Chang's Kitchen | Order Online | San Francisco | BeyondMenu

"Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings"

Vision API - Image Content Analysis  |  Google Cloud Platform
Nonsense images that computer vision algorithms are convinced are real things
RoboCop - Wikiquote

ED-209: You now have 15 seconds to comply. You are in direct violation of Penal Code 1.13, Section 9.

The Elf on the Shelf | A Christmas Tradition
Sound of My Voice (2011) - IMDb
Netflix - instantwatcher - The OA / Season 1

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

Stay Alive (Beach) Commercial - YouTube

"I'm the sole survivor!"

U.S. Postal Service - "Good News" (PSA #1, 1981) - YouTube

"…because my little Danielle used the right zip!"

Cute, Scented, Collectible Characters | Num Noms

"Nested lip gloss ice creams"

Holy day of obligation - Wikipedia

In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation (also called holydays, holidays, or days of obligation) are days on which the faithful are obliged to attend Mass.

Deep neural networks are easily fooled: High confidence predictions for unrecognizable images | Evolving AI Lab
Cot–caught merger - Wikipedia