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

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    #50: Barrel Week

    April 19th, 2017 · 123 minutes

    In a surprisingly robust main topic, John recalls his youth spent playing handball and many other New York street games that Merlin had assumed were just made up.

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    Download: MP3 (116.75 MB)

    Links and Show Notes

    This week, Merlin helps a friend and John disallows an awkward neologism. John wonders who refills the store-smell machine.

    John surprises Merlin by (finally) watching the film, Les Misérables, and shares his impressions. What works, what doesn’t, and why does the sewer need to be so sewery?

    Dodgeball is debated, Merlin shares his very very sad homemade games, and John reluctantly learns about stolen valor and the people who pretend to be cops.

    Less surprisingly, there’s some important Follow-Up on…Follow-Up. John revisits the provenance of his invention and its legacy, and reveals a double-turns-out about the role Merlin’s bit may unintentionally play in ensuring its proper credit. Merlin just wishes everyone could be happy with how everybody already likes them, but John makes sure Merlin’s week in the barrel includes some candid feedback from listeners.

    Finding themselves suddenly short on time, your hosts talk about Merlin’s recent acquisition of a MacBook Adorable and why it can sometimes be so danged hard to recommend Apple products. John looks at the background of photos, star-effs with a showrunner, and explains why he documented his withdrawal of a very nice gift to The Original Peaches.

    (Recorded on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.)

    It's showtime, folks! - YouTube
    American handball - Wikipedia
    Ringolevio - Wikipedia
    Biggles Dictates a Letter - YouTube
    Touched the Dirty Santa | Do By Friday

    This week's challenge: watch Les Misérables.

    #70 Stolen Valor – Gimlet Media
    Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye - YouTube

    We're all sensitive people.

    Bluetooth Headphones Mega-Review – Marco.org
    Plantronics BackBeat PRO 2 - Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Black Tan
    Accidental Tech Podcast: 217: Apology Mac Pro
    H.I. #39: Getting Things Done — Hello Internet

    Grey and Brady discuss: Hello Internet babies, humblebragging time warp, how likely is your job to be automated, a new corner, John Nash, losing weight, and collecting the Getting Things Done homework.

    Words that Sound Like Other Words | The Flop House Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

    A super-fan purchased the domain wordssoundlikeeachother.com, configuring it to redirect to the Flop House's blog.  Said super-fan has subsequently let this domain expire, partially in protest of the fact that the Original Peaches could never accurately recall or convey the actual joke that the domain name embodied—much like this very wiki page.  It was a revelation—Wow, words sound like each other!—not the name of a category (Words that sound like other words.)