Back to Work with After Dark Post-Shows

After Dark 377: After Back to Work #120

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:15:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 120.

Back to Work 120: Egg MacGuffin

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: What would you do differently if you had a "safety net?"

This week, Dan and Merlin congratulate their pal, Marco, on the acquisition of a company he helped co-found.

Which leads to the nominal topic: what kind of safety net would you need to feel secure, do the things you'd like, and mostly banish the more persistent cumulonimbus clouds of your own anxiety?

Many angles are explored. Why was Elvis unhappy? How is habitual Schadenfreude and automatic bile ensmallening our culture? Can we ever be—let alone feel—truly secure? And, how much of our old selves do we end up lugging along inside every suitcase we carry?

Pretty great episode. Especially if you like the ones where Merlin gets all mad. Those are usually good ones.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Stock Photos, Royalty-Free Images and Vectors - Shutterstock

Sign-up for a free browse account, go to Shutterstock.com, no credit card needed. When you find the images you like and decide to purchase, user offer code "DANSENTME5" and get 30% off any package.

Comic Book Reading Order | Comics Back Issues

When it comes to finding a comic book reading order online, the resources out there are either incomplete or “too” complete. Some sites will focus only on trade paperbacks, while others will split books up by page, sending a flashback from 2009 all the way back to 1972. Neither allows you to put your single issues in the order they were meant to be read. It’s with this goal that we set out to create our first reading order, and upon many requests have spread out to many other popular franchises.

Adventure Time - “BMO’s Pregnant Song” (Adventure... | kung fu grippe

Oh! Oh, BMO!How’d you get so pregnant?“Who’s the mother? Oh, who’s the father?”

"That's where 'Tumbalog' comes in." | kung fu grippe

On February 12, 2007, I pitched my pal, Nelson Minar, on an idea for a web service we could build that would make it easy for people to setup their own mini-site where they could post random bits of text, photos, etc.

See You on Larry’s Island - The Talk Show - Mule Radio Syndicate

Very special guest Merlin Mann joins John Gruber to discuss 43-year-old Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, career-ending injuries for writers and podcasters, and whether Larry Page more resembles a Bond villain or Magneto. In other words, the usual.

5by5 | CMD+Space #43: Option+CMD+H, with Merlin Mann

This time Myke is joined by Merlin Mann. They have a very 'Back to Work'-esque discussion covering Adventure Time and Comics books (naturally), but with a great discussion around what it's like to work in large companies, living with a routine and why achieving tenure might not be all what it's cracked up to be.

The One-Person Product – Marco.org

As for me, while I wasn’t a “founder” financially, David was generous with my employee stock options back in the day. I won’t make yacht-and-helicopter money from the acquisition, and I won’t be switching to dedicated day and night iPhones. But as long as I manage investments properly and don’t spend recklessly, Tumblr has given my family a strong safety net and given me the freedom to work on whatever I want. And that’s exactly what I plan to do.

[UPDATED] " Back to Work Media Survival Guide

An informal appendix of movies and TV shows that are compulsively quoted or referenced by Dan and Merlin. See? It all makes sense now!

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Harry Tosses Perry's Gun - YouTube

Adventure Time - “I’m Just Your Problem” -... | kung fu grippe

That Olivia Olson has some serious pipes.She not only voices Marceline’s speaking voice, but sings many of her awesome songs.

Amazon.com: ACT Restoring Mouthwash, Cool Splash Mint, 18-Ounce Bottle (Pack of 4): Health & Personal Care

Facebook, One Year Later: What Really Happened in the Biggest IPO Flop Ever - Khadeeja Safdar - The Atlantic

After Facebook's disastrous debut, the preferred clients of big banks walked away with huge profits. How? Public documents and interviews with dozens of investment bankers and research analysts reveal that the Street caught wind of something the public didn't. The social network and the banks told half the story. Here is the other half.

Edited for television: Best and worst - Straight Dope Message Board

What, in your opinion, have been the most memorable things censors have changed when movies are aired on the small screen? I always try to remember what swear words came where, to see what they'll do to them on television.

Big Lebowski - Edited For TV... Badly - YouTube

"You see what happens Larry? You see what happens when you find a stranger in the alps?!?!"

The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety (Vintage): Alan W. Watts: 9780307741202: Amazon.com: Books

"We spend too much time trying to anticipate and plan for the future; too much time lamenting the past. We often miss the pleasures of the moment in our anxious efforts to ensure the next moment is as enjoyable. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Watts argues that it is only by acknowledging what we do not and cannot know, that we can find something truly worth knowing. In order to lead a fulfilling life, one must embrace the present—live fully in the now."

[VIDEO] Blake's monologue from "Glengarry Glen Ross"

"Go and do likewise gents. Money's out there. You pick it up, it's yours. You don't, I got no sympathy for you. "

The Godfather Saga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Godfather Saga is a TV miniseries that combines The Godfather and The Godfather Part II into one film. It originally aired on NBC over four consecutive nights (one three-hour segment and three two-hour segments) in November 1977. The Godfather Saga is also known as The Godfather: The Complete Novel For Television, The Godfather: A Novel for Television, and The Godfather Novella. The television version was the basis for a shorter, 1981 video release known as The Godfather 1902–1959: The Complete Epic. Following the release of The Godfather Part III in 1990, a third unified version was released to video in 1992 entitled The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980.

"The Godfather: A Novel for Television" (1977)

The first two Godfather films were re-edited together in chronological order with additional footage added.

Neighborhood Watch - The Bold Italic - San Francisco

"I have seen knife fights before. I have never seen one before breakfast."

I Am Not Spock: Leonard Nimoy: 9781568496917: Amazon.com: Books

I Am Spock: Leonard Nemoy: 9780786889105: Amazon.com: Books

The X-Men #129 - God Spare The Child... (Issue)

Note: This is the first appearance of the popular X-men Kitty Pryde, Carmen pryde, Terri Pryde, Donald Pierce, Harry Leland, and Emma Frost (who was a villain during her first appearances). And one of the greatest X-men-villains, Sebastian Shaw.

Secret Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kenner had licensed the DC Heroes. Mattel had He-Man, but wanted to hedge in case superheroes became the next big fad. They were interested in Marvel's characters, but only if we staged a publishing event that would get a lot of attention, and they could build a theme around. Fans, especially young fans often suggested to me "one big story with all the heroes and all the villains in it", so I proposed that. It flew. Mattel thought that kids responded well to the word "secret", so after a couple of working names bit the dust, we called the story "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars".

Nelson's Weblog

Aspartame - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it also has been sold under the brand name AminoSweet. It was first synthesized in 1965 and the patent expired in 1992.

Paper | FiftyThree

"Five essential tools optimized for the creative process to Sketch, Write, Draw, Outline and Color. Start with Draw and purchase additional tools from the in-app store."

[VIDEO] Glengarry Glen Ross - "Oh, what a big MAN you are!"

"Your pal closes, and all that comes out of your mouth is BILE. Ewwww! "

[VIDEO] Scared Shitless | 43 Folders

"You can be scared and still do it anyway. Regardless of whatever it is."

Monster of rock: Allen Klein swindled The Stones and broke up The Beatles and is still rock 'n' roll's most ruthless Svengali | Mail Online

"In Britain we only really became aware of Klein when the Rolling Stones' first manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, suddenly sold the group to him, without consulting them."

Top 10 Music Managers Who Fucked Over Their Clients - Los Angeles - Music - West Coast Sound

Billy Joel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In August 1989, just before the album was released, Joel fired his manager (and former brother-in-law) Frank Weber after an audit revealed major discrepancies in Weber's accounting. Joel subsequently sued Weber for $90 million, claiming fraud and breach of fiduciary duty and in January 1990 he was awarded $2 million in a partial judgement against Weber; in April, the court dismissed a $30 million countersuit filed by Weber.

Rob Corddry - Los Angeles Premiere of "Pain & Gain" held... | Rob Corddry Picture 3622432 | Contactmusic.com

'Pain & Gain' L.A. Premiere: Mark Wahlberg, Rebel Wilson Wow on the Red Carpet (PHOTOS)

Quote Details: Henry David Thoreau: Beware of all enterprises... - The Quotations Page

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."

Zero–sum game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In game theory and economic theory, a zero–sum game is a mathematical representation of a situation in which a participant's gain (or loss) of utility is exactly balanced by the losses (or gains) of the utility of the other participant(s). If the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Thus cutting a cake, where taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others, is a zero–sum game if all participants value each unit of cake equally (see marginal utility). In contrast, non-zero–sum describes a situation in which the interacting parties' aggregate gains and losses are either less than or more than zero. A zero–sum game is also called a strictly competitive game while non-zero–sum games can be either competitive or non-competitive. Zero–sum games are most often solved with the minimax theorem which is closely related to linear programming duality, or with Nash equilibrium.

5by5 | The Incomparable #141: Tony Stark Wants the Credit

Put on your high-tech suit of armor and join us for our discussion of "Iron Man 3." We talk about Tony's post-traumatic stress, his problematic relationship with technology, and his questionable choice to use remote armor to give a present to his girlfriend. We also discuss the pros and cons of the first two Iron Man movies, analyze how this film fits in as a post-"Avengers" story, and appreciate Tony's MacGyver moment.

Special guests Lisa Schmeiser & Scott McNulty.

Fan service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fan service, fanservice, or service cut, is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want". Fan service usually refers to "gratuitous titillation", but can also refer to intertextual references to other series.

Superchunk - "Seed Toss" (1991)

"You're tossing your SEEDS around!"

Starting from Scratch | This American Life

Segment: "Making Money The Old Fashioned Way."

Mary Beth Kirchner documents one day in the life of a hustler named Joe, who wakes up every morning broke, hustles as much as $10,000 during the day and then loses most of it by the time he goes to bed. What it's like to start from scratch every day of your life.

The Specials - Nelson Mandela - YouTube

This week’s episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Shutterstock (use discount code “DANSENTME5” for 30% off any package).

Back to Work 119: Big Bag of Pandora's Potatoes

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:30:00 GMT

TOPIC: Macintosh Nostalgia and Utter Apple ID Madness.

This week, after an entirely appropriate amount of very important follow-up, Dan and Merlin talk about Susan Kare's original Mac icons, why they're not going to be appearing on John Siracusa's t-shirt, plus the litany of completely monkeyballs problems that now has Merlin ready to literally shoot his Apple ID in the back of the head, mob-style.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace.com

Build a Website - Squarespace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

Beyond the To Do List - "Merlin Mann Interview"

For the 1st time, the origin story behind Back to Work can be told.

5by5 | The Incomparable #140: The Sublime Magicks of Exposition

No more mutants! We discuss the 2005 Marvel Comics miniseries "House of M," in which writer Brian Michael Bendis gets to show off his love of meetings, Doctor Strange, and meetings chaired by Doctor Strange! Also, there's a crazy "What If?" style parallel universe, approximately a billion spin-offs, and in the cruelest twist, Peter Parker is briefly allowed to be happy. And finally there's a shocking finale that set the tone for mutant storylines up to the present day. Listen before the Scarlet Witch wishes this podcast out of existence!Special guests Andy Ihnatko, Lisa Schmeiser, Merlin Mann, and Moisés Chiullan.

5by5 | After Dark #372: No More Merlins: Cut From The Incomparable #140

Plenty of comics nerdery from The Incomparable's "House of M" episode.Special guests Andy Ihnatko, Jason Snell, Lisa Schmeiser, Merlin Mann, and Moisés Chiullan.

Creative Think - Roger von Oech

Roger von Oech is an author, inventor, and speaker. His seminars and products have enriched the creativity of millions of people around the world.

Roger von Oech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roger von Oech (born Feb. 16, 1948) is an American speaker, conference organizer, author, and toy-maker whose focus has been on the study of creativity.

Roger von Oech (RogervonOech) on Twitter

Author (A Whack on the Side of the Head, Creative Whack Pack), inventor (Ball of Whacks, X-Ball, Y-Ball), iPhone/iPad App http://j.mp/cwpap

Status Board (iPad app by Panic)

You've got data. The news. Your calendar. Active projects and e-mail queues. Sales totals and bug counts. Your data isn't going away. Let's make data beautiful.Status Board takes your data and gives it meaning. Use the easy built-in panels. Or massage your data for our Graph and Table panels. It's going to be awesome.

Age of Ultron Digital Comics - Comics by comiXology

For years the heroes of the Marvel Universe have lived in fear that the artificial intelligence known as Ultron would one day evolve to fulfill its desire to wipe out all organic life and take over the Earth -- that day has arrived. The Avengers worst nightmare is here-- the Age of Ultron has begun.

Age of Ultron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Age of Ultron" (abbreviated AU) is a 10-issue limited series comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics, that involves the return of Ultron and his conquest of the earth.

On preventing a tug-of-war

"By far the best way to prevent a tug-of-war is to not pick up your end of the rope."

—Don Lancaster

Making musical influences your own, a followup | Nathan Shubert

I think it’s incredibly important for all creative people to actively search out that which inspires them, and to figure out what it is about it specifically that speaks to them. But after that, it’s time to move on to the artist persona, to create something truly your own.

[IMG] In which disapocrypha gets Siracusa close to different metal.

5by5 | Mac Power Users #136: iOS Automation

David and Katie talk about their favorite apps and tools for automating tasks on iOS

The Devil's Advocate (1997 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) is a 1997 American mystery thriller film based on Andrew Neiderman's novel of the same name. It is directed by Taylor Hackford and stars Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, and Charlize Theron.

Merlin Mann on Inbox Zero, Getting Things Done, Opportunity Cost and Sunk Cost Fallacy – BTTDL032

Susan Kare - User Interface Graphics - Apple Mac Icons

Apple Lisa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Lisa is a personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s. It was the first personal computer to offer a graphical user interface in an inexpensive machine aimed at individual business users.

Apple II series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Apple II series (trademarked with square brackets as "Apple ][") is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products,[1] designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II. In terms of ease of use, features and expandability the Apple II was a major technological advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I, a limited-production bare circuit board computer for electronics hobbyists that pioneered many features that made the Apple II a commercial success.

The Model III TRS-80 System

The TRS-80 Model III was one of the most successful computers ever built. It was used in schools throughout the United States, replacing the failing Commodores. It was used in offices, factories, and homes. By 1983, when it was replaced by the Model 4, a couple of million must have been sold. (Radio Shack has never given out the figures.) It was supported by the largest software libraries in existence up to that time, and several other operating systems were written for it. It became the standard grade school computer in thousands of school districts and the mainstay of small business.

The Enchiridion (book) - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

The Enchiridion (which translates to "The Handbook" or "The Manual") was an ancient book with codes of conduct, guidelines, and other helpful information for heroes. The book had great power which allowed it to tear open worm holes between dimensions in the multiverse. It was destroyed by Finn in "The Lich" in order to stop the Lich from gaining access to the multiverse (although, the Lich still made it. See "The Lich" for more details.)

HIGH-INTENSITY CIRCUIT TRAINING USING BODY WEIGHT: Maximum R... : ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal

To address the limitations of traditional exercise protocols and provide an effective and efficient program for our clients, one of the exercise strategies we use is high-intensity circuit training (HICT) using body weight as resistance. Our approach combines aerobic and resistance training into a single exercise bout lasting approximately 7 minutes. Participants can repeat the 7-minute bout 2 to 3 times, depending on the amount of time they have. As body weight provides the only form of resistance, the program can be done anywhere.

Devil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In some religions and traditions, these titles are separate demons

Demons in Christian Belief - ReligionFacts.com

In Christian belief, angels were created good but were endowed with free will just as humans were. Some of them rebelled against God, were banished from heaven, and became demons. The English word "demon" comes from the Greek daemon (δαίμων), which originally referred to any spirit but came to be associated with only evil spirits.In Christian teaching, the leader of the rebellious angels was Satan, who has became humanity's chief adversary. He is identified with the serpent who tempts Adam and Eve in Genesis.

Lectric Shave

"Blade Close. Lectric Smooth™"

Age of Ultron, #5

Erm. That’s actually Tony’s MK III armor.

It's Showtime, Folks - YouTube

Classic Roy Scheider in All That Jazz.

hard coded Dutch subs

"Learning Dutch the hard way."

Tiger Balm Ultra

When you're ready to nuke the pain, you're ready for Tiger Balm Ultra.

"greg land" o face - Google Search

Lisa Schmeiser (lschmeiser) on Twitter

Shrineless Maniac

5by5 | Lisa Schmeiser

Lisa Schmeiser is normally very good about making her New Years' resolutions happen, but it looks like this will be yet another year where "write a scintillating biography in the third person" is a nonstarter. She is a veteran writer and editor with expertise in covering the technology and business worlds.

The Avengers #213 (1981) Hank Pym is such a... | kung fu grippe

Hank Pym is such a dick.

Meetings can be…awkward.

"Everyone assumed someone else would bring bagels.But, alas: no one brought bagels."

Brian Michael Bendis LOVES meetings.

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "enchiridion" for an additional 10% off).

Back to Work 118: One-Step Corn Kerneler

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Toward an (Admittedly Dubious) Unified Field Theory of Creativity

This week, Dan and Merlin consider a framework for understanding the basic modes and focal lengths involved in producing creative work.

Why and how do we get so hung up and frustrated about getting good at what we do? Why's it so hard to take an abstract idea for making something great, then end up feeling pathologically stymied when we struggle to actually make it?

The boys return to the classic topic of expertise, especially the frustrating ironies that separate the pro from the amateur from the, as they say, "failure."

Also under consideration is Roger Von Oech's fascinating modal, character-based approach to making stuff—acknowledging the very different work of the Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior. But, critically, also striving to keep those characters in the right order and on the right parts of the right task at the right time. Then, knowing when to change things up.

Finally, there's a bit of discussion on Merlin's squirrely obsession with focal length—to not only choose the right mode at the right time, but to stay open to the idea of alternately zooming way out and way in at each step of the process. Accepting the benefits and trade-offs of switching between your macro and fish-eye lenses.

It's a really good episode—at least way better than it sounds. And, the hosts agree that, until you find a better model for understanding How to Make Stuff, you could do a lot worse than giving this admittedly Byzantine method a spin for yourself.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Shutterstock.com

Over 25 million stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. Use code "BACKTOWORK5" for 30% off.

Selection of Merlin's TextExpander 4 Snippets

Extremely random stash of Merlin's TextExpander snippets, as mentioned in Back to Work, Episode #116.

This explains everything | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

In which Merlin presents his highly dubious Unified Field Theory of Creativity.

[AUDIO] kung fu grippe - "Origin Stories: John Siracusa on Flu Shots"

5by5 | Hypercritical #38: Virtually Spotless (October 14, 2011)

Genesis of The Siracusa Flu Principle.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley: 9781563893421: Amazon.com: Books

Written by Frank Miller. No spoilers, please.

Pym Particles - Marvel Comics Database

Dr. Henry Pym originally discovered and isolated a rare group of subatomic particles, which have become known as the "Pym Particles", which could increase or decrease the size and mass of objects or living beings. The Pym Particles work by stunting matter into the Kosmos Dimension when shrinking an subject or accruing extra matter from that dimension when enlarging.

Pym Particles (Concept)

Pym particles first existed in an elixir form that had to be splashed on the object to enlarge or shrink it. Eventually this elixir was made into a gas so if could be quickly aspirated for easier transportation. After accidentally transforming into Giant-Man, Pym further refined the chemical into a variety of color-coded pills. The particles still proved unstable as they trapped Pym at a height of 12 feet. Pym Particles work by the user either shunting mass to the Kosmos Dimension (for shrinking) or taking mass (for growing).

camping : Shutterstock Stock Photography

Amazon.com: Intex Raised Downy Queen Airbed with Built-in Electric Pump: Sports & Outdoors

Raised queen-sized inflatable airbed with dual chamber construction

Amazon.com: Aqua Notes - Waterproof Notepad: Home & Kitchen

AquaNotes? provides a convenient method for preserving notes, sketches, and records without having to worry about the soggy results that occur when trying to write on traditional paper in wet environments. Let AquaNotesTM meet your need for a paper pad that can take whatever the weatherman dishes out!

[VIDEO] "The Shining" - "Have you ever had a SINGLE moment's THOUGHT about MY responsibilities?!?"

JACK TORRANCE: Have you ever had a SINGLE MOMENT'S THOUGHT about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the OVERLOOK Hotel until May the FIRST. Does it MATTER TO YOU AT ALL that the OWNERS have placed their COMPLETE CONFIDENCE and TRUST in me, and that I have signed a letter of agreement, a CONTRACT, in which I have accepted that RESPONSIBILITY? Do you have the SLIGHTEST IDEA, what a MORAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLE IS, DO YOU? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities? Has it ever occurred to you? HAS IT?

"Back to Work" Media Survival Guide

It's a start.

Deconstructing Creativity: The 4 Roles You Need to Play to be Fully Creative - Litemind

These concepts above are not new. The idea of the four creativity roles comes from Roger Von Oech‘s classic work on creativity A Whack on the Side of the Head, as well as the Creative Whack Pack (which is a deck of cards where each of the four roles is a suit — very fun, do check it out too).

The four roles of the creative process | creative.web.net

The following is from A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge,

A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative: Roger von Oech: 9780446404662: Amazon.com: Books

A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior to Be More Creative: Roger Von Oech: 9780060960247: Amazon.com: Books

5by5 | Back to Work #62: Cultural Molasses

TOPIC: Karmasucks, No-Sayers, and Black and White Thinking.

Dan and Merlin consider the karmasucks and black and white thinking that lead to inertia and a culture of derision.

Anyone can laugh at an agenda, and it only takes one turd in the punchbowl to ruin the party, so don't ask permission, ask yes or no questions, and keep your judge behind your explorer.

[IMG] kung fu grippe - Awesome Comic Book Keyboard Stickers

Dan is awesome. Ellie put most of the stickers on herself. What a cool present.

Regretsy | Where DIY Meets WTF

Macbook Keyboard Super Hero Skin by killerduckdecals on Etsy

Tired of typing away, answering the same emails, writing the same invites, posting the same status updates.... typing the same item descriptions? Super Hero's (and villains) unite! Its like the comic book alphabet bending to the power of your almighty fingertips. This will actually fit both the wireless 13", 15" MacBooks and most MacBook Airs. PLUS it won't block out the awesome backlit keys of the keyboards underneath.

Amazon.com: Amco One-Step Corn Kerneler: Kitchen & Dining

Amco Houseworks, an award-winning brand, has been making cooking and cleaning easier since the 1970s. It's a commitment that's earned it the love and respect of professional and home cooks around the world. Amco Houseworks creates quality, innovative, stylishly designed kitchen tools and accessories that help people enhance the quality of their cooking and entertaining. Amco Houseworks uses commercial grade stainless steel to craft its top quality kitchen utensils and accessories. We specialize in combining precision and performance to create stylishly designed premium kitchen tools. Our products are innovative, are intuitive and easy to use for the cooking enthusiast. This Amco one-step coren kerneler easily removes kernels from the cob in one quick motion. Place the corn kerneler at the narrow end of the cob and press straight down to the bottom of the cob. All kernels will collect neatly and there'll be no more kernel mess to clean up. It holds approximately 2 ears of kernels. To empty, pour kernels from the spout and start again. It is designed with a stainless steel blade that adjusts to the width of the corn and is top rack dishwasher safe.

Inedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Breatharianism is a related concept, in which believers claim food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism), or, according to some, by the energy in sunlight (according to Ayurveda, sunlight is one of the main sources of prana). The terms breatharianism or inedia may also refer to this philosophy practised as a lifestyle in place of the usual diet.

5by5 | The Pipeline #7: Merlin Mann

Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He's the creator of 43 Folders, the co-host of You Look Nice Today, a regular guest on MacBreak Weekly, and the author of an upcoming book entitled Inbox Zero.We discuss figuring out and focusing on your values, a new perspective on productivity, ignoring the lizard brain, doing what you like, rejecting novelty, serving the right audience, Picaso, cognition, action, self-discovery, mindfulness, buddhism, and the new book.You can find out more about Merlin on his website, via his weblog, Kung Fu Grippe, and by following him on Twitter.

On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft:Amazon:Books

“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life:Amazon:Books

All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career.

How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way: Stan Lee, John Buscema: 9780671530778: Amazon.com: Books

Stan Lee, the Mighty Man from Marvel, and John Buscema, active and adventuresome artist behind the Silver Surfer, Conan the Barbarian, the Mighty Thor and Spider-Man, have collaborated on this comics compendium: an encyclopedia of information for creating your own superhero comic strips. Using artwork from Marvel comics as primary examples, Buscema graphically illustrates the hitherto mysterious methods of comic art. Stan Lee's pithy prose gives able assistance and advice to the apprentice artist. Bursting with Buscema's magnificent illustrations and Lee's laudable word-magic, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way belongs in the library of every kid who has ever wanted to illustrate his or her own comic strip.

8½ (1963) - The Criterion Collection

Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini’s 8½ (Otto e mezzo) turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. An early working title for 8½ was The Beautiful Confusion, and Fellini’s masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK5" for 30% off).

Back to Work 117: The Flu Shots of Siracusa County

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:15:00 GMT

TOPIC: Offices, and when to get out of them.

This week—in what will surely be remembered as the greatest Back to Work episode of all time—Dan and Merlin eventually talk about working at a desk and when to take it someplace else.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace.com

Build a Website - Squarespace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

GIRL TALK - ALL DAY - ILLEGAL ART

All Day is intended to be listened to as a whole. It is broken up into individual tracks only for easier navigation.This album is a free download.Girl Talk thanks all artists sampled.

Slugline

Finally, a simple, elegant app for writing screenplays on your Mac. Slugline is a minimal, distraction-free environment for the most important part of screenwriting—the writing part.There are plenty of apps for your final draft. How about one for your first 99?

"Double Fantasy," indeed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

humberto ramos (humberto_ramos) on Twitter

comic book creator, karaoke singerneverland · https://www.facebook.com/ramos.comic

Humberto Ramos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Humberto Ramos (born 27 November 1970) is a Mexican comic book penciller, best known for his work on American comic books such as Impulse, The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man and his creator-owned series Crimson.

Humberto Ramos Official Site

Accidental Tech Podcast

A TECH PODCAST WE ACCIDENTALLY CREATED WHILE TRYING TO DO "A CAR SHOW." FEATURING MARCO ARMENT, CASEY LISS, AND JOHN SIRACUSA.

Avengers: The Origin (Avengers (Marvel Paperback)): Joe Casey, Phil Noto: 9780785144007: Amazon.com: Books

Redefining the origin of Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Iron Man! Thor! Ant-Man and the Wasp! Individually, each has the power to fight injustice and protect the innocent. But even the strongest heroes can only do so much when they stand alone. When the mischief god Loki uses the rampaging Hulk as his pawn of destruction in his bid to escape exile, it's up to Earth's Mightiest Heroes to stand together and stop him! The adventures of the Avengers echo throughout history, and it all begins here!

Mjölnir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nike Killshot 1979 / Tennis / Vintage Nike - Arkamix : Nike, jordan ,nike retro, nike air force one, vintage nike, running nike, collector nike

Virtually identical to Merlin's all-time favorite sneakers.

Ep. 11: "Everybody Knew What Mr. Finnell Did" - Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann

The Problems: the status of Napoleon’s hat; historically significant panties on the auction block; major issues in corporal punishment; Liza’s mostly lifelike Naugahyde partner; recovering our Oprah memories; John’s investigative broom closet journalism; the IMAX technology that was wasted on the Gunther Gebel Williams clan; conspiracy theories around Pee-wee’s Sarasota jam-up; why Seattle’s goin’ hungry in the lemon yellow sun; Mr. Finnell’s copy is goldenrod; Donovan’s probably fake smile; tackling our usual authenticity issues; some “e”-zy diaeresis häcks; why John’s just not a fan; the salient différence; Merlin’s glass-lined taxi driver problems; how the sunshine bores the daylights out of the one Rolling Stones lick Merlin knows; knowing how or whether to marry the other one from Wham! (U.K.); an opium-dulled death by a thousand mimeographs; the varieties of childhood paddles; in Soviet Alaska, Teamsters bust you; knowing when to save those pedagogically-stained Dolphin shorts; the seasonal difficulties of adjudicating clowns; some sensitive cultural subtleties of ping-pong; and the complex reasons why John can’t stop playing solitaire in traffic.

[VIDEO] Grandpa Simpson explains elderly union-busting

GRANDPA SIMPSON: We can’t bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don’t go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m’shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ‘em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you’d say. Now where was I… oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn’t get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…

E-Book Tarnishes The Reader-Book Relationship : NPR

Commentator Andrei Codrescu is upset that passages on his eBook reader are highlighted. This happens automatically by a crowd-sourcing program. Codrescu says it takes the privacy out of reading.

Underworld - Born Slippy [Trainspotting] - YouTube

Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports (Whole Album) (HQ) - YouTube

The Wrens - Ex Girl Collection - YouTube

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "yakshaving" for an additional 10% off).

After Dark 366: After Back to Work #116

Dan Benjamin — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:45:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 116.

Back to Work 116: Beagle Removal Service

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:30:00 GMT

TOPIC: Quit & Analyze, and Marvel Character Speculation.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about Dan's "Quit & Analyze" episode, then proceed into a very useful conversation about which characters from the Marvel Universe they're each most like.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] TextExpander: Mac Typing Shortcut Utility Saves You Time

Type more with less effort! TextExpander saves your fingers and your keyboard, expanding custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text and pictures...

Noteboard®: The pocket whiteboard

Every Noteboard is durable, portable, and infinitely rewritable folds up map-style.

5by5 | Quit! #21: Quit & Analyze

Dan is joined by a familiar guest, Marco Arment, to take calls and discuss Marco's very recent sale of Instapaper. They delve deeper and discuss when to hire, outsourcing, feeling burnt out, when to sell, and being selective about which company gets to buy what you've built. They take some listener calls and answer questions about job-seeking in a new town, how to come up with the next great idea, the reinvention of the corporate stooge, what to consider when you're desperate for freelance work, and what to do when you get let go from your job.

She-Hulk Vol. 1: Single Green Female: Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo: 9780785114437: Amazon.com: Books

Single Green Female, outgoing, intelligent, great sense of humor. Enjoys clubbing, dishing with gal-pals and saving the universe. Ready to put old issues behind and make a fresh start. Contact Jen W. at Avengers Mansion. That's right...everyone's favorite Jade Giantess, She-Hulk, has returned for tons of fun, both on and off the field of battle! Collecting SHE-HULK

TextExpander and Secure Input

Unfortunately, there are a few situations where Secure Input is left in its “enabled” state when it should not be—when you have finished entering sensitive information, or when you have begun to use a different application than the one that turned on Secure Input. In these cases, you will not be able to use TextExpander until Secure Input is disabled. So how can you disable Secure Input?

100 Greatest Marvels of All Time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time was a series of trade paperbacks published in 2001 by Marvel Comics. Earlier in the year, the publisher had held a poll asking readers to vote on their favorite issues of Marvel comic book series. The top 25 issues were then reprinted in trade paperback form, with a list in the back of each volume listing the results of the poll from the 100th issue to the last issue contained in that particular volume. Numbers 25 to 6 were published in volumes one through five, each of which contained four issues. The top five issues were each reprinted in their own volumes (volumes six through ten).[edit]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omega level mutants - X-Men Wiki - Wolverine, Marvel Comics, Origins

The terms "Alpha" and "Omega" (roughly meaning "first" resp. "final") are blurry in-universe terms used by some writers to categorise different characters. Omega mutants are, in theory, supposed to be the most powerful class of mutants, but with time the scope of the term has widened to include a much wider scope of characters that, following the same logic, could technically qualify half the ones in existence.

Omega Level Mutants - Marvel Comics Database

PROVEN Omega Level Mutants. A character can only be added to this category if they have a reference for when they were 'outed' as an Omega.

White noise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In signal processing, white noise is a random signal with a flat (constant) power spectral density. In other words, a signal that contains equal power within any frequency band with a fixed width. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, including physics, acoustic engineering, telecommunications, statistical forecasting, and many more. (Rigorously speaking, "white noise" refers to a statistical model for signals and signal sources, rather than to any specific signal.)

Brown note (disambiguation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A brown note is a hypothetical sound wave that would cause involuntary defecation.

Methuselah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 (Anno Mundi, after Creation), at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood.

Your Nice New Outfit

(Phil Noto's awesome Tumblr site.)

The Monkey's Paw - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The story is based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.

The Howling Fat Men of the Coen Brothers - YouTube

Enjoying My Coffee - YouTube

Glengarry Glen Ross - Will you go to lunch? (Kevin Spacey) - YouTube

"Megan Draper," as drawn by Phil Noto.

[IMG] "SNAP"

Poor Gwen. Poor Spidey.

Ugh.

Twitter / hotdogsladies: I really like Greg Land, but ...

"I really like Greg Land, but I wish he'd meet some women with a second facial expression."

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 121 - Marvel Comics Database

"She was dead before your webbing reached her! A fall from that height would kill anyone before they struck the ground."

-- Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)

Markdown Service Tools - BrettTerpstra.com

Slugline

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Smile's TextExpander.

Back to Work 115: Invitation to a Blame Party

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Fixing the Culture of Meetings

This week, Dan and Merlin address the problems with meetings, and how we can each choose to improve them.

Ten quick ideas?

Purpose
Agenda
Grazing Policy
Hard Edges
Scheduling Guests
Timekeeper
No Ratholes
Focus
Follow-Up
Consistency

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Stock Photos, Royalty-Free Images and Vectors - Shutterstock

Over 25 million stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos

[VIDEO] Merlin Mann - "Broken Meetings (and how you'll fix them)"

There's a big elephant in the office today that's becoming harder to ignore—meetings.Even the best meetings can eat up massive person-hours, but those really awful ones will just kill you. You know the type.Those time-wasting, rudderless, repetitious, zombie meetings where "deep dives," "drill downs," and "face time" often mean much is debated, little is accomplished, and everybody leaves feeling broken--AND, often as not, late for their next meeting.In the premiere of this all-new presentation, Merlin Mann attacks Bad Meeting Culture with the same brand of practical, funny, and thought-provoking advice that his popular Inbox Zero talks brought to the topic of email.

[SLIDES] BROKEN MEETINGS (and how you'll fix them)

[ESSAY] Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (by Paul Graham; 2009)

When you're operating on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in. Plus you have to remember to go to the meeting. That's no problem for someone on the manager's schedule. There's always something coming on the next hour

Drafts - Agile Tortoise

What’s New in Drafts 3.0Extend Drafts with ready-to-install Actions from the Action Directory! ?Drafts is a different kind of note taking app. In Drafts, text comes first – open the app and get a new, blank draft. Don’t get bogged down in a timeline to tweet or post to Facebook and App.net. Don’t tap through multiple screens to compose an email or SMS. Don’t navigate folders, create files and name them just to jot down a note or create a todo. Drafts is available for both iPhone and iPad.

Mushroom War - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

The Mushroom War (usually referred to as the Great Mushroom War) is the cause of the post-apocalyptic condition of the Land of Ooo. Not much is known about the war at the moment, but the inclusion of "mushroom" in the title is probably referring to the mushroom shaped explosion generated by atomic weapons. If so, then it is likely that the Land of Ooo and the creatures who inhabit it were created from the nuclear fallout that irradiated the land. The Mushroom War is most likely started by mankind being at war with one another, but on a nuclear scale (such as during the Cold War or the end of WWII).

The Enchiridion (book) - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Amazon.com: The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia (Encyclopedia): Inhabitants, Lore, Spells, and Ancient Crypt Warnings of the Land of Ooo Circa 19.56 B.G.E. - 501 A.G.E.

What time is it? Adventure Time?! Explore the magical world of Ooo with Jake the dog and Finn the human, along with the Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen, and all your favorite Adventure Time characters, in this first official guide to Cartoon Network?s hit animated series.Written and compiled by the Lord of Evil himself, The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia matches the playful, subversive tone of the series, detailing everything anyone will ever need to know about the postapocalyptic land of Ooo and its inhabitants?secret lore and spells, fun places you should visit and places where you will probably die, whom to marry and whom not to marry, how to make friends and how to destroy your enemies?plus hand-written marginalia by Finn, Jake, and Marceline. An indispensable companion to the show, this side-splittingly funny love letter to Adventure Time is sure to appeal to fans of all ages. Heck yeah!

[GUIDE] Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac - MacRumors Forums

Hi, Welcome. First of all. What is "MLPostFactor" you might ask. Well. As we all know, Apple has dropped OSX Mountain Lion support for older generation of Macs (2006~2008 Macs). The goal of the project is to support all those "drop out" Macs. So we designed this app to do just that. Read more @ Post

Billy - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Billy was a character who first appears in "His Hero." Billy is Finn and Jake's idol and the most powerful hero seen in the series. Thus, the two are immense fans of him.

The Lich (episode) - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Finn is led by Billy on a quest to save the world and beyond from the Lich.

Image Comics | East of West #1

"OUT OF THE WASTELAND"The things that divide us are stronger than the things that unite us. A Sci-Fi Western set in a dystopian America where all hope for the future rests in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...who just happen to be trying to kill the President of the United States. One of the most exciting new books of the year, this is EAST OF WEST, a brand new, ongoing, monthly comic from the award-winning team of Marvel's FF, JONATHAN HICKMAN and NICK DRAGOTTA.

East of West Digital Comics - Comics by comiXology

The things that divide us are stronger than the things that unite us. A Sci-Fi Western set in a dystopian America where all hope for the future rests in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...who just happen to be trying to kill the President of the United States. One of the most exciting new books of the year, this is EAST OF WEST, a brand new, ongoing, monthly comic from the award-winning team of Marvel's FF, JONATHAN HICKMAN and NICK DRAGOTTA.

Twitter / trammell: Watching @hotdogsladies' talk ...

Watching @hotdogsladies' talk "Broken Meetings (and how you'll fix them)". Again. It's the best. http://vimeo.com/15579561

Passwords for the Manly Man

Generating passwords so strong and secure they rise like the phoenix.

Twitter / hotdogsladies: After a mere 30 hours in LA, ...

After a mere 30 hours in LA, I’m already awesome at casually scoping out someone more important to talk to.

Actually…could you excuse me?

Amazon.com: The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) (0785342835953): Frederick P. Brooks Jr.: Books

Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time.

The Mythical Man-Month - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brooks' observations are based on his experiences at IBM while managing the development of OS/360. He had added more programmers to a project falling behind schedule, a decision that he would later counter-intuitively conclude to have delayed the project even further. He also made the mistake of asserting that one project — writing an ALGOL compiler — would require six months, regardless of the number of workers involved (it required longer). The tendency for managers to repeat such errors in project development led Brooks to quip that his book is called "The Bible of Software Engineering", because "everybody quotes it, some people read it, and a few people go by it." The book is widely regarded as a classic on the human elements of software engineering.

QPR: Quotidian Public Radio - QPR: Quotidian Public Radio - “Commentary by Anton...

Commentator Anton Cantrusku has been thinking about technology, communication, and the future of books.

End-of-life (product) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End-of-life (EOL) is a term used with respect to a product supplied to customers, indicating that the product is in the end of its useful lifetime and a vendor will no longer be marketing, selling, or sustaining a particular product and may also be limiting or ending support for the product. In the specific case of product sales, the term end-of-sale (EOS) has also been used. The term lifetime, after the last production date, depends on the product and is related to a customer's expected product lifetime. Different lifetime examples include toys from fast food chains (weeks or months), cars (10 years), and mobile phones (3 years).

Diceware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diceware is a method for creating passphrases, passwords, and other cryptographic variables using an ordinary die from a pair of dice as a hardware random number generator. For each word in the passphrase, five rolls of the die are required. The numbers from 1 to 6 that come up in the rolls are assembled as a five digit number, e.g. 43146. That number is then used to look up a word in a word list. In the English list 43146 corresponds to munch.

[PHOTO] kung fu grippe - "Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien - Riddley Scott 1979"

Sigourney Weaver in…uhhhhh…a space helmet.

Really very special.

[VIDEO] Merlin Mann - "Steampunk DIY"

As you may know, I'm an ardent fan of "steampunk." Here's a DIY project I recently completed.

Dr. Nick (The Simpsons) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Nick Riviera, usually referred to as Dr. Nick, is a recurring fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Dr. Nick is an inept quack physician, and a satire of incompetent medical professionals. Dr. Nick is known for his exclamation of "Hi, everybody!" upon entering a scene, which is immediately followed by the other characters present with, "Hi, Dr. Nick!", with one exception: in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", Mr. Burns replies with "Ho, mersimp son!", but with the same inflection as the usual greeting.

Pain & Gain (2013)

A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK4" for 30% off).

Back to Work 114: I'm Moving to FudgePacker

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Quicksilver and the OS X App Launcher Landscape

This week, Dan triumphantly returns from two weeks of crippling illness. So, the boys ease their way back into the groove with a grab bag of great follow-up, some Adventure Time talk, and a longer discussion of popular OS X App launchers, including Quicksilver 1.0, LaunchBar, and Alfred 2.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Build a Website — Squarespace

Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

New Template Design: Adirondack — The Official Squarespace Blog

Adirondack is a modern, clean design built with small business owners and savvy entrepreneurs in mind. Minimal navigation and full header images provide a bold framework for your company or brand. The template is characterized by scrolling effects

New Feature Roundup: Page Duplication and More — The Official Squarespace Blog

While we’re pushing out changes and improvements to Squarespace 6 almost daily, we wanted to point out a few recent updates that you might find helpful:

[PODCAST] 70Decibels - CMD+SPACE - 038 - Inbox Zero and New Projects, with Merlin Mann

On a very special episode of CMD SPACE Myke is joined by Merlin Mann to discuss Inbox Zero, starting New projects and a fun discussion about Adventure Time (as well as a little about comics, of course).

[PODCAST] 5by5 | Mac Power Users #132: Merlin Returns

Returning for his annual appearance, Merlin Mann joins Katie and David to talk Evernote, GTD, iPad, Podcasting and his favorite Apps.

Fat Cat Software – iPhoto Library Manager

iPLM also gives you the ability to copy your photos from one library to another, while keeping track of photo metadata that is normally lost when exporting from one library and importing into another. Titles, dates, descriptions, keywords, ratings, faces, and place information are all transferred along with the photos, ensuring that you keep all that information you spent hours entering into iPhoto. Event and albums are also reconstructed when copied, and both the edited and original copies of each photo are copied as well. You can split up a large library into multiple smaller libraries, merge entire libraries together into a big one, or rebuild a corrupt library that is causing iPhoto to hang or crash.

Drafts: Action Directory

This directory contains pre-configured custom actions to extend Drafts beyond the actions that come preinstalled with the app. If you have Drafts, browse this directory on your iOS device – when you find an action that interests you, tap the "Install" link and it will be installed in your local version Drafts. Any actions you install can be modified or deleted in the Drafts settings.

[GUIDE] Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac - MacRumors Forums

App Cubby • Hand Crafted iPhone Apps - Launch Center

It’s like speed dial, but for more than just phone calls! Launch Center Pro creates lightning quick shortcuts to specific features buried deep within apps. Call a loved one, message a friend, launch Instagram’s camera to quickly snap a pic, tweet, or turn your iPhone into a flashlight. Launch Center Pro gets you to where you’re going faster than ever before!

[PODCAST] 5by5 | Mac Power Users #133: Alfred 2

David and Katie take a deep dive into Alfred 2.0, an application launcher and productivity application for Mac.

Forecast

[awesome web app with detailed weather conditions]

Allen Hoskins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Allen Clayton Hoskins (August 9, 1920 – July 26, 1980) was an American child actor, most famous for portraying the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931.

Quicksilver — Mac OS X at your Fingertips

Quicksilver is a fast and free Mac OS X productivity application that gives you the power to control your Mac quickly and elegantly. Quicksilver learns your habits, making your everyday chores simple and efficient.

Quicksilver — LoveQuicksilver Blog

After almost 10 years of testing, Quicksilver lays the beta tag to rest. (If the lack of an eszett brings a tear to your eye, you can always reminisce by hitting ?S on your keyboard). What does this release mean? It means more than just a change in the version numbering system - it signifies a maturity of Quicksilver and a sign of what’s to come.

Quicksilver — LoveQuicksilver Blog

With the release of Quicksilver v1.0, I sat with Quicksilver’s lead developers (at our respective far-flung computers) to gather their thoughts on this historic occasion, and to find out a bit more about Quicksilver behind the scenes.

Alfred App - Productivity App for Mac OS X

Alfred is an award-winning productivity application for Mac OS XAlfred saves you time when you search for files online or on your Mac. Be more productive with hotkeys, keywords and file actions at your fingertips.

Share your Workflows - Alfred App Community Forum

Share your workflows with fellow Alfred v2 users.

LaunchBar 5

LaunchBar is a smart and powerful, keyboard driven productivity utility that lets you access and control every aspect of your digital life. Whatever you want to get done on your Mac – with LaunchBar it’s only a few keystrokes away.

LaunchBar - Switcher’s FAQs

We’ve noticed an ever increasing number of former Quicksilver users who switched over to LaunchBar, so we’d like to provide an overview of some of the differences and to answer the most frequently asked questions in this regard.

Butler · Many Tricks

Butler's purpose is to ease all those routine tasks you do every day: controlling iTunes, opening programs and documents, switching users, searching for stuff on the web, and more.

Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde | This American Life

Dr. Benjamin Gilmer gets a job at a rural clinic. He finds out he’s replaced someone — also named Dr. Gilmer — who went to prison after killing his own father. But the more Benjamin’s patients talk about the other Dr. Gilmer, the more confused he becomes. Everyone loved the old Dr. Gilmer. So Benjamin starts digging around, trying to understand how a good man can seemingly turn bad.

Ep. 69: "Campfire Spaghetti Party" - Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann

The Problem: People would treat you so differently if you were literally riding a bear.

malinger - Wiktionary

malinger (third-person singular simple present malingers, present participle malingering, simple past and past participle malingered)(intransitive)

To feign illness, injury, or incapacitation in order to avoid work or obligation.It is not uncommon on exam days for several students to malinger rather than prepare themselves.[edit]

kung fu grippe - "Chasing the RIght Zero"

Once you’ve dedicated yourself to making the things you love, every inbox can and should become a well-monitored servant rather than a merciless master.

Because, at the risk of sounding a little fruity, I believe that a life in which we habitually abandon the known Good Things in order to helplessly stab at ““managing”” a nebulous morass of chaoses that we can never control is not much of a life at all.

Snitchware – WeatherSnitch 2

The search for the perfect weather app is over.Beautiful weather conditions, a brilliant interface,and all the weather information you need.

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1: Cory Walker, Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley: 9781582405001: Amazon.com: Books

Get in on the ground floor! This massive hardcover collects the first 13 issues of Robert Kirkman's Eisner-Nominated super-hero, along with all the extras from the first three trade paperback volumes and even more on top of that! Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 is a can't-miss for anyone who's wanted to start reading Invincible, but needed an easier way to start from the beginning.

The Enchiridion (book) - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Simon & Marcy - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Ice King and Marceline 996 years ago.

A Glitch Is a Glitch - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Ice King creates a computer virus to delete everybody except him and Princess Bubblegum.

Dad's Dungeon - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Jake feels conflicted when his father forces him to try and hold Finn back in a dungeon meant to toughen Finn up.

Please Stop Fighting About Your Smartphone | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Here’s the thing: Every phone can be right, for the right reasons. Every platform can be wonderful. (Do you know how easy it would be to make a BlackBerry joke right here? Do you? I’ve got the joke right here in my pocket. You sense it even. You’re dying to make it yourself. Go ahead. This one time. Just do it. Whisper it. I’m listening.) Here’s the thing. That Blackberry Z10? It’s right for someone, somewhere. It really is. There’s someone out there who will take that phone home and love it. Just completely love it. Not in a romantic, or sexual way. (I hope.) But nonetheless, love.

Mac OS X Automation: Services Manager

[An indispensable app for turning OS X Services on and off and easily setting command keys]

Cobook Contacts - the new iPhone and Mac address book

A better address bookFind contacts faster and organize them with tags. Get integrated social profiles and keep contacts up-to-date automatically.

Soulver | Acqualia

Soulver helps you work things out.

It's quicker to use than a spreadsheet, and smarter and clearer than a traditional calculator.

Use Soulver to play around with numbers, do "back of the envelope" quick calculations, and solve day-to-day problems.

Drafts - Agile Tortoise

Drafts is a different kind of note taking app. In Drafts, text comes first – open the app and get a new, blank draft. Don’t get bogged down in a timeline to tweet or post to Facebook and App.net. Don’t tap through multiple screens to compose an email or SMS. Don’t navigate folders, create files and name them just to jot down a note or create a todo. Drafts is available for both iPhone and iPad.

Accidental Tech Podcast

A Tech Podcast We Accidentally Created While Trying to Do a Car Show.

Featuring Marco Arment, Casey Liss, and John Siracusa.

Drafts - Agile Tortoise

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "YAKSHAVING" for an additional 10% off).

Back to Work 113: Entropy's Gonna Do Its Business

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

TOPIC: Drafts for iOS, and Who You Want to Be

This week, Dan and Merlin cover two very different topics.

First, there's a detailed discussion of one of Merlin's favorite iOS apps, Drafts, including a deep dive on the app's extraordinary interactions with everything from Twitter to calendars to Dropbox.

Second, Dan and Merlin have an A-plus conversation on the hardest question you’ll ask yourself this week: “Is this who I want to be?”

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Shutterstock

Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art - Search and select from millions of high resolution royalty free images, stock photos, vector art, and stock photography.

Fancy Monkeys - Scruffy Thinking - Scruffy.TV

On this special That Scruffy Post Show Kanen sits down with Stu Maschwitz and Merlin Mann on their second visit to the show! They discuss delegation, dealing with email and to do lists, assistants, and working hard to make being lazy possible. Does it get better than that?

Why 'Adventure Time' Is the Best Sci-Fi Show on TV Right Now | Filmmakers, Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews | Indiewire

Sometimes you love a show so much it can do weird things to your head. I've gone out on a limb with Cartoon Network's "Adventure Time" by deeming it a groundbreaking form of cartoon storytelling that fuses several eras of animation into a delightfully surreal and yet oddly familiar experience. I also wondered if the entire show was one big metaphor for sex. I stand by the former and wince a little when contemplating the latter as anything other than one more manifestation of the fun possibilities involved in reading into a show that has a deceptively simple surface and tangibly dark interiors. But after last night's wonderful flashback special episode, "Simon and Marcy," I'm convinced of one thing: "Adventure Time" is the best science fiction show on television right now.

Quicksilver — Mac OS X at your Fingertips

Quicksilver — LoveQuicksilver Blog

Drafts - Agile Tortoise

Amazon.com: "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Gunter - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical! | kung fu grippe

Depeche Mode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Depeche Mode (pron.: /dɨˈpɛʃ/) are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group’s original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, Speak & Spell, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, occasional songwriter) with Gore taking over songwriting. Wilder left the band in 1995; Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have since continued as a trio.

Prolost - About

Stu Maschwitz is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer, with a passion for kinetic storytelling. A graduate of CalArts, Maschwitz spent four years at Industrial Light

Stu Maschwitz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stuart T. Maschwitz, commonly known as Stu Maschwitz, was the co-founder and chief technology officer of The Orphanage, a visual effects company that was based in California. He has worked as senior visual effects supervisor on several films. He previously worked at Industrial Light and Magic.

Stu Maschwitz (5tu) on Twitter

Filmmaking nerd.Bay Area, CA
http://prolost.com

Stuart T. Maschwitz - IMDb

I Remember You - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Ice King visits Marceline to ask for help in creating a song to attract princesses, but Marceline struggles to deal emotionally with his presence.

Simon and Marcy - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Synopsis: Ice King and Marceline 996 years ago.

Simon and Marcy/Transcript - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Gunter - The Adventure Time Wiki. Mathematical!

Gunter is the name of the penguin that most commonly accompanies the Ice King, although in "Princess Monster Wife," it is shown that multiple penguins have subtle variants of that name but the Ice King pronounces the other penguins' names differently. The Ice King uses Gunter as his personal servant, whereas the other penguins working for the Ice King are more or less slaves. It is not completely clear whether Gunter is male or female.

A Bug's Life (1998)

David L. Lander - IMDb

Dunbar's number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dunbar's number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person.[1] Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. It has been proposed to lie between 100 and 230, with a commonly used value of 150.

Audiobus: Live, app-to-app audio.

Bring your audio apps together.

Drafts for iPad for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Drafts, where text starts on iOS.

Sherlock - TV.com

This three-part series retells the tale of England's most celebrated detective but in a modern-day setting, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman taking the leads as Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson respectively.

Nuts (Pitiful Old Man) / Remember You - Marceline and The Ice King (aka Simon) - YouTube

This is from the cartoon Adventure Time from episode 4x25 called 'I Remember You'. Olivia Olson played Marcy and The Ice King is played by Tom Kenny.

Anna Debenham (anna_debenham) on Twitter

Front-end Astronaut
Brighton · http://www.maban.co.uk

Marceline & Simon - "Remember You"

This magic keeps me alive
But, it's making me crazy
And, I need to save you
But, who's going to save me?
Please forgive me for whatever I do
When I don't remember you

Remember you (Marceline & the Ice King) lyrics - ADVENTURE TIME

"Marceline…I can feel myself slipping away"

Flexibits | Fantastical for Mac | Meet your Mac's new calendar.

The Mac calendar you'll actually enjoy using

App Cubby • Hand Crafted iPhone Apps - Launch Center

Launch actions, not just apps!

5by5 | Hypercritical #15: The Bridges of Siracusa County

5by5 | Back to Work #13: The Kid's Great

Dan and Merlin talk about "Cranking" - Merlin's latest post at 43folders.com.

5by5 | Mac Power Users

Fancy Monkeys - That Scruffy Post Show with guests Merlin Mann and Stu Maschwitz on Huffduffer

IMDB: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr Fox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1970 by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., with illustrations by Donald Chaffin. The first UK Puffin paperback edition, first issued in 1974, featured illustrations by Jill Bennett. Later editions have featured illustrations by Tony Ross (1988) and Quentin Blake (1996). The story is about Mr Fox and how he outwits his farmer neighbours to steal their food from right under their noses.

Fantastic Mr. Fox | Fox Searchlight

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

Marceline the Vampire Queen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marceline the Vampire Queen is a main character in the American animated television series Adventure Time created by Pendleton Ward. She is voiced by Olivia Olson in most appearances, by Ava Acres as a child and by Cloris Leachman as an old woman. Marceline is a fun-loving 1,000-year-old trickster vampire queen. The name Marceline is based on the middle name of a childhood friend of Ward's, Marie. The artistic design for Marceline was created by Ward, with small changes and additions added by Phil Rynda, former lead character designer and prop designer for Adventure Time. Unlike a traditional vampire, Marceline does not need to drink blood to survive; rather, she eats the color red. Marceline is a musician who plays an electric bass that she made from her family's heirloom battle-axe.

About handleOpenURL: - handleOpenURL: Shared Interapp Communication on iOS

We set up handleOpenURL.com because we were looking for a central place where we could find more info about the schemes other apps were using and where we could share the schemes we implemented in our apps.

Searching the Internet turned up information scattered all over the net. We thought it would be a nice thing to set up a place where this information is collected.

handleOpenURL.com is open to developers to share their URL schemes.

IPhone URL Schemes - akosma wiki

This page centralizes code samples for URL schemes available in many iPhone applications, not only in Apple's but in many others. It also includes programming tips and references about implementing apps registering or consuming URL schemes.

Writing Kit 3.x · Unitasking at its finest

Advanced Markdown Text Editor…Meets Awesome Researching Tools

whacker - The Jargon File v4.4.7

A person, similar to a hacker, who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities. Whereas a hacker tends to produce great hacks, a whacker only ends up whacking the system or program in question. Whackers are often quite egotistical and eager to claim wizard status, regardless of the views of their peers.

Antonio Gramsci (Hegemony) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Gramsci, hegemonic dominance ultimately relied on a "consented" coercion, and in a "crisis of authority" the "masks of consent" slip away, revealing the fist of force.

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by: Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK4" for 30% off).

After Dark 361: After Back to Work #112

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 112.

Back to Work 112: Touching Pizza and Robotron

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:45:00 GMT

TOPIC: Choosing Your Forks.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about some of the deeper and more slippery issues behind changes in our career and life.

In particular, how do we go from a vague tickle to that feeling of full-blown intolerability that can end up driving a change? Are we looking backward at what we should be doing as we slavishly catalog our many petty aggrievements? Or, do we take two giant steps back and apply a cooler eye to what we really want to do next?

Even before we find our forks in the road, how can we know a big decision might or should be coming our way? And, how do we stay current on that never-ending need to accept and plan for the changes we never could have anticipated?

It's tough at 23, it's super-hard at 30, and, brother, is it ever murder at 50.

Sure, it's a little fruity, but, yeah: you need to write the story you really want to live. Rather than just cobbling together a flattering post-mortem on how you magically ended up where you are.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] We Source, Roast, and Ship Coffee. You Brew. | Tonx

You're about to join Merlin Mann on a coffee journey.

[SPONSOR] PDFpen: Mac PDF Editor - Edit, Sign, and Correct PDFs

The all-purpose Mac PDF editor! Add signatures, text, and images. Make changes and correct typos. OCR scanned docs. Fill out forms. New in version 6: Microsoft® Word export!

[SPONSOR] Build a Website - Squarespace

Everything You Need to Create an Exceptional Website

[SPONSOR] Shutterstock

Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art - Search and select from millions of high resolution royalty free images, stock photos, vector art, and stock photography.

Gaining Momentum — The Official Squarespace Blog

Momentum is a beautiful, flexible design built especially for photographers and designers who are ready to take their work front and center. With this template, you have the option of showcasing your portfolio with the cinematic full-bleed image display, or preserving the original resolution and visual integrity with the centered image display. You can add information for each image, video, or project to add context to your galleries. Momentum is also our first multi-index template, created for folks that have multiple projects or galleries that they’d like to share. The index view shows all of your galleries with aspect-correct thumbnails, so that visitors can scroll through your work on one page, without interruption.

PDFpen for Mac Version 6 on Vimeo

PDFpen for the Mac version 6 has some great new features including a new user interface, conversion to Word, and auto form generation. This screencast shows off some of my favorite things about the new version.

Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

I can’t stress this enough: Do what you love…in between work commitments, and family commitments, and commitments that tend to pop up and take immediate precedence over doing the thing you love.

Ep. 67: "All of the Small Beer" - Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann

The Problem: Fixing the problem at the attitude level.

Pill Organization | Walgreens

A whiff of history - The Boston Globe

But despite its primacy in our lives, our sense of smell is often overlooked when we record our history. We tend to connect with the past visually - we look at objects displayed in a museum, photographs in a documentary, the writing in a manuscript. Sometimes we might hear a vintage speech, or touch an ancient artifact and imagine what it was like to use it. But our knowledge of the past is almost completely deodorized.

[via]

State-dependent learning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

State-dependent learning, or state-dependent memory, is the phenomenon in which the retrieval of a memory is most effective when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as it was when the memory was formed.[1] The term is typically used to describe states of consciousness induced by psychoactive drugs—most commonly, alcohol.[2]

[via]

How to Memorize a Deck of Cards with Dominic O'Brien - YouTube

This is a great clip from a Dutch TV show, in which Dominic O'Brien shows you how to memorize a deck of cards.

[via Athelstane Aamodt]

Transactive memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A transactive memory system is a mechanism through which groups collectively encode, store, and retrieve knowledge. Transactive memory was initially studied in couples and families where individuals had close relationships but was later extended to teams, larger groups, and organizations to explain how they develop a "group mind"

[via]

You Can Have an Amazing Memory: Learn Life-Changing Techniques and Tips from the Memory Maestro: Dominic O'Brien: 9781907486456: Amazon.com: Books

Never forget a name or a number again! Dominic O'Brien is legendary for winning the World Memory Championship eight times and outwitting the casinos of Las Vegas to win a fortune at blackjack. Here, for the first time, he reveals his secrets for memory mastery. Follow his brain-boosting techniques and turn your mind into a super-powered computer that will recall PIN numbers with ease, remember directions, and help bring you success in business, leisure, and relationships.

Good from the First Drop - The New Disruptors - Mule Radio Syndicate

Tony Konecny, better known as Tonx, has been sourcing and roasting beans for a numbers of years, and recently founded Tonx Coffee, a subscription service that delivers whole beans from small batch roasting every two weeks. It’s not a bean of the month club. It’s a way to bypass the overchoice that one can face in specialty coffee shops, and get the assurance that the beans are fresh and good every time. In this episode, listen to Tonx and his ecommerce guru Nik Bauman talk about the joys of coffee and the joys of starting a business in which you can talk directly to your customers without anyone else getting in the way. There’s a brief interlude in which the host and a friend have a little Tonx tasting, too.

Amazon.com: Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 for Mac/iPad/iPhone (920-003884): Computers & Accessories

Charges itself with lamplight or sunlight, indoors or outdoors; Fully charged, it works for at least three months-even in total darkness; Easy-switching Bluetooth connection enables switching from Mac to iPad or iPhone as simple and easy as pushing a button; Unique concave key design delivers fast, quiet typing, with more precision than your iPad or iPhone on-screen keyboard; From the PVC-free construction to the fully recyclable box, designed to reduce its environmental footprint

New Field Guide: Markdown — MacSparky

Markdown started as a clever way to write for the web but has become so much more. This book demystifies Markdown, making it easy for anybody to learn. This book includes 130 pages and 27 screencasts totaling more than one and a half hours of video. There is also an additional hour of audio interviews. This book will take you from zero knowledge of Markdown to being a Markdown pro and change the way you write for the better.

Memory and Forgetting - Radiolab

Remembering is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process--it’s easy come, easy go as we learn how true memories can be obliterated, and false ones added. And Oliver Sacks joins us to tell the story of an amnesiac whose love for his wife and music transcend his 7-second memory.

[via]

Crazy: The Best Pick Pocket Ever On The Today Show - YouTube

Apollo Rollins is a mind-blowing pickpocket.

Adam Green: The Spectacular Thefts of Apollo Robbins, Pickpocket : The New Yorker

A few years ago, at a Las Vegas convention for magicians, Penn Jillette, of the act Penn and Teller, was introduced to a soft-spoken young man named Apollo Robbins, who has a reputation as a pickpocket of almost supernatural ability. Jillette, who ranks pickpockets, he says, "a few notches below hypnotists on the show-biz totem pole," was holding court at a table of colleagues, and he asked Robbins for a demonstration, ready to be unimpressed. Robbins demurred, claiming that he felt uncomfortable working in front of other magicians. He pointed out that, since Jillette was wearing only shorts and a sports shirt, he wouldn?t have much to work with.

"Come on," Jillette said. "Steal something from me."

The Rock-afire Explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rock-afire Explosion is an animatronic robot band that played in Showbiz Pizza Place from 1980 to 1990, and in various Showbiz Pizza locations between 1990-1992 as Showbiz rebranded and the band was steadily replaced by Chuck E. Cheese characters. The show was pioneering in many respects to other animatronics shows of the early 1980s, featuring life-sized characters capable of facial expression

Steven Seagal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seagal moved to Japan in his late teens after he went to Japan with his father who was visiting for military purposes and met karate masters and decided to remain in Japan. He received his 1st dan degree (Shodan) under the direction of Koichi Tohei. He continued to train in aikido as a student of Seiseki Abe, Koichi Tohei (whose aikido organization, Ki Society, Seagal refused to join in favor of staying with the Aikikai), Kisaburo Osawa, Hiroshi Isoyama and the second doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba. He attained a 7th dan degree and Shihan in aikido and became the first foreigner to operate an aikido dojo in Japan

5by5 | Quit! #4: The Answer Is "Do Both"

Dan talks with Phil Coffman, Shlok Vaidya, Producer Robin Welch, and callers about so-called "moderate success", passion, starting out, paying your dues, making changes, the myth of job security, and finding a mentor.

5by5 | Quit! #14: Don't Run A Sh*tty Company

Dan is joined by David Heinemeier Hansson, Shlok Vaidya, Producer Haddie Cooke to discuss telecommuting vs. being in the office.

5by5 | Quit! #9: Four O'Clock In the Morning Courage

Dan Benjamin is joined by Joel Bush, Shlok Vaidya, Tina Nikolova and producer Haddie Cooke to discuss what it means to have "four o'clock in the morning courage".

Aikido - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the aikid?ka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks.[5]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 #1 - Comics by comiXology

There's a new rule in the galaxy: No one touches Earth! Join the brightest stars in the Marvel U: Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Iron Man, as they embark upon one of the most explosive and eye-opening chapters of Marvel NOW!

Søren Kierkegaard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (/?s?r?n ?k??rk???rd/ or /?k??rk???r/

Leap of faith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence.

Chris Bachalo Illustration : Profile

CHRIS BACHALO is internationally recognized as one of the most popular artists in the comic industry. His body of work covers a wide spectrum of genres ranging from the critically acclaimed “Sandman,” “Shade,” “Death, The High Cost of Living” and “Batman” series for DC to “Incredible Hulk,” “Uncanny X-Men,” “The Amazing Spider-man,” “Captain America” and the quirky pop favorite “Generation X,” which he co-created with Scott Lobdell for Marvel Comics. Generation X, became the first title from Marvel that was adapted into a live action film for Fox.The short story “The Wheel” written by Stardust and Beowulf writer Neil Gaimen and illustrated by Chris featured the Death character and was inducted into the library of Congress in 2003. It was created as part of a tribute to 911. His cover work for the title Hunter, The Age of Magic for DC was included as part of a New York gallery show for the Society of Illustrators. He is currently working on Marvels’ newest XMEN title, the critically acclaimed, Wolverine and the X-Men with Jason Aaron.

Anna Debenham, freelance front-end developer based in Brighton

Freelance front end developer based in Brighton, UK

“Hey, everybody! Look at me! I’m Dr. Octagon!” I... | kung fu grippe

“Hey, everybody! Look at me! I’m Dr. Octagon!”

5by5 | Systematic #35: Rob Corddry - Fiddling for Fun and Profit

Rob Corddry (Daily Show, Hot Tub Time Machine, Warm Bodies...) guests to talk about screenwriting, GTD, workflows and why we spend our free time fiddling with all of the above.

Fountain | A markup language for screenwriting.

Fountain is a simple markup syntax for writing, editing and sharing screenplays in plain, human-readable text. Fountain allows you to work on your screenplay anywhere, on any computer or tablet, using any software that edits text files.Taking its cues from John Gruber’s Markdown, Fountain files are eminently readable. When special syntax is required, it is straightforward and intuitive.

5by5 | Mac Power Users

Learn about getting the most from your Apple technology with focused topics and workflow guests. Creating Mac Power Users, one geek at a time since 2009.

Robotron: 2084 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robotron: 2084 (also referred to as Robotron) is an arcade video game developed by Vid Kidz and released by Williams Electronics in 1982. It is a shooting game that features two-dimensional (2D) graphics. The game is set in the year 2084, in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans. The aim is to defeat endless waves of robots, rescue surviving humans, and earn as many points as possible.

This week's episode of Back to Work is generously sponsored by:

Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK3" for 30% off)
Smile's PDF Pen Pro 6
Squarespace (use offer code "CASH" for an additional 10% off).
Tonx

After Dark 360: After Back to Work #111

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:30:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 111.

Back to Work 111: You Get There Early for Pancake Day

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:15:00 GMT

TOPIC: Memory.

This week, Dan and Merlin try to tackle the complexities of memory.

Why do we remember things from childhood with unimpeachable detail, but then forget our own phone number or PIN code? How can the same person remember the name of everyone he's ever met, and then space a phone call a couple hours after it was scheduled? Why do we remember and why do we forget?

Unsurprisingly, few concrete answers appear, but there's plenty of lively conversation on savant syndrome, tactical memory aides, and the precise location of Merlin's pills.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Shutterstock

Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art - Search and select from millions of high resolution royalty free images, stock photos, vector art, and stock photography.

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins Animated Poetry - YouTube

This is real. And, it’s still my favorite email... | kung fu grippe

Compose Gmail Message.app I just ““wrote”” my... | kung fu grippe

It’s the world’s dumbest and awesomest Automator app, and it does precisely one thing

Tip of the tongue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (TOT), sometimes called presque vu, is the failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent.[1] The phenomenon's name comes from the saying, "It's on the tip of my tongue."

Papenhausen Hardware

We are now carrying SodaStream products. That's right you can make your own sodas or carbonated water drinks. The machine is simple to use and the cartridges are refillable. Just bring down your empty one and exchange it for a full one.

Chunking (psychology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chunking, in psychology, is a phenomenon whereby individuals group responses when performing a memory task. Tests where individuals can demonstrate "chunking" commonly include serial and free recall tasks

Heuristic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In more precise terms, heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings and machines

Jamie Phelps (jxpx777) on Twitter

Smartsure and cocksure.

Jamie Phelps | Smartsure and cocksure

Rain Man (1988) - IMDb

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie

Rain Man (1988) - Trivia - IMDb

Dustin Hoffman spent a year working with autistic men and their families to understand their complex relationships. Also, when he was a jobbing actor, he had worked in a psychiatric care home, and drew from his experiences then for the film.

Kim Peek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951 – December 19, 2009) was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man. Unlike Babbitt, who had autism, Peek probably had FG syndrome.

Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [1/5] - YouTube

Savant syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Savant syndrome is a condition in which a person with serious mental disabilities, including autistic disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities and/or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief: Lawrence Wright: 9780307700667: Amazon.com: Books

A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower,?the now-classic study of al-Qaeda?s 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with?current and former Scientologists?both famous and less well known?and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.

Operating Thetan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Scientology, Operating Thetan (OT) is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer and creator of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time (MEST)"

The downside of the outboard brain | 43 Folders

Clive Thompson writes on a phenomenon I think about constantly: if you really do start entrusting all your ephemeral memory work to external systems, might your wetware start to atrophy?

David Brooks on his "Outsourced Brain" | 43 Folders

NYT's David Brooks on outsourcing memory, reference, and decision-making to things that theoretically do it better:

Tips on becoming a better listener | 43 Folders

No, friend, you will be deeply annoyed to hear me ask you to repeat your name at least twice, and possibly five times, during our inaugural conversation. And, in subsequent meetings, even though your face will be forever etched upon my brain (a skill at which I absolutely excel), I will probably call you "Champ," "Chief," or possibly "Tex." Because, yes, I will have completely forgotten your name.

SI Football Phone commercial - YouTube

Sports Illustrated Football Phone. Late 80s

Albert Einstein - Wikiquote

[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.

Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea? (Part Three)

"A weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in seventeenth-century England" --Richard Saul Wurman

5by5 | After Dark #360: After Back to Work #111

Wow. Today's Back to Work After Dark is…is…mmmmmmmMMMMMMMM…UNACCEPTABLE!!!

MI Spliff UB40 - YouTube

Neuroplasticity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neuroplasticity (from neural - pertaining to the nerves and/or brain and plastic - moldable or changeable in structure), also known as brain plasticity, refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury. Neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held position that the brain is a physiologically static organ, and explores how - and in which ways - the brain changes throughout life.

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK3" for 30% off).

Back to Work 110: Okay, Then.

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Stupidity.

This week, Dan and Merlin tackle stupidity. And, brother, there sure are a whole lot of flavors of stupid.

Are we really talking about being clueless, unaware, dumb, absent-minded, or just plain-old ignorant? Because they're actually pretty different animals.

Whether you're dropping your library book in the mailbox, leaving your iPad at home, following baseless medical advice, or doing whatever Dan did with his garage door (don't worry: the car is fine), it's really helpful to understand where your real problem really lives.

From a tactical standpoint, try some useful failsafes, rituals, and habits. But, at a higher level, learn to develop the curiosity to keep evolving. Stay open to how you might be wrong by always seeking out the smartest person you can find who disagrees with you.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace

Build a Website - Squarespace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

[SPONSOR] Shutterstock

Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art - Search and select from millions of high resolution royalty free images, stock photos, vector art, and stock photography.

Superman Family Adventures Vol. 1 (Superman (Graphic Novels)): Franco, Art Baltazar: 9781401240509: Amazon.com: Books

Superman! Superboy! Supergirl! Krypto the Superdog! The entire Superman family is reimagined here in this energetic all-ages graphic novel. Don't miss the heroes of Metropolis fighting such foes as Bizarro, Metallo, Lex Luthor and more in these tales from issues numbered 1-6 of the all-ages series.

b2w-chrome-shortcuts.jpg (668×598)

SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES #1 | DC Comics

Superman's closest allies take the stage like you have never seen before, from the Eisner Award-winning team of Art Baltazar and Franco (TINY TITANS)

Superman Family Adventures Digital Comics - Comics by comiXology

Superman's closest allies take the stage like you have never seen before. Classic Superman elements reinterpreted for all ages--pack your bags and meet us in Metropolis! An all-new all-ages title from the Eisner Award-winning creative team of TINY TITANS, Art Baltazar and Franco!

superman family adventures - Google Search

Gamechanging 'Marvel Unlimited' App Offers Digital Subscription Model — Gutters and Panels

This is news many of us were hoping for - it was just a matter of time. Gizmodo reports that Marvel Comics will now begin offering their digital catalog of back issues for use on iOS (iPhone and iPad, with Android coming soon)? for a flat subscription rate. Prices start at $10 a month, or limited-time offer of $60 for a year of service, which will allow access to over 13,000 digitally-scanned comics from Marvel's extensive history.

Marvel Unlimited for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Introducing the Marvel Unlimited app for iPhone and iPad - a new benefit of our digital comics subscription program!

Dreyfus model of skill acquisition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the novice stage, a person follows rules as given, without context, with no sense of responsibility beyond following the rules exactly. Competence develops when the individual develops organizing principles to quickly access the particular rules that are relevant to the specific task at hand

Dunning–Kruger effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their mistakes.

Four stages of competence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill.

Dreyfus: A five-stage model of the mental activities... - Google Scholar

SE Dreyfus, HL Dreyfus - 1980

Abstract : In acquiring a skill by means of instruction and experience, the student normally passes through five developmental stages which we designate novice, competence, proficiency, expertise and mastery. We argue, based on analysis of careful descriptions of skill acquisition, that as the student becomes skilled, he depends less on abstract principles and more on concrete experience. We systematize and illustrate the progressive changes in a performer's ways of seeing his task environment. We conclude that any skill- training procedure must be based on some model of skill acquisition, so that it can address, at each stage of training, the appropriate issues involved in facilitating advancement.

brianmichaelbendis: Age of Ultron #1 by... | kung fu grippe

Aesop's Fables: A Pop-Up Book of Classic Tales: Kees Moerbeek, Chris Beatrice, Bruce Whatley: 9781416971467: Amazon.com: Books

View All | Home Inspection Nightmares I | This Old House

Field Notes Memo Archive

Daredevil, Vol. 1: Frank Miller, Bill Mantlo, Marv Wolfman, Roger McKenzie, David Michelinie, Klaus Janson: 9780785134732: Amazon.com: Books

A classic Marvel hero defined by one of comics' greatest visionaries! A Marvel Comics mainstay since 1964, Daredevil got a new lease on life in a landmark 1979-1983 run by writer-penciler Frank Miller and inker-penciler Klaus Janson, whose daring reinvention of the character quickly made Miller one of the biggest and most influential stars in the comic-book industry. Miller put his own stamp on established cast members such as reporter Ben Urich, femme fatale Black Widow, mad assassin Bullseye, the saw-fisted Gladiator, and monstrous crime boss Kingpin. Miller also introduced Daredevil's mysterious mentor Stick, deadly ninja foes the Hand, and Matt's long-lost love Elektra, a beautiful assassin who would become one of Marvel's most memorable characters. Mixing traditional super-heroics with mysterious martial artistry, doomed romance, and dark personal drama, Miller's character-defining DD run is collected across three titanic trade paperbacks! Collecting Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man

Daredevil by Mark Waid, Vol. 1: Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martin, Emma Rios, Kano Kano, Khoi Pham: 9780785168065: Amazon.com: Books

A fresh start for the Man Without Fear! Matt Murdock is back in New York and hoping to resuscitate his law practice, but not everyone is happy to see him. And Daredevil hits the streets as Klaw, master of sound, makes his deadly return! Then, a blind client holds the key to a global conspiracy perpetrated by some familiar foes. Can Daredevil protect him long enough to bring down an international criminal organization? And when a piece of cutting-edge technology goes missing, Daredevil and Punisher team up to track it down and clear the Black Cat of the crime. But is Black Cat really innocent?! And after someone exhumes Battlin' Jack Murdock's grave, DD heads underground to find the villain responsible. Mark Waid's fantastic rejuvenation of Daredevil begins here!

Amazon.com: Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Ultimate Collection - Book 1 (9780785143888): Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Alex Maleev: Books

During a character-defining run, Brian Michael Bendis crafted a pulp-fiction narrative that exploited the Man Without Fear's rich tapestry of characters and psychodrama, and resolved them in an incredibly nuanced, modern approach. Now, this Eisner Award-winning run is collected across three titanic trade paperbacks! In this volume, witness the Kingpin's downfall at the hands of Sammy Silke and see how a down-on-his-luck FBI agent can change Matt's life forever. Collects Daredevil

I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You: Ben Peskoe, Bill Green, Scott Shuffitt, Will Russell: 9781596912465: Amazon.com: Books

To some The Big Lebowski is just a movie, to others it's THE MOVIE. Over the past several years the movie has developed a massive and passionate cult following, led by the creation of Lebowski Fest, a traveling festival celebrating all things Lebowski. Held in a bowling alley, it features bowling, costume and trivia contests, live music, a screening of the movie, White Russians, and what-have-you. Attendance has grown exponentially and the Fest has been featured in virtually every national media outlet, from NPR to the New York Times. The Associated Press called it "kind of a 'Star Trek' convention, but without all the geeks." SPIN Magazine called it one of the "19 events you can't miss!" Now, at last, comes the book that the legion of Lebowski fans (aka Achievers) has been waiting for. I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski is a treasure trove of trivia and commentary, hilarious throughout and illustrated with photos from the film, including dozens taken on the set by Jeff Bridges. It includes interviews with virtually every major and minor cast member including John Goodman, Julianne Moore and John Turturro, as well as the real-life individuals who served as inspiration for the characters such as Jeff Dowd and John Milius. Fellow Achievers Patton Oswalt, Tony Hawk and Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken give their thoughts on the movie and the phenomenon that surrounds it. The book features a handy guide to speaking Achiever, tips on how to Dude-ify your car, office, and living space, Lebowski Fest highlights and so much more.

Shortcut to compose Gmail message (without seeing an inbox)

Just make a bookmarklet with:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&shva=1

Maria Hill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maria Hill is a fictional character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. As the former director of the planetary defense/intelligence service S.H.I.E.L.D., she appears in various storylines in which that organization figures prominently, which often feature the Avengers or members of that group, such as the late 2000s Civil War and Secret Invasion miniseries, and the monthly Iron Man series, in which she was a prominent supporting character during the "Dark Reign" and "Stark Disassembled" storylines.

Alternative versions of the Hulk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In addition to his mainstream incarnation, Hulk has also been depicted in other fictional universes, in which Bruce Banner's transformation, behavior, or circumstances vary from the mainstream setting. In some stories, someone other than Bruce Banner is the Hulk.

Ben-Day dots - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Depending on the effect, color and optical illusion needed, small colored dots are closely spaced, widely spaced or overlapping. Magenta dots, for example, are widely spaced to create pink. Pulp comic books of the 1950s and 1960s used Ben-Day dots in the four process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) to inexpensively create shading and secondary colors such as green, purple, orange and flesh tones.

She-Hulk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in Savage She-Hulk

Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy: Matthew Reinhart: 9780439882828: Amazon.com: Books

Matthew Reinhart has created another spectacular pop-up book for George Lucas's epic STAR WARS movies! Bestselling pop-up artist and engineer Matthew Reinhart has designed a thirtieth anniversary commemorative edition that comes packed with a variety of novelty features -- pop-ups, working light sabers, pull tabs, and other interactive looks at the exciting and popular movies. This beautiful book will impress all fans of STAR WARS and gives a whole new perspective to the films.

Makebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out Who You Are (For Now) on Vimeo

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK3" for 30% off) and Squarespace (use offer code "CASH" for an additional 10% off).

After Dark 356: After Back to Work #109

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 109.

Back to Work 109: Two Paragraphs on Bourbon

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:15:00 GMT

TOPIC: Not So Much

This week, Dan and Merlin eschew ““topic”” to freely discuss razors, beef, They Might Be Giants, prolapse, Genesis, dogs, Spider-Man (and -Womyn), pretender marteenies, truck butt, the lonely plaster casts of our youth, blind harmonicists, those awesome blue IKEA bags, ceviche, E.L.O., Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, bumping, hypoglycemia, how Merlin named his daughter, Hyman Roth, endive, and, of course, The Big Lebowski.

Then, they go and blow it all by unintentionally having a really useful discussion about Merlin's three key elements of optimal and sustainable workflows.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace

Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

Use offer code "CASH" for an additional 10% off.

Templates.scpt

OmniFocus is an incredible piece of software. I and countless others rely on it every day to manage increasingly hectic lives and complex, multi-facetted projects.This script is an effort to reduce one of the largest sources of friction remaining in my OmniFocus setup: maintaining and creating projects that don't recur on even intervals, but occur frequently enough that their planning and capture becomes a time sink.

Arnold Robbins - O'Reilly Media

Arnold Robbins, an Atlanta native, is a professional programmer and technical author. He has worked with Unix systems since 1980, when he was introduced to a PDP-11 running a version of Sixth Edition Unix. He has been a heavy AWK user since 1987, when he became involved with gawk, the GNU project's version of AWK. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. He is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is also coauthor of the sixth edition of O'Reilly's Learning the vi Editor. Since late 1997, he and his family have been living happily in Israel.

Arnold Rothstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 5, 1928), nicknamed "the Brain," was a Jewish-American racketeer, businessman and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish mob in New York. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletics, most notoriously conspiring in the fixing of the 1919 World Series.

Hyman Roth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hyman Roth is a fictional character in the Godfather series of books and films. He was a Jewish investor and a business partner of Vito Corleone, and later his son Michael Corleone. He is based on the late Florida-based mobster, Meyer Lansky, and played in the movie by Lee Strasberg.

Meyer Lansky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meyer Lansky (born Meyer Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant," was a Russian-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful people in the country.

5by5 | Systematic #33: Merlin Mann - Failing gracefully

Merlin Mann guests to talk about failure, success and self perception in an organic and enlightening conversation.

Store Lemons in the Fridge to Keep them Juicier Longer

The folks America's Test Kitchen wanted to see how to keep lemons juicy and fresh as long as possible, and the answer is simple: put them in a zipper bag and toss them in the fridge.

[via Joel Housman]

Open Compose Takes You Straight to Gmail's New Email Window to Avoid Inbox Distractions

Chrome: Your inbox gets distracting […] and sometimes you just want to send an email without seeing everything else requiring a response. Open Compose lets you click a button and compose a message in Gmail, no distraction required.

via: https://twitter.com/ledlow/status/307536687746134016

Back to Work, so you can be creative and collect comics — PIE Isn't Easy

Andy introduced me to Merlin Mann last year, and since then I kind of feel like we've moved in together.?

Unix in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition: Arnold Robbins: 9780596100292: Amazon.com: Books

Unix in a Nutshell is the standard desktop reference, without question. (Manpages come in a close second.) With a clean layout and superior command tables available at a glance, O'Reilly's third edition of Nutshell is an essential to own.

Tarsier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tarsiers are haplorrhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all the species living today are found in the islands of Southeast Asia.

Amazon.com: Avenging Spider-Man: My Friends Can Beat Up Your Friends (9780785157793): Zeb Wells, Joe Madureira, Greg Land, Leinil Francis Yu: Books

Back in the team-up biz! He's been Amazing, he's been Spectacular, he's been Sensational. Now, Spider-Man is doing a little Avenging, and he's brought a few of his pals along for the ride. Ever the social animal, the wallcrawler has a proud tradition of fi ghting side-by-side with heroes from across the Marvel Universe. And now that he's a card-carrying member of both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, he can't go far without swinging into a teammate or two. Step forward the rascally Red Hulk, the hotheaded Hawkeye and the legendary Captain America as Spidey bonds with Earth's Mightiest Heroes!

Amazon.com: Panasonic ES8103S Men's 3-Blade (Arc 3) Wet/Dry Rechargeable Electric Shaver with Nanotech Blades, Silver: Health & Personal Care

Amazon.com: Braun Series 7- 790cc Pulsonic Shaver System, Silver: Health & Personal Care

Amazon.com: Braun Clean & Renew Cart Shaver Refills Frustration Free 4 Pack: Health & Personal Care

Genesis - “Turn It On Again” (Duke; 1980) A very... | kung fu grippe

A very painful confession. I often listen to this song on repeat literally all morning.

The Tourists - "I Only Want To Be With You" (1979)

Hit single promo video featuring Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart a mere 12 months before leaving the band to form Eurythmics whilst on tour in Australia.

The Tourists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tourists (1977–1980) were a British rock and pop band, but are better known for two of their members (Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart) who went on to achieve great success as Eurythmics. The band formed around a nucleus of two musicians from Sunderland in north-east England, Peet Coombes and Dave Stewart.

Wallace Shawn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor and playwright. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre (1981), Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987), and Rex the toy dinosaur in the Toy Story animated film series.

The Smart Set: Movers and Shakers - March 4, 2013

What’s the difference between SkyMall and the Shakers? One creates products for comfort, the other for independence.

Paleo Recipe: Robb Wolf’s Nor Cal Margaritas

Ingredients: 2 shots (4 oz) of clear alcohol – we used Rum, Robb uses Tequila; juice of one lime; club soda; ice

They Might Be Giants - "Ana Ng" (1988)

Make a hole with a gun perpendicular to the name of this town in a desktop globe.

Exit wound in a foreign nation, showing the home of the one this was written for.

Amazon.com: Ultra Pro Resealable Current Size Comic Bags

Stores current (modern) comics. Bags measure approximately - 6-7/8 x 10-1/2-Inch plus 2-Inch flap. Resealable tape closure on flap. Made from 2mil ultra clear polypropylene. Acid-free, archival quality, safe for long-term storage. Sold in packs of 100.

SimplicityBliss

BY SVEN FECHNER

Cue - Know What's Next - for iPhone and web

Cue enhances your existing calendar by automatically connecting your events to related phone numbers, people, and addresses. Cue makes it easy to contact the people you care about, get to where you are going, and stay informed.

Noodlesoft | Hazel

Your Personal Housekeeper

Hazel is a System Preference pane that works silently in the background, automatically filing, organizing and cleaning.

How I went paperless with Hazel and Evernote | Macworld

That process isn’t necessarily difficult, but it is tedious and repetitive. Multiply it by the half dozen or so statements I receive in any given month, and it’s easy to see why I decided to automate the process.

Flexibits | Fantastical for Mac | Meet your Mac's new calendar.

Fantastical's natural language engine is expressive and intelligent so you can write in your own style. Even better, Fantastical automatically recognizes the location of your event and can even invite people from Contacts (Mountain Lion) or Address Book (Lion and Snow Leopard) to your event.

[VIDEO] White Stripes - "Fell in Love with a Girl"

She says, 'Come and kiss me by the riverside. Bobby says it's fine—he don't consider it cheating.'

Led Zeppelin IV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jimmy] Page has explained that the cover of the fourth album was intended to bring out a city/country dichotomy that had initially surfaced on Led Zeppelin III.

[IMAGE] Baby covers et al. from Dan

Nobody sends a CARE package like Dan Benjamin sends a CARE package.

FRAKTA Shopping bag, large, blue - IKEA

Easy to clean; just rinse with water and let dry.

Rectal prolapse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rectal prolapse (rectal procidentia) refers to a medical condition where a section of the wall of the rectum prolapses (falls down) from the normal anatomical position with associated pelvic floor dysfunction. This may occur while straining to defecate, or during rest.

Urban Dictionary: docking

Genesis - “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight” (Live;... | kung fu grippe

Pentateuch (disambiguation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "CASH" for an additional 10% off).

After Dark 352: After Back to Work #108

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:15:00 GMT

Dan and Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 108.

Back to Work 108: What Can I Spray?

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Shaving a Yak

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about The Hierarchy of Fiddling. When does self-improvement silently shade into navel-gazing, and how do we realize that it's happening?

Some fixes mean applying a fast change that produces outsized results (a true "life hack"). But, most of our more circuitous excursions into the world of ““productivity”” lead straight into a recursive black hole of lost time, sheer frustration, and soul-sucking existential onanism (let's call that one a "life whack").

Learn how to live with your dirty debit card, just satisfice with your dish-washing skills, and quit trying to solve non-problems with non-solutions.

Yes, learn the key commands, but, don't feel like you need to learn all the key commands. Iterate with mindful sanity.

And, like it says on the tin: always focus on how you'll get back to work.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] TextExpander: Mac and iOS Typing Shortcut Utility Saves You Time

Save time and effort with TextExpander! Whether it's a simple email signature or several paragraphs of a standard response, you'll love how easy it is to use TextExpander to avoid typing the same thing over and over.

yak shaving - Wiktionary

(idiomatic) The actually useless activity you do that appears important when you are consciously or unconsciously procrastinating about a larger problem. I thought I'd get more work done if I just fixed a problem with my .emacs file, but then I spent the whole afternoon yak shaving.

Yak Shaving

Stuck in the middle of a stack of stuff you're supposed to do? Sharpen your wool clippers, and stop getting distracted by the pointless activities which surround any serious problem--unless you want to, that is.

Shaving the yak. « BRYONY COLE

Yak-shaving is that time when you set out to do something and end up completely off-track – bogged by little details, that actually seem crucial and dependent on the goal at the time, but later turn out to be irrelevant.

bikeshedding - Wiktionary

bikeshed +? -ing. The word originates in Berkeley Software Distribution culture and implies technical disputes over minor, marginal issues conducted while more serious ones are being overlooked. The implied image is of people arguing over what color to paint the bicycle shed while the house is not finished. The word has its origins in Parkinson’s Law of Triviality. [edit]

Squarespace Commerce is Here — The Official Squarespace Blog

Giving our customers the ability to manage and sell products on their websites has been the most requested Squarespace feature of all time. Thanks to the powerful architecture of Squarespace 6, we've built a truly integrated commerce solution that gives our customers amazing power and flexibility within a single platform.

5by5 | Systematic #33: Merlin Mann - Failing gracefully

Merlin Mann guests to talk about failure, success and self perception in an organic and enlightening conversation.

5by5 | Back to Work #4: Failing with Style

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about trying to change other people, how things really aren’t that bad, balancing fear or being driven by fear, leaving capacity for when you get The Pitch, procrastination (eventually), and giving yourself permission to fail in an interesting way. You’re not gonna get black lung from a spreadsheet.

Consilience (book) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge is a 1998 book by biologist E. O. Wilson. In this book, Wilson discusses methods that have been used to unite the sciences and might in the future unite them with the humanities. Wilson prefers and uses the term consilience to describe the synthesis of knowledge from different specialized fields of human endeavor.

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge: Edward Osborne Wilson: 9780679768678: Amazon.com: Books

Historically, all of the sciences were once united under the rubric of "natural science." Over time, they became fragmented and specialized. Nevertheless, Wilson argues that there is a genetic and neurological basis for knowledge and that all subjects of human inquiry can be reunited under the umbrella of "consilience."

Sugar ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The sugar ant (Camponotus consobrinus)—also known as the banded sugar ant—is a relatively large ant, identifiable by their orange-brown bodies, black head and mandibles. The sugar ants' name comes from their liking for sugar, but they are attracted to other savory food.

Mounds (candy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mounds is a candy bar made by Hershey's, and is the sister product of Almond Joy. Like Almond Joy, it consists of a coconut based center; however, it is enrobed with dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate and does not contain almonds.

World War Hulk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The plot is the culmination of a series of events that began with the Hulk being tricked into space by the Illuminati and a life model decoy of Nick Fury, the Hulk's subsequent exile seen in Planet Hulk and his imminent return to Earth to seek revenge on the Illuminati.

Image Comics | Saga #10

Marko and Alana's long-lost babysitter Izabel finally returns to the fold, but at what cost?

Like I say. Help yourself: Three. Hours.... | kung fu grippe

Like I say. Help yourself:Three. Hours. DUNGEON.http://i-0.us/three-hours-dungeon

Jim Eno - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jim Eno (born February 8, 1966 is the drummer and one of the founding members of the Austin, Texas band Spoon. He is also a record producer and a semiconductor chip designer.

Arnold Robbins - O'Reilly Media

Exchequer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles. A similar office existed in Ireland during British rule from 1299 to 1877.

Merlin’s Awkward Hair Odyssey - a set on Flickr

One's man's frequently unfortunate journey of discovery.

Particoloured - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Particoloured, particolored or parti-color – showing different, often bright, colors or tints.

Twitter / hotdogsladies: Cheese Dog Life Hack

"[LIFE HACK] A chili cheese dog can be very messy to eat with your hands. So, eat it over your french fries and—hey—free chili-cheese fries!"

Repulsion (1965) - IMDb

Safe (1995) - IMDb

This week's episode for Back to Work is sponsored by Smile's TextExpander.

Back to Work 107: Pull Out Your Dingus

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:45:00 GMT

TOPIC: Compression

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about compression. What happens when we don't account for how long something really takes to do? And, worse still, what if we don't think about what has to happen before we can even start it?

If you find you're stressed-out, over-scheduled, under-resourced—and not particularly loving the things you're making—there's a pretty good chance you've become a victim of your own compression.

Acknowledge and understand the problem, and then learn how to avoid the classic pitfalls by falling in love with your calendar all over again.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace

[SPONSOR] Harvest

Hofstadter's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Planning fallacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Planning Fallacy - Less Wrong

Overcoming Bias

Oliver Burkeman on why everything takes longer than you think | Life and style | The Guardian

Task Times, The Planning Fallacy, and a Magical 20% | 43 Folders

The Experience and Perception of Time (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2004 Edition)

Time perception - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timeline of Events in X-Men Comics – 1963-2012 | Comics Back Issues

Comic Book Reading Order | Comics Back Issues

Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman - Penguin Books

Thinking, Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman: 9780374275631: Amazon.com: Books

Markdown Service Tools - Brett Terpstra

SearchLink: automated Markdown linking improved - Brett Terpstra

Template · neocotic

Comics Back Issues | Back Issue Reading Orders and Lists

Alien (1979) - IMDb

Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series 1993–1999) - IMDb

Deadpool (2012) #1 Baby Variant cover by Skottie Young | Apps | Marvel.com

5by5 | The Pipeline #7: Merlin Mann

5by5 | Back to Work #5: Chigger Bites on the Bus Driver

Mac OS X Automation: Services Manager

2013 Ford Super Duty Truck | Powerful, Efficient & Productive | Ford.com

Civil War: Mark Millar, Steve McNiven: 9780785121787: Amazon.com: Books

The Road to Civil War: Brian Michael Bendis, J. Michael Straczynski, Alex Maleev, Ron Garney, Mike McKone, Tyler Kirkham: Amazon.com: Books

5by5 | The Comic Shack #26: SuperTeam-Building

Publication history of Marvel Comics crossover events - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5 Ronin: Peter Milligan, Tom Coker, Dalibor Talajic, Laurence Campbell, Goran Parlov, Leandro Fernandez: 9780785151012: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (The New 52) (9781401235413): Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo: Books

Fantasy Records - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5by5 | Back to Work #61: I Handed Him My Luke

Mint - Personal Finance, Budgeting, Money Management, Financial Management, Money Manager, Budget Planner, Free Budget Software, Online Banking

Toward a hygienic credit card | 43 Folders

Men's Razors, Buy Razor Blades Online | Dollar Shave Club

Runaways Volume 1: Pride & Joy: Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona: 9780785157328: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Graphic Novel) (9780785145905): Eric Shanower, L. Frank Baum, Skottie Young: Books

Zita the Spacegirl: Ben Hatke: 9781596434462: Amazon.com: Books

Civil War (comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

INTERVIEW: Joe Caramagna Letters The Marvel Universe

Satisficing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"…no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad" —Roger Ebert

Hoist with your own petard

The lady doth protest too much, methinks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We Source, Roast, and Ship Coffee. You Brew. | Tonx

"Bob, darn you, we can't blow cover again!" —Helen Parr

Amazon.com: Aerobie AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker: Kitchen & Dining

Good from the First Drop - The New Disruptors - Mule Radio Syndicate

No Country for Old Men - "The Coin Toss" [Friendo!]

Template 1.2.0 · neocotic

Amazon.com: Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth (9780785145349): Victor Gischler, Bong Dazo: Books

Search in a Giphy

Manage search engines - Google Chrome Help

Staying on Top of Calendar Events | Jamie Phelps

Derry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Every Six Weeks (E6W) — Tech & Coffee

From Civil War: The Road To Civil War (2007) ... | kung fu grippe

The Aviator (2004) - IMDb

Flexibits | Fantastical for Mac | Meet your Mac's new calendar.

Way of the Future

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by:

Harvest (use code "5BY5" at checkout and receive 50% off your first month)
Squarespace (use offer code "BENDIS" for an additional 10% off)

After Dark 344: After Back to Work #106

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:45:00 GMT

Dan & Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 106.

Back to Work 106: Enough Candy to Last Forever

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:30:00 GMT

TOPIC: Duplicates, duplicates, duplicates.

This week, Dan and Merlin conclude their discussion of media management by focusing on dealing with duplicates. Just so many duplicates.

Music, Photos, Contacts, and Finder files. It's all thorny business, but a canny combination of backup, cool apps, and paranoid discretion can make your digital life more manageable and fun.

Also, some handy tips on sharing files, hosting media, and finding a digital home for your comic collection.

Links for this episode:

[SPONSOR] Squarespace

Snapseed for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Kleenex Cool Touch Moisturizing Tissues | Kleenex®

70Decibels - Generational - 021 - Raising a Human

Great Comic Stuff — Merlin Mann

The Immortal Iron Fist, Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story: Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, Travel Foreman: 9780785124894: Amazon.com: Books

Hawkeye Digital Comics - Comics by comiXology

Matt Fraction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Aja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brattoo Propaganda Software - Products

Gemini: The Best Duplicate File Finder and Cleaner for Mac OS X | MacPaw

CameraSync

/ - TextDrop

Gemini F.A.Q. - Frequently asked questions regarding Gemini| MacPaw

Great Comic Stuff — Merlin Mann

Jonathan Frakes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes ? - dougscripts.com

CameraSync for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

PhoneView for iPhone and iPad - Save SMS, iMessages, Voicemail, Call History, Music, Photos, Notes - Ecamm Network

macbreak.png 102×83 pixels

5by5 | Back to Work #103: Lotta Little Knives

5by5 | Back to Work #104: Grab Your Revolver

5by5 Store

Mac App Store - Contacts Cleaner

Home - TextDrop - Online text editor for Dropbox

Drafts for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Comic Book Database Software, organize your comic book collection on Windows or Mac OS X

Collectorz.com Connect: merlinmann: My Comics

Moving from a Drobo to a Synology NAS

Amazon.com: Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200RPM 2 TB SATA 6 GB/s NCQ 64 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive: Electronics

Amazon.com: Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX: Electronics

Two Cats Comic Book Store - Two Cats Comic Book Store

Doug's Apps for iTunes ? Dupin - iTunes Duplicates Manager - v2.5.4 - Find, FIlter, Delete iTunes Duplicates

Kung Fu Grippe - “Keep Watching, Internet Bozos.”

Syncman | Synchronize Address Book with Gmail

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "BENDIS" for an additional 10% off).

After Dark 342: After Back to Work #105

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:45:00 GMT

Dan & Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 105.

Back to Work 105: Fissures of Men

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:30:00 GMT

TOPIC: Cool stuff Merlin loves.

This week, Merlin is delirious and may be in a fugue state, so he and Dan talk about a bunch of cool apps and gadgets--stuff that Merlin likes and really recommends.

Special attention goes to Drafts for iOS, the Logitech K760 Bluetooth keyboard, Verbatim's Tuff 'n Tiny USB drive, Cortex Camera for iOS, Cobook Address Book, with many more suggestions along the way, including handy tips based on how Merlin uses each.

Links for this episode:

Amazon.com: SodaStream REVOLUTION Deluxe Bundle Kit Black & Silver: Baby

Twitter / siracusa: The latest addition to our ...

And now it’s all this

Drafts for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Amazon.com: Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 for Mac/iPad/iPhone (920-003884): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Verbatim TUFF 'N' TINY 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 96816 (Purple): Electronics

Amazon.com: Plugable USB 3.0/2.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station (ASMedia Chipset; UASP and 3TB+ Support): Computers & Accessories

Cobook for iPhone for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

BusyCal

Syncman | Synchronize Address Book with Gmail

Readdle

Bokononism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drafts 2.5.2 and Drafts for iPad 1.5.2 - Blog - Agile Tortoise

iOS Automation and Workflows with Drafts

Review: Drafts for iPhone and iPad | Macworld

Drafts: A Truly Indispenable iOS App

Drafts: Action Directory

SuperDuper!

1Password for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

1Password 4.1 for iOS adds… way too much great stuff to fit in a post title | Agile Blog

1Password for iOS wins an Editor’s Choice Award from The Mac Observer! | Agile Blog

Jamie Phelps | Smartsure and cocksure

Jamie Phelps (jxpx777) on Twitter

Sparse image - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coding Horror: The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale

Amazon.com: NewerTech Voyager Q Quad Interface Dock for 2.5" and 3.5" Serial ATA Drives: Electronics

Evernote Hello | Evernote

Flexibits | Fantastical for Mac | Meet your Mac's new calendar.

nvALT - Brett Terpstra

Rorschach & Friends Boner. | kung fu grippe

Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

70Decibels - Generational

My curtain calls - All this

Balls - All this

App Cubby • Hand Crafted iPhone Apps - Launch Center

Apple URL Scheme Reference: Introduction

IPhone URL Schemes - akosma wiki

Jonathan Coulton

OmniFocus for iPhone - The Omni Group

Pastebot — Tapbots

Swiss+Tech UKCSB-1 Utili-Key 6-in-1 Keychain Multi-Tool : Amazon.com : Automotive

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

70Decibels - Generational - 015 - Curiosity and Analytical Thinking with Dr. Drang

Cortex Camera for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Prednisone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This week's episode of Back to Work is sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "BENDIS" for an additional 10% off) and Kashoo (use code "B2W" for 50% off your annual plan).

After Dark 338: After Back to Work #104

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:15:00 GMT

Merlin & Dan talk after Back to Work episode 104.

Back to Work 104: Grab Your Revolver

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Modern Media Management: Metadata and Smart Playlists

This week Dan and Merlin continue their 3-part series on Modern Media Management: handling your iTunes Library, iOS Devices, and iTunes Match without making yourself crazy.

In this episode, the focus is on fixing audio metadata, with a big discussion of the awesome MusicBrainz and Picard.

Links for this episode:

Smile Blog

[SPONSOR] Build a Website - Squarespace

[SPONSOR] Stock Photos, Royalty-Free Images and Vectors - Shutterstock

[SPONSOR] TextExpander: Mac Typing Shortcut Utility Saves You Time

Squarespace + Typekit: 65 Professional Fonts for Free — The Official Squarespace Blog

Merlin's Smart Playlists for iTunes Match

Search Results - MusicBrainz

b2w e104 smart playlists 2013-01-29

Tangled - Mandy Moore - When Will My Life Begin HD - YouTube

Watch Jim Gaffigan: Mr. Universe Online | Netflix

Maria Bamford's One-Hour Homemade Christmas Special! on Vimeo

Nerdist Podcast: Maria Bamford Returns! « Nerdist

MusicBrainz - The Open Music Encyclopedia

MusicBrainz Picard - MusicBrainz

Manage your Video Collection with iTunes | iFlicks

Mac App Store - Smarts

Apple - iTunes - Match

iTunes Store: Subscribing to iTunes Match

FFmpeg documentation : :

Keystone Cops - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TMDb — The Movie Database

Online TV Database - An open directory of television shows for HTPC software

Comic Book DB - The Comic Book Database

Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player:Amazon:Electronics

5by5 | The Crossover #7: We Met at a Tequila Bar

This week's episode for Back to Work is sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "NICE" for an additional 10% off); Shutterstock (use code "BACKTOWORK1" for 30% off); and Smile's TextExpander.

Back to Work 103: Lotta Little Knives

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

TOPIC: Modern Media Management: iTunes Match

This week Dan and Merlin begin a 3-part series on Modern Media Management: handling your iTunes Library, iOS Devices, and iTunes Match without making yourself crazy.

In this episode, they cover setting up and using iTunes Match, being safe and paranoid, what to do after you get the iTunes ping, some smart playlists that will help you exclude kwanzaa music, find stuff you don't want to listen to, and maintain your sanity.

Next episode they'll discuss wrangling metadata and smart playlists. Then in the last episode of the series, they'll cover managing the libraries on your devices and some grab bag stuff.

Links for this episode:

Pokemann - Check out this 8bit version of Plica Plica that...

iTunes Store: Subscribing to iTunes Match

Dealing with iTunes Match's 25,000 Track Limit | Macworld

Apple - iCloud - All your content on all your devices.

Apple - iTunes - Match

[SPONSOR] Squarespace (use offer code `NICE` for an additional 10% off)

5by5 | Back to Work #41: Carpal Tunnel Diem

How to upgrade tracks to iTunes Match, fast | Macworld

iTunes Match: One year in | Macworld

Squarespace Service Blog

Inscribed Something very, very special has... | kung fu grippe

Debutante - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Bonham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

8-Bit "Plica Plica" [B2W theme song] by slashram

Pokémann

A podcast with Merlin: SodaStream, BULKBUG, comics - 2000 Nickels

Maintain – Cocktail

Secrets

Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street: Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson: 9781401220846: Amazon.com: Books

Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt (The New 52): Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman: 9781401235079: Amazon.com: Books

Star Wars continuity mistakes - YouTube

Cocteau Twins - Wax and Wane - YouTube

Fugue state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This week's episode for Back to Work is sponsored by Squarespace (use offer code "NICE" for an additional 10% off).

After Dark 333: After Back to Work #102

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Merlin and Dan talk after Back to Work episode 102.

Back to Work 102: Hunter Ready to Write

Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:15:00 GMT

TOPIC: Creative Costumes vs. Pushing Out Product

This week Dan and Merlin talk about how the legends and mythologies around creative people and beautiful losers can become such a destructive MacGuffin for us aspiring civilians.

Getting gakked out on Hunter S. Thompson's cocaine and buying Sylvia Plath's oven are unlikely to take you anyplace useful, interesting, or…creative.

Also: "BRIANMICHAELBENDIS!"

Links for this episode:

Amazon.com: Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human (9780812981384): Grant Morrison: Books

Marvels: Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross: 9780785142867: Amazon.com: Books

Spider-Man: Big Time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazon.com: Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human (9780812981384): Grant Morrison: Books

The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 2 #669G - Spider-Island - Part Three: Arachnotopia in merlinmann's Comic Collector Connect collection

After Dark 327: After Back to Work #101

Dan Benjamin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:15:00 GMT

Dan & Merlin talk after Back to Work episode 101.