Episode 45: Finagling the Tree Bag

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5by5

Business, Society & Culture, Barriers, Dan Benjamin, Careers, Communication, Merlin Mann, Creativity, Work, Productivity, Constraints, Technology

4.7 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2011

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Topic: The Narcissism of Small Differences

This week, Merlin has a quiz for Dan to determine whether Ben Franklin, "The Immigrant Song," or Quantum Mechanics has the most cultural impact--as well as his teasing out Dan's go-to for uninstalling Android apps.

Paying attention to the same degree you care goes nicely with keeping a sense of humor. Especially about those small differences regarding couch cushions, pink spaceships, and Sgt. Pepper's.

The answers are Moby Dick, Julian calendars, ZoSo, chigger bites, and--yes--The Greater Nerd Theory.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Dan. How are you? It's good. Everything's okay. Hmm. Everything's okay. Hmm. How about
0:08.5	you, Merlin, man? Hmm. Well, Aaron San Francisco. I live up in San Francisco. I live in a house
0:17.9	made out of money in dot coms. We live where all the cool companies are. And we, uh, we
0:23.6	make the internet work up here. Hey, I like that. Hey, can I ask you a question? Go ahead.
0:28.9	Go ahead. Am I hot? Oh, totally. No, I think I might be hot. I feel really hot. I like
0:33.9	what you're wearing. I like your hair. I wore exactly what I was wearing last time. I'm wearing
0:39.8	one of, uh, what's his name's T shirts? And I put on deodorant, but apart from that, it's
0:45.3	exactly what I was wearing last week. Yeah. And it's sure it's been laundered. Now, Dan, this
0:51.9	concerns me. You sound like I didn't like the way you responded to that. You sound okay. What
0:57.1	does that mean? It's okay, Merlin. It's okay. It's going to be all right. Do you leave the lights on
1:03.2	the prelit tree like when you put it away? Builds prelit. It's integrated into the tree. It's got an
1:10.1	integrated lighting. It's not like you can take the lights off. It's, you know, they're intertwined
1:14.9	and intermingled with the branches in such a way that you would never even think of taking them
1:21.3	off. And when the tree is not lit, you can barely see the lights at all. And when it is lit,
1:25.5	it's lit in such a professional wonderful way. It just looks so good. I'm like a lady. I'm envious.
1:33.8	You just pick one up. We ordered it ordered online. Well, it's along with your fancy San Francisco
1:38.7	groceries that come delivered to your door. Let's also say it for the AD. This is really going
1:50.1	interesting places. I heard Jay sir do his first voice. I was excited. I know he did his
1:53.7	phrases. That is not my first voice. I have lots of voices. I do voices all the time. Here's
1:58.5	one now. I'm doing a voice. The crabby patty's myself. You are hearing me talk. Does it ever
2:06.3	seem weird when you run into people who are familiar with things? It just seems weird. I'm so used
2:12.4	to being in our own little world where we watch SpongeBob or the Grinch. It's so weird to
	...

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