Skip to content
50: Barrel Week episode artwork

Apr 19, 2017 2 hr 3 min

50: Barrel Week

from Reconcilable Differences Hosted by Merlin Mann and John Siracusa

This week, Merlin helps a friend and John disallows an awkward neologism. John wonders who refills the store-smell machine. John surprises Merlin by (finally) watching the film, _Les Misérables_, and shares his impressions. What works, what doesn’t, and why does the sewer need to be so sewery? In a surprisingly robust main topic, John recalls his youth spent playing handball and many other New York street games that Merlin had assumed were just made up. Dodgeball is debated, Merlin shares his very very sad homemade games, and John reluctantly learns about stolen valor and the people who pretend to be cops. Less surprisingly, there’s some important Follow-Up on…Follow-Up. John revisits the provenance of his invention and its legacy, and reveals a double-turns-out about the role Merlin’s bit may unintentionally play in ensuring its proper credit. Merlin just wishes everyone could be happy with how everybody already likes them, but John makes sure Merlin’s week in the barrel includes some candid feedback from listeners. Finding themselves suddenly short on time, your hosts talk about Merlin’s recent acquisition of a MacBook Adorable and why it can sometimes be so danged hard to recommend Apple products. John looks at the background of photos, star-effs with a showrunner, and explains why he documented his withdrawal of a very nice gift to The Original Peaches. (_Recorded on Tuesday, April 11, 2017._)

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

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

Ready to play

50: Barrel Week

0:00 2:03:50

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Reconcilable Differences?

This episode is 2 hours and 3 minutes long.

When was this Reconcilable Differences episode published?

This episode was published on April 19, 2017.

Can I download this Reconcilable Differences episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.