138: Their Terrible Butts

John has Follow-Up on the name of an Australian rock, and Merlin learned New Zealand's true name from an old Split Enz song. Doesn't seem all that difficult to call things by the old name, but what do we know? Merlin did not watch any educational YouTube videos, but John is just asking the question. A glimpse into Merlin's perilous journey into John's pasta sauce recipe is teased. John job-shames Merlin for some reason. Then, Merlin digs up a _very_ old email exchange with John that, in retrospect, set the tone for their entire relationship. John has some questions about what Merlin _was_ planning to do before he forgot about the recording. Welcome to the highly specialized and deeply opinionated world of cast iron skillets. This leads to a riveting tour of Merlin's history with the notoriously finicky kitchen implements, including leaning how to use, maintain, season, and re-season them. It's ultimately less of a tool than a _project_. Which can be fun if you like that sort of thing. This, in turn, leads to some strongly held opinions about the broader topics of sound kitchen praxis and, as ever, the Sisyphean role one inhabits as the only person in the house who understands how to do things properly. John speaks passionately about furniture and floors and the various scratches he apparently just has to live with now. What do you expect when you're a Zentradi? Finally, Merlin went and got a banker's box, and brother, you really do not want him to go and get a banker's box. (_Recorded on Tuesday, August 25, 2020_)