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Description

• Dan's still a little under the weather


• What home automation is good at right now (and what it mostly isn't)


• Updates on Hiya and call-blocking apps not working so much


• Merlin is getting pretty good at making Trump hands


• Hey! Follow-up and listener questions!


• Listener Greg wisely reframes the communication problem


• If you want to help people: offer something specific


• John Siracusa just wants toast in a reasonable amount of time


• Listener Johnathan has trouble getting timely responses from his busy manager
  
  
  • Tip: It pays to ask around and maybe escalate
  
  
  
  


• Everybody feels vulnerable about something


• Listener Brian doesn't want to pester people about his side project
  
  
  
  • Tip: Scale up and act like a magazine editor
  
  
  
  


• Ooooo…The Monty Hall Problem!


• Listener Matt needs tips on being a new dad
  
  
  
  • Tip: You're not as bad at this as you think (or fear)
  
  
  
  

Links for this episode:

• Jamie Buck on Twitter: "@hotdogsladies Thanks for the white gaffers tape shout out. A cool surprise on my drive to work."
  
• John Wayne Drunk Speech.wmv - YouTube
  
• Monty Hall problem - Wikipedia
  
• Birthday problem - Wikipedia
  
• Wonder (Palacio novel) - Wikipedia
  
• Wonder: R. J. Palacio: 9780375869020: Amazon.com: Books
  
• Reconcilable Differences #37: A Useless Angle for Swordfighting - Relay FM
  
• Runa | Guayusa
  
• Flammable vs. Inflammable: What's the difference? | Merriam-Webster
  Both words mean the same thing, but one of them is bound to confuse most people.
  
• Hiya: Caller ID, Call Blocker & Protection for a Better Phone Experience
  
• 5by5 | Hypercritical #18: Worse and More Diverse
  John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin put the TV technology and PHP topics to bed, touch on SSD reliability again, then discuss what's wrong with Twitter and why toaster ovens are worse today than they were a few decades ago.
  
• Occam's razor - Wikipedia
  
• PrivacyStar
  
• Huge phone scam targeting Americans leads to 700 being detained in India | World news | The Guardian
  
• Carl Weathers Got Stew Going - YouTube
  
• Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit - YouTube
  

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• TextExpander (
  Visit Smilesoftware.com/b2w for more info and to claim a 50% discount on your first year of a TextExpander Life Hacker subscription. Offer ends November 15th).