Do By Friday

Merlin Mann and Alex Cox
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Jan 28, 2026 • 1h

Future Clowns of America

LinksThe Nutty Professor (1963) Jerry Lewis as Professor Kelp / Buddy LoveHank Azaria on Professor Frink Based him on Jerry Lewis in The Nutty ProfessorTropic Thunder Simple Jack; "you went full [redacted]"Be Kind Rewind Video essays on women in film historyStewart Lee British comedian; Paul Nuttall of UKIPStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle BBC Two series (2009-2016)Tailscale Mesh VPN; part of the Iron TroikaAmphetamine macOS app to prevent sleepAutoMounter Keeps network shares mountedSynology NAS; Merlin's home server setupTP-Link Archer AX55 The routerNextDNS DNS with ad blocking; Iron Troika memberCloudflare Third member of the Iron TroikaDynDNS Dynamic DNS; the old wayLet's Encrypt Free SSL certificatesPasskeys Passwordless authenticationHide My Email Apple's email aliasingLinda Stone Coined "email apnea" and "continuous partial attention""Are You Breathing? Do You Have Email Apnea?" Linda Stone's original articleClaude Code as elevator music Matt Webb on the contemplative rhythm of working with Claude CodeJ. Edgar Hoover FBI director; Clyde TolsonCary Grant & Randolph Scott Lived together; "Riding the Trails Alone"The Carter Family First family of country musicCowboy Carter Beyoncé's country albumCountry Music (Ken Burns) 2019 documentary seriesTrypophobia Lotus seed pods; a clown situationPansy Division Queercore band; pun on Panzer DivisionReformation Iconoclasm Defacing religious art
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Jan 24, 2026 • 1h 55min

Backpack Full of Stones

LinksTLC - "Waterfalls" Alex was four.No Such Thing as a Fish QI researchers' podcast; Merlin's been listening for yearsNo Such Thing As Debreadtion — No Such Thing As A Fish — Overcast The episode Merlin mentionedKen Burns' Jazz Episode 9 "The Adventure."TLC - "Unpretty" Merlin's favorite TLC song.Dead Drop Spycraft term for passing info without meetingKen Burns' Baseball Source of the Lincoln "tiredest" quoteA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms New Game of Thrones spinoffWhy Are Icelandic Horses Not Called Ponies? (Iceland Mag) Pony-sized but Iceland said it's a horseShip of Theseus (Khan Academy video) The philosophical paradox behind "Thesean Horse"Saint John Coltrane Church (KQED) Yes, there's literally a church for this albumJohn Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965) The album that inspired the church"Is he quare?" Comedy repetition referenceHarry Enfield British comedian; "Is he queer?" sketchPaul Whitehouse The other half of the old men in the clubI Spy books (Walter Wick Studio) Merlin's analogy for how Claude Code sees things"40, 45 Years" - Stewart Lee The callback kingClaude Code (Anthropic) The AI tool Merlin won't shut up aboutRik Mayall: Lord of Misrule 2014 BBC tribute documentary; narrated by Simon CallowThe Young Ones (IMDb) What you most likely know Rik Mayall fromThe Young Ones - "Bambi" / University Challenge (YouTube) Fry, Laurie, Thompson vs. the ladsNell (1994) Merlin's first memory of Liam Neeson as a leadNell (1994) Trailer "Can't abide a canna peas," is a line Merlin feels like he remembers Jodie Foster's Nell sayingScotiabank Saddledome: Building Design Say it soft, and it's almost like praying.Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Bob and Paul's fishing showGame of Thrones - "Fire and Blood" (Fandom) Season 1 finale; Daenerys and the dragon eggsLucy Liu on the "Dragon Lady" Stereotype (NextShark) "I could have been wearing a tuxedo and a blond wig"The Slop Hash Merlin's project to get you excited about making something cool."I never said she stole my money" has 7 different meanings Stress a different word, get a different sentence.The Butterfield Diet Plan (YouTube) "The results have been increbidle"The Night Left Eye Burned Down Andre Rison's Mansion (Investigation Discovery) It started with sneakers in a fiberglass bathtubMemento Mori "Remember you will die"Anterograde Amnesia The condition from Memento — can't form new memoriesOne Hundred Years of Solitude García Márquez's masterpieceKieran's very good post "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father was discovered and taken by ICE."Hammer A tool so durable it works across timeCottaging: History of the Term (Idiom Origins) How they got John Gielgud, Wilfrid Brambell, and poor Brian Epstein.Brian Epstein (Beatles Bible) Beatles manager; arrested 1957, blackmailed for years, died a month before decriminalizationClarke's Three Laws "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"Ducking Stool Chair on a stick for dunking witches and scoldsRoget's Thesaurus (Project Gutenberg) Category 1: Existence12 Facts About Taking of Pelham 123 (Mental Floss) They fictionalized the dead man's switch to foil copycatsThe 36-Hour Day (Johns Hopkins Press) Read it before someone you love has dementiaSome folks I love and admire do come off sounding a little like the same people who loudly hated Little Richard and disco music.Honestly, sometimes it's legit difficult to notice when we've gotten more emotionally invested than we'd realized in seeming right.And that shit is a LOT to decide to carry forever.🐘
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Jan 14, 2026 • 1h 44min

Recursive Hallucination Loop

LinksGround loop (electricity) - WikipediaHallucination or Confabulation? Neuroanatomy as metaphor in Large Language Models - PMCGraze: Custom Feed Builder for Bluesky · GrazeServerless Statusphere: a walk through building serverless ATProto applications on Cloudflare’s Developer PlatformAT ProtocolHow to Transfer Your ChatGPT MemoryWorks for ChatGPT Data - Google DriveStewart Lee - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - WikipediaStewart Lee vs The Internet - Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - Series 3 Episode 1 Preview - BBC - YouTubeEnglish Arrested for Being English? Stewart Lee's Humorous Take on British Culture | TikTokStewart Lee S4E6 - Childhood - YouTubeStewart Lee S3E3 - Satire - YouTubeStewart Lee - [1/2] Give It To Me Straight, Like Pear Cider That's Made From 100% Pears - YouTubeStewart Lee - [2/2] Give It To Me Straight, Like Pear Cider That's Made From 100% Pears - YouTubeStewart Lee On The Challenge Of Stand-Up - YouTubeComedian Stewart Lee on why he won't tour Trump's America - YouTubeStewart Lee in Conversation with Alan Moore - YouTubeJerry Springer: The Opera - WikipediaTaskmaster Origins - Rare Footage of the First Ever Show! (Edinburgh 2010) - YouTube
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Jan 8, 2026 • 1h 18min

Shiny Boob Beaver Book

LinksI am the mucus man. | Do By FridayPlayboyPenthouseOui (magazine)HustlerGentLiquid IVImodiumMr. Microphone By Ronco (Commercial, 1978) - YouTube"Supply is limited" scene from The Simpsons (TV Episode 1992) - YouTubeThe Simpsons: Sending Our Love Down The Well - YouTubeROYGBIV - WikipediaStewart Lee - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - YouTubeStewart Lee - Emigrants - video DailymotionLazy Comedy Slags - 28 years old - YouTubeI'm Alan Partridge - WikipediaMortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing - WikipediaThe future of being trans on the internet | The VergeNetNewsWire: Free and Open Source RSS Reader for Mac and iOSLumberjanes - WikipediaMallory Ortberg Accidentally Inspired A New Episode Of 'Black Mirror' By Making Fun Of The ShowNext On "Black Mirror" - The ToastBrian Regan - Big Yellow One's the Sun - YouTubeBrian Regan - The Emergency Room - YouTubeMBMBAM / Adventure Time: Curse A Real Sword - YouTube
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Dec 31, 2025 • 50min

I am the mucus man.

Late Night with David Letterman - "Camping With Barry White" (May, 1983)
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Dec 17, 2025 • 1h 13min

A Considerate Dancer

LinksNurse Ratched - WikipediaRatched (TV series) - WikipediaSarah Paulson - WikipediaBlue Lights (2023 TV series)The Now Habit a book by Neil Fiore - Bookshop.org USGetting Things Done a book by David Allen and James Fallows - Bookshop.org USMakebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out Who You Are (For Now) on VimeoYeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Official Music Video) - YouTubeTed Leo - Since U Been Gone / Maps - YouTubeMargaret Qualley - WikipediaBleachers - Tiny Moves (Official) - YouTubeJack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley Take Us Behind the Scenes of "Tiny Moves"Jack Antonoff - WikipediaSteel Train "I Feel Weird" - YouTubeKenzo World feat. Margaret Qualley - YouTubeKenzo Perfume BTS: Spike Jonze & Margaret Qualley’s Creative Journey - YouTube
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Dec 10, 2025 • 1h 45min

Three-Eyed Raven of His Dreams

LinksEp. 1. "Shifty: The Land of Make Believe" (Adam Curtis, 2025) - YouTubeAdam Curtis on the BBC, Politics & AI - YouTubeAdam Curtis - WikipediaHyperNormalisation - WikipediaCan't Get You Out of My Head (TV series) - WikipediaShifty (TV series) - WikipediaSHIFTY – A brand new Adam Curtis series - BBC - YouTubeThe True Story of the Aberfan Disaster in The Crown Season 3The Queen Learns of the Aberfan Disaster | The Crown (Olivia Colman) - YouTubeDeath of Diana, Princess of Wales - WikipediaRyan White - WikipediaOliver Sacks - WikipediaWilliams syndrome - WikipediaOliver Sacks: The Mind Traveller - 'Don't Be Shy, Mr Sacks' - YouTubeStrong Songs – Season 07 Episode 08 - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The PoliceMr Blobby - WikipediaJack Whitehall is Terrified of Mr Blobby - The Big Fat Quiz Of The '90s - YouTubeThe 10 Most Bizarre UK No. 1s of the 1990s - YouTubeSentencing Review: Deposition of the Captain | kung fu grippe
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Dec 3, 2025 • 1h 6min

Basic Beaver Information

Dive into a playful banter as hosts explore the origins of country music through Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Discover the magic of Ken Burns' storytelling and the fascinating 'Ken Burns effect.' They riff on personal tech nostalgia, discussing memories tied to Apple Stores and Steve Jobs. Experience quirky segments about creating a bookish perfume, making mini zines, and amusing anecdotes about pets like capybaras. Finally, hear about beaver engineering in a captivating documentary that blows open the wonders of the animal kingdom.
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Nov 26, 2025 • 2h 9min

Pure Information

The hosts dive into a delightful mix of birthday banter and melodramatic musicals, sharing insights on Wicked and the viral side of Broadway on YouTube. They explore a quirky celebrity heights spreadsheet, revealing surprising facts about famous short people. The conversation shifts to admiration for Ricky Jay and the art of misdirection in performance. They dissect the concept of 'pure information' in media and challenge each other to try Netflix's audio description, leading to amusing reflections on its impact. It's a charming blend of nostalgia, creativity, and witty commentary!
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Nov 20, 2025 • 1h 44min

Gratitude is My Kink

LinksPresident Trump Delivers Remarks at McDonald's Impact Summit - YouTubeJeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich - WikipediaUS election: Donald Trump sorry for obscene remarks on women - BBC NewsBig Mac Index - WikipediaDonald Trump Access Hollywood tape - WikipediaNo One Shows Up to Peter Brady's Party - YouTubeWatchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter (2009) [1080p] - YouTubeAdrian Veidt | Watchmen Wiki | FandomThe Hunting Wives Season 2 Trailer - SNL - YouTubePapillon (1973 film) - WikipediaTerry ZwigoffCrumb (film) - WikipediaIntroducing Kafka - WikipediaWhen Harry Met Sally... (3/11) Movie CLIP - Just Friends (1989) HD - YouTubeThe Book of Genesis (comic) - WikipediaGhost World (film) - WikipediaBad Santa - WikipediaCrumb (1995) | The Criterion Collection‎Some Good Movies About Making Art, a list of films by Merlin Mann • LetterboxdAftershow LinksWhy Saudi Arabia Is Building a Floating City - YouTubeWhy Saudi Arabia Is Building a Linear City - YouTubeFingal's Cave - Wikipediawisdom/3d.md at master · merlinmann/wisdom · GitHubModel Context Protocol - WikipediaWhat is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)? - Model Context ProtocolPrompt 3🎙️ MacWhisperJonathan Haidt - WikipediaNo Way Out (1987 film) - WikipediaA Futile and Stupid Gesture (film) - WikipediaHow to Stop the Jellyfish! - Apple CommunityThe Crown (TV series) - WikipediaAudio Description for TV shows and movies | Netflix Help Center

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