00:00:00 ◼ ► The more we do the podcast The Bore I think I realize how different we are or what numbers this is this is number six. [TS]
00:00:17 ◼ ► and we say you are you are I might be a bit off because I have been having a lot of sleep lately I have had issues [TS]
00:00:30 ◼ ► I am as you know currently in Berkeley California and I've been staying sort of in a condo I rented a room in [TS]
00:00:42 ◼ ► And it turns out it was an issue because what's going on is the guy who's like renting out this room [TS]
00:00:47 ◼ ► when he hasn't got paying customers like me. He allows these these couch surface that stay for free. [TS]
00:00:58 ◼ ► Hey those couch sofas to stay for free which you know isn't the nicest things and that [TS]
00:01:03 ◼ ► when you're paying for the place but anyway what he does with his apartment when I'm not there is not my business [TS]
00:01:12 ◼ ► This caps person was still there and he didn't know the caps if it was still going to be there [TS]
00:01:18 ◼ ► and this particular woman who I would describe as eccentric. Owns three cats and she had the cats staying in the place. [TS]
00:01:30 ◼ ► Now I am not anti cat but this one was out alone and her cats were not particularly controllable. [TS]
00:01:38 ◼ ► She certainly had no control over them and there were three of them in this tiny place [TS]
00:01:42 ◼ ► and so there's a cat litter tray in the kitchen and food everywhere and hair everywhere and cats everywhere. [TS]
00:01:50 ◼ ► So you know I was telling the landlord this probably was an idea on and he was mortified. [TS]
00:02:03 ◼ ► and then she buncoed hisself in the other room with their cats and it was all very awkward. I'd imagine so. [TS]
00:02:10 ◼ ► Anyway to cut a long story to a medium length of she she left eventually Thank goodness took her cats [TS]
00:02:23 ◼ ► During this period where she was bunkered in the room hiding from everything the cats [TS]
00:02:40 ◼ ► and put blankets at the bottom of the door to sort of seal it perfectly but that the smell was starting to escape [TS]
00:02:48 ◼ ► and in the middle of last night at two in the morning the smell finally saw really. Tami ated the room I'm sleeping in. [TS]
00:03:08 ◼ ► and SA I come to this podcast now a product of that lack of sleep and what do I gotta ask. [TS]
00:03:16 ◼ ► I ask you kind of day there I mean you're you're in you're in San Francisco for like a month aren't you. [TS]
00:03:33 ◼ ► Or for at level it's real name and the place is no less telling me about how do I put it I want to hear more. [TS]
00:03:43 ◼ ► Something like they're decorating figured right except for the getting everyone to leave the location is excellent. [TS]
00:04:00 ◼ ► Really lazy and I don't want to repack and you know I have to find a new place and move with all my bags and my kit. [TS]
00:04:08 ◼ ► Your reaction to this whole situation could not be more different from what my reaction. [TS]
00:04:17 ◼ ► but it seems like you're not doing a whole lot to extricate yourself from the equation. [TS]
00:04:22 ◼ ► Now that I said I want to move your bags and now that I know now that I said at last I say that it sounds silly [TS]
00:04:30 ◼ ► but from my perspective of living with my follow up from the last episode which I believe was about was about all sorts [TS]
00:04:43 ◼ ► Yes there was a bit of that if rebooting in there is where you have anything to do with any things you particularly [TS]
00:04:48 ◼ ► came to follow up I've probably talked enough. Yes Well the first the first thing. [TS]
00:04:53 ◼ ► Then I want to follow up is talking about reviews that we have gotten so i Tunes of use that people have left [TS]
00:05:05 ◼ ► and so at the beginning of episode five I think we had four new countries that had left reviews last time for this [TS]
00:05:13 ◼ ► episode. We actually have a bunch one of the new countries or is it to them the least safe you've been to any. [TS]
00:05:21 ◼ ► and this is of as of this morning so in alphabetical order they are Brazil Chile Colombia Croatia the Czech Republic [TS]
00:05:30 ◼ ► the Dominican Republic France Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia New Zealand Portugal [TS]
00:05:39 ◼ ► Romania Russia Singapore Slovakia South Africa South Korea Spain Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates Venezuela [TS]
00:05:54 ◼ ► and I just want to thank all of the listeners who left i Tunes of use in those various countries I was having. [TS]
00:06:04 ◼ ► or thank you written stuff so i Tunes can sit if people leave a star review so that just counts as as star views they [TS]
00:06:14 ◼ ► are not all written reviews but I have to say almost all of them are written reviews. [TS]
00:06:18 ◼ ► We have we have a great ratio of people who will be written reviews versus star view so yeah I just I was quite [TS]
00:06:26 ◼ ► and it's very cool just seeing that that people write in from all of these various places [TS]
00:06:41 ◼ ► and I was particularly out of all those countries so I'm going to pick one out to talk about just a little bit [TS]
00:06:51 ◼ ► Iceland was the least populous of the bunch of countries that left reviews they have three hundred twenty one thousand [TS]
00:07:00 ◼ ► And I'm very I was very happy to see that because I actually went to Iceland for a trip with my wife a while back [TS]
00:07:09 ◼ ► when we were newly married and it was just one of my favorite trips that I ever took the country was just beautiful. [TS]
00:07:15 ◼ ► And we did a road trip that went around the whole exterior of the island and it was just amazing [TS]
00:07:21 ◼ ► and if I'm ever fortunate enough to have the chance I will totally love to go back to Iceland at some point so did you [TS]
00:07:28 ◼ ► No we didn't go into the interior that I think might maybe again if I get to go again we might do a trip sort of across [TS]
00:07:35 ◼ ► the island going into the interior I don't know have you been to Iceland I have no I really want to go. [TS]
00:07:42 ◼ ► I've been reading a lot about it lately too because I've been reading all these chess books [TS]
00:07:45 ◼ ► and obviously the the Bobby Fischer bar Spassky sort of you know the century was was held in Iceland [TS]
00:08:01 ◼ ► Well I've not been I've not been Everyone is beautiful and I will just I will say one of the thing about Iceland. [TS]
00:08:06 ◼ ► There seems to be per capita an unusual amount of artistic creativity that comes from Iceland. [TS]
00:08:19 ◼ ► and on Flickr for example it's a photography website some of the some of the most amazing photographer as you're ever [TS]
00:08:26 ◼ ► going to come across they're all from Iceland partly because they have amazing things to photograph [TS]
00:08:30 ◼ ► but the technical quality of their photos are so great and it comes up all the time [TS]
00:08:34 ◼ ► and I wonder if this is a byproduct of there's so far north you have a lot of time during the winter to try [TS]
00:08:42 ◼ ► and perfect your craft and you don't have a lot of distractions so I wonder people are indoors you know working on [TS]
00:08:51 ◼ ► and creative pursuits because it seems like an unusually creative company country per capita anyway. [TS]
00:09:01 ◼ ► This episode of kind of instant was brought to you by the Iceland Tourism Commission. Yes. [TS]
00:09:06 ◼ ► I have a gray like correction to make and I do you wouldn't normally do this but I thought it would just appeal to me. [TS]
00:09:13 ◼ ► I'm I'm I'm very intrigued in the previous episode I referred to a Mr Johnny fingers from the Boomtown Rats who I have [TS]
00:09:22 ◼ ► met a few times at a Japanese music festival and I referred to him I believe as an Englishman he is of course [TS]
00:09:33 ◼ ► and that is bad especially someone you know Irish heritage like myself so I apologize for this mistake. [TS]
00:09:52 ◼ ► I'm glad you've corrected your error and that's the way you'd like that. You love that kind of stuff. [TS]
00:10:01 ◼ ► Yeah and you got another follow up of a couple here where we have clatter on the house. [TS]
00:10:09 ◼ ► Yeah I thought I thought that was an interesting discussion we had last time this was obviously the fact that you sort [TS]
00:10:15 ◼ ► of despised objects and trinkets and items in the house and I remember thinking at the time to myself. [TS]
00:10:22 ◼ ► As the conversation unfolded everything that was said just made you sound like the cool man of the future [TS]
00:10:32 ◼ ► and made me sound like some weird holding person who probably walks around the streets with plastic bags full of junk [TS]
00:10:39 ◼ ► and I found it very refreshing in the comments on the subway which is obviously very skewed towards you because it's [TS]
00:10:47 ◼ ► your separate I thought this was going to sort of this was going to be the tone of the conversation [TS]
00:10:53 ◼ ► and I've found it very refreshing how many people thought you were the crazy one what I would say to that is yes there [TS]
00:10:57 ◼ ► was there was definitely a whole bunch of agreement agreement with you that I sound a little bit crazy [TS]
00:11:11 ◼ ► and been doing this on the Twitter as well were directing me toward the minimalism section of Reddit says there's a [TS]
00:11:22 ◼ ► and I would not say that I am I just to be clear people are not like a minimalist. [TS]
00:11:36 ◼ ► or serving some kind of purpose if you know if it's just if it's just there. I don't know. I don't like them. [TS]
00:11:49 ◼ ► but they're just filled with pointless stuff like a decorative horn on a table or like plants all over the place. [TS]
00:12:05 ◼ ► when you tweeted where you said beautiful has accomplished how they ruined it with all the clutter. [TS]
00:12:10 ◼ ► Yeah so I went had a look at the pictures and there wasn't that much stuff in it. Oh no now but I was pretty spartan. [TS]
00:12:20 ◼ ► OK So people are going to put a link to this thing I'm going to put a link to this thing [TS]
00:12:24 ◼ ► and I'm not saying it was like or what what was it did have stuff and don't get me wrong [TS]
00:12:31 ◼ ► Show a documentary house from hell up to the ceiling with rubbish in it which is sad to see subjects' I'm seriously [TS]
00:12:38 ◼ ► thinking of during the the invite that I've extended to you to come to my new place. [TS]
00:12:43 ◼ ► I don't I don't think you'll be able to handle it again I haven't even got that much stuff. [TS]
00:12:51 ◼ ► when I'm looking at these things I'm judging them by the standard of would I want to live there and so I don't. [TS]
00:12:56 ◼ ► When I go into somebody else's home I'm not thinking God look at all that person's stuff because I'm not in that [TS]
00:13:02 ◼ ► mindset of what I live in this person's house but I'm visiting somebody else's house it's totally different. [TS]
00:13:10 ◼ ► Well about the way not the way you had Decker has had now I would not have lived in your house to a project that I'm [TS]
00:13:15 ◼ ► sorry to you and the Mrs. But no if I lived I would decorate all the differently but I put up a link to that place. [TS]
00:13:30 ◼ ► but it's a different question of what I decorate your house the way that is created I would not. [TS]
00:13:34 ◼ ► OK Anyway people I'm going to put a link in the description to the show that you can go look at [TS]
00:13:39 ◼ ► and it's that the interior of the house which I think is beautiful because I like the textures so I don't actually like [TS]
00:13:46 ◼ ► empty white rooms for various reason that I don't like being in a place that is all white so this house has like [TS]
00:13:52 ◼ ► gorgeous mountain views and the walls are stone in the floor is wood and it's beautiful [TS]
00:14:00 ◼ ► They just have like a dead tree branch that's acting as ornaments in one location. [TS]
00:14:14 ◼ ► and the heritage of the place you have for us because now they have this horrible like Crystal lamp that just ruins [TS]
00:14:26 ◼ ► and I just don't think I just wouldn't describe it as collected I'm not saying it's cluttered I understand it they ruin [TS]
00:14:34 ◼ ► and in the bathroom here the worst is like just a chunk of amethyst randomly on on the counter [TS]
00:14:42 ◼ ► or something something horrible has it why don't you just have that beautiful counter top clean just don't don't put [TS]
00:14:49 ◼ ► something totally pointless on there it's just it's infuriating you time mine little time on like I'm like the stone [TS]
00:15:00 ◼ ► and then I think I didn't calculate on that stone went from things like that. If it is clean. [TS]
00:15:06 ◼ ► But no there is not the reason I picked this house out in particular is because I love the look of the dark stone walls [TS]
00:15:11 ◼ ► and I love the look of the wood textures I just think just like you don't you don't need all these fake plants you [TS]
00:15:18 ◼ ► don't need a ram's horn on the table you don't need all of this junk on your lighting fixtures like Asha tedious like [TS]
00:15:31 ◼ ► but yeah I've had a few interesting conversations over Twitter about about the stuff the last last couple of days. [TS]
00:15:44 ◼ ► Last time I feel like we have there's a lot more to say about advertising not today [TS]
00:15:50 ◼ ► but yeah I can imagine that we will talk about advertising again because we we just we constrained in a very small [TS]
00:16:01 ◼ ► There's one thing I wanted to bring out and that was again a comment someone made during the talk I spoke about how [TS]
00:16:08 ◼ ► when I listen to American sports commentary I find it strange that suddenly though you know in the middle of talking [TS]
00:16:17 ◼ ► and buy a trailer from New York Toyota dealers there are wonderful and I thought that was jarring [TS]
00:16:24 ◼ ► and someone by the way that I would never criticize American sports commentary by the way because I think American [TS]
00:16:34 ◼ ► As I turn to a grumpy old man I don't like a lot of sports commentary around the world [TS]
00:16:38 ◼ ► but I think American country is a very high standard but I do find these these ads in the middle of things strange [TS]
00:16:49 ◼ ► but you don't find it strange that in other countries they have advertising plastered all over the shirts [TS]
00:17:10 ◼ ► and everyone's out to make a buck in advertising sports shirts have remained a kind of a holy the sacred cow I guess [TS]
00:17:18 ◼ ► they won't pull ads you know you won't see an ad for Toyota across the front of the New York Yankees top [TS]
00:17:23 ◼ ► or something like that whereas in most other countries you know English football shirts covered in advertising I found [TS]
00:17:30 ◼ ► a really interesting thing that kind of in that the American sport has had and that respect [TS]
00:17:39 ◼ ► Jolley is a case where I don't watch the sports I didn't I didn't realize that was the case [TS]
00:17:44 ◼ ► and I'm thinking I guess maybe in my head I'm thinking of Nascar this like this some outfit that have low Meska is not [TS]
00:17:54 ◼ ► an example of that but I have been you have a lot of baseball teams so I think you know football. [TS]
00:18:00 ◼ ► Oh things like that I mean I'm sure people will point out all the areas where there are exceptions to this [TS]
00:18:16 ◼ ► Whereas whereas you know in most other countries that happens so it was interesting I don't know I don't know why these [TS]
00:18:26 ◼ ► but they also might point to some theories as to the rules of the reasons that this that the the shirt the clothing has [TS]
00:18:38 ◼ ► but googling for a couple sports uniforms I can see there are you know relatively relatively clean [TS]
00:18:51 ◼ ► Well I think that's the most of my most of my follow up for good there's nothing else that I think we need to mention [TS]
00:18:57 ◼ ► in and follow up for for this week. If this is the point where you are now going to insert ask what's his message. [TS]
00:19:05 ◼ ► Yeah that's probably going to be really wait isn't it because I just like talked about sacred cows [TS]
00:19:13 ◼ ► and praise going to re the ED That's true I was I was about well this this is the point at which I would normally cut [TS]
00:19:25 ◼ ► Well I'll let you know I read that more find out how you dealt with later I won't write maybe any second now the little [TS]
00:19:32 ◼ ► dude you do is going to come up and I'm going to switch into my more professional voice for doing announcements [TS]
00:19:39 ◼ ► but no you make me feel real awkward now so let's do one more the things I could talk about not just key the know it's [TS]
00:19:52 ◼ ► Today's sponsor is all about dot com a leading provider of spoken audio information [TS]
00:20:08 ◼ ► and this time it's going to be what would Macchiavelli do by Stanley being the best way to describe it is basically to [TS]
00:20:14 ◼ ► say that it is a kind of fake business book it's written full of advice and stories about modern day business people [TS]
00:20:20 ◼ ► and how they became successful but written from just completely satirical very ruthless perspective. [TS]
00:20:26 ◼ ► It's a rare book that manages to be kind of both interesting and informative and funny at the same time. [TS]
00:20:32 ◼ ► But again I'm picking this one because it's another example of a book that is just made much better by the actual [TS]
00:20:38 ◼ ► Narrator This time it's not narrated by the author actually it's narrated by a guy called Philip Bosco who is an actor [TS]
00:20:45 ◼ ► and it will show up in movies usually in small roles where they need someone to be the sort of evil corporate owner [TS]
00:20:51 ◼ ► or just generic businessman and he really just has the absolute perfect voice to narrate this kind of book. [TS]
00:21:01 ◼ ► and not feel like you're in some kind of exclusive business guy clubs sharing cigars with this dude as he unlaced his [TS]
00:21:21 ◼ ► I highly recommend it it's again what would Machiavelli do it by Stanley Bing and the narrator is for the Pasco. [TS]
00:21:28 ◼ ► And if you want you can listen to it for free by going to audible dot com slash hello internet all one word. [TS]
00:21:36 ◼ ► and virtually every genre you'll find what you're looking for get a free audio book [TS]
00:21:40 ◼ ► and a thirty day trial today by signing up at Audible dot com slash hello internet. [TS]
00:21:47 ◼ ► And as always we'll put a link in the show notes for you to click and follow the Senate we go way back. [TS]
00:21:54 ◼ ► We're back from the professional ad. Yes we are. That was an amazing product or service that I. [TS]
00:22:00 ◼ ► For ties which current me does not know what it's going to be. But you dear listener know what it was. So there we go. [TS]
00:22:07 ◼ ► And can I just add my endorsement to that product which I was I don't know what it is. [TS]
00:22:14 ◼ ► or me I think it means we do support it because we wouldn't do a raid for someone we didn't like the product [TS]
00:22:23 ◼ ► and I was offered a lift time by someone of somewhat more mains than me and he drove me home in his Tesla Motor car. [TS]
00:22:41 ◼ ► I'm not a car guy and I don't know if you are but I'm pretty sure you don't own a car. [TS]
00:22:47 ◼ ► Well if you take a guess you think I'm a car guy do you think I'm not a car guy. You are not a car guy. [TS]
00:22:58 ◼ ► Gray was going to love a cut this was the cause of this cut I described as like a MacBook Pro with wheels. [TS]
00:23:10 ◼ ► and cool it was quite functional it was functional it had like the guy said Have a look at this [TS]
00:23:20 ◼ ► What would you call that the the hood or whatever and it was this huge expanse of spaces [TS]
00:23:30 ◼ ► and then we went around the Tardis like he was thinking how can it be this much room in the car [TS]
00:23:43 ◼ ► but I don't know how the thing was because I never saw where the engine could be then week then we go in [TS]
00:23:48 ◼ ► and it was like it was a lovely looking and everything was beautiful and it was all screens and high tech [TS]
00:23:54 ◼ ► and he just said to the address where we want to go and then the map popped up on a difference. [TS]
00:24:00 ◼ ► Rain next to the electronic speedometer and it was like and they will touch screens everywhere [TS]
00:24:05 ◼ ► and you could surf the web while he was driving and that's actually terrible I think. [TS]
00:24:10 ◼ ► Well I say I did say that to him but he said he said the video disabled like that like that made a web pages. [TS]
00:24:23 ◼ ► Everything was functional every you know and you could go into all these touch screens [TS]
00:24:26 ◼ ► and systems to do with the controls of the car and you know it was silent like these electric cars [TS]
00:24:33 ◼ ► and I asked well you know does that mean it's a bit gutless and he was like what lesson plan today is full [TS]
00:24:56 ◼ ► I have been kind of following the news with Tesla for a while because both I think that their company [TS]
00:25:09 ◼ ► Yes to both the company and the founder are very interesting and I'm not I'm not a news person [TS]
00:25:17 ◼ ► and so I don't keep my fingers on the news all the time and I'm not really interested [TS]
00:25:35 ◼ ► and I suspected that I would I would like the car from what I have seen online of some some demos of it [TS]
00:25:47 ◼ ► and as I said the gentleman he was kind enough to give me a lift that was had enjoyed some business success over the [TS]
00:25:53 ◼ ► years so he was actually this when I was in was one of the first hundred that was made that made more. [TS]
00:26:03 ◼ ► So he was saying hey you know he paid for and put the money down and with the knowledge and the pentode from the first. [TS]
00:26:11 ◼ ► If this fails you're not going to get and you know going to and you know can get your money back [TS]
00:26:30 ◼ ► But you know if you're listening to in the future you may know if this has or hasn't happened [TS]
00:26:34 ◼ ► but there are some rumors swirling about possible Apple acquiring Tesla Motors. Both Tim Cook and I know the C.E.O. [TS]
00:26:43 ◼ ► Of Tesla have acknowledged to have talks with each other that they they've been chatting. [TS]
00:26:50 ◼ ► and so there's there's just rumors about maybe Apple's going to acquire that company which would be interesting [TS]
00:26:56 ◼ ► and the thing that I've heard is that there are overlapping interested in battery technology that even though they seem [TS]
00:27:04 ◼ ► like these companies might not have very much to do with each other that they are actually their interests are aligned [TS]
00:27:12 ◼ ► in improving battery technology maybe there are ways they can work together to solve this problem. But. [TS]
00:27:26 ◼ ► and it does seem like like the design of these companies might be somewhat compatible and yeah. [TS]
00:27:33 ◼ ► Anyway I just think I think that it is interesting I'm not putting any money on that but it's an interesting prospect. [TS]
00:27:40 ◼ ► I don't worry about the cuff like an Apple product in some ways I don't know I know that's controversial thing [TS]
00:27:53 ◼ ► This week as well so you know I have some of that read about the the other thing I want to talk to you. [TS]
00:28:00 ◼ ► In this context of what's been going on with me was we mentioned I was in Berkeley [TS]
00:28:16 ◼ ► and out sometimes it depends on how far away you are from the place. But let people in. [TS]
00:28:20 ◼ ► I consider myself to be in San Francisco you know I look out the window and the Golden Gate Bridge [TS]
00:28:28 ◼ ► but everyone here refers to Berkeley like it's completely removed from San Francisco [TS]
00:28:39 ◼ ► and I know this is true in lots of different places to me like people like to sort of consider themselves to have this [TS]
00:28:45 ◼ ► different identity. Well this is this is called the narcissism of small differences right which is. [TS]
00:29:14 ◼ ► and you get into some argument with like an art major If you're a physics major about something. [TS]
00:29:20 ◼ ► but then the other people that you have arguments with more intense arguments are the people who are close to you [TS]
00:29:35 ◼ ► and the chemists like you're both like this hard for that there's a system the quantum physicist Yeah yeah I like that [TS]
00:29:42 ◼ ► and so I think that that's the same kind of thing that that from an outsider's perspective like if you're an English [TS]
00:29:52 ◼ ► and something like that the difference between different hard science specialists is like kind of irrelevant from your [TS]
00:30:03 ◼ ► and like oh no no no I'm not a science major right I'm a physics major This is incredibly important to me [TS]
00:30:08 ◼ ► and so it's just a matter of perspective and so for me as someone who doesn't live near the San Francisco area [TS]
00:30:17 ◼ ► and has been to the San Francisco area four times in my life maybe you know it twice was for those very brief You Tube [TS]
00:30:28 ◼ ► If you made me sit down and think about it I would probably recognize that Berkeley is not San Francisco [TS]
00:30:35 ◼ ► but since I'm not from there this distinction is not as important or or as as as foremost in my mind [TS]
00:30:44 ◼ ► I know very consciously like everything from Mountain View up to San Francisco in my brain is just San Francisco even [TS]
00:30:53 ◼ ► though I know those are those are different places to the people who live there are so the other thing I wanted to ask [TS]
00:31:10 ◼ ► It was like the middle of nowhere girl who was trying a new in New York and the middle a New Jersey for two hours [TS]
00:31:16 ◼ ► and then changed into this other little poodle in training up to this little place and that and there was Princeton [TS]
00:31:27 ◼ ► and maybe you know it's in New Jersey I think maybe probably a lot of people don't you don't know where these places [TS]
00:31:33 ◼ ► and I think Berkeley hike you know probably for a long time as well as a lot of people probably know the name Berkeley [TS]
00:31:44 ◼ ► and there are all these famous universities with these names that don't really give away where they are the way the [TS]
00:31:50 ◼ ► University of Nottingham where it is yeah you know Cambridge Oxford Yeah yeah so diminished. [TS]
00:32:00 ◼ ► Americans who are obviously more familiar with the university system immediately know where all these places [TS]
00:32:07 ◼ ► I'm I still learning or do you think a lot of Americans also are a bit in the dark as to where these places actually. [TS]
00:32:13 ◼ ► I am not sure that I could speak for most Americans here I mean you hear about the Ivy League you know [TS]
00:32:19 ◼ ► and as the top tier universities and even off the top my head I couldn't name all the universities in the Ivy League [TS]
00:32:46 ◼ ► So I guess I would say that that and here is here's my biases rightly so I grew up in New York and so obviously. [TS]
00:32:55 ◼ ► The East Coast of the United States is the best coast of the United States because that's that's where I'm from [TS]
00:33:03 ◼ ► when you hear like I mean you think of of names of famous university have like like this Harvard is Cornell there's [TS]
00:33:09 ◼ ► Columbia you've got Yale you know all of these places in my whole brain right it's like oh yeah all of those are some [TS]
00:33:21 ◼ ► Because obviously the East Coast is awesome and it has all the best schools and Berkeley is like that. [TS]
00:33:27 ◼ ► I only know the Berkeley that quote in San Francisco because that was the one that was just the odd ball out from my [TS]
00:33:33 ◼ ► experience is like oh yeah and there's Berkeley but it's all the way over there in California right. [TS]
00:33:39 ◼ ► Whereas I just know that all of these other awesome universities are very eagerly around where I am [TS]
00:33:45 ◼ ► and I don't know too specifically exactly where they are distinctly I feel like it's not I was anyway. [TS]
00:33:53 ◼ ► Again I think the Ivy League is a weird you know get up and think this public is what I think. [TS]
00:34:09 ◼ ► Yes the Ivy League is a collegiate athletic conference composed of sports teams from private institutions of higher [TS]
00:34:19 ◼ ► And yeah it's brown Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Harvard Princeton the one that I was thinking of is the odd one out in [TS]
00:34:36 ◼ ► At the very next sentence is the term Ivy League has also has connotations of academic excellence selectivity in [TS]
00:34:50 ◼ ► but so anyway I don't know about most Americans but all I know is the East Coast is awesome [TS]
00:34:55 ◼ ► and that's why the school that there are different I do find the knowledge of where I know we've discussed this before [TS]
00:35:03 ◼ ► personally but I find it really fascinating about people's knowledge or lack of knowledge about where things are [TS]
00:35:09 ◼ ► and it happens you know on the worst of all what happened happened to me a few weeks ago [TS]
00:35:23 ◼ ► but I didn't actually have a thought about what it was and before then I would've known it was in San Francisco. [TS]
00:35:30 ◼ ► Something would've guessed either so it's amazing that there are lots of places that you are very familiar with [TS]
00:35:37 ◼ ► and seem really familiar to you and if someone ever says Do you know where that is [TS]
00:35:41 ◼ ► or could you point to on a map I think a lot of people would get found. Not that it matters. [TS]
00:35:46 ◼ ► You got a point on a map but I think it's useful. Yes Probably something should be evident. [TS]
00:35:51 ◼ ► but it's always this is always the issue of what you were saying before that the relative difference is for the people [TS]
00:36:00 ◼ ► In that place and so you know speaking of East Coast West Coast thing my wife sort of grew up in both Hawaii [TS]
00:36:12 ◼ ► and so from her perspective all she knows about the East Coast is to say like oh it's all those little States over [TS]
00:36:33 ◼ ► and it's the same it's just like the Burt Berkeley San Francisco thing writing like are you telling me Connecticut is [TS]
00:36:39 ◼ ► anything at all like Massachusetts good like if you are wrong rightly these places are totally different. [TS]
00:36:46 ◼ ► and don't even bring up Maine like Maine might as well be a different country if you're talking about New York versus [TS]
00:37:00 ◼ ► but like again I can I can appreciate that to somebody who spent a lot of time in like Oregon Oregon is huge compared [TS]
00:37:10 ◼ ► to Rhode Island and so it just it all depends on where you're from and what matters to you in that location [TS]
00:37:18 ◼ ► and you can expect. People elsewhere in the whole wide world to to know these things. [TS]
00:37:25 ◼ ► This brings up one thing that I've always found an interesting exercise to do with students that I used to teach [TS]
00:37:33 ◼ ► and they really like this is a bunch of English kids which was the name the fifty American states game [TS]
00:37:51 ◼ ► and the thing that I found most interesting was how often they would instead of naming States they would name. [TS]
00:38:11 ◼ ► and like that I think is very interesting just to get a little perspective on like what do people know about America [TS]
00:38:21 ◼ ► and again it is not reasonable to expect a sixteen year old English boy to be able to name all of the fifty states [TS]
00:38:28 ◼ ► and it's more just an interesting exercise to see like what has he heard of that might plausibly be a state. [TS]
00:38:35 ◼ ► Yeah that's why I always like doing I mean that's not just kids on our loads of adults in fact I'm sure if I was put on [TS]
00:38:40 ◼ ► the spot for long enough I could even fall into that trap but I know it's about ups and Chicago is not a state [TS]
00:38:46 ◼ ► but I mean that's the common people of all ages. Got any videos coming anytime soon. [TS]
00:38:55 ◼ ► Well I think I've settled on the topic for my next video but it will it will not be out anytime soon [TS]
00:39:06 ◼ ► and that's partly because of the move that I mentioned last time that I'm still not where the hell's my Yeah [TS]
00:39:15 ◼ ► but I don't think that soon people I'll ask you what the topic is Wimmer affair because you probably won't tell me [TS]
00:39:22 ◼ ► either just so the listeners don't feel like you're missing out on something he won't tell me either [TS]
00:39:27 ◼ ► but I ask you Can you can ask me but that's true. I will not tell you. What are we going to talk about today. [TS]
00:39:35 ◼ ► We have got a topic as something something you suggested I know you're on Twitter asking the listeners for suggestions [TS]
00:39:43 ◼ ► and it is partly because I'm still not confident that we're going to make it to ten. [TS]
00:39:48 ◼ ► Some very nervous about picking topics but when I retired I spent ten minutes talking about Cat pay [TS]
00:39:55 ◼ ► but I hope to God that's never our topic in the future like really going to be you know scraping the bottom. [TS]
00:40:00 ◼ ► At the barrel I think I thought maybe people would be interested in a little bit is how we deal with email [TS]
00:40:08 ◼ ► and it's partly that's been on my mind precisely because of the move so I've been in our new flat [TS]
00:40:19 ◼ ► and my gracious wife has been arranging all kinds of people to come to the flat like setting up the gas [TS]
00:40:26 ◼ ► or setting up the Internet or you know delivering furniture or installing something or having it taken out [TS]
00:40:39 ◼ ► and so I know on days like that OK I don't even try to do something like work on a script for the next video because I [TS]
00:40:49 ◼ ► and so the past two days in a row in particular I've been just doing literally in hell all day long. [TS]
00:40:56 ◼ ► Both days and so that's why it's it has it has been on my mind is as potentially something to talk about. [TS]
00:41:04 ◼ ► And yes so it's a mini mouse and it's one of the pains of my existence and so why is it the bane of your existence. [TS]
00:41:14 ◼ ► Well what makes a comeback because I get so much of it or the volume of it is what just makes you sad. [TS]
00:41:28 ◼ ► Replying and dealing with a mouse is not a particularly creative endeavor. Is is more of a chore you know. [TS]
00:41:47 ◼ ► I don't have a period of video I want to cut and then I had to leave him alone because then I'm making something [TS]
00:41:53 ◼ ► and I was going to do you have like a ballpark for how many emails you get a day any idea you know I don't. [TS]
00:42:00 ◼ ► I I guess people who follow both of us on Twitter if there are any such people that have done so for a long time we [TS]
00:42:07 ◼ ► know that we have bit of a running joke that I am US I sometime partly because of volume [TS]
00:42:16 ◼ ► My times I sometimes will screen grab the little red badge showing how many unread emails I have [TS]
00:42:24 ◼ ► and just message it to you or send it to just because it infuriate you to see my lack of organization [TS]
00:42:34 ◼ ► but that is a number that incorporates you know some emails from You Tube as well. [TS]
00:42:39 ◼ ► Automatic stuff that would be cheating I don't get hundreds of thousands but I would guess I easily get. [TS]
00:42:49 ◼ ► Fifty to sixty eighty miles a day that probably in a perfect world would require my attention [TS]
00:43:03 ◼ ► Yeah that was kind of the ballpark I was trying to look at the couple previous days [TS]
00:43:21 ◼ ► And my archive I was just looking it up now because I've been keeping all my emails and G. Mail for a long time. [TS]
00:43:29 ◼ ► I have nine gigabytes worth of e-mail in my G. Mail archives some some enormous amount of actual individual messages. [TS]
00:43:42 ◼ ► And yes your endless list of unread emails just in future can be sometimes treated to me with that little bad because I [TS]
00:43:51 ◼ ► cannot I cannot possibly live like that but I think email is different from all of the others because Lisa. [TS]
00:44:02 ◼ ► and I'm very active on Twitter is it doesn't feel like there is the same kind of social expectation that the person [TS]
00:44:14 ◼ ► and so there are there are tons of people that I follow on Twitter who I tweet at them when they say something [TS]
00:44:20 ◼ ► and I have no expectation that they're going to reply back you know because they're just they're more popular than I am [TS]
00:44:30 ◼ ► Which raises the question about why we tweet in the first place but I think that that's just [TS]
00:44:34 ◼ ► and that's a nice thing about Twitter is that from both ends you know the person receiving the tweets is not under a [TS]
00:44:49 ◼ ► and you don't have the expectation that they're going to reply so I think that that's good whereas with e-mail I think [TS]
00:45:00 ◼ ► and that I think is why e-mail is partially much more problematic because the sender has a greater expectation that [TS]
00:45:10 ◼ ► Yeah and so and that's why I think it's left over from letters emails are still formatted like letters [TS]
00:45:20 ◼ ► when I'm sending e-mail messages especially with people I communicate with regular the is is the point at which you [TS]
00:45:37 ◼ ► THEY KNOW WHO THEY ARE THEY KNOW WHO I AM It says my name in the top. I don't need to sign this like it's a letter. [TS]
00:45:45 ◼ ► But if I'm emailing someone who I have never contacted before I will always write it you know dear professor [TS]
00:45:52 ◼ ► and then sign it with my name on the bottom so the e-mails in this funny world where it's still kind of feels like a [TS]
00:46:00 ◼ ► And so that's why I think there it is more troublesome because there is this expectation of reply [TS]
00:46:10 ◼ ► Explanations that well meant so right this is where I may come off as just like a total jerk [TS]
00:46:20 ◼ ► but it is just the realities of being in this position is that I reply basically to probably less than one percent of [TS]
00:46:33 ◼ ► I very much scheduled my e-mail in a particular way and this is how my system works just to preface how this happens. [TS]
00:46:45 ◼ ► People may be familiar with a system basically using something called in bank zero. [TS]
00:46:52 ◼ ► but there is a sort of Internet famous talk done by a guy called Merlin Mann at Google a number of years ago talking [TS]
00:47:01 ◼ ► and it's basically if you've ever read Getting Things Done the book which I highly recommend in bug zero is getting [TS]
00:47:08 ◼ ► things done. Applied your email So here here's the basic you know way way that it works is that. [TS]
00:47:17 ◼ ► and you have a limited number of things that you can do with those messages right you can reply to them immediately. [TS]
00:47:33 ◼ ► You need something to happen at a later time so you can file it under like a waiting for kind of system you know [TS]
00:47:48 ◼ ► and I try very very hard to really only look at my e-mail maybe once or twice a day. [TS]
00:48:11 ◼ ► and that usually only happens if it's incredibly brief so that you will sometimes get one sentence e-mails from me. [TS]
00:48:22 ◼ ► If it doesn't get replied to immediately the next question is do I need to reply to this at some point maybe not right [TS]
00:48:30 ◼ ► now. And if that's the case on my computer I flag it so I have a keyboard shortcut so I can take control S. [TS]
00:48:38 ◼ ► and It automatically archives the message but also flags it so it shows up in my folder of flag messages [TS]
00:48:44 ◼ ► and so that is going to be replied to at some point in the future. While that folder would grow very fast. [TS]
00:49:02 ◼ ► That's the Basically what happens and do you feel a little pang of sadness when you delete someone you know. [TS]
00:49:09 ◼ ► Beautifully written missive without even replying to what something due to late Give me an example of things you don't [TS]
00:49:21 ◼ ► but I have had this progression over my You Tube career as I have been fortunate enough for the videos to become more [TS]
00:49:27 ◼ ► and more popular that the number of things that I can possibly reply to has decreased over time [TS]
00:49:37 ◼ ► and even in my early videos you can see I reply to almost every single comment if I possibly could. [TS]
00:49:42 ◼ ► Yeah like that is that is still there but as time has gone on that is that is less and less practical [TS]
00:49:49 ◼ ► and so there was there was a period in which I did feel a sort of guilt about not being able to reply to all the e-mail [TS]
00:50:00 ◼ ► So I think I have gotten so used to being able to quickly filter out my email inbox that I do not have any guilt [TS]
00:50:08 ◼ ► because I I don't have any time to have any guilt because I've just gotten so fast at the at the keyboard commands like [TS]
00:50:15 ◼ ► delete delete delete flag flag flag lethally flag flag reply type type type type and delete delete delete flag flag. [TS]
00:50:21 ◼ ► That's what I do when I check the mail right like as fast as I possibly can feel like a robot. [TS]
00:50:27 ◼ ► No no it's just that you acknowledge it to read that email can be this endless time sync [TS]
00:50:36 ◼ ► You're not getting paid to reply to emails like mine if I just spent all day replying to all the messages that come in [TS]
00:50:45 ◼ ► I will not have a You Tube career and my wife and I will be out on the street right to life. [TS]
00:50:49 ◼ ► I can't I can't spend a lot of time I want to get email done as fast as humanly possible because this is not how I [TS]
00:50:59 ◼ ► should be spending my day and I think for people who like my videos I think they would agree. [TS]
00:51:06 ◼ ► If you like my videos you want me to spend more time making those videos and less time getting into a back [TS]
00:51:13 ◼ ► and forth discussion with you know some person who happens to have emailed me about a particular thing in a previous [TS]
00:51:19 ◼ ► video I get. Ten of those a day that could be messages that just end up back and forth forever and ever. [TS]
00:51:33 ◼ ► and so I guess the thing that I'm thinking of is you have to know what do I believe this is going to sound terrible [TS]
00:51:45 ◼ ► But you first have to find my e-mail address you don't have to be like Sherlock to figure out what my email address is [TS]
00:51:50 ◼ ► but I know I don't make it public anymore and that certainly has cut down on the volume a lot because [TS]
00:52:00 ◼ ► I'm quite popular on You Tube but still had my email listed on the home page like email me with your thoughts. [TS]
00:52:10 ◼ ► and I thought oh OK I can't do this anymore I took it off but people can still know my email addresses. [TS]
00:52:14 ◼ ► Yeah but the people message me and I would say that any particular email message that that comes into my inbox. [TS]
00:52:26 ◼ ► It has three seconds to convince me to not hit the delete button and that is that is an absolute max [TS]
00:52:36 ◼ ► and I've gotten very very good at kind of getting the gist of an email almost immediately [TS]
00:52:50 ◼ ► Best Practice tell me some of the worst practice what's going to get me deleted. Yeah right so this is this is also. [TS]
00:52:58 ◼ ► It's really interesting to be in this position because because I like to contact experts if I can for my own research [TS]
00:53:08 ◼ ► and I am also a person who is trying to get the attention of other busy people who probably do the same kinds of things [TS]
00:53:32 ◼ ► and I think that that precisely because I've gotten so many messages to me where you can just see OK don't do this. [TS]
00:53:38 ◼ ► So the things that I'm going to say you can take it as a like a lesson in like how to contact a busy person [TS]
00:53:46 ◼ ► and get a reply. Yeah. So I would say instant death is a message that goes beyond the screen of my computer. [TS]
00:54:01 ◼ ► and the scroll bar pops up on the side so I can see you have written so many paragraphs it goes off my screen. [TS]
00:54:16 ◼ ► when I said I have three seconds what you base what that means is I'm very aware that I tend to read the first sentence [TS]
00:54:25 ◼ ► and the first sentence of the second paragraph at most to see if it's going to like stay in my hand on the delete [TS]
00:54:34 ◼ ► and I have learned that if those messages are really long those first two sentences that I read never convince me otherwise. [TS]
00:54:43 ◼ ► If it's like you know you said you're afraid that someone has sent you a Nobel prize winning email [TS]
00:54:54 ◼ ► and I will fully acknowledge that maybe someone has sent me like an important long message that I would have liked to [TS]
00:55:02 ◼ ► but because of the time constraints of the real world you can't make decisions like that you can't read every email as [TS]
00:55:16 ◼ ► and one of the things that I have learned is that basically the length of the email is almost always inversely related [TS]
00:55:31 ◼ ► and that's one the reasons why if I'm emailing a professor that I want to have him look over my script [TS]
00:55:36 ◼ ► or someone my e-mails are as brief as they can possibly be they're basically you know three paragraphs each paragraph [TS]
00:55:48 ◼ ► is about two sentences long and each paragraph is designed to hit a very particular point. [TS]
00:55:57 ◼ ► So my message is to other people basically start with. Here's why you might want to read this. [TS]
00:56:14 ◼ ► and that's the kind of message that I send out to somebody else because I'm aware that that is relatively effective [TS]
00:56:23 ◼ ► and tell me leader who you are you know don't don't start an e-mail with like the two paragraph C.V. [TS]
00:56:32 ◼ ► I want to know why are you contacting me and then later I want to know who you are going to tell us [TS]
00:56:39 ◼ ► and I maybe it didn't follow that I had a reasonable response right to you but maybe maybe it would be better. [TS]
00:56:51 ◼ ► and that's why I do the first sentence of the first paragraph in the first sentence of the second paragraph because [TS]
00:56:56 ◼ ► almost always that first paragraph is some kind of introduction to who the person is [TS]
00:57:06 ◼ ► but I can't evaluate that in context until I know what you're asking me what do you want. [TS]
00:57:17 ◼ ► or you know it's an interesting proposal then I want to know more about who you are. [TS]
00:57:22 ◼ ► I don't just want to know who you are in the abstract you know again this is for designing emails that are going to get [TS]
00:57:28 ◼ ► a response from a busy person not emailing your friends obviously. So that's like best practice. [TS]
00:57:37 ◼ ► Actually the funny thing is for me anyway the subject field doesn't really matter because [TS]
00:57:41 ◼ ► when I'm blasting through emails I don't see the Subject field the way it's the way it's set up is [TS]
00:57:51 ◼ ► And so again I'm kind of doing first sentence second sentence scanning so the subject doesn't actually matter a whole [TS]
00:57:57 ◼ ► lot to me but that's just the way I have my own. Email set up a parliament. Good idea bad idea. [TS]
00:58:24 ◼ ► How often do I end up in that deleted bin Well can I get an extra sentence Grayson. Well you end up. Really. [TS]
00:58:41 ◼ ► but I actually archive it I do keep all the messages even though I know that Nobel Prize is still sitting somewhere. [TS]
00:58:47 ◼ ► Yeah I mean the archive is almost functionally equivalent to delete in ninety nine percent of cases [TS]
00:58:55 ◼ ► and I don't reply to that email I have archived that email so that that does happen and it's because I mean email [TS]
00:59:02 ◼ ► and it just doesn't warrant a reply you to telling me something which also gets into the weird email etiquette which is [TS]
00:59:07 ◼ ► just sometimes uncomfortable where with people you think oh you told me this thing. Do I need to just say thanks. [TS]
00:59:14 ◼ ► Yeah yeah but just like have a look at this link with this video I thought you might like it. [TS]
00:59:19 ◼ ► Yeah there can be a little weird sometimes and again it sounds crazy to hesitate over sending thanks link [TS]
00:59:34 ◼ ► All of those things start to add up over time I like that can become that can become quite monstrous. [TS]
00:59:41 ◼ ► I guess like I'd like some acknowledgement that things are safe OK but because I can ignore thanks [TS]
00:59:47 ◼ ► but not knowing that the worst thing for me is when he when I when someone says let's film together [TS]
00:59:54 ◼ ► and I'll email back and say brilliant. Wednesday three o'clock is good and they don't reply. [TS]
01:00:00 ◼ ► And until they reply that extra time and say yep it's going back I won't put it in my diary [TS]
01:00:15 ◼ ► and I know this I know that's more extreme than thanks for their email but I find that totally baffling. [TS]
01:00:31 ◼ ► or something like that it does not count on the putting you in my calendar until I get a reply for that forget it. [TS]
01:00:37 ◼ ► I get to you sometimes but you've got all these men these you know procedures in place and that's good that's good. [TS]
01:00:44 ◼ ► But do you sometimes just reply on a whim to something you normally wouldn't reply to. [TS]
01:00:52 ◼ ► Yet every once in a while someone sends me an email and I will I will just reply but that that is so random [TS]
01:01:00 ◼ ► and such a tiny percent of my outgoing email that it basically doesn't matter at all [TS]
01:01:06 ◼ ► but it does happen on occasion that something will just randomly catch my attention. [TS]
01:01:12 ◼ ► What if just wait is just an out and I say this like you know like something overseas or not but [TS]
01:01:18 ◼ ► when you do get fan mail somebody saying thanks for the videos for making they're really good. I mean a lot to me. [TS]
01:01:32 ◼ ► and this is this is where it comes into the question of why is that. Thanks. Is sending just the word Thanks. [TS]
01:01:41 ◼ ► Worse than not replying. Thanks just feel like it's totally empty and devoid of any meaning. [TS]
01:01:51 ◼ ► Like thanks I have made no comment at all about the things that you have said to me. And so sending it. [TS]
01:02:00 ◼ ► So yeah it's just so devoid of meaning that it feels more honest to not reply and and frankly this because I can't. [TS]
01:02:13 ◼ ► You sound like a terrible person but I don't I don't know people are interested but [TS]
01:02:17 ◼ ► but interested in just how how things are from a certain perspective like this is this is going back to a few [TS]
01:02:24 ◼ ► conversations ago we were talking about Derek's comment. Derek of Veritasium pretty dark. [TS]
01:02:31 ◼ ► His comment that like the value of positive feedback goes to zero as you get more and more of it [TS]
01:02:37 ◼ ► and it's interesting because it's like very many hate the word fan I really hate the word fan [TS]
01:02:47 ◼ ► but yeah it's an awful word because it describes qualities of the person that I don't think are fair. [TS]
01:03:09 ◼ ► and it's the same thing with feedback right positive emails are almost always all the same. [TS]
01:03:20 ◼ ► and so that the negative mail is much more varied in its content than the positive mail [TS]
01:03:27 ◼ ► and I don't really reply to either but it's it's interesting when you start talking about getting lots [TS]
01:03:36 ◼ ► and it's very rare that there is something unique in a positive message that that catches my attention [TS]
01:03:46 ◼ ► but somebody sent me a message where they said that they hadn't really been speaking to their brother in a while [TS]
01:03:55 ◼ ► but at a Thanksgiving dinner they discovered that they had both watched and like my videos. [TS]
01:04:00 ◼ ► Probably in that they have had a whole conversation about my videos it was really nice to be able to have a starting [TS]
01:04:06 ◼ ► point for you know a new conversation with family member and I thought oh that you know that's really nice [TS]
01:04:13 ◼ ► and that's very specific and you know I appreciated hearing that and I and I I think I replied to that person [TS]
01:04:22 ◼ ► but I think that it's interesting to hear him take this further comment depending on my mood. [TS]
01:04:35 ◼ ► But should we should both of us be thinking about what the recipient will get from us taking five seconds to reply. [TS]
01:04:44 ◼ ► Well I mean what it means to them and I know that he's all these five ten thirty seconds add up. [TS]
01:04:50 ◼ ► Yeah they did pop into my head that so I'll tell you why in a minute. I had been on the other side of this and so. [TS]
01:04:58 ◼ ► I have definitely sent fan emails I guess in the Internet age to people who I thought were just totally awesome [TS]
01:05:07 ◼ ► and I would say the thanks email I honestly found a worse experience to receive then the nothing e-mail. Fair enough. [TS]
01:05:21 ◼ ► and I got I don't know I have I have a message famous people and gotten back the one word thanks. [TS]
01:05:29 ◼ ► You going to tell us one even if it's not someone who said I think people are going to want to know who see G.P. [TS]
01:05:33 ◼ ► Grayson to fan out and now I'm not going to you're going to be one with others for this but it was my business. [TS]
01:05:41 ◼ ► You can tell us now to talk about how you administer your Even my business telling me about the evidence you choosing [TS]
01:05:50 ◼ ► to imagine that I'm not going to mention to you great outbound fan mail. Sorry everyone. [TS]
01:06:00 ◼ ► Let me tell you why I brought it up like this a sudden this is a this is a slight tangent. [TS]
01:06:04 ◼ ► Yeah but it's something that was in my head I was reading through some one of the Reddit Bex about advertising [TS]
01:06:18 ◼ ► I hate this I don't like this this just bugs me and it wasn't that long a comment but they used the word I. [TS]
01:06:25 ◼ ► I think ten times in the comment and never once did they mention the person who made the free video they were watching. [TS]
01:06:38 ◼ ► And what benefits they may or may not get from advertising and I do think it's all very selfish. [TS]
01:06:48 ◼ ► Well I guess that's that's the nature of you know humans but I do think it's easy to do [TS]
01:06:56 ◼ ► and I promise you I ignore more a mouse than you so I'm not I'm not being high and mighty [TS]
01:07:03 ◼ ► but I do sometimes feel bad about people who have taken a long time to write something from the heart [TS]
01:07:09 ◼ ► and if I think there is something from the heart and it sounds really stupid and mushy [TS]
01:07:12 ◼ ► but if I think something from the heart I will write something and I will make sure it's more I will say thanks [TS]
01:07:19 ◼ ► and then I'll make sure there is one sentence or one phrase in there that proves that I read that even if it. [TS]
01:07:29 ◼ ► or something like that because I think you know these people have taken taken some trouble [TS]
01:07:35 ◼ ► and I know I know lives are not going you know I just want to interject here because I just I think you know this [TS]
01:07:46 ◼ ► but I think it was just this morning I actually left a comment on someone's You Tube channel who had just made a You [TS]
01:07:53 ◼ ► Tube video. Just basically saying that they enjoyed the podcast and they enjoyed the videos that I made. [TS]
01:08:01 ◼ ► And I have the same experience that you do which is that if I'm going to leave a thank you comment I want the person to [TS]
01:08:14 ◼ ► but then I added another little comment just just to prove you know I didn't just see that you made a video about this [TS]
01:08:27 ◼ ► and you can know that through the comment that I have left so that that that I agree [TS]
01:08:32 ◼ ► and that's also why if I feel I feel very strongly about this I just sending the thanks is kind of worse. [TS]
01:08:38 ◼ ► Yeah not replying because the not replies is much more honest especially as you like when I'm being a robot [TS]
01:08:45 ◼ ► and I'm just delete delete delete you no archive archive archive all these messages. [TS]
01:08:50 ◼ ► You know if I scan a very quickly and see that it is it is an e-mail that is positive I appreciate receiving that. [TS]
01:09:01 ◼ ► Fifty times a day to a message that like you don't get anything from the thanks and you know it's just but [TS]
01:09:09 ◼ ► but again these expectations with e-mail that these are like letters is makes e-mail much more complicated [TS]
01:09:17 ◼ ► and even though I don't have any guilt about archiving those messages because it's just a parting of the subsidy that [TS]
01:09:23 ◼ ► that that feeling of hesitation is still much more there than something like Twitter you know [TS]
01:09:28 ◼ ► or Reddit messages you know what I feel no obligation to not you know to reply to it in the slightest. [TS]
01:09:33 ◼ ► What about the concern because not everyone is a savvy as you are with their writing [TS]
01:09:39 ◼ ► and you know they might they might bury the latest news papers and put the important stuff down the bottom [TS]
01:09:45 ◼ ► and what if that means a missed opportunity he would have someone says David Gray This is who I am this is my life [TS]
01:09:55 ◼ ► and by the way I just found a huge diamond in my back out and I won. Good to have it. [TS]
01:10:01 ◼ ► And you've you've never even got to because you have to later that night because that would worry me. [TS]
01:10:12 ◼ ► and I guess because you can't evaluate things individually The only question is what is the correct system for [TS]
01:10:28 ◼ ► but like what is your argument that you want to spend all day using e-mail inefficiently like your argument is just [TS]
01:10:35 ◼ ► My argument is correct that if if if I have I have seen over time a particular pattern that certain e-mails that match [TS]
01:10:49 ◼ ► I mean sure I guess I could read every single every single message that comes in every day. [TS]
01:10:54 ◼ ► But like that argument is equally valid for all of the spam I get when I look at my spam folder. [TS]
01:10:59 ◼ ► Because because my e-mail was much more public on the web years ago I get now is ins of spam messages a day I mean my [TS]
01:11:13 ◼ ► What if what if the guy with the diamond sent you a message and it got caught in the spam so [TS]
01:11:28 ◼ ► and you've got three hundred million collisions a second to progress and you've got to start applying blanket rolls [TS]
01:11:36 ◼ ► and again because of all these filters I apply had to say that these are not these particle collisions are the human [TS]
01:11:49 ◼ ► and the thing that I will give you for this is that I I think I think you know some listeners may know I'm in college I [TS]
01:12:07 ◼ ► but after a few psychology courses I kind of came to the conclusion that these people were not sufficiently rigorous [TS]
01:12:18 ◼ ► and that human beings it's much more like an ideal gas right trying to imagine the individual motivations of an [TS]
01:12:35 ◼ ► Yeah you can draw meaningful conclusions from the behavior of hundreds of people in a way that like pontificating all [TS]
01:12:48 ◼ ► or like wise if they do this thing that's just a total waste of your time in your life [TS]
01:12:53 ◼ ► but like what do one hundred people do in this situation. Great now we can draw bell curves about expected outcomes. [TS]
01:13:05 ◼ ► but it doesn't change that from my perspective this has to be like a heuristic Basie in kind of calculation. Right. [TS]
01:13:14 ◼ ► I have this government's period for a very long emails almost always have nothing of any value in them so if you see a [TS]
01:13:27 ◼ ► and again there are certain certain kinds of ways that people open emails like just the first sentence I can know OK [TS]
01:13:36 ◼ ► this this email falls into a particular category and if I'm if I'm wrong sometimes that's going to happen [TS]
01:13:43 ◼ ► but I think that the number of times that I am wrong does not outweigh the time that I save by not going over each [TS]
01:13:51 ◼ ► individual email with a fine tooth comb and yet it's two quick things that have you had to say. [TS]
01:14:02 ◼ ► I have read the first two I have not read the full series I loved in the my favorite books [TS]
01:14:08 ◼ ► but they they're interesting because they apply this whole treating huge masses of cordons like Lego history right. [TS]
01:14:15 ◼ ► but the other thing that's popping into my head is probably I mean exactly like you. [TS]
01:14:19 ◼ ► I receive a lot of e-mails from people wanting to work together in some business way I have to thought about this [TS]
01:14:27 ◼ ► OK You know we join our network or can we advertise our new semiautomatic weapon on your channels and I yeah but [TS]
01:14:40 ◼ ► but the reason I'm sitting in Berkeley talking to you today is because I did open one of those [TS]
01:14:45 ◼ ► and it was someone wanting to collaborate with number four who is now a really important collaborator with number file [TS]
01:14:52 ◼ ► and mathematics sciences research institute here basically I'm here working with mathematicians [TS]
01:14:57 ◼ ► and making all these cool videos and. But that wouldn't have happened if I had seen the Mylan So here we go again. [TS]
01:15:06 ◼ ► What I really want to do now and I will and maybe we can follow next time is I want to go [TS]
01:15:12 ◼ ► and find the e-mail that was first sent to me by the director here that started the conversation. [TS]
01:15:18 ◼ ► I mean he's a really smart excellent man and I wonder if they followed their C.D.P. Gray rules of attention getting. [TS]
01:15:29 ◼ ► I got lucky or I really mean e-mails and it paid off but I will find out how to get that e-mail [TS]
01:15:35 ◼ ► and find out whether it was whether it was my stupid old fashioned panning for gold [TS]
01:16:04 ◼ ► and I met my wife through an e-mail from an earlier Internet project that I was running that she liked she sent me an [TS]
01:16:13 ◼ ► email you know just as a as a random person on the Internet and that eventually led to us meeting [TS]
01:16:19 ◼ ► and her first email was very good at it was it was an email that indicated that that she actually knew who I was [TS]
01:16:30 ◼ ► Oh yeah yeah I have I still have that that I knew he was sentimental side that is a valued possession of course in a [TS]
01:16:38 ◼ ► position I get his undoing you misunderstand me I have not not a sentimental No I definitely have and that [TS]
01:16:46 ◼ ► and look at that is introduced out of my whole life has changed because of that particular name so you know if you do [TS]
01:17:00 ◼ ► The dear Owens is a nice touch I like that and the second thing is that now to get back to [TS]
01:17:05 ◼ ► and sentimentality go back to business right now and to your your comments is that. [TS]
01:17:11 ◼ ► I have the same kind of heuristic which is trying to identify very quickly is this some kind of business email [TS]
01:17:16 ◼ ► and again like the podcast of first world You Tube or problems right or people send me business deals. [TS]
01:17:23 ◼ ► and I definitely if it looks like it is some kind of business deal like you said someone who wants to collaborate I do [TS]
01:17:29 ◼ ► read those much more carefully. Still very quickly. Yeah but more carefully than normal. Yeah. [TS]
01:17:37 ◼ ► Because because this is the case where like your situation I'm aware that something valuable may come out of this now [TS]
01:17:46 ◼ ► to be fair I mean you know and I think the other You Tubers who were sort of friends what they know of all of us. [TS]
01:17:53 ◼ ► I am definitely the most cautious person and I am the person who says no to the largest number of things. [TS]
01:18:00 ◼ ► Yes but I still do read through those just in case something comes along that I do I do think it's valuable [TS]
01:18:17 ◼ ► and people would not believe how how many terrible terrible self destructive offers you can get as a as a professional [TS]
01:18:28 ◼ ► or I mean just some of the worst things were people people I think this relates to you know maybe a future topic that [TS]
01:18:37 ◼ ► people have written me emails where they want to pay me substantial leads like sizable numbers of money to make a video [TS]
01:18:49 ◼ ► Basically And I think one of the worst I ever got was from a company who wanted who wanted me to flog their new. [TS]
01:18:59 ◼ ► Internet sales process they want to be like a new kind of Pay Pal and they're like oh here's what you're going to do. [TS]
01:19:12 ◼ ► and it'll end with our product as the future of commerce on the Internet and they just like I'm never going to do that. [TS]
01:19:21 ◼ ► This is like what I think might be an interesting topic for the future is like the value of of the the people who give [TS]
01:19:28 ◼ ► you attention like I'm very fortunate to be in a situation where people want to watch the videos that I make [TS]
01:19:33 ◼ ► but I am keenly aware that one of the reason so many people watch my videos is because they know [TS]
01:19:43 ◼ ► Yes and that's why I get just awful awful business deals to flog other people's stuff on the channel. [TS]
01:19:52 ◼ ► It just isn't worth it because I'd be betraying the people who have subscribed to my channel by now. [TS]
01:20:04 ◼ ► and it gets back like why it was it was kind of upsetting from a people thought they were the Reddit video who was an [TS]
01:20:11 ◼ ► But that's again that's a topic for a different time but yeah business emails I read more carefully. [TS]
01:20:16 ◼ ► But until almost all of them are just terrible terrible things as a note I write down a few things I was going to ask [TS]
01:20:26 ◼ ► you but I think you've come with nice to them. Was there anything else you wanted to. [TS]
01:20:29 ◼ ► Anything else you wanted to point out on this topic I think I think maybe just the the final thing that I would say oh [TS]
01:20:38 ◼ ► actually yeah now I would say the one thing I didn't I didn't quite explain which is the whole reason I started talking [TS]
01:20:48 ◼ ► and at the very end you go over the last thing this is the whole reason I want to get a better of doing this I don't [TS]
01:20:56 ◼ ► I'm sorry people try to edit that was sort of from They're going to have to edit out because we've said a few things [TS]
01:21:12 ◼ ► It's all in the power of the editing grade you got that right now I want to edit these things that I will only look at [TS]
01:21:18 ◼ ► all that one time and edit stuff paying a penalty for that one. Now is all I was going to say is. [TS]
01:21:30 ◼ ► Funnily enough when I was a teacher I actually kind of got in in its own way as I got more email than I do now [TS]
01:21:40 ◼ ► and this is I've talked to people who work in corporate settings in corporate settings you have the like death by [TS]
01:21:45 ◼ ► carbon copy where everybody sends an e-mail to everybody else in the whole business [TS]
01:21:52 ◼ ► and at this one school I remember once I was out sick for a few days and I came back and I opened up my email [TS]
01:22:04 ◼ ► and I had been out for like three days I know my God And it's going going through all of that it was a C.C. [TS]
01:22:10 ◼ ► Done all kinds of stuff so you can get a lot of e-mail you don't have to be a like a You Tube person to get a ton of [TS]
01:22:18 ◼ ► when I was a teacher that that e-mail was more stressful because it was trying to find the needle in the haystack of [TS]
01:22:30 ◼ ► Yeah it's relevant which makes it easier to some extent but what I was going to say is that the system that I used [TS]
01:22:39 ◼ ► when I really recommend for people with that that flagging system of I'm replying to an e-mail now [TS]
01:22:54 ◼ ► when I was having a more regular job I had a real schedule of every Wednesday I would clear out my flagged folder so [TS]
01:23:07 ◼ ► They had to be cleared out of that folder I had to reply to them or take the information out of them [TS]
01:23:12 ◼ ► or do something with them but they couldn't stay there in that in that flag folder. [TS]
01:23:18 ◼ ► You know past that Wednesday night disciplined your luggage and I like if I did that I'd be like pushed to Monday. [TS]
01:23:29 ◼ ► But here's it like if if I don't think of myself as a particularly disciplined person [TS]
01:23:35 ◼ ► but I'm aware that in certain contexts there's a huge amount of payoff to following a couple of rules [TS]
01:23:45 ◼ ► and so for people doing email in an office situation I really recommend this system of check your email sort of twice a [TS]
01:23:53 ◼ ► day once in the morning once in the afternoon and flag stuff that can wait until whenever your schedule. [TS]
01:24:00 ◼ ► No period for replying to emails are you know that worked really well for me when I was a teacher. [TS]
01:24:09 ◼ ► But the reason people will see me complain on Twitter about email is that my cycle now is I mentally flag stuff that I [TS]
01:24:21 ◼ ► But since since my video cycle is somewhere between four to six weeks it means like like what has been driving me crazy [TS]
01:24:29 ◼ ► the past couple days is that I will end up with a flag folder that has three hundred emails in it [TS]
01:24:37 ◼ ► and those are all messages that need a real reply. Right that's stuff that has passed the initial response. [TS]
01:24:46 ◼ ► The deleted you know I need to reply because this is about you know something with advertising with the podcast [TS]
01:24:58 ◼ ► and so that's why I tend to have these huge batches of two days in a row three days in a row sometimes I like nothing [TS]
01:25:15 ◼ ► Like I like batching similar tasks together like that and so I think it's better to do email in blocks. [TS]
01:25:23 ◼ ► You know and if you're doing it on a weekly basis like OK Wednesday mornings is like nothing but e-mail [TS]
01:25:27 ◼ ► and I think you're much more effective that way than if you just kind of have email open all the time in the batter on [TS]
01:25:37 ◼ ► and reflect on a mound that reminds me of something else I want to look at when we compete. [TS]
01:25:41 ◼ ► Yeah I was going to say you reply e-mail suspiciously quickly so I assume that you just have it open in my background I [TS]
01:25:52 ◼ ► At least it's like that and it's terrible that it literally this is literally a dopamine addiction. [TS]
01:26:00 ◼ ► I've got to a point now where sometimes I take I take it out of my taskbar on the mac because even if it's closed I [TS]
01:26:14 ◼ ► But even if I don't want to open are just going to quickly I think and I don't even want to open up [TS]
01:26:19 ◼ ► and I've just done it like as a as a reflex. So I've gotten to a point now where I asked to try and wean myself off. [TS]
01:26:30 ◼ ► and it's a real problem with that is that is really terrible you gotta you gotta break that dopamine addiction body [TS]
01:26:41 ◼ ► but those ones I'm checking all the time you know I'm looking for e-mails from my friends or my collaborators [TS]
01:26:47 ◼ ► and you know something lying to him if he knew that something I've been I've been experimenting with that part of my [TS]
01:26:58 ◼ ► when you don't check email very often you're concerned about missing e-mails from important people [TS]
01:27:04 ◼ ► and so I have I have been experimenting with Apple's feature to mark certain people as V.I.P.'s so they have a they [TS]
01:27:15 ◼ ► So you may have noticed you've gotten faster replies for me lately but I don't really see two [TS]
01:27:32 ◼ ► System at all because to me the real value in email like I run my whole life through email my wife knows if she needs [TS]
01:27:39 ◼ ► something done the best way to make sure I do it is to email it to me because an email is the starting point that [TS]
01:27:45 ◼ ► filters through to the whole rest of all my organization systems which we might talk about someday [TS]
01:27:54 ◼ ► but sadly I am not of what you have like this data entry point to your informational organizational system. Yes yes. [TS]
01:28:01 ◼ ► My wife knows that the e-mail is the correct protocol for making sure they get the right system. [TS]
01:28:24 ◼ ► So as I think the value in email is is it's a synchronicity that you deal with that when you have time for it. [TS]
01:28:36 ◼ ► and I'll tell you I'll tell you I mean there are fine I think I'll tell you my my super pro trick here with email you [TS]
01:28:42 ◼ ► know really not going to be incredibly distracting. You know you open up and you see all the stuff from other people. [TS]
01:28:49 ◼ ► And so in the in the mornings I try to wall off my life from external distractions as much as possible it's not perfect [TS]
01:29:01 ◼ ► But of course something will often happen where you think oh I need to email this person about whatever. Yeah. [TS]
01:29:17 ◼ ► And so I use my i Pad for just just almost absolutely everything and there's a couple of ways to do this [TS]
01:29:24 ◼ ► but I use a program called drafts which basically allows me to send an outgoing e-mail message without ever having to [TS]
01:29:40 ◼ ► So so I can if something's on my mind before I forget it I can send it out into the world without having to actually [TS]
01:29:51 ◼ ► and I do do a similar thing on my phone my phone actually isn't even set up to get e-mail on it. [TS]
01:29:56 ◼ ► I don't I don't want that the temptation of being able to check my e-mail every. A single second of the day. [TS]
01:30:01 ◼ ► So I have a I have a kind of outgoing only e-mail account set up on there so I can send messages out. [TS]
01:30:09 ◼ ► But everything that comes into that account is just forwarded to my real account so I don't see people's replies [TS]
01:30:13 ◼ ► or anything until you know it's time for me to check e-mail at some point in the afternoon so anyway [TS]
01:30:19 ◼ ► and I don't have that addiction I have to just to one of people I had in the future being a robot. [TS]
01:30:30 ◼ ► I see I totally disagree with you here and I am not joking when I say that is a dopamine addiction like you. [TS]
01:30:40 ◼ ► and I was aware for a while that Twitter had become that for me that I was constantly checking Twitter doing the same [TS]
01:30:48 ◼ ► kind of thing like Oh Twitter is closed and I'm working on something and I know hey how did Twitter get open. Yeah. [TS]
01:30:59 ◼ ► but to me that's a real warning sign of of this kind of feedback loop that your brain is getting into the center recently [TS]
01:31:07 ◼ ► if you sound like a doctor. Done it number one and number and you are right by the way. [TS]
01:31:16 ◼ ► but I think this I think this stuff is very serious like you know me I'm very concerned about decision making [TS]
01:31:27 ◼ ► and because I noticed that kind of behavior with myself with Twitter I have intentionally tried to cut it back to do a [TS]
01:31:35 ◼ ► whole bunch of little things to make Twitter less immediately accessible and to make more conscious decisions about [TS]
01:31:40 ◼ ► when Twitter happens but it is hard and I'm just aware that that is something you have to consciously fight [TS]
01:31:47 ◼ ► but it is totally favorable and I think it is it is valuable to fight that kind of impulse. [TS]
01:32:04 ◼ ► On your on your email if you have it open you know you can just at the very least set in preferences so that the email [TS]
01:32:10 ◼ ► thing only checks every hour instead of checking every minute you know you can do that. [TS]
01:32:15 ◼ ► Yeah and I've turned off the little red badge now so I don't know when new ones come in. [TS]