Take Back the Day Sam Beckbessinger & Simon Dingle

Sam and Simon discuss the contents of their bug (or go) bags and what's needed to survive the apocolypse. They also discuss our incredible ability to make things normal, and how careful we have to be about what we allow to become regular things.


Stuff mentioned in this episode:



The Good Place
The Prepared
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Radiolab's Atomic Artifacts episode
Survival biscuits?
Lettuce
Hedonic Adaptation
Our sun entering a 'solar minimum' period
Susan Sontag
Highland 2 word processor
Microsoft Fluid 🤯

Sam and Simon are extremely locked-down, and explore what this is teaching them. Some of the things mentioned in this episode:



The Sims (yes, yes, we know)
Devs
Tiger King (yes, yes, yes)
Quibi
Dungeons & Dragons
Fiona Apple's new album.
One World: Together At Home
Some Good News with John Krasinski
Hamilton
Second Life

Sam and Simon had a conversation on the internet after a very long time of not doing so. They examine the reality of this crazy alternate timeline the world has slipped into where sentient cheetohs seemingly run the galaxy and staying at home to play video games all day is sanctioned.


Some of the cool, cool things we mention in this episode:



Don't Starve
Fireside and Zencastr
Daniel Defoe and his A Short Account of the Progress and Effects of the Plague ...
Matthew Barge
Houseparty
Google Meet and Zoom


We'll probably talk on the internet again.

Sam and Simon have started a business! With EACH OTHER! It's made them contemplate the joys of tiny ambitions, tiny spaces, and caring about tiny problems.
Also howzit, American friends. Y'all okay over there? Things seem pretty bleak. We're sending cuddles.
Things we talk about in this episode:
Being an entrepreneur is 90% doing adminBusiness science is astrologyThe few things Simon can't live without: Levis 510s, Superga sneakers, and his Samson Go MicSam Harris talking to Scott Adams about TrumpThe Nintendo SwitchHow the US Army uses Sci-fi movies to recruit peopleUlysses, Sam's favourite writing app, and iBooks AuthorThe Economy, an economics textbook for the 21st CenturyThe trailer for Blue Planet II

“Motivation consists not of massive bursts of inspiration but instead finding joy in little everyday activities.”

— @dailyzen on Twitter

Sam and Simon kick off the year from a wuthering height (Cape Town summer is hella windy, yo) to discuss their intentions for 2017, and their best discoveries from 2016. Simon also tells us why he's planning to build himself a remote cabin in the woods (with high-speed broadband).
Discussed in this episode:
Tim Ferris discussing his end of year ritual to focus on the things that actually matter, and making "not to do" lists.Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.Freakonomics Radio podcast, A still fascinating 2011 New Yorker profile about that billionaire vampire, Peter Thiel.The (like, only) good thing South Africa did in the 80s: voluntarily dismantled our nukes (probably for terrible reasons, but still).And our favourite things of the year:
Two fascinating DAO projects: Wings and BitNation.Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Overture.Adventure Time.Glorious Trainwrecks.Twine.The Hamilton musical.bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody.

We think 2016 could've tried harder. Disheartened as we are, this episode looks at the up and downiness of a strange few months, and whether the world is really getting stupider. We also manage to talk about some productivity stuff. 
Charlie Brooker’s yearly ScreenwipeEven Kanye is mentally beleagueredLe Tigre.The Village SquareAlain de Botton's plan for secular churchesThe World Until Yesterday by Jared DiamondTom Waits stopped drinking a long time agoSushi Go! (the board game)Exploding Kittens & Bears vs Babies (the other board games)Google PhotoscanModernist poetry in generalRefly EditorCollaboration on Keynote"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that, 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'.” -Isaac Asimov