| I am rolling go for claps here go. I'm gonna give you three and a half There's no hand two three and then That's not three and a half claps. That's four claps. No that last one was just me hitting flicking one finger on the palm of my hand I just it's always a round number. I want us to do something different You're you're trying to be creative with these claps all the time But they're not supposed to be creative. They're just supposed to be so I can synchronize stuff everything everything can be creative I'm yeah, I guess you need to express your creativity in every possible venue that you can but in the meantime three claps from me There we go. Yeah, three. Yeah, nice and functional. That was very functional Should we have clap is taking your your own hand and just It's just closing it on itself if there's gonna be a half clap. That's a half clap Not oh Technically a half clap would be just using one hand Shall we start by wishing a happy new year to all the hello internet listeners our first podcast of 2015 first podcast ever that is not in the year 2014 It is almost I guess a year anniversary for us because we started in January sometime last year I have to wait. Did we start in January? Well now you're gonna need make me look it up I think we started I'm gonna say was like January 30th was our first episode something like that I can't believe we've been doing this that long. Yeah. This is this is almost like a year now Wow, I was oh I'm so good January 31st, 2014 Well, you said January 30 so technically you were wrong Let's not do this Did well happy I'm not gonna pretend to wish you a happy new year because we do not lie to air Listen us and we saw in the new year together. Yes, we did we did you Invited the misses and I out for a new year's Eve in London because you were here for various reasons and Yeah, the two wives and us all went out to dinner and Wrong in the new year you made me stay up late That's something that I normally really want to do you sprung some foodie witchcraft on me as well because you were running a bit late For dinner and like I was like where are you man? Where are you and then you sent me this weird text where I had to like accept something You know I hate accepting things I don't understand But then I got to watch a little CGP Gray symbol move around on a map and I could follow you like crossing bridges and walking around London Was amazing. This is one of the new features of iOS 8 is the ability to temporarily share your location with somebody else So these are the reasons why when you get that red update badge on your iPhone you might want to click it Because then I can do things like send you my location for the next hour so you can see how close we are to actually Making it across the like demilitarized zone of London where they shut down the inner part of the city And it's like police checks and dogs and all kinds of crazy stuff to get in and you can see us trying to traverse this area And getting closer to you. So that's why you want to upgrade to the new stuff It was good fun like and then you crossed you crossed the bridge and I was like and you know I love bridges And I was watching you get closer to her and then I could screen capture the moment that you were actually on the bridge and I was brilliant Yes, you were you were very excited by this so if we're meeting up in the future I'll try to always remember to share my location as I am Why can't I just have it all the time? It's just like as a little security blanket just to know where you are I'm not willing to extend that that level of intimacy in our relationship at this stage or probably ever really I don't I don't want you following my location 24 hours a day. What places do you go that you wouldn't want me to know about? That's not the point It's just if you're sharing your location If you're sharing your location with someone it feels a bit like God is looking down upon you from the sky all the time I don't I don't like it it feels it feels almost claustrophobic to have your location track 24 hours a day seven days That's why I don't do it. What was it like for that like you know 15 minutes or so when you said okay I'm gonna share my location with Brady just so he knows how close I am to dinner Does that change the way you walk or like are you conscious of that eye in the sky for those 15 minutes when you're Scouring along the bridge trying to get to me before dinner starts No, of course not because I view that as a courtesy. This is this is like the The more modern equivalent of sending text messages every few minutes Oh, I'm approaching the bridge. I've crossed the bridge. I'll be right there. Oh, I'm right here right now You don't now you don't just send those text messages. You can just see where I am I've done this before they used to have a little bit more awkward way that you could do it when I go on when I go traveling or like on a Business trip or like to the random massive intelligence to show this summer like then I'll share My location with my wife So she knows where I am and doesn't have to worry about you know, what's what's going on like then then it's different Then I'll share my location, but not not normally But what about when we went into those caves in Alabama like she probably couldn't follow you then and she would have been worried like you suddenly You went to a cave with gun toton destined and then you disappeared off the map That would just make them more worried. Well, you know, these are these are the trade-offs Sometimes you can disappear off the map and that's that's fine. That's fine Maybe they should get Wi-Fi in that cave. That's what they should do They should the did you enjoy dinner? It was one of those kind of taste and menu things where they bring you out lots of little Delegacies wasn't it and some of it was pretty pretty London Why don't you tell people what you mean by pretty London? You know, it was all like you know Posh names that we didn't understand like boobies you zoos Eve and it's like Flavoured frothy air and you know like a shot glass of foam followed by some Peace of meat the size of a five-pence coin So I was a little bit worried when you first sent me the details about this dinner because it's some it was some multi-course dinner I've never done this before and I assumed that they meant actual Meals for the different courses like they were going seven four meals Yeah, listen what I was wondering is this is this Roman style? We're just going to be stuffing ourselves until we can't possibly eat and they keep bringing food and it's just more and more delicious Every step of the way and you're just like oh god by midnight. You're about ready to burst that was not the case What they actually do is bring you tiny portions of overly fancy foods spread out over a long period of time But I was shocked at how small these these portions were and so if anybody is ever in the situation where they're saying Oh, we're gonna have a 14 course meal for you. Don't worry You're just going to get thimble sized bits of food for several hours that you're not going to be overstuffed It was fancy pants food like it was you know I've I have been to one of these before quite a famous restaurant in Nottingham and my friend had been to it And it was even more it was something like 14 courses and my friend who'd previously been Told me that him and his wife had gone to McDonald's on the way home because they thought that they hadn't had enough food So I went to I went to that one thinking okay, this is you know But I found the food really rich and filling and likewise at hours on New Year's Eve like I wasn't hungry at the end I felt like I had enough food because it's quite rich that food they bring you You don't feel this way Did you get a McDonald's on the way home You can tell me No, we didn't they didn't get a McDonald's on the way home. Did you get anything on the way home? But I think I think maybe we did eat something when we go to that home. I don't remember exactly I'm sorry. I feel bad It was a very small amount of food that's I was just I was surprised I was surprised I had no idea what to expect. Well, that's what I mean fancy pants London I assure you I assure you it didn't cost the same as a small amount of food Yeah, so I'm sure tiny amounts of food you're going to spend an enormous amount of money But you can buy an enormous amount of ramen noodles for very little money So that it's like the volume of food is inversely proportional to its price. That is a rule of of the universe, I think Do you enjoy New Year's Eve? Is it a is it a fun night for you or to historically or in terms of Times I have stayed up until the midnight rollover is this very few in my whole life really? Oh, yeah I'm not I'm not a stave until midnight kind of guy you're asleep at midnight sometimes I slept through the 1999 to 2000 changeover. No, yes, I did I don't think I've ever slept through a changeover. You're like that one. I was working through that one I don't wow. What were you doing working through it? I was a journalist So we were it was like all hands to the pump my newspaper in case um in case airplanes are falling out of the sky and the internet shuts down Right in case the world ended and that but we were completely overstaffed. So really I was just wondering around The center of Adelaide and I don't think I actually had to do any work But I was I was technically at work. Mm-hmm, but uh, but yeah, uh, wow. Are you slept through that one? Wow? Yeah I'll never I don't think I've ever slept through one. It's like You just don't do that I don't know I find I find New Year's is a strange holiday. I'm not I do to be clear. I'm not pooping it I'm not oh, I don't you know this holiday is uninteresting You need you need holidays in the middle of winter because it's a depressing time otherwise But I find because I have never had a job that is a well, I guess until now But a job that is just a year-round kind of job like I I went to school And then from school I went into teacher training and then from teacher training I went into being a teacher my notion of years is still based on the academic year So I feel like oh the New Year starts in September and so that's why I feel like my mind has always been a bit off-kilter from New Year's Eve is I I feel like oh it should be in the in the summer maybe the New Year's Eve Takes place. I think that the this changeover is a is a strange time for the calendar to change over I know why it happens for historical reasons. Please people don't write me emails But it just it doesn't sync up with my notion of of when things happen or when I try to think backwards in time I'm always thinking in terms of academic years. I'm not thinking in terms of calendar years So that's why I'm gonna go out a bit of a limb here and assume you're not a big fan of new years resolutions then Uh, well no, I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, but I feel like that is that is separate from That is separate from the New Year's holiday. I think New Year's resolutions are dumb and ineffective for the most part But do you make New Year's resolutions Brady? Have you made New Year's resolutions? I don't normally I've only really seriously done it once with any kind of effectiveness, but Um, can you share what your one effective one was? I'm sorry. It was like a big fitness weight loss sort of Rage aim thing where I thought okay, I'm gonna be really disciplined about it And you know got into all like that, you know hardcore calorie counting and stuff like that But I do totally and I do totally understand them and I think I see a lot of merit to them like I understand The psychology of them that kind of clean slate mentality really works for me then because I'm You know, we've we've brought it up before with the swearing thing I'm quite a fan of like streaks and things like that and once you break a streak I sort of you know, I lose interest a bit And if you've got some something you want to do like say not eat cheeseburgers Right like I'm never gonna do that because I was gonna think well I've eaten cheeseburgers And I ate one of three days ago So what's the point of not eating one now? But new year is this really natural time to sort of be able to To sort of reset back to zero and think almost like I've never eaten a cheeseburger And you can start a streak and of course when January three comes and you eat a cheeseburger You ruined it and then you might as well eat a hundred more but But I do I do think it gives you this kind of Natural time to reset the counter to zero and pretend you've never eaten one before And I think that's what why it is with most things I think it's this it's just this natural it's this natural Reset which I know is completely arbitrary Of course I of course I understand that but But I get it I do totally get it It's always a it was always a very magical moment to that click over of the calendar even as like a little kid I remember um We'd stay up if we were allowed to like my sister and I would stay up till midnight And then as soon as a new year started it was like It was this magical thing and we would run around and do everything like I'm the first person to touch this tree in 1984 I'm the first person to flush the toilet in 1984. I'm the first person to Pat the dog in 1984 I'm the first person to do it and like it was like you know You would like this pioneer and everything was new And of course you grow out of that yeah, I would hope so yeah I like I didn't go running around at midnight the other night and start Touching trees and stuff but but um but that does still linger in your head like ever It's a little I get to the whole fresh start thing and I can see why someone like of your disposition Would be you know would think this is completely irrational, but I get it It's not that it's I would say it's not that it's it's a rational. It's just that it it holds no um It doesn't pull on my mind in any particular way. I am I am just new years I am New Year's Eve neutral. It doesn't it doesn't affect me Whereas like Christmas. I just like Christmas and there's no rational reason why I just do It it just pulls on my mind in this particular way or like Thanksgiving I go what a nice holiday Thanksgiving is it just is but New Year's New Year's Eve It just it does not pull on my mind in this way and so yes, that's why I don't often bother staying up for it Because I'm also just terrible at staying up late anyway and as it has done I know that when I do it it totally messes with my sleep schedule for a very long time And so that's another reason why I don't I don't like to do it is that I find it's it's Staying up late at all then then cascades into a Staying up late waking up late spiral of productivity doom And so that's why I'm also not always super super into New Year's Is there a CGP great equivalent of New Year's resolutions like for so many people New Year is the time that they'll join the gym Or get fit or stop smoking like that's there that's their arbitrary point to say okay from this point on I'm gonna get my act together. Do you have do you have an equivalent? Do you have some weird Lines in the sand or life points or moments that you can use as jump-offs to a new and improved upgraded you Yeah, well, I've talked about this a little bit before but I am I am a big believer in I put this but I guess I guess I like systems More than I like goals would be the way to put it I'm not a I'm not a huge believer in goals, but I am a huge believer in system. I have two levels of reviews that I do The ones that I think are probably closest to a New Year's Eve kind of thing is I do a relatively big review every three months Where I'm kind of looking at okay, what is the situation in my life? What are things that I want to be better? What are things that I want to improve and over the past few months what has worked in my life and what hasn't worked in my life? And I consciously take some time out to think about that kind of stuff like you know, it's not like a huge deal This is an you know an afternoon of I have a couple of documents some outlines that I use to keep track of this stuff Is it regimented by date though like is it the end of the calendar month like I'll always do this on the The last those day of the month or do you just kind of say? Oh, it's been about three months. Let's let's open the document I have a little reminder that pops up every three months in omnifocus so there is Why is that funny? Why is that funny? Don't know I just am used to me that you have this reminder every three months going off saying sit down and review your life Well, the reminder is actually to then create an instance of a template of all the things that I like to do during that three month review So that's what the reminder is the reminder pops up when it says it says run Quarterly life review template, which then I do and it pre-populates it with I don't know I think ten or so little things that I like to run through on the review So that's that's that is the mechanics of it. That's that's kind of what happens But I like three months because I think it is a it's a conceivable amount of time Like a year is almost too long as a human to to really think about But I feel like you can get a decent sized project done in three months if you really want to or you can you can make a reasonable amount of progress in something like personal fitness in three months if you really want to but A year it's like Particularly if you're thinking about health goals like there there's a lot of progress a person could make in a year with health goals But then it's also that that your your goal is so far away It's like ah this cheeseburger today doesn't matter right I can eat this you know in a year I'll be looking great, but right now I can do this other thing I don't think new years resolutions are necessarily all about here's my goal and I'll reassess how I did Next new years eve I just think it's the I think new years Resolutions of the time that people say okay from this day onwards the first of January. I'm gonna implement You know system x as you would call it, you know, yeah, I I agree with you I don't think necessarily that people are thinking about it in the same way I'm I'm just talking about why don't I do a yearly review system because I almost think it's it's too big of a chunk of time Yeah, it's it's not a reasonable chunk of time to try to think about stuff So when you sit down in the afternoon and and look at these points in this template or whatever it is And then you spit out some result. What do you do? Does this then resolve resulting like little tweaks and changes to your life? What do you then say okay? It's time to implement plan z and You know like what what's the what happens after the this afternoon review one of the biggest Levers for change is trying to tinker with my daily schedule And and my daily habits of and what do I do and I feel like this has actually been a very big project for me ever since I became self-employed I guess two years ago now Is is trying to figure out how to make this work in a reasonable way How to make things happen like in both my professional life and in my personal life In a way so that like my my work life doesn't totally consume everything else That just comes down to like okay, well how much time am I going to spend on on various things when am I going to try to do those things and It sounds silly, but it takes a long time to kind of learn about yourself and realize you know what what works and what doesn't work So I would say that those reviews the biggest actionable outcome from them Is things like adjustments in my schedule of when am I going to attempt to do certain kinds of work and when am I going to not attempt to do other kinds of work? Is a change to the famous CGP gray daily schedule Like a big event is it like changing the Google homepage at such a big deal or is this something that's constantly being changed like a little algorithm? Yeah, no, this is this is just constant Also, I always want to be clear with people I blow past my schedule on a very regular basis But one of the things that I try to pay attention to is like why does this happen? Why is it that on some days I just seem totally incapable of Getting into the groove of the schedule and other day other days things work And I think we've talked about this once before but like a thing I eventually tuned into is like My breakfast needs to be really consistent because Not having things go really smoothly just during breakfast time is a very high predictor of the rest of the day Going going haywire and I know I don't know why that is it sounds like it's ridiculous But that's just something that I've noticed so that's that's kind of these review Review times are a good good time for me anyway to try to think about how it is That I work and what is effective and what is not effective So that I guess that's the closest thing that I have to something like a new year's eve But it is really every three months that I do this this self this self review Wow, so you get four new year new years a year Yes, but I don't have to stay up until midnight on any of them because that would be terrible All right, but don't you but don't you review your life Brady? Don't you what do you do? Like just once a year you think about oh, I'm not gonna eat cheeseburgers and you make it all the way until January 3rd And then you wait until next year. I mean is that your system? I don't know yeah, that probably is that's probably not as far removed because I would like it to be but um I don't know. I mean Suffice to say it is nothing like your system Um, but you must do some kind of long-term planning Or maybe not I don't think I don't really think I do I Huh, I just life. I don't know. You just kind of you just going down the stream of life and seeing where it takes you Yeah, I think that's pretty much it like Yeah, and then things happen and you react to them and there are things I'd like you know and then and then something comes up and you think oh You know you start seeing things further ahead along the stream and you think oh, do you know what I could probably achieve this or do that and then you make it happen um But like you know, you might see a nice tree up ahead and it's on the other side of the river so you make sure you Start paddling over to the left so you'll get to that tree But I definitely don't treat life like you do like you know Things just come along and I just react to them and make the most of them and uh, you know I'm not it's not like I wake up in the morning and think I wonder what career I'm gonna have today Like I do I do plan things, right but I'm definitely not like you Hello internet's this episode is brought to you by of course one the only the square space There are a huge number of reasons you might want to try square space But the one that I think is the most convincing reason is I use square space I use square space for the hello internet website and I use square space for cgp grey.com and I cannot tell you How much hassle this has removed from my life I used to try to run the websites by myself I've used to try to build them and maintain them and I highly recommend that if you're the kind of person who thinks Oh, I could do this. Let me try it Don't not unless you want to do this for a full time living where you spend half of your day trying to Upgrade some script on your server because of a security problem or you're trying to maintain a thousand plugins for whatever system You're using it's an enormous hassle and it frankly isn't worth it because like most people you want a website To do something you want to put your articles on it you want to put your podcast on it You don't want to spend half of your day worrying about the website itself and that's what square space gives you It gives you peace of mind now. We'll say this is a particularly good time to try out square space because they have just rolled out their brand new square space seven interface which if you thought square space was easy to use before it is even easier now with square space seven I've been using it a lot I switched over all of my websites to square space seven. I like it. It's very very simple It's very easy to use and so this is a great time to get it on the ground floor if you want to make your own website So the bullet points square space is beautiful. It's simple. It's powerful They have 24 seven supports to help you out whenever you need it at any time anywhere in the world So go to square space start a trial with no credit card required Build your website today and when you want to sign up to use square space for real for the super cheap price of only $8 a month use the offer code hello to get 10% off your first purchase and to show support for our podcast square space start here go anywhere A big thing in the UK that probably people outside the UK won't know about Is a couple of days before new years eve every year They announced something called the new years honors list and this is a list of I don't know. It's up to around a thousand people maybe over a thousand people That are going to receive well honors funnily enough And these can be things that I guess most people won't understand the all these weird titles like cbes and mbes and obes And these just to be clear just to be clear here who is giving out these honors Well, there is confusion about this It's essentially 99.9% of them I've decided basically by the government a government committee And then when the honors are actually given out they're kind of given out in the name of the queen And and it's usually the queen or a member of the royal family who hands them over So it's kind of you're getting an honor from the queen But it's not the queen or anyone in royalty who's deciding it It's actually a government thing and the and it's just symbolic that it's handed over by the queen Like so many things in British life the queen is more of symbol So a lot of people who are anti monarchy Sort of get get in bit of a tears about honors and think it's all a big royal thing when Obviously the link is there and the historic link is there But it's not really a royal thing. It's a political thing which is probably even worse in some people And obviously there's always a bit of controversy because there's always a lot of There's always back scratching and favors going on But so for people if people have heard of anything they've heard of nighthoods in the unit that is the top honor That's the big one if there's a thousand say about 980 of them will be These these various lower honors which are still very nice things to have And then about 20 or 30 people will get a nighthood They will become sir if they're a man or a dame hood and they will become a dame if they're a woman They're kind of they're the big ones So anyway, this year was very exciting for Someone I'm very close to and that is Professor Martin Poliakov who is the frizzy-haired chemist who appears in a large majority of my periodic videos. Yes, and I've been working with for many years now Was given a nighthood And he he has now been upgraded from Professor Poliakov to Sir Martin Wow, it was very it was very exciting I was lucky enough to find out a little bit early because A few people are allowed to find out early for obvious reasons and we we made a video that could be Released the moment the announcement was made so I had to know a little bit early But on the I think it was the 30th or the late on the 29th it was made public and I could start tweeting and release the video and Really Happy for for for Martin I hastened to point out before I say any more about it Martin has been a very successful and accomplished chemist for many years And and it is for his services to chemistry I was gonna ask what what what what it was for he say we must not for it was mainly for his services to chemistry He's also for a few years now being a real ambassador for British science as the foreign secretary of the Royal Society Right, well, he was the reason that you had to go to India a few weeks ago. Is it not? Yes, yes, this is true But actually if I call this up I didn't have this ready But the thing that was very interesting and like in When he when you get a night would they give you a little write-up about why you're getting it And so in Martin's write-up It did say And I don't know if this is the first it did say Professor Pollockoff is an organic chemist who has worked has been taken up by industry etc etc He's a global leader in this type of chemistry And his work in engaging the public with chemistry has been recognized internationally Including through the periodic table of videos on YouTube So the YouTube videos actually got a mention in his like official citation and he thought he was very excited by this and thought I wonder if this is the first time that YouTube has been mentioned in there Officially in a nighthood. I don't know but that's an interesting question There must be somewhere that the text of all of these is available So you can do a you could grab through that and find if if YouTube was ever mentioned before Yeah, someone should do that. But anyway, so that was that was a nice It was really nice for the for his work on the YouTube videos And of course because because the YouTube videos are kind of the most gimmicky thing about Martin Right that's that has been latched onto by the media So there's been like posters all around notting him said you know YouTube prof gets nighthood The BBC website sort of had crazy-haired YouTube prof gets nighthood It he's sort of become this YouTube night now. So although I think that's a bit naughty and slightly diminishes his accomplishments as a chemist I'm uh, I've been a little bit cheekily happy to see it as well because obviously the YouTube component is the only component To which I have any steak right so It's brilliant and so well done well done to Martin I've written a bit about it on a blog and there's a video and if people want to find it anymore about it I'm sure greya'll link it off in the notes and stuff but Yeah, but everything in this your notes the other question then of course is did you get any kind of lesser title for your role in his YouTube theme? I think you should a squire hood or something I don't know what I'm talking about That does that make me like his squire If you're the wife of a And night you can take the title lady And because because Martin is kind of my my YouTube husband some people have said maybe I should take the name lady Brady I like that. I like lady Brady. That's good. That's very good That's gonna stick yeah, but I think in like in the comments under the YouTube video like loads and loads of people have been saying you know well done Martin But well done well done Brady too etc etc and I cannot I cannot emphasize enough that That I don't I do not think the YouTube thing is That larger component of why he's got an i-hood but it's still being very it has still been very flattering and nice yes But still lady Brady. I was gonna say one with oh yeah There was one more thing I wanted to say about actually uh-huh and that was I have been making YouTube videos long enough and know what kind of YouTube people are like well enough To have expected a little bit of pushback because of the whole honor system and whatnot You know people saying or honors a rubbish There has been surprisingly little of that Uh much less than I anticipated of people saying oh honors a rubbish But they have been a few and one thing I expected lots of people to cite And a few people did Is the very famous and amazing Richard Feynman Who in a YouTube clip that many people have watched said that he does not like honors And he does not agree with honors. He thinks they're you know he thinks they're rubbish Um, I'm familiar I'm very familiar with it. I've even used it in a video myself that clip of of Feynman saying that That's funny. I can't think of that off my head I I Totally love everything about Feynman and I've read everything about him that I can and I've watched Every YouTube video I can possibly find a Feynman I can't remember that one off the top of my head. It was just a curious to see it It's a clip in that famous BBC interview. He did you know That's what I was wondering. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was in that show Yeah And sometimes you just can watch it in the show and some people have asked later that He talks about how he's father used to make you know, you know, military uniforms and it you know He helped build up his resentment to honors Anyway, it did get me thinking Because I love Richard Feynman too and you know, I could watch him for hours But he was a guy who did play to type, you know, he was a performer And I think he kind of did cultivate his kind of maverick image a little bit and saying you know, I don't like honors It's pretty cool. It did get me thinking And I therefore Looked this up because obviously Feynman did win the Nobel Prize And he did accept the Nobel Prize He didn't say I don't want your fancy honors in your medal He went over and to stock up and put on a tux and took the medal So it made me think well, how did he justify this? What did he say when he accepted the medal? And I went and looked up some speeches and in particular a speech he gave at the At a banquet the Nobel Prize banquet And I really recommend people read it because it puts a completely different twist on his attitude to honors He did does come across that he was skeptical about honors But when he won this prize lots of people started talking about his work and it really inspired a lot of people And the last thing he said at the end of this speech and you can go and read it It's on the Nobel Prize website. He said and so you Swedish people with your honors and your trumpets and your king Forgive me for I understand at last such things provide entrance to the heart Used by a wise and peaceful people they can generate good feeling even love among men Even in lands far beyond your own and for that lesson I thank you Oh And I and that thing that Feynman learned and talks about there I have also seen It's not just British people who've been commenting and saying how excited they are for so Martin It's been people all around the world people from the US saying you know I don't completely understand your honor system and how this works But I'm so happy that Martin has become so Martin and he deserves it and I've watched his video for years And it makes me so happy And I think we mustn't forget that about honors that their ability to sort of inspire and foster good will If given properly and used well They are They're not an all-bad thing no matter what you might think about politicians or monokies and things It's still sometimes it's nice to See people we care about Recognized publicly I agree one other little bit of New Year's news Playing crash corner. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay amongst the good news. We have had another significant plan crash to end the year By the way a few people have been sending me stats and graphs and things showing that this year just ended was actually the best year On record for a Plan crash fatalities. It was actually a really good safe year So despite having some very famous very high profile Very unusual plane crashes It was quite a safe year to be flying around presumably this is you know Not including before planes existed. I imagine they were very safe years for playing for this Yes, yes, yes, I imagine so as well But we did end with the air Asia Crash another one another one in that neck of the woods going missing in the sea I think it was about 160 people on a do you know about this do you or is this one got past the gray radar? Dude, I don't hear about any of these plane crashes. I have this is not this is not a question of like getting past the radar I only hear about plane crashes when you tell me about plane crashes Is this the first you know of this then you don't know there was another plane crash I know nothing of what to speak So you don't like once a day or something go onto something like the BBC website or CNN or someone just to see what's the top story of the day Maybe this is the one you talk about slightly later. I've kind of taken a mini vacation from from Christmas until just about now During this period of time in particular. I have barely been on the internet at all So I'm particularly Unconnected to things but in my normal daily life. No, I would I would do that You would just say just once I'll go on to the just in the morning when I wake up. What's you know has there been a Huge terrorist attack over Nato has there been someone really famous died or you don't think to check that I I never go on to sites like CNN or the BBC just to check stuff that that is never part of my routine It wouldn't even occur to me to be part of my routine again again If anything in my life serves that's that function it would be going on to Reddit Which is usually something I don't do until the afternoon and even then like if you know what you're doing with settings I curate my Reddit experience so that I'm not subscribed to things like World news or politics or any of these things so I I can miss I can miss quite a lot Maybe it's because I'm a journalist right and maybe and you know and Lots so many people in my life are journalists But you seem like such an aberration to me like that seems freakish to me That people exist that at no point will look at a newspaper look at a news website They won't watch the news at dinner time just to see what happened during the day like I'm sure I'm sure there are Many many people like you and I'm and I'm the freak here But to me that seems absolutely extraordinary and I know you'd and it's well known on this podcast that you're not a big news follower but Even hearing that now that you won't even look at a news website during the day Amazes me Well, I think I'm in the minority here given most people that I speak to I do I do occasionally come across people like me And then we feel like kindred spirits and we can have conversations about that nothing because you don't know anything You don't watch the news. I don't watch the news either. What should we talk about let's talk about how we don't watch the news Yeah, it's a bit like in the early 2000s if you didn't have a television This was the thing that you could discuss with other people Because it was like oh, I don't know on a television neither do you oh boy Yes, let's talk about how our lives are different because we don't own a television whereas now that's much more common Because the internet and television have been merging together, but that used to be more of a thing But yeah, so it's just funny that you mentioned it because yeah It would never even occurred to me to go to CNN.com to see what you know What had happened during the day and I don't follow any of those kind of things on Twitter But that's I think that's why like you can mention the ariaia crash and I find it's funny that you would even expect me to be aware of that because That to me seems like Again, this is gonna sound terrible because people have died But in the grand scheme of the year a relatively minor news event Like I imagine if you had to go back and pick the 10 biggest news stories from the year that would not that would not make the list No, it wouldn't even make the top two playing crashes there, but yeah, right So that's that's why I'm saying it's like I find it surprising that you would think that I would be aware of it And it's like no I There is no channel into through which this would come into my life As I've said before if you know CNN.com or or the BBC You know, they have to fill a whole page worth of stuff on the front on their website every day no matter what's happened So when when you go there there's always going to be something they want you to be concerned about and it turns out you don't have to be concerned about any of it I don't think reporting on a playing crash in which 160 people dies like filler though like that's like I'm not saying I'm not saying it's filler, but I'm saying like there's always something there There's always something there, but anyway, so tell me about this playing crash Well speaking of speaking of filling headlines and this playing crash I don't know if I've talked I may have talked about this before on the podcast actually So apologies if I if I have but this did remind me of it just now This this flight that crashed was called QZ 8501 That is a real mouthful not very catchy not very easy to remember wasn't that is that you mean is that the That's some flight designation right because it's the flight that you know it was flight QZ 8501 from Some place in Indonesia, right, which I can't pronounce to It was flying to Singapore, which I can pronounce um And That is a real mouthful that designation and I think that counts against counts against it makes it quite a hard one It makes it hard it hasn't it doesn't give that you give it like an iconic name But it does remind me of a lesson or not a lesson something that was told to me by a sub editor at a newspaper when I was When I was a new guy and a some plane had crashed and we were preparing a report And the first thing he said to me was what was the plane flight number And he didn't ask you know how many people have died or where did it where was it flying to or from or what kind of plane Was he just wanted to know the flight number and he said that's the first thing any kind of new sub editor asks because straight away that becomes like the iconic thing of any crash It was flight, you know What were the Malaysian ones called MH MH370 or MH17 they become like the iconic things of plane crashes And there are always the first thing the headline writers want to know that they can start Creating their page and their look And it did strike me this Air Asia one QZ 8501 it's just too many numbers and not a nice combination of letters and People won't remember that one for that reason Yeah, but isn't this the point at which news organizations is supposed to brand it with some some version of their own yeah Calling it so the bill you know Yeah, the air Asia crash tax trophy and then they keep calling it the crash tax trophy Well, everybody likes to give it their own name Well, yeah Where can newspapers this is this is the snow pocket lips right and then we don't say oh it needs yeah Or it needs like a town like lock a beat or something like that or it needs a right And this is yeah, this one is lacking we don't know much about it yet, but it is lacking that it's lacking a kind of a yeah So I'm terribly sorry for newspaper writers the world over that this this crash is not more sexy from a marketing perspective for them my my heart My heart breaks open for their more difficult job You are a you are a sympathetic man So thank you as usual. Thank you to everyone who tweeted me as soon as a crash happens I feel like this kind of merchant of death now that everyone wants to tweet soon as people die And it's certainly not a situation I hope you tend to create but um But I am still interested in playing crashes and I do you know I certainly find out about these things even quicker than I ever imagined possible Thanks to a combination of Twitter and my reputation for being interested in playing crashes there you go Yeah, I wonder how many people think like a playing crashes and they're like oh I must tweet that that guy with the Aussie accent from hallow internet and tell him because But you must know you get all those tweets Yeah, you are Anybody knows You are the one person I have a data I'll go and do an analysis All right anyway enough enough enough and on that lighthearted note that's the end of playing crash corner We actually haven't done follow up From the previous from our Christmas special Our bumper Christmas special our longest podcast yet. Oh, yes, that was That was very long that was a long That was a long editing job For people who want to see what a long editing job it was you actually posted a video on your second channel Oh, yes showing showing you doing the edit Now a normal person would have sped that video up so people could watch you do the edit quite quickly I did speed it up really then how come the video is a Blooming hour long. Well, the video is an hour five minutes long But it's it's playing at 10x. It's 10 times faster than I was doing it You didn't even watch the video. If you think I can edit that quickly boy Of course I watched the video. I was making it was making a little jockey I was basically or actually no, I didn't watch the whole video, but I have watched parts of it But you know, I wonder if anybody watched the whole video You could have 20 you could have 20 times to and made it half an hour long and not lost that much info Well, I was I was actually playing around with it and and When you time-lapse stuff like I've done this before with a couple of video games I put up of time-lapse stuff It's it's a delicate balance between having it go quickly and having it go so quickly that you don't get any sense of what's happening at all Yeah, and I found that I think because of the way I don't know how to describe this Because I'm using a lot of keyboard commands and from from watching a screen stuff just seems to cut out and move It jumps around very quickly when I'm editing stuff Yeah, I found that 10x was as fast as it could go before it just became incomprehensible So I've put I have posted videos before of myself editing Editing films and I've always made them much much quicker like in the in you know one or two minutes long And I guess what I was just trying to achieve was just a sense of Just a sense of feeling a sense of our sense of um How big a job it is and what some of the things that happen are but it seems like you will You had a different agenda in a way you almost wanted people to be able to follow individual actions To to some extent and get a little bit more of a fine-grained idea of what you were doing like you were almost Not quite a tutorial of course, but you wanted you wanted to convey a lot more information than I certainly ever did Yeah, that's definitely the case because I do get lots of people asking me what the editing is like and I thought It'd be it'd be better just to send something like this so somebody can see and I do three cuts of the show I do a very rough first cut a The one that takes forever is the second cut which I think of as the precision cut And then a third final one where I'm making the show notes and listening for errors I think it's it's kind of good to be able to send people a link and particularly on YouTube because you can start the video at any time Send them a link to the the second cut so people can get a good sense in just like a minute or two of watching that second part Of how much editing happens so yeah, so yes I didn't want it to just all zoom by in a minute and all you get is a sense of like oh god so many things happen I was I was trying to make it as fast as possible But you can still make out individual actions and see see what's going on So it is it is slightly more informative for people who might Intensely care about that stuff I did get a lot of feedback from people saying I spend way too much time editing it But that's as long as that's as long as it takes for me to do as I said I didn't watch it all because it's an hour long Yeah, but I did find it interesting myself as well So I'm sure people who are really into the podcast will We like dipping into that and I know some people have watched it in its entirety because they said so in the comments I'm not sure I believe that I'm not sure if you can actually watch an hour is worth worth of that but anyway So that is that is there from the last show There's a new sponsor for hello internet this month and that is loot crate.com loot crate is a monthly subscription box service for geek and gamer items and pop culture gear What does that mean for less than 20 bucks a month? They send you a box It's like a present in the mail inside the box you get six to eight little presents It might be gamer gear. It might be a parallel. It might be unique one of a kind item with the start of 2015 They are celebrating geek culture with gaming icons of the past join loot box as they rewind to give you exclusive items from Star Wars and Voltron now if you want the Star Wars and Voltron box You have until the 19th at nine specific standard time to subscribe and receive that month's crate to do so go over to loot crate.com slash hello and enter the code hello to save 10% on any new subscription Now if you miss the 19th cutoff That is just for the Star Wars slash Voltron box But you never know what you're going to get maybe it's Marvel stuff Maybe it's stuff from the walking dead. 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So go check them out and thanks to loot crate.com for supporting hello internet Do you are you okay with your phone because I can hear your phone going off in the background there But it yeah, no it wasn't but silent is in silent silent is vibrate and then you have it on the table So I can hear your phone I can hear it distracting you you slow down hang on a second Let's let's stop follow up for a minute then Because you did tell me earlier today and we didn't put it on our list of things to do but I was interested in it You did want to talk about instant messaging and text etiquette and that really I'm really I want to talk about that So let's talk about that right now. Let's do this now. Let's do using my phone going off as the queue And I'm now going to take my phone and throw it away onto the bed of the hotel room that I mean at the moment doing this podcast hang on well Before it's goes any further I am terrified at this moment because I know that my My phone and my iPad are somewhere in my office right now But I haven't been able to get them to turn on do not disturb mode And so of course now I'm worried that they're going to start messaging me If I hadn't just thrown my phone away I know that you would But my office is a total mess because I was just redoing everything so I don't I don't I don't know where they are easily And so now I am worried but this this this is going to be looming over me while we're having this conversation Well, don't worry because I wouldn't be too bothered but I would forgive you Okay What did you want to talk about about texting and one of the things that I have found recently this has just been on my mind I have people who I would Instant message with who are in different time zones than me. Yes, and Mostly it's people in America But sometimes it's people in Australia or it's people who I don't even know where they are in the world because they travel a lot Yeah, and so I've when I look at my list of Insta people I'm interested messaging with there is a a A non-zero amount of uncertainty about what the heck the time is where these people even are Yeah, and then of course there's also just a question of are they awake or are they not and I I I feel like I need to come to a decision which is Can you message people when you think that they may be asleep in their time zone? Okay, what what are your thoughts on this? well Let me start with my overall answer and then break it down a bit my answer is No, you should not text someone when you think they are asleep. Okay um I think that is bad manners. Okay. This of course we are only talking here about SMS messages and by extension iMessage none of the supplies to email or direct messaging on social media things other yeah, yeah, we're talking about people's phone Yeah, two two persons phone and and for me in particular This is an iMessage question because everybody I know uses an iPhone But I think it the conversation is broad enough. I presume that Android devices work in a similar way in my head I would never message someone before 9 a.m. Mm-hmm and probably after 10 p.m. Depending on who they are right nine p.m. What you know? 9 p.m 10 p.m 8 p.m. Even depending on my relationship with the person but no one after 10 p.m. Right I assume after 10 p.m. Is a good chance someone wants to is in bed, right and 9 a.m. Before 9 a.m. I think of as personal time as well I was told I was wrong about that the other day though I got a text message the other day at 7 30 in the morning from someone And I was like I was asleep because I'm to sleep at that time And I was outraged and I said to my wife can you believe it? Can you believe someone sent a text message at 7 30 a.m And I was told that was stupid and I was Living in fairy land because I live in the world where I get up at 9 a.m. and started editing at my pajamas I don't yeah, I don't realize that most people are up at 7 30 a.m. So my wife had managed me for that and told me so maybe my 9 a.m. Time is a little bit A little bit it reflects my lifestyle too much Whatever the exact time is before a certain time of morning you should not text someone and after a certain time in the evening You should not text someone That's okay Okay, just a little thing here your conversation with your wife reminds me of Perhaps one of my top three favorite comedies ever is curb your enthusiasm with Larry David Have you seen curb your enthusiasm? I've not watched a lot of it, but I'm very familiar with it It is it is worth watching all the way through. I absolutely adore that show But there is a running gag throughout the show about the acceptable cutoff time to call someone and The here this is the fundamental problem that you just ran into is there is no universal agreement on this But everybody kind of feels like whatever their time is oh that is the universal time So your 9 a.m. Is like oh of course not before 9 a.m. But not everybody agrees with you and But 9 a.m. is very safe because 9 a.m. is a traditional start time for yes Yes, but but for you when you say 10 p.m. For me, I feel like oh 10 p.m. is way too late Yeah, that's why changes. That's why that's why changes but But I think like people with kids and stuff I would never I would never text that late but um But yeah, I mean that the nighttime one is harder. Yeah, so there but there's a immediately we run into this issue where there is no There is no agreement there are there is some agreement like no one would think after 10 p.m. is acceptable I believe unless it was a bosom friend. Yeah, it depends it depends on the person Yeah, and I think no one would think before 7 a.m. was acceptable Again, it depends no unless you know the person and you know they're awake If it's something if it's just a general person who I think 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. are the absolute limits But for me it's more I personally would not go outside the 9 a.m. 10 p.m. window Okay, well regardless of the specifics which can never be nailed down With absolute although we are trying by the sounds of it It doesn't you can try as much as you want it doesn't matter because you just you can't this is like a you can You can say with with 95% certainty that that a person will agree But there's always going to be 5% of people who don't agree and go of course until midnight It's totally fine. There's always going to be someone who disagrees here's why I wanted to talk about this because I feel really conflicted I feel partly like you Which is this is like the the stance that I have had for a long time is the same thing about trying to be Very conscious of where is the other person what time is it for them and to not message outside of 95% certainty intervals, but here's the thing like as time has gone on I feel myself wanting to shift And the reason that I want to shift to you can just message anybody at any time Is because the technology has changed So I think I'm still very much thinking of instant message in the same way that I would think of as Calling someone's landline phone right where I am old enough and you are old enough that we lived in the world where you people would call the Landline telephone and it would ring in the house and this is where this whole notion of oh don't call people after or before a certain times Starts to come from but it's different when you transition to personal devices as opposed to a house phone And then what I think is the really big deal and why I was mentioning Apple in particular is because the iPhone has All of these options for letting a person determine how they wish to receive their communications And the biggest deal with this is the auto do not disturb mode Which we've touched upon in the past but where a person can tell the phone Don't ring or buzz or do anything and they get to set whatever they think are their own acceptable hours What I'm starting to think about is can I assume That enough people Know how to use their own phones that it is perfectly fine to message people When you would assume that they would be asleep Because you can also assume They have decided how they wish to receive communications and presumably they have do not disturb mode on on their phone When they go to bed and so then when they get up in the morning they just see it This is this is this is what I'm feeling conflicted about All right I'm not having that Okay, why are you not having that? Well actually actually can get the mic I just came what I mentioned one specific scenario before we before we go for it Go ahead So my specific scenario is people in America message me when I am asleep Yeah, that happens to me too right and so right because we are in we are in the best time zone in the world if you K I absolutely love it as I have mentioned very many times it is super convenient for everything All right, but somebody living in the worst time zone in the world California Messages me from their perspective in the evening, but it's I don't know three in the morning in London So then when I get up in the morning I see the message from them and maybe it's a question maybe they want to know something from me And this is where I feel particularly conflicted is Okay I was asleep and they messaged me and it was obviously no problem because I know how to use my phone But now it's eight in the morning and I'm looking at my phone and they have some question Can I message them back even though I know because they're in a terrible time zone? They're almost certainly asleep right now I feel like the answer to that question is yes I can message them back at that point even though I'm almost certain that they are asleep What do you think about this? Um, I think my phone just went off from the bed as you said that um I Look I understand or I understand what you're saying uh-huh, but here's the problem. Okay We're all spread all over the world right My family live in Australia right Some members of my family are very sick at the moment Some members of my family in the UK as you know are very sick at the moment um Things can happen at weird times Who knows when something terrible is going to happen something predicted or something un-predicted Who knows if someone you love is going to be in the middle of the night in another country Be in a car crash Something you want to know about straightaway People need to be able to contact me and wake me up And I want to be woken up You know, this is a good thing about technology that if something happens in Australia that I want to know about And it's four in the morning. I will wake up and I will Put on my trousers and get in a car and go to Heathrow and get to Australia if I have to as quick as I can I want I want that option If something happens in the UK in the middle of the night I want people to be able to call me right now I know you can find you in all your settings so this call can get through and this person can get through and this person can cart But who's going to be the person that calls me or text me when Something unforeseen happens. I don't know What if the person who I think should call me is the one something's happened to and someone else is trying to call on their bar I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen I would rather depend on people's good manners and them knowing what counts as important and not important Rather than depending on a bunch of filters and technologies I set up to decide what's important and not important And if the price I pay is occasionally getting a text in the middle of the night from someone who was a bit inconsiderate Well, maybe I'm maybe I'll pay that for a while longer But I think we're setting I don't want to live in a world where I'm uncontactable um Especially at this time especially at the moment Especially as you know the people I love and care about are getting a bit older and I never know when When that call is going to come and you know and my phone goes off in the middle of the night And I sometimes think it's going to be one of those calls, you know, and then I look down and it's just some joky text from a mate Okay, I'll deal with it. I don't like it, but I'll deal with it and you know, but I don't know Away around it and I don't feel comfortable Setting up filters for things I can't predict So I don't know how do you respond to that Well, I would respond to that in that you can set settings differently for Insta messages and phone calls I don't know if this is the case for everybody, but there's like this there is this communication hierarchy and for me A phone call is is at the top of the communication hierarchy. Yes, whoever else is calling you demands your attention right now And yeah, almost everybody you're saying SMS to cut you're saying SMS has moved in the hierarchy into almost into email territory Well, I would say SMS is above email and below phone call and precisely where it is always it's always been there though great It's always been between those two. Yes, but you're saying it's moving closer to email I disagree with that. I mean for me. I would say iMessage is is one step below phone call But phone calls are For me I always like almost nobody in my life calls me and I'm very aware that I treat a phone call like it's an emergency Which is one of the reasons why you occasionally call me and I always feel like oh christ there must be some problem Oh, no, you're just on the road and you want to talk about something But but my response whenever anybody calls me is there must be there must be some problem right now I that's fair enough. I even I feel like life is moving that way a bit my wife knows She does not call me very often and but when she does she she has some phrase, but she she She hates it when I answer because she can tell I am in I am in basically triage mode as soon as I pick up the phone of a okay How how urgent is the problem that is about to be presented to me? Oh, it's no problem at all. She's just at the grocery store and her hands are full So she you know she told Siri to call me so she can ask me about something It's no problem at all, but she hates those first few seconds where she can tell I'm like right Do I need to drop everything immediately and run And it is impossible for me to not react to a phone call in this in this way Mainly because they are so they are so rare yeah But but this is but this is again. This is the trouble of the modern world right there are there are so many different ways to contact people It's hard to know how other people Arrange their own communication protocols. Yeah, and that that's one of the things that is is very very Difficult and this is partly why like I feel like As the world as you get an increasingly large number of ways to communicate with someone and as the uncertainty around all of these different methods increases The only rational Solution to this is to assume that the other person has arranged it in whatever way is optimal to them And so that that the notion of trying to project yourself into the mind of the other person Is is more and more of an impossibility you can't you can't know their preferences So just just use whatever you're going to do and assume that the other person is receiving it in the way to They wish to receive it. That's that's kind of my thought the problem is though that There are some people in my life who treat SMS messages incredibly casually right like you know They'll use them just to send you know group jokes or something right and there are other people who I think would convey Very serious important information to me by SMS rather than phoning me right or say something really serious has happened Can you give me a call when you when you have the chance out of some weird politeness right so and And I don't know who's going to do what and when in that way so I haven't I I think SMSes are still reasonably Sacred and it was better when they were only attached to your mobile phone number for that reason because fewer people have my mobile phone number You know only a select a group now that people can send SMSes to you if they have your email address and that It has gotten a bit a bit stickier, but I Think it's pretty safe for you to assume I Know there are ways around all these problems. I'm raising and you could say well You could apply this rule to this person and that rule to that person and do all that and You're saying should I assume people have that degree of skill? I think you can pretty safely assume they don't I think you can pretty safely assume you are one of the few people Who would be able to control your incoming and outgoing? Yes communications to that fine grain level of detail. Yeah And I totally agree with you and this is why I think it's kind of a conflict because this going going back to one of our previous discussions We mentioned how Almost nobody changes the default settings on anything Like you software developers know this and so yes I am pretty certain because I am very very fiddly about my Contactable settings I go in flip all those switches about who's gonna cause it to ring under what circumstances You know, and if I don't know the person just mute and block them forever. I don't even want to hear about it I you know and dump all the voice mails into the garbage immediately all you know I I I do fiddle with all of that stuff And I am also aware that yes, I should probably assume that most people Don't yeah, but but at the same time I feel like I can't be the only person who's wondering about times to send text messages And I feel like if if someone is going to change anything on their phone I feel like the do not disturb settings would be one of those things or well definitely not for me Well, I guess I guess I do not believe in the do not disturb because because of that scenario I laid out I don't I don't use it at this stage of life. Yeah, and so that yeah I agree with you right is that like the the emergency phone call in the middle of the night scenario is an interesting one Right, and it is the one reason why a person may choose to leave on their phone at all the time now I have done my best with the settings so that the right people can theoretically contact me in an emergency But I do know that like once once you set up filters there are ways this can go wrong Where a person wants to get in touch with you and they can't even though it's an emergency and I I take the the other approach to this which is well You know, I'm going to accept the damage in these in these rare cases But everybody's scenario everybody's personal situation is different and once again you don't know What the situation is of anybody you're trying to contact. Yeah, so This is why I like I've been knocking this around in my brain And I'm gonna I'm gonna lay someone on the line here in particular and his name is Destin from smarter every day Who is a particular smarter every day text to every minute because I know he doesn't seem to sleep I feel like he's almost certainly awake at any point in time but it is tricky and I'm just letting Destin if you listen. I'm just laying on the line now I'm gonna start messaging you back whenever and you better have figured it out on your phone Because you in particular if you message me I see it in the morning. I'm just gonna message it back Yeah, and also he does he does text to odd hours because yeah But I imagine he also keeps odd hours. Yeah, but you know that's You know, I accept I accept that and I'm I'm really grateful to have friends Across the world who want to contact me. So I'll pay the price. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, text at a weird time I agree like like you know, I'm message for me is relatively secret and the number of people I have on there is You precisely because it is important. So you know, it's like I have family I have few friends. I have the people from random acts of intelligence like all you guys like you can message me whenever it like That's totally cool, but it does it does still because people are spread out I find this this uncertainty is large about you know what will happen now that Destin's are they gonna get really hurt and like hardly ever text us again Oh, he's gonna get really excited and start texting us at 4 a.m. Like all the time He can text at 4 a.m. I Phone will just sit there in absolute silence and don't let see if I get if my phone goes off in the middle of the night I now realize either someone in Australia is dead or Destin wants to send me a picture of right some food or something Perfect that's the kind of random reinforcement that you want right maybe it's a huge deal But yeah, maybe it's not a not a big problem So it's like for you. I message is like the phone calls for me or I feel like I'm assuming it's an emergency Oh, it's not an emergency. Okay. Well, that was a tiny moment of panic for no benefit whatsoever I agree with you, but I find myself more and more sliding towards the default opinion that like other people know how to use their phones And I'm just gonna assume that that's the case And even if I'm pretty sure the person's asleep I think it's okay to message them back if they ask me some question and an odd hour And I didn't see it until later, but I don't know. I don't know. I would be Genuinely curious to see people's Thoughts on this in the Reddit because I feel like this is a social acceptance thing You are raising it in a different context which does I see create a greater dilemma and that is your replying to messages You're not sitting there thinking. I'd love to send Brady a text is now an appropriate time You're switching your phone on Suddenly a whole bunch of old texts are coming through yes from from your blood from the dark period And now you've got to reply to them all and you're strategically thinking at what time can I reply to what one? Yeah, and that does put you in a difficult position and I have some sympathy with that That's a good that's a good point and it's because as I've mentioned before my do not disturb period ends I think I currently have it set now at one p.m. I was joking So a text won't get to you into one p.m. If I send it in the morning most of the time not So I have my do not disturb kicks on at nine p.m. And I think does not end I'm always fiddling with it whether it's going to be noon or one p.m. The next day But it's it's always one of those two What if I need to contact you in an emergency? Well then you can call me and my when am I blocked from phoning you Uh, I don't know. I'm not sure if you're on my like special person list. I'd have to look at that Well, look at it now. I told you I don't know where my phone is right now. You must know if I'm on it. I don't I don't actually know What do you need what do you need to call me for anyway? I don't know what if I need your advice on a piece of technology. I want to buy Oh, yeah, that's true But you've done this this always happens to be in the afternoon To tie this back to our previous conversation This little habit of mine is one of the things that I did in still after the Quarterly reviews is that I noticed that it's like I've got to protect my mornings from any kind of distraction whatsoever and Brady can be a distraction sometimes You know and so or like messages are just a distraction And so I don't want to see anything come through until the afternoon and I'm totally aware like in the afternoon I rarely get any kind of useful work done between maybe one p.m. and four p.m. That's just a dead zone of Nothing good gets done and so that's a perfect time for messages to come through to me or you know To look at email or something like that. So that's why it's a great window of opportunity for me But you really know how to make me feel very very unspecial sometimes Brady you are one of the most special people in my life. Yeah as long as it's between one p.m. and four p.m. Yeah But that doesn't mean that I need to hear from you immediately Immediately in the morning. I would never text you before nine nine a.m. Okay, I don't I don't doubt that yeah, but Here let's let's let's get back on track. Let's get back on track I'll tell you what we're making a we're making a royal mess with this for those handful of super fans that make those really cool mind maps of these episodes Yes, rough map Like this graph is gonna be a complete mess. You just back reference to the Yeah, an earlier conversation. This this is this is going to be a told a mess But and we haven't finished follow up. Yeah, we didn't even start it. We started it and then we did one We did one hour. We do one. No, sorry Sorry flow chart makers of the show. This is this is not very helpful just to wrap this up You you are right that precisely because I know how to handle the do not disturb Settings on my phone and some other contact settings I end up causing for myself much more of a problem because I'm always seeing messages Being time shifted from other people So it this problem is a little bit self generating But I still think that it is equally applicable for something is popped into your head And you want to send it to somebody do you keep an eye on whether whether or not They are asleep or they aren't for the people who I instant message with and who I have open instant message invitations to That is higher up on my my priority queue than then something like email So people email me it might be two weeks before I get back to you But I'm probably going to reply to an i-message, you know within 12 hours maybe of receiving it So that's why they're just different they're different protocols this crazy short window that you've made in which people can Possibly contact you it works for me. Don't you miss like No, what ever you're about to say the answer is no Don't you miss no, I obviously don't What is it what what do I miss? Just like spontaneity and unexpectedness like like but I have a window from my spontaneity Sometimes it's nice to just get a funny joke from someone when you weren't expecting it or A nice surprise or just a break from the drudgery of something it's like oh I wasn't expecting that call at that time. Yeah My communications are spontaneous and random between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. All right Randomness is great, but you need to put it in a box Shall we resume follow up? Uh should we let's let's let's let's not let's knock off a couple things quickly and then let's look something in here about Fushian Futian I think it's futian point someone on the reddit who either lived in Hong Kong or lived in shenzhen pointed out that this is almost certainly the bridge that I was talking about Last episode when I mentioned crossing from Hong Kong into China But I wasn't sure where it was and I wasn't sure what bridge it was and looking at these pictures I feel like yes almost certainly this is where I crossed and I was going from Hong Kong into shenzhen And as you can see from the photographs It is a weird bridge because it really does look like an airport terminal on the inside and speaking of bridges lots of people have been Submitting their own lists of five bridges some people have like even written their own blogs and things like that of their five favorite bridges after we did Likewise and can I just say I really enjoyed it and thank you to the people that have gone to that trouble. It's uh I'm you know, I were looking forward to bridge follow up. I remember you said that in the show Yeah, like most people I've been I'm a bit cynical about like you know lists and list videos and clickbaits and you know 13 celebrities who Look good naked and all this sort of stuff and all this sort of thing But there is still something from your childhood about making lists. That's pretty cool I remember I used to when I was a little boy I still love buying a notebook And it would be like my top five notebook and it would be my top five of everything like you know my top five favorite colors and my top five favorite Cricketers and my top five favorite flavors of ice cream and I do make I do like making top fives You know kind of a high fidelity style thing like making lists is good As long as it's not done in a clickbaity way, so thank you that to those people that I've got in the spirit of making your Five bridges good. I'm glad you enjoyed those We spoke about the Hobbit last episode and I talked about how I was making a few notes on my phone Oh, yes. Yes, and a lot of people were outraged that my phone was switched on in the cinema. Mm-hmm Can I just say that's fair enough? I am also very opposed to people having their phones on in cinema Although I don't know where that puts me on my people trying to contact me in emergency position I'm a I don't believe you should have your phone on the cinema I think this was a very special case because I was seeing this film for work I deliberately sat away from people so I wouldn't distract them It was the only way I could really make notes because I didn't I wasn't organized enough to have paper and pen Um, and I knew it was going to be a rubbish film so I didn't feel so bad about it In general you are right having a phone on in the cinema is very very bad I probably shouldn't have done it considering I ended up losing the notes and the notes were pointless anyway Yeah, that's the thing that really breaks my heart. Yeah, especially shouldn't have done it But I just want to kind of in some ways take a bit of a you know me a culper and fair do's I shouldn't have done it but They were extenuating circumstances and I've heard you I have the people have spoken and I do agree with them To put it on the record I also used my phone to take notes when I was watching the Hobbit But I specifically in my first class movie watching experience which I discussed last time Which I've been trying to sell to everyone I meet now in the topic of movies has come up I've got a lot of feedback from people I know in my life asking about the Separate movie theater experience and like oh you have to do this if you if you if you are ever going to go through the hell of watching a movie in public You need to do the upgraded movie experience. I feel like you're so late to the party though It's like you're some guy who's just said do you know what? There's this like stand outside the cinema where you can also buy like drinks and food before you go in I never even knew it was there maybe it's like this a bit of an afraid just these things maybe I'm just Yeah, I am I am really leads there's something else Well, I'll talk about being lead to party or something else another time I finally just listen to serial Which everybody's been talking about for the longest time. Oh, yeah I haven't listened to that yet. Yeah, but these things these things are they are very slow to enter my media consumption Q with the way I have things algorithmically laid out, but anyway So I've been pushing the movies on everybody But one of the other things that was great about it is you can reserve a seat and though I so I specifically reserved The back corner seat so that when I had my phone on there was nobody behind me to be distracted Wow, and so you really do plan ahead, don't you? I yeah, of course What I mean you don't just you don't just show up and and the phone is really rude and distracting to other people Brady like oh, sorry folks. I'm here for work You yell at everybody in the theater. I don't you know, I was just great. I was just great But it's still a fair criticism and as I was away from people too, but Anyway, so I just want to put on the record there. I also used my phone to take notes So I think that is it for follow up. Yeah, we have finally we've finished the follow up and nearly an hour and a half in With a more than a few tangents uh There's a few things I was going to bring up, but I'll skip some of them for another time because yeah We did say we were going to have a shorter show, but there were a couple of things I wanted to quickly bring up It has to be a shorter show, but do uh, do you want to mention the objectivity? I would like to mention that okay Yeah, I'm starting a new channel if there's one thing you need Brady It is more channels. It is a new channel for the new year It's it's it's going to be a series of videos called objectivity Which Gray will link to in the show notes. It's not very easy to find at the moment Um, I'll put a link on my website, which is Brady heron.com Uh, but Gray will put something in the show notes which would be a better way to find it because you're already hopefully are somewhere near them but it has been problem naming it because of names and Search engine stuff and it's early days, but It's going to be a bunch of videos about Objects and you and I have discussed this for a while actually you've you've known a bit about this as yeah I feel like I've been very interested in this project because you've been telling me about this for a while So I feel like I have known a little secret uh long before anybody else, which is surprisingly fun And and we talked about it a little bit and I am very interested to see how this channel turns out because Particularly I think the thing that maybe interesting to people is that this is going to be much more You in the videos than uh other stuff like periodic videos or a number file. Yeah, uh, so I'm I am very curious to see How this how this turns out and how you you do this, but you're going to be talking about objects And historical objects which I could not imagine a more Brady channel than perhaps this one But it's in some ways it's kind of you as well because it's going to be like in you know, vaults and archives and things like that and cool stuff And while you don't like You know objects and tat and stuff in your house You are really interested in sort of history and the stories of things and and that and it's going to be a bit of that So I think uh, I think I think you'll like it too Well, I'm very curious to see the first few videos Yeah, well the first that there's like a little teaser video already on the channel That when I've been December and in the within a day or two hopefully of the podcast going up The first proper video about an object will also go up. I won't give away what it is yet But it's something really really cool. Will you tell me offline and I'm curious now. Yeah, I'll tell you offline Okay, good um, so that should be that should be up soon. So um, you know Go and have a look do me a favor and if you like the channel subscribe to it and if you don't Just kind of keep your mouth shut Walk away quietly Don't like don't like leave a negative comment or tell everyone how bad it is just kind of I like your honesty there I like your honesty there. That's it. If you don't like it, you know what keep walking That's pretty much what gray does when I make a video. He doesn't like he just doesn't say anything So uh so anyway, that's going to be something new and different But that it's being filmed and edited by a mate of mine called James Hennessy who's very talented and uh So the films will look a lot prettier than my films But the prettiness of his filming will be cancelled out by the occasional appearance of my face. So um But because you're just hideous pretty hideous yeah, but it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting So you know dig it digging out all this for years. I've been going into all these Vaults and archives and things like that for various purposes and every time you go in there There's like a thousand things that you look at and you think oh my goodness. This is so much stuff here I should be making a video about all of this stuff so Objectivities are little Taste or attempt at that at just just taking this this disparate random amazing things And making films about them and I think there will be quite a science bent to it, you know, because Clothes me So they'll mostly be cool objects from the history of science and Discovery in the natural world and and whatnot and I hope to have Visit various places and have different people in the videos and We'll see how it goes. It could be it could be a short experiment It'll be six months at least and at the end of six months. I think we'll see whether or not it's worked or whether or not It's been a Spectacular disaster. Yeah, but this is this is I know I'm a big fan of this stuff You you try little experiments. You see how they go. Yeah, the ones that work you keep going and the ones that don't you kill This is true sometimes the ones that work you kill as well, you know, that's true That's not working well enough. That's happened to me a few times I've started a couple of channels that have been like started growing and people have wanted more But for reasons of time or resources and that I've had to kind of stop and I still get emails like oh when you're gonna do more You know psychology psychology channel or more of that philosophy channel and and I want to and I can't but So who knows some stopping doesn't always mean they failed but Uh, but failing doesn't mean they stop Yes, that's true. Yeah So yeah, so thank you for giving me a little ad there. I'm gonna charge you the normal rates for that ad by the way Rather than rather than ending on a shameless promotion I'll I'd like to end on something more pointless because that is the spirit of Halloween to net and let's go back to mobile phones. Okay. Where do you stand on kisses at the end of text messages What? Do you put kisses on the end of text messages like an x if you're texting Mrs. Gray I'm assuming what will people do Mrs. Gray at the moment? I hope but like do you put kisses on the end of messages or No, no, I don't I don't do this do you Do you put kisses at the I've never gotten a kiss from you with the end of your text messages? No, of course I don't put a kiss on the end of a well You're asking me if I put kisses on the end of text messages and then the answer is no I know what about to your wife Uh, I use modicons with my wife much more than other people Is that what you're asking does she does she put does she sign off her text to you with a kiss Do you mean with an axe is that what the next yes, no not with an axe no Anyway, the reason I bring it up is I find it I find it I think I think This isn't going to mean a lot to you because you're not you're obviously I think you're outside the norm here But I think we are suffering from a kiss inflation on text messages Because I as I said I put I sign off my text messages to my wife with an x and a zero So like a and I know like a kiss and a hug not many people do use the hug. I'm a It's kind of a bit of a thing of for me, but you're a huggy person on a I've never gotten a hug from you on a single I just think I don't put I don't do it to Me mean me I'm just I'm just feeling upset now All right, also well, I wouldn't know why bother you won't get it till 1 p.m. Anyway, but and you know The hug moment has gone by the time the text gets to you my mood may have changed But anyway, you're not with me on this whole kiss inflation thing. I well Is I'm totally unfamiliar with this world and I don't think I would ever be counting the kisses that somebody like that's just craziness I feel like we live in completely different worlds sometimes Like I'm not saying kisses on the end of text messages are important clearly. They are not I'm gonna send you I'm gonna send you a a Set number of kisses at the end of all of our text messages But that would be useful because then when you detracted or added from them. That's what I'm saying So yeah, if I only send you two kisses in the future you will know that I'm mad with you. Yes. Yes Okay, is would you like this to be added to our Because I'm gonna have to make some macro that just auto adds the four kisses at the end of each because I'm not gonna type that out That's what I mean. There is this inflation. They becoming meaningless like like I think at some at some stage like you know Two kisses became the norm and then all of a sudden one kiss wasn't enough and then the only thing I can relate this to is the eBay feedback that had plus inflation so people would say a plus plus plus plus plus They would buy again. That's the only thing I can relate this to and people are like oh they only got an a plus They'd be a terrible ebayer because 10 pluses are the standard now for eBay Well, this is exactly what's happened and it happens with the way schools are rated and stuff too doesn't it like everyone's You know and schoolmarks, you know getting suddenly you had to get an a start to be good and then a Get an a wasn't what it used to be and I don't even know if it's if it if it's happened people will have to tell me But when I was leaving teaching there was talk that they were going to be introducing the a double star mark So it was basically the beginning of an infinite number of stars to represent how awesome you are But yes, they decided that apparently a star was not high enough and one of the boards was going to be oh We're gonna introduce a double star for the really exceptional students It's like you don't need to do this I guess that's what's going on here kiss inflation is dumb I think no I like I think it's a really interesting Like I can imagine someone writing quite interesting little article about it and you You made a brilliant parallel with the the the a plus plus inflation on eBay Like that's a really interesting. Yeah, I'm sure that's that's a good go-to metaphor the kids these days will really be right on top of remember eBay in the 90s kids Yeah, that's exactly what's what this is like Yeah, but it all happens I like I think I decided interesting. I find it interesting that you know one one one or two kisses is just like Is nothing the kisses a big a bit dva a dropping in value. Okay. Well, I gotta go Brady xx
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