The Pod Sage

Dave Jones, collected

Recommendations & Tips

What Dave recommended or warned about: products, tools, software, food and health, and life tips.

114 entries · 81–114 on this page

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Life tips

Habits and ways of going about things.

Get yourself a hate-listen

Life tipsA hate-listen podcast

Dave (half-jokingly) recommends having a podcast you hate-listen to. His is On the Media; he says it's good for you.

if you don't have a hatless and I highly suggest you go and get it's good for you. It's good for fantastic. It's wonderful

Episode 160: Forced Choice 01:09:47

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. "hatless" is a transcription of "hate listen"; tone is tongue-in-cheek.

Take the cap off your membership

Life tipsUncapped membership/support tiers

Dave told the Accidental Tech Podcast hosts to take the cap off their monthly membership so fans can give as much as they want, and they did. He thinks TWiT should do the same.

I told the guys at ATP. Take Take the lid off. And and take the cap off your monthly membership. And they did. Oh, and now you can give them as much as you want.

Episode 159: Proto Person 01:37:33

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. ATP is presumed to be the Accidental Tech Podcast (mentioned elsewhere on the show); the full name isn't said here.

Register defensive domains for misspellings

Life tipsDefensive domain names

After a publisher misspelled Dave's wife's website in a children's book, they ended up paying every year for domain names pointed at her real site, purely for defense.

that I'm pointing to for like the net for the rest of my life that I'm paying for every year. Only for defense.

Episode 157: BEP5 01:48:45

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1 other mention

Process backyard chickens humanely with a kill cone

Life tipsKill cone for processing chickens

Dave made a sheet-metal cone hung on a tree to dispatch the roosters his family raises. He says it's quick and humane. He also scalds the birds in hot water so the feathers release.

So I made the cone. I made a cone at a sheet metal hanging on the tree. You flip them upside down and drop their head down through the bottom of the cone. And then you take a super sharp knife you pull the neck in.

Episode 156: Model Drift 00:10:03

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With audiobooks, pick the narrator carefully

Life tipsChoose audiobooks by narrator

Searching Podcast Index for free readings of a story, Dave found many versions. The narrator is 99% of the experience, especially with open-source recordings.

just like any audio book thing, the narrator is done is 99% of the experience.

Episode 143: In the SCIF 02:01:01

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When insurance premiums spike, call and pare it back

Life tipsInsurance deductibles

With car insurance up 42% and homeowners up at least 20%, Dave called his agent to pare the policies back, raising the deductibles.

Our car our car insurance went up 42%. And so and I had to actually call and in start and pare it back. I had to get at a call mom say okay, let's let's raise the deductible.

Episode 139: Rustic Code Cave 00:24:11

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. 'call mom' is likely a transcription of 'call them' (his insurer). Adam immediately quips that the savings may be small.

Don't paste company data into AI chatbots

Life tipsKeep proprietary data out of public AI tools

His firm had to tell staff not to use AI chat tools with internal information. Submitting proprietary data to them amounts to a manual data breach.

Hey, you can't submit our internal stuff. But I think just like be exact. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're basically that's like, that's like a it's like a manual data breach.

Episode 135: Maximizing the Pull 00:42:57

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Use separate browsers to keep contexts apart

Life tipsSeparate browsers/email clients per context

Dave runs Edge, Chrome, Brave and Firefox side by side, plus separate email clients, so each context stays organized and he doesn't have to think about it.

I use like four different browsers I'll use edge chrome brave and in Firefox, just to keep things like on the same computer at the same time just to keep things in different like organized differently well, it helps me to have to it helps me not to have to think about it so I can be rapid response

Episode 134: ChapterGPT 00:02:01

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Take a 10-15 minute walk with a podcast

Life tipsWalking breaks with a podcast

Dave gets up from his desk, walks around for 10-15 minutes and listens to a podcast. He says some of his best thinking happens on these walks.

get up from my desk take a walk around around the the office area for a while just to get stretch my legs get some exercise. And usually I listened to a podcast while I'm walking you just about 1015 minutes.

Episode 132: Felt-Manhood 01:23:43

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Catch yourself reaching for the phone

Life tipsBreak the reflexive phone grab

Dave caught himself reaching for his iPhone just to fill the wait for coffee and told himself to just make the coffee. Notice the reflex and skip it.

I snapped out of it. After about about five or six seconds. I was like, hey, you know what, idiot you can just go make coffee.

Episode 132: Felt-Manhood 01:18:56

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Skip the paid celebrity photo op at Comic Con

Life tipsComic Con celebrity photo packages

His prepaid William Shatner photo was a scam: you pay in advance for packages and stand behind plexiglass several feet away. If you get the option, say no.

If you ever go to a Comic Con, and you and you have the option to get your picture made with the Star Trek guys for Shatner individually. Say no.

Episode 131: Toilet Scroller 01:42:13

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Custodial wallets are fine for pocket money: just sweep it out

Life tipsCustodial Lightning wallet for small balances

Nothing is wrong with a custodial wallet holding $100 or less for boosting, as long as you sweep it out to a non-custodial wallet. You don't keep your life savings in it.

there's nothing wrong with having a custodial wallet that just holds 100 bucks or less.

Episode 129: Turkish Punk 00:10:20

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1 other mention

Large deposit at a regional bank? Ask the hard question

Life tipsCheck your exposure above the $250k FDIC limit

After SVB, Dave said anyone with more than $250,000 at a smaller regional bank must seriously ask whether that money is safe. It's a business and estate question, not a theoretical one.

If you've got more than 250,000, if you're a quote, large depositor at a smaller regional bank, yeah. Then you this is a question you must ask yourself, this is a big, this is a business question,

Episode 126: Podcasting Power Rangers 00:43:49

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Learning a language? Learn the colloquialisms

Life tipsLearn colloquialisms when learning a language

When you learn a second language, the colloquialisms are what you want most, because they help you sound native.

when you're learning a second language, the thing that you want to know the most is the is the colloquialisms in the other language you want because that helps you sound native.

Episode 125: Wolf Nuts 00:58:10

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Slow down when you talk

Life tipsSlow your speech down

Dave says his brain runs ahead of his mouth and his stammering gets worse when he talks fast, so he tries to talk slower around people.

I'm naturally sort of a stammer because I try to get my brain goes faster than my mouth. So I have to get them in sync.

Episode 124: Undeplatformable 00:20:56

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1 other mention

Go back to 1x listening speed

Life tipsListen to podcasts at 1x speed (no silence trimming)

Dave used to listen to everything sped up with silence trimming and noticed he was irritable with his family after commutes. Switching back to normal speed felt slow for a few days, then reset his brain and improved his conversations.

I noticed I would get home from like a commute somewhere, I would get home and I had been listening to this for let's say, 30 minutes. And I would be irritable with the people in the house.

Episode 123: Get Off My Chain! 00:07:09

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2 other mentions

Join first, present later

Life tipsGet to know a community before pitching it

After his first Bitcoin meetup, Dave planned to spend a few weeks getting to know people before offering a talk on podcasting and value-for-value.

So I figured I figured what I do is I just get to know people for a while and then I'm done. And then a few weeks I'd say hey, I can do a presentation on podcasting.

Episode 123: Get Off My Chain! 00:03:43

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Give coworker gifts modest enough that nobody feels obliged to reciprocate

Life tipsDeliberately modest coworker gifts

Dave and his wife Melissa worked out a strategy for gifts to his coworkers: price it so they don't feel they have to give one back. Not too high, not too low. Her example: a bottle of wine that's obviously not a nice one, noticeably under $15.

But but you have to be strategic in order to make it where they don't think they have to give you one back. So it's like the dollar amount can be too high can be too low.

Episode 113: Substance Dualism 01:24:09

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Search a newspaper's archive from before the current controversy

Life tipsGoogle site: + before: search

Whenever a big event hits, one of Dave's favorite habits is a Google search limited to the New York Times and to results before a certain year. Searching 'freedom of speech ACLU' turned up 1989 articles on campus speech codes, a reminder that today's fights aren't new.

one of my favorite things to do anytime there's a big sort of event like this, is to go and do a Google search for you do site colon, ny times.com. And then you get before colon a certain

Episode 20: we are mapping the road. My love Fridays (approx., from transcript intro) 00:23:31

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Never keep your code in a file-sync folder

Life tipsDon't keep code in Dropbox-style sync folders

After Sync.com started scattering conflict copies through his code folders and it took about a day to untangle the API and documentation repos, Dave warns developers: however convenient it is for working across machines, don't keep code in a folder tied to a sync service like Dropbox.

here's just a word to the wise, do not keep your code, no matter how attractive this may sound, do not keep your code in a folder tied to a sync service, like

Episode 5: Episode 5 00:31:22

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Not in the audio. Guest episode; the quote comes from Dave's own account of his 'code disaster'. 'Dropbox' falls on an Unknown cue and isn't quoted.

Other

Shows, stories, and other pointers.

Security Now: required listening for anyone doing agentic work

OtherSecurity Now (podcast)

Dave says the latest Security Now episode should be required listening for anyone working with AI agents, because it shows exactly how few guardrails they have by design.

think the latest episode of Security Now should be required listening for anybody doing any agentic work. It's... it will show you exactly... The lack of guardrails that is inherent.

Episode 269: Verbal Pollution 01:05:30

Voice-matched

Not in the audio. The specific Security Now episode isn't named; it's the one current as of this episode.

Fall of Civilizations podcast

OtherFall of Civilizations (podcast)

Dave calls the Fall of Civilizations podcast fantastic: deep episodes on once-dominant civilizations and why they fell, mostly by means beyond their control. His one small annoyance is that each episode's bottom line tends to land on the same answer (climate change).

Well, this is a great podcast. This Fall of Civilizations podcast is fantastic.

Episode 247: Aggy5 00:01:54

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Read 'The Subprime AI Crisis'

Other"The Subprime AI Crisis" (article)

Dave recommends searching for and reading 'The Subprime AI Crisis', which notes that fewer than 1% of Microsoft's paying Office 365 customers subscribed to Copilot because it's so expensive. It's useful context on how fragile AI business models are.

if people have not read that article, look good search for the Google the search subprime AI crisis in if you know, in there, it says that less than 1% of Microsoft's paying office 365, customers have subscribed to their copilot service.

Episode 196: Red Neck Airforce 00:48:23

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Author not named in the audio (commonly attributed to Ed Zitron).

Podcast pick: Causality

OtherCausality podcast (John Chidgey) - Therac-25 episode

One of Dave's favorite episodes is John Chidgey's Causality episode on a radiation machine (the Therac-25) whose software bug caused horrible injuries. It digs into the assembly code.

one of my favorite episodes of John. G's called causality show. Podcast is where he taught he goes over this radiation machine

Episode 192: Lunchroom Quickie 00:09:57

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Host transcribed 'John. G' (John Chidgey) and the machine identified as Therac-25 from outside knowledge; Dave did not name it.

1 other mention

Read Bryan Barletta's piece on Spotify

OtherBryan Barletta's article on Spotify (Sounds Profitable)

Dave recommended Bryan Barletta's piece on Spotify and podcast advertising, calling it a good read for anyone thinking about podcasting from the ad side.

when I was reading Brian Bartlett, his piece on Spotify, which I which I think is a good piece I think everybody should read it

Episode 181: Bucket of Chicks 01:47:31

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Name transcribed 'Brian Bartlett'; identified as Bryan Barletta; outlet (Sounds Profitable) not said on air.

Hello, Dolly! is the greatest musical

OtherHello, Dolly! (Barbra Streisand)

After watching his way through a family list of musicals, Dave declares Hello, Dolly! with Barbra Streisand the greatest musical of all time, with no second place. (He also warns that Cats was so bad the family quit after about 30 minutes.)

I can confidently say this, with like, with full authority that I've granted to myself. The greatest musical of all time. Is Hello, Dolly. With Barbra Streisand. Wow. There is no second place.

Episode 166: Country Clever 01:54:06

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Presumably the 1969 film version starring Streisand; the year isn't said in the audio.

A Little House on the Prairie episode that teaches manhood

OtherLittle House on the Prairie

Dave says one particular episode of Little House on the Prairie taught him more about what being a man really is than anyone or anything else in his life. He doesn't name the episode here and promises to tell the story another day.

There's an epic, there's a single episode of Little House on the Prairie. That taught me what being a man really is more than any other thing.

Episode 166: Country Clever 01:51:32

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. The specific episode isn't identified in this segment.

Podcast pick: America This Week

OtherAmerica This Week (podcast, Matt Taibbi & Walter Kirn)

One of Dave's favorite shows. Each week the hosts discuss a short story, and Dave first finds an audio reading of it (e.g. on LibriVox via Podcast Index) before listening to their discussion.

I subscribe to this podcast America this week with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kern and it's one of my favorite shows. He every week they discuss a short story.

Episode 143: In the SCIF 01:59:27

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Host name Walter Kirn transcribed 'Walter Kern'.

Learn about the Eurodollar market (Jeff Snider)

OtherJeff Snider's Eurodollar research

Reading Secrets of the Temple led Dave to Jeff Snider's work. He thinks the Eurodollar market shapes the economy more than Fed rates do.

another thing I've learned from from the book, which led me to, to Jeffrey Schneider, back to him and yeah, researching his material is about the Euro dollar market.

Episode 126: Podcasting Power Rangers 00:36:09

Speaker-labeled

Not in the audio. Name transcribed 'Jeffrey Schneider'; identified as Jeff Snider (Eurodollar University) from context.

A two-part Lightning primer for developers

OtherWhat Bitcoin Did: two-part Lightning episode (podcast)

For developers dabbling in value for value without a strong Bitcoin background, Dave recommends a two-part What Bitcoin Did episode on Lightning. It explains why Lightning had to exist, why the block size wasn't increased, and the politics and history of Bitcoin.

I highly recommend that to anybody who is like wanting to get into any of the developers that are deterred dabbling with this stuff, and don't feel very strong in their knowledge of Bitcoin. That was a fantastic primer,

Episode 23: we're moving to Millie's lady's house. (approx., from transcript intro) 00:31:06

Voice-matched

Not in the audio. The transcript names the guest as 'jack Mahler's' (likely Jack Mallers). Dave thought it was from the previous year.

Listen to Malcolm X's speeches

OtherCollected speeches of Malcolm X (audiobook)

Dave spent months on an audiobook that strings together every Malcolm X speech that survives on audio. He calls it enlightening and eye-opening, and it shaped his later points about free speech and moderation.

I've got this audio book that's basically just a collection of all of his speeches, they did this. They can they could ever be found on audio just all run together. And I'm about halfway through it

Episode 23: we're moving to Millie's lady's house. (approx., from transcript intro) 00:15:58

Voice-matched

Not in the audio. Dave doesn't name the specific audiobook.

Back to Work: the show that ended Dave's 1.5x habit

OtherBack to Work (podcast, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin)

Dave tells Dan Benjamin that the first show he heard him on, Back to Work with Merlin Mann, was the podcast that made him stop listening at one-and-a-half speed.

the back to work podcast is the podcast that made me stop listening to podcasts at one and a half speed

Episode 13: Episode 13 01:12:25

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article

Read Dave Winer's 'Rules for Standards-Makers'

articleRules for Standards-Makers (Dave Winer)

Dave calls Dave Winer's 'Rules for Standards-Makers' the bible of Podcasting 2.0 and its open standards work. Rule one is that interop is all that matters, so users are free to move and products compete on performance, features and price rather than lock-in. Another rule: software matters more than formats.

It is the Bible that we live by within podcasting 2.0 and the namespace development and all the open standard development that we do here at this project.

Episode 61: Episode 61 00:10:18

Voice-matched

Not in the audio. The transcript renders the author as 'behave wonder'; the essay is Dave Winer's 'Rules for standards-makers' (scripting.com), as identified in other episodes.