Episode 1161

Red Hook Village Diner
On Leo’s way to drop Abby off at her new college, they stopped by a diner at Red Hook called the Village Diner, which was the first diner in New York State, and the 4th in the States. Here’s Leo’s picture on Google Buzz:

Village Diner at Red Hook
Leo’s Buzz
Speaking of Buzz, Leo has become disillusioned with all this business of social media that is Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, FriendFeed and his latest love Buzz.  Apparently, whether it’s because he accidentally changed a setting or for other reasons, his last 15 posts over the last few weeks have failed to go public, and no one noticed, including himself.  It’s made him realise that for the last four years he has ignored his own trusty beloved blog.  See Leo’s post on his own blog, Buzz Kill.  From now on, no more shiny sexy microblogs; no more wittering on Twitter – until the next social media craze comes along, that is.

Keep the Train-Wreck Going
Earl from Southfield, Michigan, writes with concern about the poise, dignity and professionalism with which Tom Merritt conducted himself on the Daily Giz Wiz, qualities not normally associated with the train-wreck that is the Daily Giz Wiz, qualities he can easily find elsewhere in other podcasts.  He hopes this is not a trend; otherwise the show’s listenership will surely drop from the dozens now (perhaps a generous overestimate) to the handful.  On a more serious note, Leo agrees with Earl that Tom has been a great addition to the TWiT network, so much so that they’ve decided to hire his wife Eileen Merritt as well, as a producer.

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Episode 1160

One for the Warehouse
James Moore from Brunswick, Georgia, has been listening to the Daily Giz Wiz ever since he acquired his Android phone the Droid Eris, while he delivers pizzas in Georgia.  He enjoys the show, especially Warehouse Friday.  He’s even bought the BlueAnt T1 covered by Leo in Episode 1132.  James has a suggestion for his favourite Warehouse Friday, the Microsoft Kin, the company’s touch screen operating system for feature-phones which lasted all of 48 days in the market – one of the most short-lived products in history, that probably belongs with New Coke and Orbitz Soda (Episode 1120).  Even the TwitterPeek (Episode 958) has outlasted the Kin phones.

Direct To Warehouse
Dick and Tom have seen their fair shares of failed products, including flooz.com and the CueCat.  Sometimes, at CES, Dick just wants to say to a manufacturer, “Don’t!”

CueCat Barcode Scanner

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Episode 1159

All About Cue Cards
Dick and Tom exchange notes on cue cards.  As Gene Rayburn got older, the typeface on the cue cards for him on the Match Game grew bigger and bigger.  When Tom was an intern at NPR, he had a chance to tour the CNN studios, and he picked up a hand-written blue card on the Larry King set.  On one occasion, Dick had to go down to the Tonight Show set to let Johnny Carson know what time he had to come up to the Match Game set for his guest appearance, and lying on the props table were cue cards with all the supposedly “ad-lib” lines written on them.

That Lovely Old Feeling Again
Nathan was listening to Episode 1149 in which Dick talked about the Bedfan (Episode 391).  Nathan used to have a bed/fan/sheet combo which would create a pillow of air around him and it would cause the sheets to barely caress him – perfect comfort.  Nathan wonders if the Bedfan will finally re-create that lovely old feeling again.

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Episode 1158

Another Tom Letter
Gerald Stangret from Canada enjoys having Tom on for a change; it adds zeal to the show, and he can tell Tom enjoys doing it.

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Episode 1157

Brannock Device
Dick struggles with the name of the age-old foot-measurement device invented 80 years ago which is still being made, in essentially the same form as the original – the Brannock Device (Episode 255).

Who’s this Tom Merritt?
Appropriately, today's letter comes from Dr Mark Sukoenig from Syracuse, where the Brannock Device was born (see his letter in Episode 280).  Dr Mark asks who’s this guy who presumes to take over the show from Leo.  He doesn’t have a letter to read; he doesn’t do Leo’s great voices; he doesn’t have Leo’s great sense of humour; he doesn’t even shave as Leo does or sit on the ball when he does the show.  His claim to fame is he gets to do shows with pretty women. Joking aside, does Tom merit his chance for filling in for Leo?  Absolutely, and Dr Mark listens to all of Tom’s shows.

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