Episode 893

Giz Wiz Meet-Up - As Planned
At the time of recording, Dick and Leo were still planning the meetup.  Eric Shank from Wild Planet would be taking along the Beat Blender, which he invented, for a demonstration.  Leo had great plans too and hoped to take with him his Verizon MiFi ("Don't leave home without it" is Leo's new slogan), his new Olympus EP-1 Micro Four Thirds camera and Ozzy the Papillon.  To cap it all, he might a grand entrance in his Terratrike.

Giz Wiz Meet-Up - As it Happened
Very little of what Leo "planned" took place.  Despite that, everyone had fun last night.  John Slanina, better known as jammerb, was there and was kind enough to post a slideshow of some of the photos he took at the meetup soon after the meet-up. Don't miss the last photograph - it's a very special Spork.

Dick in Petaluma and TWiT Cottage
Dick had a grand time in California this time.  He appeared on Leo's radio show on Sunday, went on the Wine Train on Monday, had a test run in listeners Darrell and Marilyn Holmquist's new Tesla yesterday, after which he and Leo went back to the TWiT Cottage for a fun time recording next week's shows, including Episode 900.  Fans have made lovely gifts for Dick and Leo for Episode 900, and so don't miss the show.  If you can't wait, go to odtv.me to watch or download the video - but don't forget to download the audio podcasts still, as TWiT needs the numbers for podtrac and the sponsors.

Presto Saves the Day
Back to Episode 893, the letter of the day comes from Marcia Richardson, who installed the Presto OS (Episode 834) on her Toshiba laptop.  Her windows installation was attacked by a dastardly virus but she was able to continue using the machine by booting into Presto.  Finally, some good came out of the show!

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Episode 892

Giz Wiz Meet-Up - A Reminder
Dick, Leo and Dane Golden will be at the San Francisco Jillian's Billiards at the Sony Metreon this evening for a meet-up with fans and friends, which will start at 6-ish.  Details in Dick's post.  Leo should have his MiFi with him, and so if you can't be there, check for their updates on Twitter (Leo's Twitter, Dick's Twitter).

Wine Train - Catching Up
Dick and Leo went gourmet-dining and wine-tasting on the Napa Wine Train yesterday, along with Jennifer and Abby.  As promised, Leo (presumably with the help of his Verizon MiFi) uploaded photos and videos from the Wine Train.  If you missed it yesterday, you can catch up here (you have to enable scripts from TweetReel to see the videos).

Dick is figuring out how to get on to the tiny Wine Train

Dick with Andrea Guzman, Promotions and Partnership Manager of the Napa Wine Train

Even Ozzy tweeted about this lunch

Totting up at TD Bank
While Leo is rummaging through his mailbag for a letter to read, Dick steps in to read a letter from Doug from Stanhope, New Jersey.  In Episode 861, Dick talked about the surcharge imposed by banks for counting up your coins, and the better alternative of the Coinstar Machines. Doug wants to draw listeners' attention to the TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank) in the New York/New Jersey area, whose branches will tot up your coins for free.

A Free Ride in a Tesla
Leo finally locates the letter he was going to read. Back in Episode 661 Darrell and Marilyn Holmquist from San Jose wrote to Dick, promising to give Dick and Leo a ride in their Tesla which was due to arrive in May or June this year.  Now the Tesla Roadster has arrived, and Dick and Leo can try it when Dick is in the area for the recording of Episode 900.  The test run has now been slotted for today (Tuesday US Pacific time), before Dick and Leo start this week's recording session.

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Episode 891

Wine Train - Live Today !
Today (Monday US Pacific Time), Dick and Leo will be on the Wine Train, and Leo may be beaming videos or photos of the train journey with the help of his Verizon MiFi.  Check for their Twitter updates (Leo's Twitter; Dick's Twitter).

Giz Wiz Visit and Meet-Up: Update
Don't forget, Dick will be at the TWiT Cottage tomorrow (Tuesday 11 August) recording Episode 900.  Tomorrow evening there will be a meet-up in San Francisco, at Jillian's Billiards at the Sony Metreon, with Dick, Leo and Dane Golden.  It will start at about 6 p.m.  For more details, check out Dick's post.

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Writers' Rooms
At one stage, the writers' room for the Match Game consisted of Dick and Dick only.  But perhaps one of the most remarkable writers' room was the one for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, which included eminent writers such as Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon.

Weird Al's Parody on CNR
Dick got a rush of emails the day this JibJab video came out.  Jeremy Cartee and Ricky Brigante (host of Inside The Magic) were among the first to tell Dick about Weird Al Yankovic's new video parody on Charles Nelson Reilly, called "CNR".

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Episode 890

Get Audible
Regular correspondent Steve Miller spent 2 hours trying to get Paul Minshall's Audible Theme out of his head.  In the end he had to go to the Audible website, and bought himself Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a book previously recommended by Leo and Paul Thurrott of Windows Weekly.

Pride and Prejudice: Zombies Edition
Weekend Pursuits
If you're in NYC at the moment, Dick recommends an exhibition organised by Gladstone Gallery of works by Basil Wolverton, dubbed by a New York Times article as "The Michelangelo of MAD".  Then head off to the High Line Park.

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Episode 889

Lighters' Encores
Leo remarks that these days when the audience want an encore in a concert, instead of holding up their lighters, they hold up their cellphones.  Gone are the Zippo and Ronson lighters, although the companies are still around.  Zippo even makes a Virtual Zippo Lighter app on the iPhone, as Leo demonstrates, along with the iHandy Carpenter.  Video clip from odtv.me.

Leica Distos Abound
John Boline, from Elgin, Illinois, is a land surveyor and uses the Leica Disto (Episode 880) all the time, and assures Dick and Leo that many a surveyor or contractor owns one or more of the Leica Distos.

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