Friend of the show Frank is seeking to delineate when something is a “vending machine” and when it’s just a machine that vends. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

El Camino

May 27th, 2024 4m 2s

Thanks to Friend of the Show Casey, we’re talking about weird cars and car classes again. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Autonomous Excavator

May 16th, 2024 2m 39s

Listener Ivan sent in a link to an autonomous excavator that assembled a six-foot wall out of rocks. Is it the Roomba of construction materials?! John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Dishwashing Methods

Apr 29th, 2024 7m 34s

A tale of dishwashers and large sinks. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Theme Songs / Skip Intro

Apr 15th, 2024 9m 31s

We follow up on some feedback about our theme songs, and theme songs in general, while taking on whether we use the Skip Intro button when we should be listening to TV theme songs. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

⚾️ Robot Umps ⚾️

Mar 28th, 2024 9m 54s

It’s baseball’s Opening Day, so here’s our discussion of automated balls and strikes, also known as “Robot Umps,” how they relate to automated Hawk-Eye tennis calls, and why we won’t ever know how good human umpires could actually be. John Sira

(Pizza) Pie

Mar 14th, 2024 4m 56s

Fresh out of the oven for Pi Day, here’s a discussion of who exactly thinks pizza is a pie. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Places You've Been

Mar 4th, 2024 8m 11s

Do you have to leave the airport or get out of the car to claim you’ve been somewhere? (And are you under oath?) John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Killer Robot

Feb 19th, 2024 1m 48s

Listener Kent is building actual killer robots. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Hat

Feb 5th, 2024 4m 2s

What makes a hat a hat? John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Streets

Jan 22nd, 2024 12m 50s

I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside. Sometimes the streets have no name, but other times they are named roads, or avenues, or boulevards, or drives. What does it all mean? Does Jason live on a road o

Spatula

Jan 8th, 2024 5m 44s

Spatulas, scrapers, flippers, and home economics. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Coffee

Dec 25th, 2023 3m 12s

A question about cold brew coffee makes us question everything about coffee. Is everything coffee? Probably not. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Italian Ice

Dec 11th, 2023 6m 35s

A perfectly normal discussion of Italian Ice takes a left turn and goes into outer space, where other ices are available. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Musician

Nov 27th, 2023 10m 50s

When is someone a musician? Are DJs musicians? And more importantly, are John and Jason musicians? John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Avoid All Robots

Nov 13th, 2023 4m 45s

Some timely news regarding a university warning its community members to “avoid all robots.” John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Lies

Oct 30th, 2023 4m 3s

On John’s other podcast, Casey Liss often says he lied when he means he made a mistake. So what is a lie? (Trust us, we totally answer this one.) John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Spoiler Policy

Oct 16th, 2023 9m 33s

Listener Nick wonders what John’s policy on spoilers is. (Spoilers for “Romeo and Juliet” and “Citizen Kane.”) John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Nachos

Oct 2nd, 2023 5m 16s

Hold on, John, Jason’s got this one. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Relay FM Podcastathon Special

Sep 26th, 2023 14m 17s

Live from the Relay FM Podcastathon, Jason and special guest Stephen Hackett ask John a bunch of questions from the Robot Or Not question list. Topics include: Toast, Roadkill, Sandwich Order of Operations, Garage, and Cereal Soup. Please don

Sigh

Sep 18th, 2023 4m 45s

Listener Jamie wonders whether his dog is really sighing. We discuss noises dogs make. Also, after posting our previous episode we realized we got the numbering of the podcast out of order. Sigh.