Dear Listener,

It's day sixteen of the Wall Street Journal Wine Advent Calendar, and tonight Stan and Jon are sipping an Argentine Malbec called Bracero from the San Juan region. The wine opens with earthy notes (Stan says grass, Jon disagrees), develops into blackberry and chocolate mid-palate, and proves to be an approachable three-star sipper that would work well for company.

The chocolate pie debate rages on! A listener email from Emily (one of Jon's coworkers who has dubbed herself a "Twistie") sparked a deep dive into dessert taxonomy. Stan conducted a 12-person survey at work where nobody had ever had chocolate pie, researched recipes from America's Test Kitchen to Alton Brown, and emerged with a nuanced position: chocolate pie with flour is basically a brownie in a pie crust, while pudding-based chocolate pie gets a pass. The question of whether all cake must be baked remains philosophically unresolved.

The conversation shifts to the Golden Globes' new podcast category (where's 99% Invisible?), OpenAI's new image generation competing with Google's Nana Banana, and a delightful tangent about ranking Lord of the Rings characters. Spoiler: Eowyn wins for Men of Rohan, Galadriel dominates the elves, and the dwarves need more research. Also, Stan definitely knows what Twitch is.

Thanks for listening,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

It's day seven of the Wall Street Journal Wine Advent Calendar, and tonight Stan and Jon are sipping a French Cabernet Sauvignon called Bella Roche while discussing everything from wine legs to label scanning mishaps in Stan's wine tasting app. Pro tip: apparently you should decant these little bottles for an hour, which they definitely did not do.

Jon reveals his 2026 goals, themed around "clarity." The highlights: reading four Shakespeare plays (Julius Caesar, Othello, King Lear, and The Tempest), being intentional about family time, writing more words, contributing more code to GitHub, and making time for pipe smoking as meditation. Stan commits to reading the Shakespeare plays alongside Jon and challenges him to schedule at least four date nights with Mrs. Kohlmeier.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn into AI philosophy, specifically the difference between ChatGPT's cheerleader personality and Claude's more critical approach. Stan shares how Claude called out his "sodium bomb" lunch while ChatGPT would have just encouraged him. They explore why most AI models are trained to be sycophantic and whether that's actually what users want - or just what they think they want.

Thanks for listening,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

In this episode, we kick things off with a mystery: why did Jon unfriend Stan on Facebook? Turns out it was an inbox zero situation gone wrong, which leads us into Stan's philosophy on "lists vs buckets" - a productivity mindset shift from being a meticulous list-walker to becoming a free-flowing bucket person.

We recap our Thanksgiving experiences: deep-fried turkey vs smoked turkey, store-bought pie vs homemade rhubarb with lattice top (temped to perfection, of course), and the eternal debate over whether Cheesecake Factory cheesecake counts as a Thanksgiving dessert.

As we approach the new year, we dive deep into habits vs goals. Stan shares his habit-tracking journey from reading 15 minutes daily to his two-and-a-half year streak of morning Apple Fitness Plus workouts. Jon points out that Stan's self-discipline is "pretty rare" - though Stan insists he's not a fitness nut, just someone who doesn't want to die young.

Finally, we resurrect the wine tasting app project with help from Claude, just in time for the Wall Street Journal wine advent calendar. If you want to join us as a TestFlight user, reach out!

Thanks for listening,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

In this special Thanksgiving bonus episode, we tackle the most important question of the holiday season: what makes Thanksgiving truly Thanksgiving?

Stan argues that pie - not turkey - is what defines the holiday. Nobody sits down and says "yum, turkey's my favorite," but pie? That's what we're all really here for.

We debate the merits of various pies (rhubarb reigns supreme for Stan, with pumpkin as a solid backup), discuss whether chocolate pie and cheesecake pie are actually pies or cakes in disguise, and take a firm stance on lattice tops versus crumble crusts. We also settle the age-old question: are McDonald's apple pockets actually pies? (Spoiler: they're delicious, but no.)

Jon learns that Stan has a deep freezer primarily dedicated to frozen rhubarb for pie-making purposes, and we both agree that calling things by their proper names matters - even if it doesn't change how delicious they are.

Happy Thanksgiving, and may your pie be plentiful.

Thanks for listening,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

This week we dive deep into the AI wars with Google's new Antigravity IDE hitting the scene. Stan walks through his experience testing this VS Code-based editor with built-in agent capabilities that can actually resize browser windows, detect UI issues, and iterate on fixes autonomously.

We compare the big three AI coding assistants - ChatGPT's Codex, Claude, and Gemini Code Assist - and discuss how each is positioning itself in the developer tools space. Jon shares a cautionary tale about Codex going completely off the rails with an overly complex canonical URL solution, reminding us all that you need to be skilled enough to validate AI-generated code.

In a move that shocked his entire family (his daughter thought it was a terminal illness announcement), Stan purchased his first Windows PC in years. We talk about the nostalgia of his first coding laptop with an AMD Athlon 4 processor, and his curiosity about Windows Subsystem for Linux and modern Windows development workflows.

Plus, we kick off the episode with an emergency strap wrench situation involving a jar of filthy cherries that nearly derailed Manhattan night.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you soon,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

This week we discuss Stan's frustration with Claude Code's sudden degradation, which sparks a conversation about trust in AI services.

Jon and Stan then dive into a Decoder interview with web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, exploring his surprisingly optimistic take on AI, personal data privacy, and the open web.

Lastly, we discuss community decline, Star Trek as the basis for all philosophy, and Apple's $229 knitted iPhone sock.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you soon,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Show Notes

• Decoder interview with Tim Berners-Lee
• Apple iPhone Pocket announcement

Dear Listener,

In this first episode back after our hiatus, we dive into software subscriptions, AI-powered tools, and the ever-quickening pace of the tech world. Stan shares his experience juggling services like Claude, ChatGPT, and Grammarly, and what it’s like trying to manage so many overlapping tools. Jon talks about his AI workflows, including how he uses them for his annual resume refresh and building a master version that ties everything together. We’re both excited about how modern platforms make it easier than ever to experiment, iterate fast, and bring creative ideas to life.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you soon,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

Guess who's back? Guess who's back? Guess who's back?

Well, almost... Stay tuned as we dust off our microphones.

Thanks for sticking with us,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

Dear Listener,

We're headed into 2022 so we look back on 2021 goals and talk about what we expect out of 2022. The goals are less specific this year, but here's hoping for a joyful 2022.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you soon,

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

This is our last episode, for awhile... but don't unsubscribe! You never know when we might pop back in.

Dear Listener,

Merry Christmas! This week we talk about Christmas plans and cover a listener submitted topic: Our Top 10 Songs (Subjectively, like you'd listen to these 10 songs before you die or something like that.)

It turns into more of a 10 songs we like, plus some others. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for listening!

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier

If you use Apple Music here are some playlists:

Jon: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/top-10-songs/pl.u-vxy6k04C1yBAXb

Stan: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/last-10-songs-on-an-island/pl.u-LZPBIolk1g

Dear Listener,

Our about page hasn't been updated since we built the site originally, so we bring up some of the things that have changed since our initial bios. One day we might even get to updating the about page itself.

We also briefly touch on resolutions as we try to come up with topics to talk about for the last 2 episodes of the year.

Thanks for listening!

Stan Lemon & Jon Kohlmeier