Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle.
This puzzle is about fabrics.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Fabrics.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm thinking of a fabric in particular that is interesting
to word nerds like me because if you rearrange the
letters in this fabrics name, it reveals something the fabric
is famous for doing. So again, the fabrics name is
an anagram of this fabric's most famous quality. So, for instance,
(01:01):
if satin was famous for leaving stains on clothes or
easily stained, that would be an example satin and stain
because they are anagrams. But it's not satin and stain
are not particularly famous. This one is a great anagram
appropriate anagram. A couple of hints. This fabric is a
(01:25):
seven letter word it starts with the letter S, and
it was invented in nineteen fifty eight. The answer and
more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello Puzzlers, Welcome back
(01:45):
to the Puzzler Podcast. The anti static cling tryer sheet
and your puzzle laundry load. I thought that was appropriate.
I'm your host, AJ Jacobs, and that right there is,
of course, she Puzzle Officer Greg Puliska, So Greg. Before
the break, I asked for a fabric whose name is
interesting because it anagrams to something appropriate about the fabric.
(02:07):
Rerang so good it is. I was delighted to discover this.
I'm sure I'm not the first, but the fabric is
a seven letter word starts with S, invented in nineteen
fifty eight. Any theories, Well, I needed the clues.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I wrote down a lot of fabrics before you said
seven letter words starting with US. I had like Velcro,
which I thought was cool because it anagrams to clover,
which has nothing to do with what velcrow does, but
it does have an anagram. I wrote rayon nylon and kevlar,
which you know certainly isn't what you're looking for now
(02:40):
if it starts with S and it's seven letters. It's
going to be span dex, which expands exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Span dex expands cool and A believe it is not
a coincidence. I believe it was named because it is
an anagram of expands.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It's sort of a spoonerism sort of.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Or yeah, right, fandex expand.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And it's very stretchy. Now, I I was trying to
see if there are any other brand names that were
created because they're anagrams. Maybe, Greg, you know, I mean
there are a lot that are like that are accidental anagrams.
The New York Times, New York Times anagrams to monkeys, right,
monkeys right.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Wow, Okay, Yeah, there's opinion.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
No, Okay, that's not my opinion. That's just a fact
that just Cosmopolitan is oh cool man tips cool Man
tips is naive. But do you know of any that
were intentional anagrams?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Nothing comes to mind immediately.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Folks at home, If you can think of any, please
let us know. We love to know. At the puzzler
dot com. There's a little send us a letter tab.
This is an appropriate starter puzzle because we're going to
be doing a puzzle today about company names and products,
and we're going to be doing this puzzle with the
(04:02):
great comedian and host of the Reasonably Happy podcast, Paul Ollinger.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Welcome, Paul, Hello, gentlemen, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Well, Paul, of course we are more than reasonably happy
to have you on the show. But on your podcast
you interview guests including and Pramtis a b about life
and money and happiness. But tell me the origin of
the name reasonably Happy. With Paul Ollinger, I got the
Paul ol.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
As you know, AJ is a three time guest on
the podcast. It used to be called crazy Money, but
I kept getting pitches from publicists who wanted me to
interview their client who had a foolproof way to make
millions in real estate while you sleep. Thus, I quickly
changed it after only five years and came up with
(04:54):
reasonably Happy, which is a nod to my grumpy predisposition, uh,
but but also sort of a a wink wink. Let's
let's try to be happy as we can be because
life will never be perfect. Let's accept that imperfection and
live the best life we can. And I didn't even
know this, but my my speaking agent said, oh, I
(05:18):
love that you reference the serenity prayer. In in the
new title, and I said, what do you mean and
she said, well, you know that it says at the
second verse of the Serenity Prayer that we should strive
to be reasonably happy in our lives.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And I was like, oh, well, that's interesting that that
that language comes from that prayer because it's kind of
what I'm going for. But I didn't even know what existed,
So what is that Kismet or whatever? But anyway, so
reasonably happy, Yeah, come along, let's let's let's learn how
to be reasonably happy and enjoy every day, even the
ones that aren't perfect.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I love that philosophy. I love that and that is
my philosophy. So oh I am. I am a big
fan of the podcast. And you mentioned it was originally
called crazy Money, partly because you before we were a
podcaster and comedian, you worked at Facebook, so we want
to talk about that and you made a good chunk
(06:17):
of money. Was it crazy money? It was moderately crazy money.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's it's crazy in the sense that I certainly don't
deserve it, akay, and that you know, I always aspired
to make money as a kid. I was that guy
that was going to be successful in business and you
create this whole image around or your life goal is
to make money, and then you make money, you realize, hey,
I'm still the same guy. When I look in the mirror,
I still you know, look at my face and go, oh,
(06:45):
what's wrong with this face? You know, so we're all
Money is just one component of a multifaceted life. It's
not going to make you know, lack of money is
definitely not a good thing in terms of when you
wake up and you're thinking about your bills before you
brush your t that's not a good way to live.
But just being wealthy isn't going to make you a
complete human being either. So it's one component of a
(07:08):
of an important balanced life.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Wise words, I love it, uh well, Facebook, as I said,
was one of your employer to an early uh and
early employee. So this puzzle was inspired by Facebook and
I love it. And the fact that Facebook is two words.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
This puzzle will steal your data.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I know, I'm worried. I am worried. Uh So this
is all these companies I'm about to clue can also
be broken up into two words like face book, Facebook, okay,
and I'm going to clue them with synonyms for those
two words. So for Facebook, I might have given the
clue visage tone visage, which is very catchy. I'm shocked
(07:54):
that Mark Zuckerberg didn't consider maybe he did.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Visage show visage tone.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, it would be good.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Uh So, all right, First, virtuous three hundred and sixty
five days equals a tire company. Virtuous three hundred and
sixty five.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Days, good year.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's it, good year. The tire company is good? Is virtual?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That? That was an easy Thanks for letting starting me off. Yeah,
it's like the S A T. You're gonna You're gonna
get me the easy ones to see if I can
handle hard re questions.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, we're going to wade in. We're gonna wait in.
We might get into some shoppy waters, not too choppy.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
And if you do well on the podcast, you'll get
into college more likely.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I hope you, just like I hope so, and then
I'll have a happy life if I.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
It all works together. All right, you're right in the
next one is Actor rock Well cruoned equals an electronics company,
So Actor rock Well cruned. The answer is.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Samn sung, Yeah, sung.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Exactly, A nice little sentence, Sam Sung.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I was saying I was I was stuck on rock. Well,
I was ig Norman what it was a painter. It
was a painter, not a not an actor. And then
I remembered White Lotus right, that was Sam.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yes, I loved him in that I looked at other ones.
That was his monologue. Was one of the craziest moments
of television last five years.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Wow. All right.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Now, by the way you mentioned, we're starting off easy.
Now it's getting a little harder because some of these
are sound alikes homonyms, so they're not the actual way
that the company is spelled. All right, you ready? This
one is what you might say watching fireworks plus what
you might say if you're cold equals a car ride company.
(09:56):
So what you might say watching fireworks? O, yes.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yes, it's like if you're watching fireworks, there's only only
two to choose from, right, I mean like.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
True Joe Drew. So I put those together. You said it,
but just to spell it out, that.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is Uber you b e R.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's it Uber?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
All right?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
How about China has a great one plus places for
putting equals a pharmacy chain. China has a great one,
plus Pat.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Has a great one. It's the greatest.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
He would never say that, he would never acknowledge green exactly. Well, Greens,
well done. All right, just a couple more. Uh how
about well let's stick with with some China. We got
lower limb plus a Chinese strategy game equals a toy company.
(11:03):
Lower limb plus a Chinese strategy game equals a toy company.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Lower limb would be like a leg or a foot.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yes, the first one.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Any strategy would be oh boy, checkers, Uh, Checkers a
Chinese game.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I think it's check Chinese Checkers is not originally from China,
and maybe this one isn't either. I should have in China.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Okay, Chiny strategy game.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's the chest of China and an inspired Oello.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I was going to say, but I was like, that's
a Chinese.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Well, it's sort of a rip off, a baby ripoff
of the real game, which is which.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Is called what not Stop but Go?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Legos leg. I was going to say legs, but it's like,
what's go is the Chinese strategy game? It's like LEGO?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I mean, I had leg, you had leg you got it?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Putty? Lower limbs are there? I know, I'm not very many, Yeah,
not very many.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
All right, A couple more. We've got Santa's Gift for
Naughty Kids plus boarding pass info. So Santa's Gift for
Naughty Kids plush.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah, got it?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Cold Gate.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Coldgate exactly a toothpaste company. But I didn't even need
to say that.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I called on I used to call on Colgate when
I worked in the digital media industry. In nineteen ninety eight,
Colgate almost got twenty five grand for the men In's
speed Stick account A j was a would have been
a huge windfall for the Olinger family.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Oh man, but it all the speed stick you could
use right time support.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Remember if we got that deal done or not, we
may have, we may have.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Did you meet the guy who wrote by men in?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I didn't, you know what? And that's just that's go
try to find men in speed stick on the shelf
these days, because Jenny has no love for men in
speed sticks apparently. And it's the deoder and I've been
using since I was fourteen years old. And what do
you do? That was an odds I buy in bulk.
When I find it, I figure, you know what, I'm
(13:25):
fifty six? How many more sticks a deodorant? Am I
going to go through in my life.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You think you're okay, how many?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
How many? Anyway, that's no, I know, I'm going to
keep smelling. That's my core competence. It's it's how many?
I don't know? Anyway? Do the math? All right?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
We got two more? How about This is what Bill
the Science Guy uses to unlock his front door. Bill
the Science Guy uses this to unlock his.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Run But these be what I want to Just do
it because Bill Nye has a.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Key he does and Nike, Nike, Nike. All right, last one,
we've got a children's plaything plus the Star Wars Sage.
The diminutive Star Wars Sage equals a car company.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh, it's a Japanese car company. It is agains in
toy and ends in Yoda Toyota.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
You got a toy Yoda.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Also, thing you can buy at the store for your kids,
a little Toyota.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Good point.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, oh there you go. Yes, yeah, that could.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Be the That could be an amusing mix up if
you ask for a toy Yoda and come back with
the car or vice versa.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It's probably wouldn't your your teenager be disappointed quickly? Exactly?
The car?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Dad, get me a Toyota.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I need bring one home today. Son.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, you did wonderfully and before we go, I just
want to talk a little more about Facebook. Why did
you make the switch from Facebook to stand up comedy?
How did that go?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Well? The truth is a jade that I made the choice,
the switch from comedy to Facebook before I made the
chor the switch back. So I went to graduate school
to get my MBA and borrowed a lot of money
to do that, and I told jokes one night at
a talent show and I thought, oh, this is what
(15:36):
I'm supposed to be doing, as I was bit by
the comedy bug that night. But I alled these student loans,
so I had to go get a job, and I
ended up in the digital media business in nineteen ninety
seven for a company that became Yahoo Music. We didn't
make any money on that acquisition, but eventually Yahoo I
earned enough money to pay back my student loans. So
(15:56):
then I went and I did stand up comedy in
LA for two years. After two years, I got engaged
to my wife, my still wife and mother of my
two children, and I was like, I need a I
probably need a job because I want to have a family.
And about that time, a friend of mine from Yahoo
called and said, would you be interested in joining this
small social network called Facebook? And I said, Hey, someday
(16:18):
this company could be as big as MySpace, and so
I joined the company and it turned out to be
a really good decision.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Well what was it like in those early days.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It's pretty chaotic. I mean when we started. When I started,
the company was about the audience every month was about
twenty five million users. So today that audience is north
of two or three billion, and when I left, it
was probably a billion. And the company went from two
hundred and fifty employees to probably three or four thousand.
(16:52):
So it was four and a half years of rocket
ship growth and it was you know, you have you
can see that everything is going in the right direction,
but it's pretty chaotic. You know, startup companies don't have
a lot of processes. Processes however you'd like to pronounce
it for your UK listeners, and so you know, you're
(17:16):
they say you're building an airplane in mid flight, and
that's how it feels, because you're trying to get you know,
systems and people put in place to to to to
create a sustainable, scalable company all the while still going
eighty miles per hour trying to hit revenue goals, you know,
(17:37):
trying to deliver for your customers, all that kind of stuff.
So it was a wild ride.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, And what's your take on Facebook now, a force
for good or force for not so good?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well, I think it's it's uh, maybe that's not the
way to look at it. It's it's it's like all
of us, there's there's there's good things and bad things
about it. I think that if Zuck hadn't invented Facebook,
somebody would have invented it along the way, or we'd
be using TikTok and Instagram for different purposes than we
(18:08):
use them, you know. And it's interesting. You have to
recall that Facebook was the first real name platform on
the Internet. It was the first place you represented yourself
as actually yourself. When I worked at Yahoo twenty years
ago here in New York City, Yahoo didn't know, or
(18:29):
was only just beginning to understand whether you were a
man or a woman, where you lived, how old you were.
And so we sold these things called run of site ads,
which means they just ran to everybody. There was no targeting,
and so men would see ads for tampaks, women's would
women would see ads for viagra? It was just a very,
(18:51):
very different time, and we forget that Facebook was the
first place where we connected with real life friends in
a real name way. So it changed the nature of
interacting online. And there's pros and cons to this. You know,
we know that people who hide behind pseudonyms or fake names,
(19:12):
they act very differently, much more rudely than people who
are representing themselves. Does Facebook have problems? Has it created
a political echo chamber? Absolutely? Are their concerns around data
privacy that are legitimate. Absolutely, there are a lot of
important questions, especially around the degree to which phone usage
(19:34):
and social media usage affects the mental health of children. Absolutely.
I think these are things that we as parents and
as human beings have to learn to adjust to, because
I don't think this is going away.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Well, I am most worried about the disinformation aspect of it.
I'm only mildly worried about the privacy. Maybe that's because
I am sort of an outlier in my lack of
priv to see. But you have a good bit and
your stand up about privacy and Facebook. Would you give
it to us as we go out?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, I you know, I say that. I tell people
who might worry about Facebook, I said, well, you know,
the data privacy issue is worse than you think it is.
It turns out that for the past eighty years eighteen teen,
Verizon have been taking their customers' names, addresses, and phone numbers,
printing them in a book and leaving that book on
front porches all across North America. Shocking.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
It is shocking.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah. So you know it's called the it's called the
white Pages, and nobody worries about that, right, right, And.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Wait, what was it? You had a kicker about Vladimir Putin?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh, I say, yeah, every serial killer and telemarketer on
the planet knows exactly where you live. But now you're
worried that Vladimir Putin is going to find out that
you like cold Play?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Oh no, all right, oh no, oh, yes, there you go. Well,
for the record, I do worry some about that. But
the this information, I.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Think it's a legitimate. It is a legitimate concern. And
you know, especially with you look at the quality of
AI deep fakes, just the amount they've improved in the
last six months, and you go, holy smokes, what does
this mean for what does this mean for what's real
and what we consider real and what we how do
we know what's real or what's fake going forward? And
(21:23):
if it's this good now, what's it going to look
like in five years?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
It's going to be mind blowing crazy? Well, thank you, Paul.
We loved hearing about company names and Facebook's history. And
I have an extra credit for the folks at home,
which is a baby bird's home plus martial artist Bruce
(21:48):
equals a food company. A baby bird's home plus martial
artists Bruce equals a food company delicious. So come back
and we'll Greg will let you know the answer to that,
And in the meantime, we'll meet you here tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles, and say will puzzle you puzzlingly