Episode 43: Profundity & Profanity

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Thanks to listener feedback, I have taken the opportunity in Episode 43: Profundity & Profanity to work my pneumonia-ravaged voice a bit. Why? We are constantly judged by the quality not of our character, but of everything that projects that character, be it the voice on a podcast or the words carried by that voice. Does the tumbling gravel that was my voice during recording time ruin the message I try to convey any more than "bad" words that I might on occasion use? The answer is Yes, but I reserve the right to revisit that question for a more in-depth probing in a later episode.

I dive into the societal shift on tolerance for swearing a bit, noting my experience with unpunished public profanity and how that shifted with the turn of the decade. Witness my speeches in high school and compare that to what poor Matt "suffered" at the hands of the very same school and later the Supreme Court. (I doubt being a law student at Standford at the time of the ruling did anything bad for him.)

Bernie Sanders was eloquent enough to provide the vocals backing two new opening segments. I play both of them. Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today" closer once again signals the end of the episode.

Episode 42: More Self Evidence, Less Mud

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In a continuation and conclusion to Episode 41, today's Episode 42: More Self Evidence, Less Mud, I get around to doing what I suspect the folks at Planet Money failed to do, to actually read the 1930 John Maynard Keynes essay, "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren." I'm glad I did. Given the way economists today talk, his message was (if a bit confusing in ways I attempt to address) completely unexpected.

Other than Planet Money's episode #641, "Why We Work So Much," I play an ad that ran in a former episode of that show. Further, taking a lead from David Puttnam's TED Talk, "Does the media have a 'duty of care'?" I check and, sure enough, Planet Money has yet to correct the record by correcting the mistake it made way back in March of 2014 in their episode #524 "Me and Mr. Jones." I checked: their mistake stands to this day. Hey, check for yourself!

Musically, I felt the haunting music of Ga'an's "Living Tribunal" well expressed the horror of having a bank sponsor a show supposedly dedicated to teaching its audience about the workings of money. Tim Bousquet and KMFDM provided the show's opening.

Episode 41: Self Evident As Mud

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Today's Episode 41: Self Evident As Mud, deals with the historical divide between those of the upper and lower classes, specifically the prohibitions on social mixing and what tasks anyone in the upper classes could perform without denigrating themselves and being looked upon as less than genteel.

I draw from a bunch of books. Henry George's Progress & Poverty; Brian Czech's Supply Shock; Randall Keynes' Annie's Box"; and David Bodanis' Passionate Minds. I also shared details, if not exact quotes, from Peter Nichols' Evolution's Captain, the story of Captain Robert FitzRoy of the Beagle, the ship Charles Darwin sailed to the Galapagos and beyond.

I also quote Planet Money's Episode 641, "Why We Work So Much" and Stephen Colbert from a 2010 CSPAN testimony to Congress concerning immigrant labor in agriculture.

Musically, you hear Jahzzar doing "Family Tree" and the final bars of Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today." I opened with the Tim Bousquet/KMFDM intro.