Episode 200: Shees Reminded Me of Science!

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Time to review my first experiment conducted to try to determine if my phone listens to me… when it should not. To see if I manscaped well or if I nicked the berries, check out Episode 200: Shees Reminded Me of Science!.

In this episode, I read from: Shoshana Zuboff's book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight For a Human Future At The New Frontier of Power; and bits of selected spam sent by random shees. I reference an article concerning a patent held by Zuckerfuck's company the Effin' Bees.

(Oh, you really should see that article, if only to marvel at the picture they provided. It shows old Marky Zuck sitting at (I assume) his desk. Some sharp eyes noticed that on Zuck's computer, pieces of tape blocked the built-in camera and microphone jack. I guess if you know exactly what dangers lurk around those supposedly innocent devices, exactly what nefarious and evil people can do with them without your knowledge, you can't call it paranoia.)

Musically, KMFDM opens the show with "Attak" backing Shoshana Zuboff's warning of the hidden dangers of surveillance capitalism. Julie and Rolf and the Campfire Gang close the show with "Over the Rainbow."

Again, if you leave me a message here, remember that I'll be laid up for a few weeks, so allow some time before I answer.

Episode 199: Ultima Ratio Plebium

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I will maintain as long as I am able to speak that we must learn from history, if only to avoid making mistakes already made… well, making them again… and again… and…. I look back to the Crash of the 1930s in this Episode 199: Ultima Ratio Plebium.


My title's inspiration.

In this episode, I recalled: a bit of David McRaney's book You Are Not So Smart, the book I covered in my last show; and the detail about the "last argument of kings," which I originally encountered in Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash. I read from: Michael Perino's The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance; and my quickie dictionary.

Musically, I threw in a bit of Podington Bear at the end, with "Feather". KMFDM backed Mr. Ceglowski in the opener, and I close today with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 198: We Are Not So Smart

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We humans bear complex mental mechanisms, which are often general enough for experiments to tease out some rules that govern our behavior. Knowing how these rules can manipulate us helps us realize the title of this Episode 198: We Are Not So Smart.

In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; David McRaney's You Are Not So Smart (Penguin Random House, 2012); and Rose George's Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate (Metropolitan Books, 2013). Strictly from memory, I shared details from the movie Flight From Death.

I play: Pee Wee Herman commenting on large exceptions; and a bit from Animal House of Neidermeyer swinging the bat to induct a young Kevin Bacon to the ways of fraternity life… and economic life in general. Musically, Tristan Harris opens the show with KMFDM. I close with Julie and Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".