Episode 206: Good News For News?

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Extra! Extra! Read all about (maybe) good news for newspapers! Hey, a guy can dream, right? Best of all, this might be the very thing that ends our scourge of disinformation! I look into this possible solution in this Episode 206: Good News For News?

In this episode, I read from: a Wikipedia article about the Old English poem Beowulf; two articles by Matt Stoller, both from his newsletter Big (which I highly recommend); Robert McChesney and John Nichols' book The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again; and my computer's quickie dictionary.

I play: listener Vincent, cursing once again at my inability to clearly speak his native French language^*; and KMO from The C-Realm (who also draws and writes comics and hosts other podcasts!) gave us a "great." Matt Stoller opens the show backed by KMFDM, and I close today with Julie and Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow."

^*Thanks again, Vincent, for recording those curses. Every time I play them, they make me giggle.

Episode 205: All That You Can Be

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What each of us shall find in our future, sadly, too often depends not upon good planning, smarts, and gumption, but rather on who happen to be your mom and dad. Thus it's hardly a meritocracy that dictates Episode 205: All That You Can Be.

In this episode, I read from: Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success; and listener Kevin and his friend John riffing on Kevin's Fuckbook page. Thanks again to both of them for giving me permission to read their contributions. I also share the results of a focus group related to me by an anonymous friend. Thanks again, anonymous friend!

I played: a marines recruitment advertisement, gotten from a site that cinematically broke down the ad; Marine General Smedley Butler addressing the Bonus Marchers in 1932; and the theme from The A-Team. Chuck Mertz noted in the opening that people aren't dumb, backed by KMFDM (which might explain the dystopias predicted by young people today); and I close with Mistle Thrush.