Episode 235: A Winkling In The Making

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Our homes are the greatest asset most Americans have. This should therefore scare the living shit out of us: right now more renting a place to live than getting a chance to own at all. What can be done? On to Episode 235: A Winkling In The Making.

In this episode, I read from: a Vice article about the proposed legislation that would separate large funds from their rental housing; from Chuck Collins' book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions; and from a DailyKos article about actual left-leaning Democratic politicians bitching about the senior leadership in their party with a serious hard-on for preventing, well, left leaning policy, lest they piss off their wealthy donors. Ah, neoliberalism! What can't you fuck up?

I play: Pat Boone, covering Led Zepellin's most famous song, "The Stairway to Heaven". (Seriously, that Boone guy gets all kinds of shit because he dared to cover famous black artists, but no one mentions that Pat will cover absolutely anyone. He is an equal opportunity copy-cat. A copy-Pat, if you will.) KMFDM backed Henry Giroux in the opening, and I let the Vince Guiraldi Trio play us out with "Skating".

Episode 234: Enshittification

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There's a new word out there, doing its part to describe an old type of theft. Rentiers are once again attempting to rake in money, today using technology to make that job easier. I describe this word and some of the acts associated with it in this Episode 234: Enshittification.

In this episode, I read from: correspondence between myself and my podcast host helpers; and from two bloggy articles (the first also re-published by Wired) by Cory Doctorow. Listen also to Cory's extended three-part interview conducted by "BeeGee" Brooke Gladstone.

I played Clark Gable's huckster character from the 1947 movie The Hucksters in the intro, backed by KMFDM. Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang sing us out.

Episode 233: Critical Massholes

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Right now, there are a few under-reported legal attempts being made to rein in the tech giants that today, well, monopolistically reign. Just like I did in my last, I'll cover yet another of these attempts in this Episode 233: Critical Massholes.

In this episode, I read from: two articles from the series Big Tech On Trial, by Lee Hepner and Matt Stoller; Shoshanna Zuboff's book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power; an article from The Register; and, from his 1934 book I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked, Upton Sinclair's observation I call the Sinclair Maxim.

I played for you: Weird Al Yankovick's version of The Brady Bunch theme; and the wizard himself imploring Dorothy and the Gang to please ignore him, that from the third movie version of The Wizard of Oz. (Did you know there were two silent versions of the Wizard? There were. Weirdly, I couldn't find any audio clips from these to include in the show!) I opened the show with Shoshanna Zuboff backed by KMFDM, and I'm closing today with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow".

Episode 232: The Advertising Scorpion

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Lawsuits are happening! And so many concern advertising and the future of some really big companies! It's time to get not just excited, but really excited, starting with this Episode 232: The Advertising Scorpion.

In this episode, I read from two of Matt Stoller's articles from his newsletter Big: one from September 22nd of 2023, and the other from September 27th.

I played: Podington Bear's "In My Head" near the end. Matt Stoller himself opened the show backed by KMFDM's "Attack". I'm closing today with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 231: SSG The Status Goldfish

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In this final sharing of Will Storr's book, The Status Game, I give a glimpse into the tyranny of the cousins, people amongst us who seek to correct behavior in ways that should sound familiar. Watch what you say in this Episode 231: SSG The Status Goldfish.

In this episode, I finish up sharing the gist of Will Storr's book The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It. All that I quote came from that book, which I recommend you read yourself. Seriously, The Wife and I share few books in common; this is one of them. That should say quite a bit in itself. You also heard the robot from the original TV show Lost in Space delivering his famous warning.

Musically, KMFDM backs Tony Brasunas commenting on the nature of actual free speech and the media consciousness one needs to sort through all the speech. Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang sing us into a landing with "Over the Rainbow".

Oh, and quick housekeeping note: the computer I use to create these episodes is starting to show its age. Hey, it got to twenty years without too much trouble! Now, though, sometimes it fires up ready to actually work, and sometimes… not so much. It looks like I'll have some computer shopping to do pretty soon, which undoubtedly will affect new episodes in the immediate future. I appreciate your patience.

Episode 230: Erasing Typographic Man

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Have you ever read a very old book and wondered how the author could keep the argument flowing through the miles of print? I know I have. Today I explore the degradation of our modern attention span with this Episode 230: Erasing Typographic Man.

In this episode, I read from: Jerry Mander's book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television; Neal Postman's book Amusing Ourselves To Death; Benjamin Franklin's autobiography (as it was quoted in Brooke Allen's book, Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers); my Quickie Dictionary; and the 1893 edition of The New Review.

I play a bit the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap! (Keep listening until the end of the credits and I'll play more of that clip with Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner as a public service to those too young to have seen that flick. It'll help you get the joke still uttered by old people, too often to eleven.)

Musically, Lance Strate opens the show backed by KMFDM. Mr. Strate did an interview where he discussed Neal Postman's book, appropriately. Julie and Rolf & the Campfire Gang close us out with "Over the Rainbow".

Episode 229: SSG Sing a Song of Derision!

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Status is important to all of us. To maintain relative status for everyone, we need to keep those around us in check. Sometimes we must bring out the biggest means of checking behavior and, like the title of this Episode 229, Sing a Song of Derision!

In this episode, I read from: a psychological experiment involving parking lot behavior; and Will Storr's book The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It. There's still more in that book to cover, I assure you. I recounted: a joke made by David Letterman; an article by Thom Hartmann discussing the new Barbie movie; and details into Stetson Kennedy's exploits with the Klan.

I play: Dana Carvey taking the piss out of a glass of, well, piss; and the Superman radio serial from 1946, "Superman vs The Klan of the Fiery Cross", taking the piss out of the Klan. I also share a little tune that hoped to save the world, but how? They encourage folks to get together and "Let's all poop in a bucket."

Henry Giroux opens the show backed by KMFDM's "Attack"; and I close with Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

NB: I've chosen the TLA "SSG", or Storr's Status Game, to mark episodes in this series. I'll go back and change the other one now.

Bonus Episode: The Advertising Nuisance

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My hatred of advertising brought about my study of it. What I could never anticipate was the shared hatred that every now and again in history flares up and prompts so very many to complain, if not to act against it. Here is one such collection of complaint and solution from over a century ago in this Bonus Episode: The Advertising Nuisance.

These essays were published in the November, 1893 edition of a London periodical called The New Review, originally published by Archibald Grove, and found in that year's compiled book (found online here).

(Jim here. I do apologize for the episode being a day late. I completely underestimated how long it would take to record. Ugh. Victorian writing. Ugh.)

Episode 228: My Eight-Legged Monkey Dance

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We brag about living in a "free" country. Private industry, however, has too often more freedom to suppress speech than we do to exercise it, at least on "their" platforms. I vaguely allude to this in today's Episode 228: My Eight-Legged Monkey Dance.

In this episode, I read from: John M. Barry's 2018 book, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Again, it's a good read. Lots of gory details about what made that flu outbreak special. I also read from a Nature magazine article about President Obama curtailing research in the US. Just for fun, at the links I'll direct you to another article I didn't read on the show, but which I feel, monkey-dance-wise, gives you some perspective on …the current problem.

I play: a few bits of Professor Adrian Gibbs being interviewed in December of 2009 by one of The Naked Scientists at the BBC. I also play snippets of reporter Keren Landman and On The Media host Brooke Gladstone spewing forth opinion with which I strongly disagree. Musically, KMFDM backed then-Mayor Bernie Sanders observing a problem with media concentration; and I close today with Julie & Rolf and The Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow".

Addendum: Once again, perspecatious observer L33tminion caught my error, caused by letting my emotions overwhelm the direction of the show. Check out his quite proper admonition in the comments.

Episode 227: SSG The Games of Our Lives

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Yes, we humans are obsessed with playing games. They’re harmless fun, giving winners some bragging rights; in that way they resemble the most important game we play, the Status Game. I discuss this Greatest Game in Episode 227: The Games of Our Lives.

In this episode, I read from: Will Storr's book The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; Franz de Waal's book Our Inner Ape: a Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (available online here in PDF format); Tim Wu's book The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads; and two academic papers de Waal used to support his book. I also relay from memory detail about those without mouths—infants—from The History of English Podcast.

I'll also link to an interview with Will Storr on the You Are Not So Smart podcast. It's a good introduction to his work.

Musically, I play Lance Strate in the opening commenting on our complete inability to deal with lots and lots of anything, backed by KMFDM's "Attack"; Julie & Rolf and The Campfire Gang sing us out.

Episode 226: Categorization & Confirmation

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For almost a decade now, I've shared intrusive surveillance crap with you done in the name of advertising and marketing. Worse, today I need to revisit that crap to show that it's now a probable reality. Thus, Episode 226: Categorization & Confirmation.

In this episode, I read from: an article from The Markup called "From “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You"; Shoshana Zuboff's book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight For a Human Future At The New Frontier of Power; Antonio Garciá Martínez's book, Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley; An article about the Frootie Fone's invisible face reader from ITechPost called "Is Your iPhone Spying on You by Taking Invisible Photos? Apple Explains Infrared Camera"; and a Frootie support page filled with very specific and disturbing language.

I play: A tikki tokker named Brie who showed with an infrared camera all that darned flashing every five seconds. Musically, KMFDM backs Shoshana Zuboff herself in the intro; and I close today with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 225: Why We Can't Have Nice Things

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It really is possible to improve our lives by adopting less onerous practices. Keeping us from this better life are obscene fortunes earned by those who provide more onerous practices. I discuss some of this Episode 225: Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

In this episode, I read a message from my cell phone provider. I didn't read the silly survey they gave me afterwards, which, of course, allowed me to give them a shit review. I also recalled quite a few memories, and shared quite a few opinions, on things like M-Pesa.

I play: someone discussing small men's swimwear; and play Pee Wee Herman pointing out that many cannot wear the smallest size… due to their larger posteriors. Musically, Representative David Cicilline opens the show backed by KMFDM, and I close today with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow".

Episode 224: Categorically Errory

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I could do every episode sharing crud that attempts to score points against collective action… crud that spouts from mouths paid by people most likely to suffer should collective action occur. I present two in this Episode 224: Categorically Errory.

In this episode, I read from: Robert Henderson's City Journal article, "The Cadre In The Code"; and from the Manhattan Institute's various web pages. From memory, I also related the gist of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels.

I play: from Bill Maher's show, Real Time, Elon Musk getting his meritocracy on; and D. L. Myers invoking the Powell Movement. KMFDM backs Bruce Livesy in the intro, and I close with Julie and Rolf & the Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow".

Links to that material (along with an article that I didn't quote at all, but that had a full link to the Bill Maher show) can be found at the show notes at AttackAdsPodcast.Blogspot.com.

Oh, and a brief apology: this show is over a week late, simply because of [reasons], which were very good ones indeed. Trust me.

Addendum: Thanks to longtime friend and listener BleakNemesis, we can picture what this controversy hath stirred!


Bleak got it here.

Oh, and for those curious, BleakN is my nemesis, and has been since the name's creation. And a worthy adversary he is!

Episode 223: The Counterintelligentsia Strikes Back!

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I've described before how ideas originated in academia have caught society’s collective popular vision. How much of that content, though, was intended to benefit only the wealthy? I explore this in Episode 223: The Counterintelligentsia Strikes Back!

In this episode, I read from Nancy MacLean's book Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan For America. I also mentioned in passing Benjamin Hunnicutt's book Kellogg's Six-Hour Day and Arlie Russell Hochshield's book Strangers in Their Own Land.

I played: bits of two online videos featuring a mash-up of newsreels from 1957's Arkansas integration fight. D. L. Myers voiced the stinger for the Powell Movement.

Musically, I finished the body of the episode with Lee Rosevere's appropriately named "Intervention". KMFDM backed Henry Giroux in the introduction, and I'm closing today with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 222: FOB The Most Important Invention Ever

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Too few realize that answering the cocktail party question “what’s the best [something] ever?” requires taking into account how many on earth are affected by it. I attempt to answer this question in this Episode 222: FOB The Most Important Invention Ever.

In this episode, I read from: Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma; Vaclav Smil's book Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production; my computer's quickie dictionary; and Peter Zeihan's book The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization. I played: Political Economist Mark Blyth backed by KMFDM; and I'm closing now with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

Oh, for the show notes pages I'm including a brand-new TLA of FOB, which stands for Feeding Our Bellies. That will go into the title at the show notes so you can find… or avoid… all of my diversions from advertising that concern agriculture and global warming.

Episode 221: Books I've Quietly Read

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Most of us can relate: if we do something too often, specific memories of doing that thing are often lost until something triggers us to remember. Well, I read a lot. Here are some titles I forgot to mention in this Episode 221: Books I've Quietly Read.

In this episode, I mentioned: The On The Media series "The Divided Dial", which referenced Ann Nelson's book Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right; and Amy Webb's book The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans & Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity. I read from: Scott Galloway's book The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google; my computer's quickie dictionary; Nancy MacLean's book Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America; and H. G. Well's book Tono-Bungay. Too many books; too few mentions.

I played: a single word from the Pixar movie Up. Musically, I also played: KMFDM backing Mr. Ceglowski commenting on the truthfulness of advertisers; and I'm closing with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 220: Snitches Get Riches

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Once we learn about all the intrusive technologies foisted upon us just to stuff ads in our earholes and eyeballs, paranoia comes naturally. How much is enough? When does our paranoia match reality? I muse that in this Episode 220: Snitches Get Riches.

In this episode, I read from: two Wikipedia articles, one on the Met, the other on its founder, Sir Robert Peel; and an ad-jargony article about a radio station and billboard owner in Oklahoma.

I played: a bit of the movie The Limey; and a promotional video that bragged about just how intrusively they can coordinate radio, billboards, and phones. Musically, KMFDM backed Shoshana Zuboff in the intro; and I'm closing the show with Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

Episode 219: "Not Totally Without Historical Significance"

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We are taught from childhood to save, because a penny saved can lead to a penny earned. What happens, though, when others have investments that take every penny we have? I explore this in Episode 219: "Not Totally Without Historical Significance."

In this episode, I read from: The Hipcrime Vocab's January 14th article, "The Big Housing Lie"^* (which itself quoted other sources that I also read); Chuck Collins' book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions; an Atlantic article called "When Wall Street Is Your Landlord"; and Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Bernie Sanders opens the show backed by KMFDM; and I close with Mistle Thrush.

^*NB: Something changed between my email client's download and his blog entry's current title. Throughout the episode, I refer to the article as "The False Housing Crisis Narrative." Please don't let the discrepancy bother you.

Episode 218: Why (r > g) Matters

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Who can we trust in the “sciences”? In this episode, I offer academic research—later discounted by evidence—for years considered sacrosanct simply because it protects a hidden agenda of political economy. Hence, today's Episode 218: Why (r > g) Matters.

In this episode, I read from: a book by Chuck Collins called The Wealth Hoarders (which I will no doubt be relating more in coming episodes); Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century; and two Wikipedia pages, one on The Kuznets Curve, the other on The Gilded Age.

I play: a snippet from the television series cartoon version of the comic Dilbert, where Nobel-prize winners gathered on a bus have a disagreement on what kind of academic research does——and what does not——constitute a science. As I mentioned in Episode 20, that is still a hot but smoldering controversy. Musically, I open the show with Henry Giroux backed by KMFDM's "Attak"; I close today with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow".

Episode 217: Chopping At The Golem

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I have to say, it's exciting to witness a change in political winds almost the moment it happens…especially when it concerns legality in the world of online advertising! I share this change in the weather in this Episode 217: Chopping At The Golem.

In this episode, I read from: Matt Stoller's article from his newsletter Big, called "The Week CNBC Started to Panic"; and a synopsis of a brief filed by the Department of Justice concerning the legal break-up of the Alef Bet.


That image has lots of the pseudopods
from one company, doesn't it?

I play: the enraged and apoplectic Jim Cramer from CNBC. Musically, KMFDM backs Matt Stoller in the opening; I play a bit of incidental music from the December 12, 1953 radio version of Dragnet, stuff I found in an episode titled "The Big Pick"; and I close today with Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow."

Episode 216: FOB The Dirt Road To Serfdom

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We all like to eat. There are, sadly, very profitable reasons to keep the various processes dictating how the food we buy is created well hidden. Today I point out just some of the lowlights you find alongside Episode 216: FOB The Dirt Road To Serfdom.

In this episode, I read from: Joel Salatin's book, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal; my quickie dictionary; and Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. I would highly recommend both of these books to anyone, again, who eats.

I play: Pee Wee Herman's observation about sizable posteriors. Yeah, I play that a lot; but it's still funny. Musically, KMFDM backs author Cory Doctorow in a brand-new intro mulling over the profitability of doubt and the merchants that peddle it; and Mistle Thrush closes the show.

Epiosde 215: The Libertarian Delusion

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Everybody likes to suggest changes that will fix problems found in everyday life. What we don't often have, though, is a clear idea of whether those utopian changes will—or won’t—work. I present one example in this Epiosde 215: The Libertarian Delusion.

In this episode, I read from: Joel Salatin's books, first Folks, This Ain't Normal, and then Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: Stories from the Local Food Front; and Tim Wu's book The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads.

I play: Sydney Greenstreet as the evil corporate soap advertiser in The Hucksters. Seriously, folks, you have to see that 1947 movie. Musically, KMFDM backs Douglass Rushkoff in the opening, and I close with Julie & Rolf and The Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow."

Episode 214: Medium unCoolers

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Advertisers scheme ways to spread filth; but low-margin retailers can't stop these intrusions without angering shareholders. This creates a creeping tendency toward abominations in stores. I give a chilling example in this Episode 214: Medium unCoolers.

In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; a CNN article about store cooler screens; and a Slashdot entry about said screens.

I play: a videographer bemoaning the very existence of these screens; and from the movie Annie Hall Marshall McLuhan bemoaning ignorance of his work. Musically, KMFDM backs Lance Strate in the opening; and I close today with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow". (After finishing the show, I snuck a bit about 20th century advertising intrusion from Fry on Futurerama.)

Episode 213: The Audience Commodity

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Advertisers want to know you because pitches to receptive audiences sell product. But before surveillance technology existed, how did they do that? To help, there’s an obscure but key theory to know in this Episode 213, one named The Audience Commodity.

In this episode, I read from: Daniel Joseph's article on Dallas Smyth's theory on the Audience Commodity. I didn't share everything, but I think I got the important points. You decide.

I play: Excerpts from Dana Carvey on the short-lived The Dana Carvey Show; Jason Matheson and Kendall Mark from The Jason Show; D. L. Myers giving us the haunting stinger for the Powell Movement; the voices of the actors playing Matt Dylan, Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble, all hawking tobacco^*; and real people James Jacoby and Brad Parscale from raw footage recorded for a Frontline interview.

Musically, I play: The Vince Guiraldi Trio playing "Skating," the only seasonal music I can personally stand at all. KMFDM backed Professor Shoshana Zuboff in the opening; and I close today with Mistle Thrush.

^*Apologies for linking to an old episode; it turns out there were many, many sources for the commercials I recorded, and I neglected to specify which of the many videos gave me the actual recordings.