Episode 242: The Art and Craft of Resublimation

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Advertisers have been stealing good ideas for years and using them to crassly push their products. It's only fair, then, that we mock those ads, perhaps enough to destroy their sales effectiveness. Hence, Episode 242: The Art and Craft of Resublimation.

In this episode, I read from: Tom Wolfe's 1968 book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which I recounted (probably incorrectly) from memory; my Quickie Computer Dictionary; and Tim Wu's book The Attention Merchants: The Epic Struggle to Get Inside Our Heads. Just a few more Wu's Attention Merchant episodes, and I'll be caught up with Wu's tale.

I played: Marshall McLuhan from the movie Annie Hall criticizing some jerk in a movie line; and Timothy Leary's famous "turn on" slogan.


Now this is subversive resumblimation!



Musically, I blasted you with several versions of a tune that dominated the seventies. Here's a link to the song's Wiki page so you can untangle the many versions and see how long each stayed on the charts. Mr. Ceglowski opens the show backed by KMFDM, and I close with the New Seekers doing their version.

Episode 241: TANA, ATU Edition

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In my last episode, I questioned use of the word "accidents," which take focus away from the hazards that cause them. Why? Because hazards can be fixed. I'll give you some real-world examples of good places to start in this Episode 241: TANA, ATU Edition.

In this episode, I once again read from Jessie Singer's book, There Are No Accidents: The Deadly rise of Injury and Disaster——Who Profits and Who Pays the Price. I also read from a report from Fat Pencil Studio, the computer experts hired to create the footage demonstrating the visibility obstructions in the 2010 Portland bus accident.

Musically, I played a new intro from Jesse Richardson backed, as usual, by KMFDM. I'm closing today with Mistle Thrush.