Episode 46: The Calendrical Imperative

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Along with the calendar change every year, too many people take the opportunity to look back on the year, and to perhaps look forward with promises and platitudes. I thought, Why not join them?

So here we have Episode 46: The Calendrical Imperative. I made a big boo-boo in Episode 45 that I here correct. The correction quotes both Terry Gross and author Kevin Kruse from an episode of Fresh Air. I also give some inside scoop to my forced house-guest hiatus last Spring. It's interesting, at least, and will be the topic of at least one episode in the coming year, quite likely.

There is also the backlog of episode topics. Believe it or not, I have no shortage of episodes. It's hard for me to believe that, when I first started Attack Ads!, I was worried about not having something about advertising to say.

I today play the theme for the 1966 television sci-fi series The Time Tunnel, and open the show with Dmitri Orlov and KMFDM.

Episode 45: A Season Stuffed With Reasons

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Have two Holiday Seasons passed since I launched the Attack Ads! Podcast? Time flies when you're ranting against forces over which you have little control, I guess. Remember: Time flies like an arrow; but fruit flies like a banana.

This, the podcast's second late December episode, is Number 45: A Season Stuffed With Reasons, where I give you Dear Listeners a book report on Kevin M. Kruse's One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (Basic Books, 2015). I do hope to introduce you to Mr. Kruse's material, all about the money and effort that went into redefining the American religious tradition into one more business-friendly, with the appropriate amount of head 'splodey-ness.

In that light, I play selected portions of Tenacious D's "Master Exploder", a song from the movie Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. I also open and close this holiday episode with two pieces from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, "Skating" and "Linus and Lucy", both from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Very briefly you will also hear the National Anthem for the former Soviet Union. KMFDM and Bernie Sanders open the show.

Episode 44: Total Annihilation

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What happens when warring parties place full efforts on winning their personal battles, but not a lot of attention avoiding pissing off a third party? Or worse, takes advantage of the third party, treating them as the prize to be won? Expect the title of Episode 44: Total Annihilation. The warring titans will find their battlefield prize turning against all of them, with collateral damage rampant and a change to the entire conflict.

Largely because this phase of battle through technology is new and emergent, this episode focuses on articles rather than books. We hear me reading: Ben Thompson's article Why Web Pages Suck from his blog "Stratechery"; Nilay Patel's Welcome to hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the slow death of the web from The Verge; John Gruber's Safari Content Blocker imore from Daring Fireball; and Marco Arment's The Ethics of Modern Web Ad-Blocking.

Today's music is exclusively from the Cave Dog game from which I gleaned the title to today's episode. Music written by Jeremy Soule. (I miss that game.) I introduce the show with Jan Wong backed by KMFDM.

My Plea For Graphics Help

Hey, Listeners,

Jim here, with a problem. As I outlined in the Post Script to Episode 44, I need a logo, specifically one that will conform to the iTunes submission requirements.

Here's the skinny on format: Cover art "must be in the JPEG or PNG file formats and in the RGB color space with a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels." I'd like to keep it simple (for now, at least, which for me seems to mean "I'll use it for a few years").   Though I had some very different, very catchy ideas in the past, my need to just get this done has overwhelmed my desire to make it perfect (which has been the impediment all this time). 

Here's the text I'm leaning toward:

The

                 Attack Ads! 

                                              Podcast 

                           Reasons to live Free 

                                 of Commercial Media

All of this is, of course, in a box the size specified in the link above. The "The" above and the "Podcast" after "Attack Ads!" should be in a smaller font, as should the tag below.  For colors, I've played around with a few, but have decided to keep this simple as well, with just an off-yellow background and black lettering.

Again, if you can help—and have additional ideas you can throw into the mix—I would be very appreciative.

Thanks!

-Jim

Addendum, a couple days later: D'oh! I guess providing a place to send those graphics would enable those who wish to help to, well, help. Please email anything you come up with to AdAttacker (at) Gmail (dot) Com. Sorry I missed that necessary step earlier.

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.

Episode 40: Three Heaping Scoops of Irony

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Sometimes people say things that are, well, wrong. Other times, they believe things that are, as well, wrong. Here are three beliefs and the actions they precipitate that are, as the title to Episode 40: Three Heaping Scoops of Irony implies, just plain incorrect, and in the long run, perhaps very, very dangerous.

In this episode, I read from John Maynard Keynes' 1920 article The Economic Consequences of Peace, which proves a prescient look at the future Treaty of Versailles terms ending the Great War created. In my opinion, it is all to often ignored. I also read from an article from The Washington Post that describes an interview in Die Zeit, and Professor Mark Blyth's book, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea.



I sample from two videos from the very entertaining Professor Blyth describing his work into hyperinflation and austerity and how they are viewed by various parties.

Musically, we hear Jahzzar doing "Planet Zero." Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today" closer closes the show. I "opened" with a new KMFDM intro featuring Mark Blyth.

Episode 39: Challenging Assumptions of Permanence

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Oh, odometer moments! Those tickings of the calendar or clock or whatever metric timey thing happens to land appropriately on a nice round number. What would journalism or any of us do without them? Episode 39, Challenging Assumptions of Permanence, uses the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall as just such a jumping-off point, noting how our assumptions that the way things have been in our lifetime in too many cases seems to be the way we assume the future should unfold. Sadly, our newspaper industry today struggles under the same delusion of future permanence, at least when it comes to a funding model based on advertising, that only emerged—indeed, that was only possible—in the latter stages of the Industrial Revolution. That funding model evolved to what we had, and now it is moving on, and in my opinion it ain't coming back.

In this episode, I read about historic newspaper production from Eric Burns' book "Infamous Scribblers"; and an excerpt from an article from a Professor Ross, originally printed in the Atlantic Monthly in the March, 1910, edition, and quoted in Upton Sinclair's 1920 book on the newspaper business, The Brass Check (the entirety of which can be read online at the link). I also quoted Soryu Forall, a meditation and mindfulness teacher and the founder of the Center for Mindful Learning. He shared his insights into, well, assumptions and preferences on KMO's C-Realm Podcast Episode #480, "Assumptions and Preferences."

Musically, I played two pieces by Jahzzar, "Brighter" and "Become Death". I opened the show with the Jan Wong KMFDM intro.

Episode 38: Postscript

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Remember Jesse Brown, that podcaster I addressed in Episode 26, Dear Jesse? It's time to close things down in this, Episode 38: Postscript. I appreciate his attention to my correspondence, but must limit my financial and attentional (is that a word?) support for those more inclined to my view of ad-funded media. In this episode, I give reasons for that decision.

In this episode, you'll hear first a brand new KMFDM "Attak!" intro with Tim Bousquet, founder of the Halifax Examiner, as interviewed on Canadaland's Episode 88. Brooke Gladstone congratulates 99% Invisible's Roman Mars on his ability to leverage ad revenues on the backs of his contribution popularity. There's a lot of that going around. Trust me, there is at least one future episode baked into this synergistic phenomenon.

Musically, I play Podington Bear's "Can I Talk To You?" and the ending to Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."

Episode 37: The Sound of One Hand Applauding

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In this Episode 37: The Sound of One Hand Applauding, I take a peek at four entities that are doing something right. Something, but not enough something to make their efforts truly applaudable. In each instance, the entities fail to complete a truly commendable and clap-worthy accomplishment, slipping in most cases to something that is just head-scratch worthy. As a result, I can only employ one hand to the applause.

Today we hear from The BGs (Ah-ah-ah-ah), Brooke and Bob, in two separate On The Media reports. The earliest interview and revelation comes from Brooke in a May 10, 2013 episode I've already extensively quoted, "Who's Going to Pay For This Stuff?" The other two, both by Bob, are quite a bit more recent, coming from a July 9, 2015 episode entitled "Polls Are Stupid." I also read quite a bit from a website as a result of Brooke's interview.

Music today comes from et doing "Tarmac." The Real Bee Gees briefly appear several times, thanks to Brooke and Bob. And Dmitri Orlov and KMFDM open the show.

Episode 36: From GAB To FNA

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It's only been two episodes since I discussed the twin phenomena of the Repetition Effect and Source Amnesia, but months have passed since that release. Time, then, to visit a comment listener L33t left concerning research on how interruptions may increase the enjoyment of media, even if those interruptions are commercial in nature. Thus, Episode 36: From GAB to FNA explores the multiple qualities of interruptions that may mitigate, thus driving people from welcoming interruption to dreading it.

In this episode, I quote: L33t from his comments; the study L33t shared; details of the organization that published the research he shared; and information from Counterspin regarding the frequency of DVR commercial skipping (something I regrettably neglected to cite in the audio).

I also played: Geddy Lee briefly singing with the Mackensie Brothers in their 80s hit, "Take Off;" some wisdom from Colonel Jack D. Ripper about communism and water; and Pink Floyd's intro to their song, "Time." Dmitri Orlov and KMFDM open this episode.

Episode 35: The McQuiston Test

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Yes, yes, I know. It was only a brief two episodes ago that I attempted to coin a new Named Bit o' Wisdom, one from Upton Sinclair. That was so much fun, I'm doing it again in this episode, The McQuiston Test. I'll explain what I mean within.

Today's episode features a bit of music from Matmos and So Percussion, a tune called "Needles."



We also hear a bunch of famous voices and the standard Dmitri Orlov intro backed by KMFDM.

Another Unavoidable Hiatus

Just as happened last March, I must once again interrupt these episodes to accommodate a house guest in what is now the production studio. Two unfinished episodes rest, as they say, "in the can" ready for completion, and many others are "in the works," sitting inchoate on my hard drive waiting for studio time to bring them to life. Once that studio is free for my use, expect a flood of episodes.

I will say this: the situation that brought my house guest here is very, very unusual. Though I cannot detail what is happening without possibly bringing legal consequences, I can say the story is unusual and interesting enough to be entertaining to more than mere participants. I'm thinking about turning the story, once it reaches a resolution, into a couple of episodes, though they would have nothing to do with advertising. I might record a few such episodes and test the waters with you, Gentle Listeners, to see if more episodes would be welcomed.

That, though, is for the future. Again, I deeply regret the interruption, no matter how necessary.

Episode 34: Reiteratively Repeated Redundancy

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Episode 34: Reiteratively Redundant Repetition concerns me asking the eternal question: Why do advertisers run the same damned ads again and again and again? Won't we get sick of them, and maybe just avoid those media outlets who stoop to such echoing? I attempt to answer the question with an actual expert!

This episode includes an explanation of two very key psychological phenomena by Ray Hyman (interviewed by one of Skepticality's hosts Derek Colanduno). We also hear a short clip from Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane from the Cheers years, backed by Pietnastka's "Dice." That piece also closes this shorter than usual episode.

Why the brevity? Well, let's just say I started worrying that the entire sketch I included as an illustration of the Amnesia Effect might be: a) taken the wrong way, a way in which I did not at all intend; or b) taken exactly as I intended it. Either way, there might be some folks a bit grossed out by my cave men and their conundrum. I should get some listener feedback about what is and what is definitely not funny before showing my humor in all its glory and ghastliness.

Episode 33: The Sinclair Maxim

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Time to return to two of what must be my least and most favorite sources for podcast material. Episode 33: The Sinclair Maxim first dives into the bothersome wrongness of the NPR podcast and frequent Attack Ads! hobbyhorse and scapegoat Planet Money. Just when I think they couldn't get even worse, they prove me wrong and overly optimistic yet again. My seeming favorite source is in the title.

In this episode, we hear from two Planet Money co-productions made with This American Life, "The Giant Pool of Money" and "The Invention of Money." Inspiration for this episode was appropriately triggered by a glaring detail found opening Planet Money's episode #619, "The Free Throw Experiment." We also hear Planet Money top dog Adam Davidson's appearance on local Seattle NPR affiliate KUOW, on their show The Conversation, a conversation that aired May 26, 2010.

Musically, I chose Metastaz's "Skreeem" and "Miss Fortune", both of which fit frighteningly well into the theme of the show itself.

Finally, credit where due.


Spoiler!

I dedicate the title for today's episode to Upton Sinclair, specifically for his quote, details of which can be found in his 1934 book, "I, Candidate for Governor, And How I got Licked."

Episode 32: Little Brothers Are Watching You

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Episode 32: Little Brothers Are Watching You continues the saga of the Smart TV and why, as I claimed in the last episode, Smile!, the threat is even worse than I previously mentioned. I outline actual televisions that (at least at one time) peek into far more than one's face patterns and viewing information, and insert far more than the the content requested by the viewer/owner.

I open with Chris Martenson getting all down about the current business practices with his guest, the ever-insightful John Michael Greer. I read from a blog post by someone calling themselves Doctor Beet, and we hear from a Smart TV manufacturer's video promising exactly what I and (I hope) everyone listening to the Attack Ads! Podcast would rather not ever see come to fruition. The video itself was pulled, but someone reading Dr. B's blog mirrored it; you can find it at his blog. I also read from an article describing a pop ad appearing where it was most unwanted in Australia.

We also hear from On The Media's Brooke Gladstone interviewing Representative Walter Jones in 2013 on a wonderful bit of legislation he proposed, the We Are Watching You Act of 2013 that sadly died before being signed into law. And finally I played at bit of the Dude and Walter from The Big Lebowski ruminating on the difference between Nazis and nihilists.

As always, KMFDM's "Attak" opened the show, this time with Dmitri Orlov's observations, originally made on the Extraenvironmentalist Podcast.

Episode 31: Smile!

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Episode 31: Smile! starts this podcast's look into a quiet but insidious threat to our privacy: the new "smart" televisions and other appliances. Unlike those other gizmos with the "smart" designation, though, these TVs have built within them the tools of surveillance most would deem inappropriate.

In this episode, I play a brief section from Episode #104 of the '60s cartoon "The Jetsons"; I play a selections from a BBC interview with a smart TV owner named Peter Kent; and I read from smart set manufacturer Samsung's Global Privacy Policy.

Music today comes from my KMFDM intro with Dmitri Orlov, and from "The Jetsons."

Episode 30: Maintaining Business As Usual

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I'm back! Well, at least for a bit. While I'm back, for Episode 30: Maintaining Business As Usual, I'm taking a yak at how business is not only done, but how many would prefer it continues to be done, no matter how many existing alternatives could be explored. And most of that maintenance is done through commercially sponsored media, paid for by the commercials placed by those businesses that would like this maintained.

In this episode, we hear from a commercial produced in the late 1970s by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. They produced several of these; I chose the one with the best sound quality. Ah, the seventies! We also hear another version of the union song recorded in 1975.

We hear from Planet Money once again, this time from episode #142, "Tax Me Please," and Counterspin's Jeanine Jackson introducing an interview she aired with Laura Flanders. I read from Thomas Geoghegan, "Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life" (The New Press, 2010).

And finally, the intro. I play the song on every episode, but seldom mention it. I should. It is KMFDM's "Attak/Reload" from their album "Attak." Dmitri Orlov backs the intro tuneage with comments he made on Episode 86 of the Extraenvironmentalist podcast, "Days of Destruction."

[NB: In the credits, I mention the episode of Planet Money was #104, when it is in fact #142. Long and slightly humorous story as to why that happened, but I do regret the error.]

Announcement

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A short but regrettable announcement: Due to the simple fact that I have a house guest occupying the Attack Ads! studio, I will be on a production break until, well, my house guest frees up the studio or until I can make other recording arrangements. I'm not quitting; far from it. I just won't be releasing new episodes until things can be sufficiently shuffled about. I do regret this, and will be back as soon as I am able.

Episode 29: Drinking Yourself Sober

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What's a greater threat to a society, the money collected to do something harmful, or the spending of that money? Answering that simple question should guide action when it comes to addressing and perhaps reversing the harm caused by the harmful practice.

Failing to recognize this simple dichotomy causes folks to sometimes try something helpful that might not be. This is the theme of Episode 29: Drinking Yourself Sober, where I share the exploits of one Lawrence Lessig, creator of the Creative Commons License and political activist.

We hear in this episode from two of Lessig's TED Talks; one entitled Lester Land, the other The Unstoppable Walk to Political Reform. We also hear from former Vice President Al Gore talking about what's really wrong with things today.

Music from Jahzzar doing "Listen Carefully," and Pat Boone—yes, that Pat Boone—covering Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming." (There's a reason, trust me.)

Addendum, March 4: Listener l33t was the first in alerting me to a bad sound file. Looks like the audio editor barfed out a bad file, silent after a minute and a half, one I did not catch. I've deleted the bad file from the 'cast host and re-exported the mp3 after making sure content exists within, at least after a random file sample up to the ending. There may be gaps, but it's mostly there, under the same file name.

I apologize for the screw up.

Episode 28: Showing What The Shows Show

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No, I don't like the ads—er, the "enhanced sponsorship"—of PBS, NPR, PRI, or any of the other CPB TLA (Three Letter Acronyms, for those who haven't tripped on this trope before). But the other funding mechanisms employed also come with details worthy of attention, if not scorn. Episode #28: Showing What The Shows Show uses three PBS telly shows to illustrate problems with three funding sources other than enhanced sponsorship.





Pie Charts courtesy of L33t's link.

I read in this episode from Thomas Picketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century (President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2014, pp. 451-452.); a Wikipedia article on the history of public broadcasting in the United States; Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols' book The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again (First Nation Books, 2010, p. 194 for "Banks And The Poor" details; p. 195 for the detail about fund raising.); and the article "A Word From Our Sponsor?" from the May 27, 2013 New Yorker magazine.

Music pulled from the Downton Abby Suite, and "The Money Song" by Monty Python.

Episode 27: Dead Merchandise

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I have been waiting almost the entire time I've been producing this podcast to bring you, Dear Listeners, this episode. For this episode contains a dramatic reading of a science fiction short story which inspired the creation of Attack Ads!

It is my privilege to offer Episode 27: Dead Merchandise, brought to you by the kind reposting permissions of both the author of the story, Ferrett Steinmetz, and the editor of the Escape Pod podcast, Norm Sherman, the podcast and publication entity that originally produced and released the audio reading you hear in their episode #396. "Dead Merchandise" is a story whose relevance to the Attack Ads! podcast should be apparent to all. Enjoy!

I will have the fortune to be able to thank Mr. Steinmetz in person, since he will be in Seattle, my home town, late in March signing his new book, "Flex."

Music opening once again from KMFDM, and closing once again from Mistle Thrush.

Episode 26: Dear Jesse

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Sometimes you just have to move the schedule up a tick to take advantage of current events. In Episode 26: Dear Jesse, I've decided to turn twenty-plus minutes of Attack Ads! into an open letter to Canadaland creator and host Jesse Brown in an attempt to plead the Attack Ads! case for creating a zero-ads environment for those that feel the need to create one for themselves. It's perfect timing, given his crowd-funding drive and the decisions about the future of his podcast and all that.



A wonderful cartoon that accompanied
J. C. McQuiston's Radio News article in 1922.

The content with both Herbert Hoover's comments and J. C. McQuiston's article from 1922 came from Tim Wu's book The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Random House, 2010, p. 74 for the Hoover quotes); I found Mr. McQuiston's article online. The later 1934 and 1935 quotes in connection with the Federal Communications Commission hearings also came from Mr. Wu's book, but can be found (in a poorly scanned OCR format, sadly) in a publication called "Education in Radio" from 1935.

Music over the '30s quotes comes from Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra doing "That's A'Plenty". Ga'an soon thereafter does "Living Tribunal."

Episode 25: Shifting That Window

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I feel the need to explain myself. Well, to explain myself in greater detail. I've already revealed that I suffer an irrational hatred of commercials. That was revealed way back in the first episode. In this Episode 25: Shifting That Window, I dive a bit into what I believe is most responsible for making both commercials effective, and for what makes protest of them also effective: our human tendency to socially conform to the opinions of our peers. Further, I do feel a need to note why outrageous statements of opinion can be effective, even necessary, to discussion and debate.



The first psychological phenomenon I will address is the Asch conformity experiment results. A later refinement of Asch using the basic methodology but including an fMRI scanner for a real-time look into how the subjects' brains were working was underdone in 2005.



Next, I take most of the episode describing as entertainingly as possible a phenomenon named for its founder, the Overton Window, where opinions can be shifted with a concentration of focus of a type rarely, for me, discussed openly enough. It is from this Overton Window practice that I attempt to justify my strategic use of hyperbole and the occasional outrageous statement.

Music in this episode: Omyiga, "Confirm Friend Request"; and a few snippets, one from The Color and the Sound's "Graves"; the other a very brief "Ha Ha Ha Ha" from the Bee Gees. Closer today again from Mistle Thrush.

Episode 24: Sponsored Discontent

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Pick up the news, or tune in. Whichever. Zoom in to the content; don't just read or hear it, but really, really delve into the message. Does any element seem out of place? In Episode 24, Sponsored Discontent, I review what has become one of the only ways modern commercial newspapers (especially the newspapers, since the crash of classifieds as a near-monopolistic funding source) have been able to pay for their continued publication: sponsored or branded content. Essentially, an interested party "helps" newspapers with the content of their, well, "news," those scare quotes becoming more and more relevant.

I read a bit from two books. The first, Robert W. McChesney's and John Nichols' The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again (First Nation Books, 2010, p 13); the second, Robert McChesney's Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning The Internet Against Democracy (The New Press, 2013, p. 59).

I grabbed quite a bit of informative content from Episode 37 of Canadaland, where Jesse Brown interviews Matthew Ingram about the situation at one of Canada's most influential daily newspapers. What management is asking in contract negotiations might surprise!

We also hear from The Daily Show's Jason Jones in India with an equally surprising revelation about that country's newspaper system.

Music in this episode comes from Halloween doing "Making Evil" and Teleidofusion doing "Soft Illusion."

Episode 23: Apologies in Advance

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With the seasonal interruptions to our regularly scheduled lives, I bring you a quickie: Episode 23: Apologies In Advance. And what indiscretions deserve such a title? Listen on, and remember: you've been warned.

You see, I am not a fan of the vast array of commercialism that has attached itself to the calendar date of one of the more important religions' most holy of celebrations, metastasized and spread well beyond its calendrical bounds.

So, in this episode, I am going to vent quite harshly in Xmas' general direction.

In this episode you hear the Vince Guaraldi Trio doing "Skating," a selection from one of the only Xmas recordings I can still celebrate, let alone tolerate. You also hear a piece from Eric Idle of Monty Python fame ending the show. Idle wrote this piece on the road during his Greedy Bastard Tour, a concert road trip undertook in 2003. He describes its debut in Vancouver, BC, in his Greedy Bastard Diary; I quote:

At the end I said I'd like to try out a new piece John [Du Prez] and I had just written, and craved their patience for the world premiere of this new song. Well I could hardly get past the first line. John played a soft Christmassy 'Jingle Bells' intro. It was Bing Crosby time.

"Fuck Christmas," I began.

Well, I had to stop. The gales of laughter that greeted that line were overwhelming. We began again, more huge laughs. They screamed and cheered at every single line. At the end of verse one I had to stop them, they were applauding and yelling so hard. We managed to get through verse two to hysteria but the capper last two lines had them screaming. I have never witnessed anything like it. It was beyond gratifying. . . .

"Fuck Christmas" is going to be a legendary song, a perennial, played and sung wherever disgruntled shoppers gather in superheated malls.

(Eric Idle, The Greedy Bastard Diary, Harper Collins, 2005, pp. 246-247.)

Given the response Idle received, I doubt there is something unusual about voicing grievances about what the main holiday has become.

Oh, and remember the title of this episode when you hear me doing a bit of doggerel in three-part harmony. Sure, I could have had The Wife™ and a few members of her choir do the dirty deed; but I didn't. Let me know what you think of the piece (NOT what you think of the singing!); if the response is positive, I may just make that leap and have actual "singers"—ie. voices that do not deserve to be scare quoted—do a decent recording.

Episode 22: Attack of the Pharma Barbies!

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Behind the obvious advertising with which pharmaceutical companies flood our airwaves and clot our publications, there is a mostly-hidden cadre of sales representatives prowling our medical community and getting more directly in the faces of those entrusted with providing our health care. And they are, largely, quite . . . hot.

Episode 22: Attack of the Pharma Barbies! takes what few experiences I've had encountering this mostly buxom brigade of sales reps and distills them into some disturbing conclusions about how much money is devoted to product promotion. More importantly, where is the most likely source of that money?

In this episode, you hear Yours Truly mangling the genre of beat poetry in an obvious parody backed by Assif Tsahar and Tatsuya Nakatani's avant-garde jazz piece "Come Sunday." You also hear from Metastaz doing (appropriately enough) "Girl & Assassin" and Psychadelik Pedestrian doing "In Suspense." I close with an old favorite from Mistle Thrush.

Episode 21: From GIGO To MEGO

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With Episode 21: From GIGO To MEGO, I finally wrap up all this political economy non-sense and reveal what happens when assumptions—hiding ideological biases from even those who hold those assumptions—leak into the real world, causing otherwise intelligent people to make suggestions without realizing exactly how disastrous or horrendous those decisions might be. Why? Because they haven't been told the facts by those blinded by a history of denial and ideological assumption.

In the episode, we hear the suggestion so fraught with peril in the real world, one made seriously by journalists from Planet Money in their episode #543, "A World Without Banks." Both Ellen Brown from her podcast and the Bank of England from one of their videos give evidence to why in our reality-based world a world without banks would be calamitous without significant changes made first.

Non-music organ crap in the beginning from me, banging almost randomly on my keyboard with a simulated musical instrument. Music from et, "Don't Think Twice" and the "Don't Think Twice Reprise."

Episode 20: Non-Heterodox Scientificity

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Episode 20: Non-Heterodox Scientificity continues the primer on neoclassical economics, focusing on a few prime examples where the purity of the discipline was threatened, and on a few structural buffers that protect that orthodoxy from the heterodox threats that occasionally develop. I do hope this deep look at what happened in education in general and economic academic life in specific can be taken as I intend it, as a look at what lengths monied interests will go to protect their privileged positions in society, just as they do as advertisers to the media in which their ads appear.

I read from several books and online sources in this episode. In order of appearance, they are: Brian Czech, "Supply Shock", New Society Publishers, 2013, p. 54 and p. 79; A.C. Pigou, "Economics in Practice", Macmillan & Co., 1935, p. 2; Nassim Nicholas Taleb, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable", Random House, 2007, pp. 260-261, p. 270; Yves Smith, "EConned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism", St. Martin's Press, 2010, p. 81; Steve Keen, "Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor Dethroned?", Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 163; the Last Will and Testament of Alfred Nobel (taken from the Official Nobel Prize Website); Ha-Joon Chang, "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism", Bloomsbury Press, 2008, p. 154; and Thomas Piketty, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2014, p. 32.

You also heard from Richard Wolff being interviewed by Ellen H. Brown on the October 8, 2014 episode of her podcast "It's Our Money With Ellen Brown."

Music—in keeping with the gentle primer theme established in Episode 19—was exclusively Podington Bear. You hear "Black Eyed Susan," "Gentle Heart," "Really Real," and "Towl," all from the album Tender.

Episode 19: By George!

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If you thought the last episode, Interlocking Directorates of Control, was a departure from my usual rant on advertising, then strap in for more divergence from the norm! Today I present Part I of a primer concerning the history of economics as an academic discipline in Episode 19: By George! And just like the last episode, I feel the need to focus on how money and monied interests distort academic curricula in ways that suit the money more than the pursuit of Truth . . . whatever that might be.

In this episode, I read from Henry George's "Progress and Poverty", an 1879 book that had far more of an impact on policy here in the United States and abroad than most people realize. I also read from Mason Gaffney's extended investigation of George and those that rallied against him, "Neo-classical Economics as a Stratagem against Henry George". NB: The link takes the clicker to a PDF version of that work.

Music is more homogenous than usual: in keeping with the Primer Format, I chose four pieces from Podington Bear's album "Tender"—"Dreamliner," "Like Brigade," "Pink Blossoms," and "Wellness." His music so often evokes images of a children's music box and toys that I felt it keeping with the upbeat and direct Dick and Jane reading I (mostly) managed to maintain throughout the episode.

I opened with a scene from the too-short-lived cartoon version of "Dilbert," the scene where the pointy-haired boss causes a busload of nobel prize winners to die horribly in a bus/train collision. I hope to elucidate why I felt this was a good intro in Part II of this Primer.

Addendum: I do hope a reader can give me a hand. I realize I've been too assuming by putting a simple hot link to the episode only once on each episode page. I should put in something a bit more direct. Hence the "Play now!" at the top. I would like to have perhaps a flash player so those who wish could get it to play directly from their web browser, and perhaps a similar command to enable quick downloads; I am, though, technically proficient only to simply link the mp3.

If anyone out there can share a simple script along with instructions to install it on this Blogspot page, I would be ever so grateful.

Episode 18: Interlocking Directorates of Control

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Previously, in Episode 16: Fast Track Education, I confessed ignorance about how colleges and universities—at least the private institutions—were funded, let alone founded. Since then, yet another Upton "Uppie" Sinclair book has filled me in on at least some of the particulars. Episode 18: Interlocking Directorates of Control dives into a bit of the history of how private fortunes and money managers start and direct the daily dealings at prestigious universities…and how this monied involvement can exert a veto power over everything from casual conversation to curricula not friendly to monied involvement in daily life.

I read several passages from the informing book, Upton Sinclair's "The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education", self-published, 1923. (Though I included the excerpts in the show notes previously, I will here refrain. I have planned several future episodes with notes and excerpts copious enough to match a doctoral dissertation-length screen dump—without, of course, the thinking behind a doctoral dissertation. If you, Gentle Listener, would like these excerpts, please let me know, and I will craft a way to include them in the notes without taking up all of the available screen space. -Jim.)

Audio excerpts include a few standards from the 1974 Mel Brooks classic "Blazing Saddles." Music includes Jupiter Makes Me Scream performing "Here and Now," and the theme to the 1965 Mel Brooks/Buck Henry creation "Get Smart."

Episode 17: Liars, Honest and Otherwise

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Remember Mike Daisey? Remember in particular episode #454 of This American Life that caused such an explosion over subsequent accusations that Daisey was not "reporting" truthfully, accusations that manifested ultimately in an almost-unheard-of full episode of Official Denunciation of Mike Daisey by TAL? In Episode 17: Liars, Honest and Otherwise, I revisit the Daisey kerfuffle freshly informed of both reading I've done since that January, 2012 episode originally aired. What was completely ignored was the very recent creation of this supposed cornerstone of reportage: journalistic ethics. Why these ethics have only recently come to being might surprise!

I ran a bit of the Mercury Radio Theater's "War of the Worlds" at the beginning. In doing so, I have a much better idea, I think, about where the design for the slavering aliens in "The Simpsons" comes from.

Later, I play excerpts featuring Daisey. The first comes from Episode #432 of the C-Realm Podcast, "Origin Stories"; the second, Episode #1304 of Studio360, "Nikola Tesla: Strange Genius".

Also in this episode, I quote from Robert W. McChesney & John Nichols, Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate Media, Seven Stories Press, 2002, p. 63-64. Heck, why don't I share exactly what I quoted? I've got space to spare:

"Much of the problem with contemporary journalism is due to the codes of professional journalism that emerged a century ago, and that remain of paramount importance in understanding journalism today. Professional journalism was a revolutionary break with the idea that the journalism of a medium—usually a newspaper at that time—would and should invariably reflect the political viewpoints of the owner. Partisan journalism, the bread and butter of Jefferson, and Lincoln, could only be defended in an environment where there were competitive markets, and a wide range of opinion. In the highly concentrated newspaper markets that emerged by the twentieth century, partisan journalism appeared more like uncontested propaganda than anything else. In this environment, the large newspaper publishers pushed for professionalism. Their journalists would all be trained to be nonpartisan so the matter of who owned all the media and the lack of market competition were now irrelevant. As research has shown repeatedly, however, the professional code 'smuggled in' the political biases of the owners, but made them now appear as non-partisan even, objective truth."

I also quoted from Upton Sinclair's The Brass Check, self-published in 1920. Mr. Sinclair left the rights to The Brass Check open to the public; hence, the online version. Here's what I quoted from that book:

"Thirty years ago, advertising yielded less than half of the earnings of the daily newspapers. Today it yields at least two-thirds. In the larger dailies the receipts from advertisers are several times the receipts from the readers, in some cases constituting ninety percent of the total revenues. As the newspaper expands to eight, twelve, and sixteen pages, while the price sinks to three cents, two cents, one cent, the time comes when the advertisers support the newspaper."

(pp. 264-265.)

Bear in mind that Mr. Sinclair was quoting someone named Prof. Ross, reprinting what Prof. Ross published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1910.

Music for this episode comes first from the incidental music to the cartoon "Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har". No reason. Next, Johnny Ripper's "Jean". I finish with Jahzzar's "Be Nice" backing the close.

Episode 16: Fast Track Education

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Episode 16: Fast Track Education is mostly a rant from an old man witnessing changes to the campus where he received his post-high school formal instruction. Against a backdrop of an old man ranting from his rocking chair against those kids on his lawn, we do have some interesting coincidences that tie the whole thing together with a focus on how sponsorship and egalitarianism might coincide in the field of higher education. Hint: It's just like the pressures that advertisers use on their sponsored media outlets; but it's more permanent.

Other than the Pomp and Circumstance March, we hear from Jahzzar's "The Wrong Way"–a perfect title to back the sentiments expressed— and et's "Kopeika".

Episode 15: When We Assume

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Most every aspect of our perception of the world around us hinges on assumptions. People tell us things, and we assume them to be true. Things happen. If they happen enough, a pattern may develop, at least in the mind of the perceiver. As long as the things that happen continue to follow the perceived pattern—or as long as the pattern perceiver fails to see instances where the pattern is lacking or downright broken—the assumptions about the pattern will hold.

Episode 15: When We Assume takes a brief look at what happens when reporters assume the experts they consult on our economy's patterns and functions are not questioned enough. Sometimes there are experts out there that can refute the experts with whom we are most familiar. And many times, nothing bad will happen as a result of holding these assumptions . . . that is, until something bad does happen.

Some assumptions can be found in the Planet Money episode "The Island Of Stone Money". I point out the assumptions, and provide assumptions of my own that refute those assumptions. It's an assumption-fest!

In this episode, I read excerpts from a few books. The first was from David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years, Melville House Printing, 2011. The passage can be found in the footnotes on pages 394-395.

The second, a passage from Silvio Gesell's The Natural Economic Order, can be found online.

The third is from Thomas H. Greco, Jr.'s The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2009, on page 114.

Music today from Mudlark's "&" and The Freak Fandango Orchestra's "Requiem for a Fish."

Episode 14: Thwarting Disbelief

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Tired of bullshit? Well, then, you've come to the right podcast. I won't say I won't bullshit the listeners from time to time—in fact, I can't really claim that this podcast isn't complete bullshit all the time—but at least Attack Ads! recognizes that most advertising is bullshit.

And I'm not just saying that as a perjorative. I mean most ads are bullshit.

Episode 14: Thwarting Disbelief dives a bit into bullshit, that is to say, bullshit of two kinds. The first are beliefs that have no evidential basis in fact, but are held nonetheless. The second kind is the appeal we can make to the non-rational brain, using setting, tone and acting to trigger those social and emotional cues that drive a majority of our behavior. The problem arises, in my opinion, when the attempt to discredit and reveal the first kind of bullshit runs counter to the commercial attempt to use the second kind of bullshit to promote products and services. On commercial media, therefore, only the bullshit that pays gets to play.

The Skeptologists page is still up, though no show seems to be forthcoming . . . not surprising, given recent events.


The Biolator

My hearty thanks to Hanna, who provided much needed non-Jim voice talent on this episode.

Music includes (in order of appearance) Necromonikon Quartett, "Future"; Podington Bear, "Happiness Is;" and Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today" once again. I just like that last bit as a closer, I guess, so expect to hear it a few times more.

Episode 13: What's the Big Idea?

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Today's big idea, nicely described by Episode 13: What's the Big Idea?, is an idea of hope.

Instead of pulling the perpetual public media double deal—begging with one hand while the other works the commercial sector for ads to run, the same lack of adequate public-commercial separation I lamented in Episode 10: Defined by Absence—why not let the donors decide on how many ads they care to hear by allowing donations to offset ad revenue needs?

This hope is sadly dashed when one realizes how the plan could, well, succeed, which would pose an existential threat to those dependent upon selling ads. Still, it's a good starting plan, provided the public media currently locked into the ad contracts and/or obligations stop obfuscating the issue and address it head on . . . which, given On The Media's "Who's Gonna Pay For This Stuff?" episode ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

We hear in this episode some disco snippets, a bit of dialog from Ben Stein's most famous role, outtakes from the OTM episode listed above, and a bit of "Cyberstalker" from Psychadelik Pedestrian.

Oh, and lest I forget, a delicious selection from like-minded YouTube ranters, folks obviously completely in line with the main themes of this here podcast, graces and enhances your listening experience. There's (wait for it….) Thomas!, the dude calling himself doubleheader, a guy named douglas, The Angry Aussie, and . . . a notable other. Sadly, this other has been deleted (as far as I can tell) from the YT line-up. Perhaps the ranter deleted this himself. Given the content—the delicious, delicious content—I doubt it, but there seems to be no way to find out, sadly.

Episode 12: Care Through Correction

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Episode 12: Care Through Correction considers another way to regard the increasingly tabloid press we suffer today, a press that must concern itself more with grabbing eyeballs and earholes to appease its advertisers than it may concern itself with tenets of good journalism, touchstones like sobriety, verifiability, and—most of all—accuracy. Could it be that this increasingly unreliable press of ours is actually abrogating its responsibility not just to its audience, but to the society in which it operates? Can it be—with lurid and shallow reporting, with less and less concern about correcting past errors—failing in its implicit duty of care?

As Lord David Puttnam asks in his TED Talk, what happens when the media's priority is profit?

I made some corrections in this episode to Planet Money's Episode 524: Me and Mr. Jones. In the interest of holding myself to the standards I beg the media to re-embrace, check my checking yourself by heading over to Wikipedia and looking up both the Merchant Marine Act of 1924 (aka the Jones Act) and the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886. They are different. See for yourself!

Music by Psychadelik Pedestrian, "Pacific"; Springtide, "Little Pink Guitar (in that closet)"; and (of course!) Mistle Thrush.

Addendum, The Next Day: The quick and accurate ears of listener l33tminion note that 34 years separate the Passenger Vessel Services Act from the Jones Act, not 24 as I stated in the episode. I regret the error.

Episode 11: Breaking News

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Though I've touched on this topic a bit in past episodes, with Episode 11: Breaking News, I've decided to create yet another sub-category, another theme that I hope to pursue throughout this series: the way that commercial money exerts influence on the act of gathering and disseminating the news.

For this first of the Breaking News series, I thought I'd touch on the major discrepancies that seem apparent when one considers how consumers are "protected" with "coverage," and how one class of business seems somehow less exposed to press investigations. Hint: in this specific case, it doesn't pay to be a small business person.

ABC News story mentioned in the episode.

The show opens and closes with portions from the opening of the James Cagney's 1959 movie, "Never Steal Anything Small."

Music: Pietnastka's eponymous song.

Episode 10: Defined By Absence

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Episode 10: Defined By Absence questions the many advertisements aired on public radio and television in the United States. Aren't these a violation of definition if nothing else? After all, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was originally formed to provide a format for programs that would not be possible under the commercial broadcast business model. Can an entity created with a sense of being different from more common entities in the business and social ecosystem really be considered in any way different if they engage in the very same behaviors as the commoners? Or should the different entity maintain a sense of purity? I'm leaning toward the latter.

We hear Steve Rendell's report on a serious public radio conflict of interest, originally aired on Counterspin and released December 27, 2013. No, a journalistic entity should never be funded by the very corporate entities it is charged with overseeing through its reporting.

Music in the episode include a performance of John Dowland's "Come again, sweet love doth now invite," Turmoil's "Drowning in the Cesspool," and the Freak Fandango Orchestra's "No Means No."

Finally, many, many thanks to my good and talented friend Susan, whom you listeners should also thank for giving your ears a needed respite from my voice. Variety is good, especially when that variety proves as excellent as Susan's contribution.

Episode 9: Carve & Polish

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Not all commercial messages are confined to the normal boundaries demarcating such messages, thanks to sneaky efforts from marketers everywhere. Episode 9: Carve and Polish takes one such case in point: consider a bad movie that was so obviously underwritten by a beverage manufacturer that silly steps were forced on the production team to avoid casting the beverage in question in a negative light. The steps are so obvious as to be laughable, and in the end the desired end—having the beverage become more culturally iconic—failed. Still, not all brand building in the movies is bought and paid for by the companies pushing product, as the second portion of the episode considers.

The two movies under consideration here are Bad Boys, a 1984 release starring Sean Penn; and David Lynch's 1986 Blue Velvet, with a fabulous performance by Dennis Hopper. Excerpts from both are heard.

Closing the show we hear "Shine, Shine, Shine" from Jupiter Makes Me Scream.

A Bit of a Delay, With Clarification

Sorry, folks, but in the confluence of events here at Attack Central—an untimely merging of family troubles, hard drive issues, extreme heat in the Studio From Which To Attack, and laundry (specifically, the noise emitted from the machines below Attack Central)—this week's planned episode will be delayed until next week. Not to worry, though, as I will be able to give July (if all goes according to the revised schedule) three full episodes, just not released according to some semblance of a schedule that can be deduced by, well, anyone.

Which leads to the clarification. Those with time to kill and a curious bent might have noticed that sometimes the episodes appear every Tuesday, and sometimes Every Other Tuesday. Which is it? Well, it's neither and it's both. I launched this endeavor on April Fools Day which happened to be a Tuesday, so I thought I would at least honor that coincidence throughout the project. Whether to post once a week or once every two weeks was the only detail to iron out.

Ah, but then come the details that bedevil. My podcast hosting plan allows X amount of content every month. My episodes, even with some pretty generous compression (which is lossy), dictate I could release three per month and still maintain what I consider a follow-able format in listen-able form. Ah, but sometimes months have four Tuesdays, and sometimes they have five! Even with maximum compression and a maniacal editorial policy that limited episodes to between 17 and 32 sentences, I couldn't fill a weekly schedule without doing some serious host plan upgrading . . . and bearing the subsequent expense. Until I figure out what I'm doing here, for this little diversion to continue I need to keep to the budget my wallet will allow.

On the other hand, waiting every other week left me with too many finished episodes sitting on the hard drive. I realized I would have absolutely no timely content whatsoever. That would have been acceptable, were it not for a few episodes (like #2) which were too timely to delay too much.

My solution was to fill the Tuesdays as much as possible without exceeding my upload budget. Sometimes they were every week, sometimes every other, and for Number 9 three weeks will pass. Only this three week delay is unintentional.

Perhaps once I get the so-called hang of this production thing, I will settle on a more discernible pattern of episodic release; that, though, will depend on some equipment upgrade and some soundproofing of the tiny cabinet of recording excitement that is Attack Central. Until then, Gentle Listeners, I do beg your allowance of my unpredictability, and thank you for your continued patience.

Episode 8: The Buck Starts Here

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With Episode 8: The Buck Starts Here, I hope to blow a few minds with a tidbit of information about the functioning of our capitalist system . . . some have said the core function that defines capitalism itself. What's more than a little surprising to me, at least, is the fact that one can find this bit of simple—nay, fundamental, even trivial information if one knows where to look; but without that bit of guidance, the search for how money works has become so completely obscured as to sound down right esoteric if not ludicrous. Could it be that commercial forces have decided to obfuscate this fact? I think so.

Some places to look for this information could be (but are far from limited to) certain episodes of the C-Realm Podcast where I found the source material for the audio montage heard in the middle of Episode 8. In order of appearance on the C-Realm, we find in the montage Ellen H. Brown (from #102: A Vocabulary of Control), John Michael Greer (from #262: Assume the Can is Open), Thomas H. Greco (from #265: Legal Tender and the Credit Clearing Function), Dmitri Orlov and Richard Heinberg (from #266: A Black Hole of Debt), and Charles Eisenstein (from #272: Emperor of What). Doug Lain has not articulated the tidbit himself as far as I am aware, but I included his voice as well (from #269: A Better Laugh Track).

If these voices are not enough, I could also provide a reading list from books these guests have written on this very subject. I intend to speak on this topic in future episodes, though, and have half a mind to read from these books as support for said episodes, so just stay tuned to this RSS feed.

Ably backing those worthy voices was "Servant Eye" by Ga'an.

Jan Wong's voice in the new Journalism Intro comes from Jesse Brown's Canadaland podcast (episode 32: "Jan Wong Isn't Over It").

And finally, many thanks to John McKenna for his kind permission to share with you his song, "Mayfly." I would share a link to more of his work; but modest man that he is, he didn't provide any. If you'd like to comment on this song, be it in praise or in pan, leave such commentary in the show notes and I'll make sure to pass it along to the artist.

Episode 7: Longer, Slower, Uncut

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In Episode 7, Longer, Slower, Uncut, I consider what some call Slow Television, content that refuses to be contained in limited time slots and constrained by the manic and incessant pace of commercial advertising. Really, in a digital cable television reality, why shouldn't someone have a channel that shows nothing but puppies frolicking, sleeping, eating, and all without commercial interruption?

Seriously. Why not?

Supporting content and inspirational material from This American Life episode #233, "Starting From Scratch", featuring the story "Puppy Love"; from On The Media's episode "I Want My Slow TV!"; and from Stephen Fry's Podgrams, Series 2, Episode 4, iTunes Live Festival.

Brief music selection by Ludwig von Beethoven, Fifth Symphony. First musical interlude from Charles Atlas, "Signal Flags". Closing interlude music from Omyiga, "Hypnogogia".

Oh, and for those that want a feed instead of individual downloads, plug http://attackads.libsyn.com/rss into your feed gatherer. Lemme know in the comments section if there are problems. Once Certain Quite Major and Unavoidable Family Problems are better resolved, I'll have more time to smooth the bugs out of the more popular feed portals; but not until then, I'm afraid.

Episode 6: We, Branded Bipedal Billboards

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In Episode 6: We, Branded Bipedal Billboards, I muse on the tribal drives that cause us to join with others in supporting certain endeavors, and note how this tribal drive is often hijacked by those with a pecuniary interest and used as a means of spreading commercial messages through our very outerwear, sometimes without our notice.

Early music, "The World is a Toilet" from Turmoil.

Closing music from Lee Rosevere, "Dreaming is a Private Thing."

A very short opening snippet from Wagner's opera "Sigfried" can also be heard.

Episode 5: Freak Show Porn

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In Episode 5: Freak Show Porn, we consider people like Jeff Yeager, an author who celebrates his life as a cheapskate. For those suffering personally in this economic downturn, Mr. Yeager's advice can help greatly. Good luck getting it, though, especially on our commercially funded media, at least without an unnecessary filter of denigrations and distortions that make Jeff—and people like him—look like freaks.

Intro: The opening sequence from the 1932 movie "Freaks".

Closing music: "Ode To A Baby Snowstorm" by Ghostly Dust Machine.

Episode 4: Tools and Their Boxes

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Episode 4: Tools and Their Boxes Concerns what happens when advertising dogma creeps into civic life. We've seen all too much of this corruption of our common spaces, what with our stadia and arenas branded not by the names of their builders as was traditional, but with names reflecting whomever bid the highest on the name and only the name, leaving the bulk of construction and maintenance for someone else to worry about.

Sadly, it could be—and might just become—quite a bit worse. In this episode, I examine one such so far failed attempt shove commercial branding onto my home state's transportation infrastructure, and my dream esprit de escalier response to the committee who proposed it.

Bear in mind, folks, that this bill was reintroduced without amendment in January of 2014. Head here to follow its "progress." If they dare reopen public comment, I will be there.

Other voices from the record of the House Transportation Committee from Tuesday, January 22, 2013.

Music backing my rebuttal speech: "Bomb Run" from the Dr. Strangelove soundtrack, and the unforgettable conclusion to Leonard Nimoy's extraordinary rendition of "If I Had A Hammer."

PS. This episode was recorded before Mr. Adams' unlikely scenario involving a fictional Johnny actually played out, at least in part. I was somewhat surprised at that.

Episode 3: The Drapes Must Not Clash!

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With Episode 3: The Drapes Must Not Clash!, I introduce an analogy and what I hope to be a running theme within the podcast: media content and styles that conflict with the advertising funding mechanism, themes and modalities that therefore are marginalized, dismissed or outright ignored. How many are shunned might surprise!

Middle orchestral music: "Le Petite Jardin" with Les Gauchers Orchestra by Lee Maddeford. Also squeezed in there is "Piggies" by the Beattles.

Closing tunage: the finale to "It's All Like Today" by the fabulous band Mistle Thrush. Really, I'd love this band even if my wife's cousin wasn't the base player!

Episode 2: Conslicked of Interest

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Episode 2: Conslicked of Interest concerns a recent scandal from Canada. When people who report the news also make money from the people who are often discussed in the news, shouldn't the reporters admit as much and disclose this possible conflict of interest? A growing number of people in Canadian media think so, especially after Jesse Brown of the Canadaland podcast broke the story. This, of course, raises another interesting question . . . which I'll save for listeners.

The Canadaland episodes in question: Rex Murphy is Paid by the Oil Sands and the CBC Won’t Disclose or Discuss it, followed by Jonathan Kay Defends Rex Murphy, followed by the triumphant Mansbridge's Oil Pay Makes the News. I excerpt a bit from each for the show.

I read from this article regarding the danger automobiles pose to children.

Middle Music: Wurliztraction, "The Manitoba Sprat Cat".

Closing tunage: Omyiga, "Skip the Happy Ending".

I apologize for the late release of this episode of Attack Ads!, due to a technical issue. Technically, yesterday I forgot to release it.

Episode 1: Smelling the Wet Dog

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In Episode 1: "Smelling the Wet Dog", I introduce the concept and motivation behind this project. Let my affliction guide my conviction!

Intro: music from "Attak-Reload" by KMFDM with pithy voice observations made by Dmitri Orlov on The Extraenvironmentalist Podcast.

Middle music, "Ember" by Podington Bear.

Closing Music "Chasmeaon" by Ga'an.