Attack Ads! The Podcast

Lately, it seems, how long we owners of tech can use our things has been shrinking, as ever-more monopolistic powers extend toward a product totalitarianism that favors newness over usefulness. This I explore Episode 194: Something Old, Something New. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2022/03/episode-194-something-old-something-new.html

Have you ever thought how weird it is that experts in labor—issuing pronouncements about how long shifts should be—never work those job shifts themselves? It's another argument supporting the title group in this Episode 193: KSD Lazy, Do Nothing Idlers. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2022/02/episode-193-ksd-lazy-do-nothing-idlers.html

Everyone seems aware of the appalling working conditions afflicting the poor in the 18th century; fewer seem aware, though, of what rationale drove employers to such torture. I dip into a book from that period in this Episode 192: The Right To Be Lazy. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2022/02/episode-192-right-to-be-lazy.html

Today's society values industry and work, specifically hard and grueling work. This has happened before. We should look to the 1877, where good advice was given in an essay, the title of which I've stolen for this Episode 191: An Apology For Idlers. Find the Show Notes At: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2022/01/episode-191-apology-for-idlers.html

With all the bad news in which we wallow, it's natural to feel the need to do something. Sadly, that is just what the people who got that news to you would like you to do. Better instead to follow the advice of today's Episode 190: How To Do Nothing. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2022/01/episode-190-how-to-do-nothing.html

Every now and again, I discover a quote I deem relevant enough to share. Less often, I'm moved enough to share most of the original source. In this Bonus Episode, I read from one of those rare finds: FDR's 1938 Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2021/12/bonus-episode-fdrs-1938-message-to.html

Context is everything. Sadly, context is often lost in the transition to digital communications. We need to remember that, especially when the context is not happy, cheery, with nary a care in the world. Hence, Episode 189: Memento Mori, Motherfacer. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2021/12/episode-189-memento-mori-motherfacer.html

Of course, not all we learn in commercial media can be trusted. It's always good to remember, though, how tenacious some efforts at mis- and disinformation become, swirling to form something described by the title of Episode 188: The Hyporeality Vortex. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2021/11/episode-188-hyporeality-vortex.html

I'm sometimes embarrassed to admit that I might produce this show even without an audience; it's therapeutic. It's good to know people do listen, and often share their provocative thoughts, which prompt this Episode 187: Sharing A Little Mulled Whine. Find the Show Notes, Pim, at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2021/11/episode-187-sharing-little-mulled-whine.html

Jerry Mander's 1978 book still packs rhetorical punch, enough that reviewing the notes I took on it lead me to realize a cause, perhaps, of today's extreme political sectarianism. I'll dive into that in Episode 186: An Internal Scarcity of Contentment. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2021/11/episode-186-internal-scarcity-of.html