In one part of the world, at least, the phrase "getting good shit for Xmas" is taken more literally than in others. For a fun look at this region, one intended as levity for what December 25th can bring, I offer the gift of Episode 118: ¡Feces Navidad!

It’s not coincidental that the most irritating advertising arose only after machines increased audiences. Broadcasting and amplification beyond the range of a single voice likewise allowed today’s aural effluent. Hence, Episode 117: Can You Hear Me Now?

The more I dive into media history, the more I find that surprises. For example, did you know there was at one time a chain of theaters that didn't charge for admission? It's a mulling topic for me on this Episode 116: Gates & Gatekeepers.

Just when a good thing gets going, someone comes along to wreck it, merely because it doesn't make nearly as much money as it could. Like the witches in the Scottish Play, I show one such player in this Episode 115: With This Pin I Stitch Some Dumb.

It's time to once again let my gums flap without a script to guide them. I've done that before; all I need is sufficient anger. Today I spread my outrage over growing class divisions in this Episode 114: Coffee and Water Everywhere.

I got hacked.  Maybe.  Details within.

I focus my attention once again on an inflection point, a moment in history when an improvement allowed someone to do something previously impossible. Today's technology is the color poster that, when introduced, made Drab Walls Dance… With Ads.

Ever since I started this podcastic obsession with advertising and its deleterious effects, there’s a question I can never not ask: Why was a certain book published? I ask it here in this conclusion to author and cultural dog whistle Horatio Alger.

People for too long have described the poverty-to-power lives of business mucky-mucks as “Horatio Alger stories.” The trouble is, I'm willing to bet that precious few of these people have ever actually read a single one of that man's books. Let's correct that.

Curious about how best the future should proceed money-wise, I consult someone far more expert than I in making podcasting pay, if only a little: KMO of the C-Realm and of the GEBB.IO web comic.

Sometimes leftovers happen. Why waste a perfectly good ingredient or two or three—or seven—just because there isn't enough of any one for a meal? Time now to bake and serve these perfectly tasty two-year-old ingredients.

Well, advertising haters, I think I've finally located the source of the scourge that plagues us: the man who invented the business plan that spawned almost wholly advertising-supported news! I'll tell you all about him in this episode.

To understand advertising today, we have to avoid simplifications like who paid for what message, and move into the nuances regarding how those paid messages—and the media that took the message money—attempt to capture our attention.

For reasons too mundane to explain, I've got a short episode this time, one with three pleas for listener participation. Give a listen. I think at least a few listeners might be interested in the topics, and be willing to contribute.

A simple question too often sends my brain into overdrive. That's what happened here, when I confronted the ugly realities of how money warps elections, creating a hot mess that shares too many similarities to our nation's agricultural system.

It turns out there are books and movies out there that cast a critical eye on advertising; but these entertainments are seldom if ever seen or heard today anywhere that relies on advertising dollars to keep the lights on. Let me share one.

Ever wonder why "soap operas"—today's daytime serial dramas—are sponsored by a variety of products, not just soaps? It turns out that that wasn't always the case. In the past, one sponsor paid for an entire, individual program. Here, I give an example.

Dualistic language is a problem for me, especially in this overly-polarized media where opinions are not held lightly but with as much force as can be mustered into the opinion blusterscape. By actively seeking less Good-Versus-Evil language, less dichotomous and divisive terms of description, we take the first step into embracing gradualism and nuance into whatever topic might be under discussion. Hence, Episode 102: The Mundane and The Sublime.

While I'm wading through written material that will provide future grist for the yakking mill, what else to discuss? How about a brief recap of material already covered, along with asking how I'm doing? Hence….

Ah, the celebratory nature of stuff that divides cleanly by ten! Time to reminisce, to look back, and to do new stuff as well, such as to join the lemming parade to FrootiToons! New logo: Check! Descriptions: Late, but check!

When commercialism dominates our reference materials, what else can we expect other than the inability to discover facts hostile or critical of commercialism? I explore that problem in this episode.

Sadly, in my last episode, I had to gloss over many details involving Zuckerberg's company that I would have loved to launch and rhetorically blast out of the sky. Consider this a follow-through, a far-from-final blast of rhetoric toward the Effin' Bees.

Back in my youth, my friends and I would occasionally gather to share ideas for projects. More often than not, we would first pretend to load shotguns before we asked someone to share by saying “Pull!” Into the conversation the idea would go….

People are entitled to their opinions. They are not entitled to spouting their opinions unchallenged when those opinions perhaps deliberately ignore crucial bits of history that, if better known, might greatly undermine the importance of those opinions.

I confess: I sometimes screw up. We all do, after all. And, given our almost universal screw-upped-ability, it's probably best to not assume we are god's gift to the unlearned every time we drop “knowledge” on the masses.

Though it has long been a presence in our homes, the telephone has of late morphed into an infernal device that has driven many to simply do cut land lines altogether just to have peace and quiet reign uninterrupted by unwanted telemarketing intrusions.

Lewis Powell, Jr. and his Memo allowed the wealthy to shake the country, resulting in today. Neither the movement nor the shaking has stopped. So, now that we know what happened, I ask: Can Something Else Happen? I read two pieces of listener feedback.