Monday, December 7, 2015

Episode 26 - You Kids Get Offa My Lawn!!!

A friend of ours was recently the first of our old gang to make it to the age of fifty, and after we got over the thoughts of our own mortality that brought about, we then began thinking about how the world has changed since we were sprouts. You know, like old farts tend to do...



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Monday, November 23, 2015

Episode 25 - No More Doughnut Money

Most of us aren't Miss Daisy, with someone to drive us where we want to go. The day when we won't have to drive ourselves anywhere at all is fast approaching, however. John and Smokey daydream about self-driving cars, and wonder how the masses may fear the machines taking over yet another of our day-to-day chores.



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The piece that got us thinking about topic is a little involved, but an interesting read. Check it out, and you may find it describing your own thoughts and/or fears about driver-less cars...

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/01/cover-ride.aspx

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Episode 24 - Hooked on Phone-ics

Has anything changed the day-to-day activity of our lives like the smartphone? From communicating to banking to buying movie tickets, the computer we all carry with us has become all but indispensable... but can we become literally addicted to using it... and if we can, is that REALLY so bad? John and Smokey ponder this question, but they do it verbally, and not via text message.



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Further reading on this subject, which can also be done via smartphone or tablet (in case you can't put those down):

http://time.com/3952333/smartphone-addiction/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201307/smartphone-addiction

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/tech-addiction/

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Episode 23 - Haters Gonna Hate

Since Will Smith introduced Mankind to the term "Hater" almost twenty years ago, some people have given greater life to that word than reasonable folk would ever have thought possible. But why??? John and Smokey ponder this deep, deep question... and call that kind of people nasty names...



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Further reading, if you're so inclined, can include this discussion about Soren Kirkegaard's thoughts on "haters" of the Nineteenth Century:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/13/kierkegaard-diary-bullying-trolling-haters/

and a fairly interesting Huffington Post piece about "haters" today, and what might make them tick:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-s-parks/the-psychology-of-haters_b_7597400.html

Friday, September 11, 2015

Episode 22 - Grow Up, Already!

It's said there's a time to put away childish things and be a man (or woman). Okay, just when is that time? Have you reached it? Being a "grown-up" is a subjective thing. John and Smokey wonder exactly what that means...



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We learned about some of the Rites of Passage discussed in this show from these articles. Check 'em out for yourself! 

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/13-amazing-coming-of-age-traditions-from-around-th/

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/02/21/male-rites-of-passage-from-around-the-world/

Friday, August 28, 2015

Episode 21 - Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions

Why on Earth don't movie and TV characters wear shoes indoors? How are there always parking spaces available at the front door? Do all movie aliens look just like us? John and Smokey ponder some of the dumb things in movies that NEVER happen in reality (or at least sure don't seem to...).



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Credit where credit is due - this episode's title comes from a bit Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell did for the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. See the brilliance here: https://youtu.be/Sqz5dbs5zmo

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Episode 20 - Manners Maketh Man

"Do unto others before they do it to you..." No, wait, that's not right... is it?  You'd never know these days, as people are less considerate of one another than ever before, or at least it seems that way.  John and Smokey wonder why "good manners" are so hard to find anymore, or better yet, why are they so hard to practice?



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We found the story about the screaming-child incident at the diner in Portland, Maine here: http://www.wcsh6.com/story/news/local/portland/2015/07/19/portland-diner-facebook-post/30391407/

Curious about those characteristics of manners from days gone by that John was telling us about? Check 'em out here: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/07/23/the-anatomy-of-etiquette-how-to-be-an-old-school-gentleman-from-head-to-toe/

Friday, July 24, 2015

Episode 19 - Conspiracy of Fat

We all want to be more fit, don't we... or do we all just want to be better-looking? How can we hope to be either with the doughnuts and cookies that the World seems to keep throwing at us? John and Smokey search for both answers and a smaller pants size.



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John happens to be a certified instructor in MoveNat, which was mentioned several times in this episode. You can learn more about it at https://www.movnat.com/

Friday, July 10, 2015

Episode 18 - Comfortable Geek Skin

Are we not Men? No! We are Geeks! ...or are we Nerds...? With the things Geeks love permeating popular culture of late, does this mean being a Geek is now mainstream? If so, are we FINALLY cool now? Probably not, but John and Smokey discuss the possibility.



Download this episode here!

Friday, May 29, 2015

Episode 17 - Accepting Collecting

Bottlecaps, coins, stamps, ticket stubs, ball caps, Beanie Babies... People collect all sorts of stuff, but why? Anthony and Smokey spend a few minutes wondering what drives us to choose these items and devote such energy to obtaining them... 



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Friday, May 15, 2015

Episode 16 - We're All Stalkers

Ever meet somebody famous? Get an autograph? A "selfie"? Did it change your life? Did anybody really care?  The guys ponder our cultural fascination with celebrity, and why we all feel so drawn to those who have gained some sort of fame.



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Friday, May 1, 2015

Episode 15 - Wondering about One-Hit Wonders

The two goobers flip through their iTunes libraries and find all sorts of weird stuff from performers no one ever heard from again.  Lots of pop culture-related conversation ensues...



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Friday, April 17, 2015

Episode 14 - The Six-Figure Anchor

With Smokey moving soon, he and Anthony got to thinking about the "American Dream" of home ownership, and how it has been one of the linchpins of our society for more than a century.  Of course, very little of our society is the same as it was a hundred years ago, so should the notion of being financially stuck in one place continue to be so important to us? 



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Today's show stemmed from our reactions to a short video lecture given by Professor Richard Florida from the Univ. of Toronto, an expert in urban studies (yeah, real deep stuff). It's just ten minutes, but is very, very interesting. See for yourself...
http://bigthink.com/videos/the-end-of-home-ownership

Friday, April 3, 2015

Episode 13 - Nostalgia Now! Nostalgia Forever!

Hearing old songs you loved long ago, seeing a place where you once had fun, or finding lost mementos buried in a closet... the nostalgia such things make us feel present a range of emotions, some good and some not-so-good. We'll bet you didn't know just how complex those feelings can be, and just how they might actually benefit you...



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The article in the New York Times that started this train of thought...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1

A little something in "The Atlantic" that explains how advertisers and other media outlets play on our nostalgic tendencies:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/how-the-internet-uses-nostalgia/283966/

...and just in case you didn't believe us about "Full House" returning to television...
http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/netflix-to-reboot-full-house-1201465475/

Friday, March 20, 2015

Episode 12 - More "Kimmy Schmidt," Please

How many episode of "House of Cards" can YOU plow through in one sitting?  Binge-watching is the way so many of us get our TV-watching done these days, but at what point does having all these great viewing choices start to create new problems for us...?



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Friday, March 6, 2015

Episode 11 - Starbase: Denver

Is the Truth Out There? Probably not. In this episode, the fellows talk about some of the more well-known conspiracy theories floating about in our culture, and really get to wondering just what is up with that massive airport out in Denver...



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The article in "The Independent" that started this train of thought...
http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-internets-seven-most-sinister-conspiracy-theories--l1dIS7Et0

A more in-depth "look" into Denver International Airport, with photographic and video "evidence":
http://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/sinister-sites-the-denver-international-airport/

Friday, February 20, 2015

Episode 10 - Don't Tell Me What Kind of Day to Have

We all say such things as "have a nice day" and "how are you?", but do we ever really mean these things? Anthony and Smokey think people shouldn't say or ask such things unless they really mean them, or better yet, want an honest response...



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Friday, February 6, 2015

Episode 9 - The Attention Span of a Gnat

Damn smartphones! Thanks to these things, nobody can focus or pay attention to anything for more than a few seconds anymore! Well, maybe it's not all of our techo-devices that have made us this way - maybe we're all actually CHOOSING to be this way...



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The article that spawned this episode came from 
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/opinion/smartphones-dont-make-us-dumb.html?referrer=&_r=0

Friday, January 23, 2015

Episode 8 - We Waited 200 Years for THIS???

More than two hundred years ago, Founding Fathers Paul Revere and Samuel Adams left some items in a time capsule, likely as a way to allow us, their descendants, to gain some insight into the way they lived. Strangely, it seems the items they left are still a bit more relevant to OUR lives than they should be.



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The article that got Anthony and Smokey thinking about this particular subject can be found at http://www.boston.com/news/history/2015/01/08/not-everything-the-paul-revere-time-capsule-history/nDKSekk0YjaG1Nixnn8XEK/story.html

Friday, January 9, 2015

Episode 7 - Your Handwriting Sucks

Are you able to get a point across by writing it down? Could anybody read it if you tried? Has anyone ever even taught you the correct way to hold a pen??? Anthony and Smokey wonder how the art of handwriting will survive our keyboard-centric modern lifestyle.



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Mentioned in this episode: 

The source article for today's show can be found at http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/12/16/improve-your-cursive-handwriting/

Anthony mentions "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron, which can be found for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron-ebook/dp/B006H19H3M/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420318887&sr=1-1&keywords=julia+cameron

The "Sullivan Ballou Letter" from Ken Burns' "The Civil War" can be heard at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNfBdzpG6L4

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