I am a podcast addict

I don't even remember when it started it has been so long ago.  I think the forerunner was when I discovered a place you could go to download old time radio programs.  I love those things.  In my search for those I found that there are people that are making the equivalent of radio talk show programs with current news and topics that you can download and listen to at your own time and convenience and best of all for me at your own listening speed.  I have been hooked ever since.

Just to let you know, my favorite app is still the for Android Podcast Addict.  It takes a little time to learn but it is intuitive enough.  It does a pretty good job of finding and managing pods and my favorite part is you can take it too 11.  Okay not quite 11 but 5X if you are so inclined. That is fast even for me.  I can run many things around 3X which means I can get it an hour program in about 20 minutes, just about right for a nice walk.  Except for Tony Robbins who gets excited and talks faster than most or Roy H. Williams whose Monday Morning Memo is so rich and deep I have to slow it down so I can take it all in.  I can set each pod to play at its own best speed and adjust on the fly if I need to.  It occasionally goes fuzzy at those higher speeds when the screen goes to sleep on my old Amazon Fire phone but beyond that one thing it is a solid app.

I am still looking for the best solution for my Apple iPhone.  They have a player but it only goes to 2X which is a step backward for me so right now friends and family look at me funny and are always asking me why do you carry around two phones?

So what is a Pod exactly?  The best way to describe it is a mini radio program though some are starting to delve into video.  The topics are all over the place and there is sure to be something you would be interested in, and it is easy to subscribe to an individual Podcast where you can work your way through all the episodes they have produced or just select individual episodes from whomever based on your favorite subject matters just search on a word and see what comes up.

If you are into lifelong learning there are pods that will teach you just about any subject you can think of.  If there is a passion you have in any area of life, there are others that share that passion and are producing a podcast about it.  If you are into self-development, religion, science, planes, trains and automobiles, politics, business, health, fitness, language, winners and losers, and everything in between you can probably find something that someone has done a show about it.  And if you can't find something then feel free to start producing your own.  Just came back here a let us know about it.  I am loving it.

Many people have gotten their introduction to podcast by word of mouth from friends and many get their first taste from one of the highly popular Pods such as Tim Ferris of four hour work week fame, Freakonomics, or This American Life or one of the NPR productions, such as Paula Poundstone Institute or the Ted Radio Hour though I think I prefer the actual Ted Talks themselves which you can also find.

The production values are better with the bigger budgets but I find the that smaller self produced stuff is every bit as good and often has higher quality content, especially if you are getting burned out on political correctness and people with an agenda.  Don't get me wrong, there is some junk out there...a lot of junk and of course some of it I will listen to anyway like a wreck you can't help but look at but my bar is getting ever higher as I realize that 1. I am not getting any younger and so time is a factor and I want to spend time to the best value added activities possible and 2. It is a big world out there, a really really big world out there.  If what you are listening to now ain't cutting it then go ahead and move on.  There is a good chance that the next thing will be better.  The more you experience, the better able you are to recognize and make the better choice.  (Hint: always make the better choice.)

This was my intro entry.  I plan on adding some other entries later telling you what I have been listening to.  I have some can't miss Pods that I look forward to anxiously.  I already mentioned Roy H Williams and his Monday Morning Memo.  I have been following him over 10 years now.  Others I have started at episode one and binge listened till I was current, or at least well on my way.

More to come.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Politicians promise scary Halloween

I have been hearing a lot of very scary things this Halloween. I understand there is an election going on where the very fabric of our Society is at stake. It appears that there is an attack on the core values that made America great, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Property).

I also understand that we are down to two finalist, (were there really ever going to be any more than two?) and both our out to destroy your way of life. Our job is comparing too what degree of destruction we are willing to accept.

This nation struggled throughout its lifetime to obtain and maintain the values that have stood the test of time as being preferable to anything else the world had to offer. But, at this point in its history, all of those past efforts are threatened to become null and void by the results of one election.

The reason it is different this time, is that those that oppose American values have stacked the cards in their favor. Whichever candidate gets the nod this time is a move in their direction. They win, we lose. And whichever candidate wins, they will take it as a mandate for them to continue to pursue and implement their Socialist policies and agendas.

And of the two remaining candidates that are essentially running unopposed, by far the worst offender to grace the stage has to be Barrack Hussein Obama. Where McCain is an old hand Democrat and has worked hard to one up the traditional Democratic party by pandering to its traditional campaign plans, Obama has raised the gamut completely past that stage to full on socialism.

(Lest ye think otherwise, I have been warning of and calling the traditional Democratic party socialist for far longer than the recent use by host and pundits on the airwaves.) The warning extends now to this fact. The next step beyond Socialism comes when it is no longer able to be enforced by persuasions political correctness but needs to be enforced by force and that is usually representative of Communism, and Dictatorships.

So do I really think we are on the verge of destruction? Actually I am not sure. I do find it hard to believe that this nation has spent so much time and energy to defend and promote these two candidates and in particular Obama as he appears to be the furthest removed from traditional American values. Obama seems poised to ruin the fabric of democracy from the first day in office whereas McCain might take an extra week to get there. It really scares me that a seeming majority of America's citizens would actually embrace what these two are proposing. Once we have gone over the half way point is there hope of bringing things back?

Actually there is hope. I have talked to quite a few Americans that still believe in America, what it stood for and what it stands for. They still have America's core values at their core. They do not want to give up and will not give up. They are just struggling to know what action to take to try and help ensure that those American values are not threatened. They want to put their voice with others and be heard. They want to have something to vote for, but once again they have a contest of choosing what to vote against. If you have to vote against then by all means vote against, but be sure that you make your vote against the absolute worst possible scenario, then work like mad to make sure that next time really will be different, and work like mad to preserve real American values.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Sometimes you need to tune out to tune in

I was just glancing at the news and nothing is catching my attention. I know I am supposed to be swayed by the headlines to delve into the altogether typical journalistic fare that is offered but this morning none of it looks the least bit appetizing. So I am not going to write about any of it. No Clintons, no Obamas, no McCains, no Congress, no celebrities, no weather, no sports, no science, no tech, no anything.

I have been watching that stuff all week long and frankly it has just brought me down with woes and worries that are unnecessary. I really don’t need to know what these other people are doing all the time. Sure some of their actions make an impact on my life, especially when they are prone to passing stupidity on to the rest of us, but from a day to day stand point most of what they do is pointless and should remain in that category when compared to my own importance to me.

What I am saying is that from time to time I notice that I tune in to way too much of the noise (and it is really just noise) and it starts affecting how I am and how I am thinking. If I listen to too much talk radio on the way to and from work it tends to make me just a little bit on edge to a whole lot on edge and driving in public is enough to do that on its own so I am pretty sure I don’t need any additional catalyst working to compound the problem. If I start the day out with the local news cast I notice that my sarcasm meter is pretty close to pegged before I even leave the door.

When I find myself getting this way, the first thing I try to do is to tune it out. To do this I generally need to start tuning into something else. This is where music comes into to play, at least that is what works best for me. I also find that tuning into another station in search of music doesn’t always work because of the insistence on all that intermittent chatter that clutters things up and gets in the way of playing any real music. Current stations are lousy that way. It is a good thing a have a fairly large library to choose from.

My musical tastes are fairly large and I like a wide range of music. There are also some definite areas of so called music that I do not care to go and will actively avoid whenever possible. Music is almost magical in that it can lift us up, energize us, commiserate with us, console us, give us hope, and share our joys. It can bring back fond memories of happy times, sad times, and romantic times.

Because music has the power to magnify good thoughts and feelings it also has the power to magnify the bad. If used unwisely, it can take you farther down the path that you are trying to get away from. Be mindful of this, as you are being mindful of yourself.

If you notice that you are not in the place you want to be, then it is time to start changing the place that you are or start moving to a new place. Sometimes it is as simple as changing the noise around you. When the noise coming from the outside is impacting the noise you make on the inside, then it is time to start tuning out what you don’t need and start tuning in to what you do need. Follow the admonitions of Paul. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after those things.

And that is why today I am tuning out all of those things that seem to get in the way of being able to tune in to those things that matter most. I am pretty sure I will be better off for it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Local television news is in trouble.

Local television news is in trouble. Like newspapers, they are in danger of losing out on the very markets they are striving to serve. They are driven by a standardized formula, which is fine if the formula you are using is working, and I admit that so far it is working, at least enough that most viewers are unwilling to change. In fact the formula is so popular in the industry that it is hard to tell one channel from the next other than having a different face reading the sound bites too you.

But it is that sameness that is going to be the downfall. The stories are the same. They are reported in the same style. They are usually reported in the same sequence. The national and world stories come from the same feeds. The stories are seldom in depth studies and accuracy is seldom a concern. If you really have an interest in a story, you are forced to pursue other means to get any meaningful detail. So when you factor in the teasers, the advertising breaks and the excess banter, you are luck to get 34 minutes of real content per hour and only half of that will be of value.

I hate the teasers. They are the worst form of journalism to inflect on the viewing public. Teasers before the show and teasers at every break. There are some that give you more information in the teaser than they do in the actual story. There are some that sound very promising but then deliver so little that you feel ripped off. There are teasers that make you stay tuned but two minutes later you can’t even remember what it was you were waiting for. I hate teasers.

If you have ever had to stay home sick and ended up watching the morning news for more than the typical 30 minute stint you will notice that the same stories will appear over and over. You will also find traffic reports that are of no value to anyone but those that like to rubber neck at accidents. If you have a commute that is long enough to need a traffic report then using the one on the TV before you leave probably won’t do you any good any way. I never understood why the traffic reports started well before the morning rush hour did. They now show pictures from roadside cameras that let you know just how ridicules it is to be reporting on traffic that early in the morning.

Then there are the six versions of weather reports per hour, not counting the teasers. The weather reports have got to be the biggest joke out there and yet it seems to be the only thing I want to watch on the news anymore. First let it be known that weather reports are only good for about three days at best. Anything beyond that is just fluff. If I’m lucky, they show a satellite loop that will give me a good enough picture of the weather pattern that I can make my own fairly reliable predictions. I like to watch for the 7 day outlook and then notice the changes to the seventh day as it gets closer throughout the week. It can fluctuate quite a bit. If you want a really good laugh, there are some out there that are giving a 14 day outlook.

The weather reports also tend to match the desired weather, in other words if you need water they will be overly optimistic with their rain or snow forecast, and if you have a holiday coming up they will try to predict good weather for the weekend.

I have to give credit to those that present the news. They are able to make everything seem wonderful or awful as the teletype dictates. They can act surprised at the right time even though they did the same story just an hour ago. They can feign interest in even the most fabricated of stories. And they have figured out how to turn it on and off, day after day after day. That is talent.

So where is the danger to local news? It is the fact that it is no longer local news or news that is well tailored to the local populace. It is becoming more and more homogenized. And that means that it is less and less specialized. With the population growing and the definition of what local is expanding it is not that amazing that there is so much of the local populace that gets left out. It is this alienation that has led many to go elsewhere for their news and information.

This is happening in print, radio, and television. As the media moves farther and farther from the public it serves, the will have less and less relevance to that audience and will in turn they will have a smaller audience. This should open up opportunities for small players to step in and return a sense of community to the community. I still run into this on occasion and on a small scale. Small local print is very refreshing even if it is irrelevant to your world. It is hard to start up a small outfit and to compete with the big boys for advertising revenue and for those that make the attempt I wish them all the best.

When the big boys do it right, they are hard to beat, but when they just churn out the same old thing then there is room for others to make a valid alternative. As each of us is somewhat unique and as there are more and more sources to feed us our daily need for information, there will continue to be a market for individual specialized media. The hard part is turning off the noise and finding the right media for each person. As you define your world the media will follow, and then you will know that one size does not fit all.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.