Attack Ads! The Podcast

Attack Ads! questions the dominance of media supported mainly by the corrupting influence of commercial advertising sponsorship, and aims to raise both awareness and outrage at the limitations such a system produces.

Time Bandits and The Curse of Bigness 09/07/2026

Time Bandits and The Curse of Bigness Have you ever wondered why so many of your friends feel things in general have deteriorated over the years? Worse, has this been happening more and more at the same time the talking heads seem happier and happier about how bad things were, but how great things are now? You're not alone. I explore possible factors that explain this split in opinion in this Episode 289: Time Bandits and The Curse of Bigness. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/09/episode-289-time-bandits-and-curse-of.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/42813645

On The Tips of Our Fingers 08/23/2026

On The Tips of Our Fingers How good is online search? A better question might be how good could it be if the suits in the executive suites let it get good? We may never know, sadly, and that's the topic of today's Episode 288: On The Tips of Our Fingers. Find the Show Notes page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/08/episode-288-on-tips-of-our-fingers.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/42529560

The Ephemeral & The Ethereal 08/11/2026

The Ephemeral & The Ethereal It's one thing to reduce the weight of our things with new materials and construction techniques. It's quite another, though, to lighten them so much that their functional lives are compromised, leaving one with useless junk. I explore all-too-often tension between long-lived and lightened in this Episode 287: The Ephemeral & The Ethereal. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/08/episode-287-ephemeral-ethereal.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/42395635

The Great Granny Patches Gambit 07/30/2026

The Great Granny Patches Gambit We've all heard the saying: never meet your idols. Well, folks, let me give you one very real example of a fallen idol in this Episode 286: The Great Granny Patches Gambit. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/07/episode-286-great-granny-patches-gambit.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/42261650

Laboring Upstream On the River of Shit 07/14/2026

Laboring Upstream On the River of Shit Why do so many of the companies that provide us with stuff need to be ginormous? For that matter, why must too many of them outright abuse their workers? I look at this just a bit in this Episode 285: Laboring Upstream On the River of Shit. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/07/episode-285-laboring-upstream-on-river.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/42084330

Bath Bombing the Internet 06/26/2026

Bath Bombing the Internet Has anyone ever wondered what might happen if untruths both large and small continue to be used by people to sell shit, perhaps in diabolical ways, and "increase engagement"? Actually, several have, years ago. And now we're close to living that dystopia, on which I comment in this Episode 284: Bath Bombing the Internet. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/06/episode-284-bath-bombing-internet.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/41811830

Bonus Episode Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 Address to the Sorbonne 06/09/2026

Bonus Episode Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 Address to the Sorbonne In this Bonus Episode I read excerpts from former President Theodore Roosevelt's 1910 Commencement Address to the graduates and staff of the Sorbonne in France (referred to by some as the "Man In The Arena" speech). Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/06/bonus-episode-teddy-roosevelts-1910.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/41591725

Privilege Requires Usufruct! 05/18/2026

Privilege Requires Usufruct! I completely realize that my insistence on correcting other people's mistakes is a complete mistake on my part. Still. I do it. For me, forget about capital, and concentrate on usufruct. It's something I do here in this Episode 283: Privilege Requires Usufruct! Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/05/episode-283-privilege-requires-usufruct.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/41342815

Many Voices Make Lies Work 05/04/2026

Many Voices Make Lies Work Modern advertising and military propaganda efforts share quite a few common elements. How many they share should surprise and even shock us all. I explore this topic in this Episode 282: Many Voices Make Lies Work. Find the Show Notes at: Find the Show Notes for Episode 34: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2015/06/episode-34-reiteratively-repeated.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/41151040

My Brother's Experiment 04/19/2026

My Brother's Experiment Using computers that can more or (mostly) less function as if they were "intelligent" is all the rage today, especially in business. Why hire a person when a machine can do the job? Others are goofing around with these machines as well, including my own brother. I explore some of his recent goofs in this Episode 281: My Brother's Experiment. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/04/episode-281-my-brothers-experiment.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/40926315

Sky Father The Uncrumbly 04/01/2026

Sky Father The Uncrumbly Definitions can be difficult sometimes, especially when the word you are floundering to define doesn't really have a concrete definition, but rather a multitude of different applications and associations. It's best then to define something with double negatives, as I try to demonstrate in this Episode 280: Sky Father The Uncrumbly. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/04/episode-280-sky-father-uncrumbly.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/40703745

Why Capitalists Don't Exist 03/17/2026

Why Capitalists Don't Exist Categorizing certain things is important. Over-categorizing them, though, can be more damaging to one's understanding than not categorizing things at all. Lately, I've realized that categorizations have impeded understanding our world to the point that perhaps we should just jettison certain categorizations altogether. Hence, Episode 279: Why Capitalists Don't Exist. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/03/episode-279-why-capitalists-dont-exist.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/40518835

The Magical Manipulation of Desire 02/27/2026

The Magical Manipulation of Desire I've mentioned before that advertising often takes advantage of those it targets psychologically, triggering latent vulnerabilities in all of us. Maybe it's more than just psychology, though, that makes ads tick. I explore one possibility in this Episode 278: The Magical Manipulation of Desire. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/02/episode-278-magical-manipulation-of.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/40249030

Ratcheting the Ridiculous 02/10/2026

Ratcheting the Ridiculous Sometimes, the difference between entertainment between two countries is profound due to cultural differences. Today, I'd like to suggest that there are differences well beyond culture that affect two peoples, even those separated by a common language, in this Episode 277: Ratcheting the Ridiculous. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/02/episode-277-ratcheting-ridiculous.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/40065560

The Fuel & The Fire 01/21/2026

The Fuel & The Fire /episode/index/show/attackads/id/39806680

Nullius In Verba 12/31/2025

Nullius In Verba For reasons I hope to make clear soon, advertising is not foremost on my mind right now. I made a realization that a great change will quite possibly befall us, and… I have no idea when. To understand my thinking on this, though, I feel it's necessary to give some background. Hence, some background in this Episode 275: Nullius In Verba. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/12/episode-275-nullius-in-verba.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/39573150

Our New Normal… Is Abby 12/02/2025

Our New Normal… Is Abby What's that phrase? One step forward, two steps back? For every positive step our society takes, it seems there are invisible forces trying to drag every step in a quite negative direction. I'll explore one example of just this in this Episode 274: Our New Normal… Is Abby. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/12/episode-274-our-new-normal-is-abby.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/39239565

Chattel Trapped In Chat Hell 11/19/2025

Chattel Trapped In Chat Hell I never cease to be amazed at how bad some corporate decisions are… until I finally figure out why those bad decisions were probably the best way for the company to make more money. I explore one revelation concerning my need to connect a simple device to the internet, only to be forced to chat support, in this Episode 273: Chattel Trapped in Chat Hell. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/11/episode-273-chattel-trapped-in-chat-hell.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/39089210

Henry Saw This Coming 11/08/2025

Henry Saw This Coming There are far more thinkers whose writings can explain phenomena better than most; but thanks to ruthless historical suppression, those thinkers are not even considered. I'd like to frame a few economic problems many of us are facing today to the philosophy of Henry George in this Episode 272: Henry Saw This Coming. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/11/episode-272-henry-saw-this-coming.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/38958520

Baffling Ripples of Synergy 10/18/2025

Baffling Ripples of Synergy Just in case you don't get enough advertising in the privacy and sanctuary of your home, good news! Refrigideezers will soon show you ads on a screen on the door! It's true! I react to this silliness in this Episode 271: Baffling Ripples of Synergy. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/10/episode-271-baffling-ripples-of-synergy.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/38630485

Pulling at Tightly Woven Threads 09/30/2025

Pulling at Tightly Woven Threads I lately find myself dwelling on not the existence of new technology, but on questions about how we humans should treat it. After all, nothing in our cultures or languages has evolved to accommodate, for one example, ASoLs. In the interest of discussing these geegaws and thingamajigs with someone who actually not only uses them, but doesn't actively hate them, I have a chat with KMO as we start the title of Episode 270: Pulling at Tightly Woven Threads. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/09/episode-270-pulling-at-tightly-woven.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/38403320

An Abunance of Lies 09/16/2025

An Abunance of Lies Every so often, a book emerges that gets a lot of buzz from the media and gets tongues wagging. Sadly, too often those books say things that stretch credulity to the breaking point and start to smell a lot like a massive propaganda campaign stuffed into a hardcover. I follow the abundant evidence of one such book being bunkum in this Episode 269: An Abundance of Lies. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/09/episode-269-abundance-of-lies.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/38245855

Senator John Sherman's Address to The Senate 09/01/2025

Senator John Sherman's Address to The Senate While most of us have heard of the Sherman Act, few have savored Senator John Sherman's speech to the Senate in defense of that act. Today, I present to you my reading of an edited version of that speech, in this Bonus Episode: Senator John Sherman's Address to The Senate. /episode/index/show/attackads/id/38050175

Rich Uncle Money-Bork, Welfare Queen 08/11/2025

Rich Uncle Money-Bork, Welfare Queen Monopolies are nothing new. Government allowing companies to merge and acquire and metastasize into monopolies, though, that is relatively new. The ideas that support monopolies come from a handful of jerks supported by other jerks, who provide trucks full of money. I focus my hairy eyeball of criticism today on one such full truck funded fuck in this Episode 268: Rich Uncle Money-Bork, Welfare Queen. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/08/episode-268-rich-uncle-money-bork.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/37753130

Breathing Together, Choking Apart 07/27/2025

Breathing Together, Choking Apart Propaganda is not just a thing that happens in the here and now. Dig well enough, and you might find old institutional knowledge that started originally as a conspiratorial plot designed to sway society. Make such propaganda profitable enough, and we find ourselves in a world described by the title to Episode 267: Breathing Together, Choking Apart. Find the Show Notes Page at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/07/episode-267-breathing-together-choking.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/37567920

Garbage Fires and Angry Weasels 07/08/2025

Garbage Fires and Angry Weasels When propaganda falls, it can lead to social impacts more powerful than kinetic weapons. The troubles come when the propagandists conceal their manipulation of society with misdirecting propaganda that we have trouble detecting, let alone responding to effectively. Which brings us to today's Episode 266: Garbage Fires and Angry Weasels. Find the Show Notes at: /episode/index/show/attackads/id/37330170

A Stringent, Crystalline Vision 06/24/2025

A Stringent, Crystalline Vision As I've quoted before, "ideas need patrons." I'll dive into economic ideas bought by the wealthy and spread by those Chicago school economists in this Episode 265: A Stringent, Crystalline Vision. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/06/episode-265-stringent-crystalline-vision.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/37136510

Archeologists of a Bygone Age 05/30/2025

Archeologists of a Bygone Age Perhaps for the first time in human history, we people can now buy things more easily than we can fix them. Repair shops have become a thing only on television, even though so much of value could be repaired. I spend most of this Episode 264: Archeologists of a Bygone Age, planning my next big repair. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/05/episode-264-archeologists-of-bygone-age.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/36796390

The Hits To Our Privates Just Keep Coming! 05/09/2025

The Hits To Our Privates Just Keep Coming! Ethics often interfere with profits. When more profits are “required,” companies often face a hard choice…or an easy one. Results vary. I look into two compromises/profitable opportunities in this Episode 263: The Hits To Our Privates Just Keep Coming! Find the Show Notes at: http://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/05/episode-263-hits-to-our-privates-just.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/36502635

The Shitcaca Sküll 04/16/2025

The Shitcaca Sküll I’m reminded almost daily about how the current elevation of private enterprise has made our lives crap. It's helpful to remember that this industrial fetish had an origin, and can be reversed, as I discuss in this Episode 262: The Shitcaca Sküll. Find the Show Notes at: https://attackadspodcast.blogspot.com/2025/04/episode-262-shitcaca-skull.html /episode/index/show/attackads/id/36183510

Attack Ads! The Podcast

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