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Report from Louisiana: Podcasts

Posted: September 20, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT —  Y’all…I’m so late to this party it is just embarrassing. I am going to need a little help from those of you that listen to podcasts, but first, let me explain.

I am hard-pressed to think of a term that better illustrates the rapid advancement in personal technology in the past two decades than “podcast.”

Perspective: my generation grew up with rotary phones attached to walls by cords. In my lifetime I witnessed the invention of the push-button phone, the satellite phone, the cordless phone, and eventually the mobile cellular phone. It has been a steep learning curve for some of us that are of a certain age. I did not own a cellphone until I was 42 years old; it was a red Nokia flip phone.

Now I own a very expensive iPhone that will probably do a great many more things than what I actually use it for. Back in the flip phone days, I also had a click wheel iPod which was just revolutionary. I actually still have it and still listen to it sometimes.

Technology started pulling away from me when we no longer bought music on iTunes and made playlists. I think now people just stream everything. I’m not really sure. I subscribe to Apple music and Pandora but don’t really use them. I know there is something called Spotify and I don’t know how to use it.

You see my problem?

Back to podcasts. As a high school educator, my students tried to keep me in the technological loop and so I learned about things like Instagram and TikTok. (I have an Insta but won’t fall into TikTok. Refuse.) But podcasts? I didn’t have time to learn anything else! I was barely keeping up already!

The word “podcast” originated in 2004 and in 2005 it was the Word of the Year for the New Oxford American Dictionary. Apparently, podcasting is now a billion-dollar industry. The 18–34 age group seems to be the primary listening audience and by the time you get to my age group listeners drop significantly.

I dipped my toes into the podcast waters a couple of years ago when a friend insisted that I listen to S-Town, the popular true-crime serial. I dutifully pulled out my earbuds and started listening and I loved it! It was hosted by Brian Reed and the story centered around John McLemore, a larger-than-life, colorful character in Woodstock, Alabama. Mr. Reed’s recordings of his conversations with McLemore were fascinating and my friends and I spent hours talking about this story.

But since then? Nothing. I haven’t listened to another podcast. Why?

Right about that time was when I began a big research project and so there was really no time or opportunity to find a new podcast. When I was writing my book (the result of that research), I listened to a playlist on my iPod (not the click wheel one!). Honestly, there’s no good excuse. I just didn’t look for a new podcast.

Last week, someone suggested I try the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast. I’m not much into the horror genre, which is how this was described to me, but I do love anything Southern Gothic and so maybe this would be okay. The episodes aren’t overly long (in fact, they’re a little too short), and I do like the serialized format. I’ve listened to four or five episodes now and while I don’t yet love it the way I did S-Town, I am going to stay with it a while longer.

I would love to find some good podcasts to listen to. Now that I am retired, I think I can put on a podcast and do this godforsaken walking thing that my doctor wants me to do each day. While I like listening to music, or even birds and barking dogs in the neighborhood, I can see myself listening to a podcast while I walk.

But I have so many questions. How do you find a podcast you want to listen to? When do you listen? Why are so many podcasts in the true crime genre? I don’t even know what genre I want to focus on which is the first question everyone asks me. I want a podcast like S-Town. Colorful characters. I don’t want irritating voices or giggling hosts. I don’t want to listen to anything political — I was a political blogger for ten years and I’m tired of that fight. I want a good mystery, or to learn something. Escapism.

Since podcasts are basically today’s version of radio programs from back in the day, obviously I want to be entertained.

So, tell me. What are you listening to? What are your favorite podcasts and why? Help a girl out!

(This article was previously published on Medium; I am reprinting here because I really want your suggestions!)

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and at Medium; she is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

All Quiet Along the Potomac Last Night

Posted: September 19, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Lt Cmdr Montgomery Scott : There’s an old, old saying on earth, Mr. Sulu: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Ensign Pavel Chekov : I know this saying. It was invented in Russia.

Star Trek, Friday’s Child 1967

A lot of people have had a lot of fun pointing out that the specter of a 2nd “uprising” at the Capital was a farce with more press than protestors and said protectors being more FBI than protestors. In fact one photo has become a comic meme: An example:

I find this interesting because this leads to the obvious question: How much of this actually went on January 6th when it wasn’t clear that stuff like this was going on with the FBI et/al & people including President Trump who at the time might have presumed that such a thing might not take place.

While we are all having a good laugh all all of this it doesn’t change the fact that there are plenty of Americans who are at best guilt of trivial trespass still being held while charges against those who actually spent a year looting and burning major cities were given a pass. That’s an American disgrace brought to you by the Biden Administration and those who aided, abetted and supported the steal of the last election.

Bottom line, We won’t get fooled again.

With the vaccine mandate the Biden Regime has now become a petty dictatorship

Posted: September 16, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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With the issuance of this unconstitutional edict Joe Biden crossed over the threshold into a level of tyranny that has only been exhibited in totalitarian dictatorships.  He has now gone further along that path than any president in the history of the United States, which is saying a lot considering the levels of tyranny the people of the United States experienced under Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Obama.

This one provision of his proclamation violates so many fundamental provisions of the United States Constitution.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees.

Nowhere under the Constitution is the federal government granted the authority to mandate that individuals must have a substance injected into their bodies, not even a hypothetical vaccine that is 100 percent safe and 100 percent effective against a seriously deady virus.  Every single individual has the right to decide for themselves what does and does not go into their bodies.  That right is a fundamental component of one of our most important God-given Natural Rights which is Liberty.

Liberty if the freedom to do whatever you want as long as you do not hurt others or interfere with the rights of others. Not getting vaccinated against a disease does not qualify as hurting others because others are free to get the vaccine if they wish and others can protect themselves against a disease by taking proper measures.

The liberty of every individual is protected from the federal government by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.   Here is the text of that amendment

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

The federal government can only compel you to do something you do not wish to do if you are found guilty in a court of law, by a jury, as long as due process is upheld.  The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment offers the same protection against State and local governments.

For the federal government to force millions of Americans to get vaccinated with a vaccine that has not been fully tested and has a relatively high percentage of negative side effects is unconscionable, unconstitutional, and the very definition of tyranny.

Quick Thursday Food shopping Thoughts Under the Fedora

Posted: September 16, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

I know this is still completely anecdotal but I’ve been keeping track of Powerade at Market basket (made by Coca Cola) and Gatorade (not made by Coca Cola) in terms of price and availability.

Powerade is constantly in stock and I’ve seen 20 oz on sale for as little as .50 each.

the Gatorade shelf is regularly empty with various flavors etc out of stock and prices are up from 20-40%

I’ve also noticed that coke products are on sale a lot but non-coke products less so.

I conclude that even in a blue state woke costs $

How bad is the employment situation?

As a rule Market Basket is a place where everyone wants to at least get their foot in the door because they treat their employees so well, has for the first time in my memory been openly recruiting part time employees this year.

Even during boom times I never saw such signs up.

When I was a kid Entenmann was always the more expensive stuff that mom never bought. When I grew up I found myself going to local bakeries like Dutch Kitchen and never bothered to try them. When the owners of Dutch Kitchen sold out to new owners and I went down and bought a creme horn and couldn’t finish it because it was so horrible the next day I finally tried Entenmanns pastry.

I never knew that I was missing out for all these years?

If there’s anything that’s worth an extra buck, it’s this stuff.

How high have meats gone? After mass I sometimes swing by market basket & check out the meat section if I need something to cook the same day because that’s when they mark down the meats that have to go.

The markdowns on prime meats and steaks are higher than the price that Romano’s Market where charging for their prime meat a year and a half ago

Finally it’s now been about six months since Mr. Lopez took over what was Romano’s Market and starting carrying meats etc with a Spanish/Mexican twist.

I don’t by all my meats there and as Boubeau’s market in Leominster (which was actually around longer than Romano’s ) is near the church I go to on friday’s I will stop by there once or twice a month, but I do go there on a semi regular basis pick up some top round and tips and chat a bit.

It’s not the same of course as I knew Mike’s family forever and his kids used to come down to my store, but I like him and like what he carries and hope that on the day I die Mr. Lopez or his son is still at that corner in the neighborhood finishing his 1st 18 years in business.

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