Ericast.com Podcast - DWEEB THOUGHTS

If you're like I am, you say things like, "Someday, I need to..."  Last week, someday came for me and my daughter. What's your "someday"?

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Technical note: I still haven't gotten the iTunes podcast feed working yet, so if you're listening to this via a podcatcher, you've persevered and have manually added http://feeds.ericast.com/ericast to your application.  Thank you!  I'll let you know when that's working again.

Long story short, I took Candela to the Get Motivated seminar when they came back to Minneapolis this year.

Curious about my last Get Motivated experience(s)?  Check out my Iowa Gets Motivated episode from 2012. In fact, I apparently mentioned my first experience during the first year of the Ericast (October 2005) but the audio file is missing from the server; I'll need to go hunting for that somewhere.  Everything old is new again, right?

You hear a lot of different things on the Ericast. This week's episode is really just random connections from Eric's brain.

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INTP Personality - weaving things together

Voice artists, including Casey Defranco from the Country Crock commercial.  (The Ericast exists today because of her!)

SNL in the 1980s.  Ad Council ad parody. Art Bell, late night radio, conspiracy theories. Lots of PSAs...  Including "At the Beach." I love the Mom voice in this one

I just love that voice. Not to lead a board meeting, maybe. But there's so much personality that carries through.

So, Ruth binge-watches TV shows. One was White Collar, which, it turns out, was based on Frank Abagnale.  If you don't know why that's interesting, listen to last week's episode.

Lately, it's been Person of Interest. And after lots of joking about it staring Jesus, and watching Finch so I could have hope that we geeks could have a life (even though I know they're just fake characters), they introduce... Root.

"Samantha Groves is a highly intelligent computer hacker and former contract killer known by her hacker name "Root". She has a special relationship with The Machine and is the only one to be in frequent and direct contact, acting as The Machine's 'Analog Interface'."

Root is played by Amy Acker.

1) I love my wife more than anything else.  2) I have two daughters, so I truly do understand the dangers of a society "objectifying" people and diminishing their full personhood over something that might even be complimentary. 3)  Amy Acker strikes me as the most beautiful human being on the planet.  (This leads to a tangent on the "Ginger vs. Mary Ann" application.  Because, why do I think this?)

This might have been just a passing interest, until I heard her speak.

I'm sure she's not... but she IS the "this is sand!" mom.

I now tease Ruth because whenever there's a dramatic moment in Person of Interest, I repeat her lines' inflection, but I say, "This is sand."  "This is sand, Finch. I like sand."

Do you like sand? Do you like Amy Acker?  Call 701-645-3742 (a.k.a. 701-645-ERIC) and let me know.

Sometimes you hear wisdom from the least expected place. Or, at least, of the least expected kind. Like marriage and parenting advice from a criminal turned security expert.

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Life lesson: Say "Yes" when offered things.  (I had to grow into that philosophy.)

This episode's topic: Frank Abagnale.  But not for the reason you might expect. More information about his security consulting is at www.abagnale.com.

Here's the full 2013 talk that I referenced in this show, via YouTube (http://youtu.be/iJIc16aqpO8)

Questions? Comments? Objections? Call 701-645-ERIC (a.k.a. 701-645-3742) and let me know what you think!

Lately I've taken to saying, "Diversity is inherently good". Which you either respond with "Duh, Eric!" or you're... not quite sure you agree. Curious?  Here's your show.

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Yes, indeed, after 11 years we're switching over to our new feedback line, so call 701-645-3742, which conveniently spells out 701-645-ERIC.  Thanks to you who called, so we know it works!  So, let's go with that.

I'm sitting on a hiring committee at work, and we had this conversation, and I fell into the "Duh!" camp, but I couldn't point to why -- some sort of background info. I'd collected over the years in my degree program or whatever.

A colleague pointed out the Reply All podcast, Episode #52, and I listened to that and couldn't agree more.  Fascinating.  And we'll get to that.

And I thought, I should do a podcast on that!  And then life got in the way, including the K7 crisis that wasn't much of a crisis.  And then, while listening to MarketplaceTech (formerly Future Tense) on American Public Radio, I heard the March 24th episode.

So I decided that was spooky enough that I'd actually take a lesson from the Universe or God or the Hundredth Monkey or coincidence and I'd share the episode I'd planned to.  What follows is a clip from a spectacular piece by Alex Goldman.

Questions? Comments? Objections? call 701-645-ERIC (a.k.a. 701-645-3742) and let me know what you think!

All good things must come to an end. No, no, not this podcast! But a key part of it. What it is, you ask?  Here's your show.

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Things change!  But I'm still here.  Not quite "reeling," but definitely "dealing" with an email (which wasn't appealing, and not worth concealing)...

Kall8 Customer Service ([email protected]) to ericast.com

Dear K7 User,

Thank you for being a valued K7 customer. We appreciate your business.  Unfortunately we regret to inform we will be discontinuing K7 service as of May 1st 2016.

On May 1st the website and all messages on it will be unavailable. We wanted to let you know as soon as possible so you can make other arrangements for your service and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Thank you again for being a loyal customer of K7.

Sincerely,

International Telcom LTD.

NOOOOO!  But, K7.net has been an outstanding company to me (and many other podcasters) for many years, so there are no hard feelings.  But I need a hand making sure that our brand new voicemail solution will work...

So... Let me know what you think, but in a slightly different way.  Leave a message at 701-645-3742 (a.k.a. 701-645-ERIC) and then get in touch by some other means -- Twitter, Facebook, carrier pidgeon, or email me (eric) at ericast.com -- and let me know you gave the new line a try.

P.S.  I think this episode wins the award for "most punctuation in a show title"....?

Where'd February go?!? Or, more accurately, where'd I go in February? It was kinda a big deal. Curious? Here's your show.

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Welcome to the Ericast: The weekly podcast that comes out once a month if I'm lucky. (Half-kidding there.) Is anyone listening? (Besides Matt and Chad?)

Discussing my trip to Texas for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) conference.  (Anyone remember the Driving the Beam episode?)

The conference was in San Antonio this year. Frankly, didn't want to go and leave the family behind; Minnesota gets snow in February! What are the chances? Turns out they were 100%.

In the meantime, I was in San Antonio for the first time.  (First time in Texas, in fact.)

Background: We ended up doing a poster session on a doctoral program, originally designed as a regular presentation.  The proposal reviews were split: "There's no market for this because everyone is doing it it already; it's old hat." ...and "There's no market for this because it's so unusual and radical that nobody wants to do it."

Hmmm..

So, it became a poster session.  And there are pragmatic elements of dealing with a poster.  (Flights, shipping, etc.)  More than a month later, I can still remember the experience like it was yesterday.

Let me know what you think.  206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC)

Kkmd at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

2016 is one twelfth of the way finished already. I'm such a failure as a podcaster! But wait... is that bad? I have the answer. Here's your show.

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On the heels of a trip to Texas for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) conference, here's an episode based on a monologue from Adam Savage.  An earlier version appeared on the web; it's quoted in the podcast, but here's the full clip (which helps because, amazingly, juggling is a visual art and an audio podcast doesn't do it full justice):

Adam Savage, Mythbuster (EG9) from e.g. on Vimeo.

I'm really tired.  And that's not an excuse; it's just a fact... Because I just got in from a 3.5 mile walk, in Minnesota, in December.  Want to know what I've been up to the past couple months?  Here's your show.

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This episode is not intended to be fatalistic; I assume I'll be walking outside next year. But I've been planning this episode since October, when there were nice fall days.  I love walking on nice fall days.  And I assumed that we'd get snow and be immersed in winter by now.

Tonight?  It's December 8, and after 10:00 at night, it was still 37 degrees.  (That's not normal!)  No ice on the sidewalks and trails, just little piles of snow here and there.

So, this becomes a catch-up episode.

Technical snippet for those of you inclined that way:  I had some hard drive issues.  A new 5TB under Windows 10 doesn't work well.  FYI.

November featured "Mythbusters: Adam and Jamie UNLEASHED" which was really cool (and a chance for the girls to see the TV stars they've grown up with).

"Guy's Retreat" up by Lake Mille Lacs. Stepping next door brought me back 15 months instantly, to when Utah and South Dakota adventures weren't even a glimmer of a concept. Memory is an odd thing.

Calls!  Been saving them up.  I know at least one is legit and we'll hear from Chad at the end.  I literally don't know what the others are.  Let's find out.   (They ended up being from Steve, Gerald and Chad)

Ideas? Input?  You know the drill!  Call

206-339-3742 a.k.a 206-339-ERIC

I've talked off an on for a long time about a how a thing worth doing is worth doing badly (that's Chesterton) and how you just need to get up and act.  Looking for more detail on what that actually means? Here's your show.

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I've entered an era of lasts.  From the girls' first steps, to "last time together on the bus," etc. And this episode was recorded after the last summer walk of 2015.  (Or maybe not, but probably... this time of year with the sun as it is, it's hard for the earth to stay warm.  And it's getting dark early! That reminds me of the "Dark October Skies" episode...)

So, I was a little tired from three miles of walking on top of two hiking the day before... But, as I heard on a wise podcast the other day, "You... must act"

Randy Cantrell reminds us, "Don't confuse motion with action."

Michael Port is the author who was on Ray Edwards' podcast

I also discuss the concept of the "Minimum Viable Product" as outlined by Jussi Pasanen.  It's akin to Maslow's Hierarchy: Functional, Reliable, Usable, "Emotional Design"... and the idea of a minimum viable product is that you take a slice off the side, not across the bottom

That takes a bit more reflection, because it's hard to do; "covering the basics" is easier... I think?

https://twitter.com/jopas/status/515301088660959233

If you've ever had one of those moments where someone tells you something that radically snaps your brain around into a different way of thinking.. here's your show.

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"So, Eric, what have you learned from this?"

"Yeah, I know I need to be less attached to things, let the past go, live in the present, value people over things..."

"No.  You have learned...  That you, must act!"

"...Okay?"

"If you had done this project of yours, when you first decided it was a good idea... would we be having this conversation right now?"

Wow.