Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690

As the year closes time for a look back at 2017. Some of the experiences, helpers, clients and some big thank you’s. Any look back also includes a look ahead. In Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690.

Fast Changing World

The theme of 2017 for almost everyone seems to be fear and anxiety in a fast changing world. Boy is it changing fast. Biggest change in 2017? Our politics. Still, there was a lot of great travel and fun this year.

These days things change so fast. One story that is still with us? The so called Russian Hack and the Russian Collusion story. The media is still trying to predict the future, getting stories wrong or advocating for a point of view. It’s a theme of the podcasts this year and we’ll talk about it in Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690.

The Truth Is On The Back Roads

With all the talk about political civil war and surreal protests this year, travel on the backroads of this country convinces me the real America is significantly different from the America we hear about in the media in general. There were some great trips this year. Sturgis, the Air Show, a crumbling home town and more. Too bad Burning Man didn’t happen for the Bob Davis Podcasts in 2017. Maybe next year. In Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Principles

Political fighting was all the rage this year. Especially relevant is the fact that most of the partisan bickering was free of principles. This was a year in which both mainline political parties seemed to have forgotten what they stand for. Good thing I can talk about small business and the role of the podcaster helping people in business.

Opening Up

This was also a year in which I started a podcast specific to Yoga, which has really enhanced my life in these crazy times. I’ve experienced some big personal losses this year. Between yoga and travel podcasts, it became clear to me there is a whole world out there which doesn’t turn on political develops in Washington. Thank God. In Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690.

Thanks To Everyone

Whether its analysis, business, yoga, travel, storm chasing and the eclipse it’s been a big year for me. There have also been a number of great local stories to cover as well. Thanks to the clients, contributors, subscribers and listeners who make podcasting a great medium and help The Bob Davis Podcasts everyday.

Happy New Year!

Sponsored by Brush Studio in The West End Saint Louis Park, and Ciro 3D Motorcycle products and Accessories

Goodbye To 2017-Hello 2018-Happy New Year-Podcast 690

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Back To School 2017-Culling The Social Media Herd-Podcast 659

State Fair Time in Minnesota. A change in the weather. Time for Back to School. Back in the studio after summer traveling. An afternoon with FaceBook convinces me it’s time to start culling the social media herd. In Back To School 2017-Culling The Social Media Herd-Podcast 659.

Back In The Studio

These days all of my travel is on America’s back roads. Summer 2017 saw thousands of miles of travel for The Bob Davis Podcasts. All of it on two lane state and US highways. You see a different United States from the two lane highways. Whether it was Joliet, Illinois or Rapid City, South Dakota or traveling through rural Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia or mining towns in Ohio. I did not see Americans consumed with politics.

Backroads Education

When you travel the backroads you see people doing what they do every day. Getting up and going to work. Running their businesses. Taking kids to baseball, football soccer and hockey games. This is not a country of feral political beasts. It is not a country of angry supporters of either political fringe. Looks pretty much the same as it did when my family toured the country by the same highways, back when I was a kid.

Social Media Cesspool

On social media though, it is a different world. In Back To School 2017-Culling The Social Media Herd-Podcast 659 it’s time to cull the social media herd. Unfollowing those dear friends who post links to articles and demand your support or comment on the latest political and usually nonsensical missive from someone who exhorts you to think and act a certain way.

Where’s The Vision?

Back to School also means reengaging in a political process gone mad. Vision? Concrete plans for the future? Political organization? Those are relics of the past. What’s left are screaming matches, memes, reposts and going ‘live’ on FaceBook to grind your political axe. How does a podcaster add to this cacophony of ignorance and advance the story at the same time? In Back To School 2017-Culling The Social Media Herd-Podcast 659.

No Good Citizens

Neither mainline political party serves the interests of its adherents anymore. Part of the reason is demographic. Much of the reason is people seem to think negatively commenting on a congressman’s FB Live post or protesting is the same as involvement. There are no political movements to convince legislators to take a course of action because no one wants to do that work anymore. Maybe the reason people have turned away from politics are the loud mouths and those who fill their social media feeds with partisan posts, and demand reaction.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Back To School 2017-Culling The Social Media Herd-Podcast 659

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2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658

Seeing a complete solar eclipse at the point of greatest totality is a peak experience. Getting there might be a challenge. But it’s worth it. I take you all the way through it in 2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658.

Path To The Eclipse

We start about 40 miles south of Chicago, Illinois. Taking Illinois 1 all the way down to US 45. Then onto the Shawnee National Forest. Our target is a place called Makanda. This is the location for the longest point of totality for the solar eclipse of 2017. This is a town very close to the southern border of the Land Of Lincoln.

Little Town At The Edge Of Illinois

Lots of talk about about Carbondale, Illinois as the point of totality. Truth is, the longest period of totality at a little more than 2 minutes occurs in Makanda, a little town about twenty miles south of Carbondale. During Part 1 of the eclipse podcasts we talked with some locals and spectators. In 2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658 we experience it.

A Peak Experience

With all the media these days it seems like people want to experience everything through media. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to actually go to an event and experience it in person. In 2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658.

Eclipse energy is a real thing

On the trip and at the event we saw people struggling with pre eclipse issues. We were pushing so hard to get everything perfect it made for a very stressful trip. At one point my friend Steve said, “We’re in the path of totality now, so it really doesn’t matter where we see it”. Twenty minutes later we found the perfect spot.

Hope To See Everyone Again

Especially relevant is the real feeling of camaraderie we experienced with all the people in this little town, who came to experience the total eclipse of the sun. I think it’s fair to say we all want to come back in 2024 for the next total solar eclipse. In April of 2024 the path of totality runs through Makanda, again. In 2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658.

Sponsored by Brush Studio in The West End Saint Louis Park Minnesota

2017 Solar Eclipse Point of Totality Part 2-Podcast 658

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